Galteemore

Various schools of thought JB. A backscene is not actually meant to draw the eye - as its name implies, it’s only there to set the scene, so is not meant to be too detailed, otherwise you look at it before the model! As Phil says above, a suggestion of sky might even be enough. What you are actually trying to do is make the brain ignore the surroundings of the layout - ie the room, walls etc, and focus on the model. Barry Norman has a simple technique in his book involving graduated bands of blues greens and browns which worked for me….

When I say, Crewe, Andy, I strictly draw the cut off line at 1923 - it’s all dead to me after that !

Do see what you mean Northroader - and you do have a track record of actually scratchbuilding fine locos so you’re not the average carping naysayer! I think the camera angle indeed has much to do with it. This view shows a slope but it doesn’t look ‘right’…looks like the hump on a Sopwith Camel…….just proves the inadequacy of Swindon design…..;) Crewe wins over Swindon every time!

There’s 2 crates full of As in Fort Knox already….

Excellent Ernie - I had been eyeing up all those LF flow bits of card that we have and having similar thoughts !

‘Next train’s gone’ ! Lovely loco - good effort. Nice to see another fan of the movie. From 2009 to 2015 we lived a few miles from Cliddesden where the Buggleskelly scenes were filmed. My first O layout was a Southern 30s setup inspired by the line.

I might give the WS ballast another go, David! I used Carrs ash on a layout years ago but found it prone to puddling and general mess. Need to try some new methods for new layout anyway….

Great work! Not a Christmas scene as such but you never know who drops in…..

Generic term is ash ballast. Some modellers have been known to use sieved ash from a steam railway for authenticity - not recommended as you are bringing all kinds of chemical nastiness onto your layout. Fine dust ballast is safer but a nightmare to lay and glue. Best option is Chris Nevard style with DAS clay. Although I would say that, having done it….

Nice tidy work. Some complex shaping there to master, which you have. Neat work on the door ventilators.

Look forward to watching this develop. Will be quite spectacular in 21 mm

Excellent choice John. As a child we spent much time in Leitrim and to alleviate the tedium of rural life my dad used to drive around showing us old railways - including the Burma Road. This was about 78 so it had not long closed. As a child, it was magical - a railway that looked as if it had fallen asleep and just needed woken up - everything was intact bar a light coating of verdure and rust…..

Thanks John - dead right on every count, although Dromahair and Glenfarne had unorthodox crossing arrangements too…. You can manage the basic WTT with 3 power units, if you assume that the 1115 goods didn’t run. So a daily freight from Sligo to Enniskillen and return, with 2 passenger sets either steam or railbus/railcar. I do have a small tank kit to hand, and a few railcar drawings….. Indeed, this will lend itself to modular operation nicely. Could easily have a few open scenery ones, and a halt like Abohill or Kilmakerrill……

Recent analysis of my modelling revealed some key principles ; 1. Building stock is fun but would be nice to run trains properly. Rosses Point is a great stock shuffler but you can’t run bigger trains. 2. Rosses Point proved the concept of building SLNC stock, so can reasonably confidently attempt an SLNC layout without having to add in a safety net of CIE stuff from commercial kits. 3. We have very little permanent space available. So any layout will have to be portable with detachable fiddle etc. 4. It would be nice to model something real rather than my own pastiche, just to stretch myself a bit further and learn more. Could I take some 120’ scale slice of the SLNC and model it? Enter Florencecourt. A simple but delightful station, which conveniently had the turnouts just away from the 120’ cutoff in the slice from level crossing to platform end! It will be a cameo layout on Ricean principles, with cassettes either end. How boring, you say as you espy the track plan! It is, however, a four layered project…. 1. The layout itself. The intent is to build this to scale as close as possible - point rodding, the works. So a lot of detail to work out and attempt to emulate. The viewpoint is assumed to be standing on the goods platform with the sheds behind you. I’d like to model them but they are a view block just where you don’t want it! 2. The stock. This will all have to be built from scratch essentially. So lots of work and research. Scope for oddities too like the GN weed spray. 3. The running. It will run to the WTT of 1950, 57 or earlier as required. With occasional wild cards such as a loco running to the works and of course cattle trains. 4. The operation. Eventually Belcoo and Enniskillen fiddle yards will have model block instruments and the plan is to signal the layout - even if by pure scale the signals are in the FY!

Last freight leaves Rosses Point…. The layout is now with its new owner so expect a new layout thread before too long!

Only occasion I can think of is if NIR was ballasting in the border area -as seen here at Dundalk, presumably to run round.

Could always do a ‘Castlederg style’ where the trickier parts of the motion are covered….

Lol - I was there when that set was named at Whitehead! Still remember it. Guess it was 1983. Went to school on Larne Line on 80s 1983-89. Getting an 80 was an average day. A good day was a 70 class. A rubbish day was a 450 class!!!

Looks the part. Nice NW Ireland narrow gauge look about it

JB - this is one I made from a 3mm kit, but Langley Models etc should do them in 4mm. Some parts from a car underframe might also make a fairly authentic one IIRC!

Agreed. Hundreds of excellent photographers must have walked past scenes like this and simply not recorded them - understandably given the price of film! But this is a gem.

Nice work David. Always good to see the rails going in! Nice ‘cyclorama’ background here. You’re definitely on Iain Rice’s Christmas card list !

Most interesting photo. Looks like final stages of an overhaul, looking at paint finish. Loco is in steam but front buffer beam is removed. Maybe a little fettling of the draincocks or cylinder seals ?

Just got one in from Galteemore Snr. Wow. What a book. Wonderful reproduction.

The liability question is most interesting. British Railways Board had a considerable number of closed properties on its books until 2013, including Chelfham Viaduct on the L and B, a line which closed some 13 years before BR even existed - British Railways inherited the Southern’s liability. The SLNC liquidators managed to sell off the NI assets within a year or so of closure, but struggled for quite a while to sell Weirs Bridge as it would have cost any contractor so much to dismantle.