ian

Keith, Half the problem with any layout scheme is getting started. The other half is keeping going! Life does have a habit of derailing plans which can really put the kybosh on long-term or grand schemes. Perhaps a modular (or sectional) approach might help? For example a selection of fiddle yard, terminus, through station, industry scene on different (small) boards that can be mixed and matched in some way - either to ring the changes or all together on the patio on high days and holidays.

No apologies needed for thread drift - couplings are one of the eternal niggles of the hobby. The Ercallbahn is constrained in its choice by the fact that most of the stock has couplers that can't be changed without extensive reworking of the rolling stock. Since most of the couplings are metal and can be adjusted by bending with a pair of pliers and, when properly set, work well, that will do me. They don't do close coupling, uncoupling without a ramp is a bit of a lottery - sometimes you lift the correct vehicle in the correct way and they come apart, other times you don't and they get tangled - and they look nothing like a real coupling. Prior to starting this project I had been working towards an N gauge empire but had stalled with couplings. The fact that the standard issue Marklin ones worked was a major factor in the decision.

And the graffiti you used to see in pub toilets: You don't buy the beer in this pub, just rent it.

At the risk of making more work for myself... Would it be helpful or just down-right distracting if I overlaid a schematic diagram showing what is going on on the operations videos?

These are 1960s/70s metal Relex couplings. They just need to be bent back into shape and alignment with the coupling gauge then all will be well. It looks like the coach has had a few rough shunts during its time.

The restaurant car is a newly acquired replacement for an existing one with poorer paintwork. I had omitted to check the couplings before I added it to the train.

Sometimes when filming you catch a blooper! Happy new year to all.

That sounds like a wonderful basis for a layout. Please do keep us informed of progress.

Neither. I think 'reproduction' is probably the right term. It isn't an original but it has been constructed, as far as possible, from the same materials and design as the original and is capable of doing the same things. cf. reproduction furniture

As usual I made my own arrangements for a Christmas goody. This is a second BR151, this time in turquoise/beige rather than the green of my existing example. It will allow for a bit of variety running point on mail and freights. It needs new traction tyres and adjustments to the reverser but is otherwise good to go. By way of a bonus is this NS post coach. I had seen it on eBay but not bitten as I couldn't see any way to justify it on the Ercallbahn but then fate took a hand. I had purchased soemthing else from the seller to replace an existing tired model with a better specimen and they sent me this by mistake. I posted on the Railways of Germany forum asking if it was possible that these would cross the border into Germany. In no time at all I was assured that they did and that manned post coaches featured in the Holland - Skandinavien Express which just happens to run on the layout. As a result a deal was reached and it has joined the roster.

And water skiing - you must need a downhill bit for that. 😀

You have my sympathy. I used a commercial backscene with a sea view on an eye-level branch terminus. I had mounted it with the sea horizon above eye level and every time I looked at it felt that I was in imminent dange of being swept away by a tsunami. It had to go... Yours however looks fine but if it really bugs you then it will have to go. Perhaps modify the image to replace the sea with sky or forest?

That's not a seal, that's his ugly daughter!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Beal's West Midland - The OO Gauge Layout Of A Lifetime is one for your shelves. Back in the days of yore there were model railways that put the emphasis on the railways rather than the model. This is something that is still big in the US - models of large sections of railway systems rather than a single station, or part of one. Currently the UK hobby seems to be concentrated on producing rather nice models of a specific location (be it real or imagined) rather than portraying how a chunk of the rail network works and interacts. Those of us of a certain age, or more, will remember layouts like Jack Ray's Crewchester, Norman Eagles' Sherwood Section and Peter Denny's Buckingham - all of which were models of railway systems where trains went from place to place, in some cases with intermediate stops or alternative routes. Whilst the models were all individually built, rather than taken out of a box, none the less they weren't the stars of the show, instead they were just actors in the show that was operating the layout like the real thing. Many people hold up John Ahern's Madder Valley, now preserved at Pendon Museum, as the first true scenic layout but overlook the fact that it was designed to be interesting to operate as well. The various industries gave a purpose to the freight movements and the various modelled communities gave a reason for the passenger operations. The 'grand-daddy' of UK 4mm operations was Edward Beal. During the 50s and 60s he published a stream of articles and books about building 4mm models and how to use them to portray real operations. If you come across a copy of his book WEST MIDLAND: A Railway in Miniature I'd strongly advise sitting down with it. It is a fascinating read and whilst much of its content is dated it still provides much food for thought. Today we are fortunate in that we can sit at a computer screen and order finely-detailed locomotives that run smoothly, accurate coaches and freight wagons to a constant scale and scale miles of track at the wave of a plastic card. We can add virtually any type of scenic embellishment we like, all without raising a sweat if we so choose. So where are the operating empires of today? Where are the layouts with four or five stations with freight terminals, branches and visibly different types of traffic? Maybe it is just me, but the layouts I remember reading about in my youth that left the biggest impression were not the large 'railway in a landscape' single (or no) station scenic spectaculars, but the ones that replicated a significant slice of railway. Good narrow gauge does this - after all you can model a whole line and often get the spectacular scenery thrown in, US outline layouts (in the US) have it down to a fine art. Perhaps it is time for a few more of us in the UK to think about using the current crop of products to create models railways rather than model stations?

I see that they don't offer their services to vegiterians or vegans.

Absolutely. That just looks so right. Give yourself a virtual pat on the back.

9.5" according to the catalogue (yes, they even translated the length into English). 24cm in Napoleonic. I did get one of the later 70s longer ones in a mixed lot which came in at 27cm but that got sent on its way rather quickly - every inch counts!

And thank you for taking us all along with you!

Thanks Simon. I'm having a whale of a time doing it. Thanks also for giving so much thought to the street sign problem. As far as possible I have been using things 'straight out of the packet' although I have made exceptions. The signs are as the manufacturer intended and looked awful. I think that given that people don't tend to notice the lack of them doing without will be easier than making replacements. That opinion may well change when I get to the town centre area at Maifeld.

I also looked at putting the street name on the buildings rather than the signpost but again it drew attention to the condensed nature of everything. Sometimes less is more.

This attempt at a quick win was a total failure. Captain OCD suggested that some road signs wouldn't go amiss. Apart from the fact that the thick white plastic poles and plates are offensive to the eye, even if they were delicate creations of piano wire and card they would still draw attention to how little space there is. Ah well. At least I didn't drill holes for them.

It all got a good clean before it was laid (years ago now, in some places) and I only ever clean it in places where I have been working and making a mess. The pickup shoes keep the studs clean but that's it. I can't even claim to run the trains frequently - it tends to come in bursts and lulls. The weight of the locomotives must help enormously with keeping a good electrical contact - along with all their wheels carrying the juice. If you watch the railbus in the last video you can see the light flicker a few times where it looses power. It is a relatively light model but the momentum carries it through. I suspect it needs a new pickup shoe.

Smith's crisps had a cartoon TV ad campaign with the little blue bag saying that it was good to be back - sometime in the 70s I think.

This year's Christmas blockbuster film is the fourth outing for the Operating Session 1 franchise taking operations through to just before midday. Despite having covered half the day so far only about 40% of the scheduled events have occurred - so there may well be another six to come!