Having just arrived home from seeing the Trans-Lancs bus event in Manchester and looking at the various traders selling model buses, I'm coming to realise where the best location would be should I prototypically model based on what's in my steam loco fleet.

Without divulging too much, I own eight GWR locos, 12 LMS, 3 LNER, 6 SR and 4 BR Standards. They appear in liveries from pre-WW2 to late BR crest.

The three LNER locos (B12, B17 and J17) are all in pre-WW2 liveries, more suited for the GE section and all my SR ones are more suited for Hampshire ca. 1956-57.

I own matching carriages from all Big Four companies.

This leaves the rest. As I came from Birmingham my thoughts for a long time were modelling both LMS and GWR lines separately.

Then I had a thought ...

I realised thinking on the train back virtually all the GWR, LMS and BR types in my fleet could be seen in or around Chester. I first thought about the Shrewsbury-Crewe line but did LMS express types work that line? And of course ex-SR Maunsell stock didn't go that way.

Chester suited me by far, but of course no way do I have room for modelling Chester General, I would have to model the approach coming in from the west of the city but maybe imagine it only as two rather than four tracks.

I came back from the event with a EFE Crosville Leyland TD1 in post-1942 Tilling lined green, but it looks like some serious investment will be needed in a LNWR signalbox and more Crosville and Chester City Transport buses, luckily I have some information on Crosville as my family and I lived on Merseyside.