87023Velocity

After 5 shows, I have finally sorted a name board for the layout. This has been made from a Scale Model Scenery kit. It is laser cut MDF which just requires painting and gluing together. Just starting to take the layout down ready for Friday and the trip to the Macclesfield show. Cheers Simon

Looking forward to bringing Dallam to the show Andy, will be a great weekend looking at the lineup. Cheers Simon

With less than 2 weeks to the Macclesfield Model Railway Exhibition,some final little bits of detail work have been carried out on some of the wagons, namely fitting tail lamps, dummy coupling and brake pipes to wagons which are fixed formation. The tail lamps are from West Hill Wagon Works, the dummy coupling and pipes are from Farish out of my spares box. The Tail lamps are moulded in white, I have just added a dot of EWS maroon for the lense.

90036 has finally had a run on Dallam earlier to check all the lights were working ok. All the glazing and majority of the detail has been refitted. The roof detail will be painted on the loco, hopefully tomorrow evening along with adding the pipes to one end. The weathering will be done at a later date after Macclesfield show. Cheers Simon

Yes, surprised the RfD logos on the side have not gone a similar way. Cheers Simon

Thanks Ben, I don't know why red lettering was used but I seem to remember this livery was a trial following on from 90130 in its SNCF livery. Cheers Simon

Little renumbering job this weekend. Both the DVTs on Dallam have now received new identities, 82121 Carlisle Cathedral and 82135 Spirit of Cumbria, both originally numbered as 82125. Numbers are from Railtec and nameplates from Shawplan. These will both be weathered and detail added to the buffer beam. Cheers Simon

90036 now ready for a coat of varnish. Numbers and orange cantrail stripes added (from Railtec). Hopefully start the process of carefully reassembling everything early next week along with fitting etched arrows and plaques.

90036 is now starting to have transfers applied. Prior to this, several coats of Klear were applied. The RfD logo transfers are from Fox, overhead warning flashes are Railtec. Orange cant lining and loco numbers will be from Railtec (once I have ordered). This should be ready for Macclesfield show but will probably run as ex-works until time permits to weather. Cheers Simon

Last of the paint applied to 90036, black added around the lights, grills and window surrounds. Next step will be gloss varnish before adding the transfers.

90036 is almost there! The majority of airbrushing work is done. Various areas just need little touch ups before the varnishing can be done prior to adding transfers. Black needs to be added around the lights and horn grill. Cheers Simon

I have finally managed to get some actual modelling done instead of playing trains!! I saw a Farish Freightliner class 90 on offer at TMC and decided to buy it for a respray project. The loco I have in mind is 90036/136 in its experimental Railfreight Distribution livery which it carried from 1992 to 2013, pictures from Flickr (not mine). 1992 1995 1999 The sides of the loco have not faded as much as the cab fronts over time. In the later years it did receive the EWS logo applied over the top of the RfD logo. I am modelling it as seen around 2001. Loco as bought: Stripped down Once all the original livery had been removed using IPA, the body was thoroughly cleaned and dried. White undercoat applied with airbrush. Rail yellow (RM202) applied with airbrush. Transfers from Fox, etched double arrows from Nairnshire Modelling Supplies and depot plaques from CJM will be added. Cheers Simon

Got the Freightliner 90's also for same price, again showing 2 in stock. https://www.themodelcentre.com/371-785

56134 slowly approaches Warrington with a loaded MGR service for Fiddler's Ferry power station.

43067 leads the 1O12 0650 Edinburgh to Bournemouth via Glasgow Central as it slows for its stop at Warrington Bank Quay with 43071 on the rear.

Direct Rail Services 37610 & 20303 head a railtour south towards Warrington Bank Quay.

A few more pictures from running over the past week or so.

Hmm, that automatic coupler would be a good idea on a class 08.

I think class 08 given age, liveries etc. I did think Bachmann would have possibly redone at some point.

Good call about 56001.

Class 08, prototype over 60 years old, lots of liveries and detail variations. Would not be surprised if Accurascale already have it on their radar (in development). Cheers Simon

A few more pictures from running various trains. Just received a new tooled Intercity liveried Mk2f RFB from Kernow, will probably start swapping over to the newer versions. Cheers Simon

Evening all. Not posted for quite a while as Dallam had not been set up since the Leigh exhibition in September 2023. I have made a start on fitting point motors to the fiddleyard which will hopefully make operation a bit easier, especially for shows. Over the past week or so, the layout has been reassembled and the lighting rig fitted. Next stage will be connect everything up electrically and get some trains running. Here are some pics, all posed as cannot run anything yet - hopefully might get something running over the weekend. Next show will be Macclesfield in April this year. Cheers Simon

Newhaven Harbour is owned by the Wirral Finescale Railway Modellers (WFRM). Easily confused as they help out the Wigan Finescale Railway Modellers (WFRM) at the Wigan show. I am a Wigan member and get confused with the 2 😂.

Prior to the Leigh show, plenty of test running took place during the summer, not much modelling achieved though. A nice addition to the Dallam roster was a Revolution Trains class 390 from the second production run. Although just slightly out of my time range, it is a stunning model and very smooth in operation. Here a few pics from the testing. As mentioned it will be a few weeks before the layout can be set up for running. Cheers Simon