bigwordsmith

Dave did you manage to find a plan opt the 'real' Waverley station layout or did you have to work it out? I'm thinking about having a got at modelling the other end for the next layout project which is called 'The Waverley Route' and i'm probably biting off more than I can chew, but WTH! ATB Peter

Great work Gilbert, I'm sure we all respect you for stepping into the breach

@Larry - your post from 11.00 popped up in my inbox and promptly didn't appear on the thread - weird!

Thanks Guys - in military parlance 'OP' means Observation Point and as my link goes to the latest post I was confused! Gilbert a silly question maybe, but was Tetleys Mills DCC or analogue?

Andy - can you share the link please?

Gilbert I'd be happy to act as a 'pick up point' for People based in West Sussex/ Surrey/ Hants Perhaps if you set up a few regional collecting points and build a spreadsheet of who's getting what it would make the whole P&P thing a lot more cost effective? Peter

Bet he did - you know Andy he abhors a single colour background!

Gilbert THis is a difficult task you're taking on, but I have a couple of questions 1) How do I send you a PM to say I'd like to bid for/ buyt specific items? 2) How are you pricing things? Peter

@Ryde-on-time Are you on proprietary or handmade track - she shoed a definite jump on the check rails as she went through those trailing points.

I can't cut a straight line on card - deeply jealous of your skill!

@Steffi - I raised it here n case anyone else feels the same way. I didn't express the 'raised paint' thing well I've sine found out the technique is called 'Print on Canvas'

@Rob Have you looked into the idea of getting that pic produced as a large print- preferably the sort with raised paint? I'd buy one, and I think you could find that as you;ve created it you have a chunk of copyright in the image.

Last year I met Mark Allatt of the P2SLC who told me he had been assured by Simon Kohler that they did plan to produce a Bugatti version. Of course that was before the refresh of Hornby's management so anyone's guess is as good as any other. They;re not going to say anything in a hurry in case people defer buying CotN in favour of a Bugatti version. AS and when it does arrive, I wonder how many will suddenly be found chuffing around ECML layouts in Brunswick green?

Amazing building David - now the next challenge - what are you going to do with it next? Peter

Cat among pigeons time, This is what I'm planning to do with my Railroad version when I get it!... I won't say watch this space because it probably won't even get going until next year, and take a long while from then, but I've made a start by acquiring a spare V2 shell and plan to use it's front end as well as a set of Bachmann V2 motion and parts. Peter

No sign of mine yet - nor even an unhappy smiley to add to the comment :-(

@Rob - great pic where did you get it? general point did Simon Kohler retire or has he gone somewhere else?

As I've still not yet hit the big six-oh (just) The idea of retiring is not even on my horizon, but then I've worked for myself for 30-odd years and had the pleasure of what is today called a 'portfolio career'. Actually I think it's just a polite way of saying 'great ideas, but can't hold down a proper job' Anyway, my professional life nowadays focuses around things which are reasonably lucrative when they happen, but interspersed with sometimes lengthy periods of non-earning, so there is always the worry at the back of one's mind about where the next piece of work will come from. As someone who doesn't have a final salary pension scheme, and like most self-employed people found a couple of years ago that the pension providers were taking a disproportionate share of one's contributions, the potential for kicking back and doing nowt anytime soon, simply ain't there. Having said that, I also find that dealing with a lot of younger clients, as well as working with a couple of local FE colleges in a business advisor role for sixth formers, helps to keep one thoroughly grounded in the contemporary, rather than inextricably linked to the past. In that respect I actually find the idea of retiring a bit frightening! My late and beloved father, who is 100% responsible for my love of all things Gresley, retired at the age of 60 and lived to just past his 90th Birthday. I recall when he was about 75 he joined an organisation called 'Probus' and attended three or four of their lunches at my mother's suggestion. I asked him what he thought of it, and in his ironic gentle Scottish brogue he replied. "Couldn't be doing with them, a bunch of grumpy old men with nothing better to do than sit around talking about who they used to be." Certainly I see from my peers, some of whom have retired early, the risk of getting out of touch with today - I don't know where the tipping point is, but somewhere there is definitely a point where nostalgia becomes more important than looking forward, and I personally dread that day.

Gilbert, just a thought. Dave disposed of his models very successfully through EBAY with a note that they were from Tetleys Mills and let the RMWeb community know he was doing so - could I suggest you do something similar if you're going to list them so that you get the widest possible audience? You could write ups boilerplate that you could paste onto each ad to talk about the heritage, and who knows who else might be kick started by buying one of his items? You would also doubtless get best prices! Peter

Spoke to Rails this morning - they have stock and are working through their back orders, so fingers crossed!

ah Phil All the more time to find interesting pix of mrs Duck for our entertainment! A sad day indeed! Peter

Hi David, Iindeed- the scenic aspects are the most exciting! I won't be able to do much modelling for a while - I need to focus on the paid job to cover the cost over-runs on the build, and our daughter is getting married shortly, but I plan to get the first baseboard in place this side of Christmas! Period-wise most of my fleet is late steam/ early Diesel BR, but I've got a O2 on order ad I've acquired a very smart rake of Ian Kirk Gresley coaches in teak, so there will be the odd ghostly apparition on the line! At the opposite end of the timescale I also have a Heljan 'Kestrel' that would like to stretch its wheels occasionally although nothing blue/grey for it to haul! I did wonder about having a 'travel through time' set of stock so I could go from late 1930s to early '70s, but I think i'd need (a) more fiddle yard, and (b) much more stock! I'll probably just end up getting my modeller's licence endorsed a few times! Peter

Hi David This is about as far as I've got - the black lines go from and to Waverley, the red ones are the low level - running to the fiddle yard and the blue lines fall from Waverley down to TBC Junction than rise back up to Waverley again. As you can see I've got room for four main features - the big station, one pass through with very little adornment - Joppa- although the old railway laundry fed off a siding there which ran along the back of my parents' house, and there was a goods yard around there somewhere as well. TBC junction allows me to send trains on a round-roundy through Waverley or switch them in the fiddle yard - the idea is to play clever games with scenery so you don't know which train to expect! Apologies for the dodgy lines - I haven't got a decent curve drawing app on the mac, this is the one I use for drawing up house plans Thanks for the book recommendation _ I've ordered a secondhand copy for £ 20! ATB Peter

Well David, while you've been off line much has been happening in the Waverley Region! - We now have a new loft, which is in the process of being roofed at the moment and will end up with 37' x 11' of usable space! I'm trying to work out a sensible plan for making it work and want to do a 'trompe l'oeile' with the tracks by doing a sort of folded double loop that allows me to model Waverley station on one side - passing of course Waverley Shed, then rolling into a gentle decline that leads eventually to a large fiddle yard beneath the main Waverley board The idea is that trains depart Waverley, wander off around a scenic section that suggests the Waverley Route through the 'Disputed lands' and maybe have a good wee junction station to allow the lines to split and go who knows where, then dive into another tunnel and .... disappear! Modelling the Waverley Route, will of course give me modellers' licence for a mix of former stock from both LNER and LMS, On emerging from the fiddle yard, my plan is for a climb up to datum by which access is gained to Waverley, where rains will terminate before heading back off in the opposite direction! Then come the added complications! Before diverging from the ECML the Waverley route passes through Joppa Station - which is about 50 yards form the house where I was born, so I fancy including that as well as a wee piece showing the house itself - this is the view from the top of the bridge you could see behind the loco, and the house where I was born is four down on the left! So if I model this I need to have a 'high level' line that will return to Waverley with maybe another branch line station so DMUs can shuttle back and forth. I also wan tot get in a typical Waverley Route station with all the isolation that suggests, so potentially could shuttle DMUs to that, and include B1s with three coaches! Lots of choice and struggling to come up with a decent way to plot it all out on a Mac!

AH David - good to see you back posting again!