SeanNeedham

I was in Sabadell earlier (G-maps is your friend) on a photography gig... All was going well until my hearing aid packs in, right in the middle of a discussion; thank heavens for being able to lip read in not just English, but also in Catalan as well... After that disaster, two hours were spent trawling "The Manchester of Catalonia" (I think they call it that, because every time I've ever been there, I get wet through... Just like in the real Manchester) for a set of hearing aid batteries, some tea was in order. On the trawl to find somewhere that actually sold tea (took me a 4km hike to find somewhere that sold something that didn't resemble chopped grass), I passed a little junk shop, and being a bit of a magpie, I went in to see if they'd got any antique Nikon lenses just for the fun of it. They hadn't, but they'd got this little fella... Yep, it's a DB something or other, I don't know the class, but at 20€, it seemed tempting enough to any magpie with some N-scale track, but even more tempting when a quick recall from the 'loco list' stored on the iPod Touch of old local engines to find that there were at least four of this near on design on Martorell shed near Barcelona and they used to haul light freight/passenger up the local metals. And as I've got the paint in stock anyway, I thought it would just make a nice bit of practise giving it a paint job... As for 20€, it could have sat at the back of a layout and not done anything, apart from be a test bed for the painting techniques that need to be brought out of retirement. Got it home, took the above photo of it (couldn't be bothered to do it properly, so it's a quick snap), and then dropped it on the English layout (still got to post photos!), thinking that it is going to be one seriously rough dog... Nope, smooth as anything, absolutely glided across very quietly indeed. It didn't even get point hang like a similar length wheelbase from a certain (ex) UK manufacturer. The more I find of these little locomotives from German manufacturers, and the more I find about the local lines around here, the more I'm tempted to put all my English stuff back in storage and just concentrate locally; especially with some of the old industrial settings and stations, meaning that a very interesting and involving layout can be had in a 3x1' space or less.

Thanks for that, devondynosoar118, I'll have a look to see if I can raid enough from the skip down the back of the bathroom showroom to get that underway...<div>However, in the time being, well, today, I found a little spot that doesn't require so much stone work, so with that and what you've mentioned, I'll have a look in to it!</div>

Damn, I wish I knew about that place last week! I was in Vic recently, and easiest way to get there takes me past Tona and on to Manresa...

My Catalan project is on hold until further notice, sadly, as I can't get enough insulation foam to carve in to the correct rock formations, as expanded polystyrene (which is as common as horse s*** around these parts) being too loose for the height and carving required. I've already experimented with that, and it looks really poor, and wobbles easily making the plaster formed faces crack. So the locomotives, and already converted stock are in the 'MPD' until I get hold of enough blue foam to put myself in to a position to start carving it together. However, that leaves me with one slight problem... The other half has promised that I'd show a layout at the November arts fair in the area, and my main layout is too big scenically, and prototypically un-Catalan and they are the things that I've got to include. In the research folder, I've got plenty of small space ideas for something that would fit, but as most of them are fairly unique to certain parts of the region, it would mean buying stock up for that little area, converting it and without real emphasis on expansion, which to me is something I don't want to be getting in to. Also, my in laws have been giving me some stick about 'model railways should be round and round', which to me is not the case as the only railway that I've ever seen that goes round in circles was the bit of track that was on the turntable at Barrow Hill roundhouse. This has been compounded by my nieces who have been pestering the in laws, my other half, their grandparents to get me to make something that chases it's own tail-light. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, as I can get some more boards for five euros a pop, and some second radius curve, and just extend it through when the kids come round, and this has been offset some by the grandparents saying that they'd put some money up for me making a circuit of track for the kids to watch trains go by on. The only serious solution to this dilemma, now, is to break out the notebook and pencil, and go off down the bar for some thinking juice.

I've left my macro lens in the office, and won't be going back for it tonight! On my 'local' (Catalan project), I've made a start on the boards, and started converting some stock to fit in with the generalisation (painting wagons in their base coats, painting one of the locomotive underframes). At present, the stock collection consists of a pair of these (Link), though one is on a track cleaner chassis at present; though that is no great problem, as when I can find another non-digital one on the secondhand market, then the track cleaner is going to get the mod for something else (I'm thinking snowblower). This is one of the locomotives that was at the Vall De Nuria, but is now a museum piece at Montserrat, and has different pantographs, changes in running gear to a couple of the units that are still in service. I'm not going to attempt to make the loco look totally prototypical, as it would mean removing 2mm from each end of the chassis, and also the subframe, then cutting 4mm out of the body in slices, also removing the roof and cutting that, and the electrics down in a couple of slices as well, so it's staying as it is in terms of length. Though one of the actual locomotives the model was derived from was tested by B, B & C on the Vall de Nuria (as far as can be told, as there is a picture of one that looks very similar up there on trials). The cab overhangs are going to get the chop, and also the lights are going to be changed to match this version, and maybe I will convert the cab windows to the three window set when I get round to it (visiting the UK and getting some plasticard, if my supplier can't get any!), but on three of the locomotives out of the four electrics in the fleet, the number 2 end had twin windows instead of three (whilst the number 1 end, which was the one that was usually not coupled had the three). Also the side vents are going to get changed and filled, then the vents are going to go on to the lower side as per prototype. As there were changes done on some of the fleet, during refits and at build time, so across the four that were built, there is no two that are the same. They also ride a little higher than the prototype (about a scale foot), but with the way the models are built, it would be nigh on impossible taking that 2mm out of them with the construction. At the moment, the plan of the layout is still sticking to the general adhesion line, so that would give opportunity to run some other things on there, instead of just these and trying to build some of the multiple units (though I may have to for the daily passenger services through the valley), and I'm also on the look out for something that resembles an GM SW1001 (the switcher that is used by Foster Yeoman) in N-gauge as the Renfe 310 was based on this locomotive (of which I can only find an HO kit), and that was converted in to the FGC class 353 that tops and tails short freight between Martorell (SEAT) and the port in Barcelona.

After a bit of a scratch about with Anyrail on the other half's PC, and then a bit of a quick doodle in Photoshop, this is the first bit of the local project... It's not going to be that big, just a 2x1' area, with a small train (either loco + coach, or loco + 2 or 3 wagons) scuttling in from the L/H side to the station/goods (black blocks on the right), and then disappearing out the way it came with the loco at the back to propel 'up the mountain' (as they used to on the local rack railways here). The light grey is the bounds of the board, with the large chunk of dark grey being the 'rock', the blue being a drainage culvert to deflect water from the top of the tunnel with an overbridge (well, not really a bridge, just a drain tube under the tracks), and the brown is just going to be a vehicle point for road... I suppose this could be more of a running diorama than anything, but under 'guidance' of the other half, it is going to be build in a way that it can be extended both left and right, and with having a look at some of the operations in the area, it could also be used as part of a through line for all sorts of traffic (including 37's on engineering!), with the line up the mountain going off on what would be on the other side of the left tunnel. The actual trackplan, if you could call it that, is a small permanent way yard that was just north of Monistrol de Montserrat when they were building the new rack railway back in 2003, and the station and goods shed is based on a place called Cal Vidal (which is handy, as it's only half hour on Shank's Pony to get there for doing measures and things), a photo on Panoramio can be found here. To the left side of the picture is the main station building/waiting room and platform, to the centre, is the station master's cottage, and the thing on the right side of that, which looks like a pallet is the loco crew platform. In total, the site is no longer than 35 metres in length (that was including goods siding to the rear!). Construction wise, it's going to be carved insulation sheet on a floating shelf, with stud wall rendering to create the stone effect, and painted up in water based paints to get the streaks of the rock (still don't know whether I'm going to go with the grey volcanic of the mountain of Montserrat, or the bright pink that is more common down in the river valley), with the buildings and bridge facias being card built, the bridge base being RC aircraft ply, and the overhead catenary scratch built out of plasticard. Any ideas or comments greatly appreciated!

Coor, this is great! Looking forward to seeing how this develops further!

I understand completely about that thought process vs actual modelling, Mike...<div><br></div><div>Good luck with getting things rolling, and try not to get distracted by too many ideas!</div>

Cheers, Bill but they're the wrong scale to what I'm going to be working in and maybe not the right part of the FGC either, sadly, as I'm working this as an N-gauge at the moment, on a 800x300mm board, and the company was made up of at least 4 individual companies (not including the parts taken over from the state) each with their own stock and in some cases different gauges... However, If I get the bug for the local flavours, then maybe I'll be on the look out for some.