sjrixon

Looking forward to that autocoach too! How have you not unpacked it yet!

Fast progress as ever!! Looking forward to seeing the first trip with the B set.

Thanks for all the likes for the Autocoach.. I've been having a couple of small running sessions and the 48xx is running really nicely with the coach. It means I can leave a few trucks around the place and not worry about blocking the run round, so makes a good change in the operation. The Autocoach was a little side project that took a little longer than expected, don't they always, but as I'd been gifted the 48xx for my birthday, it needed a smart coach to go with it. The sharp eyed among you may have noticed some sections of wood had appeared at the front of the layout. The plan is to build two removable sections that can better hide the baseboard joint and also provide some trees etc. By making them removable I can move them out of the way for track cleaning, pictures, general maintenance etc, but still have high to the section. You may also notice they are about the size of a cakebox.. Not sure If one will go that way, but I have options Time to make a mess..

The crates look very smart, I might need some too!

I couldn't work out why my workbench had lots of pots of wheels and plastic sprues everywhere.. So I decided to have a little easter tidy up and found I've a few wagon kits in various stages of build! I got them all on wheels and running, I just need to have a word with the wagon paint shop as they appear to be a little backed up with this lot hanging around! I think I'm ready to glue the autocoach roof on!! I used a small amount of t-cut on a cotton bud or 3 to clean up the windows after they had been fitted. I then used some more glue to fix all the ones I'd pushed out while cleaning them! The luggage windows have a small sheet of plastic behind them with the bars drawn on in black permanent marker. I then fitted out the cab control, installed a driver and fitted a few people. I do need to install the grab rails for the side doors I've also realised. I also swapped the wheels on the chassis to full metal replacements. There are a few bits that I could have done better. A few marks and blemishes that showed up more than I'd like during the build. But for my second ever coach I think it's a huge step forward over the Airfix of Hornby version. I maybe need to look at some weathering.. But I'll leave it for now. (Last 2 pictures tweaked, full res off the camera I think is getting compressed)

The GWSR is probably one of the best days I've been on. Their festival was full of stuff to do, loads for the kids and plenty in Steam. Highly recommended.

We found this one. Looks about the right colour.

How far is he taking the shunters truck? I do like the crew, great the way he is standing out of the cab.

That's it! I wasn't expecting it to terminate.

I'm sure I saw that dmu in Pangbourne while walking to the pub.

I agree about you comment on not having a shed. On my layout I added a water crane in one place and then a small hut in another. The logic being they can park the loco by the hut and have a cup of tea between shunting, waiting for the passenger duty. Complete over kill for a small branch! But makes operating more interesting. Sometimes 3 locos can be seen

Interested to see if you persevere with this.. Are you planning to have sections in JMRI so the sounds will move between them?

Much more convincing with a load. The tissue paper has worked surprisingly well, do you think it will survive? I'd worry it will fall apart.

Very, very nice.

The Milk arrived! The Dean Goods arrived with a empty fish van and also the 6 wheel siphon full of churns for the dairy. I was able to run round onto the hill and capture this one too.. The flush glazing has been all but finished in the Autocoach. I thought that was going to be an easy job, I don't think I appreciated that they were individual sections when I ordered them. I was really worried at one point, a very small window shot off and I couldn't find it for a bit! I bought the B set Windows at the same time. I'm going to leave that project for a little while I think.

Sorry, these jokes are leaving mushroom for improvement.

Fantastic.. Sometimes I just don't know how you do it!

1363 looks very nice. But, 3 link couplings? That's a slippery slope.

I have a crew in mine, but I'll confess to cheating. Mine were very carefully lowered in without taking anything apart. Small drop of PVA under the arm and they haven't moved since. I also suffered getting it to run on DCC well. Zimo chip and some settings I found on here helped. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/119548-hattons-djm-14xx-dcc/

Very smart little layout, some nice cameo's in there too!

I suspect many that read my posts will have seen the news about John Flann. He was one reason that I started this layout. much has been said already, so I'll just leave this link here. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/132752-john-lloyd-flann/

I've been an avid follower of John's work. His articles in Railway Modeler, making one into the 2016 RM Annual, while other magazines have made it to the recycling, this one keeps coming back out. His work showed me that I could create a small layout with operational interest. His pictures and descriptions of mixed trains and his card system for goods working enthralled and delighted me. His threads were the first I clicked on when a post had been made. His insight, view, understanding and down to earth modeling will be sorely missed.

What a shock. I'm so sorry to here this. I'd saved this post to enjoy the layout updates over a morning coffee, not what I was expecting. Best wishes to you all, our thoughts are with you. We will miss his posts massively on the forum.

Just because...

Looking forward to seeing the scanned you on your layout. I've read a couple of times about them doing this at shows, I'd do the same if I could, maybe one day! I also have lost track of the number of times you leave a show and then think about all the things should should have bought! Maybe the loco will need to sit idle until the version of you is ready and you can order them all at the same time. The Mogul is looking very smart, or dirty, depending on your point of view. I have to mention that I also have the same cake table, I had to buy the misses one as she complained that mine was a little too covered in grey primer!