big jim

the colas pair are out and about on PLPR this coming week, ive got them to stratford upon avon and nuneaton amongst other places on tuesday

4000 replies to this thread!! Here's to the next 4000

Only a couple from today Pair of 97s heading off to Newport to work a railtour via the heart of wales And one for Mick on deadmans lane, one of the voyagers that work past the RTC for route retention

Passed this sign a few times recently but only managed a pic today, performing at an Indian restaurant near congleton......

not updated this for a while as the layout rebuild has taken up most of my modelling time but tonight with the weather being a bit rough i decided to crack on with some MK3s for my NMT got 4 finished, only pics for 3 of them though, done both the generator vehicles as well as the conference car and track recorder, the final one will be the pantograph car i have used PH designs etches throughout, some coaches have full window blanking plates, some windows are reduced in size and others have replacement window frames genny coach test car 10 other genny car got a bit of filling to do here and therebefore even looking at priming them but i want to try and crack on with them asap, the biggest challenge will be the roof mods on the pantograph vehicle

very nice indeed, cant wait to see them finished

Last night was "the only way is Essex" Ferme park to marks tey, back to Liverpool st and away to ferme park again, yet again 37057, the only loco I've worked out of there! Just camera phone pics last night Liverpool st I was having a look and 37057 was a Stratford engine back in the early 80s and worked out ofbliverpool st a fair bit on the great eastern so it was like taking it home for the night, similarly the DBSO is also an ex anglia one too! And back at ferme park, facing the opposite way thanks to doing both sides of the triangle at Stratford

I've actually given up maccy d's for lent, lost about 1/2 stone already, 30 days to go!

Decided to have a spring Clean in the shed earlier and now I can see the floor again! I also went on to clear the yard side of the layout of clutter so that has been resurected too Similarly around the depot area This gives me a bit of room to work at getting the final bits of track laid around the back and through the station This is the missing link, I've got to raise the teackbed up at the front and simply attach the track at the rear A view of the oil terminal and drive trough, there will be a road crossing here too, roughly where the stobart truck is positioned I'm going to put the signal box at that end of the station now, simply because that's the only place it will fit! Looking back toward the station, still in the lookout for a couple of the Bachmann retaining wall uprights if anyone has 2 or 3 spare! The town populated with vehicles and bus stop etc And the usual 'view from the door' Hopefully I can get a bit more done at the weekend, maybe get the last of the track down and wired up

today was definatly a HST kind of day, travelled down to Cheltenham to work the NMT back to Deby via great malvern, obviously i dont sign down there so i had another driver with me until i could take over at kidderminster only a few pics XC HST in Cheltenham then my train came in and we headed off to worcester then to malvern wells and back via kidderminster and bescot to derby a nice day and great to be able to get a good bit of high speed running in between water orton and derby, pretty much 100mph all the way, i have to have more training to allow me to do 125mph which i hope i get soon! ferme park again tomorrow for a trip to marks tey and liverpool st edit: a vid of me passing through old hill

funnily enough it did cross my mind yesterday that its odd they have the word 'freight' on the side, 'colas rail' may have been a better option as some of the 47s have

just a few from today, 70810 bescot to derby for tyre turning, nice to wind it up to 75mph where i could! ive driven this a few times but this is the forst time ive seen it with this nameplate royal 67 and my 70 and another 70 at the other end and onto etches having been through the wash plant, wasnt planned but it came on as i aproached it so it got a wash, sat on scotches as i had to isolate various bits and bobs to allow them to tyre turn it tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQqMDDhcRmo&sns=em

just one extra from last night 67023 Derby RTC by jim scott, on Flickr

some from today 67023 toton to derby into derby and on to the shunt the 67 then went off on a test run 37057 heading off hst on etches park that was about it piccie wise

I'll raise your 2 skips and include a tug And right up to date

scrap that lot, merl has failed prior to departure, 37608 in europhoenix livery is doing the honours now

A bit more done tonight First up corked the new board and loosely laid the track Going to fix it to the cork with adhesive when I'm happy with it as trackpins are useless on the cork risers Then I fitted the 3 points, I've not bothered with point motors (yet) but may add them before I secure the mainline leading up to them And round the corner with the cork Cut a top board The edge is cut to fit the Bachmann retaining walls Backfilled the wood at the station end so the high level board goes right up to the canopy, also loose fittedbthe extra 6 retaining walls along the back wall of the shed in readyness to support the canopy And with buildings above I picked up a Bachmann low relief underground station entrance last week which I'll adapt to make the mainline station entrance, looks ok alongside the low relief bank, again a little bit of back filling to do this end too Unfortunately the Bachmann tunnel mouth I bought won't work as the lines going into it are on a curve so vehicles catch the sides as they enter so I'll have to use a wills flexi girder this end too, obviously not this one! Another view of the buildings, going to have a roadway come alongside the corner building and across the front of the supermarket, Turning toward the station entrance and bank, the public toilets can be in a pedestrian area, possibly the edge of a park The final thing I looked at was some Hornby station canopies I bought at the Macclesfield show on Saturday, basic Hornby parts with nice metal uprights, bought 3 in total that once I give a nice coat of paint will cover the platform from where the overall roof ends to the platform end And finally a request, if anyone else has used the Bachmann retaining walls (44-221) on their layout and has any of the extra uprights spare please get in touch as I need 2 or 3 more

Merl's travels this coming week Monday: 3Q18 20:48 derby to Neville hill via Stockport, longsight, alderly edge, Manchester airport, Manchester Piccadilly, stalybridge, Huddersfield, Leeds Tuesday: 3Q42 21:17 Neville hill-Neville hill via skipton and carnforth Wednesday: 3Q27 22:17 Neville hill-crewe Lnwr via Selby, mirfield, Manchester Piccadilly, Preston, Wigan Thursday: 3Q26 20:26 crewe Lnwr-crewe Lnwr via Warrington BQ, Liverpool lime st, Manchester Victoria, Liverpool lime st, Warrington central, Manchester Oxford rd, Warrington central, earlestown, crewe Just need to check Friday out

Ah, so the numbers on the etches are wrong then, they say 975XXX Hopefully I can still make a prototypical rake up, 2 gen vans, test car 10 and 2 of whatever 977993 and 994 are!

Bit of a jump for the thread... Never noticed before but the royal 67s have an extra lamp bracket fitted to the TDM jumper holder

A request for help Mick, I'm after pics of NMT coach 975993 or 975994 I'm arranging my mk3 coaches ready to convert into NMT trailers and think I have a prototypical formation but I can't for the life of me find pics of either of those 2 coaches via google or Flickr etc The reason I ask is I have a Lima TGS which looking through an old thread by 'hammy' he used one to make 975994 and I'm hoping it's useable or I'll have to get another open coach The formation I'm looking at is powercar-977984-975993-975814-975994-975984-powercar I also have a Hornby buffet car that only needs a repaint and window replacing with a grille to make the spare genny coach

Another that escaped Is the rear bulb illuminated "SHUNT LIMIT" sign on the Chester line out of crewe!

one place they still exist (odd as it is) is on the WCML just north of Rugeley trent valley station for the shunt across the ladder from the cannock line i'm sure more will come up but i'm struggling to think of any more off hand