Jake

She's quite a tall beast! I'm glad to have posed her next to other stock before fitting the buffer beams - they would have been far to high as tacked on in the previous photo. I know I could lower the height it rides on the bogies - but I'm not sure I can be bothered.

A bit of progress today. Double dock shunter has gained some underframe detail and a temporary buffer beam (held on with bluetac)

Thanks for the info. If they were never built that explains why I can't find a photo of one! Given it's a quick freelance project, it doesn't really bother me that they weren't actually built! Rule #1 applies

Making a start - inspired by this thread and inspired by this advertisement. The chassis is a model power US outline locomotive I had from my childhood - which always outperformed all my british models! I've fitted lights and wire mesh to the radiators. Obviously the body is two triang dock shunters spliced together and elongated to fit the chassis. The idea is to make a plausible steelworks type locomotive - similar to those that worked at scunthorpe and Port Talbot

Thanks for the supportive comments. It's 009

One more view that didn't go up properly yesterday

Thanks everyone. It's pretty much complete now. Unless I come back to it in a few days and identify something that doesn't look right. Just waiting for a good day to photo it properly in daylight.

Thanks for the kind comments. A little more progress on the tubs. They still need loads fitting. I have some fine chain to link them together. The horse still needs a rope or somesuch connecting it to the train. I've also fitted some facias to finish the diorama off

Some mine tub building in progress. And the horse is looking more the part. Just playing with some positioning of the final elements. Obviously the mining tubs need finishing.

Thanks everyone. A little more detail done over the weekend. I decided the grass at the front looked too much like a mowed lawn so I've added some longer grass (plumbers hemp) which will be trimmed in due course. I've repainted the chap minding the fire. I decided too that the horse could be serviceable given a repaint and some pulling gear so I've repainted it and begun fashioning some pulling gear. Other little details have been added - an abandoned v tipper body. A pickaxe. The main job left to do now is to make some mine tubs which resemble those in the picture. I have a number of 009 v tipper chassis's to use as underframes.

Thanks for the feedback. I think it agree that less is more in such a small space. So I've ditched the lean too idea and just gone for the bonfire cameo- mainly because I had a spare seated figure drinking a cuppa and a flickering fire unit salvaged from a previous layout. So after some tinkering here is the result.

Today I've been trying to figure out the composition of the rest of the scene. The cardboard will be a lean too store. And I think on the left will be someone burning broken pit props. The horse was handily found in my spares box. At the moment it's just a stand in for something better.

Thanks everyone. Keith, the point is a dummy. I just spliced together the two pieces of track! As I was on a bit of a roll I decided to add some greenery yesterday evening. I'm pleased with how it's shaping up. Next thing to think about is whether to add a storage shed of some kind for extra interest- as well as all the little details.

So, I've made some significant progress this week. The pictures tell most of the story. I've used DAS modelling clay for the ground cover and burying the sleepers. Polyfiller was used for the rock face. Sand has been added to the ground around the track to add some basic texture. The whole thing was sprayed with a coat of matt black and then the rock face was given a dusting with a desert sand spray can. Once that was dry I picked out more detail using acrylics. The caption to the photo says that the upper half of the rockface is limestone while the lower is ironstone. So following what colour images I could find I have tried to paint the rocks accordingly. I'm really pleased with how this is shaping up, especially given that it's my first attempt at modelling a rock face. thanks for looking. Jake