MarshLane

I thought we were encouraging Andy to get better Paul, not suffer further injury from Mrs P's right hook!!!! 😂

Trouble is ideas like that stick!! You do have my sympathy tho, my mother is a couple of years older and has Osteoarthritis that really impacts on her movement, its not nice and I know the pain she has at times. Hope your back on top form soon mate. Rich

Sorry to hear your leg is no better Andy, its a when you want to get on with something and cannot. Hope your back on your feet soon - if not have you considered a rolling chair on casters! 😉

Thanks Phil, I think we are more convinced now that the June 1948 date is wrong on the image. Looking at the heritage railway article that @The Stationmaster linked to, it looks like Mallard only worked on the Western for two days, 26th/27th April, one southbound and the second north bound. Its runs in June on the Southern wouldn't have touched Taunton, and it appears it failed at Salisbury with an 'up' train, suggesting even if it had been sent back via Exeter for some reason (unlikely anyway) it would have been the 'wrong way round', and unlikely to be on GWR stock. From what we have established on 27th April, it worked the 1.30pm Plymouth-Paddington to Savernake where it failed, and was removed, being replaced by a Prairie tank to Newbury, where Dumbleton Hall took the train forward. Mallard ran light engine to Reading where it stayed overnight before returning to King's Cross the next morning. Therefore we think the picture depicts the 27th April working to Paddington, at Taunton, which also explains the Savernake comment. Thanks to all for the help. Rich

Thanks guys, The interesting thing, I forgot to mention about the picture, is that it is working a train! The picture shows it on Great Western stock heading north through Taunton - the photographer noted that the loco arrived with the chime whistle stuck on, and indeed it is blowing on the image! Given that its working a passenger train, it cannot have been a big failure - although I suppose it could have been empty stock. There is a reference to Savernake on the image caption, but the text is not clear enough to work out what it is referring to. Given @The Stationmaster reference to the 27th April, failure, I wonder if the date of June 1948 is correct? Rich

Thanks Mikkel, You've certainly done a superb job with those! I'll hunt out Vallejo Modelcolor and see where I can acquire it locally. I am guessing one will build up quite a range of colours quickly, given the various tones needed. Rich

Looks an interesting track plan. Do you have a specific era in mind, or is it anything goes? I am assuming from the images that your modelling in 4mm OO gauge? Rich

David, That is looking superb. The level of detail your getting into the model is wonderful. Sorry if this has been asked before, but whose trees/bushes are you using - or if home made, how are you making them? They are some of the best I have seen in N gauge (in my view!) .. really impressed with your scenics.

Hope this is the right place to ask, and apologies if its been asked before and I have missed it, but what kind/brand of paints do people/ModelU suggest for painting these 3D figures? Rich

Evening guys, I am trying to help a friend out with this one. We know that Mallard was involved in the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges, working on 8th June 1948, on the London Waterloo to Exeter - Southern Railway route. The loco was declared a failure at Exeter and did not undertake any more runs. The question is, is there any documented evidence of how it got back to the Eastern? The reason for asking is that I am struggling through my books and web sources to find an answer to this question. We have a photograph of it at Taunton - captioned on the back as 'June 1948 on speed trials'. Well it obviously wasn't speed trials on the Western, but I am wondering if the issue that failed it at Exeter was fixed, and rather than returning by the Southern, it worked back to London via the Western? Can anyone help us out with any dates or known workings? Any help would be much appreciated. Rich

Well I am delighted I asked how things were progressing, and that you responded so positively! So much so that we are spoiled with the amount of work you have done. Welcome back and a cracking set of updates. The weathering on the 20 looks great, hope to see some updates on the cut and shut DMU, and that RailFreight Metals pairing looks superb!

One hopes that staff sickness nor vastly over-running engineering works are not the cause of the lack of updates on Waverley! Hope things are still progressing and you've had a productive year Dave (@Waverley West) ... we're all dying for an update when you have chance! Rich

Hi Jeff, Sorry to hear your interest level has ebbed, I am sure it will return tho. I haven't been on rmWeb much recently, other things making calls on time unfortunately. Still we plod on as and when we can dont we! Enjoy the astroturf .. no thats different stuff .. astro photography - Thats what I meant! Rich

Are you sure its only ONCE a week .. Friday's (like Monday's) seem to come round a lot quicker!

Hi Andy, Haven't had time to get on to rmWeb much lately, so been catching up with a couple of your videos. Sorry to hear about the leg, its a pain in the wotsit when things like that happen. My mother is 72, she happen to slip on one step of the stairs about 3 months ago, didn't fall, or twist or bang her knee, just slipped off the edge of the step onto the next one. Was very painful but adamant no hospital - next day changed her mind as she couldn't bare any weight on that leg at all .. 90 minutes in A&E (during which time she was assessed, x-rayed and reviewed by the doctor) revealled a hairline fracture of her knee! Thats been a right pain in the knee for her for 3 months now, just about starting to get back to some normality. So you have my sympathies. Moral of the story is done mess about at band practice!! Seriously, hope your feeling better soon. Enjoying your updates with the layout it is coming on more and more now. Keep smiling! Rich

I forgot to ask Tony, but I presume from the feel of the levers that the signalling and pointwork on Buckingham is all rod operated - there's no electrics? Rich

Tony has given the official answer .. the unofficial version is that Grandborough Junction is so named because its grand - a bit like Brigadoon tho - not everyone sees the third junction, to which this signal is reflecting .... the branch to Leighton Buzzard is currently on Engineers Possession due to an earth fault on the branch so is locked out of use! :) I must admit, I only noticed it when downloading the images this afternoon - fortunately I wasn't the one that set the route .. was I @Laurie2mil 😂 Doesn't it just. It really is inspirational and has given food for thought .. which with me is never a good thing!!!

Thanks for that Howard, they looked different to those on the panel. Funny how things change when you can only see a small part of it! Thanks for the link. Rich

Lovely kit builds there. Following along with interest. I am considering purchasing a LRM model of an NER tank, so your progress with these has been helpful as some idea how they go together. I presume the rivet details all needs pushing out from a half-etched hole? Rich

@Richard Mawer How are you progressing with Buckingham West? Rich

Evening all, Given the extent that Buckingham has been mentioned on here, this seemed the logical place to post some pictures! Through a mutual friend, I was very pleased to accept an invitation to not only go and see Buckingham, but also have a running evening. For a 70-year-old plus layout, I have to say it is a pleasure and privilege to operate and @t-b-g, @Laurie2mil and myself had a very enjoyable few hours attempting to run the timetable. I can see why Tony has such pride in owning the layout - it is an historic and superb example of a model railway done right, everything is there for a reason, the electronics (while maybe temperamental at times) are ahead of their years, and its also jolly good fun! Tony, was happy for some images to be taken, and equally happy for them to be posted in the public domain, so thanks to him for that. I took quite a few, so may show some more in time if people want to see them (although Buckingham is well documented anyway!) but hopefully it gives people a glimpse in to a wonderful model world. My thanks to Tony for the invite, and yes I'd love to come back! Rich

Hi Howard, Could you advise where you have got the clear perspex push-buttons for (like on the 'Want 128' and 'Reverse 127' options) please? I have been looking for ages, but haven't found anything like that. Rich

Your making good progress on the new layout Andy. Looking forward to the videos! Rich

Hi Peter, Do you know what decoders are in them, as that may have a bearing on advice? Rich

Martin, You are a star, thank you! Thanks Martin - its showing they haven't been online since May 2021, over 12 months and the website says something about taking a break, so maybe they are not producing any longer. But thanks for your help - my friend is impressed! Rich