Geep7

Too much to ask for the n gauge Class 150/2 in FGW Purple and GWR Green? And OO 117 in BR Blue?

That did cross my mind too.....

Yep, exactly.... someone must have made a mess up on the order quantities..... 2 x of each corridor brake (they did 2 separate numbers in each livery) for each composite, rather than a 1 for 1.....

Sadly the 59ft Corridor Brakes were only ever used in 3-sets with the other 59ft coaches and never used as loose stock, afaik (i'd have to check my Southern Bulleid book to be absolutely sure). I'd be up for buying a couple at £17.99, but only if I could guarantee getting a 59ft composite to go with them, and in the correct livery too. The Southern Railway and BR Southern were quite strict about keeping is coaching stock in sets. If one coach had a defect, then the whole set was pulled. And they would go to works to be repainted as a set too..... Just one of the quirks of the Southern which makes them stand out from the rest (apart from the affection for live rail....)

That looks to be a great amount of space to build a nice Spanish layout. Any thoughts on if you're going to model a prototype, or something based on a few different places?

Saw this reported the other day, and don't feel so bad that my old AMT/ERTL kit nacelles drooped a bit too after a while....

There's only ever been one good adaptation of the book, in my opinion, and that doesn't even have any moving pictures....... And even then, it has to be the Richard Burton narrated version, not the more recent one with Liam Neeson (as good as he is).....

Also to add, I've recently seen announce that the small radius Code 100 Y point has been redesigned as unifrog. Not sure when it's due in stock though....

What I do know is that all the Code 75 Flat-bottom track is available in either Insulfrog or Electrofrog, with none available as unifrog, but the code 75 Bullhead is all unifrog.

So a bit of slow progress made over the past couple of evenings on the retaining wall along the rear of the left hand side of the layout. There will be an embankment from the bridge and down the slope, covered in undergrowth and a few bushes and trees, and then on the level, I will have a couple of house backs. Probably the rear of a fairly new housing estate, of the type that appeared all over the south in the mid to late 1960's. I already have a laser cut kit, one that came free with BRM a few years back, so I might use this, perhaps as an interim until I can scratch build some. With the factory and now some houses on the back of the layout, rather than being distinctly countryside, it's starting to feel a little more outer suburban, so perhaps it's imaginary location of being somewhere a bit south of Bordon isn't so good, and maybe I should move it somewhere closer to London perhaps? You may also have noticed that I have painted the platform sides, and tops. The tops are just in a shade of black in preparation for the emery sheets to be glued in place. The white areas, are where I have filled in a couple of screw holes (to initially keep the platform in place) and filed back smooth. The platform is now held down by screws from underneath the board, but will eventually be glued in place. Whilst the Peco sides are moulded in coloured plastic approximating concrete, painting them takes away the plastic shine. I have been experimenting with what shade of paint to use for well aged concrete, since my customary paint, Polly Scale Aged Concrete, is no longer in production. The paint shade here, and brush painted, is Stone Grey by Vallejo in the Model Color range, which I think looks pretty good. I have also sprayed the footbridge with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, which seems to give a similar colour. Obviously both will need a good amount of weathering added too. Something else I have been pondering. So the exit to the station is via this footbridge, and I think it's safe to say there would be some sort of barrow crossing (as marked in red) to allow luggage, etc. to be transferred out of the station. Also the crossing would continue to the other side to allow the signalman to collect the single-line token (when the line used to continue further south/west). The area marked with the blue rectangle i'm wondering if there would be a small station building / booking hall of some sort? Maybe one of the those fairly modern looking CLASP style buildings? Single story so as not to overpower the scene too much. However, i'm not 100% sure if this would be prototypical at all. I know at Waddon Marsh, people used to buy their tickets from the signalbox, but this was situated between the tracks at the end of the platform, but I don't have the room to do that here. Maybe I could just get away with one of those red ticket kiosks and just some gates? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Sorry, I should have been a bit clearer, I'll never go back to using IPA to clean my track. The contact cleaner works like a dream.

At the risk of opening pandora's box again, i'll be honest. I used to be sold on using 99% IPA, wiped on using a cloth, but having read some other suggestions, I've used electrical contact cleaner, again applied with a cloth, and I'll never go back to IPA. I only ever use a track rubber when removing any paint sprayed on.

Thank you, yes, I did wonder if English bond might be the better one to go with. Haven't looked through my plasticard stash yet, but I seem to recall I only have plain and Flemish bond....

So there was no progress with the layout over the Easter weekend as I was away visiting the in-laws in Dorset. However, the weekend before saw some progress, with a start being made on fitting the point motors. The first motor fitted was for the first point coming out of the fiddle yard, controlling access to the goods loop and yard. This was fairly simple to fit. I am using the Gaugemaster solenoid motors with fitted screw terminals. Even though the baseboard surface is fairly thin, it still required the extension pin being used. Once this was fitted, I started looking at the other points, and realised I had 2 or 3 that were being blocked by baseboard crossmembers. Two of these I have had to surface mount against the backscene, and the other (yet to fit) will have to be fitted underneath away from the point with a modified wire in tube method being employed. The two surface mounted point motors are also using the modified wire in tub method, i.e, a wire with no tube. The point motor in the first photo, which operates one switch of the double-slip, will be hidden under an embankment, but I am considering having some house backs over the top, so they can be removed for access. I did consider perhaps a TP hut, but not sure if I would need one on this line. The 2nd point motor pictured will either be hidden under a larger factory building, or perhaps a platelayers hut, but I think it's a bit far back from the tracks for the later. I also managed to lay the siding to the factory. This was glued in place with foam tack glue, and the track soldered to brass screws either side of the baseboard join, and then cut with a razor saw. As you will see, I still need to glue in place the additional sleepers that were removed at the joints. I am also considering making the siding inset into concrete where it is covered. I'm not sure how prototypical this would be, but I think it might have been a possibility.

So i've been doing some digging around on the internet, and it looks like there are factories built out of all types..... so I guess it's down to what brick plasticard I have in stock.