Clive martin

I think this is good news but i dont think we are going to see a return to British Rail as it used to be! I would love to see a return to the old sector business model that was working well with very little subsidy,i think the freight companys should be left as they are as i dont think they have done a bad job over the last 20 odd years ,i dont know how Labour will deal with the train leasing companys i am quite happy to be corrected if i am wrong but my understanding is that tax payers money goes into the purchase of new stock only for these new vehicles to be handed over to the leasing companys to make a profit ,i think something should have been done years ago privatisation has brought some improvements to the railways but i think their are so many negatives something must be done sooner rather than later!

What inspired me to rebuild my airfix 31 as a refurbished machine was a layout in the Sep 1985 model railway constructor Darrowby by the Bolton mrc a large 4 track main line based on the east coast mainline one of their members had rebuilt a airfix 31 into refurbished condition ,this is the description of the photo in the magazine ,the locomotive is based on a photograph of 31 447 taken at the Doncaster works open day.it is fitted withconstant brightness sealed beam headlight and eth jumper cables and is in ex works condition. A priceless description of a bit of mid 80s modern image modelling !

Wow looks superb!

You are doing a superb job with that 304 i think the shape of the windscreens are spot on ,its all about subtle shapes and profiles on those first gen units and locos, they had some very skilled metal fabricators about in the 1960s ,i am sure i have read about EMD in the USA only building locos with flat panels as they dont have people with the skills to fabricate curved panels!

Hi 97 406 I agree with you i love all british diesels ,a lot of the locos built in the 1960s have stood the test of time very well for example the class 47 a very good looking machine ,i agree with you about 31s, being an east anglian lad i grew up with 31s being an every day sight and sound , i hope you manage to find yourself a Heljan 28 as i think this is one of their best models and are superb runners!

Hi kevin i did think the class 25 reference might be joke , i hope i did not offend you with my reply as thats the very last think i wanted to do !

Yes i love your class 310 i hope you find the time to complete it ,it really captures the character of the class 310 ,we are well looked after with locos now, but their are loads of first gen dmus and emus that are not available rtr ,i think models of these units are now going to be something i find fascinating just like i used to with models of obscure locomotives before they became available rtr!

I love that warship i have always been a big fan of your scratch built and kit bashed locos ,their is something quite magic about a scratch built model ,back in the day before they became available rtr models of things like class 15 16 23 etc were things of wonder to me ,i also did the Monty Wells baby Deltic conversion i remember nearly cutting one of my fingers off doing this conversion !those dmu and emus you are working on are going to be fabulous ,the old art of building stuff yourself seems to be making a comeback with 3D printing ,it might be a while before i go down that road i still enjoy carving and cutting plastic sheet !

I know we are rather spoilt for choice now with the superb detailed ready to run models we now have ,but i do miss all those etched brass detailing conversion kits + all those detailing parts we had in the 80s the Howes of Oxford bible of detailing parts was a must have companion ,

Hi kevin i am not sure you understood what i was getting at describing the Hornby 29 as bit of a half way house between a class 21 and 29, it was the unfortunate mish mash of details on the Hornby moulding that were not correct for a 21 or 29 perhaps i am being bit pedantic ,but i think the detail differences between a class 21 and 29 are numerous enough to warent a correct well researched model that we now have in the shape of the Dapol class 21 and 29!

I guess we were young at the time and modern image to us meant trying to keep up with what was happening on BR at the time ,now nearly forty odd years on i am very much a modeller of the rail blue era ,that is now very much historical modelling !

Yes you are correct about the class 28 i forgot about the Dublo model ,back in the day they used to be rather expensive and quite rare and not that easy to get hold of before the days of e bay etc, i ruled out the Hornby class 29 as it was something of a halfway house not being a 21 or a 29 !

Back in the mid 80 s me and some of the lads in my local model railway club were very keen at rebuilding our airfix 31s as refurbished machines then being out shopped from Donny works ,removing the centre body stripe bands plating over the headcode panels etc and in some cases a repaint into the then new Rail Freight livery ,great days!

Its quite amazing back in the 80s 90s i never thought we would ever have any rtr models of the diesels that did not last into the tops era ,class 14 15 16 17 21 22 23 28 29 43 and also the one of prototypes yet i think we now have them all!

I rather like that model it just needs some headcode discs and communication doors to complete ,as the body side grills are not correct it could be a model of a diesel electric version of the early warship,it also reminds me of one of the diesels that used to run on the merryvale model village in Great Yarmouth ,i have been searching for years for a photograph of one of these,and also i would love to know what happened to them when the railway went over to rtr G scale !

The Baby Deltics were never ugly i remember an article i Rail Enthusiast describing them as pretty little things that also sounded rather nice ,one thing that article did not predict is that by 2024 we would have a brand new full size baby Deltic being built!

I love it being an east anglian lad i like the SF depot stickers quality job!

That old 31 looks superb its always a pleasure to see older models still working,and the best bit about this one is that it has been worked on and improved proper old school railway modelling !

Hi guys i need some help with the paint colours for Longwitton station Northumberland ,towards the end of its days it looks like it was painted into a light blue colour i think this could have been the shade of blue used by the north eastern region ,the one thing that is never shown clearly in these photographs is the colour of the doors ,if any of you guys could give me any advise i will be very grateful !

Thats funny you you should say about the old bus on a bridge cliche you could be the pioneer of a new bus under a bridge cliche ,although only a short lived operation i thought a blue bus Bristol RE might be quite an easy repaint of a EFE flat screen RE i dont think they had any complicated crests etc to recreate,unlike the Ipswich corporation version, fab progress on this stunning layout i am enjoying every update those mid 80s days at Ipswich were somethig very special in my opinion the golden years of the Great Eastern mainline!

That Great Yarmouth Swift looks superb ,another short live operator around about the 85 86 era was Blue bus that also had some rather nice Bristol RE s in their fleet ,around about 1981 Ipswich borough transport had a mk2 National from Provincial on trial that one was quite a beast!

Just in case you dont have enough work to do on this mammoth layout build a nice EFE flat screen Bristol RE in Ipswich buses livery will look great under that bridge ,i think those fabulous ex leicester TRY H R E saloons survived into 1987!

Hi Richard your buildings look superb,could i be cheeky and ask you what colours you have used for your station building ,from the research i have done it looks like it could be blue with white window frames ,i will be very grateful for any advise you can give me ,its great to see you making more progress on your Longwitton project.

Very sad news ,i have purchased plenty of stock from Hattons over the years and always had very good service,i hope this is not the start of lots of model shops closing down !

I have just enjoyed checking out your layout thread ,every thing you done looks superb,you also have a very nice and well chosen fleet of stock ,looking forward to seeing your completed class 104!