brylonscamel

Meanwhile, on the east coast of Scotland another Sulzer 6LDA fills the quayside with a distinctive rhythm ..

In the dying light of the day ..

Military manoeuvres ..

Gresley on the coaling bench ..

Mariners and locals gather for fishy conversations!

Arrival of the Red T Our Tennents delivery lorry had a brush with the weathering colours before this latest trip.

.. of course, if someone were to ask!

Say hello to our 'Derby Lightweight' DMU. I found this sitting patiently in the cupboard. It was my intention to kit-bash this into 'Sputnik' the famous battery multiple unit that was used on the Deeside line. Sadly, I haven't got time for this project. The chassis on the motor carriage is cast metal and needed more work to remove all the underfloor components than the trailing carriage. In my head, the 'Braeside Line' opted for the diesel unit, to run as a parallel trial. At least it can now be seen whizzing around the layout, rather than sitting on a shelf like the proverbial Victorian spinster.

Oh and thanks for the feedback on the modelling - the whole project has been an attempt at getting some GNSR atmosphere into Dad's layout, so your remarks are much appreciated.

Now that's a great story! The sort of 'carry on' that I thought had died out on the railways. It sounds more like something from a victorian logging railway in the Yukon! You do wonder he he ended up. There's no knowing where the freight train would slow enough to disembark.

My trip to see Dad, allowed me to take fresh photos of locomotives and stock - in their natural 'Braeside habitat". Our newly acquired 'LNER' V2 sits under the coaling bench, whilst a class 26 cools her heels on the service roads of the shed. I've cooked up various scenarios to allow a handful of grouping & pre-grouping locos to share space with our BR stock. Scotland had four specially prepared pre-grouping survivors, providing motive power for enthusiast's specials in the last days of steam. In my imagination, they also outshopped some locos in grouping liveries, for similar outings.

Simple Pleasures .. Since I was visiting, I grabbed some photos of a now-functioning layout. I'm no longer pulling off tension-couplings in the in pursuit of perfect photography. I'm just glad that we are back to enjoying the movement of trains. In this spirit, here's a busy harbour scene ..

Most of the work was to smarten up the nose end and glazing apertures - very clumsy on the original mouldings ..

Turning a wheel .. A glimpse into the 'BR Blue' stock-boxes reveals this Haymarket class 40. 40142 is a mashup of a Hornby body and Bachmann chassis. I made two bodies a few years ago, so I could easily swap them onto the same chassis, using the cheap & chearful Hornby (ex-Lima) models to represent variations of the class. I used some Shawplan etches and bodged them into better looking locos.

Haymarket visitor ..

Post arrives for Dad at the Glentanar Hotel ..

Just the sound of a fresh breeze and coolant dripping onto the ground

Another candidate for the airbrush has sat here for months, without a wheel turned in action [insert disparaging NBL type 2 comment here]

With so much building and scenic work, I have a little backlog of locomotives & rolling stock to be spruced up or repaired. Ready for the next trip are a newly aquired V2 in the grouping livery of the LNER. Renumbered to an Aberdeen Ferryhill loco. Coaled, lightly weathered and sound fitted, all ready for crew to climb onto the footplate. Here she is on my harbourside diorama for static photography ..

.. anyone for Balloch Pier? .. just mind the dangling electical cables as you board your train!

The long view .. A view of Dad's layout that involves sneaking down the back of the fiddle yard sidings. It's one of the longer views and is much more pleasing now that it's populated with the latest buldings, including my stab at making a GNSR goods shed and the 'Glentanar Hotel'. * Dodgy mobile-phone zoom version

It certainly is .. PS did you manage to find good photos of the signal box. The photos I found online were all wreathed in smoke from locomotives!

That's terrific and I love the gloomy, subterranean feel that's creeping in. Also, the tenements look great in that position.

That's marvellous Martyn! I am yet to see Crinan, may our paths cross one of these days. Cheers, Brian