RMweb Gold jamest Posted March 28 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 28 (edited) Thanks. You are right on the Farish running. The class 25 is noticeably better/smoother than the Dapol Hymek and class 121 out of the box. Although it was 'used' so might have been run more. regards, James Edited March 28 by jamest 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 In the summer of 2022 Paxton Road was conceived. Today, in the spring of 2024 it is loved. What has happened in the intervening period is scope creep and a recent refocus, let me explain… We are all guilty of the impulsive purchase - and the very nature of the layout almost rewarded such an approach, its blank canvas making any new model feel at home. From pre-TOPS hydraulic to big red shed with a lot in between I’ve enjoyed the evolution and maturing of this wonderful layout. However - storage space is not infinite. Nor is my wallet! The opportunity to revisit the core essence of the layout was happened upon by chance, by placing the Railfreight 26 and a few suitable wagons on the layout, shorter, more compact 2 axle affairs… this brought the reason for its genesis clearly into focus and drove my recent ‘clear out’ of the 22, 24, 25 and 31 along with their vacuum braked stock. Paxton Road is Speedlink, it is 1990 and it is inspired by Scotland. I’ve enjoyed every moment of the scope creep and I’m sure more will occur but coming back to the raison d’etre, the purest of inspiration, the grey Sulzer has helped me reign back a collection release funds and find renewed enthusiasm for this tiny slice of make believe. Perhaps today is an opportunity for you to take a moment to assess your current project, or projects and revisit their genesis. Ask yourself are you happy with things as they stand or have you too fallen for retail therapy? It can be incredibly rewarding to refocus on the purest distillation of our inspiration and let the rest go… but for now until next time, more soon… 9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 On 28/03/2024 at 10:12, jamest said: Thanks. You are right on the Farish running. The class 25 is noticeably better/smoother than the Dapol Hymek and class 121 out of the box. Although it was 'used' so might have been run more. regards, James My class 25s and 24s are my smoothest runners though one of the 25s is sometimes sticky after a lack of use so I've had a pick at the accumulated 'Bachmann' goo on the worm. I also find that Dapol bo-bo locos are also smooth, even the older 26/27 models with dodgy circuit boards were also silky running. It feels to me that actually the more wheels a loco has the less well it performs, which is odd really as all those extra pickups should have the opposite effect. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 12 minutes ago, James Hilton said: Perhaps today is an opportunity for you to take a moment to assess your current project, or projects and revisit their genesis. Ask yourself are you happy with things as they stand or have you too fallen for retail therapy? It can be incredibly rewarding to refocus on the purest distillation of our inspiration and let the rest go… but for now until next time, more soon… The hard bit is putting them on sale. Had a couple of class 26s and a couple of class 27s and despite not using them I kept them as with my other locos I could easily do a highland layout but in the end I pushed myself to pick a period and a location which is Northwest England late 1960s. With that focus I then set about selling my steam engines of GWR and SR heritage, Scottish diesels and associated stock leaving just standards and ex LMS locos plus a lot of EE diesels and a smattering of hydraulics. The steam engines still don't get a look in as I have more than enough for the size of layout even now (and truth be known I stretched the ex LMS envelope a little as a Royal Scot and a Jubilee would not see 1968). On the other hand, I now find myself with 'enough' trains so I don't find myself yearning for new models and suchlike and going to exhibitions had gotten a lot less expensive! Still I yearn to try something different and I did pick up code 40 N gauge track gauges recently and I plan to try also a bit of 2mm as well. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Rich_F Posted April 9 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 9 1 hour ago, James Hilton said: In the summer of 2022 Paxton Road was conceived. Today, in the spring of 2024 it is loved. What has happened in the intervening period is scope creep and a recent refocus, let me explain… We are all guilty of the impulsive purchase - and the very nature of the layout almost rewarded such an approach, its blank canvas making any new model feel at home. From pre-TOPS hydraulic to big red shed with a lot in between I’ve enjoyed the evolution and maturing of this wonderful layout. However - storage space is not infinite. Nor is my wallet! The opportunity to revisit the core essence of the layout was happened upon by chance, by placing the Railfreight 26 and a few suitable wagons on the layout, shorter, more compact 2 axle affairs… this brought the reason for its genesis clearly into focus and drove my recent ‘clear out’ of the 22, 24, 25 and 31 along with their vacuum braked stock. Paxton Road is Speedlink, it is 1990 and it is inspired by Scotland. I’ve enjoyed every moment of the scope creep and I’m sure more will occur but coming back to the raison d’etre, the purest of inspiration, the grey Sulzer has helped me reign back a collection release funds and find renewed enthusiasm for this tiny slice of make believe. Perhaps today is an opportunity for you to take a moment to assess your current project, or projects and revisit their genesis. Ask yourself are you happy with things as they stand or have you too fallen for retail therapy? It can be incredibly rewarding to refocus on the purest distillation of our inspiration and let the rest go… but for now until next time, more soon… I also find that periodically thinning & detoxing a collection of built up models can be therapeutic. It's rewarding to have a "core" stable of 2-3 locos & some stock & get good use of them, rather than a huge collection of locos you'll use once & possibly never run again. That theory probably works best for us micro layout builders than larger layout builders in truth. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 1 minute ago, Rich_F said: I also find that periodically thinning & detoxing a collection of built up models can be therapeutic. It's rewarding to have a "core" stable of 2-3 locos & some stock & get good use of them, rather than a huge collection of locos you'll use once & possibly never run again. That theory probably works best for us micro layout builders than larger layout builders in truth. I'm somewhere in the middle but the original plan was for a bigger railway but was put off by the challenge of building one so I've more stock than I realistically need even after a large trimming of models. I can certainly appreciate how a stable of 2-3 locos and a small amount of stock is a lot easier to maintain with less rotation required. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 (edited) This week has seen a re-focus on the Speedlink story - and especially 'Scottish' flavoured traffic. As well as some N gauge Society tank wagons (which will become Molasses tank wagons, as used on the Menstrie branch) I sourced a couple of carbon dioxide 'Distillers' tank wagons (as used on the Cameron Bridge branch). These are from Shapeways and printed in their new high resolution clear material which seems ok, but no better than the old 'Frosted Ultra Detail' really - certainly I'm not sure it's worth the price over the tan material. I am looking forward to bringing these all to life - but alongside you can see more Scottish flavoured projects providing some framing to the scene! The Tullis Russell PAA was a fun project I've written about previously. On the right is one of a quartet of re-worked Peco grain hoppers with parts designed by Will at Coventry Railworks - I have road-tested these kits, and I hope he is able to release them soon as they're lovely things! Edited April 13 by James Hilton 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Cameron Bridge would make an interesting model, a little larger than a cameo though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 Funny you mention that. I’ve got a cameo scheme drawn up for Cameron Bridge, and it would fit in about 1m in N, I think. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold D9020 Nimbus Posted April 13 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 13 The so-called "Whisky Blues" were popular models back in the 1960s in both the Triang and Trix ranges; IIRC Triang first used the Trix models under licence and later created their own. The Trix models may have been to 3.8mm scale, but were generally the better looking models. Since the Trix models were made by Liliput, the tooling ended up with Bachmann and had a run-out about 20 years ago. The Peco N gauge models were round about late 1960s vintage too. It's surprising in some ways that there are no newer models in either OO or N. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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