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Looking terrific Grahame. That first shot has the makings of an stunning 1980s eye level street scene :)

Thanks! I'm using Bachmann Class 170 wheels :)

Thanks! The glazing is 1mm CNC cut acrylic - will be about the last thing to go in after the livery's painted.

Thanks Graham, much appreciated 👍

Thanks mate, much appreciated! :)

Really kind comment, many thanks! Grove Park is exactly the look and feel I'm going for with the storage yard so I'm really glad that's come through. It wasn't initially meant to be a scenic area but when I filmed some of the cab ride videos for youtube I realised it would make quite an interesting scenic project! The boards could probably hold about twice the number of lines if I squeezed them up more efficiently, but I've purposefully not done that as want to put a bit of scenic detail/access platforms between them eventually. Thanks for your comments on the EMUs as well - possibly due to the area I'm modelling, EMUs form the backbone of the fleet but I one of the reasons I chose Sevenoaks to model is that it gets a lot of loco hauled stuff as well - freight and railtours. That said I need to stop acquiring stock now and concentrate a bit more on the scenics again! Tim

Happy 'last week in April' to everyone and hope you're all keeping well! Just a brief update this evening on what's been going on with the layout. Focus has shifted back to rolling stock for a bit, and a few weeks back I took the plunge and bought some 3d printed parts from CMAC model railways, to create a Class 700. This is my second attempt at creating a 700, the first of which was using my own 3d printed parts from Shapeways a few years ago. It kind of screeched to a halt back then, as I ran out of money, and my build method was far too complicated. Fast forward a few years, and CMAC has come to the rescue with some very affordable and accurate 3d prints that frankly are far superior to my efforts! I've had the parts for 2 or 3 weeks now, and it's been nice having a new project to get stuck into. It's been making fairly steady progress and while I do have some concerns about the bogies, overall I'm pleased with how it's coming together. So far I have 3 coaches that are at final primer stage and ready for livery application and glazing. This includes the motor coach, which borrows the running gear from a Bachmann Turbostar. Here's a few shots of what's been going on over the last few weeks - comments and feedback most welcome as always! I'm building a 5 coach unit, which is dictated by the length of my platforms. This means the formation will be DMCO-PTSO-MSO-PTSO-DMCO. This is one of the PTSOs at primer stage, sitting on bogies. The bogies for the Class 700 have inside bogie frames, which are becoming more common on modern stock. The CAF Mk5 coach also uses this arrangement. Another unrelated addition to the layout was this Enviro, which I thought would make a good 'Replacement Bus Service'. Here it is sitting in the up-side carpark awaiting disgruntled passengers. One of the DMCOs with the first pantograph coach behind, sitting in the storage sidings. A new addition this week was the motor coach, which will be the centre coach of the unit. It's going to be shuttling back and forth between Platform 4 and the storage sidings, rather than going round and round, so I thought a central driving coach would be more reliable for this. This is the motor chassis with the Bachmann motor and bogies mounted. Additional custom parts were needed to allow the bogies to be mounted to the CMAC chassis piece. All three currently 'rolling' coaches sitting in the storage sidings this evening. And lastly something a bit different - I couldn't resist picking up another Dapol Class 73, as Rails currently have them on offer at a very good discount! I haven't actually chipped it yet but I'm primed and ready for the well known pick-up issues. Aside from that, the detail and paintjob are very impressive. Weathering and detailing to follow once I've made sure it doesn't need to go back! 😂 Thanks for looking, sorry this is a bit of a long winded one but hope it's of interest and comments/suggestions welcome as always! Tim

It's 2.5mm.

Hi all, I'm currently working on kit building a Class 700 for my Sevenoaks layout, using CMAC's wonderful bodyshells and chassis parts. All is going well, except I am anticipating difficulties with smooth and reliable running, due to the unique arrangement of the bogies. Class 700s, as with the new Mk5 coaches, have 'inside frame' bogies. While the parts supplied by CMAC for the frames are superb, it's proving difficult to get the wheelsets to run freely within the frames, so I'm looking around to see if there are any bearings I could use to improve the running. I'm a complete novice when it comes to wheelsets and bearings, having never actually scratch built a coach this way before. As such I'm hoping someone might have some ideas or be able to point me in the right direction! I've attached a couple of pics of the bogie frames as they come, and one in assembled form, to give an idea of the challenge! Would welcome any pointers, Tim

This is true! Rail tours give us reasons to buy all sorts of stuff :) I've managed to resist the temptation so far with these, but so much amazing stuff coming out now - I've got to suppress that FOMO! 😂

I hadn't thought to look at the accurascale thread but will take a look. Nevertheless they look like superb coaches with incredible detail! I am glad in a way that I've limited my layout to a particular location otherwise it would be impossible to resist buying a few of these! 😂

Those Accurascale Mk2s look lovely. The close coupling in particular is most impressive. I've seen a few pics and videos of the WCR ones and can't help wondering if the shade of red may be a bit bright, but it's probably the light! I have a very similar Class 33 in WCR colours :)

Thanks very much! :)

Thanks mate! Appreciate that - more updates on the 700 coming soon :)

Hi all, hope you're all keeping well? Sorry for the lack of updates here, but I wanted to wait until there was a decent/interesting collection of things before posting! The biggest thing I think is the extension of the fiddle yard to include 3 extra sidings, and also the resurfacing and fencing to the upside/season ticket carpark. In the past few weeks and months there's also been some fleet updates and developments, more details of which are included below! :) GBRF's 73119 seen powering through platform 3, as the Networker sits waiting its next assignment! Another shot of the new addition to the fleet, GBRF's 73119 - this was a Hornby Class 73 with added weathering and detailing. I'm really pleased with how it's come out, and I love these old Hornby/Lima 73s! A wide view shot of the new fiddle yard, with the Networker/VEP/33 occupying the new lanes to the right Another view of the new yard Elsewhere work has continued on the up-side of the station, with resurfacing and fencing, as well as parking space markings, adding to the scene Work continues to get the Networker running smoothly and reliably under DCC - this has proved to be a challenge, but here's a shot of it sitting in Platform 2, with the new illuminated destination display A more atmospheric shot of the Networker, with a figure from modelU taking centre stage! And this week - the latest rolling stock project begins with these superb 3d prints from CMAC models. Lots of work ahead, but I'm hoping this will be the new 'EMU in residence' for platform 4 😂 Thanks for looking - some of you may already know we're also on Instagram now, @Sevenoaks_OO - please feel free to follow us on there for regular updates. As always comments, questions and criticism most welcome! Tim