Greetings.

As some of you who follow my 2mm thread will know, the eyesight has leaned me more towards a larger scale in recent months, (though I have not given up the little ones either as I have invested a fair deal ). This second blog is to cover my efforts in a different scale.

I set to thinking about what I would really like in 4mm scale, and the idea of a small Midland Railway terminus/micro layout appealed.

Even though the allure of sound chips eg in my Robinson is great, in the end I am a Midland man, and there's no escaping that.

So I decided to take a hundred or so notes, and see where that would take me in the Bay of E....

Here is what I found, and I am pretty pleased with the outcome, even though all are by necessity, kits to be built:

A rare Ratio Johnson 2-4-0 tender loco, complete with gears and motor. Cost £50

Two Ratio coaches - a 48ft clerestory and a suburban third. There is the branchline passengers taken care of for an outlay of £18.

(I missed out on a Johnson 2F 0-6-0 kit, though that would have taken me well over the 100 mark!)

Cooper Crafts then supplied me with 5 MR Slater wagon kits and a guards van kit for £42

So for the princely sum of £110 I have the basis for a small branch terminus perhaps in late LMS days, to where a rather ancient 2-4-0 has been retired to work out its days.

Of course, I already have the track and turnouts, courtesy of C+L , though I have not ruled out attempting to use Templot more creatively and building some more flowing trackwork from scratch.

After all, we have some long winter nights ahead of us....

On that note, I'll raise my glass of single malt and say,

Cheers!

Chris