checkrail

Wonderful weathering of loco & autocoach Kevin.

Oh yes! (Stock rails adjacent to point blades, where only half a chair to grip rail.) Hoping all back to norbal after impending fortnight away.

The Hall waits for the signal, before departing towards Plymouth. Then having run round its train, the Prairie, seen here from beneath the main line road overbridge, heads back down the branch to Earlsbridge ….. … after which all returns to peace and quiet while the (slim) controller goes to check how the paint's drying on his toplights. John C.

Action continues as the Plymouth stopper follows the down Penzance express just in time to connect with the Easrlsbridge branch train. John C.

B set looking really good Kevin. Nice work as ever. Know what you mean about static. Externally I get rid of it with a soft make-up brush, with which I dust most stock periodically. But recently, when I built an old 'Mailcoach' K22 van kit, the day after I'd finally glued the roof on I found a white bit adhering to a window INSIDE. Grrrr! I left it for a couple of months, but last week I drilled a hole in the floor, and dislodged it from the inside with a cocktail stick. John C.

And there's more! (But now home decorating duties beckon - think I'd rather be painting bolections.) John C.

And a few more, while waiting for paint on the toplights to dry.

A few pics of a busy moment at Stoke Courtenay, as up and down Paddington expresses pass while the Earlsbridge branch train rolls in. John C.

Progress continues on the toplights, albeit very slowly. Thought I should build the other one I had in stock and then paint them both together. The cream paint has gone on the upper panels with a reasonable finish - one of the few Railmatch aerosols that hasn't (yet) jammed up on me. (One recent one did it before I'd had an atom of paint out of it.) Going to try Halfords Peugot Café Noir for the lower sides, but anticipating problems trying to mask the cream parts - the bottom parts of the raised bolections are going to make it difficult to get the masking tape tight and straight. Plan B would be to brush paint with Railmatch coach brown. Perhaps I should have sprayed the brown on first, though that might have given coverage problems with the cream. In the meantime here's a shot of the Star-hauled Wolverhampton train in which they'll eventually find their home. John C.

Nice work - developing well. (Would've given an extra 'like' for the beer.)

Great loco & train, great bridge & signals - splendid stuff. Good to see views of your layout agaIn. Like new name too. John C.

Nice! Still have some white metal Americans in stock but will check these out for future requirements. Thanks.

Thanks 81C. Interesting what you say re the gangways playing up. Tell me more! I thought I might bung the PC ones on for now, and try to assemble the Slaters ones at my leisure, if I managed to follow the rather complex instructions. Iain Rice waxed lyrical about how good they were in his Railway Modelling; the realistic way. To spray with primer I shoved some soft cardboard into the corridors & compartments, where the glazing will later go.

Yes. In fact Barry, memory of your having said this before was one of the deciding factors in giving them a swerve.

Been out on the hill a lot with the good weather, so not much modelling time recently, but still making progress slowly with a Slaters toplight kit, with another to start. Here are a couple of shots of the van 3rd on test, in works photographic grey . Er, sorry - I mean Halfords primer. I decided the Slaters bogies were far too fiddly for me. (My ideal kit has one part.) So I used some 9 foot ones from an old PC kit, adding the plastic footboards from the Slaters kit. Hardest part was getting the outer end steps on. In the end superglue reinforced with Araldite did the trick, but they'll always need careful handling. Of course, the biggest challenge is going to be in the painting - especially all those flipping bolections! I see that since my last post on the topic one of these kits went on eBay for £335! This seemed to bring more kits out of cupboards and onto the market in hope of a nice windfall, but prices soon fell back to normal-ish as punters wised up to the promise of a Slaters 4mm renaissance. John C.

Gosh, you've been very productive! Having just read through the thread on the toplights I'm full of admiration for the way you've mastered and refined the technical issues as you went along. And what a variety of diagrams. Nice work. Think I'll just plough on with the couple of kits I've got in hand, while awaiting the promised Slaters renaissance! Would love to see more pics of Marlingford & Begbrooke in due course. John C.

I'd go for B. John.

Coincidence - I was there the other day in similar weather. BR Standard 2-6-4 tank on duty. Some nice GWR standard buildings & fittings to see. John.

A couple of views of 8750 class 3603 of Exeter shed passing through Stoke C. with a goods train. (Nary a toplight in sight!) John.

Thanks for this input Mike. Some food for thought there. Personally I'll probably be happy if the Slater's 4mm kit revival happens as per recent rumours. (I say 'probably' because I don't yet know what kind of pig's ear I might make of the one currently on the workbench!) Regards, John.

You make some cogent points on this, as you have done previously, and I used to think your arguments were pretty unassailable. But here are a couple of thoughts: 1. I mentioned bullhead track. For many years we were told that ready-to-lay bullhead track and points would never happen. (I was told it directly by Peco when I returned to this game in 2012.) Should it have 2- or 3-bolt chairs? Should it follow GWR or Midland, NE etc. practice? Should it be to finescale standards, requiring 14.8mm b-to-b wheels? Or standard 00, or 00-sf? Should it have Peco geometry or replicate real practice? Wasn't Old Man Pritchard himself supposed to have said, "We're not going to make track for these people. They don't know what they want"? And now? 2. Don't nearly all the reasons you list apply equally to kits of toplights? You'd have a bit of a job converting a Slater's kit into some of the examples to which you give links! And given that the kits are usually bought by those with the modelling skills to adapt them to some degree, wouldn't those people be equally ready and willing to adapt RTR versions? And wouldn't loads of us lesser-skilled mortals ("the average enthusiast" to resurrect a phrase) just thank heaven for a reasonable representation of a toplight regardless of period-specific detail, as we do about, e.g. top feeds on pre-war panniers, B-sets with too many guard's windows etc.? Oh yes, many people would moan ad infinitum about what was wrong with them, but they'd probably buy 'em! John C.

A couple of views of 8709. And here's a current project, a Slater's toplight kit, in its very early stages. And before anyone asks, no - I didn't pay £300 for one, as someone did yesterday evening on eBay! (And another one went for £250.) I paid about a fifth of that 4 or 5 years ago and stuck it away in a drawer - had a layout to build at that time! I understand all the arguments as to why toplights might be problematical for the mainstream RTR suppliers (as was said for years about bullhead track), but the crazy prices these kits fetch say something, don't they? It's beginning to remind me of the old line, "You're the 50th person I've told today - there's no demand for it". (But RTR wishes aside, I've been intrigued by the recent rumours that Slater's might be about to take their 4mm scale kits back in-house.) John C.

I deal with dust by renaming it 'weathering'.

Today's pics are of the Earlsbridge branch train, just arrived at Stoke Courtenay ...... .... and then after the 5557 has run round the B-set (but before the loco lamp has been repositioned!) John C. .

Thanks for kind comment Trevor. 'Garden building' sounds promising! John.