Black Marlin

Has there been any movement from Bachmann on these?

I expect Hornby to have at least one big steam loco announcement - something to generate a bit of a splash and get people talking (I always thought that part of the advantage of doing that was that the added buzz around one model would entice people to look at the others in the range: a "headline grabber" has more value than just its own sales). To that end, and at least as far as steam is concerned, in my view there aren't that many contenders left: LNER Raven A2 (I think this one is more or less inevitable at some point in the next five years, and made by someone; I just don't know who) Gresley P1 LMS Unrebuilt Royal Scot Rebuilt Jubilee 7F 0-8-0 (A retooled 8F also has to be a contender, especially given the design work done on the Black 5, but is it likely to be the flagship announcement?) GWR Great Bear Streamlined King Saint SR U class Z class BR Standard 3 2-6-0 This is not a wishlist - it contains a fair bit I'm uninterested in - but represents a "best guess" at a big flagship steam model release. I'm not trying to guess reliveries, although as some have pointed out already, there are some screaming to be done - olive green Schools and Adams Radial are astute observations (I myself have held off from buying an Adams Radial until I can get one in that condition). Nor am I considering somewhat smaller engines - although, again, there are some contenders that seem likely within the next 5 years: the Aberdare, the LNER E4, the Stanier 3MT, the LB&SCR L class and the LNER D40/SECR G class. This last would give you a locomotive that can run in GNoS, SECR, LNER, SR, British Railways and BR early crest liveries! My prediction is that something off this list will appear. But I have no idea what!* Regards, G *Please let it be a Raven A2. I really, really want one...

I believe I am receiving I&WD 12 for Christmas. I'm thrilled, though, to discover that there's a discount code available for nameplates - I'll be taking advantage of that to get some made up for a narrow-gauge diesel that has languished without. I'm delighted that getting a PI model will allow me to improve another!

The screws and the cutter arrived yesterday, which was pretty swift given that I paid no delivery charges. I got them from cpc.farnell.com, if that information is of use to anyone. And I paid about half what it would have cost at B&Q. Tomorrow I'll go and get some more battening and see about making a temporary supporting framework for the baseboard so I can work on it in the house. I suppose I should also confess, after explaining how buying rolling stock feels like an indulgence, that I've just bought a Hornby K1. M'Luds, I offer the following two facts in mitigation: 1. Brand new, and including postage, it was less than £90. 2. It enables me to complete a six-track set. You see, my layout will have seven loops of various sorts (4 mainlines, 2 branchlines, 1 narrow gauge) capable of simultaneous running, and this K1 enables me to operate all six standard-gauge lines with late-crest ER stock. (The trains in question, if you're interested, are as follows: Quayside = Class 03 + loaded lowfits; Down Slow = J39 + Bridge Girder train; Down Fast = DP1 + Tees-Tyne Pullman; Up Fast = V2 + Express [lit maroon BR Mk1s]; Up Slow = K1 + Parcels; Upper Branchline = Class 105).

Well done for identifying the source of the layout's name! Obviously the layout itself won't be Australian, but given that it will eventually feature approx. 70' of coastline, and that - in keeping with many large Australian layouts - it will be housed in a barn, "Girtby Sea" seemed as good a name as any and better than the others I toyed with!

Finally, I found a fully finished metal load on eBay for only a couple of pounds but which really looks the business in this wagon belonging to the "Patent Nut and Bolt Company Limited".

For a pair of wagons belonging to a matchmaker, some balsa timber baulks would suffice:

I then started hunting through boxes of wagons to see what more elderly items could be improved. The Mainline 7-plank opens were an obvious choice. Refitted with Hornby metal wheels, they run much better; filled with suitable resin loads painted by myself, they look the part. Persil, of course, would take sacks... ...while Bass and Horlicks were crying out for some wooden barrels (lots of drybrushing required to get the wood effect I wanted!):

The discovery of yet another lowmac crate prompted another wagon purchase, but given that the crate was different the wagon could be too. It adds variety, which is no bad thing! Having become slightly obsessed, and used up what I had lying around in terms of loads (though not in terms of wagons, as I shall explain in the next post), I cast about on eBay to see what there was to be seen. A resin industrial load that I could amuse myself by painting one rainy evening? Perfect. And, again, a 1-plank wagon would show it off to best advantage:

At this point, I had the bit firmly between my teeth and I started looking for other loads I had lying around that I could usefully deploy. Another Bachmann 1-plank suited a Hornby Skaledale car: ...while an LNER 3-plank offered a suitable home for another Skaledale load.

A while ago I started putting together a trainload of loaded PO wagons. The impetus for this was trying to work out what to do with the crate loads that come, bafflingly, as standard on the Hornby lowmac. I needed the lowmacs as match/runner trucks for my girder train... ...so the crates were going spare. I settled on various iterations of the Bachmann 1-plank wagon (H. Lees, in this case), found a supplier of 1mm hemp-coloured thread and got busy with the superglue:

After investigations with a measuring tape, I can comfortably use 25mm beams for bracing purposes, and I think I have some set aside in the barn. In other news, I've just placed an order for 700 screws of various sizes and some hot wire foam cutters. I do enjoy the scenery-making aspect of this hobby. And while buying rolling stock can feel like an indulgence, buying tools feels like something much more upright, sober and puritanical... I am bathed in a wholly unearned sense of warm and cosy moral smugness!

I've completed the basic woodworking for this baseboard, although I still need to work out how to brace it from below. Given that four tracks - only two of which are parallel - will turn through 90 degrees beneath it and the vertical clearances are tight, it is not yet at all clear how I'm going to do this. Hmmmm...

The narrow gauge will go elsewhere... 😉

Hello to Jason Isaacs. Back in hardware mode, for the first time in donkeys'. This is the first baseboard of what will be the upper branchline. It also features the shallow pond that will become a watercress farm (not something I think I've ever seen modelled before). I'm still playing around with the placement of the buildings behind the bridge (a much-butchered Skaledale item; I think I'm going to have to gouge out bigger arches for it, having chopped its legs off!) but it's a little tricky to visualise as they are going to be on different levels. The manse is Hornby's Ticklepenny Cottage: who knew how vital it would be to have a house in the range that came with its own bridge?