number6

So if you were the signalman in the unenviable position of setting the route for the valley bottom you may have questioned why this catch point couldn't have been either somewhere west of the viaduct or east of the station to make clearing up the mess a bit easier?

Let me know the length of the bit of a wall and I'll do it the correct size. As to paper - whatever gives the crispest printout as at that size its going to block in a bit if the printout is a bit screened [dotted]. `

Buffet wall anyone? This isn't New Rail Alphabet http://www.newrailalphabet.co.uk/ but I think at 4mm to the foot that is not going to be noticed...

I too rather like the reversed blue and grey those few SR Pullmans carried - so my vote would be for that! I think it appeared at that time when the old liveries - maroon, green and even those 'smarter' versions such as WR choc and cream Mk1s - started to look dowdy against the BR corporate blue image. I think that's a testament to the quality of the new identity and how it was worked through everything - not just colour but typefaces, uniforms, ship funnels, architecture etc... The ferry van is looking superb by the way. Best

Dave Lovely and neat handrail and pipe runs there - is the larger one is held on with split pins? Interesting locos these - I've always thought they look like the aftermath of a heavy shunt: trailing axle seems close to the rear driver and the abrupt change of design at the bunker - the appearance of which makes them all the more interesting. The original E1 was one of the most unremarkable and 'ordinary' designs from Brighton. best

Moorgate? You could say it was three stations - soon to be four. This is a 3D render of Crossrail between Moorgate and Liverpool Street . The Northern line tunnels lie directly below the GN tubes now both connected by escalators that surface on the Eastbound side of the Met/Circle. I saved this image because of the evidence that the Post Office Railway still threads its way through all the new works.

Never mind the colour - don't Andy and Roger's images show the nameplate in a completely different position to that on the model? And I suspect that the lining and possibly the lower umber panel is wrong too - the lined out box on the cab side seems a different proportion to that by Dapol. The radiuses in each corner may be too big - let alone the shape being too tall... Such a shame - its an absolutely lovely model - with shockingly bad livery applications.

Once I've done a BUFFET lettering the rest is straight duplication and colour changing. I think I prefer the type based ones - but the carriage end landscapes on the Thameslinks probably deserve another look.

I'd be happy to do a replica of that wall for you - graphic design is the day job - and then I can start a line in replica 70s carriage decor for hipsters! Eddie [Edward] Pond anyone?

Less said about the 29 the better. I have a feeling that the images in the catalogue for the 25 that year were mockups and not the actual model. Possibly even an MTK kit?

If you model the Eastbourne Pullman don't to forget to pull the blinds down on the last two cars as it was often very lightly loaded - and it was easier to staff just a few of the cars in a single unit. There is a photo of such a unit north of Lewes in the Pullman Profile No 4 by Anthony Ford. Saves painting the carpets the correct design...

This is the unit I saw. I think I still prefer CEPs in South Eastern grot. Can you imagine how groady they would have become in this livery? SouthCentral-930082-977861(BR_61044)-977863(BR_61038)-NorwodJn-180602b by Michael Wadman, on Flickr Sorry South Central for messing up the thread - but this unit is named after you...

Given how old the Hornby 25 is now its easy to forget that it was probably the first [tiny] leap forward in terms of D&E models back then [1978?]. Once lowered on its bogies it is much preferred it to the Bachmann model and have always put down the affection for the Bach one on its motor and twin bogie power - which is streets ahead - but its cabs are woeful. Yes some have done this before but nice to see more 'proper' sharp implement modelling going on!

Looking very nice. I'll take your word about its smell. I wonder if they looked smart and clean because they wouldn't have shown the dirt so easily as that toothpaste-esk NSE livery did? Liveries with white on the lower body side never seem like a good idea to me. Jaffa was the right livery at the wrong time... Imagine my horror of seeing a 3CEP driver training unit sat in Platform 1 at Lewes one day in full Connex white and yellow hideousness. I think that was the moment I lost interest in 'the modern railway'. A bit like the day I was walking down the road and realised I was wearing flares. Great to see 'time before Connex' rolling off your workbench. [Edited to remove an Eskimo! - bloomin' predictive]

So I didn't imagine it after too many McEwans? Details now a bit hazy.

No wavy shelf If you need an attendant idea? I'm boring myself by mentioning again that there was a cross-dressing buffet car attendant back in the late 80s: very tall and with massive hands and red painted nails. I just happened to be on his/her last down run Vic to Eastbourne and the place had the appearance of a BR corporate flavoured den of iniquity! Bunting, balloons, bowls of nibbles, Good Luck Gerald/Geraldine banners...

The 4BIG was a regular diagram - worked Brighton to Hastings where I assume it ran back for London as an 8 car? The pattern off peak back then was that down Londons were 8 car to Eastbourne where the BIG remained and the CIG or VEP on the back ran on to Ore. The next up London from Ore would couple up and off to London they'd go. So the BIG was always on the country end. I guess that if this unit coupled to another one in Hastings it would be in the right place. If memory serves we arrived in St Leonards Warrior Square about 9. It was staffed but not open - but toast and tea could be had if the attendant was feeling generous [or when we ground to a halt in the snow near Berwick one day]. There is [was?] a BIG buffet car in the bay at Tunbridge Wells West which is a nice trip back in time.

Happy to. Could probably minutely describe the atmos inside of the buffet on a 4BIG from Brighton that was rostered for my morning train for much of that winter - your stock will be a real nostalgia-fest for me when you are done.

Love your work on the units. And look forward to your Lewes layout. I chickened out of doing the station. So great you are doing a CIG in Jaffa. I can well remember the first one of these that rolled into Lewes for my morning commute to college in Hastings in 1986. Straight out of the paintshop and quite toxic inside - both the fumes and the purple striped upholstery.

Nah. Great stuff. And just think how 'collectable' you've now made the remaining quarter million VIXs out there.

Splendid stuff as usual. I am going to dig out the spare EPB bodies I got from Bachmann after they got their numbers wrong and have a go myself... And your idea of ER EMUs with the big plain windows between the doors makes me wonder if anyone has hacked a VEP into one of the versions without the sliding window frames. I always rather liked the look for them compared to the standard version. A RailAirLink VEG would also be a nice project.

I have a packet of Hornby track pins [MIB] wrapped in acid free tissue that I am hoping will turn a tidy profit when the time comes.

The framework for your loader gives me an idea for the scrapped coach underframes train I have always lusted after. Kent loco hauled stock was scrapped at Newhaven and the frames sent for reuse as car carriers [loaders] etc. Those Transits were imprinted on my brain on their way to Newhaven back in the early 70s - often with just a cab and chassis - less weight... V nice pic here: https://flic.kr/p/k4hsUp

Fabulous stuff. Your units and Cromptons are so characterful and I completely agree with you about the gloss finishes and wobbly sides. Don't see enough of that modelled. So when are you going to do a rake of CARs loaded with Ford Transits on their way to export? I don't think there are many other trainloads that say the 70s more than one of those. You'd be the master of it...

Superb. I really like your attention to detail on the different surfaces and finishes. If only it had a regulator handle: it looks like you could drive it away!