IANM

A headsup though some of you will already know this. jgmodelismo is releasing the first of a number of resin-bodied railcar models. Frustratingly, the first is to be the Nohab which I think is almost the same model as Norbrass's, though will be a bit cheaper (around 450 Euro DCC fitted, and around 650 DCC sound). There are some other models of Allan railcars and short bodied Nohabs in the offing as well. Everything will come fully finished and painted with etched details. A fair old bit of duplication in the model railway sphere in Portugal at the moment, its a shame we can't have some of the other contenders like the dmus and emus.

I guess you're glad it's not a 2 car then....

I hadn't intended to post again so soon but the arrival of the new church from Maket4you enabled me to do this !

Boa Tarde a tudo…. If you’ve read through the forum thread then you may have seen my portable layout in the first few pages. Since last year when I posted, I’ve moved on to building a terminus, prompted by the purchase of a very cheap almost complete foam baseboard off ebay. So here’s where I am up to – it’s far from perfect and it’s never going to be Campo De Leste! A lot of recycling from the spares box has been needed as I am around 100 miles from my nearest model shop here in Portugal, so I have to bodge things sometimes, and I am far from the most adept modeller. I’m also first to point out that, with limited space (5ft by 18 inches at the widest point) a degree of selective compression has been made, in order to get as many features in as I can. Basically the layout’s a bit of a caricature – I wanted to produce something that ticks a lot of boxes but also that can be brought back to the UK in the next few years when at some stage I have to return from currently living in Portugal. That being said, there are some very cramped station areas in Portugal so the proximity of tracks to walls etc is not totally unrealistic. The observant will notice there’s no track!. I have a few bits of rolling stock still in the making/ ordering (waiting for a Nohab single unit and a scratchbuild of a 450 series DMU) so am waiting till I have my core stock before laying track – and I am still deciding whether to go DCC etc. The plan is to experiment with American Code 83 with the closer sleeper spacing, to see if that looks more like broad gauge through optical illusion. The track will be painted off-layout (almost all straights so no chipping of the pain when laying) and as the board is foam, making holes for wires and point motors is easy with a screwdriver, so it should be straightforward to lay and wire up around the scenery. So I’ve concentrated on the scenics and the tram line – the tram currently runs along the back of the layout, through the station area, and round the front, disappearing back to the fiddle yard behind some houses. The right end of the layout is also undecided yet as there is the imminent release of a ready made Portuguese church and this will form the pivot in this area. A road bridge will have to do as the scenic break as with so many tracks exiting, some serious disguise is needed. The tram track is 9mm gauge using foamcore to build up to the level. There are 2 trams both using Kato mechanisms – one is a repainted die cast Lisbon tram, and the other is a much modified Tyco tram (only the bodyshell remains) which reminds me a little of Porto’s system. At the moment I’ve got bogie mechanisms under both trams, to manage the tight corners a bit better. The overhead is makeshift for now and uses black cotton thread at the front, the back line has no wire in at present in order to be able to clean the track. Once the train track is done, I’ll think about tram overhead. The time setting is vague 1990s but can be brought forward with extra road vehicles and using newer stock – Portugal is in a bit of a timewarp car wise due to very little depreciation on used cars. At the moment the board which is in the earlier part of the thread, which was originally planned to be the station approaches, is going to be used for something else as I want to run this board straight to the fiddle yard for now. So over the next couple of months hopefully the final buildings and stock should come together and I can finish the little jobs. It was a strange decision to build scenery first before railway, but while I’m waiting for final bits, it was a necessary thing to do to stop me losing interest. Sitting in boxes is also my Lisbon trams and motorised buses, which will be the next project once this is done, as a minimum space effort. And the station name – I wanted a serious and prototypical name and ran through various Praia Azul, Sao Julio etc, then when scanning the web, discovered that there is a genuine “Purgatorio” in the south of the country, so I’ve moved it a bit north, made it a city, and given it a railway. Anyone else who models Portugal – I have amassed a lot of photos of things like road signs, building fronts etc, in a couple of word documents. Let me know if these are useful to you for printing out (you’ll need to do some resizing of them) and I am happy to email them over. Ian

Will get you a birds-eye in a couple of weeks when I am home....

I know the Renfe units are horrible especially having ridden on one last week, but the Electrotren model is great and all there is unit wise. Managed to find a guy in Spain selling unpainted bodies for the single ended ferrobus, will wait and see what they are like and will post pics once they arrive. For the chassis I also managed to find a cheap roco one on eBay and got the decals from jgmodelismo. Now for board two.... Suddenly inspired by the modelling potential of Porto Sao bento... Hardly any points, surrounded by cuttings, and tracks disappear straight into tunnels... http://www.panoramio.com/m/photo/59831686

Better one of the back scene - this main section was a 12 Euro watercolour and a couple of 1 euro postcards... Also a timeshift forwards.... lots of accidents at the depot it seems.... (have been actively seeking Portuguese road vehicles for almost 5 years, and still amounts to 2 coaches, 1 bus, a postal van, 2 ambulances and a fire van....).

It's unlikely but vaguely possible that someone might be interested in my "oh no not another depot layout" with a twist. This is 4ft x 11inches including a hidden sector plate of 13 inches, and was built as a short stop gap I have knocked up over a couple of weekends to get something running, my aim is for a larger terminus layout (which will butt onto this) but for now this allows me to run my locos. The larger terminus will need to incorporate tram trackage as I have a number of Lisbon trams, and also a faller bus roadway. It'll probably need to be wired up unless I can find a plausible excuse for a diesel line around the Alcantara area of Lisbon (fits with the trams). And yes, a-bus-on-scenic-break-bridge cliche! I've a tip for those modelling European - look very closely at the watercolour cityscapes sold in tourist shops - Lisbon abounds with these - and you may find the components for a backscene. This one has made it umistakeably Portugal, there are bits of Sintra and Porto in there for the observant. There's lots of work to do on this one (touch up white bits) and you will see the glue's still drying in a couple of spots. It has interchangeable road vehicles and stock to model 80's 90's or noughties. The stock is Mabar, Arlo Micromodel, Sudexpress, there is an old American Alco which approximates to a 1500 class, which cost me 15 quid and a can of paint, and I am waiting for the transfers to do the nose stripes. The loco shed is a quick repaint of the Hornby european one, and hopefully behind this will be enough space for a railbus or light engine to hide, for a through-run at the back. The front end of the DMU seen there is another cheap knock-up - an old Fleischmann 2-car that has had some corrugated silver inox added and been painted in a scheme used on DMUs.

Will do. Hit one dead end on this, but hopefully Andrew can advise. Thanks :-)

Thank you - I go through Lisbon around 6 times a year for work, so local contact details would be fine. Obrigado & Cumprimentos.

Good evening - would you be able to share his contact details - this is just what I need!