Galteemore

Yes, it’s the kind of layout that has really gone out of fashion, but was once fairly standard. Peter Denny - whose work I have been studying a lot recently - blazed a trail in 1940s Britain by downscaling the concept to EM, and emphasising scenery. As modelling has ‘evolved’ - and as knowledge of actual historic rail operations has faded away - the emphasis has shifted in different directions. I’m just so sorry I missed the opportunity to see Castie Rackrent, which is arguably the best Irish-focused operating system ever built.

Thanks Paul. That’s a fab layout. It’s the sort of setup up that I think CJ Freezer talks about - the trains might as well be tennis balls - what matters is getting the block working right, and the rolling stock/scenery are incidental !

Sublime Ernie ! Especially pleasing to see what looks like an I13 at Bundoran. Gives me proof that they made it so far west and an excuse to run mine!

The tender has probably been used with an S class, as it has the slots for fitting single line tablet collectors on Derry Road trains.

That’s interesting. I am working on a blue engine next and noticed that there was a rather pleasing shade of dark blue that appeared in the late 40s/early 50s. Quite how it weathered to the tender’s shade has attracted all kinds of speculation. In his seminal book on loco painting, Ian Rathbone singles out GNRI blue as a colour no one seems to agree on!

Indeed David. I am actively scoping 3d printing myself. Now Laurie Griffin has shut up shop that’s my main source of loco castings gone…..mercifully I have enough in stock for the next 3 locos but after that…..

That’s very impressive @Broithe. Hardly seemed to affect South Oxfordshire at all! I see that Laois continues to lead the way in avant-garde sleeve styling

Something mesmerising about those huge wheels. Lovely loco

Fabulous. For some odd reason I’m getting echoes of Leiston Works Rlwy….

After attending Mass of course

And unless you are modelling something like a main line running into a big city, you won’t be running many trains! As has been observed elsewhere, on such layouts, movements tend to be sparser and more drawn out than the paying public might like. Imagine a layout based on a typical Irish branch with about 6 train moves a day if you are lucky !

That’s most interesting. I saw Drew Donaldson’s layout about 50 years ago, which was operated to a timetable. Part of the ‘evolution’ of model railways towards more scenery and detail has been a dropping off in prototypical operation. Many show layouts simply run trains - nothing wrong with that - but an older generation (Peter Denny, Norman Eagles etc) emphasised operating. I find it quite an attractive idea - the issue may be finding your staff! You can of course have one station and still run a prototypical operation with proper signalling, bells etc. Some day I’d love a layout with proper bell codes etc going on… there’s a few books around about how to do this, but as a start, get yourself one of Denny’s books on Buckingham

As a 7mm scratchbuilder, you’re often like one of those old American wilderness farmers who visits town once a year to stock up on nails and rope. I my case it’s an O gauge trade show - basically like an old fashioned market with small traders selling their wares: stuff you’ll struggle to find in shops nowadays. Next one for me is December - thankfully it will only be half an hour away. What happens when these traders stop selling (as some have of late , most recently Laurie Griffin, which is a huge blow), who knows?!

Sadly he’s dropped off too….would have been handy for where we’ll be

Indeed it was. Yes, London used to have loads. Jane’s Trains Tooting is the closest in now I think.

Nope. Used to be a few around but has always been niche. Mind you things in GB aren’t always much better. I live close to Swindon - home of the GWR - which has nothing. About to move to west London - again, nothing. On the other hand, we once lived in middle of Buckinghamshire and the tiny village within walking distance had a terrific shop!

Looks like plunger pick ups too ….do those have enough spring in them to cover P4 width?

Well done - I wouldn't be brave enough to use superglue !!

Very neat soldering !

Wow what a story Darius. So glad it made a difference

Thanks for that. Very informative!

Terrific. Always liked those locos

Main effort of late has been finishing off some printed cattle wagons. These arrived in fairly good shape, 36.75mm wheels already fitted, with just painting, fitting of bars (0.7mm wire was what I figured would work) and putting the doors on. As supplied the planks had a distinct curve across the length of each, so I cut new planks from 10thou plastic and superglued these on top. Make a very nice rake. Ther is the odd irregularity, but one tends to look at a whole train in the case of wagons like this, so it all blends in. Cattle trucks, like signal cabins, are tricky to make, and this has saved a lot of work. Just need to fit couplings (thinking of using S and W). The 7:20 has a few empties tonight !

Looks fabulous Patrick - well done!