Compound2632

You've caught those 1970s boring blues perfectly - the platform edges, dirty concrete and decaying prefab buildings are so redolent of the era. I always used to turn right at Aston for Four Oaks, so the 310s were just that little bit exotic in my eyes.

The red with large GW is growing on me. If you're feeling uneasy, take a b/w photo with an orthochromic filter...

Give yourself room to follow your nose as well as your plan - helps avoid the plan becoming a burden.

By-the-way, if you're short of space for a long goods train, you could orient the wagons vertically, as in those Stourbridge photos we were looking at a while back.

Very public-spirited - thanks!

I note that for the goods wagons of several companies (e.g. Midland), the Moore's Monthly article says "black underframes", which is clearly to be understood as black below solebar level, not black solebars and headstocks. The absence of this statement for other companies (e.g. Great Western) is not evidence for these parts being body colour, as there's plenty of evidence these were black for the North Western , to give but the most significant example.

Superb. You pass over the outside tap in silence....

... yes indeed. I'm afraid what I meant was, none of this superheater/Belpaire 20th century disfigurement!

Good to see you've not given up on this - it's starting to look like a proper engine now!

Tsk... there's a Midland van there, but no D299 5-plank open. I do like a decent length goods train - at least 22 on there.

Skarloey and Rheneas are based on Talyllyn and Dolgoch, so it's reasonable to try the idea that they are Sudrian equivalents of the Welsh names. Since Talyllyn apparently means 'end of the lake lake' and Sudrian 'loey' is identified with 'loch'. the element 'skar' might be somehow related to 'end'. However, 'Dolgoch' means 'red meadow' so seems unrelated to 'Rheneas'.

Topping stuff. Mind you, I still think there is something louche about the chap who has taken his hat off. What exactly is the relationship between himself, the young lady, and the contents of the perambulator?

Some bravery there with the circular saw! Or did you have some sort of stop?

Superb. One observation if I may: there seem to be a surprising number of gentlemen not wearing hats, including the paterfamilias - I had not taken Sherton Abbas to be such a louche locality. This observation set me off to check my 4 mm Stadden figures whom, I am glad to say, comport themselves with propriety in this respect.

... or perhaps not at this stage. The whole thing has something of the character of a 19th century newspaper cartoon engine.

Dare I mention cranks and coupling rods?

Thanks. The Plasticote red looks a little warmer than Halfords red primer which I think is a bit dark. I'm thinking of Great Western red wagons and red lead paint...

The Met's 0-6-4Ts are striking beasts too - hackable from the Barry resin body too? The boiler looks quite high-pitched.

Very nice - may I ask two questions about painting?

1. What do you use for the Caledonian red?

2. What's your technique for getting such neat edges to the black ironwork?

See also my start at getting to grips with the Hornby 6/4/3 plank pre-1923 (pre-1907) wagons. And there are kits - POWSides pre-printed use the Slaters kits (their website indicates) or there are the Cambrian ones.

Are those POWSides transfers?

Black corner plates, maybe?

Good to see some relevant POs that aren't RCH 1923 12 tonners.

Far too many big passenger engines - you need more 0-6-0 goods engines - say about 20 for every one of your 4-6-0s.

You can never have too many 4Fs on an LMS/LMR layout. What you do need now is several hundred wooden-bodied PO coal wagons!

When Stanley Jenkins built Bakewell many years ago - articles in Railway Modeller c. 1980? - he soldered up the canopies from bullhead and flat-bottomed rail...

How does that work? Is there some flexibility or is it just two four-wheelers bolted together to make a rigid (and rough-riding!) eight-wheeler?

I've got one somewhere too - original chassis married to the tender off an Airfix 4F - slightly more like the real thing than the original Hornby offering. But this does just go to show how basically good and largely dimensionally correct from running plate up many of the older Hornby models can be.