Will J

I have signed up to show intent with the usual disclaimer of 'something something something to do with money....'. I hope I can eventually order one.

If you could do an unpainted one that I can spray in Renault Brooklands Green with GWR logos I'd have one like a shot.. ..seriously, a very interesting proposition. The ultimate 'Rule 1 Toy'.. no further justification needed. I'm becoming a serious admirer of the whole RevolutioN concept, before too long I hope to add to my 1x order for a tank wagon!

Love this one.. I'm thinking about doing a similarly proportioned thing with a laptop screen background.. not for any particular purpose! Looking forward to seeing more!

Erm..... 'wot they all said' sums it up nicely. Just needs some humans and a bit of clutter! I can't help but notice perches for those 3D printed pigeons!

Cheers Ben.. it might add a few extra sales to SVR fanatics! Though I have no problem with sticking with 'Plan A' if that is what seems best to everyone. Personally I'd be very happy with the 345 number, but with the general colour scheme and details matched to an in-service photo. Echoing everyone else's excited anticipation about the wagon.

Hi Ben, Mike, any idea if the '345' number is possible on the single REGENT tanker? (To match the SVR example in Gareth's pictures). Absolutely no bother if it is not an option... one of those moments when it is always worth asking just in case! Hopefully my order has got though OK. I notice that the real thing has vanished from the siding at Arley.. I wonder if it is getting a repaint like its 'siding mate' the Hawksworth sleeper which is now looking superb.

If there was any way that the single 'REGENT' tank could be numbered '345' as per Gareth's excellent photos it would be much appreciated. ...though if I need to renumber my tanker, I can easily cut '3-4-5' from a transfer sheet!! Really looking forward to this, there is a space waiting in my N gauge Arley station siding.

Looking forward to seeing more of this! I can't think of 'approaching Birmingham' without imagining a karting track, but that is from the wrong direction, but the kind of thing that makes sense on the site where some gasometers or whatever used to sit. I have always pondered something like a drive-thru fast food establishment, with moving cars, as a nice little N gauge urban feature.

Fascinated to see progress here. I love 16mm stuff but I tend to be less keen on things rushing around circles of track (though my N gauge roundy roundy-s suggest otherwise!). Looks fascinating.

It'll be fun to watch. I enjoyed Scrapheap Challenge without ever rummaging through a car reclamation yard trying to find the necessary parts for a racing car / speedboat /trebuchet. (Though I was once attacked by what looked like rabid dogs trying to locate the starter motor for an obscure jet engine in a long defunct scrapheap in Essex) Maybe I need to adjust my set?

While the photos don't contain any big manufacturing revelations... the sight of a complex livery 'half way there' is oddly compelling. Thanks for the insight Ben.

I shouldn't worry... you see track as smooth, shiny and daringly sleeperless beneath 'yer actual full size trains. Anyway, the forum can sit back, relax and play a game of spot the RMWebber...

Mmmmmmm. Varnished teak effect goodness on the carriage pictured. Looks good to me!

Beautiful, love the '84, how was it made?

Watching the Stanier Mogul with interest... I'd got as far as getting a spare Crab body and tender with similar thoughts in mind. (Yet to do anything about it though!)

Love the lighting, very welcoming! PS we visited the Helston railway last summer and were very impressed.. not the biggest railway out there, but you make such a good job of what you have.

Good point made Neil. My favourite preserved stations fit into either of these two categories... those that have been restored to match a snapshot in time, and those that have evolved into something new. Maybe the latter are equally 'real' just in a different way. I also have a lot of time for the vast majority of stations that are caught awkwardly between the two! Ps I'd love to visit the Groudle Glen some day, looks fantastic!

A few more images of Arley out in the sunshine today: Very basic shunting in and out of the siding comes courtesy of 'old faithful', my son's favourite object in the world, an old Farish 08. He asked me to weather it, honest! (It came out reasonably well...) It is actually the only useable member of the fleet due to its short wheelbase. The hairpin bend to the rear is somewhat less than first radius! I had half hoped to employ the little 14xx with an Autocoach as well, but its rigid rear wheel setup rules it out. The diesel has my patented automatic digital coupling system, a coupler on one end and some 'slight of hand' flipping it around the other way to return to trucks to pick them up. While N gauge had evolved so much in recent years, I do like the old fashioned style of robust model! (Especially with a 3 year old assistant to keep engaged). Speaking of gloriously robust models... the latest arrival (which will be detailed and generally made to look like a visitor from the Bluebell Railway). Much has been written elsewhere about the wideness of the Union Mills Dukedog's outside motion. It is an issue, but one we can I think accept in the quest for a ready to run N gauge model of this kind of machine? But mustn't grumble. On opening the package from the Isle of Man you are given such a joyful object... it runs beautifully and as I have said before, is a perfect blank canvas for a bit of model making fun. As you can see, I have already been adding some brass: Verdict, accept the eccentricities, sand back your platform edges, it is gorgeous! (And has me thinking of a heavily weathered 1950s example in a little Cambrian diorama....) The wider scene: Does my bum look big in this? (Wouldn't like to say, but I now know the clearances for that nearer platform, must finish it off....) General Great Western Goodness... (ready to be interrupted in true SVR fashion with top'n'tail Class 50s with a rake of LMS carriages. I did enjoy my ride in the company of 'Hercules' and 'Defiance' the other day). More to follow soon!

Perhaps the most extreme re-greening of a station surround must be Tan Y Bwlch on the Ffestiniog, compare: https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Tan_y_Bwlch#/media/File:Tyb4.jpg https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Tan_y_Bwlch#/media/File:Tyb1870s.jpg With: https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Tan_y_Bwlch#/media/File:DLG_TYB_14.jpg the early photos look positively lunar, go there today and the station nestles in what feels, on the right day, a bit like a Welsh rainforest...! Like comparing chalky chalk with the cheesiest cheese, but I have to say I love the way it has evolved...

Thanks all... bearing in mind I am trying to replicate a kind of 'Spring Gala' scene, I need to install my crowd of people in great numbers, and lambs in similar numbers in the field at the back, which I'm painting now.

Actually that last post from me sounds a bit grumpy... it isn't meant to sound like a complaint! The odd thing is that with the passage of time stations tend to 'blend' pleasantly with their surroundings, a wholly positive and pleasing thing. The trouble is that when these sites were local transport hubs with that working goods yard, they probably looked more abrupt... more of a blot on the landscape. This, bizarrely, would be the 'proper' way to present them. PS, while I love the whole range of SVR stations, I might 'vote' for Bewdley, a rare and well preserved country junction, which if you think about it is a fairly rare breed.

I will get going with a proper update soon.... here is a little preview, the latest view of little Arley, the backscene has taken on a 'misty morning' appearance. I had done my best with Victoria Bridge to blend the 'foreground' with the vertical background. For this diorama I wondered if it might work better to have a distinct 'edge' between model and backscene. This would normally be a catastrophically bad thing, but it gets around the problem that you can't really paint in the river, but you can paint a bold line of 'mist' tracing along where the river exists in the scene. Id be curious to get any opinions, I'll try to get some better pictures! I can also now finish the nearer platform. A new arrival with relatively wide connecting rods meant holding off on platform building to get the clearances right, more on this soon. ------ Also, you may be aware the Northern Belle luxury dining train has recently made Kidderminster its home in between excursions. To add to my N Gauge Severn Valley-related fleet, here it is: Seen on Kinlet Wharf at the recent Trainwest show, the carriages are a formerly motley assortment of old Farish Mark 1s, 2s and 3s.... the decorations come from Electra Railway Graphics and they really are superb! More to come soon.

The tricky thing with preserved stations feeling 100% real is the tricky moment when you look at a photograph of the site from 50 or 100 years ago. One thing you'll notice is that the station today will tend to be enveloped in a cosy looking coat of mature trees... ....whereas 'back in the day' the station will tend to have a much more sparse surrounding, foliage wise. If you look at a very early photograph when the station itself was still fairly new, it tends to look a bit like an Edwardian motorway service station. Neatly tended grass verges, sapling trees etc... it can look incredibly different. Oddly, looking at those 'Then and Now' books that often accompany preserved lines, you could be forgiven for thinking we are living in an age of massive re-forestation! As you can see I have been thinking about this quite a bit as part of my N Gauge Arley project: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/122171-svr-in-n-arley-on-a-kitchen-table/

Glad you like it Mikkel, I'd have made more progress today but I found myself sat in a GWR carriage behind a very shiny pannier tank trundling through the real thing.....

I discovered half by accident that Renault Brooklands Green from Halfords is a nice approximation to the new gWr green on HSTs etc..