big jim

Picked up this paint organiser from the model show in Macclesfield last week, comes as a flatpack and once glued together (using rocket glue laser cut building glue) makes up a nice rack for 56 Vallejo paint pots as I put in the previous post the DAS clay on the front of the laser cut building is ok, not fantastic but it’s stuck to it! gave it a coat of white, not bothered about the window surrounds being rough as there are separate bay window frames to go on the front as well as window surrounds on the upper floor I’ll add some das to the sides too but may leave it smooth like it’s been rendered

Sounds like a Spanish resort! I only visited for the first time a couple of years back and thought it was fantastic, I also after my trip rode my bike from ravensglass to dalgarth and back, I took the family last year and they loved it too (and they hate trains!)

The clay on the front of the building has kind of worked, looks a bit rough, will have to see how it looks painted, worst comes to the worst I’ll just chip it back off again! anyway today I opened up the hattons/accurascale Warwell and side extensions I’d ordered from @Trains4U, thought I’d give them a go instead of using brass as I’ve done on my previous Warwell modifications a lovely print with the added bonus of the fillets below deck that I hadn’t bothered modelling Superglued in place A coat of Vallejo military green as it’s a more Matt finish than the tamia paint, also gave the end a bit of yellow for completeness but I need to mix the correct shade at some point (as I also need to change the yellow ends on the Oxford wagons) The MOD train is certainly coming together now, need to order 3 more extensions as well as some chocks from Trains4u and the warwells are done (as well as stealing down the final vehicles) the containers look better with a variety of colours

Warwell and 3D extensions arrived over the weekend, fitted them this morning, so much easier than the brass strip ones I made up with the addition of them having the proper below plate bracing A bead of glue along the edge And a coat of green, I’ve used vahello military green as it dries a bit more Matt than the tamia paint, need to mix up the correct shade of yellow for the end plate though I’ve got 2 Oxfords and a Hattons Warwell needing the extensions adding so I think ill Be ordering some more Trains4u prints instead of doing them from brass

John gave it a try yesterday but kind of failed, he still slept in it for a couple of hours!

you’d think that wouldn’t you! 45 mins to get from basford hall north end to departing the station heading south

Another interesting day! light loco move longport to Tamworth, or so we thought 805 in crewe our train to longport 56081 we collected 66723 and set off for Tamworth high level via walsall and Sutton park, it was due to continue to Roberts road from there with another driver so off we went, just after stone my trainee opened up the throttle and at about 40 mph lost all power, as we had a bit of momentum I suggested keeping rolling to clear yarnfield jn so if we were a failure any trains heading south from stone could use the old chord toward Norton bridge station and we would be out of the way, spoke to the signaller to tell her what had happened and why we were carrying on incase there was something behind us that could have been trapped had it followed us beyond ‘the points of no return’ sure enough after a few phone calls and tests we had to declare ourselves a failure as we couldn’t get power at all as there was no other drivers around we had to leave the loco there under protection of the signals and get a taxi back to basford hall to get a rescue engine, that meant a long walk along the path alongside the cutting but not before getting a line block cross the running line! damn thing! These boots are made for walking And onto the bridge to wait for the taxi who in all fairness was there in 10 minutes, very good considering the location! 66720 was the rescue loco in basford hall Into the station to change ends before heading south we were expecting to go via Stoke to attach to the rear of the failed loco and push it to Stafford where we would run round and drag it onward to bescot but the signaller pulled off for us on the slow line of the wcml, where we got to little bridgeford jn we drew past the points and changed ends before making a wrong direction move toward the front of the loco, a move I didn’t think they would do so it’s nice to see someone using their initiative as it was a quick move and saved a lot of shunting at Stafford Onto the loco and brake tested before heading off to bescot some 200 minutes late but without causing any delays or cancellations to any passenger trains into bescot and the broken loco was removed I then of course had to take the rescue loco back to crewe, there was the added bonus of 37405 in the yard though We then followed a freightliner all the way to basford hall which was soul destroying before we stabled the loco and left, booking off about 3 1/2 hours later than booked, luckily its a day off today, certainly an interesting day and plenty for the trainee to put in his assessment book!

they looked quite happy a few years back when someone painted their claws pink

I mentioned you to him and he knows who you are, and @birdbath anyhoo, back to valley, got the train from crewe, 47815 came in as we were waiting for our train, an empty rail house looming over the station our train to Bangor, was hoping for a 158 again but no such luck, thankfully it was fairly quiet Taxi to site, spotted this stone yesterday in the wall near the access point, had tk put my shadow over it to see a bit better but it says LNWR and something else underneath The train in front of the train in front of ours! then there was another I forgot to take a picture of from the front, 66727 on that one before we eventually got to ours, 66777 We all then went in convoy to ty croes to exit the worksite Trains can only enter ‘Picop land’ one at a time so we had to wait until the train in front made it to Bangor and exited the possession….off it goes I’ve already put these pics in the ‘ghosts in the machine’ thread but I’ll post them again here for those who don’t follow that thread I didn’t realise that the signal box at Ty Croes has the old station building attached which housed the waiting room and ticket office, it’s actually grade 2 listed as well we managed to get the keys for the annex building and were allowed to have a look inside, it’s in poor condition but watertight by the looks of it complete with working lighting, it seems to have been used as a workshop of some sort fairly recently (there is a 2002 rail news paper on the desk) waiting room area Ticket office area complete with desk Sign on the door Now these are interesting and the reason we wanted a look as my trainee had heard about a couple of old posters still hanging, unfortunately either someone has tried to remove them or they haven’t withstood the test of time a ‘conditions of carriage’ poster stating they had changed in 1963 about could date from then or it could be a few years later depending on how long they were displayed this one I’ve managed to date to 1968 thanks to the motorail thread on here as the same illustration was used on the brochure that year but I’ve not been able to find a picture of it used in poster form, it appears to have some sort of track plan at what remains of the bottom of the poster so I’m wondering if it’s related to Holyhead in some way We then locked up and returned the keys before heading back to our train to await our turn to depart, when we did it was away pretty much straight to basford hall, where we shunted the train away and stabled the loco 66752 on an adjacent road Freightliners later acquisitions, a pair of DB 90s And that was that, home to bed, nice little job tomorrow a 66 off longport

I’ve passed this hundreds of times but didn’t know it was there until today, attached to the signal box at Ty Croes is the old waiting room and booking office that I believe closed in the late 60s Managed to get hold of the keys and went inside for a nose, lights still work which was a bonus and there are some modern bits and bobs lain around so it is still in use as a store room (kind of) I must add is nothing of worth in there for any wannabe treasure hunters! ticket window and desk couple of old posters Dated this one from 1968 thanks to the motor rail thread on here (pic posted there too)

Bit of a bump for this topic but I’ve just found this little beauty hidden away in a closed booking office/waiting room, using your original gallery I can see it’s from 1968 going by the identical illustration and phrase unfortunately someone has had a go at removing it or it’s just plain old but the bottom part is practically missing but there appears to be a track plan, im wondering is it possibly Holyhead as you can see 2 lines with onward arrows which in my head correspond with the platforms (2+3) under the canopy that had car ramps right before the old ferry terminal ive done a google search and can’t find any pics of this illustration as a poster

ONLY!

yeah, from a passenger company, he’s actually a driver on the Ffestiniog and Welsh highland railways too

Some from today, basford hall to valley again Convoy of 5 locos Engine off and running through the yard to the train And onto it ready to be brake tested 66711 Class 18 Had to be done! Ty croes Fresh ballast being unloaded We then taxied over to Bangor and the last train home to crewe back there again tomorrow evening to bring it off site again!

I’ve only managed to do that a couple of times in ratcliffe! I wasn’t going to order a class 60 as I’m happy with my Hornby ones but having since received the class 56 and seeing the likes of the cab interior I think I may well succumb to a GB one!

anything can double its design speed, quite how long for is another question!

Don’t really want to put too much info out there as it’s probably industry sensitive!

Johnny sat cross pawed at the top of the stairs! The radiator pipe goes right under where he’s sat

A short run back to oxley tonight Former Scottish observation 101 saloon sat at the back of LSL sidings next to the horse landing 197 Into Wolverhampton for a change ends and done mixed bag next week, possessions to and from valley again Saturday and Sunday, something I don’t know on Monday then 805s to Holyhead Wednesday /Thursday and something intermodaly on Friday by the looks of it

Hellfire mileage on my hire car my own car is in the EMT meridian numbering range!

imagine how boring it would be watching a train unload in real time for an hour! 0.5 is the norm but if the coal is damp or poor quality it’s slower, also you have to stop a few times for the hopper to empty (in ratcliffe) soul destroying but interesting at the same time

unless your modelling a power station coal discharge plant (0.3 to 0.5mph)

Couldn’t really be bothered with pics last night Couple from the day when I drove into town, 37108 en route to the NEC for the @Accurascale stand First trip ready to leave oxenholme, the moon peeping through the trees 2nd trip the full moon higher in the sky A stop in crewe on the way back And done should be cancelled tonight as we got it all done but I may have to go in to take it crewe to oxley, had a look at the mileage for the week, I was doing about 550-600 miles a night which is a fair old whack as quite tiring both physically and mentally!

Nice, would have been so much easier for me! as it happens I need an extra warwell anyway so I’ve ordered one of your Ltd Ed ones and a set of sides

If not watched the vid but my trainees mate is part owner and he said it was off there for the weekend im working both days so went make it unfortunately