Hi John83 & welcome to the site, as it's supposed to be summer time there's not too many guys on here, but don't worry about that they'll be along soon enough. In the meantime you could pick up loco's on EBay, may even get some cheap, for practice etc. I've never done anything like what your planning, as yet but I do have some plans in mind, there will be guys on here with lot's of examples of work they carried out with the various kits which can be got to enhance loco's, carriages etc. Have a look at the workbenches & you should see plenty of examples of repainting, weathering, etc. Anthoney's workbench is definitely worth a look,