Alcanman

Hey Joe! Not much happening at the moment. Weathered a new box car this afternoon and I'm hoping to do a new video soon.

Great to have you back Peter. I hope you will be posting pics of your excellent layouts. Mal

I've used a Noch Grasmaster for some years, and although it is expensive, it works very well. In addition to selecting the right shades of green it looks best if broken up with other grass textures ie grass tufts, pieces of grass matting or other scenic material.

Yes Trev, I have great, happy memories from those days. I started trainspotting in 1964, aged 13, and at that time there were still thousands of steam locos around. We could never foresee how quickly steam would vanish. The location of the photo is exactly as you describe. There was plenty of steam freight around on that day but this is the sad sight of locos awaiting disposal at Kingmoor.

Trev, I have enjoyed immensely your photos of the last days of steam. The quality and, particularly the composition of your photos are quite superb. Sadly, I have been unable to contribute to this thread as my trainspotting days ended at the end of 1967 with the closure of my favourite depot, Carlisle Kingmoor. Football,girls and pubs became my main interests. I had grown up. Mainly, though, I'd seen enough of the demise of steam and had no stomach to witness anymore. The end of steam in the North East in 1967 and weekly visits to Hughes Bolckows scrapyard at North Blyth had taken it's toll. A couple of my mates made visits to Carnforth, Lostock Hall and Rose Grove but I had no desire to join them. My last steam photo - Carlisle 29th December Mal52F

You are wise to ask for help as many static grass green colours are far too bright, and worse still, some add yellow, red and blue to the green! I've had best results with the Silflor/Mininatur range using their early and late fall/autumn colours.

Your boxcars have arrived safely and are now being unloaded at Mass Container.

Great to see pics along the B&T. The sky in the photo of the 37 at South Newsham looks amazing. Once the weather warms up a bit I might venture out to take some pics on the B&T. Hopefully, to photograph the new GBRF biomass trains from Port of Tyne to Lynemouth Power Station. Mal

Another vote for the NCE Powecab. I've been using one on my small shunting layouts for 7 years and it ticks all the boxes for me including programming. Easy to use one handed

Great work. The layout has a spacious look just like the photos of Mansfield MA that I saw last year.

Railfanning the Marlborough Branch

Looking forward to seeing pics of Mansfield. I looked at the area last year when I was looking for a location in MA operated by CSX. Mansfield certainly has great potential.

Funny that you should mention a 'Castle' on the ECML. Here's 7029 'Clun Castle' at Gateshead although I'd really gone to see 4472 'Flying Scotsman' which happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Trackwork looks good although a little overspill of the rust colored weathering powder in places. Just needs blending in.

Mick. As you've mentioned Georgia as a possible location and modern era have a look at Thomas Klimooski's 'Georgia North Eastern RR' . Inspirational stuff and loads of great pics, videos and info on his new website. https://www.thomasklimoski.com/

Yeah. Plenty and they don't come much worse than this.

Good for the Pats but a shame the Vikings didn't make it to play in front of their home crowd.

Looking good and nice P&W power. Did the Pats win?

Kato used to do a NW2 back in the day. I had one in UP paint scheme and it was the smoothest running loco. Rails of Sheffield have one for sale. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KATO-HO-GAUGE-37-116-CHESSIE-EMD-NW2-PHASE-II-DIESEL-LOCO-5287-6R/201921439810?hash=item2f0374a842:g:-UgAAOSw5cRZFCtb

Here's a new video of Marlborough in it's rebuilt form (without a run around - cars are now shoved from Marlborough Junction) featuring my new NS GP38- 2. I love the non-turbo prime mover sound and the 'Drivehold' Mal

Nice to see you over here in USA & Canada. I've seen your New Bryford layout a couple of times and it's one of my favourites on the exhibition circuit. Atlas are my preferred brand, they have always been top quality. Athearn Genesis are also highly detailed. My latest purchase is new release Atlas GP38, or at least I thought it was, only to discover that it's actually a GP38-2 rebuilt from a GP38. It is fitted with an ESU Loksound decoder with the latest 'Drivehold' feature (similar to Legomanbiffo's Drivelock) Superb motor control and sound. Mal

Just finished switching and here is the boxcar delivered to Mass Container. Should keep the customer happy!

Great work Joe. The layout is coming along nicely.

I've very much enjoyed your photos, particularly Austria (we seemed to have visited around the same time) and the Swiss photos around Interlaken. Brought back great memories for me.

Great progress. The mock up warehouse looks good and the scenery is coming along nicely too.