Yes I admit it I have a problem.......... I think this model railway bug I have is terminal, or at least it will be when the Domestic Overlord finally realises how many "Toy Trains" I have.
After a brilliant weeks holiday with the Domestic Overlord, down in Cornwall, a day out resulted in me becoming the proud owner of my second one of these. At only £90 pounds (I still have pains in my wallet) they are astonishing value for money, I know they have been out for a number of years but if you
Well I completed the final bit of prep on some of the Locomotive fleet today, on some examples from a lesser railway, I don't mean the Southern, but the LNER.
I know I'm and LMS man, but Foster Street is based in the Northwest so even though I hate to admit it the LNER got into the area, so I have a little collection for the odd inter-regional train.
When Farish released the V2 I held out for quite a while, before I finally gave in an bought one, it sat in the fleet occasionally getting
Well a little more prep has been completed on the Locomotive fleet before the weekend, actually I was just playing train, but they are my trains so I can if I want.
I have been slowly re-painting a second Jubilee on post-war lined black, and she has now got her identity and a spot of weathering. So she joined her sister for a few laps of the layout, no lamps have been fitted yet, as I think she may end up double heading. I would hate anyone to think I only have fancy passenger locomotives,
Well as part of the preparation for the Wigan exhibition at the weekend, I thought I better get some prep done one some of the locomotives I might run. I thought rather than concentrate on the more elegant locomotives in the fleet, I would start on the tank engine fleet, so I started some of the larger tanks first (I know this is sensible, I don't know how it happened but I thought I would give it a try). The first to get some attention was my attempts to represent a Fowler and Fairburn 2-6-
Well another post in a short space of time, I will have to be careful in case it becomes a habit? Don't worry it wont, but this entry will be more of a list of questions.
I have been thinking for a few weeks of starting a new layout, Foster Street still has a few exhibition commitments and will not be scrapped, but as the number of outstanding jobs on it decreases I need something new to keep me out of trouble.
So the next layout will be designed to be taken to exhibitions, that is of co
Is it just me this happens to, or are there other modellers out there who suffer from the same condition?
how come whenever I set out to complete a task, just before I do and sit back all smug with my achievement I managed to start another project? It all started this weekend, Foster Street is due to make its exhibition debut at the Weston on Trent 2014 show and I have a list of things I need to complete.
Now Foster street is only 10 feet long and about 2.5 feet wide, so in the grand sch
Well my on-going battle with the string of 14T tank wagons continues and has got as far as them all receiving an initial coat of grime.
As usual with me I think they look far too clean, the Domestics Overlord has commented in the past that if I could get them as dirty as I manage to get my shirt cuffs I still would not be happy.
Call me suspicious but I'm beginning to think its not a comment on my weathering prowess but maybe targeted more roundly at me. I personally believe when it come
Well since the last update I have come to realise as few things, some more important than others but the major discoveries are.
1. Modelling time is still incredibly rare. 2. I found my box of tanks wagons and a couple of other things that will remain secret. 3. I think I have a bit of a collecting problem.
My last update highlighted a couple of bargain Shell Electrical Oils wagons I found in a local box shifters, I remembered that I already had maybe 4 or 5 of these and that they were i
Well modelling time has been very, very scarce since my last update, in fact it been non existent, and a completely out of the blue visit today to a local "box shifter" resulted in a couple pre-owned bargains. I have always like tank wagons, and I could not resist the pair, its only when I got them home that I realised they were not the bargains they seemed.
The problems is I have inadvertently crested another demand on my severely limited modelling time, as these will need a little weather
This is Tim, the Domestic Overlord. Paul died last Wednesday. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to come on and post this before. We were together for a long time, and I know just how much he loved modelling and loved being able to get things just as he wanted them. I'd like this blog to stay up here if that's okay by the administrators.
Lately finding time to spend modelling has been nearly impossible. I'm sure this happens to other modellers out there, but for me I either have no time with the pressures of work and general life then I barely have time to eat before I have to go to bed to start it all again or I have a little time and no energy to do anything.
Anyway I have this really uncanny ability to either find trouble, or yet more new projects (the Domestic Overlord, seems to think when it involves me its one in the s
Well if you read the Blogs by AndyRam you will see that the WESTON 2014 exhibition he is organising is shaping up to be the Model Railway event of the year, miss it and miss out (I think I have missed my calling in publicity ), the only thing that may put a damper on things is that Foster Street is booked to attend.
So in an attempt to break my record for the most consecutive days without gluing my fingers together I thought I would spend a little time working out what trains should fill the
Well over the last few days, when ever I could I have managed to spend a little time on the projects clogging up my work bench of DOOM!!
The main focus of my attention was supposed to be on the Stanier Mogul and the Class 5 I was attempting to portray with a self weighing tender, but as usual I found other distractions.
A while ago I managed to bag from Evil bay a brand new Jubilee for a mere £50, the problem was the nasty manufacturer had decided to shame the poor girl by not only givin
Well a few days away last week witht he Domestic Overlord and our two dogs meant that progress on the Workbench of Doom came to a hault, but getting up to North Yorkshire is always a good thing in my view. Even better though because naturally I am always a good boy the Domestic Overlord decicded to treat me and I now have a an additional coaches to the my passenger stock.
Anyway I digress, before we went away on our little trip I managed to do a little more lining to the splashers on
Well I must be mad, I have the proof even though I admit it myself, the Domestic Overlord was right I am as nutty as a Squirrels tummy, how have I reached this conclusion? I tried to line the splasher's on two of the Jubilee's clogging up my WORKBENCH of DOOM
I had tried a couple of times to line the splasher's before but it was not really a success so I put off the process, well today as the Domestic Overlords ban on me using superglue is still active I got my trusty bow pen out,
Before I started my rehab I use to fine lining N gauge locomotives a challenge, but armed with my trusty old bow pen I sort of just got on with it. I have now realised I was wrong, lining locomotives in N gauge is easy, that is if you compare it to the challenge of using your non dominant hand to do it.
It has taken a massive amount of effort to use my finest paint brushes with my left hand to aid in the lining process, but trying to use my bow pen has nearly sent me completely over
Well not long before my 2.5 months in Hospital over the Christmas period (a good excuse for me not to buy any presents BAR HUMBUG) I managed to secure another bargain Jubilee. As usual this poor loco was in a terrible BR Green livery, I have no idea why the manufactures keep doing this, I mean they cannot be popular can they?
My plan was to repaint the poor Jube into a decent LMS livery, and jut before I could do this I ended up staying with the fantastic NHS, since I have been home
Well to try and keep my sanity while trying to line the 2 crimson Jubilees clogging up the workbench, I thought I would turn my attention to a couple of more mundane locomotives clogging up the bench.
A few months back I managed to get my hands on a Union Mills G2, but the poor was in a terrible BR livery, so the first thing I did was to remove all traces of this livery, as I thought it would be a easy task to re number and rebrand her as a decent LMS loco. Then my health kicked me
Being a simple sort of a chap, I have spilt the world into two types of people, Railway Modellers (even those who model the SR) and Non-Railway Modellers.
The problem is that unfortunately there seems to be far more Non-Railway Modellers in the world, which kind of make me thing I'm an endangered species, I certainly feel this way sometimes when I'm threatened with extinction, when the Domestic Overlord has to clean up the aftermath of some of my modelling miss-haps (hot soldering iron in po
Well the Domestic Overlord abandoned me last night, so in a vain attempt to take my mind of the monsters outside the house waiting to get me, as I was home from work late, I had to make do with listening to the Wigan match on the radio, watching the World Cup opening on TV and maybe do some work on the re-livery of my Jubilee.
So it was easy I had three objectives, and I think only one was marginally successful, for a Start Wigan got beat . The World Cup opening ceremony was terrible, and wh
Just a quick entry this time - Try not to all cheer at once
I need a quick break from re-inventing the laws of physics and more particularly the laws governing electrics.
I NEED HELP,
The bay platform, and the goods yard on Foster Street are accessed by electro frog points, the are isolated from the main lines by double insulated fishplates, everything went well, running was great.
After the track was ballasted and painted, second testing and everything went well, until now.
Well despite what seemed like an impossible task, I actually managed to find a little time this week to do some modelling (well its what I call modelling others will disagree)
Is it just me or is this nearly impossible?
For example during the week, I generally get up for each morning at 5-5:30 am start on my first work emails or tasks at about 6am. Then fit in a breakfast of Coffee and a shower, then leave for the office at around 8am, arrive at 9am. Then the easy task of working lunch
Well its been a weird weekend, feeling really washed out on Saturday I really had no energy to do any modelling, my brain was willing but my body refused to cooperate so I spent the time on my other pastime SULKING. Thankfully I was able to wallow in my own misery and the Domestic Overlord was away for the day visiting family.
Today though I decided enough was enough, and getting the domestic chores out of the way, like the good little boy that I am I decided to play with my trainset. The st
Well the good news is this will be a very short update, in fact it will probably take me longer to type this than I have actually spent modelling (I can use multiple fingers - the problem is it multiplies the mistakes )
Anyway I have made a little progress on the streets around Foster Street and as you can see the Street lights are starting to go up, even though with the advantage of the camera (pesky thing) some of them appear not to be totally vertical .
I have even started to add a li
Well its been a strange sort of weekend, I potentially had a lot of time to devote to doing some serious modelling, which could have resulted in some of the outstanding jobs on the layout being completed. However, I must have angered the Gods or something and my plans were smashed.
The Domestic Overlord, bless their little cotton socks (well if you call feet like a hobbit little ) stated to come down with the dreaded lurgy during the week, which reached a crescendo on the weekend, which just
