Northroader

There's nothing "cruel" about that enlargement, it shows a breathtaking piece of craftsmanship.

I think they got a bit carried away with the smokebox door.

There has been a recent thread on here which may cover some of the ground which interests you:http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/119375-i-have-got-a-loft/

Out of curiosity, would the "Lickey Banker" be included in this scheme?

Good god, from your description, those lonely little posts that went in at Kennet Bridge, how long ago was it, four years, or am I exaggerating? now actually have got their wires!

On the news tonight, one stated advantage of the new Bath platforms is that being wider, the overhead is further away from the canopies which are listed, and so no need to mangle the edge like elsewhere. The platforms are also being lengthened for longer trains.

Sounds like a variation on the classic Michael Caine quote. Wasn't there something on the news recently about folks who were starting a bonfire and had foolishly soused it in petrol before lighting a fuse train? Caused quite a spectacular fireball. Today, it being Palm Sunday, I thought I would spend the day in quiet contemplation in the loft, however, the missus had other ideas. "you're working with me pressure cleaning the patio," Ho, hum.

Highly impressive.

Hi, Phil, hope you're ok and able to progress, or do I have to come up and put a rocket in the tunnel to shift the rodent?

I didn't keep a note of what I got it from, but I've got it down as lemon yellow for signal boxes and presumably ground frames, and buff for signal posts. (?precision paints) For small goods yard buildings, have you had a sniff round the background in the photos in Esserys OPC "Midland Wagons" you can find a few, but small and not very detailed, including wood outside framed picked out in contrasting paint.

Today I went up the Gloucester Birmingham line, which I haven't done for some months, the last time being just after the new platforms and loops were opened at Bromsgrove.(town of population under 30,000) I then noticed electrification was being extended there from Barnt Green, and progressing very nicely. A base had been set up near the top of Lickey incline, stores yard, accommodation, parking and so on, and a ramp placed so that a fleet of road rail machines could access the tracks and spread out to work. Most of the bases were in, a good lot of masts, signalling channels worked on, and the overbridges rebuilt. It would appear that the same type of wire supports as the rest of that system, involving head spans, although so far the masts were bare. OK, it's only a five and a half mile job, but it looked as if the people doing it knew what they were at. Coming back, I routed through Oxford to Didcot, so had a look at how the downside was doing on this stretch, and I don't think anything has changed for about a year since I last saw it. I couldn't see anything north of Kennington junction, between there and Radley well over half the mast bases are done. South of Radley bases are fewer and intermittent in the way that is typical of this job. There's a funny little cluster of masts and portals around the rubbish siding entrance at Didcot north junction, then nothing in the yard down to the station, and bases along the avoiding line. Oxford to Didcot about ten miles? There's a new electrification scheme coming out from London, but if you're in Oxford (city of 150,000 population and very popular tourist destination) you can forget about nice new emus anytime soon.

Another way you may want to experiment with, for a finely textured rough surface, is seiving dry polyfilla. It's an extension of what you do when laying ballast,putting ballast down and then using an eye dropper to put a mix of watered down PVA with a drop of washing up liquid to secure the ballast. The Americans do similar with dry plaster mixed with powder paint called "zip texturing". I have trouble with this, in that droplets can form on the surface spoiling the look, so I put the well diluted PVA with detergent mix down on the surface first, and shake a light skim of polyfilla over this, so it gets wetted from underneath. Does SWMBO have a fine wire Flour sieve in the cookery department you can borrow without repercussions? Load the sieve away from what you're working on, and then hold above the surface and tap the rim lightly. It only needs a thin film, to keep a level surface, if you add more you get into more uneven ground cover effects. When dried out, I paint it with acrylic paints, the artists type you mix with water.

Ooh, good, we're back on making bangs. Again, a large empty biscuit tin, this time with the lid off and a small candle burning inside. And then... no second thoughts, better not.

Overheard outside the Castle Aching Casino: " I hear that nice Mr. Edwardian is applying foam in unusual places" " oooh, really???"

Really liked that operating session, you've got me thinking hard about couplers.

I've just visited this thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/119965-uncommon-7mm-scale-lnwr/?p=2672578 (it's a LNWR site, so it's the place to be seen) where I was able to post some shots of a layout they were mentioning. As you know, I'm fond of giving examples of layouts which I like, so I thought I put the pictures here as well, with a layout plan. It's called "Alexandra Yard" created by Mr. Jim Dale, and done in 7mm scale. I saw it at the Westinghouse Chippenham MRC show back in October 1997, don't time go? It's a small goods yard site, with a run round and two sidings facing opposite ways, so plenty of shunting involved, and the sidings serve a variety of purposes. (There's also a shunting horse, which is a nice touch) I thought it was really compact, about the smallest O line I had seen at that time, well made and thought out, quite simple, and a Crewe feel to it. (Water tank, signal, yard offices, brickwork, besides loco and rolling stock) it's on two baseboards, with a barrow crossing to cover the join. I'd guesstimate that the boards are 42" ? x 18", with a fiddle yard at the one end. It struck me that the space between the loop lines was very close, which does help in keeping the overall length down, and something you can do in goods yard. The runaround takes four wagons.

Just come across this thread, and happen to have some old shots of Alexandra Yard, which I saw at a show in Chippenham in October 1997. I really liked it, in fact looking at them I'm going to put them on my thread too: You'll see in the middle of one of them is the loco you're on about. I'm also putting a shot of a loco I've made with an Allan front end, in answer to Argos' question, Hope I'm not oversimplifying, as this is an On16.5 Highland outline type using a Hornby Desmond chassis, and you'll see the piston rod is missing, but you'll get the idea.

London like Brum? I think I'd go along the canals in both places to pick up likenesses, then you could always drain the canal out and put a railway in. The track layout intrigues me, presume there's a short traverser under the bridge? Then a longer one at t'other, and how do you enter that? And then theres the short line in the middle? The yards got a nifty look to it, quite railwaylike, somehow.

Wherever the stone bridge will put it in the end, you've definitely got a very Midland feel to things. Will follow with interest.

I like the video, though I dunno about the music. You've got trains running, hang on, YOUVE GOT TRAINS RUNNING! That's the main thing. I particularly liked where you were pacing the train from overhead looking down, it reminded me of what having an oval was about, the sheer joy of watching a train in motion.

That's got the potential to make a really good looking model. Yes, indeed, good luck, will enjoy seeing you making it.

Here's the next episode of the Double Slip Saga, dammit. I've been running test trains through, including propelling wagons, all going well, but I was finding that they needed to be rolling. If I slowed down to a shunting crawl, the loco would check on the crossing (frog). If I then gave it a bump on the controller, the cutout would trip, so the wheels were shorting at the point where the rails came closest together leaving the crossing. I've lifted the double slip out and examined it, considering what I could do, and I've decided the best course of action is to ditch the idea of a crossing with the rails insulated from each other, and do a crossing which is one electrical unit, and switch its polarity with the point throw, using a slider switch to combine the two functions. This has been my normal way of going on until now, serves me right for trying a new way, I suppose. Luckily I've got two Marcway 12degree cast brass crossings left over for an old layout, also some of their 6mm copper clad fibre glass sleeper strip, as I've been using quite a lot of that in the fiddle sidings. Now the old crossings are out, as well as the sleeper strip under this area, and the new bits in. Here's a view of one end, also showing the GOG gauge which shows up my shortcomings when looking at the flangeways. Now I can paint it, lay it, and wire it up with slider switches and linkage. Then with any luck Robert should prove to be fathers brother. ( and it looks as if I can pop round and play at CA, goodee!)

I don't think what you're thinking is a gap in the middle is really a gap. Ain't it a band, placed there to stop the windings going "ker-zoing" when the centrifugal force hits them?

Watching Harry Potter films.