PannierTanker14

A backboard has been added. Next to create the building shape and place foam board with windows. Progress continues!

Meanwhile, in OO gauge Riverside Works:

I’ve got one of 60009 as she passed through Toton.

A photo of 60009 ‘Union of South Africa’ as she passed through Toton.

Will the Char 2C show up on this layout? Whilst on the subject, where did it go?

Quality stuff! Plus the addition of FTs makes anything look better

I can hear the artillery from here...

It certainly is rather awesome A layout built in a hotel is not something you see every day

Are the hotel owners ok with a layout being built?

that 33 looks like a fresh off the production line loco compared to the other engines. it stands out quite a lot I presume it will be weathered just like them some day?

During the Second World War, several Great Western Dean Goods locomotives were stored at the military base in Castle Rock as backup motive power just in case an air raid scored a hit on the loco sheds of the base. When BR came to claim Britain’s railway companies, all of the Deans went into service with the BR and most returned home to the west. A few of the Deans actually remained in Castle Rock until the railway was dismantled. It was thought that all of these locomotives were sent away from Castle Rock to be scrapped but it turns out, as the builders cleared the way for new housing, that a Dean Goods was still stuck in the old railway shed along with a few wagons. The building company immediately told the Castle Rock Heritage Railway and the locomotive was recovered and sent to the Riverside Works. To date, the locomotive has still not been restored and instead now sits in the visitor hall at the front of the Works as a First World War loco exhibit. The locomotive is due to be restored fully in a few years.

I saw two BR large logo grey class 20s in charge of a freight train in Nottingham a few months ago. It looked like it had gotten stuck as I waited at the station for it to go by for about an hour. Instead a cleaner train pulled by two 66s went through instead. Anyway, superb photography of these locos here at Seven Mills. I thought one was of a full scale loco

The time has come where I have realised that trying to model my first layout in O gauge without any modelling experience is probably a really bad idea, so I’ve decided to change plans and build an OO gauge layout which could also double as a filming set for the first pilot episode of ‘Bucket’ (a work in progress, as is the title) I have some previous experience in non-permanent Hornby train sets but none more than that, which is still more than my experience with O gauge. The O gauge layout the track will have to be wired to the board which would have to be done elsewhere, whereas the OO gauge is easier and is just a simple DC route therefore I was thinking about doing the OO gauge plan instead. The problem is, my OO gauge stock is knackered and I’ll have to buy a lot of new stuff if I make the OO gauge plan, whereas the O gauge stock I have at hand is in much better condition but is bigger and needs more space to be kept. After about three days of thinking about it, I thought of an idea where I could have BOTH the layouts at one time. If I start to build the OO gauge one first I would gain enough experience to begin the O gauge one alongside the building of the OO gauge one. After three more days of thinking about it I realised that this probably won’t work, which brings us up to today (2nd Feb). Both layout’s scenic sections are 4ft, with the O gauge layout having a further 4ft sector plate and the OO gauge 2 1/2ft cassette, which makes them both fit where they’re wanted so space isn’t a problem. A coin toss will decide what happens, but it’s looking like the OO gauge plan will prevail. The O gauge one will be just a shunting puzzle with some rather awesome pieces of rolling stock, like a whole Dean Goods. It would be a simple 4 road track plan with space for very few interesting scenics other than a grounded van and a pillbox in the corners. The OO gauge one will be a dynamic colliery setting with a live coal dispenser and many more sidings. This plan can also be used in the pilot of my upcoming twist on the classic Railway Series set around an ex-WD 0-6-0st called Bucket who works in the NCB all the way through the dark days of the End of Steam and into preservation (there’s another blog entry with all the information on that elsewhere)

I haven’t been to the GCR since last year. It really is a wonderful place, kinda like a Jurassic Park but with locomotives I grew up nearer the Avon Valley Railway which is a nice little railway but nothing compared to the might that is the Great Central. The AVR is like a little train set, small but good, and the GCR is like a full 60ft exhibition layout in O, massive and spectacular! any chance you’ll have a video of the event too?