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Thanks Grahame, I was trying to work out if after the undercoat you had sprayed the whole building in the darker colour (ie the main brick colour) then over sprayed the lighter (mortar) colour which you then 'wiped' off again to leave it in the recesses whilst re-exposing the darker brick colour on the raised areas, before adding a few weathering washes..... or you'd sprayed it with the lighter colour and then picked out the individual bricks with the darker colour. Your method of application definately looks effective. Regards, Ian.

Hello Grahame, You've probably explained this before ....but in what order do you paint to get from the first (undercoated) picture to the second (bricks and mortar) picture, please ? Apologies if you are having to repeat yourself. Regards, Ian.

Have just collected my DBSO and West Highland Line 6 coach set from Frizinghall M&Rs (pre-arranged non-contact car park collection only at the moment) .....expensive trip out but can't wait for Santa to come now on Christmas morning !!

Rob, have you seen the Heljan news for the Mexican Bean class 104 to be released ? Which might be just at the edge of your timeframe.

Don't think that my postman was too impressed with my Road and Rails order !

You weren't alone !

Morning Rob, Can I ask where you get the 5gsm weights from, please. A chap in the 3mm Society used to use something similar but he worked for a tyre fittìng company; it always seemed a well measured idea as opposed to just cutting strips of lead sheet. Regards, Ian.

Morning Rob, Well ...after 3 days of scratching I finally found the still image of the wooden clay wagons in transit on the WHL that I knew I had seen somewhere ! Having searched through a lot of my WHL material Ì found it in OPC's 'An illustrated History of West Country China Clay Trains' by John Vaughan ! Plate 184 is a 1/2 page image of (surprise, surprise) 37 021 with at least 19 wooden bodied clay wagons in tow heading North through Crianlarich on 22nd June 1981 ...obviously this is where the Train Formation mentioned in previous posts has come from, although I can definitely count 19 brake levers (18 quoted in TF) and suspect that there is at least one more around the corner. I did find another image in Gerge O'Hara's 'BR Diesel Traction in Scotland' which shows a distant overview of Tom-Na-Faire depot into which half a dozen full clay wagons have found their way. On the line from Mallaig there are 6 tanks returning from Corpach which look like the ones in your Class 27 picture (ie with 'torpedo' ends) which are described as caustic soda tanks although I thought they may be for clay slurry (??) Further wagon type, including individual wagon numbers, info can be found in 'Freight Train Formations' by David Ratcliffe which lists the composition of the 7M86 St. Blazey - Carlisle Speedlink service (23/9/81) which includes 17 OWV and 3 UCV wagons bound for Corpach. There's also mention of 8 OWV and 1 UCV exCorpach in a return formation. I realise that you are content with what you currently have but thought this might still be of interest. I still haven't found the DVD clip (which is much as described above regarding 37 021) ....but have certainly enjoyed looking for it !! It's high time that I started keeping a notebook for this sort of info though. Regards, Ian.

The addition of the buildings certainly brings out the size of the gasholder, I don't think that I'd realised just how big it is. Very nice. Regards, Ian.

These are some photos that I've just taken up in the loft on my currently dismantled 3mm S&DJR layout. Whilst I don't think I used tin foil in this instance the basis for the scenery is just carved polystyrene, possibly with some cardboard extras and covered with Polyfiller which is then moulded with a pallette knife or tool. Painted with match pots from Wickes. I agree with Rob, you are not far off with what you have so far, maybe the Polyfiller would make the difference with some more prominent rocks built up from your current base materials. It all looks a lot different once painted. I think that I got the tinfoil idea from a magazine article which I thought gave a pretty good representation of creviced rock surfaces similar to the Woodland Scenics moulds (not Scenecraft as I mentinoned earlier.) I'll try to find you this article this afternoon. This was my first real attempt at this sort of quarried scene and I was very pleased with the result, only altering one area that didn't look quite right. Hope this helps, Regards, Ian.

I'm just comparing photos in Book Law's 1st Generation Scottish Diesels and Ian Allen's BR North of the Border, the first being a 1960's photo and the second being from 1982 and strangely the later photo makes the rocks seem much more jagged, maybe it's just the angle but the two scenes don't look quite the same although both are taken before the road 'improvements' took place. Other than looking at the Scenecraft moulds have you considered trying to create the vertical bits using cardboard formers covered with tinfoil, then Polyfillered over which I'd earmarked as a potential method for when I start scenic work on my WHL layout (although I'm still dithering over which section of line to model.) Regards, Ian.

I'm still trying to scratch that itch .... but love any excuse I can find to look through my West Highland stuff. What's really bugging me is that I have a strong feeling of 'deja vu' around us talking about this type of working with the clay wagons ..... in which it was proved that the traditional 'clayhood' type wagons (UCV minus the hood) also found their way up to Corpach.....Hmmm, I'll keep scratching !

Morning Rob, I haven't found the Crianlarich DVD footage yet but the Mallaig Jnc Yard shots are on Train Crazy - BR Remembered 4 - ( Class 37s in Scotland part one.) 20 mins in at the start of the Freight section, 37 190 collects 12 full wooden bodied clay wagons (+ a tube and a pipe wagon) and heads past the camera for Corpach. Several more full clay wagons remain in one of the loops. (Very good clear early 80's footage.) Regards, Ian.

Courtesy of Rail Express Modeller - Train Formation Handbook - 37 021 (BR Blue) + OWV x18 Cadder - Corpach. 06/81. (Information only, no photo.....and I can see from an RM Web search that you already are aware of this train .)

With respect Rob, the empties would be just that, empty with the tarpaulin folded up inside. I'm sure that I've seen an odd picture of them and definitely they appear near the start of one DVD behind a 37 at Crianlarich and in another at Mallaig Jnc Yard but can't remember which (possibly one of Roger Siviter's.) If you can bear with me to the w/end I'll try and find out where I've seen them. There's also a sample 'train' listed in one the train formations publications. There are more photos available of them in transit to the WHL, particularly on such as the Settle & Carlisle line. There is one such photo in Aug 2020 S&C Journal of 10 wagons, such as yours, heading North in June 1979. Regards, Ian.

Superb, Duncan, photos 3 and 4 could just be that .... ie. photos of the real engine ! Good luck with the recovery. Regards, Ian.

Picked up a copy of this today from my local model shop (Frizinghall M&R) .... similar vain to the first two volumes with some great atmospheric photos.

Nipped down to Frizinghall M&R this afternoon to pick up a copy, had a little look through over a cup of tea .... more great atmospheric photos as in the previous volumes.

A superb photo @Covkid which would make a great subject for a 1st weathering project directly onto a factory finished 'clean' loco...... plus, the assorted Engineer's train with at least 3 different types or shades of ballast in the first 8 wagons. Thanks for posting.

Beautiful....loving her socks....hope she did well in her English language test before she was allowed in ?

Hello Tim, probably just a typo but 3rd photo down is 40 009 not 40 099. Thanks for these, please keep them coming, interested to note 40 015 with an air braked scrap wagon behind it, not a combination I would have immediately thought of but one that I’ll keep in mind for my latest 80’s themed ‘Depot with passing mainline’ type cameo. Regards, Ian.

Morning Rob, that looks a more interesting perspective, I like the way that the line on the approach weaves it’s way to the viaduct which will make the longer trains ‘snake’ their way along the track avoiding a few rocky outcrops on the ledge before passing over the gulley. Very West Highland Line in my opinion (for what it’s worth.) Thanks for letting us in on your thoughts. Regards, Ian.

A heads up that Vol.3 in this series is due out soon, as seen on a flyer in my local model shop, Frizinghall Models & Railways.

Heads up for a new West Riding area title coming sometime soon from this publisher as seen on a flyer down at my local model shop, Frizinghall Models & Railways.

There was an article in the Railway Modeller several years ago which showed you how to 'curve' the Ratio viaduct kit(s), I don't know what month / year it was, but somebody might. I may still have the article in a file in the loft, I'll have a look later. Regards, Ian.