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I’ve been browsing Flickr looking at DMU destination blinds (and inevitably getting side tracked to look at the traction used on MGR trains etc.). My fleet of currently 3 multiple units but eventually around 5 or 6 will all say Christleton on one end. On the other I’ll try to replicate the most common destinations, which I think are Helsby, Hooton, Bangor, Llandudno, Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road. The less common destinations of Holyhead, Crewe, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton probably won’t make it. The destination blinds do seem to vary a little between classes, but all are upper case white letters on a black background. There seems to be some differences in how Manchester is displayed, sometimes just Manchester or Man Victoria. I haven’t yet found an Oxford Road. Here are some links: It’s interesting that so many of the sets are mixed. Not quite so easy to do with the Bachmann models because the trailer cars have different pickup methods. But an interesting challenge!

That’s the kind of link you could lose yourself in for days! Seeing all the different signage is brilliant, really inspiring. I remember being a young BR trainee in 93 and going on a course at the Management Development Centre at the Grove in Watford. I can’t recall anything about the course other than it involved a lot of football and hangovers, and that all the signage was in the railway alphabet.

They look excellent. I was thinking gill sans but lower case, but you could be right with arial. I wonder if you can get a copy of the rail alphabet font? It would be handy for the station signs too!

I’m fairly hopeful a normal inkjet printer will make a reasonable job of it! I need to research the types of paper and material that my printer can work with. Destination blinds are the kind of thing that you look at intensely whilst fitting and then never notice again. I’m sure I recall an article in the Railway Modeller or Constructor (age check!) in the 80’s where someone had made a revolving destination blind. It was hexagonal but I can’t recall how he made it move. I quite like the idea of having one with all my favourite model railway destinations on it!

Today saw a 50% increase in the DMU fleet. The timetable needs 5 units, one of which will eventually be an EMU. I really like the Bachmann 108 and wanted to get a non-headcode box variant, so was quite happy to pick up a relatively cheap second hand one. These always bring a challenge to fit sound to and get all the lights working, in this case a few hours of faffing and messing to get it all working. The end result is very pleasing and the Legomanbiffo sound unit with mini bass speaker is first class. I haven’t done much rolling stock work for a while, but the unit fleet would be a good place to start. Not least with the destination blinds; Doncaster, Exeter and Cambridge aren’t quite right!

I used hardboard or flexi mdf for the corners. Plywood is engineered not to bend, so you may have made a slow acting catapult! Looking forward to the photo!

I do have something in mind! I did wonder about removing the catch, but this house moves like it’s on a tectonic fault line.

One of those nights where you do something fairly small that has a big impact. I’ve been talking about the viaduct coming into Christleton for what seems like forever, and tonight it took a big step closer. Cutting out the SE Finecast arches is a fairly laborious task, but just leaning the seven sections, for 13 arches makes quite an impact. A couple of general views to show how much of the layout they take up. There’s a lot to do, but their first impression is very pleasing. They put the railway in the landscape rather than just on the board. Most of them will be just brick infill, much like the viaduct of the Castlefield Corridor between Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road. Some of the arches are quite critical in terms of spacing for the canal and road passing underneath the railway. Luckily my measurements are about right and they are spaced the right distance apart. The two arches nearest the station will have shops cut into them, alongside the lower entrance to the station. This entrance will be similar to the one at Leeds (from Victoria St?), locally known as the Dark Arches. The shops will be a chippy and a TV rental shop; reminiscent of my 1980’s trainspotting days to take a quick break for tea and to check the football results. For the moment though, it’s nice to play around with the photographic opportunities the viaduct will offer.

I used the same, I think it was made as flexitrack by C&L, but I think they’ve stopped making it.

Very much enjoyed the Hornby magazine article and the pictures are fantastic. My son asked if they’d included the one of 97406 to show what the real place looks like! Llanborne was and remains my inspiration for building a layout. 9 years ago when the same sone was days old and not sleeping, I read the first hundred or so pages on RMWeb in the very early hours of the morning. A 40 and 45 were purchased not long after! Great work and my thanks for continuing to inspire us all! Andy

Thanks. They’ll be weathered in what you might refer to as the fullness of time! I may do a quick and light job just to tone things down a bit. But there’s about 20m if Slater’s brickwork needs doing… I’ve had a real push on scenery this year. I want to get basics done which means viaduct, station and canopies, then we can get the S&T and OHL chaps in. And I can’t wait for that!

Thanks Paul. I spent a bit of time pondering that join because it was very awkward looking. Once I dropped the bridge in for a trial fit I knew it would works. I tried to find a prototype photo, but it’s not an easy thing to search for! Andy

Some more progress on the Metcalfe mega mill! The two ‘tower block’ elements were relatively straightforward once I’d worked out the cut lines. Slightly trickier was the central section which I realised didn’t have to be flat as I had a roof section spare. I made it a little lower to add some interest. There’s definitely something in the old advice to build high to add to a model railway. With the warehouse in its final position I used one of the bridge sections to create a pedestrian entrance to the road bridge, which nicely hides the road into backscene problem. I used some plasticard off cuts to create a simple gatehouse. Overall it’s helped make the West end scenic entrance a bit more acceptable as a background. Nice to see a peak on a trans-pennine service overtaking an 03 shunting parcels. There’s some retaining wall work to extend towards the Warrington exit and then it’s time to look at the viaduct arches. I think the overall scene needs a building in between the two sets of buildings, possibly just painted on the backscene.

Never bought Hornby magazine before, top priority for this week!

These are looking really good. I’m always impressed by someone that can spend so much time planning before doing - I’m so much more a plan the rescue after I’ve made a mess of it sort of person! Is the concept of this your own idea or copied? It certainly looks to be worth the effort and achieving the results.

The Metcalfe range do give you a lot of options and they are great for modification. Not to expensive if you make a mess of it either! They are increasingly common on layouts, so you do need to think about how you use them. Ultimately a Peak and mk2s look a lot better in front of a Metcalfe warehouse than a big space where you may one day get around to building one! I do like your scratch built stuff. There’s some of that ahead for the station at Christleton, as I’ve realised I need the canopies in before the OHL and I need the wires in before the signals…

Metcalfe Supermax… The Metcalfe models are both very effective and satisfying to build. They definitely fit with my philosophy of quickly getting some background scenery in place. I can always replace them later when I get my “build an 8 storey warehouse from scratch” skills. I believe you receive this around retirement as a sort of reverse puberty. For the canal wharf I need something taller than the standard kit, so I’m splicing two kits into one. It’s fairly straightforward although there’s a little bit of thought required to keep the proportions right. The first section (of 3) is built and who could resist trying it out? I need to play around with the final configuration and come up with a cunning plan for the scenic link to the roadbridge. I also cut out a 70’ x 7’ canal boat template to put in place for those viewers who are overflowing with curiosity! It just about fits, and promises to give countless future holiday makers something to argue about as the person on the tiller misjudges the angle…

I should also have said Thanks! I have the table manners of a spoilt teenager.

I have tried a similar shot in the other direction. There’s quite a bit of work required to make it convincing - warehouse in canal basin to hide overbridge to backscene join, retaining wall continuation along Warrington lines, arches on incoming lines. Oh, and a peak with some mk2’s clanking across the pointwork!

Here’s a photo I found on Flickr. It implies the 47 and mk1s are in addition to 1D42 and 1D43… My own passenger stock is loosely as follows: IC1 mk2fs, BG, RBR, 1 mk2a IC2 mk2as, RBR TP1 mk2as, BG TP2 mk2as, 1xmk1 SO, BG Relief mk1s SemiFast mk1s With the through fiddle yard roads I can just about cover all services (up until 13.30 at least, I still haven’t got past there yet).

Model railways are just a well disguised nervous breakdown waiting to happen. You look at RMWeb at a layout built by 6 retired people working on it full time and wonder why your 30 minutes a week isn’t achieving the same results!

It’s possibly not the final bridge, but I like to get the layout to a stage with basic scenery everywhere and then do things in detail. Otherwise you end up with one amazing section and the rest baseboard. Hopefully with some weathering this will look quite presentable. I’ve used the wood former then brick plasticard and simple metal girder before because I find it quick and easy. It’s also quite in keeping with West of the Pennines architecture. The girder is just 0.5mm plasticard, with a 4mm strip as border and 2mm verticals.

My timetable is Summer 1986. 1D42 only ran until 27 September. Both have the code ⚫️ (aircon) and ➕(100mph). Both are booked for max load 455 tonnes (15 mk2s?), with 86/2 to Crewe and 47/4 onwards. Presumably there was a big boat leaving Holyhead shortly after arrival.

They are 8mm wooden dowel on top of 20mm dowel bases. Just things I had spare that looked like various photos I’d been looking at. They have been painted in two coats of Dulux Trade cannonball*. I’m fortunate in having a spares collection that is disproportionate to any projects I’ve actually completed. *Somewhere there is a person whose job it is to name paint colours. As far as I can tell this must involve drinking until you think up a better term for ‘almost indistinguishable from black’.

It will be a narrow canal! Maximum boat length will be interesting for the corners - 70’ is 28cm so not a small dimension by any means. Luckily in 1986 all it will need to fit is a 3’ shopping trolley. The canal is 8cm wide, so 20’. I just need to make sure that a 25cm x 3cm barge can negotiate the tight corner.