WCML100

The 00 samples looked great on the stand at Warley at the weekend. Especially the super tench with the mesh sides!

Some EP’s on display at Warley of these lovely wagons!

Getting closer now! Can’t wait to get hold of my rake of these. The Trains 4U exclusive debranded Cemex at Warley at the weekend certainly wet the appetite!

On display at Warley over the weekend. I think they look really good and will certainly order some of these for my track renewal train! Yellow ones look great, EWS one is surprisingly tasty too!

On display at Warley at the weekend…

So, a little bit more progress since the last update but starting to get very cold out in the garage now! Managed to get a few of the point motors back in and the extra one for the front loop and sidings in place too. Just need to fill in a few places now with track and the remaining points for the Greenford branch. Slowly but surely getting there and I will attack a few of these jobs over coming weeks as time and weather permits. In other news, @Chris37044 and I headed up to Warley on Saturday, opting to take the train this time, rather than the car. It was pleasant and relaxing compared to the motorway thats for sure! It also worked out cheaper than diesel + parking! Always a bonus when you like trains too! An early start for opening was in order and 390127 was on hand to take us to Brum! As always was a pleasure to chat to fellow enthusiasts in person, likewise with the Manufacturers too. Some interesting samples on show and equally exciting announcements too! The Revolution HOA’s which should be arriving soon, certainly wetting the appetite! As well as their YQA’s, particularly the super tench with it’s lovely mesh sides! I may succumb and purchase a pair, I just need an excuse for what to run them with now! Flangeways Salmons look good, I think I will be ordering some for my track renewal train! Question is, do I also add an EWS example as a splay of colour as these did look very good in the flesh! Seriously looking forward to these with no sign of the ASF variant from Hornby any time soon (I asked Hornby and they dont have any immediate plans!). Also incredibly impressive was the Cavalex PXA / JXA. After a good up close examination, I think I will be getting a JXA for conversion to a GERS JNA. The box is identical with some solebar changes and different bogies required. This will make a nice little project and will be added in and out of different Calvert rakes as they happened regularly in real life. I feel like they really have captured the box incredibly well! The OAA’s from Rapido were very nice in the flesh too, with its diecast chassis and prototypical thin sides (as opposed to a similar Bachmann OBA) it was spot on. An EWS example may turn up on Greenford soon once these hit the shops! Plenty of other worthy items too, Accurascales MK2b’s look top draw (wouldn’t mind a west coast example or two!) and I am looking forward to their 66’s arriving soon too. James Makin’s weathered collection of Accura models look insane on show, I am very envious of the technique to achieve such high quality results! We picked up a few items but nothing too much as the trade was average in my opinion but I am sure there was something there for everyone. That is all for now, hopefully some more milestones in the coming weeks and months!

Some further shots I took on Saturday… I did ask about an ASF bogie version but the response was pretty negative…

Im liking this choice (for a steamer that is!) always was one of my fav tank engines when younger and visiting preserved railways. Would certainly be tempted by L94 in preserved LT condition 😆

So, a little progress update. The last 2 weeks have been more 2 steps back and 1 step forward in some senses. @Chris37044 and I were looking over the layout, images of the real location and decided the spacing between the tracks was just not quite right (Yes, I know - great time to notice it!). We tried to over look it but the OCD in me couldn't let it go. The spacing between the up loop and up main was fine - it was the spacing between the up / down main which was the same spacing as the up main / loop. After looking at images the loops were much wider spaced, where as the mains were tighter together. Looking at the layout, it didn't look right having them equally spaced out. Shown below is the up main (left) and down main (right) with the up sidings on the far left equally far apart. Definitely too far apart! So, the down line came up. Luckily none of it was glued into place yet, just the horrible task of removing the base and upper layers of cork! meh! This took several hours of work to get all of it up, to some extent we were lucky as the down line is out of use on the station board so we hadn't laid anything down except for a few sleepers. We have now taken this all up - re laid all the base layer of cork and then subsequently the upper layers too. Seen here is the many cans and other objects weighing down the cork once glued into position… We have double checked images and Google maps satellite view, and are now happy with he placement. Next will be to re insert the point motors on the down line, and get the track re laid. One of the up sides of doing this means it allows us to fit in the down loop between the national rail lines and station upper section - something we were always aware of but chose to sacrifice for space as it was mostly over grown and barely visible anyway. We have now laid the base of this and just need to adjust the bridge over Oldfield Lane North to accommodate this (we also needed to adjust the width of this bridge so we can incorporate that work in that. All of this means we can create a more realistic version of the prototype, something we are more and more keen on doing as time and work progresses on the layout. I think it's worth noting to ourselves, try not to compromise if we can - as the more realistic things are - the more satisfied we will be! Bellow is the image showing the down main track bed relaid, and now including, the up loop. Only part of the track bed has been laid for this as mentioned the bridge gap needs altering before we continue to the right, and the on the left it has been flattened out according to photos and will be mostly over grown anyway on this side so further cork laying will not be needed to the left. All the rest of the down main cork has been laid including the ‘still in use’ section - although this has been angled slightly to the end as per the prototype which we did not see previously. This is apparent in the images below, with some track loosely placed into position. This shows a much better (tighter) distance between the two main running lines. In addition to all this backward stepping (and eventually a forward one too!) - we tackled another job which needed to be done. While I was mostly taking up the old cork on the down main etc, @Chris37044 was working on adding some plasticard for the up loop, where it drops in height ever so slightly. From above, this is noticeable - but on our site visit during the summer, we noticed the height difference of the running lines and the track which is out of use up loop and sidings. Again something wanted to capture and we had installed some cut down woodland scenics risers for the change in height (roughly at 2.5mm) - however this was too drastic. Once the length was sorted, we adjusted the cork around the base and inserted some platsicard to create a smoother incline. Once done we added the cork layer back on top. All of the base layer of cork is present (2.5mm) on the national rail level apart from the sidings so the cork upper layer was used to on top the base layer and then without the base layer for the sidings. From our site visit, you can see the height difference in the up loop / sidings in the foreground which are no longer in use (lower) and the running lines which still see traffic behind at a higher level. We both have a few projects on the go (layout and rolling stock wise!) so hopefully you will see more of that in the coming weeks and months. For now we are counting down the days to Warley - and for a change we are taking the train! If you're going, let us know! It would be great to meet some fellow rmwebbers! That's all for now cheers 😄

Looking good, i feel scratchbuilt station footbridges rarely capture the staircases well. It is a tricky thing to get right, but your look bang on the money, i look forward to the rest of it coming together!

I agree, I am biased though as Greenford saw plenty of Binliner traffic haha! The DB intermodal wagons I feel are the least represented. The FKA being one along with FCA's. Again, being biased I would love to see an FCA done as I need a few for binliners and MOD workings!

I am hoping for some FEA's especially if they decide to tool some nice Binliner boxes to go on top. In desperate need of some of those!

166 has been done by Bachmann previously but not for a number of years has it been produced. It would be nice to see an updated one and the same way as the recent multiple unit offerings from Bachmann have been done. Hopefully they do a 165 & 166 in an 'updated' tooling as I don't think there is much wrong with the current one except for the lack of dcc and the poor rendition of the lights which are relatively simple to update I would imagine.

If I had to hedge my bets, i imagine a newly tooled item and the announcement of the Hattons FEA tooling being purchased. This was hinted at during an email newsletter some time ago with the stobart 92 pulling some gbrf FEA-S wagons.

I would disagree with the Electrostar range being a money pit. It is almost certain they will get done at some point with the area they cover. You have also missed off a couple... with the total Electrostar family being the 375, 376 (doubt this would be done to major differences to the others), 377, 379 and 387's (missed out the odd balls on purpose) being all incredibly similar with minor differences such as bonded ribbon compared to gasket glazing being the obvious one, the rest are things such as third rail pick ups and OHLE pantographs. As of the amount of liveries that I can think of covering these units, there is a lot and good investment on tooling compared to the areas covered and livery variants offered in my opinion. Liveries include the variants of South Eastern (ex connect livery), South Eastern Blue, Southern, Gat Ex Red, Thameslink, First CC, GWR Green, Heathrow Express, C2C, National Express (Stanstead Express), Greater Anglia (Stanstead Express) to nam e some I can think of. Even within that there are variations and cross over periods where some were rebranded for some time opening up other livery variations and possibilities. Agree for sure they won't be cheap and that will put a lot of people off. But, and it is a big but... If anyone is going to be able to proceed a cost effect yet accurate multiple unit, then Accurascale is probably our best bet - especially if their Irish Multiple units are anything to go by. Hopefully it will only be a matter of time - I wouldn't be in the market for one myself, as I strictly limit myself to models that have worked through my chosen location to model but would be tempted if they came along... and I think it would be good for everyone who wants more multiple units to made in the future - I would argue that the Electrostar family is the big obvious one miss out currently... If that goes well then it will open the door up for other units too in time.

looks forward to seeing the tops all painted and done! that’s interesting regarding the workings. Will you be doing a second pair to match?

Yes I agree! I have got a Eurostar purely for nostalgia! A real shame that Dapol dropped the MLA, would have been a real seller I think, especially as they compliment the JNA falcons! Yes lets hope our friend can make some progress, if not lets hope the manufacturer steps in sooner or later!

looking good mate, I too have been doing the same the last year or so - selling off some rakes that dont quite fit the bill for absolute realism for the location im modelling. Frees up funds for rakes that do fit the criteria! Olivias and cheapo do not usually go together in the same sentence so well done on finding that deal! Im also in the boat for some MLA’s (& a couple of IEA’s too!) - all 4 types would be great if they were released in RTR form. I keep badgering accurascale about them at each show I see them at!

Quality work there mate. Very impressive! the FEA’s really do look good in B beatty livery. Looking forward to seeing these finsihed! What formations did they run in?

New Junction hinted at 00 gauge announcements - that sounds like more than one to me! 😃 Hoping for some nice modern wagons myself!

Does this count? One of my first proper attempts at weathering with multiple colours and techniques. KFA TIPH93378 with track carrying panels for engineering workings. Started off as a standard Hornby release but has since had various weathering techniques applied to get to the end result. Modelled from pictures of the prototype found on Flickr (shown bellow for reference). Finished off with Railtec transfers.

that is already on our radar, a perfect rake to model considering it went through Greenford! 2 Bachmann MK2a’s already purchased with a bso ready for repaint. Funnily enough all 3 of these coaches make up part of the rake that was behind scotsman when it visited greenford in 2016!

I too saw this, hats off to accurascale as these look lovely! The colour of the west coast livery seems to be a lot better too in comparison to the original sample which was too red in my opinion. Now looking for a suitable rake to run these in hence my earlier question! I already have a mixed mk1 / mk2 rake of west coast coaches with a mk1 pullman for good measure (all based on the rake which was behind Flying Scotsman in 2016 when travelling through Greenford). question is can I justify another rake (likely as these look really good and WCRC Southall depot is 5 mins up the road from our Greenford based layout!) Very Helpful! Thank you! will take a look at those workings you mentioned and see if there is an example working in the south east or to Southall! Most pictures i found were between fort Willian of en route to or from crewe and there!

Im hoping someone can help, does anyone have any videos or pictures or the west coast mk2b’s and mk2c’s in service? Or any info on the rakes they were / are used in and any typical workings etc? Struggling to find much info on them. Tia 🙂

For anyone who likes yellow stuff… Here is 97301 transversing our layout with DBSO 9702 leading (& DB999508 in the middle for good measure). Really does look (& sound) the part!