Serious7

I'd been following the Dries haphazardly and last saw them 'in the white' so it was dramatic to see how superb their paint job is only in the photo showing them derelict and trackless...... Very prototypical. I look forward to their refurbishment under 'new' ownership - and I wonder: will the new owners be using the Dries for their original purpose, or will they become a tourist attraction like all the other revived lines?

....about the adorable lineside crane: yesterday I wandered along the banks of the local stretch of the Caledonian Canal and it has two relatives of your crane. Both however bear large blocks of stone in cast-iron supports, to balance things when working. One lifts 3 tons, not sure about the other. Both painted gloss black with maker's names in white. What balances yours? What would its lift limit be? I already know mine has a problem - I'd intended to show it lifting a tanktainer but it seems most unlikely it could..... The gross weight would be c30,000kg whereas the crane capacity may only be 10,000kg.

The more I see of FRANKLAND and the more I read about the fine detail, the more it impresses..... Already it is certain the finished layout will look totally credible on all points despite cramming 3 above-ground stations + 2 underground ones and a 'boring oval' onto a 6' x 3' board - normally the perfect recipe for catastrophe, but here kissed with the vital spark of talent. And skill. This should yet end up in the National Railway Museum, alongside INVERSNECKY.

I've discovered The Crane 'out of the blue', learning my way through this website. Meaning, I don't know what it was built from but texts above indicate you had custom etches made? Were there no common parts? And if it was wholly 'etched-to-order' could a repeat order for the etch produce bits....? What I'm doing shouldn't need quite such a fine crane but it sure will need a crane of some sort.

Love the look of the homemade coaches. Remind me greatly of the one being used as a home in Will Hay's 1937 "OH Mr. PORTER!" It got dragged through a field and put back on the rails......

As I'm a good bit back from ballasting, now is the time to learn.... I certainly saw some 'failed' examples at today's Elgin Show, which made me realise it isn't as simple as I'd guessed - unless your track is laid over foam strip 'ballast'. I wonder how you ensure there's no glue on the rails or atop any sleepers? I suspect getting those right would be so demanding you may be obliged to ballast very few sleepers at a time......

Funnily enough I asked the 2mm rep at the Elgin Show this morning about concrete sleepers for 2mm and he said 'paint the wood ones'. Given how difficult 2mm details are to check I fancy if I get up to 2mm quality I will 'paint the wood'. As the sharp-eyed have already noted - doing that will mean I have bullhead throughout. Incidentally, I am presently using N Setrack + Flexitrack with concrete + wood sleepers and I failed to spot that the Peco concrete Flex has different rail from the wood. I'm now wondering how that works with the track connectors......

Will you have turntables at both ends? Amazing how much is going on beneath the tracks already......

The material is Limewood from the Lime tree; the full details are in the trusty Wikipedia but briefly the stuff is what the soundbox bit of an acoustic guitar is made from. Also what fine wooden slatted blinds are made from. Very stable dimensionally, FAR stronger than balsa, but as bcnPete says, nifty to work......