Tim Hall

If you put the missing ones at the front of train, there'd be an awkward gap....

My crew went through the roof vent with a tiny spot of glue on their feet, tricky, though.

Having relaid and remodelled some of the track at the end of 2016, I left it a few months to see if I was happy with it all. Eventually, this autumn, I decided crack on with bits of scenery (see photos) and some ballasting (50/50 water/ pva, a few drops of washing up liquid and some black poster paint to weather it a bit). The shed areas had black poster paint added later to try to reproduce the grime of such areas. There is still a lot to do, but I'm pleased with the progress so far.

Blimey, I see what you mean

Yes, thanks, one heading this way. Now to sell a Railfreight red stripe one to fund it.....

Well it could be relevant, but I won't take up anymore of your valuable time, as you seem to know everything you want to know.

Technically you are correct, but considerably less compromised than anything we and the model manufacturers are using, as I'm sure you are aware. Anyway, off to find something to paint, whatever colour I like. We haven't even started on the variations of colour perception between individuals, degrees of colour blindness etc and how that might affect the difference various people see between items. Statistically, older men have, on average the worst colour vision......

Obviously not. Which proves how futile a quest for precise colour matches in models is. Are you modelling ex works, a year later, 5 years later, being washed aggressively in a carriage washer, near the sea, near the equator, near a smoky, sulphurous power station etc? But when submitting colour samples to Ford in Berlin in the 90s, they ceremonially extracted the original signed off masters from a vacuum sealed bag in a freezer, and presumably returned them there afterwards. Thus retaining the integrity of the master against which everything was evaluated.

Mind you, even allowing for the difficulties involved, there is rather more spread in my BR blue locos than would seem absolutely necessary. Photo taken about 6 months ago, so they're probably different by now. Also don't forget gloss levels/ grain effects etc alter perception of colour significantly.

Which may well have faded/altered since Jan 65. Have they been kept in the dark, in an inert atmosphere and very cool?

It is perfectly possible for a manufacturer to match colours perfectly (eg a pantone card to a painted model)in one particular light source eg a standardised artificial daylight in a light cabinet, but for them to look quiet different in a shop under a fluorescent strip or halogen bulb, or in your attic under tungsten. It's property called metamerism, and is a function of the fact that different colourants have to be used in different media. I used to colourmatch for car interiors for a supplier to Ford, Rover etc in the late 90s. We were always hampered by the fact that we were supplying polypropylene compounds for use as dashboards or bumpers, but trying to match ABS or PVC masters. ABS and PVC are often coloured using dyestuffs, especially for brighter shades. However, dyestuffs just leach out of polypropylene, so we were restricted the pigments, and therefore often couldn't produce a perfect match across two or three light sources. Therefore different colourants will be used in Pantone cards etc to self coloured or painted plastic/ metal. Consider the pinkish tubes often used by butchers to make meat look more appealing that it would in daylight. Many years ago M and S used a very cheap fluorescent tube called TL83, which only had 2 wavelengths. The discerning fashion shoppers soon realised that items that matched under TL83 rarely matched elsewhere, and would often hasten to the doorway to get some natural light on the subject before buying. Even Pantones fade unless stored correctly (dark and cool places). Do we all use the same lights as each other? No. Are the standard colours and the models the same material? Not always. Therefore it will be almost impossible to get perfect colourmatches regardless of any other considerations.

Mine have just arrived (via the wheelie bin, ta Royal Mail), and been for a perambulate in front of an M7. All good so far.

Well don't then

Jadlam e mailed some, but as I've just paid for the new Hornby Duchess, an H, a 4TC, gate stock and spent £600 keeping my car going, I deleted it immediately.....

Late in 2016, after a long period of playing trains, but not doing much with the layout, I decided to remove the little used "freight loop" and with it the diamond crossings and three way points that caused more derailments than I was happy with. By asking handyman Mark (whilst visiting to do some work in the kitchen) to put a larger fillet in one corner of the fiddle yard, a siding could be extended, and brought all the way round the layout to become the 4th circuit. This gave the opportunity for another platform, which soon became an island platform (mainly from spare piece of timber just the right depth.) and finished in the same style as the others. Because of a lack of space it's very narrow, and slightly shorter than the others (approx. 6 Mk1s, whereas the other 3 are 7 Mk1s). A shortened Airfix/ Dapol footbridge provides access to it, and a lengthened Airfix/ Dapol footbridge spans the four track mainline elsewhere. I also moved the steam shed a bit, to utilise a redundant area and create a larger area for a village.

Three circuits, a fiddle yard, and a small branch line terminus appeared, as did a rather unconvincing fourth track crossing from the 2nd circuit to inside the 3rd one via diamond crossings, though I found that I rarely used it. The "Hall" mock up nameplate was made by friends at the railway I was then a volunteer at, to celebrate my half century.

Track laying soon got going, using Peco code 100 and insulfrog points, on 3mm cork (bought a massive roll off ebay for less than £25, only used about half for the whole layout). Three continuous circuits were planned, each spitting into three in the fiddle yard at the far end of the room from the door. Due to the shape of the room, I tucked a long platform against the wall down one side, thus maximising the useful width, and enabling fairly generous curves. Track gauges being used to aim for 42 inch on the outer circuit, 36 inches on the second one and 30 inches on the third one, though much of it exceeds these radii, and Mk111 carriages used to check clearances where necessary. A diesel depot and small steam shed appeared. Existing Hornby platforms were used, but they were going to be disguised ASAP. Metcalfe card was used to disguise them, after rewhitening the edges, as can be seen in the last photo.

Ah, yes, when they've had previous commissioned stuff to send out, they've requested that we don't chase orders, unless it's to update card details etc, as a significant amount of packing time is lost that way.

We had the attic converted to a room about 4 years ago, to bedroom standards if we ever need to sell. Velux windows, laminate floor, radiator, fire door, loads of storage space, under the eaves. Our friendly local handyman, Mark Webber built the baseboards in two days, for the price of a couple of medium sized locos, as I had bought the baseboard material (9mm marine ply) and had it cut to size by the builders before the attic was finished (too big to come up the twisty narrow staircase once finished). The tops of the baseboards are 39 inches off the floor (ideal height for me to work at, and allowed four existing bookcases to slot underneath.) The 2x1 frames are only attached to the room by screws into the skirting board. The main baseboards are 15ft6 x 11ft6, with a large hole in the middle, and a 3ft x 2ft bit in the corner by the door. I have a reasonably large collection of mainly RTR 00 stuff from pre grouping to late 1990s sector liveried diesels, and wanted a fairly bland generic canvas to run them on in terms of location. The time period is broadly current, suggesting "heritage" status, though four continuous ovals rather contradicts that. I tend to run one era/ region for a few months then pack it all away and move on. I rarely mix wildly conflicting eras/ regions, except if testing new stock. As I mainly want to "lineside" through trains, and find much of the DCC sound unappealing, DC is fine, powered these days, by a Gaugemaster Q. The four photos below date from almost exactly four years ago, just after the boards were built. I plan to bring this up to date quite quickly.

For derailments?

Can I just say that it's too expensive, the wrong colour, missing three rivets, has the wrong number of spokes on one wheel, and doesn't fit with my era.

Not forgetting Hattons Barclay....

It's a Heisler.

It's a lovely line, well run, enthusiastic volunteers, and Katie is a gorgeous loco.

Probably removed from the mould too soon, before the plastic had cooled properly. Possibly the machine operator was trying to shorten the cycle time to increase throughput. Very easy to produce warped parts that way.