2996 Victor

Frustrating beyond measure Hope you've managed to collect the stuff successfully! Cheers, Mark

Work train looks great!

Excellent! There's also an interesting article on the Lake City branch as well. Well done with the supply car, I saw it but it's too late for my period. The Ford could be hot-rodded as was popular after the war. Cheers, Mark

Great work on the bridge abutments, it's looking really good and the bridge will make a great feature on the exhibition layout. Incidentally, not sure if you knew but there's a very interesting article on the Creede branch in Colorado Rail Annual No.14. Cheers, Mark

Whatever happened to this fantastic layout? Cheers, Mark

Thanks, Julian, that's brilliant! Ouray is an interesting layout as mentioned by @pH - there's an excellent article in the Colorado Rail Annual No.11 for 1973. Cheers, Mark

Great pictures of Creede; I'd also like to know more about Baldwin. I'm looking at D&RG branch line terminal stations for inspiration for my HOn3 project. Grainge & Holder baseboards are excellent. I'm using one for my current L&BR quayside micro build and will certainly be going back to them. Looking forward to seeing your next instalment. Cheers, Mark

Fabulous!

Hi Eric, Hope you're keeping well? Having been away from RMWeb for a while, I'm just revising/catching up on some of the build threads I was following. Roswell Mill was looking really rather lovely, but I'd be interested to know if you managed to solve your loco running and rolling stock wheel slop issues. A few more photos of the layout would be nice, too.....! Kind regards, Mark

Thanks for the reminder, Julian! Just ordered myself a copy following your recommendation, looking forward to receiving it! Cheers, Mark

Hi Julian, many thanks once again for your kind and patient answers: its enormously appreciated. Interesting about the trucks - the Kadee versions look nice, but once the lack of brake gear is seen, it can't be unseen! But as you say, at normal viewing distances it isn't too obvious. Thanks also for the heads-up about the E&B/MRRGS trucks and wheels. I've had a few Kadee couplers in the past when I was contemplating a logging layout and starting building a few flat car kits, and I was very impressed with their quality. I'm afraid your eBay link doesn't work for me, but I've googled MG Sharp. I've recently joined the SGC, and over Christmas I've been happily reading the sample Circulars that I received. I've also joined a couple of FB groups, one of which is the one you've linked to, again thanks. Thanks also for the offer of help - any advice is welcome, and I'm sure to have at least a few more questions about the subject. I'll PM you about the caboose kit as well, I've been looking at those on eBay! All the best, Mark

Hi Jules, many thanks for your answer - that's a huge help to a newbie in the arena like me! The E&B stock cars look great, and its good to know that they're still available. Funnily enough I've been eyeing up the MRGS listings on eBay, particularly the multi-packs, as a good way to get some stock car kits on my work bench, plus their flexibility sounds like an added bonus as I'm not completely decided on which era I'm going to model. Good advice on trucks as well, thank you - what are your thoughts on Kadee trucks? Thanks again and best regards, Mark

No doubt you've mentioned this and I've either missed the reference or forgotten, so apologies, but whose stock car kits do you favour? Thanks, Mark

Hi Jeff, many thanks for your reply, that's good to know! I hadn't considered using a turntable loop release: a great space-saver. I know there were quite a few terminii in Ireland with them but didn't know about them in the US. Wyes seem to have been quite common, so your fiddle yard turntable premise seems perfectly plausible. Next questions for those that know: did the D&RGW have a "house style" for its buildings? As mentioned, I'm thinking mainly station/depot building and freight house, but what other minor buildings could there be? Thanks! Mark

Hi, thinking of planning an H0n3 layout, end-to-end, set on a fictional D&RGW branch around 1910-1920. It would probably be a small through station or terminal depot. Features I would like to include are station building, a siding (passing loop), a team track that also serves a freight house and another spur serving a stock race. Do these features seem plausible? I'd be grateful for comments or suggestions! Thanks in advance, Mark

Sad times. I've contacted NG Trains and they may have some Micro Engineering 3-point track gauges in stock; if not they will be ordering some direct from ME in the New Year. Cheers, Mark

Thread resurrection: I could do with some N 3-point track gauges. Does anyone know if The Sidings is still trading? Thanks in advance, Mark

.....and his ear-hole painted green!

Hi Rob, I've not been on from RMWeb for a while, and when I come back I find this latest masterpiece unfolding! Superb, studied, delicate, understated work as always! Kind regards, Mark

Hi Mikkel, many thanks its good to be back! I know many people have had a much harder time of it than Jane and I have had, so we're being thankful for small mercies, and in many respects, its helped to have a bit of a de-clutter and rationalise. For instance, it's made me realise that I'm never going to build that HO scale Colorado Midland layout! I don't think the EMGS are looking for a new Chairman just yet I'm having fun building aeroplane kits at the moment, but the time is coming to restart the wagons. A gentle start by finishing off all those Cambrian opens will be a good way to begin. And I'm surfing eBay to try and replace some of those CooperCraft kits I sold!!! Cheers for now, Mark

Well, it's been nearly seven months since I made any progress on anything railway related. Thanks to Covid in fact, in a very real sense, my railway modelling took a huge leap backwards. I was out of work until early September, and in order to try to maintain a degree of input into running the household virtually my entire model railway collection was progressively sold off. Not that my better half at any time ever suggested that I should do so, wonderful girl that she is. The part-built wagons are lined up on the shelf in my work room but otherwise its back to square one. In the meantime, in an attempt to maintain a degree of sanity in these insane times, I got a few aeroplane kits out of the loft and latterly have bought a few new ones. I've been rather enjoying the experience of building some of these, something I've not done in 25-plus years, even digging out my Badger airbrush from all those years ago. On the bench at the moment I have a Tamiya 1/72 scale Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, which has been an absolute revelation in quality with incredible detail and amazing parts fit. Now that things seem to be on the up again I've decided to enter the EMGS Chairman's Competition, and I actually hope to do something rail-related. Realistically, it'll be after Christmas, and the first step will be to order some new trackwork and see about those baseboards, and I can also complete all those part-built wagons! Cheers for now, Mark

Hi again, Kevin, apologies for not posting last evening, but unfortunately some family matters took over and I wasn't home until after nine o'clock. The colours I've used are both from Tamiya's aviation range of aerosols. I like the even finish these give, and the choices of colours were merely what appeared good to me eye. Both the colours are available in jars if you prefer to airbrush. For the dark grey pre-1899 livery, I've used AS-10 Ocean Grey (RAF), and for the light grey post-1899 livery, I chose AS-2 Light Grey (IJN). I mentioned the external ironwork and interior base colours above, the internal planks being tinted progressively with a wash of dirty brown-black. The external weathering is by Humbol weathering powders. I tend to seal everything with a light coat of matt clear lacquer, again Tamiya acrylic. Hope this helps! Kind regards, Mark

Hi Kevin, many apologies for not having replied sooner - I've been over on Britmodeller for several months, playing with aeroplanes! The greys I've used for my Cambrian wagons are from Tamiya, from their aerosol acrylic range. I'm at work at the moment, and can't quite remember which it is (I used a similar colour for the light grey for my S&DJR items), so I'll check when I get home to be absolutely certain. The ironwork was Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron, again acrylic, in the little jar. For the interiors, I used Tamiya AS-29 IJN Grey-Green as the base for the wood colour, then tinted planks individually with a thin dark/dirty wash, building it up in layers to create the variation in tone. Kind regards, Mark

The opposite of turnwise

Hi Rob, That sounds like an excellent idea, and I think it'll be a very interesting layout to both operate and watch. I could do with a bit of a Eureka moment myself with a couple of planned projects! I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress and to watching this evolve, so do please keep the posts and photos coming! With kind regards, Mark