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The last building The last shop is also closed. It’s an ironmongers shop, called A. Leach & Co. Ironmongers limited Different appearance The shop sign is created by myself using Publisher. One of the advantages for me is that I can save my Publisher creation as a jpeg file. The shop is made with different textures from different kits and texture sheets from Scalescenes. The give the diorama a lot look at I gave it a totally different appearance with a lot of details. Modelling the shop The colour scheme I use was the reference for the choice of my textures. Windows are made in the same way as for the second building. I used the glazing with grime texture sheet from Scalescenes to put behind the windows. Finishing I still have to do some finishing work. I want to place some sky at the side and in the back of the building. There are also some small parts that need attention. Scene The diorama is made to show a delivery scene. The delivery scene will be part of my story, by using the photographs I make from the scene. I have some thoughts how to do this but I must work this out first. I also want to use it as presentation diorama for one of my 1950’s cars. The British Railways mechanical horse will also be used in my other story-telling diorama’s The whole building & the shop fronts Any suggestion or comments are welcome. Regards, Job

Okay, so this is the third entry in two days and will probably be the last for some time. The main reason that I am making it is to run my plan for a very small station past a critical audience. The idea is to produce a very small layout that will serve to ease me back into British outline and practice after a gap of 35 years working on American HO followed by O and On30. American O is a great scale and is 1/4 inch to the foot and is very easy to work in. Now I've got to start visualizing a foot as 4mm, this is a real cultural gear change. Please take a look at the plan below and remember that it is four feet by one foot. It is designed as a through station/halt, complete with a goods yard, that can be operated as a stand-alone terminus until it is finally incorporated into the greater scheme of things. Okay, so am I on the right track? Will it work? Please let me know your views, together with suggested additions. Does it need signaling? Would the GWR have built a ground frame, or small signal box to control the yard, or would the points be left to the shunters to operate? I need to draw on other people's knowledge here which is clearly greater than mine. All the best, Ken

Finally completed today .................. She`s taken two months to build and paint. Don`t think the LMS painted inside their half cabs this particular colour.......... Off to the test track now...........

The H26 is progressing nicely, with the chassis now almost finished and bogies fitted. Just need to adjust the 6 tanks now all of which are too long. I also posed the h/6 against one of its Hawksworth running mates to see if I could live with the height error on a "layout coach", I can't stand the huge solebar, so I will now set to removing the brackets and rebuilding the ends using a set from my large window first. While waiting on the glue to dry I had a play with a Kirk Monster, the roof was always a poor fit. It's now been removed and the ends carefully re profiled to get a better fit between roof and sides. It now just needs gluing in place when I next head out to the garage and it will be ready for paint.

Time to start on a new layout. After Brafferton, I want a bit of a change; a smaller layout and a different era. Hull Bridge will be a Hull and Barnsley layout set in the early c20th. Hull Bridge itself is a fictitious location and supposes that the H&BR built another small goods yard just east of Sculcoates goods station, on the opposite side of the River Hull. It will be urban in nature with ranges of warehousing and goods handling facilities. I already have a baseboard, built with foamboard, that was originally intended for a BR blue layout subsequently aborted as James lost interest in model railways. I have successfully used this technique for baseboard construction before on Masham. I have also decided to go back to basics, so the trackwork is all copperclad soldered construction and of necessity I will have to scratchbuild/kitbash much of the stock. The buildings will be generally of card construction with brickpaper rendering. So far I have developed a track plan and applied this to the existing baseboard. I have made a start on track work with some lengths of plain track and one crossover manufactured. ] I have yet to finalise the scenic features and would welcome any input on the nature of the buildings and any photographic examples that might help me along. As always, any comments are more than welcome.

Afternoon I've been wiring. I'd forgotten how long it takes and just how many mistakes you can make along the way! But on the plus side, I now have the first board powered up and working. The only track left to build is the run off to the (as yet unconstructed fiddle yard). It's on DC at the moment but wire sized and installed for eventual DCC. The water works siding is in and you can see the prairie shuffling back and forwards on the attached video. I'm not turning the board over yet to photograph as it's all a bit untidy. I do admire those that produce beautifully neat wiring looms. I don't ever seem to manage it. There's a bridge to add along with a stone loading point on this board in the foreground (in mock up at least) before I work back towards the station, wiring each board in turn. Still, at least I can start to play trains!

For a long time I have been planing to get on with the missing coaches for my down Cornish Riviera Express formation, so now I have a Comet A20 and H26 awaiting building, just requiring a C73 composite (and the purchase of a Hornby Hawksworth third) to complete the rake. The A20 is an older kit from eBay which does not have the tumblehome formed, so this can wait until after the H26. Instead I've made a start on the H26 while I pluck up the courage to form it. I have long had a fascination in the 70ft coaches, so its good to finally make a start on them. The first job was to drill the holes for the hinges, why these cannot come pre etched I really cannot understand. Surely a far better design would be pre etched holes, along with 3 hinges on a single etch as per the end steps! Anyway, a great deal of time (and a lot of 0.4mm drills later) they were soldered into place. This was followed by adding the droplights, again I much prefer this task to be avoided as per some of the more recent Comet kits. This gives a good view as to how awful my soldering is! I am using Carrs Red Lable flux, 60 / 40 Lead / Tin solder and a temp controlled Antex iron. and trying to get a clean surface before I start. This is where the build has progressed to this evening, with the sides added to the ends and the roof glued into place.

With everything grinding to a halt for a couple of days owing to the descending fluffy stuff (now rapidly disappearing thank goodness!) it has been time to finish off some items on the workbench. First up, the first Vi-Trains Class 47 repaint I have attempted: The only NSE liveried model possible from the current crop of cheap 47's now being all but given away was 47711 'County of Hertfordshire' by virtue of this being the only NSE 47 that had cut cabs both ends after an argument with a rake of coaches at Yeovil one day, also it has a flush No 2 end as well. As per all my repaints, each stripe is individually masked and painted. I have tried transfers before to represent stripes on NSE and Intercity liveries but to me the end result looks like a vinyled FCC 319, cheap and nasty with obscuring of moulded detail so, each stripe gets the paint treatment instead. For comparison, here is the newly out shopped 47711 alongside an earlier repaint, 47579 'James Nighthall G.C.' which is based on a Bachmann 47: It is difficult to pick between the two manufacturers. Bachmann have a smoother drive mechanism and more choice in terms of body styles (cut/uncut buffer beams etc) but the Vi-Trains one is equally good in terms of appearance and moulding (I was never impressed by their 37, those windscreens I think, this however is good) and from a repainting point of view, having all the bits such as handrails already removed is a bonus even if it means frequent carpet searches for bits that have gone missing!! Also with the price cuts at the moment, a Vi-Trains 47 can be picked up for as little as 35 notes compared with the 60 plus price of the Bachmann, the latter also suffering by very few variations being released. The Vi-Trains loses points in that at the moment cheap ones seem to be confined to cut cab versions which limits the possibilities but at least it does not have the silly gimmicks of its Bachmann competitor with opening cab doors, cab interior lights and all that nonsense. Meantime, Mk 2 Air Con's are beginning to appear off the workbench: Mk2d FK 13575, the only AirCon Mk2 to receive NSE livery. In actual fact it is a Airfix Mk2d FO but the body shell is identical and the tinted windows hides the problems with the interior very effectively!! There were a few other AirCon Mk2's allocated to NSE operations but all were either blue/grey or Intercity livery. Next off the bench, another Airfix Mk2d, this time a BSO: I am starting to put together an AirCon Intercity XC rake as used on the 1S76 Brighton to Manchester/Glasgow services and this is the first to be completed. Again the stripes are all painted, no transfers for the same reasons as stated above. Unfortunately the rest of the rake (planned to be a RFB and three TSO's) has run into a couple of problems. There is a cheap Mk2d FO on its way to me for the 12xx series RFB conversion but it is stuck in the post with the snow problems, meanwhile eight window TSO's of Airfix/Dapol/Hornby manufacturer are becoming hard to track down owing to them going for outrageous sums on Ebay, seems they are a bit scarce!! Also a second Vi-Trains Class 47 is now in pieces on the bench, this will become Intercity Swallow liveried 47839 in time. It is just it may not have all that much to haul for a while!!! For those wondering about the 465 Networker, that is being kept to one side for Christmas time.