NickBrad

Admittedly not the best pictures, but these do show my pair of Alcos at least, destined to become Alexander Railroad numbers 7 and 8. Both Proto 2000 models, the green/black is my SW9 and the Black B&M is an S3.

Holy smoke, he's back! Well, kind of anyway. To be honest, I stepped away for a while for a couple of reasons, one, I, like many people, seem to take on more outdoor type pursuits in the summer weather and two, I knew that I had an impending back operation that would take away that freedom for a while and so I wanted to savour it, while it lasted. Said operation has now taken place, (a microdisectomy and forminotomy for those who wish to go look up a video,) and now I find myself in recovery mode with 4-6 weeks of not being able to do much physically, but I am hoping to be able to do the odd bit of modelling sat down. The main plans are to get to work on the pullman coach that I outlined earlier in the thread and the Bowser boxcar kit that sits here. By the time they are completed, (structurally at least,) I can hopefully progress on to the loco repaints and board scenery. Between those and catching up on the forum, I think I have a couple of months of fun ahead, not to mention physio stuff and a bit of train sim to relax with.

It may be a bit modern, but it's an excuse to do a slice of Mindheim-esque LAJ lol

That's certainly a very viable option and with the baseboard being high density foam, very easy to carve a trench out of, however in my particular case, there is a gravel roadway that goes right along the front of the board. After looking at those pictures I walked over to the board and moved the ground throw over to the front to see how it would look. To include the full movement, I'd have to further compress the scenic elements by an inch which I am unsure if I want, (or even can,) to do at this stage, but i will certainly keep the option open. The prefect scenario would have been to have scale, working ground throws, but they just aren't in my budget.

Well, the goodies above have arrived. The crossing signs are tiny! I guess I should have expected this and I kind of did, but with my current skill set, I really don't think I could have scratch built these and with the cost, I am really happy I went with the off the shelf option. The point switches are marvels of miniature engineering. I was trying to figure out how to engineer one of these myself as I didn't particularly like the idea of importing from the US and potentially incurring import costs on such a small item, but when I saw that Model Junction had these in stock, I didn't hesitate to change my plans. They will need a little bit of work to use with Code 100 points, (especially mine which have the tabs cut off, isn't hindsight beautiful,) but I see no reason why I can't have them both installed within an hour. I do want to get my two remaining spurs painted and laid first though. I will also look at making a slight modification to give them modern handles that you'd typically see on US railroads.

A mixture of Brass and whitemetal, yes. I guess when it comes down to it, I wouldn't be overly bothered if it was a static model, I just know that i'll always have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind until I get one having found that one on google maps

Nah, it's one of these, the issue being, it's currently out of stock at Walthers and I don't know if it's possible to get one ordered or indeed if I could get it ordered via Model Junction or if my order would have to be direct from the states.

Aah right, I'm holding off on expensive pre orders for now, although there is that one MoW kit I need to talk to them about some time, which will be made more expensive by me wanting to mate it with a black beetle/spud, even though it may not be possible without extensive butchering of the kit.

I can reassure you that nothing of GWR persuasion ever comes in my flat, with the exception of the odd Brunel £2 coin. (Talking of coins, I wish I hadn't mistakenly spent my Trevithick coin, have never seen one since.)

Wow, those are some serious figures on some of them, but you do at least have some pretty locos to show for it. I can see why you were a little surprised at the cost of my 2 switchers now I am curious about the 2 £0.00 orders though, some kind of loyalty scheme purchase?

Mmmmm, goodies

This is definitely a home only jobbie, if it was any chance of going to a show, I've read enough to know that anything that can go wrong, probably will so I wouldn't risk taking short cuts on anything. Thanks for all the likes though guys, it's not why I post these updates, but it certainly does help keep me fired up for the project.

Well it's took long enough, but I have finally wired in my first piece of track and run a loco. As you can see, it stalled once it reached the points, so I cut the power and had a look. It turns out that the first set of points were not switching fully and so no power was being conducted through. I realise that it's bad form to rely on the point blades to conduct the power and it's for reasons such as this, but I really want to keep things as simple as possible on this one, just so I can complete a model railway in a reasonable time frame, (for me). Also, as I am not using point motors or anything such as this, I didn't want to mess around with frog power switching or any of that malarky this time. After some tweaking, I tried again. The controller I am using is as simple as they come, although I do plan to upgrade to something a little more modern soon. It should be noted that I haven't cleaned the track yet, hence why I had to crank up the power a little more on the second video to cut through the resistance. The S3 featured is a Proto 2000 model, supplied to me at a very agreeable price by Marshlane of this 'ere parish. Also, I realised that I haven't yet explained the name of my railroad. The railroad is based on Taylorsville as I have mentioned in the past, but due to the compression and alteration to become an inglenook, I didn't feel comfortable using the name. So, I instead decided to name it after NASCAR legend Harry Gant who is a native of Taylorsville, indeed is probably one of it's most famous sons.

I love that warning at the bottom of the packet, it's great when manufacturers actually have a sense of humour

Not to worry, I did consider contacting the Alexander chapter of the NRHS, but as they don't have online contact, (ie email or website,) I have been reluctant as I have no idea how much a letter would be and a phone call is an expensive option, especially as I don't like talking on the phone at the best of times. I've never come across that second link before, (or at least not that I can recall,) so thanks for that. I love how it lists the principal customers and commodities, which helps for knowing what type of cars you'd need to recreate a part of the line.

Exactly Craig, I've fell in love with this line ever since i was looking for somewhere to base my Inglenook upon. Do you by chance have any pictures of the railroad, if so, I'd love to see them.

It's been a turbulent week admittedly, but I am quietly confident that in the weeks/months ahead it's going to get better. If not, then it's going to be one heck of a difficult first scratchbuild

If you're heading back to 1995, pick me up some shares in the various new railway companies in the UK.....

Just found a model that's close enough for my satisfaction, Kershaw Model26, think that I may have to get this as an xmas present to myself. Will be requesting assistance on how to order from Walthers via Model junction methinks, as I know people have mentioned doing this, but I am unsure on the process.

Well, I've finished stripping the SW9 down, removing all the glass etc and having no Maskol to hand, I have used PVA instead to blank off the lenses for the lights. Whether this works or not remains to be seen, but I shalln't know until I try. I've also just spent 45 minutes painting sleepers with Humbrol Matt 98, most of the lead track is done, but I am tired of it already with the 3 spurs also yet to do. It isn't very neat i'll admit, but it will be getting sprayed over with some dirt colour anyway, I just wanted to mask the majority of the concrete colour first. It's still a bit dark being wet, but as an undercoat, I am satisfied with it.

There are a number of areas perfect for modelling, Liberty bell/Paragon Films in Taylorsville would make a great complex for a larger layout

I'm happy with the stock levels right now, nothing more will be added until I have modified my stock to how I want it, actually, I have the ATSF observation car to offload as I know it's not something I will ever want to run. Saying that, if an Athearn SW1500 ever came along, sub £40, then I could break with that statement.

My first love is oval racing, railways coming second to this. Probably not a great clue to go on for working out why I named my layout Gantsville, but I can say it's linked to Taylorsville, (where the spurs are based,) in some way.

Looks like someone put a 44 tonner on a boil wash lol I need to come off the Walthers page, I am liking too many things, including this set of figures. I only want the guy on the right in a short sleeved shirt, but I haven't seen one anywhere else

Thanks, now I at least know what to look for to find more photos. Incidentally, If anyone's looking for a small industry idea for a layout, just turn around on that link