Well well well, give and you shall recieve...and I gave...and I wound up recieving a massive reason to push on with my layout and really get cracking on it in the new year. And they didn't come in the form of the three rather nice Dapol wagons I recieved from my dear nan, oh no. It came in the final present I opened from 'neath the tree...a stunning Hornby Class 50 locomotive, 50 048 'Dauntless' in early Network SouthEast livery.

I filmed and posted a review of this gorgeous loco

It's a really lovely loco, full of detail and with a superb paint finish, although I have heard mutterings from some quarters about certain errors in the paintscheme (e.g. yellow ends too dark, red stripe too thin, etc), but to be honest, in my eyes, the paintscheme is spot on. It looks fantastic, and theyve captured one of my favourite diesel paintschemes (the all-time favourite being BR Large Logo) brilliantly. The finish of the numbering and nameplates are also good, although I will endevour to search for a set of etched brass nameplates from somewhere, and maybe rename the loco to one that is preserved, as this is the role it will fulfill on my layout, in all likelihood. If anyone could point me in the direction of a site for etched nameplates etc, please do so - I'd be grateful for any links.

This has spurred me on to get moving on the layout. I have the dimensions of the baseboards down, the format of the layout - terminus to fiddleyard design with additional freightyard section - and rough trackplan down, now all that's needed is the actual building of the baseboards and laying of the track! Also, if I have some spare wedge kicking around, it might be time to give the 50, as well as my pre-owned Bachmann Class 25, some company in my burgeoning fleet...I'm thinking something steam-powered this time, perhaps a Bulleid Pacific or Merchant Navy, two of my favourite locomotives of all time. But I'm aware that giving locos something to run on is the priority right now, so that's the focus for January onwards.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish everyone a very happy New Year. Hope you are all well,

Adam