tractionman

Bangor NI

I'm really into the LMS scene, especially ex LNWR, LYR and MR lines in the 1930s-40s. It's an era too I am drawn to for the LNER and SR, and perhaps ought to settle one way or another on one of the three! I also have D&E interests, having grown up with BR blue traction. I do a lot of reading on narrow gauge, industrial and light railways, and have long visited lost lines as part of the hobby. All round railway nut really.

My modelling is mainly OO, but I dabble with 009, 5.5mm, and Gn15, and have just begun a small 0 gauge project too. A few years ago, after a long lull in railway modelling, I started experimenting by creating a small 'plank' layout called Spencer Park, which began life as a 1970s BR stabling point, and has since morphed into something NCB based set 'somewhere in the Midlands' (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49742-spencer-park-from-1970s-br-to-1970s-ncb-somewhere-in-the-midlands/). At the same time, I was occupied, on and off, with a long-term loft layout project called Westburnham (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50227-westburnham-1970s-80s-1930s-40s-combo-loft-layout/), but a house move has given me the opportunity to rethink things.

I have a much better loft space now than before, 21 feet by 8, floored and walled with a velux window and proper stairs access, so planning is under way. The current plan is for a 4-track mainline on one (long) side, 1930s-1940s, possibly based on the WCML at Cathiron or Brinklow in Warwickshire, north of Rugby, where I used to go trainspotting in my younger days. On the opposite (long) side I have yet to decide, but I'm considering a steam mpd that spans the 1940s-1960s, a time-span flexible enough to accommodate Big Four steam right through to green diesels. What to do then with my industrials, my early-crest ex-GW steam locos and my BR Blue diesels?! We'll see.