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Julian

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Everything posted by Julian

  1. Thanks for the suggestions to rescale the photos. I've had a go using Windows "Paintbox" and the resizing option so here's hoping!
  2. Oh dear - photo files much too big (about 2.5MB) so no wonder they won't upload. How do I resize them folks to under 1MB? HELP please! Thanks.
  3. Thought RM Web readers might be interested in my latest OO layout, "Portwey", which was shown at the Weston-super-Mare exhibition on Jan 12. The layout is very loosely "inspired" by Weymouth (what, in 4ft???), but only in that there's an island platform, a canopy over it plus a row of terraced houses on the backscene! The overall dimensions are 49" x 10.5", narrowing to 7" wide towards the scenic break and the integral FY. The scenic section is just 30" long. Track is C&L, with 3 Peco code 75 turnouts and a sole Peco set-track point in the FY. I use Spratt & Winkle couplings on freight stock so there are under-track magnets a-plenty on the layout. Operation is basically a single ex-GWR railcar (Lima) or a 14XX/autocoach shuttling into Platform #1 (nearest the backscene), with freight wagons being shuffled, as per an "Inglenook" shunting game, for some variety, on the other tracks and using Platform #1 when the passenger service is in the FY. Other motive power used is a Hornby M7, Bachmann Ivatt 2-6-2 and a couple of Panniers. The canopy is Dapol (still with Airfix embossing on the ends), whilst the building underneath is detailed Superquick, off their island platform kit. The actual station building is merely shown on the bachscene as a paste-on (Brian Sherrif) building. The signal box, in (extremely) low relief is scratch built and is based on the austerity, wartime box at Portland station. The lattice signal is Ratio, with MSE white metal finials. I've added shunting discs to the signal's platform, as the run-round loop is assumed to be where the FY is located, beyond the scenic break. Hope it might inspire a few others - you really don't need much space in which to build a very viable, operationally worthwhile layout, I reckon. 'Hope the late Carl Arendt would approve. I'm going to try to attach some photos to show the layout minus stock: I'm not hopefull I'm up to the task though, despite looking at the guidnace on RM Web.I can (try to) add some more if anyone is interested. Comments always welcome. Thanks.
  4. Did the Birdcage coaches which Bachmann is to produce ever run as 2-coach sets in BR days? Just wondering as a 3-coach set is a bit long for the sort of layouts I build! If they did, what would be the combination of coaches - Brake 3rd and a Composite?
  5. I'm planning a micro shunting layout (box-file sized) and want a very small shunter for it. Anyone care to comment on the s-l-o-w running capability of the Hornby ex-L&Y "Pug 0-4-0 for this sort of layout? I use Spratt and Winkle couplings, Peco Code 75 (live frog points). Any thoughts of an alternative (very small) steam shunter which runs well at very slow speeds? Thanks for any replies received.
  6. Julian

    Boarded up and Boxed in

    Very interesting thread. I'm enjoying this a lot, although I model in 4mm scale. I am a very keen Killin-enthusiast and I'm planning a min space OO layout, inspired by "Lawers" and by Killin/Loch Tay photos. Just got a Thomson brake compo and am shortly buying a Standard 2-6-4 tank. Shame no one does a r-t-r Caley tank, of course, in 4mm. I'm going up there in June next year for a family holiday, staying in Callander, so hope to walk some of the Killin line and have a look at what's left, if anything. I have collected a lot of printed material, photos, articles etc on the Killin branch over the past 30 years, plus the two recently published p/b books on it. If you want to talk Killin branch with another modeller/enthusiast, maybe drop me an email? (mbta1004@yahoo.co.uk).
  7. Hello MartinWales/Argos and Co. I've been a Killin/C&O enthusiast ever since seeing Peter Fletcher's lovely N gauge "Glen Doran" layout in RM in the early 1980s, followed by his "Lawers" layout in EM, to which you rightly alude, Martin. It's a delightful layout and small too! There's quite a lot in print on both Killin and Aberfeldy if you hunt around back issues of "Railway Bylines", "Steam Days" and "British Railways illustrated" (I think). Amazon lists a number of specialist books on both branches too, at reasonable cost although I've not found the photos in these to be too useful or of great quality. "Aberfeldy's Railway" (C J Stewart, Highland Railway Soc) shows a 26 taking water from traditional steam-era water crane on the platform, presumably for the steam-heat boiler. It also shows a Black 5 on a freight on the Aberfeldy branch. One of the Bylines articles has a glorious shot of a green 25 on a one-coach train (Thompson brake 3rd) on the Aberfeldy branch. Chris Ellis' "Scale Model Trains" had a layout feature on building a model of Killin and Loch Tay many, many years ago. What always deterred me was the gravity round-round manoeuvre at Killin, to get the coach on the "other" end of the loco for the return trip to Killin Jct - how do you do that in model form without using the Big Finger? That and, of course, the absence of a r-t-r 0-4-4 Caley tank (yes, I know DJH did a 4mm kit). Sad to relate but in N gauge, those hideous proprietry couplings put me off bulding any form of branchline, I'm afraid, where you need to uncouple the loco from the stock. (This is a man who bought the original N gauge Wrenn/Lima Standard 2-6-4 once upon a time and subsequently found that his Bachmann "new" version didn't run any better either!) I'm planning a 4mm layout "inspired" by Aberfeldy/Killin myself, using a green 25 and green 26, plus the lovely Bachmann 4MT 2-6-4 and one of the gorgeous new Hornby Thompson coaches (I too missed out on the BR Gresely suburban brake - 'sound familiar?). Did these 4MTs ever work the Aberfeldy branch? Would it be stretching credibility too much to run a Bachmann Ivatt 464XX 2-6-0 on such a branch - they did work the Ballachulish branch, after all? Killin has EVERYTHING going for it, IMHO: the "classic" branch line set-up; wonderful scenery; great locos, large ( not so large) and diesel (with a modicum of modellers "licence"); simple track layout; scenery; the isolated engine shed at Loch Tay station; more gorgeous scenery; fascinating operation; much of the stock is available r-t-r now too. Here's to all Killin/Loch Tay/Aberfeldy fans! Please can we enjoy the fruits of your labours please, on these pages to inspire those of us who are still at the "planning stage". Good luck with your layouts! Lastly, does anyone want me to post a list of all the Aberfeldy/Killin articles and photo refs I've been able to collect over the past 30 years then? Happy to oblige if it's of any interest? Yes, the Vol 3 DVD (see above) is excellent: is Vol 4 of much relevance to this geographical area and operation (he asks out of ignorance)?
  8. Just home from a visit to Buffers, Axminster, Devon. Picked up my pre-ordered Hornby Maunsell push-pull set, £64.95. Also got some LGB track pieces, everything I wanted in stock. Fantastic shop, wonderful range of both r-t-r and all those hard-to-find accessories. Lots of items you see reviewed in mags but wonder where to get them - magnifying spectacles, railway greetings cards, books, some local railway DVDs, full range of Tamiya weathering powders, many, many packs of Preiser and Noch figures and scenic items, squillions of glues and specialist tools, materials etc, to name but a very few. The two ladies who run the business there are terrific characters and knowledgeable too. Free tea/coffee on-tap and they are immensely welcoming. Not many shops where they ask you if you know why a "Dukedog" was so-callled but they knew the answer (said I was obviously an "anal fart" when I said I knew the answer too, all in very good fun. Lovely, lovely people!). This was my second visit: they run a great loyalty card service and will order anything you need, by all accounts. In over 30 years of visiting model railway shops, this is possibly THE best I've been to. Superb!!! Highly reommended, folks.
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