Saturday 28th October 2017
Ok, so, today, I got to see my fledgling layout in its infancy. The overall track layout hasn't changed much since its original plan back in the spring, since then the layout has gradually come to the fruition, and now, with the discussions I have had with the project director today, that the layout track plan is now finalised and the other parts of the layout not shown. The main part of the layout is going to be electrified with the reverse head shunt to be electr
31st January 2020
It's the Stafford railway exhibition this weekend and so far my Bachmann 90 reveals seem to have happened on weekends where others are having happy times modelling too, which is nice, for everyone. The first of these being on the days leading up to Warley last year. Recently I had been coming to terms with not seeing anything new from Bachmann this year in the form of any EWS or DB Schenker/DB Cargo era (Era 10 and 11) liveried locos, we saw them debut in RfD, Inter
In the words of the great Richard Wilson
I doooooo not beeeeliieeeeeeeeevvveee it...
For the last few months, I have been trying to explore ways to have my third Bachmann Class 90 re-liveried into my favourite class member, 90024 in its current colours of Malcolm Rail, (for those of you who dont know) the rail Division of Malcolm Logistics, who operate daily freight routes from Mossend to Daventry on the West Coast Mainline - (and a train which runs p
Foreword
Having had one's knuckles wrapped for being a little naughty with the status thing. Fair enough RMweb, I was in the wrong, I shouldnt have done so, so in the manner I did it.
November 29th 2018
So, moving on, the model railway layout project is coming on, how do i know this, becuase Mike and the Mechanics have shown me the bridger girders that are going together to make up the raised bridge feature which forms part of the central scenic section of the layout. One half of the
14th June 2018
After what can only be decribed as a ''frustrating'' period of time to get the layout build into what anyone could call ''progress'' The layout build project didnt have a time frame on the project so I guess I only have myself to blame in that regard, it just seems like, at the moment, the Bachmann 90 is going to be available, before my layout build is completed.
I have been trying to distract myself from the above disappointment by developing my loco fleet somewhat, I hav
Following on from pictures of Shed Two and the inspection pits for this, my loco fleet has evolved somewhat
The latest arrivals to the Johnson Street IEMD fleet are:
08623 DB Cargo
66002 DB Ex EWS 90019 DB Cargo 90037 DB Ex EWS
The above three locos have been professionally re-branded by ''Cairnsroadworks'' into the more up to date DB branding, as seen on 90019, several class 60s, 90019 and 92015 and also the Ex EWS style as seen mainly on EWS Class 66s, 60065 and 90037.
I ha
At long last, a loco arrives which I can truly get excited about. The Bachmann Class 90 and from what I can see, is something which really raises the game for AC traction locos. I have, whilst waiting for this, concentrated on getting a reasonable clutch of DB diesel locos, and where necessary re-branding and renumbering these into the newer DB style
08s 624 (Hornby TTS),
60s (DBS60007 Spirit of Tom Kendell TTS and 60100 DB Sound -fitted ),
66s (Ex EWS 66002, DB Cargo 66s 0
Loco update - 14th June 2022
7th DB90 at Johnson Street IEMD
As soon as it became apparent that 90021 wasn't going to be seen out on the network in First Barbie Scotrail, it was always going to be a matter of time before she departed Johnson Street IEMD.
Then, in a short period of time we were introduced to two DB/EWS era Class 90s from Bachmann, firstly 90028 in DB Cargo red and following on from that 90030 in EWS. With 90028 "Bill" already in the stable alr
10th September 2020
Those of us following the real world activities and operations of the modern railway have been saddened to hear that as a result of the unprecentedented circumstances that we are living with across the planet are leaving their imprint on the world of the railways as well as everything else. Grand Central who have emerged as an operator delivering passenger services to the eastern side of the country to lesser stations than the main operators and were due to extend
23rd November 2022
The advent of my layout returning home following the sad passing of good WCML and model Rail enthusiast Ian Rae in September known to some here as amertonman, has seen my OLE plans changing somewhat.
The original plan was to be using nBrass and whilst this may still feature in some capacity, the main catenary sections are here and now going to be using ebay innovator blueflash90 whose catenary is available on ebay currently.
Tonight, having
Johnson Street IEMD: layout and loco update: Boxing day 2020
First of all, I want to say Merry Christmas to all those people who view my blog, it has been an unprecedented and turbulent year all across the planet - and the kind which we probably thought we would never experience in our lifetime, the history of those who lived in the times of the plague seemed like such a long long time ago and would we/could we ever be experiencing such a thing ourselves with all the advances in medi
1st January 2022
Christmas 2021 falls later in the Calendar year and runs into early January 2022 in the form of the ex-Grand Central ''Bumblebee livery'' Bachmann Class 90 wonderfully replicated by @Squirrel Rail. Seen here at Johnson Street IEMD, having been out on test, with Jack (90036), having changed pool codes from WEAC to WEJS.
It's a real shame that the DB90s allocated to Grand Central workings, 90026, 90029, 90020, 90039 and 90021 (in order of
This morning 90031 has arrived at his new resting place, with the assistance of DB yard mate 66065, having had the necessary wizardry from @railtec-models to create the artwork to replicate as near to what 90031 actually looks like now. Thank you Steve.
It was then the turn of Jerry @Squirrel Rail to create a significant aged look inspired by the actual example but not necessarily every blemish - the 90 in my world would likely have worked more so would be less aged now :-).
15th February2020
Love is in the air @Johnson Street.
Okay, so we are twenty four hours back from Valentines day, but the perfect sight for the forthcoming layout is the sight of the Malcolm Rail Bachmann Class 90 fitted with DCC Sound. Below is a link to my fledgling YouTube space and the Malcolm 90 going through a start up with DCC sound.
Today is the second day of Warley and most model railway peeps will be raving about what they found, who or what they saw, what they bought from the nations most prestigious event, so it seems fitting that today would be the day of the big reveal, the Bachmann Class 90 in the liveries that I have been craving, DB Cargo.
I have been waiting for this one for a little while, so the time it's taken Bachmann to get it to production plus the planning and repaint time to get into the liver(
5th March 2020
It was my intention to get to see layout progression with the layout builder and local model shop owner, but with Johnson Street having some running issues, he offered me the chance to have a running session nearby at Stacton Tressell. It was a chance to give my three DB 90s some running opportunity, something they havent had for a while and at the time of writing this several weeks later (22nd March) I'm so glad I did. 90024, 90028 and 90034 all got some running time
Bachmann DB 90024 in Malcolm Rail
This evening, I had to pinch myself a further time. The Bachmann Class 90, reliveried by some bright spark, yes, a ha, no pun intended (sparky wires... ) ... connected to Olivia's Trains.
Ever since the Bachmann Class 90 was announced, and with modelling modern electric as I am, this livery was something i was looking forward to seeing. I had sometime ago chosen to focus my efforts around EWS and the transition into DBS/DBC. Class 90s hav
13th September 2022
Following the sad passing of good friend, modelling right hand man and West Coast mainline Enthusiast Ian who went back by the username @amertonman last week , the layout has returned home to its rightful place, its about 90% completed in the main. The OLE still needs to be plumbed in and the fiddle yard track still needs to built and set up but this latter aspect was always going to be some way down the line. A programming track is also part of the plan as well,
24th January 2019
I write this, having come back from a night shift and being a little sort of a loose end... the layout hasnt made any more progress as far as I am aware but the loco fleet for Johnson Street has, somewhat, had an unexpected boost. I have managed to acquire two new locos, for a fraction of the going rate, the Canadian Maple leaf style Schenker Class 67 (018) as well as a recently released model shop exclusive Bachmann YIWI-London DB Class 66 (136). This ties up nicely up to
Knitting lessons - Friday 11th February 2022
The beginning of the OLE at Johnson Street IEMD starts today.
nBrass multi-track spans will shortly criss cross the main shed area, like the below:
The terminating gantry mast is a PECO mast with the cantilever arms removed.
The Ayr style gantry adaptation is similar to those seen in the below Youtube clip by fellow Youtuber Smokie Joe:
See between 0.14 and 0.29 ...
19th September 2019
Well, what an interesting evening was had by me last night, seeing the layout two thirds complete. I have attached a handful of pictures below - and I'm going to create an album for these.
20th September 2022
Following a lovely livestream from Rachel and Shaun of Angel of Crewe Youtubers -
This is a bit of a taste of what Rachel and Shaun get up to when they aren't modelling in N or OO gauge ...
known on here by @Mini Wistaston junction alongside the West Coast mainline where they plugged my channel a little .. I decided to do a bit more of an up close and personal layout tour now my layout is back home, about 80-85% done
4th December 2022
Having determined the specialist glue wasn't giving me what I needed - a quick visit to Tesco to get some superglue gave me the outcome that days of patience hadn't paid off
7th August 2021 - Malcolm (90024) and Multimodal (90019) at Making Tracks
Having first laid eyes on the Chester Cathedral layout on Youtube several months ago, seen below on Hornby Magazine's clip, I just knew i had to see it, not on someone's video as such, but get out there and see it in the flesh, there have been a number of exhibitions where OLE layouts have been present but this was probably the first where i was either (a) able to get involved in or (b) had sufficient en
Christmas is on the nearby horizon and in light of this, Santa Claus's sleigh accidentally dropped a couple of new arrivals in to the Johnson Street stable.
One of the Skodas I had been looking to add to my stable for some time was Christine, in DB red. 90037 had been going to Toton along with 90039 for new liveries. 90039 had been going for Grand Central liverying. It was all set to become the fourth of five DB90s into Bumblebee livery, when the news broke that the plan to operate p
