Mythocentric

Well done that man! Just read your article after the mag turned up this morning. Can't wait for the follow up showing that superb factory. Eer! Is it to soon to ask for your autograph yet? Regards and thanks for your continuing inspiration, Bill Edited for quick vote: Straight Sun by Orbital. Coming Back To Life by Pink Floyd (Dave Gilmour) still song of the decade!

Hey up our kid! Modelling the Lanky isn't cheating! It's paying tribute to an unsung hero of our railway heritage not to mention one of the most innovative. Just sit back, relax (I find a double Chivas Regal helps) and repeat after me...coconuts! coconuts!................... Sorted Bill

As a member of the L & Y Railway Society and having followed Jason's thread almost from the start I can assure anyone that Jason's modelling goes beyond 'merely' good. Also ambience which it possesses in abundance. Having lived in the area all of my adult life until recently I can only compare Bacup to Dave Shakespeares Tetley Mill's depiction of the West Riding in it's atmospheric recreation of an area and railway system I know and love. I have'nt recieved the relevant magazine yet but I look forward to it's arrival with great interest. I can't wait to see the finished layout in all it's glory! Regards Bill

Ooh! I am so jealous! I have to make do with half a coffee table!

Quote: Post 422 "Plan (so far) is to have a scruffy grass banking between the wall and the houses" Hi Jason! How about adding a couple of Wills timber garages somewhere near the edge, maybe with a derelict car up on bricks. Perhaps a couple of rusty bike frames among the long grass. No cliche, there was plenty of grunge around in the late 50's/early 60's. No windows, no slates, just a nice break from the tedium. Boy, and I thought I was having fun laying individual platform edging slabs! Regards Bill

Don't forget Jeff. When you get the first bit of track down, you've got to place a loco on it and gaze at it for a while as you imagine it running around the layout before photographing it for posterity :-)

It might seem a minor point, but it does make a heck of a difference does'nt it? I'm going to be mean now and suggest a couple of hard-pressed workers gazing forlornly out of the windows! :-) Edited due to a sudden inability to spell forlornly!

Probably a bit late in the day now but I usually line the insides of buildings with black card which I buy from The Works, etc. (£1 for 10 sheets). I don't like to use paint where you can't see it! Due to being a tightwad I think!

Thanks for the info Jason! I finished up buying all three grades so I at least have options for attaching myself to various bits of furniture. One of my more unfortunate habits where superglues concerned! Bill

Hi Jason. Just a quick question. I'm popping into Lancaster this week to replenish supplies at Model and Hobby World including adhesives. Given the superb results you're producing with your windows what I'd like to know is which grade of Vitalbond do you use? The shop sells three (thick, medium and thin). I normally use canopy glue but clearly Vitalbond is the way to go! Regards Bill

Hi Jeff I hope you find Paul Bason's methods as useful as I have. I work to them consistently now and they really do produce solid structures, probably in keeping with your baseboard building system . Bob Essery as you probably know is an ex-railway man (and fine modeller) and has written a number of books, including works on passenger and goods operation which are also well worth looking out for. My new layout is, or will be, (it's still in the early stages) 00 guage finescale based on my beloved Lancashire and Yorkshire Rly on the Copy Pit route using SMP track. I'm still debating buying pointwork from Marcway or building my own from C&L components. Trouble is, I tend to get distracted by work on the buildings which I enjoy doing above all, so I'll probably still be debating when you've finished your layout! As a keen sea angler I'm well aware of what goes into Morecambe Bay. Indeed, early morning bass fishing on the Pipeline is an olefactory experience never to be forgotten! Morecambe's beaches are a lot cleaner these days though I regret to note that we did lose our Blue Riband label this year. Happily I live at the north end and collect sand from above the high water mark. I also clean it before use and I'm pleased to report no night-time glow or second heads yet (Hello Zaphod!) Two of the local modellers I know also use sand from the beach and they work for the council, so I'm taking that as a sort-of permission. Anyway, if they want it all back I'm afraid they are going to have to make a trip to the USA. I had friends over from Washington this summer and me and they're three-year-old daughter had great fun collecting pebbles which she took back home to "put on her own beach 'cause it does'nt have any". Regards Bill

Jason OK! I hold my hand up, I detest ballasting! In fact I've just bought one of those Proses Ballasting wotsits in the hopes it makes life easier. I have'nt used it in anger yet but I had a play with a length of Peco and one of SMP and it works pretty well (it's all in the wrist action he says with a knowing wink). Not perhaps such a good idea on reflection as most of my ballast now lives in the vacuum cleaner. Happily I have access to a few thousand tons in the form of the beach at the end of the road, and being a great believer in the old Lancashire tradition of 'owt fer nowt an I'm in wi't bucket' a quick visit to same is imminent! Jeff Probably a bit late but with reference to signalling and your intention to scratchbuild your structures I can thoroughly recommend Railway Signalling and Track Plans by Bob Essery and Scratch-Built Buildings by Paul Bason, both in print and available from Ian Allan Bookshops http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/. In fact the scratch-building one is a British Railway Modelling publication but I've just checked the website and could'nt see it there.

If speed scratchbuilding was an Olympic sport (and why not? Everything else is these days!) you would be weighed down with gold! Superb stuff!

Hi Jeff, What I actually had in mind was those lineside fires whose blackened remnants were frequently seen trackside caused by hard-working steam loco's. You never see them depicted on a layout (likewise drain covers on station platforms) although now that you've jogged my memory (credit duly given) I've pencilled them in for my own efforts. As for the dreaded Fell, we are in total agreement although I suppose it does have some historical merit for being the only item of BR motive power designed by Vogon's! Lots of fun with the trackwork. That's a stage I enjoy because its there that the layout slowly starts to come to life, although you might like to get Jason (Sandside) round for his ballasting expertise [ ]. Regards Bill

Theres a nice shot of the prototype Deltic with dynamometer car and two BSK's in this months RM mag. Then again there is that rather interesting Fell thingy. They'd look very nice on all that lovely SMP trackwork! Actually the burnt grass does sound interesting. I can't recall ever seeing it modelled although it did happen rather frequently! Regards Bill

Hi Jason! Thats perfect. Very much appreciated! I've been building a couple of ridge & furrow canopies for the last 3 weeks so it's good to have an excuse to do something different. You can only cut so much microstrip before you start screaming!

Can I stick my hand up for that? I have a row of terraces to build for the front of the layout. I had thought of building a couple of Metcalfe kits and using their dimensions but at the speed I'm currently moving (think continental drift!) it will probably be months before I get to them. Any help would be gratefully recieved. Regards Bill.

Andy C and Physicsman have it right on the nail! Wakes week specials produced anything that could turn a wheel! From my dad's notes I travelled to Blackpool on excursions behind various Crabs (very popular), Black 5's, Austerities, 8F's, Standard 4MT 2-6-0's and on one notable occasion a Jubilee. Then there were loco's 'borrowed' by the shedmaster after they turned up on other workings, some of which stayed so long they almost became unofficial allocations. Incidentally, those droplights were very handy, especially when you were a kid who had been held outside Preston for an hour waiting for a path to Blackpool!

That is a fearsome piece of work Jason. I think my own factory would probably count as an out-building compared to yours, My only regret is that we won't be able to see it on the exhibition circuit. Surely someone from BRM will be happy to come along for a magazine shoot and the wider audience it really deserves. I am truly gobsmacked! Regards, Bill

Hi Andy If you're laminating plasticard, for large areas I usually use Revell Contacta. Easy to control with the tube applicator it gives you time to cover a large area and make minor adjustments before it 'grabs'. Drilling a few holes in the sheets helps solvent evaporation. Hope this is of use. Regards

And follow it up with an expose' about railway modeller endangering the lives of millions by promoting unsafe working practices on the railway. Nothing like a good witch hunt to boost circulation figures!