NZRedBaron

All very useful stuff, thank you. So, is there anything available RTR that would suit such an idea?

Hello folks; I apologise in advance if this is not the appropriate channel, but I have been thinking recently about a picture I saw years ago, of what was apparently a 1930's photograph of an Italian refrigerated wagon being unloaded at a Southern Railway goods depot somewhere in London; and it got me wondering about where on the British network one could plausibly see continental rolling stock in motion. Would it only be on the Southern from Cross-Channel ferries, or could you plausibly use continental stock elsewhere? And if so, what stock could be used?

Fair enough; I only asked as I had had the idea that one of the businesses that my planned layout services (probably a local brewery, or perhaps a machinery firm) bought some elderly 6 wheeled full brakes to carry the company's goods out and about on the wider network.

Random thought I just had; would it seem at all plausible for old NPCC's like the Full Brakes here to end up in private ownership, and still on the main line?

I must admit, I've been tempted to get one of these, ever since I heard about them. LNER liveried, as that's my jam. I am however undecided as to which I'd prefer to get my grubby mitts on- #1752 or #2082. I'm going out on a limb here, and guessing that you model BR?

Makes sense; one of my long term projects for my collection is an LNER parcels train, which would have a mix of LNER-liveried stock, and a few 'strengtheners' on the back that potentially are still in pre-grouping livery- I was thinking to grab either a GCR or GER full brakes for it, if not one of each.

So, quick random thought; when is the latest you could plausibly see pre-grouping liveries during the Big Four era? Either on passenger coaches, or on NPCC's?

I've never pre-ordered anything from Rails before; how does the procedure go once the orders have arrived?

Neat. I'll look into those. Cheers.

I picked up an old LNER liveried Tri-ang clerestory coach at a swapmeet last year, and I've decided I want to get it into a better state; that'd mean replacing the old bogies with modern ones, repainting the body to be less plastic-y, and fitting seats inside. I'm thinking to start with the seats first, as that seems the most straight-forward task, so I wanted to ask the experts; would the Ratio coach seat set from PECO be suitable for that? Or would that need fettling to fit?

Don't quote me on this, but I think this might be an earlyish scheme from around 1924 or 1925? One that has LNER lettering and numbering, but might still be in GCR house colours otherwise?

I got in contact with a bloke on another forum who makes 3D printed GCR 'Barnum' coaches; I feel like those would be a useful match.

To be frank, I have a lot of ideas, and not much space to work with. But if I ever got the big room-space for it, I'd be able to fit in a lot more of the ideas I had; for instance, some of the industries I had in mind for the area around Christchurch Road station were the inevitable coal merchants within the goods yard, a building supplies firm (selling bricks, timber and glass for construction work), a brewery, and a few other bits and bobs of light industry like a cooper's workshop, up to and potentially including a small boat yard- that last one is in part because there's a privately owned tramway (akin to the Wisbech and Upwell) running out to a fishing village a few miles away on the coast, which also connects to some of the local farms, which is where most of the agricultural traffic comes from (wheat, sugar beet, potatoes and other vegetable crops).

You know what? I think this one will work quite nicely.

It's more that I couldn't think of any word other than 'diorama' for it, to be honest. I figure that a couple of sidings to fit the short trains that I have planned will do; if I had to ballpark an estimate, maybe little less than 1m to fit the passenger train, and the short 'daily pick-up' on the other siding.

My plan is that it's a terminal station on an end-to-end setup- it was built more on the edge of the town, while the 'new' main station is more in the centre of the town, on a new-built 'spur'. It's going to have to be on a fairly small area (long and thin) as I don't have much space to work with here in my bedroom; let's say about 3m long and about 1/2m wide at most. In terms of servicing, it has very limited provisions on the 'public-facing' side, so to speak- one or maybe two platform-side water cranes with underground tanks, and perhaps some coal staiths in the goods yard. I don't want to just copy the "Ashburton" layout plan, for the record.

Hello folks; wanted to ask for some thoughts and advice on something that might actually be kind of ambitious. I've been thinking for a while about making my first layout as suggested in the title, and even come up with a short history of the station and the town it serves, but I was also looking for some guidance about the layout of facilities and suchlke. The setting is a fictitious market town in East Anglia during the Grouping Era (mid-1930's to just before the outbreak of WWII) called "Market Trenholme" (named after a friend of mine in the US of States), and the station itself is named "Christ Church Road"; the history is that it was the original station in the town when the railways arrived in the mid-Victorian era, but within a decade or so, it had been downgraded to 'Goods Only' after a new station was built in the middle of the town- and then, ironically, had its' passenger services re-instated (albeit in a more limited capacity) during and after WWI- most passenger traffic taking the form of a rake of Hatton's Genesis six-wheel coaches with the occasional Gresley non-corridors as strengtheners. Goods traffic on the other hand is mostly coal and building materials arriving (timber, bricks and the like), with agricultural products (like sugar-beet, fish and beer) departing out into the wider network. What other things should I consider for it?

Hello folks; been a long time since I was last here, I know, but I wanted to ask for some thoughts and advice. I've been thinking for a while about making a layout as suggested in the title, and even come up with a short history of the station and the town it serves, but I was also looking for some guidance about the layout of facilities and suchlke. The setting is a fictitious market town in East Anglia during the Grouping Era (mid-1930's to just before the outbreak of WWII) called "Market Trenholme", and the station itself is named "Christ Church Road"; the history is that it was the original station in the town when the railways arrived in the mid-Victorian era, but within a decade or so, it had been downgraded to 'Goods Only' after a new station was built in the middle of the town- and then, ironically, had its' passenger services re-instated (albeit in a more limited capacity) during and after WWI.