GarrettTheThief

This is exciting news, even though I don't expect the 180 in OO to be within my price range. I've always wanted one, and I'm tempted to paint it in the later Midland Mainline livery. Would unpainted models be offered?

Are these still available, and how many magazines is that in total?

Finding a local roller derby club and starting a new hobby (yay, something ELSE to push model railroading to the back!). Having bought a pair of expensive derby skates, I'm more or less committed. I hope to pass my minimum skills by next Spring's squad selection.

Here are a couple of DVT HSTs in the Midland region I took back in 2019. EMT was taken at Loughborough, and EMR at St. Pancras.

At what point should paint be flat out binned? I have some RailMatch and Phoenix paints purchased many years ago which were never opened and I'm thinking of selling (they were for a shelved project), but I'd rather not if it's defective.

This is amazing work! I plan on doing one of these myself. Just wondering, how did you do the roof handrails?

After doing a bit of recent research, Humbrol 104 Oxford Blue seems to be a close match.

Wow. WOW. This is amazing! Also, your mention of a 150/0 makes me think this thread is full of projects I decided to shelve, so it's a real privilege following someone else's efforts to make these modern units a reality.

This is stellar! I was going to build a 4-car and 9-car Meridian in the later Midland Mainline livery, but I abandoned those projects due to time/space constraints. I eagerly await the outcome of that one and the Class 180 (I'm tempted to do this one in either of the MML liveries, just because!). It's looking amazing so far!

Thanks again and for the feedback! It's reassuring to know I'm on the right track (no pun intended). I'm confident enough to take the next steps: sell the Hornby tender, buy a Fowler tender kit, and then buy a chassis with the motor and gearbox. Oh, and as per @cypherman's very helpful post, fix the chipped corners. I also need to buy a proper lining pen as I'm using a stupidly thick gold marker and exercising my steady hand Speaking of the tender: This is something that crossed the back of my mind a few times and would consider adding. Where did you get your step-plate from? Thank you, thank you! Though that is actually a Hornby body with bits chopped off the Amercom model, which has become a host of sorts for various parts now. I pitched the idea of making an Amercom body a running model but I took note of the very cons you mentioned and I would agree that replacing the moulded components is more work and I feel it's been easier converting the Hornby body. I'm glad I don't have to create the custom side rails, props to @ianLMS for doing that so neatly! I'll take SOME credit for the lining though - the reason it looks better is because with careful painting of crimson, I made them look thinner, corrected overspill, and then added some more lining myself. Though some parts of the Hornby body have incorrect proportions, fixing the lining and subtly weathering the edges makes a significant difference. Your plans for the Amercom tender sound good and in line with one of my earlier ideas too, before I ended up butchering mine (thankfully to no loss for me). I got a light laugh out of that, but you're correct! I thought it looked a tad strange, and it was worse before as I cut off the stand, so his toes were even higher up! A judo match with him would end VERY quickly, I'll say that.

I have a few Lima models that will, at some indefinite point, get similar treatment, so I'm keeping a close eye on this. I look forward to seeing how this pans out.

That sounds amazing! Definitely will keep my eyes peeled for that! Also, I've just subscribed to your channel.

On trains and games, I always thought about modelling parts of the Mojave Wasteland. I look forward to seeing how this unfolds further!

Now I'm starting to settle into the new place, I think I'll bravely post what I've done so far. Bear in mind this is the first major serious endeavour I've taken, and is a pilot for testing and developing my basic crafting and scratch-building skills. It's also my first proper weathering job done from a narrow selection of three powders (black, slate grey, burnt umber) and some white paint and I've tried to closely follow some tutorials. The rails on the end of the tender broke off and you can see where I've superglued custom rails. It's an imperfect job, but I doubt I could do much to spoil the Hornby tender anyway. It's amazing what a bit of subtle weathering can do for the blemishes and imperfections. I've also got a side-by-side comparison photo with the Amercom tender I butchered. I'm thinking of selling the whole Hornby tender as a spare in favour of a Fowler kit, as we've established it's correct for what I'm modelling. The front portion (what's the correct terminology for that?) is what I'm more concerned about. With the above in mind, feel free to pick apart and let me know what parts I'd need to swap out/buy and what I should redo. I can forgo the incorrect proportions if I get a decent chassis, the weathering is more on point and all the other components are correct. Sadly, I don't know what to do about the chipped front corner. Thanks for taking the time to read/look, and thanks to ianLMS for letting me post my work in his thread.

That's coming along very nicely, it looks fantastic! I'm still busy with the move but I'll be brave enough to post photos of my work by next week.

I've got Warwickshire Railways open in a tab, thanks for pointing me there. My immediate focus is interview prep and packing to move, but having a muse is definitely on my to do list. And you're correct: the Wellingborough Up Yard especially so I can use Finedon Bridge as a break, and it looks much easier to trim down. Hump shunting looks like so much fun, and easy to automate on even an analog layout. The operations as detailed in Midland Record 7 are what I'd enjoy from a goods layout. I plan on reducing the reception sidings from 6 to 3 and their length too (no longer than fifteen wagons as that's likely the standard length I'm modelling; anything longer can be split, which also reflects actual operations). The marshalling sidings will be cut down from 19 to about 7-8. That last siding will be the Henley siding, which is where I crowbar in the continental stuff (a perfect analog to how that part of the yard operated). Unsure about the Neilson and ironworks sidings but they may be useful to have, I just want to avoid over-complicating the plan! I'm also taking a huge artistic license by running modern stock on the passenger lines too; not alongside MR stock! It's a license because I imagine the marshalling sidings and signal boxes would have been long gone by the 1980s.

I had trouble because... I didn’t know what exactly I was looking for. It turns out the tender used on the preserved 1000 was taken from another loco entirely, and Comet’s Fowler 3.5k is likely exactly what I need. I’ve decided to stick with the Hornby model for the front portion for now and only sell the the brick-on-wheels in favour of the tender kit, so I have a full set of wheels/connecting rod/piston etc for the Comet chassis (if they can be used with the chassis and High-Level motor/gearbox). This means I only need to source Ultrascale or Alan Gibson G4851 12-spoke wheels for the tender. I’m a little stuck for the decals on the back of the tender, though. I’ll need a few as I have both a 3F and 4F that also need rebranding.

I... have an idea. To start with, it works much better than my complicated and haphazard switching puzzle. It also lets me sort stock from two goods trains, blast passenger trains through, incorporate hump shunting and even let me crowbar in an exchange section for the Marklin stock, which works nicely with a planned riverside micro-layout of mine (and there happens to be a river in the area I want to model). It will be a hugely condensed version of the prototype with numerous “extraneous” sidings omitted and I’ve yet to come up with a plan, let alone one that fits in reasonable space. Sorry to keep people in suspense but before I go into further detail, does anyone know of copyright on the Midland Record? I feel it would help my outline of operations if I could share part of a sketch taken from issue 7. If I can’t do that, I’ll draw my own diagram.

This is amazing and inspiring work, especially as interested in building their own micro-layout with some DB shunting locos (though I'm a little stuck on rolling stock!). I love your use of scenic break too.

Thank you. I'm happy to share pics once I've finished and applied weathering (only lightly, I'm aware how how much the MR cleaned and repainted their locos extensively). I've had another look and the whistle is slightly the wrong shape, which can be fixed with some filing. I also noticed the steps are outset a bit too much so that will need adjusting. A lot of issues would be hard to cover up given how wide the Hornby body is I've had trouble finding a tender kit so I'm probably going to buy another Amercom model and attach a wheelbase to it, and power the boiler portion with either a coreless or a Mashima 1424 motor and Roadrunner gearbox. ...now THAT'S interesting, and from the model's structure, it looks like it would be possible to attach a motorised chassis to it with a bit of cutting. It presents an interesting situation. The Hornby model looks nice enough once you tidy up the clumsy lining and with creative weathering, the incorrect proportions could be disguised (plus, sunk cost fallacy) but with a bit of work, it's still possible to produce a better model using a cheap base. Is it worth attempting...? But that's for another thread, as the focus of this one is modifying the Hornby model in particular.

I'll keep a look out for the tender kit, which can hopefully be adapted for the Midland 1000. I've got my eye on a Comet chassis kit to capture that extra detail sorely missing. How do you intend on motorising your loco? Sorry, by "front end", I was referring to the entire boiler! I'd woken up not long ago and couldn't find the right word... I borrowed from an Americom(?) static model (one of these) that was gathering dust. It only set me back £15-£20 all that time ago and it was falling apart anyway. I noticed some of the parts and proportions are closer to the prototype. I swapped out: The steps, which had broken off on the Hornby model anyway) The dome (the Hornby model doesn't have the correct shape for the Midland 1000 as it doesn't slope outwards towards the base) The hatch on the cab roof Various inner cab components Coupling hook/vacuum pipe on the buffer beam Lamps (which are completely absent on the Hornby model); they have that moulded plastic look but still drastically improve the Hornby model with a touch of crimson lake and silver paint It still misses some of the finer rivet detail on the frame which I can't easily replicate without taking a knife to the static model, undertaking some serious graft and risking irreparable damage to the Hornby body. Other missing details on the firebox and cab were replicated with thin plasticard, metal wire or brass components. I'm unsure I have the correct whistle, the part I bought looked close to what I saw on prototype photos and I made some minor modifications to it. I did consider fitting the Hornby ringfield motor into the Americom tender, but there's no easy or possible way to do it, especially without making the coal pile higher. I decided to work on improving the Hornby tender instead but given the issues with its base proportions, I don't think I'll ever be happy enough with the result, even though it's a marked improvement. I purchased the Hornby model some time ago without understanding its problems and because I desperately wanted a RTR version in my collection on my limited budget; my MR venture was only intended to be a casual side-interest after all. I ended up undertaking this project to practise my crafting skills for my more serious ventures and it's been a fun ride so far.

I'd love to get hold of one of these kits. I've only been able to get hold of Hornby's 1980's representation and where you can make minor improvements to the front part (which I've doing for practice), the tender is a different story! My understanding from other threads here is its disproportionate size was to house the chonky ringfield motor. I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Agreed. I imagine the final results will end up being shelf layouts of sorts, and my plans would absolutely require I build them around the edge of the room. Usually, the off-scene loops and tracks leading to them aren't intended to be fixed in my plans as they have go account for that, they just provide a picture if how they'd look and give some idea of space.

It will likely be a permanent feature, but I'd like to construct them in such a way they can still be transported (if possible). For now, I'm piloting smaller transportable layouts. Anything bigger is practically a draft. @Peter and @Chimer Thank you. It's clear I'd have to do an imitation (and I don't know if I'd have use for all those loops anyway!). At the moment, these are still draft plans and available space depends on my future permanent/owned residence. I'm continuing my research and considering other locations too. Appreciate all the feedback.

So this is what I got from searching for broad terms "goods/freight/marshalling yard" before I spotted Chaddesdon Sidings. Link/picture dump to follow! Present day: Late 1800s: Through googling, I've found other sketches of the area surrounding the marshalling yard: https://neilfergylee.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/map.png https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0510/1197/products/50-SW-1901-Derbyshire.jpg?v=1571438954 https://static.wixstatic.com/media/67d4ca_8976d25247ff4cb9a99b3cc843c32ad7~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_630,h_376,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/67d4ca_8976d25247ff4cb9a99b3cc843c32ad7~mv2.webp A couple of photos, one from a thread here I'm following posted by Peter: https://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?img=Y-16-11&serial=10819&page=676 https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/80912-east-midlands-miscellany/&do=findComment&comment=1430523 And finally, a short excerpt by Neil Johnson: https://dbcb9f20-8def-42ec-9ead-9e393451acd0.filesusr.com/ugd/b73fb0_7be686d0f63f4095aa0a5952842f810e.pdf Given there are few photos of the actual site, getting the scenery down would be difficult, though it may be possible given to make it generic-looking, allowing me to run stock from a variety of periods before 1969. By condensing the track layout, I could also model the junction to the left (though I'd have to take a huge modeller's license when running anything post 1969 given the Derby North-South Junction loop no longer exists, meaning I'd have to pretend Cranmer Road doesn't exist!). Finally, here's a diagram of Derby North showing the pointwork for the tracks to both the North and South junction: https://signalbox.org/~SBdiagram.php?id= 130 This could make for an interesting area to model, and hugely relevant to my focus. The issue is then finding a home for completely unrelated stock I can't fit in my other "plans" (read: dreams!). EDIT: I've also gone and purchased the two Midland Record issues for insight into freight operations. This will be fun!