Calidore

Superb stuff, Rob. I think you've proven here that there's often a big gap between received wisdom concerning the 'proper' way to compose a model railway scene, and the way the world actually looks... This is something completely different to the modelling norm, but it looks completely believable and (as in your little hypothetical story) it feels true to the experience of how we actually encounter the railway and feel inspired by it. ...and the trees themselves are great too! Adam

I'd been relatively confident that this was in the running as the recently-teased O gauge loco announcement. I'll take this and give myself half marks... Looks very cute.

An 07 would surely do well given the precedent of Dapol's 08 and Heljan's 02 / 03 (plus it has far better cuteness factor). If steam, it's a bit harder to guess. Obvious small GWR prototypes have been taken. Perhaps an SR G6 or P would make sense. Otherwise an NE J69 or similar, maybe.

The scenics look great Rob. And as always, the weathering and tones of the bridge / trackwork look spot on. I'm late to the debate here, but I agree about plain black rather than mirrors for the bridges.

Lovely stuff Rob, a bit of colour on the building has brought the scene to life. Good luck with the tedious stone work, I’m sure it’ll come out nicely. Adam

Great to see this back lash. Lovely cameo, very clever. Will be nice to see it weathered up and detailed — I can imagine some newspaper rubbish strewn on the ground there or something like that. I’ve finally managed to get out of the research armchair (aka the not actually doing anything chair) and started something similar-ish which might interest you. It’s a (small) southern region goods/parcels depot and carriage sidings… no fixed location but inspired by places like Blackfriars Goods, Grosvenor carriage sidings, the parcels platforms at Waterloo, etc. Will be sure to give you a nod for this inspirational layout if I get around to making a thread. Adam

After a visual prompt about the 442 produced this most interesting response, Fran, I feel obliged to throw another one in just to see what happens... All in the name of research, you understand... (Hugh Llewelyn on Flickr, Creative Commons sharealike) AP Photography on Flickr, Creative Commons Non-commercial)

Bournemouth line Bulleid set with the extended solebar panelling…

Poor photo — but ZA723 on the rear at Cambridge this morning. I’ve never seen this 66 before so it caught my eye!

John Woolley on Flickr All the excuse I needed for 50006 (yes it has the headlight but I'm blissfully unbothered). Lovely.

On the topic of Southern Region standards... I see Bachmann haven't given 73118 the additional Southern lamp irons on the smokebox door -- they might have done so given their newer standards tend to feature this detail (3MT / 76xxx 4MT). More the reason for my post -- the latest Southern-allocated 4MT mogul has arrived in the shape of 76066 and it features possibly the strangest error I've seen on a model -- namely a smokebox plate which reads '76O66' as if someone specified the number over the phone, "seven-six-oh-six-six"! Easy fix with an etched replacement but a quirky thing I couldn't help sharing. On the plus side, it does come with the extra irons! Edit -- turns out this 'O' instead of '0' was prototypical. How bizarre. Photo: https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=190819&search=76066 Well done Bachmann and a lesson for me to do my research. It's also weathered, though not listed as such with all the vendors currently stocking it -- Bachmann seem to have gone for more of a matt and soot-heavy effect on this than the feared 'mud spray' sometimes seen from the rtr manufacturers. It looks rather good though variable in different lights (compare e.g. the KMRC website photos and the Olivia's ones; other outlets available...) Tempted to pick one up subject to viewing in person.

(and @Mallard60022) There are also quite a few photos in the Mitchell & Smith Bournemouth to Weymouth volume, if memory serves.

LSWR 3-set and Bulleid 3-set in one train behind a T9 -- looks rather 'ancients and moderns': https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p118870157/hb6d452ee#hb6d452ee

A couple of interesting photos I’ve seen recently to whet the appetite. First is a mixed green/crimson & cream 5-coach set on a West of England service. The set had presumably been reduced to three, and then reconstituted with original vehicles painted out of sequence, or with vehicles which originally belonged to another set (on closer inspection, the window vents are different sizes, so I think it’s a case of two different sets being combined): https://www.instagram.com/p/CYdFOjzIMtW Second is a c&c ‘R’ set on a Wadebridge-Bodmin working behind 30200. This mightn’t be news to anyone else but I didn’t realise Bulleid sets appeared on these workings. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZt1gffNfFg Neither is directly replicable with the livery releases in Bachman’s upcoming selection of models, but hopefully of interest nonetheless.

Some of the smaller lozenge windows have rather the same prismatic effect that the Hornby Bulleids were criticised for, to my eye. The crimson and cream set look lovely though.