Timmy84

They certainly weren't thinking of N Gaugers! I've nearly finished 47287 in dilapidated RfD livery. Didn't look hard enough before embarking on my "partial respray" from a Triple Grey and noted later yellow window surrounds with black window rims. Oh God.... Tim.

Yes cracking livery. The slate grey has come out nicely. This one won’t be in it’s full regalia though and will be depicted as it ended it’s life working for Freightliner in the early 2000s so that lovely logo will need to be faded right down! Tim.

Hi all, A quick preview of what's on the workbench for Speke East. Apologies for the quick snaps but at least they are in natural light! Firstly I have done two RMC liveried JGAs to run in the stone train bringing it up to 13 bogie wagons. That's enough for now... Secondly two locos in production - a full run down of which will be given on completion - 56099 and 47287 (the first 47 in my fleet). Lots of work still to do on both. Tim.

Back to some actual model trains - here is the 08 undergoing some tinkering at a quiet moment on the shed road. I do have a couple of bits on the workbench so should be some new stuff soon. Tim.

Hi all, So with a bit of time on my hands I did have a think about the "premise" for Speke East in a bit more detail so here goes... As previously noted the layout is based on Merseyside somewhere between the Runcorn bridge and Garston. Having had a good look at Google Maps the most likely site in a piece of railway immediately west of Foundry Lane distribution centre which is now home to a shiny new "traincare depot" owned by Alstom. So the narrative would be that this site, until recently had been Speke East Yard. On the map below I have marked the "on scene" area and where the yard itself lies (I think there is evidence of lifted track on the satellite which adds to the fun). The eagle eyed will note the proximity to a well known model railway retailer! The roughly adjacent mixture of housing estates and light industry fit quite nicely. Speke East generates little traffic in it's own right but is served by a daily Enterprise feeder service from Warrington Arpley. This conveys various traffic including vans and intermodal wagons for Foundry Lane, cement traffic for Tanhouse Lane, scrap from Edge Hill and tanks for onward movement to Ellesmere Port. The yard is also used to out stable engineering wagons for local works. The fuel point however serves locos from the Fiddlers Ferry coal circuit, Foundry Lane, Halewood and Garston producing a mixture of diesel and electric traction operated by EWS and Freightliner. This gives me licence to pop pretty much anything on the layout. The wider map shows the location of most of the local sites generating traffic. Whilst this is all a bit of fun I do like a layout location to have a purpose, even if it's fictitious so this is my explanation! Tim.

Yes an excellent example of bottom discharge wagons working up from Cornwall. The traffic was certainly there, but I guess we have to make use of the wagons that are available. I also like the big blue Bardon Aggregates bogie hoppers that also appeared on some of the FLHH workings. The other interesting thing is that you see quite a few 66/6s on these flows - I guess the lower gearing helps with the gradients on this route. Tim.

On the picture posted by Swifty11 they look very uniform in terms of the area covered so an interesting effect!

Yep they are Ex-Cemex HOAs. I’ve seen them with the branding blanked out but I’d not seen them with the whole side repainted! Tim.

Hi all, A couple more shots I dug out involving the HOAs. 66155 leads another semi-cohesive rake towards Moreton on Lugg (photo at Cholsey - location now ruined by electrification masts btw!). 66050 is shot at Crofton with two HOAs followed by an RMC liveried vehicle in the first 3. I have this noted at a move from Whatley to St Pancras. Both shots were taken in 2013 and include CEMEX liveried HOAs. I didn't buy any in this livery as they were initially sent to Derbyshire I think but over time fleets get moved around and these are now regularly seen "down here", albeit debranded. Included to show that we shouldn't be too rigid in our modelling! What I could really do with now are some modern N Gauge stone buckets to run with EWS locos. I wait in anticipation of Revolution downsizing their OO gauge MRL buckets to N which would be perfect for my area/era as they were used on flows to Exeter Riverside in 2008-09. Joined up thinking would suggest Dapol may produce something to go with their Class 59s if they ever appear, although I am not overly impressed with their livery choices which jump from 80s (original) to 2010+ (DB) with little in between. No Hanson is a crime!

Thanks - I've enjoyed the HOAs and just finished adding loads. They were quite heavy to start with but I have faith that my 60s/66s will shift them. Interesting. I've tried decalfix before and got a nasty residue. In fact I subsequently heard that some of the transfer manufacturers don't recommend that product. If lockdown continues and I get as far as 56006 I'll give this a try! I am pretty sure the blue EWS used was the right shade. As a man with many blue 56s would you agree?...

Do you use a transfer or lining pen for Cantrail lines? 56006 when it was blue the second time is on my wish list and one of the main things I will have to do is add this to a blue liveried donor. These look very neat!... Tim.

Cracking. Certainly the best livery on a 58.

The Revolution HOA was always going to be a must have model for me and if I'm honest, it made it's way through the normal triage with the aid of a bit of modellers licence. As I have previously mentioned, whilst Speke East is based on Merseyside most of my stock is destined for a layout based on the GWML, west of Bristol. Most of the stone traffic on this line is generated from Burngullow in Cornwall. EWS and Freightliner have used a variety of wagons over the years to move various consignments but I must confess I can't find any photographic evidence of HOAs venturing in to Cornwall. There are certainly examples however of bottom discharge rakes being used by both operators so I have pressed on with putting together a rake that looks "right" based on the models available. The project prompted me to delve in to some old photos, at least to pin down the date that these wagons appeared. My stock is aimed at roughly 2008 and I was pleased to find two shots from 2007 of the wagons returning empty to Moreton on Lugg in Wales from London discharge terminals. Firstly 60073 is seen at Pilning with the HOAs trailing a rake of ancient Gunnel wagons (sadly not available in N!) and the second sees 66018 with a more cohesive rake at Goring near Didcot. At least examples of operations on the "Western"! The trawl also turned up some forgotten shots of FLHH's MJA wagons working up from the west at Flax Bourton near Bristol. I've got this noted as 6Z21, an empty move from Tavistock Junction to Swindon, perhaps between contracts. 66619 is in charge and the second shot gives some good detail of the wagons in use. I think there are 18 on so clearly I need to buy some more!

Hi, Very much enjoyed looking through this and will be amazing when finished. Here's a shot of my 37043 in N Gauge to help your thinking! I think it would be a fine choice. Tim.

And finally (for now) project 4 - the Revolution HOAs. A very smart and nicely weighty model, let down only I may say by the very plasticy bogies, many of which needed some adjustment with a screwdriver to get them to behave. To take the sheen off bogies I normally use weathered black as a base coat but these wagons do not have black bogies so had to use a grey primer. You would have had no chance going straight in with the weathering shades. I've only loaded one so far as I ran out of PVA. They are lightly weathered to reflect that they would be quite new in the time period I am primarily modelling (2008ish), at least in terms of my wagon rakes. My next two projects will be specifically for Speke East and roll us back to the very early noughties... Tim.

Project 3 - wagons - far less stressful than locos. I am putting together a loaded stone train and have acquired 5 x Farish JGAs in VTG livery, 2 in RMC and 6 x Revolution HOAs. He are a couple of the JGAs - the most interesting bit of the job was scribing the panels on the wagon sides that had been omitted despite being included on the RMC versions. I am guessing maybe there are some without them but all the ones I've seen out and about or online seem to have this distinctive feature and it adds some relief to weather around. Tim.

Always open to advice! Yes I can't understand the way Dapol had done it so it became a bit of an odd job.

Anyway. project 2. There's a theme on this thread involving small jobs becoming massive and this was no exception. I purchased a Dapol Class 56 that you may have noted peaking out of the shed on a previous post. It was 56089 with EW&S branding but I don't think the font looked "right" so I was always intending to renumber and purchased the relevant decals from Railtec. To my bafflement on closer inspection I noticed that the numbers were recessed, i.e. a the gold stripe had been sprayed over the maroon and the numbers stencilled so there was no way to remove them! I have never seen this on an N Gauge model before. Most would abort but I like to make a mess of a model before making it nice again so I set about filling in the numbers with microfiller to then sand back to get the surface flat. I knew this would require respraying the stripe but I also damaged some of the surrounding maroon. Fortunately all colours were in stock following the 66 saga! So I present, in more battered condition than intended, 56060, the first of the type in my fleet! The maroon "paint patches" covering actual damage work quite well I think but I am not happy with the edge of the stripe. I used my normal masking tape but didn't get the results I wanted but frankly it will do for now. I am also pretty pleased that there is no trace of the old number or branding so I did get it flat at least. EWS 56s were generally looking pretty good until their withdrawal (060 was still going late in 2003) and a Transrail class mate will follow in due course... that one will be a bit of a mess on purpose! Tim

Ah yes I found it on google maps - very similar to the premise for Speke East being "part of something bigger" and not a shed at the end of a line to nowhere. At some point I'd like to sketch out it's fictitious location in relation to the real facilities it serves...

Hi Dave, Similarly I have used "weathered black" produced by Railmatch. Thanks for the feedback. Tim.

Hi Dave, Railmatch do some useful faded paint colours so it's a bit of a hack. This one involves faded Railfreight red - although not sprayed as a complete coat but streaked on to give some variation. I think it works well - I've also used this shade blended in to EWS maroon for faded loco roofs etc. Do you think it looks OK? Tim.

Hi, I've been enjoying the recent updates on other layouts and like many others have had chance to progress some of my own projects over the last couple of weeks. Starting with a long standing one, RES 86243 with faded livery, weathering, basic detailing and a renumber from the original Dapol model. First shots with a new camera as well, which whilst an upgrade I'm not sure I've quite maximised the depth of field on these shots. Tim.

Enjoying the updates. Out of interest what masking tape do you use? Tim.

Peering over the fence..!

Hi Duncan, I admire your efforts here! I must say, whilst following with interest, they have made me feel relieved that I bought my rake of Farish models when they first came out before the recent inflation in wagon prices. I can understand why people are using kits when you regularly see wagons for sale secondhand at a higher price than the model shop price labels still attached! I am am sure you will get there and once weathered up and loaded they will look superb. Tim.