sixoh8sixoh

It looks lovely but maybe just too new - when you compare to the b&w photo above it looks too pristine. Maybe rough it up a little bit and you’ll be happier with it? I stepped back from model railways for a while and have been painting Warhammer miniatures, and one technique I’ve picked up there is to do a wash of a thinned down dirty colour, then a dry brush of a highlight colour or your original colour over the top.

Afternoon all from north of the Wall! I was on Rails' website looking longingly at the ESU Loksound 50210 and wondering if Santa might bring me one this year, which reminded me of Gordon (as I was chatting with him about his Eastwood Town DCC controller shortly before he passed away), so I thought I'd pop in and say hello. Life keeping me pretty busy - 15 year old and 9 month old girls definitely keeping me busy, and still a while before I can think (other than longingly) about retirement... Absolutely no further forward in planning or building a model railway - 2023 was completely wiped out with a complete redesign of the (only 5 year old) house - study became bedroom, kitchen became study, dining room became kitchen/diner - and garden redesign at the same time as arrival of baby girl. Still in the middle of trying to reorganise everything after the moves... Nice to see many of the old faces are still around... and some new ones too. Hope you're all keeping well!

I was at Locomotion at Shildon on the 3rd and was looking at Locomotion No.1 and thought to myself, I wonder if Hornby will do a model of it for the Stockton and Darlington 200th in 2025... and was pleasantly surprised to see that this morning!

Afternoon all, seeing @BoD's "Inspired by Crianlarich" update gave me a little nudge to pop in to ERs, as I've not visited RMweb for a considerable time! No progress whatsoever has been made on railway modelling other than the acquisition of some new stock (Class 91 and Mk4s set, Caledonian Sleeper 92 and Mk5 coaches, nice Accurascale Deltic, some Consett iron ore wagons etc...), and the modelling cupboards are now overflowing... It was probably more than a year ago that I last visited ERs, so a very quick rundown of events since... Anamaria and I got married in June last year and last month celebrated the arrival of future railway modeller baby Emma. Currently sleep deprived and held hostage to a tiny bundle of lungs. Hope all are well and getting more sleep than me!

The Mary Queen of Scots 37 is tempting. I’d be interested to see the comparison between Bachmann’s new tooling 37 and the Accurascale 37 as both are to 2022 standard.

I think Boydells in Durham was possibly still going in the very early 80s, as I definitely have/had some models from there, and I was only born in 1977... I had a Hornby 37 in BR Blue and I think a Hornby BR green 08 shunter. I remember Staddons too, though that was primarily Airfix and Revell kits in the early 80s. Northumbria Models in Newcastle was a nice little shop, very friendly, and they stocked some of the LINKA moulds, which I remember wanting but never getting. Beatties on Northumberland Street in Newcastle was always a treat as I was fascinated by the trains running round at ceiling height. Thankfully after a long fallow period, Co. Durham is now well served by Durham Trains of Stanley, and there is also the model shop at Chester Moor, though I tend not to visit there so much as Mick at DTOS is a friend and my first line of enquiry for anything!

I've just had the chance to unbox mine, and try it on my short straight. I chipped it with a DCC Concepts Zen V12 Blue+ decoder. Most engines I've tried have run very smoothly from the box but this one is quite stuttery. I'll run it in, but it's unusual in that respect. Looks very pretty, lovely looking loco. Could just do with some nice RTR carriages to run with it!

My pack of 9 arrived last week - they look the part. I never saw the option to order loaded ones, so I’ve got unloaded ones. Would be interested if anyone produces any cast loads or if KR Models offered them as an additional purchase option.

I never had the chance to meet Gordon in person but he was incredibly supportive, helpful and patient and took so much time to share his knowledge and experience with me by PM and through this thread. I finally had the chance to say hello face-to-face during the ERs virtual meet-up which was lovely. My thoughts are with Jackie and Gordon’s family, as I know are all of those who knew Gordon through the forum. A really sad day, losing someone with so much more to achieve and with the energy and outlook of someone half his age. Gordon, you’ll be missed deeply.

I’m so very sorry to hear this. Please send love to Gordon’s family.

That’s great news, really pleased to read it! And thank you BoD for keeping us updated all this time. Fingers crossed Gordon will be back to RMWeb soon and back to the modelling (or at the very least watching the trains go round!) very soon.

We’re all definitely looking forward to seeing more trains running around Eastwood Town, so fingers crossed for you and hope you’re back on your feet soon! (Spoiler alert) Mickelson’s won the US PGA Championship at the age of 50 (just shy of his 51st) so there’s hope for you yet to beat his record! Don’t worry about getting out golfing, the greens will be waterlogged anyway, and it’s been so windy a westbound drive could well have ended up in the Solent… or the Wash! Keep on fighting and we’ll look forward to seeing you soon. Best wishes, Mike & Anamaria

Thanks BoD. Keeping everything crossed and sending positive thoughts.

Guilty as charged. Evening all from the wilds beyond the Wall. It’s been a busy couple of weeks, as you’ll probably have read in the news... plus moving my mum and her two dogs up to Edinburgh from Durham. I’m not sure which needs more looking after... On the plus side, my OH and I were both vaccinated on Saturday (before anyone asks, our appointment time was 6 hours after the vial of vaccine went walkies from the EICC!) and then spent yesterday feeling like sh... Tomorrow is hopefully the end of the saga that I’ve been working on for the last 2 years, the formal part of it at any rate. Looks like the Committee will publish tomorrow and there will be a vote of no confidence too and then Parliament rises for the elections on Wednesday night. Roll on purdah! Generic greetings to all as you’ll appreciate I’ve not had time to catch up!

Evening all from south of the Wall, land of the Prince Bishops, Dunelmia, very close to a certain open air museum with a replica of Locomotion No.1... Happy birthday @New Haven Neil! Penultimate night in the house my parents have had for 22 years. Skip number 6 is now filled, most of the stuff that's going is packed, a few things to still be collected by folk with bigger gardens than ours in Edinburgh who might be able to make better use of them. Had an amusing moment while sorting garage, when I got locked in as the electric garage door refused to open (I'd had to shut it to remove some ladders which were catching). No phone so had to rely on my wits to escape...