autocoach

A passel of Panniers? oops a bit late for that thread...

That figure looks like it wearing a 21st century microphone...probably a shadow or painting problem. Otherwise he looks like he just opened a shed door and found something missing on the top shelf... I'm all for figures posed at rest on layouts as they don't require some other details to explain their activity.

Interesting that of late I have been answering a couple of questions about modeling Padstow... It is an interesting not quite sleepy branch line terminal. I actually welcome the interest. My current Port Costa is slumbering in a different way as health concerns are not making me enthusiastic about working to finish the major items on the layout such as the SP Eastbound and Westbound main tracks. Port Costa was the engine terminal at the end of the Martinez subdivision of the SP Western Division. At the time I model it, roughly 1950-55, SP's freight and passenger services over the mountainous routes east and north of the state had been dieselized. The massive fleet of freight cab forwards and other enormous steam engines (such as 4-10-2's) and even the iconic 4-8-4 Daylight engines were running out their remaining useful lives hauling commute and short distance passengers and non-express freight trains over routes like the Oakland to Sacramento mainline where the only grade was the 1930 double track lift bridge over the west end of Suisun bay at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Port Costa provided rear end steam helpers for the non-express freights (called a drag freight) to shove these trains from the rear in order to quickly climb the sharp 70 foot grade from Martinez station to the clearance height for ship traffic without using the lift span . The grade is still there and it is quite a sight even today to see a westbound heavy freight with 4 3500 HP diesel engines at full throttle trying to make 20 mph up to the bridge height. It may be only a 2% grade but it is quite a sight. The short 70 foot turntable at Port Costa limited SP steam helpers to 2-8-0 consolidation classes with medium or short tenders which could fit on the turntable. Westbound (geographic direction southbound) the grade up to bridge height long and no helpers were required. The eastbound steam helpers were dropped off from behind the caboose at a telegraph location known as Bahia (they weren't coupled to the caboose...all cabooses on this route were steel underframe) and cross over to the eastbound main. Here the helper would wait for dispatcher clearance and then back the 10 miles across the bridger, down the grade through Martinez station to Port Costa then cross back over the westbound main track to the engine terminal ready line at Port Costa. There 5-8 steam engines could often be seen on the ready tracks waiting for the next helper duty in pictures I have. Engines were dispatched from Port Costa were also used for local switching the giant sugar refinery at Crockett, the 3 large oil refineries, the San Ramon Valley branch (along which I live in Walnut Creek), interchange to the US military ordinance (ammunitions) depot and port railway at Port Chicago and industries further east along the south side of the Sacramento Delta waterways. Port Costa is very compact. My model is almost to scale length and is only 3.3 m long (11 feet). See the above photos of the prototype and my model layout. I may never finish it (I just turned 80) and these days my interest is mostly in building freight rolling stock rather than operations. I am also amassing a few passenger cars for the 5 daily short distance trains that ran between Oakland (Pier to SF by ferry) and the state capital at Sacramento each way in the 1950's. One or two baggage and mail cars and 2-3 SP Chair cars (open coaches) or an articulated 2 set chair car hauled by a 2000 HP Daylight Alco PA-1 diesel, Pacific (4-6-2) or Mountain (4-8-2). Daylight steam engines were used on the San Joaquin Daylight (to Los Angeles via Bakersfield and Tehachapi pass) as well as the Mountains. There were also the 2 night trains on this route. There were the long distance daily trains to Portland (Cascade, Shasta Daylight, Beaver, Klamath daily each way) and Chicago (City of SF, SF Overland, #21 Mail daily.) I am considering all freight trains east and west bound as running extras not on the timetable. In the staging yard is the new SP daylight articulated chair car set (Broadway Limited) in 1950's lettering and minus earlier skirting

I thought a chocolate and cream filled pannier sounded nice for Easter....

That's certainly not an Irish shade of green....on my PC screen, it actually looks a bit like olive drab, a color I once had to wear...

It's not Gordon it's Duck.... Last Sunday was St. Patrick's Day, a very big deal here in the USA (SF Bay Area for me.) Many persons are decked out in very bright Kelly Green like this Sodor Lines engine. Leprechauns and four leaf clovers are seen in abundance. The immediate Irish ancestry percentage of the population has diminished and for the most part generally assimilated into the normal "American" white population. There are still green kilted pipers bands and Irish folk dance groups performing everywhere in public settings. But the number of people celebrating St. Patrick's Day with absolutely no ancestral tie has increased dramatically. There were even a group Mesoamerican Mayan dancers and a Brazilian Samba school unit along with a Chinese women's glockenspiel group wearing Kelly green silk outfits in the San Francisco St. Patrick's day parade. The parade was overseen by the SF Mayor who is interestingly named London Breed and she is Black. The sales of Guinness stout (US brewed using a Dublin made mash) and Harp brand lager are huge. Toasts are made with Jameson Whiskey. And everyone has a corned beef and cabbage dinner on tables set with checkered white and green tablecloths....

Does Swindon know about this congregation of panniers on one small branch line....

Does Rails have have an international distribution system set up the way Hattons did? As I understand it , the Hattons trunk which I loved and used relied on extra warehouse space in the industrial park near an international mail and package hub and direct couriers to international mail service. You may not realize it in the UK but outside the UK Hattons had become like a mini-Amazon to those of us in the hobby in the rest of the world. It's the UK's loss. Hattons trunk and international shipping was the only practical and economic way to avoid the high costs of secondary importer and distribution for Peco code 83/70 track and Oxford Miniature 1/87 models. When I modeled UK prototype, the were not the only supplier I used and I still have accounts at Rails and Kernow. The only thing still outstanding on my Peco want list is the North American prototype #4,5 left and right turnouts and possibly a code 70 wye. I'll just have to keep on using the Code 83 already purchased and her in California for now. It's yard trackage that is buried up to the tie (sleeper) top level anyway.

Like the Snows of Kilimanjaro, the Bridges of Madison County, there is a story in the Doors of Little Muddle (Engine Shed)... Cue the rock-n-roll sound of The Doors....

Croak on that....

Going back a few days in subject matter as I had not caught up until today. There are several 4mm motor BSA bikes with sidecars in the Oxford Miniatures OO range at reasonable prices. https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/bsa-motorcycle-sidecar-aa-76bsa001. One or two would be the most you could use on a small layout. Oxford used printed clear plastic to replicate the spokes. I have two I think from when I modeled Padstow fairly close to prototype. They are put away as the scale difference with my HO layout seemed to be magnified over other UK vehicles I have used as background vehicles on the current Port Costa California layout. Anyway, the RAC parked on the out of the way single street (It is in a deep narrow valley) of Port Costa would be a little out of place. Sidecar would be on the wrong side too... It will be interesting to see what the Modelu3D scan comes up with. For a model, I think the best pose without a sidecar would be a rider stopped with one leg on the ground or a bike without rider and the kickstand down.

"Perhaps MB Klein is a "lifeboat" for the bulk of Hatton's cash at the end of the day. If dealing from the US market doesn't have the same market pressures that forced Hatton's to close, the owners and cash assets could carry on in business from there." It doesn't seem to quite as bad a business outlook as the UK. Demographically the hobby has been picking a fair amount of younger enthusiasts who are into modern diesel train operations. Inflation, and international trade and supply chain price driven increases while an issue for many doesn't seem to have affect the train buying segments who seem to shell out for 4-5 powered units at a time. Gone are the days of 1 powered and 4 dummy unpowered engines. DCC allows these models to run like the prototype with all powered unit lashups running as one. Specific Railroad prototype visible features and configurations are now mandatory as well. Take a look at the Rapico North American website to see what's going on. Steam engines and even transition era diesels (1945-57) are becoming harder to find. Importers (there are no domestic manufacturers) from China's factories focus on "bigger" more expensive often articulated engines rather than the smaller local switching and branch line steam (2-6-0, 2-8-0, 4-6-0 and the oddball N&W SP 4-8-0) focusing on the glamour mainline engines. Most imports appear directed at collector appeal rather than operations. Brass imports are almost non-existent any more. But then prices even for a lowly HO switcher new are over US $1000 and again they are pitched to collectors and do not necessarily run well. Bachmann USA are an exception here but appeal and market more to the toy market. They are also quite limited in prototypes offered. You have to expect to repaint/re-decal even if the prototype was close or actually used by the railroad you model.

Just waiting for the shipping notice for the trunk stuff I asked to clear out a few days ago...Lately I have been modeling US HO only but Hattons remained the best place in the world to buy Peco Code 83/70 and Oxford Miniatures 1/87 HO vehicles on availability alone. ' US prices for Code 83/70 and OM at online dealers in US reflect limited 3rd party distributorship and markups for small imported orders. If something was unavailable it would take months for fulfillment of an order and also a high risk of cancellation. Prices at US Local Hobby Shops with very limited supplies of PECO are twice the price at Hattons including postage in 2023. Atlas and Walthers compete with Chinese made Code 83 HO track that has thick rail web and other appearance issues. The other competitor is Micro Engineering which is made USA and is very prototype in appearance but has recently changed hands as the original creators/owners retired and the new owners have yet to prove reliable suppliers and only distribute to local hobby shops direct which means the hobby shop has to be ordering enough to make the order profitable with shipping. Micro Engineering even made HO code 55 flex track for true siding rail weight appearance but I have not seen it available lately. ME turnouts are not as reliable as PECO and are difficult to rig for hand throwing.

I just can't imagine Richard Davies and Christine Hatton in Nebraska...