Martin S-C

Did he go into a bar first?

I disagree. You only need to frequent some of the more trainsetty Facebook groups to discover that Hornby = trainsets and trainsets = Hornby. There are people to whom Hornby is still the only go-to product for their hobby. Locos, coaches, wagons, track, controllers, buildings, trainset-sheets even. Even though the writing was put on the wall by Airfix in 1981, Hornby and their railroad range is still today a critical and successful product stream. It is the arrival of the Bachmanns, the Rapidos and the critical demands of the high-end modelling market that have obliged Hornby to set aside their entire 1980s quality products into a new "railroad" label and fork out on new R&D and tooling to satisfy us. Yes, us. People who are prepared to glue cosmetic screw couplings onto the buffer beam of a loco are high-end. There is stil a huge and viable "toy-trainset" market out there and Hornby's railroad range seems to now be the only player in that market. The Railroad range, based on 1980s and 1990s tooling may well be keeping the company alive.

There is no such thing as an analog or DCC point motor. There are just point motors. How you choose to power them is up to you, whether its via a DC or DCC setup.

It bothered me that the railway hobbyist was still being depicted as a nerdy geek, compete with plonky-plonky daft music soundtrack. The dude building the Airfix 1:24 Hellcat came across as a very intelligent and well-balanced person. It seemed like the military kit hobby was ok and manly but toy trains are still the hobby of repressed boys who don't grow up. Getting pretty sick of this.

Cobalt.

It's ten past ten, G&T number 3 is by my side and I just stumbled on this James... and thought of you. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dapol-Limited-Edition-oo-wagons/264219611861?hash=item3d84b752d5:g:zYYAAOSwKgtceSd3&frcectupt=true

I can't get enough of your superb trackwork, its just perfect. More windy-wet weather to cancel your golf plans and oblige you to take pics of your trains please!

Are the number plates additions? They look superb, I'd never have guessed. EDIT: Problem with deployed weather sheets is they attach to stays on the tender so you have to deal with how the tender & loco respond to curves. That's a big problem. On top of that you can't see your nicely painted crew and any backhead detail . Rolled up weather sheets are the better choice IMHO.

I've noted that loco cab weather sheets tended to be a bit scruffy and saggy. I haven't had a go yet myself but would probably try something like crumpled tissue.

Anything with 3 axles is good - locos, coaches, sausage vans...

Regarding the Kent-to-London perishable traffics although I am actually completely 100% ignorant of the historical situation it strikes me that these are, compared to some other perishables traffics such as the Scottish fish-to-London or Liverpool bananas-to-London traffics, extremely short haul. Even from Ramsgate, Romney Marsh or Weymouth we're talking not more than c120 - 180 minutes or so via 40mph passenger rated goods vehicles. Its quite likely, as Nick suggests, that the SER, SECR, LSWR, LCDR, LBSC, etc, etc just didn't need dedicated perishables vans and squishy stuff could get where it was needed sufficient quickly in luggage vans, guards vans or something similar pressed into service (like a CCT) in a passenger train in enough time that it didn't rot or stink!

My advice, though its not worth much, would be to use some acrylic thinners, not water. They really make the paint a lot more versatile and allow several very thin coats, removing the brush-painted effect. Finer modellers than I have also said you can use it straight from the bottle which is true. It depends on the job.

To my mind Saddler's End is one of the more interesting station layouts because it separates the passenger area from the goods area so cleanly. Unless you intend passenger trains to pass each other here I don't see any benefit gained in changing it. Is it your intention to allow passenger trains to pass anywhere other than Difford? If it is you might wish to consider having two platform faces. Its very unusual railway practice to have a timetabled station stop where there is no platform egress for passengers - it is done at small wayside halts that use footsteps to ground level (the Weston Clevedon & Portishead comes to mind once again) but your model appears to deal with all the minor halts as off-scene between the more significant stations.

Hi Cameron, many thanks for your pointer bringing me here. Your plan looks marvellous and you are clearly made from the same mould as I as regards model railway operations. I am deeply envious of the amount of space you have. As you know the NM&GSR has about the same length room but only 1/3rd the width and it was the narrowness of my site that caused me to accept a number of compromises such as a lifting entry flap and break your rule of “no lines crossing over one another that were supposed to be miles apart”. My own narrow room meant that my system has to spiral over on itself and consequently one of its drawbacks is a lot of gradients and the complexity of construction that comes with it. Others have already provided a good deal of very helpful input. A form of direct connection from the docks line to Itshall at Difford Junc might prove handy, even if its hardly used. Conversely you could signal a movement to allow a train to reverse over the double slip and draw forward into one of the through platforms - such a movement would make operations more interesting and I suspect that would be to your preference. Your gangways at 3 feet wide look reasonable enough. My own longer operating well is that wide and two people can pass, even if one of them is a bit round, like me! You may need to plan to avoid tall delicate structures, such as trees or cranes, near the baseboard edges however. I'm with Stu on setting up a continuous run, if for no other reason that when you want to run a new loco in or just relax and watch a train while drinking tea or chatting with friends. Where he suggests it is a wise location or you could have a curved temporary bridge from the buffer stop at Knower Vale around to a converging "V" platform at Milton Gate. Plenty of independent railways had their own workshops such as the M&SWJ and WC&P to grab just two names from the air. Bigger overhauls might be sent away to the works of the nearest big company the independent concern was on good terms with. Had you considered where in the country your system exists? Or, like John Ahern, do such details not matter? For coals to ships at small docks Bullo Pill on the Severn is a classic example of a tiny concern. Certain features of Lydney Docks might also inspire, even if the back up yards and infrastructure there were on a bigger scale. Another idea to allow foreign stock to be introduced could be a boat train at Moorhaven, even if its just a couple of 4- or 6-wheel coaches and goods trains of 4 wagons. The idea of such an expensive feature is more than a little whimsical but that never stopped finer modellers than all of us from doing such fantastical things. In effect a boat train model becomes a cassette fiddle yard, so you don't even have to handle the models. Mr Woodenhead - touche! I was typing a post when you posted. I'm very excited about Cameron's project - to say it is right up my street would be the understatement of the decade.

It seems these railway staff are produced in a big factory sausage machine contraption thingy and merely cut off to length as required, like GW pannier tanks.

How do you possibly model safety chains in 2mm? I can't believe this is a thing.

Great work as usual. The Barrow Hills signalman looks happy with his lot in life. Do the passengers animate/circulate? I see different ones in the two images of Tenpenny (great name BTW!)

Hi Calvin, I have spent odd hours going through your thread over the last 2 to 3 days and I have to say that your standard of modelling is superb, also unique. Your ability to 3D print up almost anything you need at the drop of an item of headgear fills me envy. I also really like the sloping streets in the town scene. My own layout's major town scene has a height difference of 2" front to back so I've been taking notes and pinched some copies of your imnages for inspiration. Great stuff!

Do my eyes play tricks or is that a cute little Beyer Peacock 2-4-0T?

It was a tad over-engineered, perhaps... but I'd rather things erred on that side than t'other. Yep, checked that already! Cheers Alex, I'm looking forward to that as well! For relaxation tonight I bit the bullet and did a bit more work on my Wisbech & Upwell train. The half-painted coaches have sat on my desk, gathering dust since November and tonight I dredged from somewhere the motivation to paint the wheels/bogies, frames and ends. The ironwork on the end balconies needs to be black, the interiors need painting and glazing and then some lining and transfers and a subtle weather and that's all they need. Now that the layout is starting to look like a layout and not a painters and decorators shed I realised I must have a passenger train to test run. Test running being such a critical part of the build process, this train is a vital item of equipment that now needs to be ready. Or some such. Ack. Roof has curved a bit while sitting at the back of the paint shop. I ought to letter up and weather a loco as well. Having just one colliery Peckett isn't going to cut the mustard for much longer. All of these have sound decoders fitted and are ready to roll, I do need to change lettering/livery to my own however (in some cases, not all), do some weathering and fit crew. Any preferences?

Yes, a bolt on the underside will push into a latch attached to the side of the door reveal. It tips comfortably right over so alternatively some solid item on the far side. A chimney associated with the colliery is a possibility - constructed from a solid piece of wood and screwed below baseboard to the main frame and concealed by brick papers or similar. As the photo might show the clearance was incredibly tight, about 1/2" to the ceiling. The flap is 29" wide, the most we could fit which is why I was obliged in the end to dispense with a number of other more elegant designs. Given the baseboard heights it looks like I'll have to paint the light switch blue as well

I absolutely love that upper drawing. You have a customer here for when you progress that far!

And the baseboards in place for Witts End (datum +0") and the east end of Puddlebrook Junc. (datum +2"). The trackbed will continue on from the near corner of the far end of the station climbing up over the wooden trestle that spans the River Aight and the line then enters a tunnel under Green Soudley station which will be at +5" at about where the roll of paper is. In the extreme front right corner will be Witts End engine shed.

Activity today so far. Some planning going on. Lifting flap installed.

https://www.migjimenez.com/en/28-real-colors?&p=5 Its a bit yellower than it looks. Here it is inside a wagon, and then with a black weathering powder coat.