Max Legroom

The most enjoyable part of this project so far has been the research.

Great little layout and love that 45 tonner!

Will follow this with interest.

Here are a few bits and pieces to go around the loading dock. Hopefully the fish crates and old rowing boat will give a suitable loch side flavour. Next a few items for the station. I drove along the rough course of the route recently and it would've been one heck of a climb up to Rest and Be Thankful! I imagine there would have been a passing station and couple of engineers sidings there. Further down the line would be a station at Cairndow with a siding and another station at St Catherine's.

...and the much criticized (at the time) blue-grey livery looked absolutely superb when clean - especially on the mk3s!

Thanks for posting your brilliant film. I did a Railrover around Scotland in August 1983 so this brought back so many memories. Great stuff!

Thanks Yorkshire Pud. While the delay in getting started has been frustrating I have been able to do a few smaller bits and pieces. Here are a couple of the excellent Lanarkshire buffer stops. One LNER and one BR standard. Next up is a Peco plastic buffer stop that doesn't look too bad attached to bullhead track. I'm also thinking of using DCC for the first time. I've got the same feelings of trepidation that I had when I switched from vinyl to CDs back in the 90s! It was the thought of SLW 24009 with full sound that prompted the change. Max

I've been planning a layout based on Strachur on the shores of Loch Fyne for some time. It's based on St Catherines by Ian Futers, with a similar trackplan, and assumes that the line from Arrochar ran onwards from St Catherines to Strachur where it connected with the ferry service. Thanks to a protracted house move I haven't been able to start the actual layout construction so I've put the time to use on planning and a few small scale projects. Here is the signal box (recently repainted blue/white) inspired by Ken Gibbon's Port Pennan and a slightly reconfigured Wills hut. I think I may end up building a larger signal box but this one will do initially. A couple of smaller huts: Rust is the order of the day! Finally the station canopy which will attach to a storm wall. Period is mid to late 1970s run-down BR blue though I may use a bit of licence to keep the odd van of fish running. I also plan to run early 1970s and early 1980s stock occasionally. All the best Max

Wow, this is very impressive modelling! I'm looking forward to this one progressing. Max

I've only just discovered this thread. What a superb layout!

The class 29 numbers are sensible as they all carried the listed liveries to the end in late 71 (I think).

They are really rather cute!

Really impressive little layout.

Whenever I see 'then and now' pairs of photos I'm always amazed just how many trees there are today compared to the early and mid twentieth century. Not just along railway lines either.

Wow! This is some seriously good modelling. Can't wait to see your progress. Max

Freelanced narrow gauge version!

Thanks again for all of this useful information. I'm planning a small West Highland terminus and want to include some fish traffic. I think I'll handle it at a separate freight platform but run the wagons attached to the passenger trains. This will add a bit of shunting variety and I like the idea of a cluttered fish platform.

Thanks for your replies. Some great photos of the quay at Mallaig. I wonder how the Wick Fish was handled in the 1970s when it was just one or two vans included at the front of regular passenger trains. I'm sure I've seen a photo somewhere of fish boxes being loaded by hand on the station platform.

Hi all I'm looking for photos of fish vans being loaded on the ScR in the 1960s and 70s, for example at Mallaig or the Wick Fish. I'm assuming they were loaded at the platform but wondered if the actual loads were delivered from the harbour by pallet. If anyone can point me in the direction of any photos I would be most grateful. Thanks Max

Here are a couple of photos taken on my phone so not sure how much detail you can make out. These were supplied unpainted.

Finally got around to renumbering my 122 as SC55002. I quite like the way this model is put together making it easy to work on. For some reason the roof was out of alignment by a couple of mm and no amount of pushing could persuade it to slide into the correct position so I ended up aligning it from above and pushing up down into place. The Glasgow PTA decals are HMRS and the rest of the numbering/lettering is a specially made set from Railtec. First time I've used them and very impressive service. Now I just need to work on that bodyside weathering, oh, and build a layout for it!

I ordered three of the driver/secondman figures and I have to agree that they are nicely detailed. A blast of primer shows up the nice detail though worth taking time with the painting and using washes to bring out the detail. Prompt delivery too!

Interesting that they licence the branding without, seemingly, stipulating a high standard of customer service. It's almost as if they think the brand can't be tainted. This probably explains how they got away with the west coast tender that wasn't and now the latest east coast debacle.

My experience of Virgin Mobile is slick marketing and non-existent customer service to the extent that I'd avoid anything Virgin branded if at all possible!

Looks fabulous but I'm a bit worried about the individual on the quayside in the picture with the fish vans!