Ben Alder

I laid a base layer of 5mm camping mat style foam on the boards an d then used Tracklay to ballast the track. This is an adhesive on one side foam and I don't glue it down - pin lightly to begin with until happy with running then run a bead of Copydex along it and sprinkle a scattering of ballast to hold in place. Points do have pins to stop the point motors shifting them, Result is smooth and almost silent running, but my are 3/4" block board which probably helps as well.

They are good basic kits that benefit from a bit of additions but all the groundwork is done for you. The newer ones have thinner ply windows which make a big difference to their appearance and the range should encourage a good bit more Highland modelling....

Glad it has arrived. I do think he is trying his best in very uncertain times and errs perhaps on the side of optimism a bit too much at times. It also might be a case of what one person means when he states a timescale might not be an actual chronological interpretation but a tranche of time sufficient to get the job done....it has been pointed out to me that this is a response I can use when estimating a delivery date for a job 

47 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Don't wind the poor fellow up by telling him that when he's just spent the last few weeks scratchbuilding it!

Isn't that always the way....who'd have thought one of the smallest obscure stations on the HR would get its own kit...being on the Strathspey helped, of course...

Looking good - will follow this with interest. Do you know of the wooden kit of this building? They also do a growing range of HR structures as well.

https://www.popupdesigns.co.uk/shop/railway-scale-models/rail-oo-gauge-broomhill-station/

I've built several HR and CR proposed and what ifs, and I have probably posted pics along the way here, but don't keep constant track of this thread - too much to see on the forum if any modelling is to be done - but it would be good to see more actual builds appear. I have done a series of what if Standards and shown them a couple of months ago or so, and they have a mix of unused numbers, with my takes on the LMS Four using later Black Five numbering. As an example, here is a smaller wheeled Pacific.

More or less finished but stalled in order to finish off a batch of HR Small Bens - real locos so no place for them here....

On 24/11/2021 at 11:34, DenysW said:

I'm still wondering what that nice 2-6-2 was for. If its boiler makes it more powerful than a 4F, but presumably less than an 8F 0-8-0, is it a new need for a 6F with a lighter axle loading than a Black 5 (which are listed as BR Route Availability 7). This would pull heavier secondary freight on secondary lines.

The LMS had proposals for a lighter 4-6-0 for the rural Scottish lines, which was stymied by the success of the Five and civil engineering upgrading, and I presumed that the Four build went ahead and that if the 2-6-2 Coleman worked on became a reality, a smaller MT version would have followed. It was in some aspects a play around with spare parts to see what emerged, and I'm pleased enough with it to have it running around on my layout.

Here is the outline for the never built  4-6-0.

Plenty of images of the two lines here....Click on the pics to open the albums.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154618596620?hash=item23fffc8d0c:g:MMkAAOSw6BlgVHQq

I've got a screenshot of it somewhere - I'll dig it out of my files.

5 hours ago, stewartingram said:

I'm surprised nobody has commented on an idea published in Railway Modeller

Very interesting - what issue was it in, please.

They are a step change from Code 100 that so many seem to still use but the improvement in appearance is worth it. Need a bit more care,but track has lingered far behind all other improvements in 00 these last decades and it is good to see some innovation here.

11 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

have you tried the model on a Fairburn tank chassis?  I reckon that would give you 4-5mm extra behind the drivers, but now I come to think of it, I don't know whether it would fit otherwise without major hacking.

Took a look at it tonight - a Fairbairn tank lurks around as they were used in 1946, quite successfully, and the wheelbase is a bit less, but opinion suggests that a larger wheelbase might be more realistic. Might be that another go at this is on the cards.

13 hours ago, Traintresta said:

I'm curious to know more about the class 4 however.  I was aware of an LMS proposal for a small 4-6-0 for a Scottish line but I think that was meant to be a class 2.

Covered in E S Cox's book with a diagram. Basically what emerged as the 75xxx. Plenty of Class 2's around there already.

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Is the rather "stretched" look of the 2-6-2 down to it having the classic Derby 8'0" + 8'6" coupled wheelbase? In modelling terms, is the mechanism off a Bachmann Stanier mogul?

Yes, a leftover from the Barry box and a last minute whim, which I quite like, and the comments here have been informative, thank you.  The 2-6-2 is new territory for me and I was constrained by the realistic length I could manage from the melding of two Stanier five boilers and the wheelbase of the mogul. A suggestion of a Fairbairn tank chassis was examined but further to the comments after, I think the longer wheelbase is OK. I may rexamine this again in the future with a shortened Clan boiler as I know the trailing bogie is  a bit lacking, but TBH, broadside views are cruel and when running its shortcomings aren't so obvious.

Little video from Pop Up today showing some of Iain's latest work. It is a FB link - did a quick look on You Tube but couldn't find a direct one - no doubt it is there somewhere...

https://www.facebook.com/popupdesignscards

Two LMS might have beens on their final trials - a 2-6-2 for lighter lines, a la Tom Coleman's plans, and a variant on the proposed Class Four with Ivatt tinkerings applied.

Do Hornby use coreless motors?

6 hours ago, JohnR said:

Quite clear from that picture that we were never going to get a tender that thin in plastic. 

No doubt, in plastic at least, but here is what Hornby managed with their Drummond tender.

And Bachmann's offering on their C class.

Both in a different league to what is present on the 812, which does not begin to meet what is the norm for current releases.

I see the motor is a coreless one. These seem to have had mixed reactions  - are any other recent Bachmann locos so fitted, and how are their running abilities? The cab doors were almost always in the open position, as seen in this crop,and presumably can be done so.

I had it change format on me but went to themes at the bottom of the page and clicked until I found the one I wanted.

Kitwood have stopped doing 4mm turntables - he is too busy with the range he already has.

Something like this ....

What a useful product! Wish I had come across it a bit earlier....Filed away for reference.

Quick heads up to say Nucast have just released this loco. Page 8