NXEA!

Top speed for the 717's is 85mph, unusually. The Moorgate branch is limited to 30mph and the 313's have some kind of speed limiter when on DC mode. The signal's have train stop arms.

Although J15's worked the Buntingford freight traffic, I suspect it would not have been uncommon to see N7's working the daily freight on the branch either. Some of the class spread their wings later in their BR careers and ended up working branch passenger and freight as you said, but there were a few reallocated to Colchester (primarily for the Walton and Brightlingsea branches), Norwich and Kings Lynn around 1950-1953 to replace Gobblers, the N7's themselves being displaced by L1's. I suspect these country bumpkin examples could, and did, turn up on anything suitable. Having just looked through the fleet allocations on BRLocoDatabase, it is striking just how many spent their entire career at Stratford - although several ended up on the GN for suburban traffic based at Hatfield or Kings Cross, so you can justify them on a GN layout. Some made it to Colwick, Annesley and Lincoln, and one was withdrawn from Thornaby!

Not too much to report at the moment, as it's been a few busy weeks for me (my son has managed to have two(!) tummy bugs in that time and I've been snowed under with work and the usual day to say stuff). I did manage to get ballast down a few weeks ago but haven't been able to weather it to finish it off. I'm trying to go for an effect similar to this shot of Mildenhall by having lighter ballast with differentiation between sleepers, chairs and ballast, but a bit darker. A few photo's of my efforts to lay and fix it down: I will need to tone it down into a duller more uniform colour, before picking out sleepers and ballast. I am yet to paint the DAS modelling clay ballast either - I've had no time to go to a shop and pick some tester pots. The clay for the road/lane crossing is down, although no photos of that yet as I want to finish that before uploading a shot, same goes for an overall shot of the layout as it stands. Next steps for me are to give the track and ballast another coat of sleeper grime to take the edge off the ballast, paint the DAS ballast, and the road surface. A static grass applicator is also quite high up on my wishlist too! I also need to source a new transformer for my LED strip lights as my current one has died for some reason, so there's no layout lighting at the moment. Until next time!

I'm also thinking about a second one...

Don’t... There was an issue of a magazine very recently (within the last month or two) with a feature on the Dornoch branch, does anyone know what it was? I’ll be back ordering that! It had a fantastic photo of a 0P 0-4-4T with a mixed train crossing Cambusavie level crossing, very inspirational.

Seeing as MR are doing 1646, it’d be rude not to do a micro layout based on the Dornoch branch wouldn’t it? Sooooooo modellable...

Cor, they look lovely! Only two comments I have are the printing of the smokebox door numbers instead of a plate, and that the cabside numbers look too 'yellow' (not sure if anyone else has mentioned this already). Bring 'em on!

Ah, that thread had passed me by...

I like the look of it so far Rob, I will watch with interest. It actually has a passing resemblance to White Swan yard in Yarmouth, what with the hole in the wall and subsequent sprawl of sidings. It would suit those forthcoming MR J70's... Oops, that's your dirty secret out in the open.

Minor observation, but I notice having already delivered R3546 (61576 in E/C) that Hornby have delayed R3545 (61556 in BR with Gill Sans lettering) to August 2019 which seems strange. Production issues, or are they being pragmatic and spreading them out so they can sell the previous releases? Has the B12 been a slow seller? Just curious.

Thanks all for your input. I think I'll keep an eye out for a NuCast kit to put in the 'one day' pile, and focus on building up my kit building abilities at some point before I attempt it!

Go on... Have a look at White Swan goods yard at Yarmouth, Ipswich Docks, the W+U, the Mid-Suffolk and the Kelvedon & Tollesbury line, particularly Tollesbury Pier - a wonderfully brooding location. There's no going back. Two J70's will become two J70's, two J15's and an N7, take it from the voice of experience who has amassed a lot of Great Eastern stuff after falling for the J15... You and a few of your Western/Southern pals bad mouth the LNER, so try it for yourself - I guarantee you'll be converted.

Any chance of revisiting this one Dave? It's been a while since the idea was first floated, and several crowd-funded models have been delivered since then.

Thanks for all the feedback. Definite no-no then. Must say this thread has been very informative - I didn't know the E4 boiler was pitched higher for example. RMWeb at its best! Seeing as the NuCast kit sounds like a difficult kit to build for a beginner, I think I will have to resort to hoping a built one comes up on eBay or elsewhere and taking it from there. 34, two of your suggestions turned my head, the Radial chassis (which would be too much of a butcher for my skills but a good idea nonetheless), and the J67-69 kit. What's the SE Finecast kit like to build?

All, Thanks for your replies, by the sounds of it you’re right, not the way to go. I was aware of the difference in driving wheels, but hadn’t considered that... that would make butchering rather more difficult. The Nu-Cast suggestion is a good one, however I am yet to build a brass or white metal one. Does the NuCast one lend itself to being built by beginners?

I ask this as someone who has never attempted bashing in his life, but does anyone have any thoughts on how easy it would be to convert a Hornby J15 to an E4? I'm conscious the length of the wheelbases themselves were 16ft 1in. for the J15 and 16ft 6in. for the E4, which in OO gauge would be a discrepancy of 1.6mm, however is this difference down to the difference in size between the pony truck wheels of the E4 and the front driving wheels of the J15? From the info I have the E4 was longer over buffers at 48ft2in vs 47ft3in, which in OO gauge would be almost a 4mm difference in the length of the engine chassis. I'm not a rivet counter, more someone who wants a fairly accurate representation of something - I think butchering a J15 could achieve this and I think I'd be happy to overlook a difference in length as long as it didn't stick out like a sore thumb. Do people think almost 4mm difference in length is a compromise worth living with? The main question for me would be the chassis, as I'd be wary of chopping it about to remove the front driving wheels. Does anybody with any familiarity with butchering chassis', or the J15 chassis' workings give their thoughts on how easy it would be to convert it to a 2-4-0 wheel configuration? Bear in mind with your responses you're talking to a novice here... Thanks in advance.