Physicsman

Here you are, Peter. The Brit with its tender correctly fitted....

I'd like to give you a set of "Likes" for that post, Steve. Like for liking (!!), Agree re. 9F on viaduct/cutting, Funny for double-deck track..... Yes, I'd love at least one 9F in EM. 2 would be wonderful.....hello Santa! I've got 4 in 00, so a couple for GH and a couple for HGS! Sounds fair.

Not new, Peter. I think both models were bought around 2013. Can't say I'd noticed an issue with the Brit tender. Edit: you are observant. Looking at an enlarged view of the tender I can see it's skew. That's what you get with a loco taken out of Hornby's crappy old-style packaging.

Episode 2, part 3..... Loco needs no introduction.....

Episode 2, part 2..... I'm going off for my tea so you may as well have "part 2". There are TWO very good reasons why I'm doing posts this way. The first is that my next mini-project - for January - is a diorama and HGS won't be starting until March. At that point it'll probably take 3-4 days to build the boards and support structures, so until then I'll entertain you with some of the forthcoming cast....all stars (in terms of loco types) of the S&C. The second reason is more important to me, a couple of people know what it is, but I'm not currently divulging it.

Coming soon to Hell Ghyll Sidings..... Episode 2, part 1.....

Episode 1, part 3.....

Nope, Steve, I obviously wasn't good enough - the model is in 00 and my letter to Santa specified EM. Oh, sh....... sugar!

Episode 1, part 2 ..... Britannia 70004 William Shakespeare.....

Coming soon to Hell Ghyll Sidings..... Episode 1, part 1..... Jeff

Nice to see that the thread can link similar-minded people together.

There aren't any good close-up images of the large Arten Gill cutting, so the retaining wall is "shrouded in mystery". I am NOT trying to do a carbon copy, anyway, but I WILL pay homage to the fact that there are some walls in place. My strategy will be revealed after I've tried it - probably this time next week. J.

Construction work won't be starting until mid-March at the earliest because of other commitments. But I've attached the outline "plan" of the scheme - plan is in " " because, in effect, it's just taken straight off the prototype - though the sidings have long since disappeared (1980s).

Me too. No excuse, there's a B road in close proximity to the line. I just need to get off my backside next summer and go and have a look! Jeff

Dave, thanks for your comments. Exactly what is needed. The bridge is just sat in place at the mo while the base grass layers are setting around it. I like the idea of a couple of farmers having a smoke, in proximity to the bridge - along with the sh1tty "path" frequent use would make. It all adds to the detail and credibility of the scene. Jeff

Rob, I'll be doing something about the oversight. Not a problem as I have plenty of room in the cess, and the wall can be built onto a piece of 20thou plastikard, only about 12mm high and 8mm wide.

I'll see what I can do, even if it's only 3 bricks high. Oh, dear!!

Welcome to the club of what REAL modellers - WHATEVER THEIR SKILL LEVEL - would really LIKE (pun intended) on here. Comments like "great work", "more please", "coming on nicely", " lovely progress" etc are VERY much appreciated, as well as the thumbs up you refer to. And I KNOW that not everyone has the time, or knowledge - or inclination - to want to offer a comment. Fair enough. But critical input - for example, a couple of posts up, where Neil has set me thinking - are just as, or maybe of more use. One problem I've increasingly found in this Forum is the "knee jerk" reaction from the disciples to pictures posted, NO MATTER how good or crap the work is. It's very irritating when someone has put a lot of work in and virtually gets ignored. On the subject of which, I really ought to start looking at your thread. The attention to detail you are putting in deserves plenty of plaudits. Folks, it's a real-world forum, nothing is going to change. But I'm damned if I'm going to say nothing, on my own thread. 20 likes for a loco straight out of the box. 5 likes for a scratchbuilt crane in a goods shed. Bl**dy ridiculous. J.

Agree about the steamers for GH, but while I might be prepared to have a go at converting a 4F, doing a 9F or equivalent is beyond even my willingness to "have a go". I'd pay good money for anyone equipped to do a GOOD job on one of my 9Fs. In the meantime, starting around March, the "plank" will take shape. At least one diorama ear!y in the new year. I estimate around 15,000 stones for the side walling on the plank. In addition to the viaduct, GH has so far "consumed" around 25,000 stones. Total DAS usage since starting the viaduct is around 20kg, so YES, the Italian factory has received forewarning!! J.

Well spotted, Adrian, though I know you are very familiar with the area. My initial working name was "Stonewall Sidings", but Steve (Ramrig) pointed out the adjacent feature of Hell Gill. Jonathan (Rowsley 17D) then suggested that gHYll rather than gill had a more traditional ring to it. And so we ended up with Hell Ghyll Sidings, which I think fits the bill! Jeff

Neil, I think you are right. I did have a reason for not including it - or was it just an oversight (or laziness?!) I think I wasn't sure how far it extended, so took the easy way out! Jeff

Exactly the kind of thing that's needed - input based on experience. I hadn't realised that your earlier years had shaped your knowledge of mud to the extent they have..... So far the "mud" area on the bridge has only had 2 coats of a brown emulsion. I'll have a go with some Woodland Scenics Fine Earth flock and add more texture. Thinking about it, the mud will have a lot of bits of broken down grass and vegetation - there's also the issue of some cow pats.... I will also have to continue the hoof prints to either side of the bridge - it'll get done (and the observant people on here will make sure it is, won't you?!) As for your last sentence, TOTALLY agree!

EDITED April 2, 2022 to include the missing pics in the initial post. Welcome to my new S&C – based layout thread. Followers of Gill Head and, previously, Kirkby Luneside (2) will know that those layouts were laid with EM gauge trackwork. The bulk of my locos are 00 gauge, bought pre-2015 and this has meant a large number of superb models (steam-dominated) have been in storage for a good while, and they really need to “see the light of day”. My original intention was to simply create a “plank” of wood, replete with a couple of lengths of 00 track which would provide an “exercise” area for the stock. This idea then morphed into a shunting plank and then, in an “Archimedes moment” into another Settle and Carlisle-based creation. My chosen prototype is one of the most famous places on the S&C, Ais Gill summit. A layout plan will appear in due course (everything, boards, track, L-girders, scenic requirements have already been thoroughly planned-out and details will be disclosed when appropriate). At this point, the last thing I want to get bogged down in is the minutiae of what, where and why…. Just to whet the appetite, here are 3 images which sum-up this remote place - with evocative kettles running on two of them. And even a bit of BLUE SKY!! Suffice to say that I can model the area chosen, adjacent to the site of the old signal box, inclusive of main-line sidings, on boards totalling a length of around 13 feet by 2 feet (4m x 0.6m). The compression I’ve had to include is minimal: if built fully to scale the features in my build that occupy 400cm would really take 440cm, so not much has been compromised! It’s simply not possible to build the full length given that the new project will sit (mostly) in the operating well area of Gill Head. Which immediately tells you it won’t be a permanent fixture, but more of that in later posts. For the moment the anticipation of re-creating the features shown in the attached photos: sidings, signal box, platelayer’s hut, walling, variation of adjacent topography, point rodding, signalling, occupation bridge etc, and populating it with a string of relevant S&C locos, is a mouth-watering prospect. One final point, just to clear-up any potential misunderstanding. This is NOT a shunting layout. It has been created to allow my 00 models some space to run in, even if that is simply up-and-down a 4m long length of line. I WILL provide a (removable) backscene board and hope to use the arrangement to take some interestingly-posed images. In ADDITION to the basic “layout” I will endeavour to produce – subject to storage space in the Bunker – a couple of additional boards which can be tagged-on to either end of the 4 metres, thus ALLOWING some shunting in-and-out of the sidings with trains, rather than single locos. BUT that is not my immediate priority, though it is something I’d like to do. The whole arrangement will then have to be run outside the Bunker for that to happen….we will see. So, for the moment, welcome to the new thread! Jeff

Thanks Jam. As a lot of you will know, one of my pet hates is the "cult of the sycophant". Yes, here we go - Jeff is "off on one" AGAIN.... HOWEVER, I think the people who've stuck with this thread have the same general attitude as me. If not, why are you still reading this? The small number of layouts (I think we're now at around 3) I look at are being built by conscientious modellers who value positive feedback and constructive criticism. Have a look at Jay's Llanyblod/CHPR threads, AlG's CHPR and Rob (Mr Wolf's) Clun, the latter having only recently come to my attention. On these threads the input from a group of fellow layout-builders is first class. Banter, good humour, advice exchanged in a positive way and NO ar5e-licking. What's the point of "disciples" telling you that what you are doing is good when, to anyone with any decent vision - and perspective - it's crap!? Producing crap gets you nowhere. MUCH better to be told it's rubbish and do something about it - it raises your standards. Who wants mediocrity? At risk of recalling a story that some of you will be familiar with - my first attempt at a cutting, adjacent to the newly-built viaduct on the original KL thread (around 2012). Jason Thomas, one of the best modellers in the UK, wasn't mincing his words...."it's sh1te, get rid of it"....he was correct. The cutting was changed - for the better.... WHY am I banging on about this? Because I appreciate the comments, and the attached specifics, made about some of the stuff I'm building. I know that next time I build a similar type of overbridge - for the Ais Gill-based "plank" (thread starting later) - I can make it better. It's good to know that the current one passes muster, but behind-the-scenes discussions and a bit of thinking should make some improvements. Just too easy to say "that's brilliant". As modellers - me certainly included - it is fantastic to hear this, but constructive suggestions to (possibly) improve things are like gold dust. Of course, I'm probably talking to the converted here and there are some who wouldn't budge if you stuck an atomic bomb up their derrieres. Their loss, I'm afraid. So, folks, please continue to offer your opinions. I may not agree with some of them, but it often needs a bit of lateral thinking from someone "outside the box" to generate new ideas and make things better. Thanks, again, Jam. Our little email interchanges are already reaping rewards for my planned dioramas! Oh, btw - almost incidental - 2 more pics of the overbridge attached. Yesterday's PVA is barely set, and there's a lot of vegetation needed to build up the depth. We'll get there. Jeff

Peter, thanks for raising the issue and having a look at the photos for me. I'm not a "rivet counter" - or even a "drain cover counter", but anything overtly missing from my cuttings would be corrected, if pointed out!