Northroader

There was a replica of the Coalbrookdale loco built a few years ago, it was displayed at Telford Central station for a time, but now the Ironbridge Gorge Museum has it, usually at Blists Hill. I had a thick book on early steam engines a few years back, research in that had the boiler existing for a long time as a water tank at a site near Ironbridge, and that records exist in a coroners court following a boiler explosion which placed it out of service, but further details are vague.

The site of the Hasldines foundry at Bridgnorth is recorded, which made the parts for other Trvithick engines such as the Penydarren and Catch me who can. There’s a replica of the Penydarren loco at the Waterfront Industrial Museum in Swansea.

With the care and craftsmanship you’ve put into this line, I’m sure you’ll go on to an even better looking line next time. 7mm? Yeah, go for it!

Very interesting prototype, and the craftsmanship you’ve expended is outstanding.

Besides helping old ladies round the wet ballast patches, he best start collecting sticks for a fire. Wrong time of the year to be doing the crossword in a tent.

Well done, you got there in the end, they are an extremely trying item to fit and get looking slim, covering the tyres, and not touching the flanges.

That's amazing how you've worked out the movements and got it all so compact and neatly finished, and then you give the weight of the unit as it stands. Totally gobsmacked.

P.s. Is there going to be a safety net?

Agree with your findings, the body makes up very well, and the intricate framing looks really well made, The least said about the Perspex? solebars etc the better.

Looks a really beautiful job.

Good to see such a thing can be done and enjoyed.

Tin the ends of the plunger pickups and your flexible leads. Then when it's assembled, the quickest dab with a soldering iron to join them. If you linger, the heat warms up the spring, and it melts into the plastic bush. Guess how I found that out.

Highly ingenious way of getting from A to B, watch this development with interest

Two sets of 7 footers looks even more impressive than one.

Really nice looking job, and great choice of prototype.

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

Highly impressive.

Starting to look promising, I hope you've got some deflection and sideplay built in to the wheelsets, particularly the centre one, I find sixwheelers do give me grief with this.

The practise for coach roofs was to form by t & g boards laid lengthwise on supporting curved sticks and then cover by canvas stretched over. This was then waterproofed by layers of paint. Bear in mind the texture of the canvas is totally different to coach sides, which are wooden panels, well sanded and varnished to finish. You could attempt to keep the sides clean and smart, but the roof would just get dirt and grime forming into the roughness over its life. I think it's best to start with Matt white, but experiment with darkening the surface. A van roof I did recently got grey paint over the white, which I mopped with a paper kitchen towel to get a faintly dappled look, then when dry plenty of black pastel chalk powder dropped randomly and brushed crosswise.

Don't worry about the number of pictures, I can't get enough of this layout.

K14s post says it all, really. Check the posts, too. The Ian Allen "GWR country stations part 1" shows a picture of your namesake station with an early hand painted board, looking as if it's on the LBSC or the SER. While you're at Didcot remember to pick up any small lumps of that rare commodity, coal, which happen to be lying round the yard, for breaking up for wagon loads.

The only blue enamelled one I can remember when much younger was at Cressage. The blue was a bit darker, and the letters, which were formed as a whole with the rest of the sign, were block capitals. The seriffed letters which you've done were raised cutouts, presumably fitted individually to the board, same as the block capital type. I would think that these were always black and white. I don't see why either type shouldnt be printed flat rather than being raised, the difference is negligible, except to the most picky. I've done a block capital one like this and I'm quite happy with it. There was a smaller version of the serif type which appears on old photos of signal boxes, which appear to be screwed to the front of the structure without being on a board, and having the darker of the two stones.

Your gate looks really good, demonstrates what you can do with care and some jigs.

They should last much longer, too.

The other thing is where's it going? The larger size is preferable if possible. Don't make it as a single unit, it will be too unwieldy.

RAF Ballykelly in Northern Ireland needed to extend the runway to operate anti submarine Liberators in WW2. The runway was built across the main LMS (NCC) Belfast Londonderry line, and all working needed to be coordinated with the signal boxes and the control tower. So you can have the runway planes going over the railway if you wish.

Still haven't seen an actual plan of where all those shorty points are going? One word of caution, pulling wagons through them is one thing, pushing them back is another! It's nice to see the setting for all this, it was a fascinating piece of line, really antiquarian feel to it.

The interchange was with the Lilleshall company system, I think. If so, there is a very fruitful source of private steam and diesel prototypes as well. The Oakwood book on the Stafford Wellington Shrewsbury line is a must for you, with a write up of the lilleshall co lines included.