Lacathedrale

Here is my progress so far. I used Maskol on the other end so I could paint the window gaskets, and it just bonded so thoroughly to the underlying paint that the whole end was ruined - I couldn't paint over it, and had to use pins, scalpels and tweezers to try and remove it - the result is that it looks like it's got an awful case of excema. Additionally, the railmatch warning yellow covered so poorly that I had to try to mix up a new batch and that was slightly off-colour. While the loco seems fine at the three-foot rule, and I think at this stage that's the best I can hope for - overall, I'm dissatisfied. I would say that while I have learned and experimented a decent amount - the result has been very wide of the mark, and not something I am proud of at all. Still awaiting nameplates, painting the gaskets on this side, some sleeper grime on the undercarriage and a few more touch-ups to the cab front weathering.

Does anyone know a way to get Humbrol Maskol off cleanly? If not, I have well and truly ruined the paintjob on this loco

I am at my wit's end and really quite ready to throw the towel in. My C&L track order is still nowhere to be found, and my DCC order has 'Parcel Damaged' as the latest status report and is still in Germany, and the tracking information given to me by the seller is invalid. This isn't even remotely fun.

Some ruthless curmudgeon appears to have swiped the bid on the 57xx pannier, but I'm yet to be dissuaded. I won the auction on GWR Branch Line Termini so that'll be a good read I'm sure, and I'll check out Macduff, Hayling and Kingsbridge. To be honest I quite enjoyed the sincerity of the BRM series - sure, it was a Freezer plan with very much off-the-shelf components, but 'so what' ?

In some ways I'm a little sad, now I come to do the touch-ups I realised I masked it really quite badly around the yellow ends. I think in future I would definitely put the handrails on after painting (and as above, block out the clips for the chassis on the bodyside). That said, it's not terrible: I've got to paint out the rubber seals on the window, apply transfers and etched wipers/nameplate and weather it still. Hopefully I can use that to mask some of the rather obvious problems (like how impossible it is to cover dark blue with yellow paint.....) I would say to get my hands dirty with some actual modelling (instead of the incessant build and rebuild of baseboards, module and laying track) has been very enjoyable. Whether I could have got that enjoyment out of a wagon kit instead of a locomotive is a bit a moot point because I specifically realised in the course of this thread that I wanted to learn these skills and test them out (the old Keats proverb: "Truth is only a maxim until you have felt it on your own pulse" rings very true - I've read a dozen articles on detailing locos, but this is the first time I've actually tried it!)

Speaking of Morehamptonstead (and Phil's Hampton Malmstead) - how much of the GWR's broad gauge heritage would exist? Wider track centres? Infrastructure more spread out?

So BLTs were very typical except when they weren't and there definitely were or were not single road engine sheds. Glad we cleared that one up.

A bit of GWR BLT related light reading wouldn't go amiss, so I'm looking into that now. I've always liked the idea of modelling something broadly on the trackplan of Hawkhurst (being my family's ancestral home) https://www.kentrail.org.uk/hawkhurst_track_plan.htm though I know it's been done perfectly to prototype before, something reduced and compressed and in a Western flavour might not go amiss. There are Phil's pair of sidings (one of which going to a bay platform/loading dock), a shed off the platform loop headshunt for a left-hand scenic break and a very modelgenic goods yard (at least in the sense it appears roughly rectilinear rather than a fan shape). In the context of our discussion - what makes this an SR terminus? What would make it a GWR terminus? Are the idiosyncrasies of every BLT enough to simply overawe company choices?

Do you have any examples of a station arrangement or layout which is not typically seen in our idealised model form, but which is not so atypical as to be idiosyncratic?

Indeed, it was this onward ossification of design trends away from prototype and more to model-of-model which interested me initially. I wonder whether a wider trick is being missed in not employing Chris Nevard's through/halt-style layouts more, since with GWR's typical short-ish trains a terminus isn't required when a pair of cassettes may do. (this may or may not be a result of a cheeky pannier tank bid on eBay).

After re-starting the BRM 'How to build a layout' series, I'm struck by how typical the track plan 'seems'. I wonder however, how much of this is fiction and how much is reality. How much of the design tropes we accept as given are actually just echos of earlier layouts, rather than real life? When designers plonk down a single-faced platform with a runaround loop, cattle dock and coal siding - is this ACTUALLY typical of GWR branch line practise? I think we can assume that the levels of traffic on BLT layouts vastly outstrip their prototypes, but if we were to speed up and compress those operations into a representational microcosm - does a 14xx and an autocoach, or a Praire and a B-set, or a Pannier and a rake of cattle vans truly represent reality? I know the easy answer to this is 'it depends', but I would be interested in a discussion of where layouts diverge drastically from the prototype - and where prototypical nuances are missed on layouts.

I've got the base colours down, including the really heavy dirt on the cab roofs - there's ALOT to follow up on, but as this is literally the first time I've used the airbrush for anything other than basecoating and my first time masking, I'm quite chuffed: The plan is to touch up the overspray with a brush and then use an oil wash on the various vents and grills to get them to pop, and add some definition around the cab front/etc. - then pastels.

Reading through this again and just wanted to repeat how enjoyable it is - the tone and language are perfect.

I am sad to say that after three and a half weeks and £200 sent via bank transfer, five phone calls (and yet more unanswered) I still have nothing to show. Again, I report this without prejudice or agenda, and feel that it is important that a fair and open discussion is had.

So I've got a couple of PGAs en route, looking at the DEMU wiki they are PG006A (side ladders) and PG013E (end ladders) - kind of nice to realise they are based on real prototypes and not full Lima whimsy. Hattons has the Bachmann JGA on sale for £35 but I can't really justify the four or five wagon set I'd need for a rake

So your source of authority are the diagrams/train numbers, and your 'links' are a way of ensuring some variety of motive power aforementioned trains/diagrams? Seems logical and an interesting process, 'locomotive links' on google isn't a particularly fertile ground of information other than a Quora question about indian state railways; I didn't know it was a thing

I painted up the yellow ends (railmatch yellow over white undercoat was too lemony, so added some golden yellow then faded back with white and I think it looked much better). Masking was a total pain in the bum with those wire handrails particularly around the door openings so next time I'll definitely fit them afterwards. The first couple of coats of Monastral blue are curing, and then I'll be able to paint the roof tonight and hopefully get a few glamour shots for the thread. My understanding is that 33056 got a light grey roof, but the roof ends over the cabs seem invariably much darker almost like they are different base colours.

Hello all, I've ended up building a layout with a plan to include a close approximation of Ardingly and a track arrangement similar to Purley. Thank you all for the help and inspiration, very helpful. I've got two questions which are more generic and less specific: 1) It seems the HEAs would be a motley combination of aged Bauxite and Speedlink (i.e. Railfreight red/grey) repaints? For the former it looks like just the TOPS data panel on the hopper side, and the latter with the BR logo and 'Railfreight' on the red area. Were there any other changes I should be aware of when repainting the batch of Hornby 'Loadhaul' HEA's I've got into one scheme or the other? 2) The Lima PGA wagons I've got hold of are bauxite and Yeoman. I can't find any prototype examples in Bauxite, and since I'm modelling not-Purley I'm a little more free with my prototype choice. Is Yeoman a fair bet for PGAs? I'm thinking for future PHA/JGA I'd look at scratchbuilding the 'real' Brett ones. 3) If I'm edging towards late 80's (i.e. after the arrival of the Class 37's) how much traffic would be in 16T minerals? I'm not worried particularly, as I think aesthetically it's a bit out of sync with the rest of the layout - but it would be interesting to know. I thought I read somewhere that the MSV/MCV (If I got that right) halved year on year from 83-86 and most were gone/transferred to engineering by 87. 4) Since we're talking a bit about Purley here and they had an engineering siding, I was wondering what if any engineering stock I should look at including on the layout; there seems to be no clear answer. I gather that dedicated trains (i.e. Shark / Seacow / Salmon with rail) would be unlikely to be stabled there, but I'm assuming that a mixed rake of spoil and general purpose wagons (grampus, bass, salmon) may be in evidence?

I've heard of this layout, but never seen it - wonderful. If I understand your operating schedule properly, you have all operations broken into outer/inner/goods/etc. "links" and then each link has a breakdown of which diagrams, and then each diagram with what train numbers and associated movement? How do you coordinate that into a sequence? I do like the look of those pre-warning panel diesels - very smart stuff.

I'm using acrylic rather than enamel, it doesn't specify an era. That said, I added a little golden yellow which has a much better pigmentation and it was more warm, then went back over with a very light cream to fade it back. I think it looks swish now! Thank you, I didn't realise there were multiple shades! Edit: here's a pic but I staged the wrong yellow, I used coat d'arms "golden yellow"!

I don't suppose any pictures exist of the signal box? The only thing I can see is in an early photo (70's I guess?) with what looks like a plate layers hut at the end of the platform.

I've laid a few coats of railmatch warning yellow onto a white undercoat on my latest project, and it's come out quite cold and lemony. I wonder how much is due to the fact the body (that will ultimately end up rail blue) is undercoated grey, so the contrast (and the overspray into areas that will end up rail blue and thus not undercoated white) is contributing, or whether this is a known thing. I gave it about 3 light coats over white. I'm going to let it set and give it another coat in an hour or so I think, but would be interested to get some thoughts.

Thanks, will do - I shudder at the thought of holding the pickup wire and the phosphor bronze wire in place vertically though, it was hard enough on a flat surface. I see why people prefer brass for this stuff now - no glue! I don't actually have ANY track to my name yet, I've been waiting for weeks for a delivery from C&L.

I feel well and truly out of my depth now Tho I won't be able to run 10 carriage trains, a similar thing with 2EPB and 4CEP may be achievable With regard to the diagram, should I consider drawing train patterns first? I think the only thing which pushes it away from real prototype fidelity is that Charringtons comes off at the loop, rather than off the carriage siding. - The use of the running line as shunting for the gravel plant happened at Purley, for example.

I tried looking around for other wire but couldn't find anything in my box - I will see how this goes and if there are problems (I think that may be a trick of the photo - the clearance didn't seem to bad when I last looked) I will remove and replace with thinner wire and front facing wipers. That was my original thought, but I didn't feel like I could get the right angle. Maybe worth a revisit either way. I knocked the dust off my airbrush and undercoated the cab ends in white this morning, so I'm hoping I'll have peace enough from the dog to get into the garden office and lay down some Railmatch yellow.