Ray Nolton

Some difficulty with passwords have kept me off RMWeb for a couple of months, but seems I've cracked it now..... UNITED MILLS appeared at Scalefour North and was well recieved. Next outing will be St Andrews in August. Couple of new industrials have appeared over the last few weeks, notably a HIgh Level 70hp Fowler and a Judith Edge Ruston 48ds. Both are outstanding kits and a pleasure to build, so thank you to Chris and Mike! The J83 was running at S4N but had a problem with derailments which I have now dealt with. Meanwhile there's a re-chassis-ing (?) of an Impetus MW Class I t in "OO" many years ago in hand .

Recently completed Mike's 48ds which is a lovely wee kit and goes together like a dream. Was worried there was insufficient play on the compensated axle, but running last weekend on Chris McCarthy's test track proved it works perfectly. Will be seen running on UNITED MILLS on its next outing at St Andrews exhibition.

Have recently completed Chris' 70 HP Fowler : this has been an absolute pleasure from start to finish and I cannot speak too highly of this kit. It is built to P4 standards, and will be running on UNITED MILLS in the near future. Seen here with another recent build, Mike Edge's lovely little 48ds.

Don’t think I mentioned Tony Wright took some photos for BRM on the Sunday at ModelRail. Had a phone call the following week from Howard Smith of BRM: could I write an article by mid-March as they had a hole in their programme! Could hardly say no, so article duly submitted earlier this week........ Hopefully in the May edition if all goes according to plan. Meanwhile I will be at Scalefour North at Wakefield in early April with the ‘Mill. Working on a J83 and J88 at the moment, and just found a J37 I started many years ago in “00” which looks surprisingly good - I believe I will be asking Colin at Gibson’s for access to mortgage facilities at S4N!! Ray

Charles' Jumbo and my 08

Heres a pic of UM from Glasgow Modelrail: thanks to my fellow East of Scotland members for helping me with operators, and in particular Alasdair Taylor, Allan Goodwillie and Charles Davidson for supplying some additional and relevant motive power over the weekend - Allan's Y9 is shown here. The exhibition turned out to be more successful that I could have hoped for as we won the AMRSS best layout trophy albeit by a short head I understand . Mike Lauder turned up on Sunday, and it was a real pleasure to thank him for giving me the opportunity to develop his work on Thorburns.

Well, a week to go before Glasgow Show, and were just about ready to meet our public. The layout was erected in its entirity for the first time last weekend after the printers delivered the fascia board and Mrs N did some sterling work with her sewing machine to produce the curtains. A few gremlins to sort out, which has been occupying my time, along with the paperwork, and the Highland Railway Society Stand - dont try running two stands at once! Some visiting locos last week including Alasdair Taylor's lovely J37 seen below. David Goodwillie is seen operating , he will be my right hand man next weekend!

The layout is now almost scenically complete, although work remains on the elecrics and lighting which will be completed over the winter in time for its appearance at Glasgow ModelRail at the end of February. The attached photos were taken this weekend at the East of Scotland 4mm Group meeting at Dechmont, West Lothian.

Thanks for taking the time to show me the chassis at S4um this weekend, Gordon. Look forward to getting hold of one once it's on the market. Ray

Thanks for taking the time to show me the chassis at S4um this weekend, Gordon. Look forward to getting hold of one once it's on the market. Ray

Hi Tim Thanks for the advice on Sunday at S4um, as you can see I have found your posts and things are making much more sense with regard to the HL Quadriver bits. Hopefully will have it running at S4N next April!

The summer has seem considerable progress on the carcass of the layout, as can be seen from the attached photos . There's a lot of tidying up to do, but the main elements of the carpentry are now essentially complete. The lighting rig is being assembled (strip LEDs under the front of the canopy) and will be fitted and set up shortly. Theres still a host of minor detailing to go on the layout itself , most of which are ready to fit once the heavy stuff is finished. Just had an invitation to Scalefour North next April which is most appreciated (thanks, James) but ModelRail remains the target in February. I now need to completely rewire the layout, in order to ensure it is reliable and robust enough for the trials and tribulations of exhibition transport, and make a control panel to aid operating the thing. Ive also attached a hand drawn plan of the layout, as someone had asked some time ago which is being turned into something more professional by a colleague who has more IT ability than me!

Mike is right, I have used a simple compensation pivot on all the locos shown, and the designed system on the Brush: almost essential on an 0-4-0 to maintain electrical continuity whatever the gauge.

I was a bit hashy yesterday: in fact the black one is an NBL product whilst the green one is of course a Barclay which became TOPS Class 06. I have a couple more of Mike's shunters in the stash, which will no doubt appear in due course, Trouble is, I'm in danger of having more locos than track to put them on given the small size if the layout!

Couple of pics of the latest conversion, an elderly K's NER Y8 built many, many years ago. Couldnt bring myself to repaint it, so it retains a rather inappropriate LNER livery. For some reason the photo of the GW Toad track cleaner didnt make it yesterday so I have added it too.