David Holman

Thanks Angus. Full testing begins later next week after NPQ's visit to the Aldershot show this weekend. All my points are 3' radius, so it will be interesting to see how stock performs. Fortunately (?), the Swilly bogie stock only has to stay on the straight bits.

Witchcraft and alchemy! Respect....

Coming on well, Patrick. Final details are what make a model and very few in my experience are completed without a bit of filler and a lot of sanding. Make haste slowly!

Indeed. Thanks for the Venom correction George. The pictures don't really show that it is now a nearly finished kit of parts, just waiting to be assembled. A truly remarkable solo project

Been there, done that. Well, almost. 61666, BR (exLNER) B17/6 4-6-0 Nottingham Forest. Twelve sixes in all with the smokebox number plate!

Good job nobody ever decided to give a loco the number pi...

NorthStar. Now there's a name you don't hear very often these days. Fine kits in their day and no doubt still compare well.

One of the nice things about building your own layouts is there is always something new to do. You can always play trains as well of course, so with with my two Irish layouts going out to shows in October & November, plus this new one on the go, I have plenty of choice! Next job on the BR layout was to get the track painted. So back to Martyn Welch's seminal 'Art of Weathering'. This has excellent suggestions for track work. The mainline sleepers are deemed to be fairly new, so have been painted with a mix of matt black and chestnut [Humbrol 186]. Later, these will be dry brushed with gunmetal [53] which gives a slight silvery effect. The private sidings, being much older & run down track are a lighter colour and will also be getting the gunmetal treatment. Martyn's suggestion for rails and chairs is to use a mix of leather [62], orange [82] and matt black for the mainline, but with gunmetal added for the sidings - along with further treatment to follow. As it is only a small layout, there is more reason to go to town with the fine details. Something that has been bugging me for a while is the ground levels on the layout. The mainline sits on 3mm cork, while the sidings are just laid on the base board. The mainline would have a cess running beside the ballast shoulder, so this becomes my datum, as it were. The problem has been deciding where the ground levels would be in the sidings - at the base of the sleeper or level with the tops, while road surfaces need to be level with the rails where there is a crossing. Ultimately, it is a bit like doing a painting - you start with the background and gradually work forwards. With a model though, you are working in three dimensions, hence the desire to get the base levels right. Another thing to think about was that this is intended to be a 'jigsaw' layout, with exchangeable sections to try and portray several different locations over time. Ultimately, decided to start with the permanent sections - the front edge, the level crossing to the yard and the area around the loco shed. These were built up with cork and card, cut to shape after first making paper formers. The same method was used to create the removable sections too. The removable sections have been cut from 3mm ply and comprise the areas in front of the back scene [mainly on the second baseboard, plus one piece to cover the join and another to hide the exit to the fiddle yard. However, NPQ at Aldershot this weekend, after which it is only a few weeks to Tolworth in November and Swillybegs first outing. Get these out of the way and I can hopefully get back to this layout again. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Just checked my own thread 'Clogher Valley Project', now malingering on page two of the layout thread. I built a first and a third, with both having just three vents. Never picked up that the firsts had more (they were much shorter anyway) and quite possible they lost a couple when the CVR degraded them to thirds. In the course of many exhibitions, nobody ever mentioned a lack of vents, though did once get criticised for a Guinness poster that was the wrong period!

Been spending the last couple of days making up enough DGs for my narrow gauge stock and also adapting everything to enable fitting. DGs are designed to sit immediately below the bottom of wagon and coach sole bars. Unfortunately I'd previously cut notches in the latter for the tension locks, so these needed filling in. Perversely some of my loco and railcars have deeper buffer beams, requiring a different approach. However, nothing too drastic, though a bit of painting will certainly be needed. DG instructions suggest using either contact adhesive, solder, or screw/bolt to fit the couplings. Mostly, I've used the former, though brass locos have enabled solder fixing. The two pictures below show a CVR butter van, re-lettered to Swilly. In the first the coupling loop is in the normal, horizontal position, the second the loop has lifted because the electro magnet uncoupler has pulled down the iron wire tail. So far, this seems to work well. I use the former Dingham magnets, now sold by the Gauge 0 Guild, but a similar DG magnet is available from Wizard Models. On advice from Gordon Gravett, I power the magnets with 15v, rather than 12v, which gives a bit more oomph. This also means the iron tail can be kept fairly short, which helps the loop to drop back in place once the magnet is switched off. The latter is buried in the ballast by the way, with the top level with the top of the sleepers. It doesn't seem to matter if there are two loops together, which is good, because with turntables at both ends of my layout, I don't want couplings to be 'handed' as this would complicate shunting. Locomotives are a different matter, because in some cases, things like bogie or pony wheels get in the way of the iron wire 'tail'. At the moment, am leaving the coupling loop off the loco coupling, relying instead on the ones on the wagons and coaches. This seems to still work fine and if you can get away with your couplings being handed, might be the way to go for all stock. The next two pictures try to show this. Among things still to do are blackening all the couplings with gun blue [paint not a good idea] and tidying up all the buffer beams. Unlike AJs, it seems DG couplings are fairly forgiving in that the various bend angles don't need to be too precise - ideal for a bodger like me, though time will tell.

Which is exactly the excuse I use for Northport Quay. Go for early 1900s and you can add WL&WR too.

The classic railway modelling conundrum: so many ideas, but insufficient space, money, time etc... I find that going through the planning exercise helps. Usually comes to nothing, but when filed away for future reference may yet provide inspiration.

Fascinating. Many thanks Eoin. At the very least I feel a few internet searches coming on!

Always like a bit of imagineering.

Sadly, you are right, JB - at least until a new Celtic Tiger emerges. For now, interest seems to be all about another arms race and satisfying the ego of the current POTUS. Feel sure the latter would approve of my use of capitals though. Swords into ploughshares? I fear the human race is once again heading the wrong way...