ptrabant

Thanks all , might have a go and purchase one . 

I have a couple of Merseyrail 73s from Lima , DCC Fitted . The Dapol 73 is clearly a better model and at present a great price .  I wondered whether to upgrade chassis to the Dapol version and possibly fit / drop on the Merseyrail livery 73 body from Lima.

is this possible / a simple solution someone has tried ?  
 

( I dont have the skills to repaint the Dapol 73s into Merseyrail livery) . 

 

Layout has been in storage for over 3 years , only just getting it set up again. Some newer wagons like the in-house ITB ballast hoppers have never even been tested . 

The OBB layout will be ready at some point in the next year , until then I start to test all the OBB stock.

I have rather big collection including some unique locos , so it may take a year to sort out the stock! 
some Re super detailed others are older models back in traffic , so be fair I enjoy running the mix.

The further away from the main depots and authority then the more interesting it became . 
I worked at a freight location far away from authority where stories of some of the activity would sound made up. 
Same applied to operational practice whether driving side or signalling further away from authority working “straight up” was  not always the done thing . Most books from railway staff seem to talk about straight up working , yet there was not a Class 08 in the UK that did not have the DSD “chocked” . Lots of tales from steam drivers about coal that’s for sure. 

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Well I nearly sold the Austrian Narrow Gauge Collection after loosing my close friend and the guy who really knew everything about the subject . Now decided that I should really produce a new layout and not sell up . It’s only a shelf layout round the edge of a box bedroom but having a track plan is a start .

US modellers are great at doing “what if” local railway companies . 
Inntalbahn (ITB) is a HOe narrow gauge linking various places in the lower Inn Valley . The railway survived because it had freight 

and tourism . In truth there was/are several narrow gauge lines together and I have linked together into various routes .

pits allowed a lot of fun , using various models to creat this fantasy Bahn .

Timber 

Well after 3 years of being mothballed as I have been working away from UK its time to come home and start on the ITB .

I liked the idea of an Inn Valley Narrow gauge  just inside Bayern across the river from the Austrian Tirol that kept going on freight before a real upturn in traffic with EU money rebuilding the system . With money spent on the railways track , stock is mostly second hand and even the liveries don't match , some how its all patched together to run the timetable .

The local "lander" is still expecting a new passenger service and big things . 

Here is an image of the main station Oberaudorf , clearly a public open day showing the passenger stock ahead of the reopening .

Just started out on planning a Tassie layout . Just managed to get some OO gauge kits and it’s a narrow gauge system !  Anybody out there with a Tassie layout?

Just for info - a 502 was wider than a 503 (interior 3 plus 2 seating against 2 plus 2) ... if you seen then side by side (apart from front ends they did look quite a bit different - hope that helps .

Hope this is helpful not sounding life a rivet counter !!!) 

Many fuelng points on model railways look "toy like " as they put the fuel point in the corner on the block . So you can only fuel one loco .

BR allowed up to 5 coupled and it at least needs to allow locos in multi (x2) to visit together . 

They certainly add movement as you have to shunt on / off fuel road 

If you look at edge hill there was still lots of wagons about in the various yards in the 1980's and of course carriages in downhill sidings (still are) .

You could also consider a "repaint point" for defects .  There was a small one at Runcorn on the Up (now car park) even in the 1980's .

Small space and you can put any vehicle (coach /wagon)  in there for repair .

If your building it for Operational interest  , have a think about era and whether it was a depot with fuel point or a stabling point (for train crew) . 

If its the later probably won't have fuel as that requires a fitter .

So your locos need to run LD to Allerton for fuel or coupled up to x5 for a trip to Allerton .

Speke Junction (steam) became Garston SP and we had to trip diesel locos back and forth to Allerton for fuel or service check ,etc .

If Edge Hill remained open in diesel days  , lots of crew to trip up and down to Lime Street for there work and don't want to loose all that lost "travelling time"  , maybe gives you an excuse for an old DMU and short train crew platform (like Longsight) to get them up and down to Lime Street , just a thought  

I was a Garston depot during the 80's , so enjoyed the delights of tripping all over the freight system . alec dock itself would be interesting .

Through trains to/from the dock system , yard itself had mail and cars just a couple of vehicles itself .

Open up the single platform (closed well before the 80's) as the excuse it connect with the Irish and IOm boats calling at this endow the system? 

Onto the dock was grain (hoppers) , seaforth freightliner , , steel (for a short while) and 16 ton mineral wagons for the scrap crusher .

The yard also had scrap 503's .

Remember only a short tunnel from Bottle Junction , model both ?