David Holman

May be wrong, but my impression was you can't do much with these Mamod engines other than run them round a circle of track, so once the initial novelty wears off, suspect most will have sat on shelves/gone back in their boxes. Apart from the general lack of controlability, as already outlined, they work via the cylinders rocking up and down like a see saw, as per other Mamod products, so not exactly prototypical either. That said, as a project for a tinkerer, there is scope to get them running nicely, but not for the faint hearted.

Looks another fine model. Who is going to be first in giving them some serious weathering? Looking forward to seeing the results.

Great news Paul - and about time! If I had mine again (and knowing what I know now), S would be very tempting. Lovely scale, lovely size and that rather enigmatic, imperial track gauge too. Sixty three sixty fourths of an inch for those who didn't know. Looking forward to reports as the project develops and what a jewel Elf is too.

After the delights of a week touring the south of Spain, the return to Blighty seems to have coincided with a series of soft days to rival anything from over the water. A good time to get back to a bit of modelling... Am afraid the Barclay has gone through another livery change, though only minor this time. Decided that my Swilly logo attempt wasn't good enough [far too big to my eyes], so it was out with the meths to remove it. Swilly locos varied in having the lozenge, lettering, or even nothing at all, so on the basis that if I can't [yet] get the first two right, then nothing at all is the best option for now. Currently on the workbench are two Donegal sliding door vans. These are scratch built, plasticard bodies on Alphagraphix white metal chassis, with Slater's wheels. Plenty of detailing still needed.

Had the "Emergency" turned out differently, such things might just have happened...

As long as nothing is getting hot, would hope all is well.

Fantastic bit of work. Love it when simple ingredients come together like this - and the paint job is superb. Not just the wood but that lovely dark rust on the ironwork

Another 'Oh my!' from me Ken. The loco looks great and am sure the detailing will gild the lily, as it were.

Excellent! Though credit must go to Alan and Ken for the idea in the first place. Personally, I'm waiting for the woodwork muse before I begin mine...

For Ian Rathbone's book on painting and lining and he does the same. Reading about it not quite the same as doing it though!

Stuff! The bandof our lives, JB - we all have way too much of it. Be ruthless? Easier said than done. Reorganize? As above Dig down? Expand upwards or outwards? All down to money... Don't envy you.

Thanks again folks, but am starting to think my time would be better spent working on my hand lettering skills. That said, fine white marker pens are hard to find, so looks like I need to practice more with my lining pens!

I much prefer the "original" Thomas series, as voiced by Ringo Starr. Main reason being they were actual films, which used (I think) Gauge One models and were based on the Awdrey books. Less sure about all the new stuff, which seems a bit twee and cartoon like. Nostalgia IS what it used to be! However, if it gets kids interested in railways, that's fine by me. Serious, 0 gauge modellers should note that the Connoisseur LNER Wisbech and Upwell Tramway etched brass kit comes complete with a nice set of Toby nameplates. Built one years ago and bought the Awdrey book so I could draw a face on a piece of card for each end. Was initially worried what the purists might say, but it just made everyone smile and kids loved it.

Me three! Fitted them to Sir Henry and they still need tweaking.

I really must try to be neater when soldering. Always great to see skill in action.

Shades of the Triang Big Big train - battery powered on plastic 0 gauge track. Got a set back in my class teacher days and my Year 6 pupils and I had a lot of fun building a model village around it. Before the National Curriculum came in, of course, when we could do pretty much what we pleased. Happy days!

Classy. Lovely work, Ken. Can only agree these things require care and patience.

Works well. Especially like the hazy view towards the station.

How fab is that? Great to know the layout is still giving good service and the new stock is wonderful.

Nowhere near scruffy enough! Brilliant idea for a shed and have occasionally wondered if anyone has ever repurposed an actual goods wagon as a model railway room. It would be a reasonable amount of space inside, albeit a bit cold and draughty. Near the Kent and East Sussex Railway, there are several refurbished wagons in use as holiday lets, including a GWR brake van. The owners usually have an advert in Railway Magazine.

Vaguely remember back in the early days of P4, that Scaleform (or whatever it was called then) held haulage trials. The winner was nearly always a rewheeled Lima diesel, full of lead. Whether they had two pancake motor bogies, or just one, I have no idea!

Anybody here got any experience of making your own waterside transfers and therefore advice on the process? Seems to me the main issue is that if you want to print your own, via a computer, how do you get white? So many Irish wagons have white lettering, but your average inkjet printer doesn't do that, instead relying on paper being white - not much good for a clear transfer sheet. Have been looking around for years for various Irish prototype sheets in 7mm scale, but always end up either hand lettering or picking bits from other transfer sheets. The latter now running low. Would very much like Swilly and Donegal logos, but all I've found so far is 009 stuff, which is too small, so will be interested to hear of alternatives, please.

Me neither, but do know the model runs well, is cheaper than many 00 locos and could form the basis of a nice shunting layout. Correct 're class nomenclature.

And I thought Cultra was a long way for a one day show! Looks fantastic!

Checkout the latest edition of Continental Modeller, which has something similar - and very nice it is too.