The Great Bear

The design is a copy of the Scalescenes good shed design, which has been around for 10 years or so. I was advised by John from Scalescenes that that is not based on a partiuclar single prototype, it takes elements from a variety of sources.

In the case of the big engineering consultants most being US or Canadian owned and offshore as much work as they can to India to further reduce the skill set left in the UK.

Only now realised there is no GWR version with outside steam pipes, seems a strange omission to me...

Ah, right. Got it now, thanks, following your prompt; I'd misunderstood what it was meaning by "term has expired", I thought that was related to the changes in the licensing as opposed to my free license needing renewal. Duh. I've now done that so I'll see how I get on with it.

So I have 2 projects, folders within them with 10s of designs and parts (components used in mutliple designs). Now you aren't allowed projects. I can't now move any of the "files" to the top level, my only option appears to be to export each individual file. I don't think I can export stuff in bulk? As it stands I can't do anything with the software. I can't even start a new design. A right pain

Looks great, lovely, interesting buidlings which the weathering enhances.

Even the offstage bits on this layout are spotlessly tidy! Interesting, that you've chosen to operate the fiddle yard points manually - for me, that was one of the attractions of DCC being able to set up macros to set routes through the fiddle yard.

Stretching it a long way admitteddly , the little community on Flats Lane and Knox Grave Lane near Weeford on Phase 1. The residents wanted to move together to new location. What the railway missed, the side road realingment didn't.

It's not your skills that are modest, you are. I wish I could produce coaches as well finished as you have.

Very nice work, John

You're certainly using every last millimetre available to you in the window area and corner of the window reveal. Are those areas scenic?

The material roll that came with my CMX when new was corduroy. I don't use the cleaner much (layout most of the time covered in junk!) but it seems to be reasonably durable and not shed bits that I've noticed.

Even if you could just do the first bit that would add quite a bit of operational interest, exchanging freight to/from the branch and also the dropping off and collection of a milk tank for the creamery at Wallingford. (My branch line is heavily inspired by Wallingford but my mainline is set north of Oxford, the layout of Cholsey and Moulsford didn't suit.) Your river bridge is very impressive, I could not not have sawn those arches that neatly for sure! Good to see another western mainline layout, look forward to seeing more. All the best Jon

New Radnor?

And on the western, didn't the King come off at Plymouth being too heavy for the Royal Albert Bridge? Were coaches taken off here too?

For something that combines the flexibility of a DSLR with size toward that of a compact camera, there are mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. Originally these were a system called micro 4/3 (m4/3) developed by Olympus and Panasonic but the other big camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Sony) are introducing their own version of this - this is the future and DSLRs are likely to slowly fade away to a residual base. (The cameras have less parts, no complex things like the flip up mirror, so more profitable for the manufacturers so they are pushing them.) I use an Olympus OM-D E-M10 (Mk 2 in my case) which handles like an SLR and can change lens but with the kit "pancake" lens it really is pretty small and I can perch in most places on/around the layout and can remote control via using wifi through an app on my phone. Nikon last year introduced the Z50 which is pretty small sized I believe, I don't know if it can do things like remote control. Mind you, I agree with Olddudders - the gear is only part of it, getting the best out of it is the trick and I for one are still learning.

Curves + Borg. My mind leapt to Seven of Nine...

I've clicked agree to the previous three compliments but I still feel it necessary to add something - exceptional modelling, the roof being particularly stunning.

A few shots of a goods train... Probably the last for a while as I'm running out of working locos Most are in boxes and not fitted with decoders yet, for safe keeping until the layout is complete and everything tidy... which never seems to happen. Plus a few more are in various stages of disassembly where plans to detail or get running have hit the buffers of time/patience/skill.

Sublime modelling, the lorry scene especially...well observed everyday scenes

Last couple of the Bulldog...

Some close ups of the Bulldog

Having bought the Hornby suburban coaches when they came out a year ago, finally here's a train with them in. The second coach, strengthening the set to five coaches, is a home made C23. The transfers on the coach ends eventually will get changed to London Division; I think from discussion in the topic on the coaches such a set was used; or if it wasn't rule no.1 applies The Bulldog is a home made hybrid of Bachmann Earl plus 3d printed body. Running it here has exposed a problem, in my excited haste to finish it I didn't put any weight in the boiler, so the phrase "couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding applies". Oops The five coach train doesn't quite fit on the platform and on the up side it's shorter still the loco would need to stand off the platform, I don't know if that would be protypical? The siding in the foreground will led to the Bacon factory...at some point. Mind you the inset track in the goods yard ought to be re-done too. Oh and yes, I forgot the tail lamp on the train! More shortly...

I put mine on bits of card glued onto the ballast see here and following posts. My thinking being the card more or less looks like the top of concrete I shaped bases...

The Hornby buffet car is so far away as to not offend on the eye:) Topping up the balast on the pointwork is somewhere on the to-do list - or if brave replacing with Peco bullhead versions when available, though the cut up chairs I added makes them a bit better.