P.C.M

Hi Doug, Great to hear you are back in the railway room and making some progress. Cheers Peter.

Hi Alex, Yes I always liked 45141, it was one of the last Peaks I saw in service back in 1988. Funnily enough 45052 was one of the last 45/0s I saw. It was on the same day as 141, I had gone out to Bedford the view the binliner that used to run round at Bedford station, it was often a Peak but not that day. My trip out to Bedford wasn't wasted as 45052 was park up by the old loco shed so I managed to get a few pics. If I can get my scanner to work I will post up the pic. Something else you may not know is before 052 was named Nimrod it was called Satan, but not for long I think there were complaints. Ok as for doing your model, a 45/0 will be less work as you can leave the plated up steps, you don't have to do the roof mod and you don't have to fit a headlight on the front. I think your model has the boiler fillers plated over but you might have to fill the two holes either side at the bottom of the body they are only about 1mm round. I think they were sand box filling points that were removed by the 80s. Cheers Peter.

Hi Jeff, Just been catching up on your progress, it's looking good too. I can't wait to see a nice dirty 9f slogging through the station. Cheers Peter.

Hi Alex, Nice to see a bit of blue on shed, looks like you found yourself a Peak. I remember you said you were looking. What one do you think you will do? Cheers Peter.

Thanks Rick, Honest the standard only took about ten minutes though the chassis was already done. I did see your Rat, it looks pretty good. Maybe a touch too much on the yellow ends. Cheers Peter.

Here are a couple of mine from last week. It was nice to see the A class still get a bit of passenger work. Cheers Peter.

I was getting a few things ready to sell on Ebay the other day one loco needed a bit of weathering and while I had the paint out I weathered up an old Bachmann Standard 4. It has been sat under the layout for ages, but now its done I think I might just keep it. I put it on the layout and took a few pics then paired it up with my old 4F, apart from the Blue grey coach it made me think of the S&D, which I was first introduced too when I was about 14. I was given the chance to operate an S&D layout at an exhibition. I think the thing that really grabbed me was I was allowed to double head trains and running an old 9f on a rake of Lima Maroon MK1s made my day. The owner of the layout lent me some books on the S&D and not long after that I had my own OPC Ivo Peters S&D book. I think now that Bachmann have announced a 4f I think we might see a few more S&D based layouts though they have always been popular. A new 2P is all thats needed to complete the set. Cheers Peter.

Nice to hear 45036 is being keeped busy on passenger work. Their were some members of the Peak Army seen in the front coach along with some other bashers. Buffer beam pipework on the Peak is Shawplan they do packets of air, main res and vac pipes. My Bachmann 37 and 47s have the ones that come with the loco as do my Heljan class 33s and Hornby 08 and class 31. You can buy the Hornby detail packs from Hornbyspares I think. They are quite good. I have pipework and Kadee's both ends of my loco's and there is an article in MI 2 on how I do this with a few pics. Cheers Peter.

Hi Merf, Oh yes, had a quick look last night, I did like 37519 in red stripe liv on test, very tempting. Nice selection of 47s too. keep them coming. Cheers Peter.

Hi Lee, Yes I enjoyed the BR blue days I just wish I had gone out more and taken more pics but then I didn't have much money back then ( funny that still don't) and drinking beer at the pub won too often. Just imagine if you could have had a digital camera back in the 80s. Re the trackside weathering do you mean the ballast area or the green stuff? I think what you have done so fer looks pretty bloody good and you are woring in a smaller scale. Cheers Peter.

Real flying seagulls, thats brilliant. Nice pics too Paul, I do like that class 27 what a beast. Cheers Peter.

Hi Dave, I am happy with the new bit though this year I am concentrating on finishing the station area though I haven't done much recently. The tunnel mouth on the new bit will probably not be used it's just sat there to give me an idea where the senic break is going to be. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Jeff, I think there are a couple of things that have helped me out there. One would be people like Larry who were out taking photo's during that period. I was out a bit during this time so my pics are useful too, and having seen, heard and smel,t for example a class 33 storm past on a rake of MK1s is something you are not likely to forget. I think having worked on the railway helps too as you get an idea for how the real railway runs. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Mark, I need to stop playing trains and get on with the layout, the weather is going to be cooler this week so I might get out there. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Lee, You mean two of the finest loco's ever built and yes a Duff we used to call'em Spoons as well. I wasn't really a class 47 fan until I worked on the railway and had a few rides in them, i realised they were a pretty good machine and there wasn't anything they couldn't pull. Cheers Peter.

Well if you do have any questions ask away though I am sure your new layout will look superb if your Settle-Carlisle layout is anything to go by. Now back to Peaks, and 45036. We only talked about this loco the other day and suprise suprise a tatty 45036 turned up on a special yesterday. Here is 45036 with only a few months left in service on the 1Z68 Manchester- Llanbourne. Cheers Peter.

Did someone mention cake. Well done on the first birthday. Cheers Peter.

Hi Damian, Really enjoying the pics, it must be good to have the layout set up so you can take a few pics and set up some shots to show it all off. Loved to shot looking over from the path with a glimpse of locos between the wagons. Cheers Peter.

Hi Daz, I am really happy with the extension, it does look good with trains streching their legs on a bit of mainline. Not sure about cracking progress though, I have been pretty slack so far this year. I am planning to get a few buildings done this year and I haven't made a very good start. I was feeling a bit quilty about running trains the other day but hey at the end of the day thats what I am building it for. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Rob, I am lucky to have a garage for my layout, though more space means more track that needs to be cleaned. For one person I don't think I would go much bigger. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Scott, The great thing about this hobby is that you learn stuff all the time, I would be lost without forums like this. Cheers Peter.

Hi Alex, Great to see you back on here, I do have some of those mags and do remember seeing some B&W pics taken at the Junction, fair chance they were taken by Larry. Cheers Peter.

Thanks Jeff, The tunnels are I think Peco, not sure if you can still get them though. I have had these for years. Cheers Peter.

Hi Rick, I do like 33112 I remember seeing it with it's Templecombe nameplates and crests. Is that your weathering? looks good. Sounds like you have quite a trip planned, is the new layout going to be something Southern with third rail? Cheers Peter.

Hi Leon, The latest pics look great, but the red stripe 47 on the depot has to be the best. I always liked that livery. Cheers Peter.