Dave John

Looks very nice to me. A lot of work to convert to EM and get the details right but an interesting project.

Ah, fond memories. Those historic series airfix kits were part of my youth. From memory the motorising kit was separate and drove a small wheel with a rubber band for friction onto the main wheel. It was the same motorising kit for the beam engine and the petrol engine. Mine didn't go round very well either........

I knew nothing about the Southlands Wooden Railway and the involvement of so many ex-pat Scots in its construction, but the above pic led me to find out about it. https://the-lothians.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-saga-of-southlands-wooden-railway.html An interesting read, I particularly liked the quote ' " The old loco carried a lot of copper and brass fittings and ornaments, and these were at that time valuable scrap, so along with the cast iron cylinders, they were sold to an Invercargill foundry in exchange for a turnip ridger worth £28." Anyway , an interesting diversion from decorating.

I'd always have a resistor for each LED. The 560 ohm ones will protect the LED from damage, but they will be very bright. I purchased a couple of dozen cheap pwm motor controls. https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/332412126587?chn=ps Built in switch and they are excellent for dimming LEDS and mini incandescent lamps. Thing is you want LEDS to be a bit brighter if you are lighting the layout strongly for a photo , but dimmer for normal viewing. These sort the problem for not much more than the price of a switch on its own.

Runs as requireds post a page back has a railway connection. Andy MacMillan's father worked for the Caledonian railway. I knew Andy and one time I was chatting to him the subject of my interest in railways and particularly the Caledonian came up. Andy went to his extensive bookshelves and dug out a volume and handed it to me, " You can have this then, more use to you than it is to me" . That is how I came by my copy of the CR 1919 rulebook.

Wonderful tales as ever Mikkel and delightfully photographed. Er, as a wee favour could you pm me Miss Havisham's address, just in case she fancies a wee trip up here to sort out that silly McIntosh patent brake...........

Tony and other experienced modellers probably do this, but it's an obvious tip for anyone new to chassis. Make the first pair of rods as a pair back to back and ream them through so they are the same. As you separate them put a spot of paint of different colours ( I use red and green for port and starboard) on the back face of the rods. That way you can tell which side of the chassis they go on right up to final assembly, and you don't accidentally swap them over.

Well, Sherton Abbas deserves all the accolades it gets. I have really enjoyed watching it develop and I have learned a lot from the blogs illustrating the techniques involved. I know some folk don't like the blog format, each to their own, but to me it is an ideal medium for exchanging ideas and techniques, long may yours continue. The engine shed the other side of the bridge perhaps ? One of these days I will be in the right place to see it first hand.

Hmm, In order for me to have witnessed the era I model I would have to be about 130 years old. Mind you there are times when I feel like it, and at the wrong time of day I suspect I may look like it. Good points have been made: I'd agree that finding new and unpublished information is not easy. That said our ability as modelmakers to represent that history is constantly challenged by new techniques. Every time the rtr manufacturers improve so do we kit and scratchbuilders. Many things both inside and outside of modelmaking are in flux these days. We debate it endlessly, but it seems to me the there is an inate creative urge in folk. I am actually optimistic. Modelmaking may change, but I think it will continue for a long time yet.

Hmm. Maybe an old fool point of view, but I am. British industry died when it became cheaper to drill a hole in a 2p piece than to buy a penny washer. And they don't rust .......

Hmm, this topic does come up often. Ok, I use rail rather than ready made track, but before I assemble the track I clean the rail with a cloth with a spot of IPA on it to remove any traces of oil from the rolling process. I also think it's not just me, its something almost instinctively done. So I wonder if the problems folk have is due to a slight oil film on the rail left over from the manufacturing process with ready to lay track ? If so a quick clean with a cotton bud might help. I then solder to the bottom of the rail as described above.

I totally agree, mock ups really do help with getting a design from a sketch to something you can look at from many angles and see whether it all works. If I can I also get a photo (even an old monochrome one) , scale it to size, cut it out and stick it onto a rough box.

Hi Mikkel, the standpipes I used came from some scale link castings; https://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Scenic___Scale_1_76__OO_-p1.html

Interesting Jim. Did it get preserved? I had a look on the net but found no references .

Heh , yep it is a stone horse trough , Langley castings I think. It will get replaced since a yard like this would tend to have a sheet metal trough and a simple standpipe. A bit posher than the coal sidings which just have a standpipe and some buckets.