Russ (mines a pint)

Indeed- I'm no expert on making buildings but when I do my own builds or even kits painting/weathering its important to make them look their age , moss on roof tiles/slates also.

wouldnt be too hard on yourself as its looking great-and obviously bringing you enjoyment following suggestions can be considered or ignored lol: - too late for this build but landscape from polystyrene topped with papier mache is light and durable (& messy! - though possibly no less messy than plaster) - supermarket own brand cheapest hairspray over top of scatter material works. - you could still use finer material ie fine sand or polyfilla to smooth out the road, pollyfilla sandpapered and painted a really pale grey makes a good road finish, just go over the top of what you have now? to be honest the stonework and steep hillsides look typical of the peak district and the middleton top line , full of sharp curves and short tunnels?

What about raising it to correct ride height then putting other stuff round it? either more scrap or weedy overgrowth, in a manner that would suggest the chassis is still there but you cant see it?

This is a fantastic layout and well observed, it my local station in the time period mentioned. So just a quick start on the passenger DMU movements, the Calder Valley workings were almost nearly always 110's they would survive on other 'metrotrain' Neville Hill routes well after the sprinters took over longer distance workings - the 120's 104's etc would come to Bradford particularly after the copy pit reopening for the 'direct to' Blackpool route. Two distinct types of class 108 as one with just the destination blinds would operate amongst class 101/111 on the short Bradford/Leeds shuttles whilst the ones with headcode rooflines could also turn up on the Blackpool services . Presumably the same units which would work north out of Manchester towards Blackpool I would guess they would be allocated to Newton Heath not Derby ? though by the end of the 1st generations DMU's it was very much a case of using whatever would run!

Looks great with the admended embankment -looking really good , the lighting doesnt harm looks like sunlight . You can amend the 'white balance' if using a phone cam this can sometimes give a natural light even when taking photos inside, its as simple as getting your phone (or camera) to focus on something which is supposed to be white like a piece of paper, it'll then adjust your photos to look right under those lighting conditions. A godsend if you build your models in a shed or cellar!

this one is particularly good, hard to beat for any hilly areas in the North, Scotland or Wales. -on an older version of rmweb we cobbled together a backscene out of shots of the actual location, it worked pretty well but there were houses close up with satellite dishes, polytunnels etc that were totally wrong for the supposedly 1960's location, and a telegraph pole that looked like it had a few nights out on the whisky!

Photo backscenes look great but there's always unintended consequences! Woodland scenics branch foliage is a great problem solver ;)

You must be very pleased with how this has turned out, the ground texture in the distillery area and leading into is fantastic and generally the whole thing looks great. If there's one thing next I could offer constructively it would be to address the backscene between the embankment and the shed as it looks like the ground level is below the stream/embankment etc, but sure you will have plans for this? Read the first 2 pages from start to finish and will be following with interest :)

Wild & Homeless Books via yahoo.com 20:39 (12 minutes ago) to me Sorry, no, they've all gone now. Best wishes, Sadly out of stock - they are out of stock there too :( - any other ideas ?

Looks great ,hope we will see more 👌

I've got SC55013 in blue and see that it was a parcels unit even in green livery, checked out SC55011 and this is a passenger unit in both blue & blue/grey and stayed on ScR pretty much to the end of its days, so Im going to renumber mine. Flickr is good for photos

£500k grant offered to restore fire-ravaged Troon railway station - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-57878742

Late to this one, but a way of saving space might be to use the fiddle yard to complete the run-round - sometimes known as 'half station' approach. Where you model just the end of the platform and the first coach appears and can be run round, this frees up more space for interesting goods facilities and shunting? Good example here by Neil Rushby who I believe still posts on here. Rushby's Railways: Abergwynant (rushbys-railways.blogspot.com)

Late to this one, but thinking having built my own track and used peco it would be code 100 . If you can solder track joins together hand built track becomes very strong , code 75 peco is flimsy and had sweary moments trying to cut flexi to length and also fixing rail joiners. Appearance is the thing, and if you paint railsides, ballast and particularly if in a siding setting build up the ground to sleeper height it all helps. As many photos on the thread show!

Hope your feeling better soon, love looking at all your layouts.

Potential kitbash, original cabin shored up by brick/block base?

looking great!

Have to admit never followed the cake box competition but what you have already (both this and other threads) looks great and will be following with interest.

I was just about to add that one too! O gauge RTR - £149 - including a BR green 08 too it seems- https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/dcc_supplies/m.html?item=113999155262&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&fromMakeTrack=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

shame , though the Ruston is nice too!

Well its easy enough to tell its come from Sheffield... another small tank … the only other clue left is the barcode? ? https://railsofsheffield.com/products/36953/hattons-h4-ab16-003-oo-gauge-andrew-barclay-0-4-0st-16-2226-katie-in-lined-maroon

you would get a good approximation if you divide the original measurements by 7 then multiply by 4 as you are converting 7mm to 4mm - N to OO is easier as you just double or halve it

My point exactly

You absolutely could recreate this in a limited space , would it have the same satisfaction? - O gauge has an attraction in that it has a bulk and sensible size couplings that make wagon shuffling satisfying in its own right, - N gauge has an attraction in that you can have a whole train in landscape . OO and its associated gauges get a bit of both - always torn between all of them, true rubber gauger

I am also finding it a little bit odd that you have problems with your Jinty, I had one and it was faultless. Bachmann 0-6-0 chassis generally shares the same mechanism. Have you checked cleanliness of wheels, pickups (and that they are aligned correctly) and track, cleanliness is next to godliness I have a Bachmann 08 and Pannier tanks which run really well and slow. Beware of older chassis in some of Bachmann range there are new & old 03's in particular if you are looking for them, the original 03 & 04 are based on the previous Mainline chassis (as are some of Panniers) - So if you go for the 03 make sure it is of the later release. That's not to say older models cant be good runners I have an original Dapol J94 which I am hoping to repaint/convert which is an impeccable runner despite looking like a basketcase !