Leaderboard

Very impressed Al.

Looking good Al! There’s something rather lovely about outside framed 4-4-0’s, particularly GWR ones!

I totally agree, mock ups really do help with getting a design from a sketch to something you can look at from many angles and see whether it all works. If I can I also get a photo (even an old monochrome one) , scale it to size, cut it out and stick it onto a rough box.

Thank you, Tony; I'm glad this entry has potentially been of use. But you are not lesser mortals; I fear my original decision to start using mock-ups was more likely a product of my own indecision and anxiety! That said, I now wouldn't do it any other way, and the benefits of throwing up simple cardboard models that you can move around along with old bits of track and whatnot far exceeds the "cost" of spending the time doing so. If anything, it's actually quite a nice exercise as it gives you a glimpse of how your finished project may look, and what you could change to make it look that bit better! Edit: Here's my previous layout (which I will resume building once Sandy Shores is finished!) circa 2015, with all its mock-ups in place. In fact, I still have most of them in the cupboards in my room ready for when I get around to building the structures!

A really interesting and informative article. Plenty of food for thought there. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us lesser mortals!

Hi Mikkel, the standpipes I used came from some scale link castings; https://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Scenic___Scale_1_76__OO_-p1.html

It would certainly be nice, but maybe there aren't enough people who want to fit S&W couplings to RTR wagons to make it worthwhile? A chicken and egg situation.

Heh , yep it is a stone horse trough , Langley castings I think. It will get replaced since a yard like this would tend to have a sheet metal trough and a simple standpipe. A bit posher than the coal sidings which just have a standpipe and some buckets.

Thought I'd better get round to replying to this one ... I adjust the hook end position by bending the weighted paddle to suit. Once done it rarely need altering, usually only after a knock, and hasn't been a problem at all.