SprinterMan30

Looks very nice indeed I look forward to seeing the DRS livery ones soon. I have to say I find it interesting that the factory didn’t have the same issues with fade away livery on the class 68’s given the fact that they are so similar

Wonderful news! Any idea when Rails of Sheffield will be receiving their batch?

Class 390 Pendo, 390122/ U Coach Conversion Finally wrapping the workbench updates for now is one of my longer ongoing projects involving my Pendolino Fleet which currently consists of four units, one 9 car set and three 11 car sets. Current status of the four units are as follows: 390 010 - 'Cumbrian Pride' 9 car unit in Virgin Flowing Silk Livery with light weathering (repaint covered previously on this thread). Operational with two motor chasisis's, however in store at the moment as waiting on two new DCC decoders with sound decoders from Olivia's or Legomanbiffo under consideration 390112 - 'Virgin Star' 11 car unit currently in standard Virgin Challenger Livery. In storage pending a repaint into Virgin Flowing Silk Livery, U coach conversion and a second motor chasisis at some point later this year. It will keep its original number, but not name as in real life 112 was one of the few sets not to carry its name forward when it received its new livery and even to this day with Avanti is still nameless 390104 - 'Alstom Pendolino' 11 car unit is of in Alstom/Virgin Promo Livery. Operational and will be keeping it's present Livery, but will receive transfers to update the model to repesent its post-2017 form, 'Longsight Depot 175 Years' roundels and carriage lettering along with all doors repainted grey and of course a second motor chassis Last but not least is 390122 - 'Penny the Pendolino', an 11 car set which is the subject of this update. Once again in standard Virgin Challenger Livery and will be remaining that way. 122 became a bit of a gunea pig back in December as it was the first set to undergo the improvements I have planned for both it and 104. The first thing on the agenda was painting the doors still in the famous zebra stripes to grey as rolled out on the fleet in real life from 2015 onwards due to new regulations from the DfT stating that train passenger carriage doors have to be one solid colour that is different to rest of the carriage for ease of access for blind and partially sighted people. On the model I decided it would be best just to simply paint over the original doors (funnily enough this isn't too different to Virgin in real life as I believe they choose to vinyl over the zebra stripes) surprisingly a lot simplier than I thought it was going to be, but it definitely took up a fair bit of time though as in total I had to paint no less than forty doors grey on all 11 carriages one by one along with removing the bodies and door glazing to facilitate this. I will also be getting custom transfers in the near future for the carriage lettering, disabled access logo's and first class roundels as rather bizarrely most of these details have been omitted from the Models, in particular the first version released in 2007. Now we move to something that was an little more challenging, converting a standard pantograph trailer coach into the U Coach, firstly I'd like thank the person who previously posted a guide on how to do this on my thread, I found it very helpful and it made a lot of difference in pulling off a fairly complex modification. I have to say I'm slightly surprised that Hornby haven't announced a RTR U Coach Model yet, even in their most recent run of Avanti liveried examples given that two thirds of Virgin's/ Avanti's pendolino fleet have had them since 2012 when they became 11 car sets Not going to go into too much detail as this has been well covered by other modellers on RMweb, but in a nutshell the work involved the removal of the original pantograph well with careful drilling and cutting and then filing down the excess while being careful not to damage the livery on the carriage sides or file away the pins that hold the carriage glazing in place. After that I had to recover conponents from the original pantograph arrangement and reuse them with a mixture of plastikard, wire and brass wiring to replicate the layout of the U Coach Roof and once I was happy with how it looked painted the new wiring black and shortly afterwards gave it a coat of light weathering. One down, one more to go, technically speaking it should be two more to go as I have three 11 car sets in total, however 122 and 104 currently share the same U and F Coach due to a combination of the current cost of pendolino trailer standards on ebay I've yet to get round to buying two separate coaches for 104 and because of space and operating limitations on Harriton I doubt there will be a time when all three 11 car units will be running at the same time so two sets sharing coaches isn't really a problem. All in all a bit of learning curve, but the time, work and effort was worth it. Was hoping to get out 122 for a running session just after Christmas, but sadly the motor in the driving unit had other ideas and decided to pack up on me so instead of receiving just one new motor chassis, it will be receiving two, to be fair I think this set is the oldest out of all four sets I have in my fleet and has the older less reliable Hornby 5 Pole Motor that was in the 2007 batch so not hugely suprised about this, but for now the unit is in storage until I can get replacement motors.

TFW Class 150/2, 150236 Not really much to talk about on this one, been debating in my head for quite sometime as whether or not to debrand my two ATW 153's, 150/2, 158 and eventually one of the 175's I have on pre-order from Revolution Trains expected later this year as my layout is only set during the first two months of TFW taking over the Wales and borders franchise from Arriva in Oct 18, however in the end I decided to go ahead with the debranding in the interests of being prototypical along with repainting the roof of the Unit to darker grey and some light weathering. Once again probably going to be giving this unit and the 150/2's on my other layout further attention at some point in the future to upgrade the interior from the original 3 + 2 style of seating which is incorrect for this particular unit to the post 2002, 2+2 chapman airline style interior using either the interior from a Bachmann 170 or Hornby 153 to truly accurate to the prototype. Not running too well this Unit at the moment despite the wheels and pick ups receiving a good clean, but I'm pretty sure its a problem that's developed with the sound chip it currently has rather than the Unit itself.

EMT Class 153's, 153374,153383 Another job that's been a long time coming has been weathering and adding improvements to my two EMT Class 153's, 374 and 383, again very decent model with little room for improvement. The only issue I have with the 153 is the body mounted snowploughs which I have replaced with some spare ploughs from a Bachmann class 150 on the ends of the units with no NEM couplings as these two units are going to be paired up to a form a Crewe to Derby service, a service that usually consisted of two 153's. Other than that no changes made externally to the units excluding the weathering of the underframes, roofs and a few minor tweeks here and there. One thing I like in particular about the model is the fully detailed interior which is well modelled and easy to access to paint, detail, add lighting and add passengers if desired. I have done exactly that on both units, not fully complete just yet as still need to add figures to one of them and add traintech lighting strips to both, but already looking much better than seeing just a moulded piece of blue plastic inside the carriage. In the future I may also look into the possibility of updating the lighting on all my 150's and 153's on Harriton and indeed my other layout to the Bi-directional style of lighting seen on a lot of older units as on Hornby and Bachmann model's only the original WIPAC light clusters have been modelled, not going to lie will be a bit of a steep undertaking for my current modelling skillset, but nevertheless is it someting I am looking into.

Hi all, and happy new year. Once again another long gap in updates as I've been busy over the summer period with work and other things, however over the Winter and Christmas/New Year holiday period I was able to crack on with some workbench projects that have been on the backburner for a while and even managed to have a small running session (the first for three and a half years in fact) on the layout just after Christmas. While 2023 has been a mixture of successes and setbacks for the layout, the plan for 2024 is to start to move the emphasis away from loco and rolling stock purchases and onto improving my existing stock, addressing a backlog of stock that still needs to be DCC chipped and general moving the layout itself forward Workbench: 67004, 05 and 06 Overall while I'm very lucky to benefit from having most of the liveries for the era and area that I'm modelling being well catered for with only a few gaps that will be filled soon by the upcoming releases of the Class 88, Class 175's and the Class 323 over the next year from Dapol and Revolution Trains respectively, there is still an absense of a few liveries from my fleet of existing loco's and rolling stock which I've spent some of my time addressing over the winter. Some may find it arduous and time consuming, but I have always quite enjoyed kitbuilding, repaints and modifying existing stock (when it has gone to plan that is) and it's much better than waiting months or even years for manufacturers to get liveries out on the market (if it even happens at all) or opt for expensive resprays that could not be more true than that of the example of three of my Class 67's which have undergone partial repainting/rebranding and renumbering to make them appropriate for era I'm modelling. Overall very happy with the post-2012 Hornby Class 67 tooling, it is a huge improvement on the ex-lima tooling in terms of detailing and capturing shape and appearance of prototype much better than its predecessor. Harriton is currently home to eight examples of the class which are in EWS, DBC red, ATW WAG blue, Ex-Wrexham Shropshire silver/grey and finally of course DB Royal Claret liveries which mainly see work on TFW WAG Services, Thunderbird Duties, FOOTEX specials, various other charter work, railtours and occasional freight workings. The Royal Claret pair of 67005 and 06 were always going to be a natural choice for the layout as these two Loco's see regular work on the railtour circuit all over the country and indeed other workings as well due to being in active use for Royal Train Duties. Updating the Hornby release of 06 (which represents the Loco as it was in the EWS version of the livery) to how the two loco's now look in their Sept 2018- present day version of the livery was relatively straightforward just really a case of partial repainting of the roof, the addition of the thin Grey/Sliver stripe along the bottom of the body and painting the light clusters black (a right pain the backside even with finest paintbrush) and finally the application of nameplates to create 67005, finished off with custom transfers that were made up to add DB yelow end and cabside logo's to both 05 and 06. While the bodies were off I also took the opportunity to paint the LED bulbs of the white lights with orange acrylic paint to make them light up as a more warm yellow colour instead of a bright white colour to look more prototypical as I feel its the only thing that spoils an otherwise perfect front end appearance on loco's and units that tend to have the older directional lighting styles 67004 was basically just a simple renumbering and rebranding job really with some moderate weathering chucked in there too, like 05 and 06 I also painted the LED bulbs of the white lights with orange acrylic paint to make them light up as a more warm yellow colour, the original model used was of course 67013 in DBS red bought from a mate, which rather ironically I already have in my fleet as well, but still running under its original number with its current DBC red livery with captions. I quickly choose 04 as a running mate for 013 due to the fact that when I did the rebranding on 013 the application of the DB Logo and captions onto the sides of the 67 was very difficult to get right so I vowed that the next one I'd do woudn't have the captions, I chose 04 as it only has the large DB logo on the sides in fact its a bit of an oddball as its the only 67 in DBC Red not to have the captions on the sides. I'm guessing maybe she was repainted like this to save the staff in the paintshop at Toton some time perhaps?

Not much to report on over the course of the last two months as I have been busy with work and other things, however one major job I was able to get done at the end of May was the retaining wall which runs a full 12ft from the station to the tunnel mouths at the end of the layout. Also have been playing around with the Townscene behind with some new buildings I bought recently, always enjoy doing stuff like this on the layout as it always helps to get some ideas cooking

Hi Charlie, Any update on how far off they are, surely not much longer now?

December saw two exciting new additions to my loco fleet in the form of the absolutely stunning Accurascale Class 92. To date Harriton is now curently home to three examples, 92038 in GBRF Caledonian Sleeper Teal Livery, 92020 in GBRF Blue and Purple and finally 92042 in DBS Red purchased last month The 92 is easily of one of my favorite Classes of electric loco and its fantastic to finally have an RTR Model that does it justice unlike the previous offerings on the market from Hornby/Lima, all three no doubt will be put to work on Automotive, Intermodel and Enterprise workings on the layout, I did briefly consider buying the Caledonian Sleeper MK5 Coaches to run with 020 and 038 as well, however sadly like many modellers I don't have the space to accomodate a 16 coach train in my fiddle yard! The three year wait for these models was definitely worth it, all three models have groundbreaking detail on so many levels with a motor and mechanism to match it. This is my model of 92042 in DBS Red picture here running with a rake of no less than 22 STVA car carrier wagons on the mult- track running circuit during one of Twickenham and Ditricts Model Railway Club's monthly running evenings. I have been a member of this Club for over four years now, I'd definitely recommend this club to modellers of all ages who live in the London Area who want to meet fellow enthusiasts or join in with the many modelling activities that take place at the club every Friday evening. The full operating capabilities of AC 92 made quite an impression with fellow members as loco hauled the long rake with little difficulty!

It wasn't just all about the layout in the time I was gone, here's a flashblack to easily one of my biggest and most ambitious projects to date, a full repaint of my 9 car Pendolino into Virgin Flowing Silk Livery! This is something I've been thinking of doing for a while now, while Harriton is based in the not too distant past sometime around the 2016-19 Virgin Trains period, the idea is bring the layout as close to the present day as possible. Started in June 2021 and finally completed in August of last year with a few hiccups inbetween. The repainting and livery application was fairly straightforward, only tricky area was of course the following silk blanket part of livery as this required a lot of carefull cutting and shaping to fit around the curvature of the front ends, windows and light fittings of the driving units. I have to be honest there a few areas of compromise, but nothing too major while not 100% perfect I could not be more happy with the finished result. I would also like to say a massive thank you to Colin and Mike of Rainbow Railways of Falkirk, who created the transfers for this and making this project possible. As well as the receiving a new livery this unit, reborn as 390010, 'Cumbrian Pride' along with my other 3 Pendolino's over time will be receiving a second driving car to improve pulling power when running as 9 and 11 car formations. I am also planning another repaint of one of my 11 Car Pendo's into this livery as well at some point in the future with the remaining two 11 car units remaining in standard Virgin Red/Silver and Alstorm/Virgin Liveries while receiving some modifications such as the U Coach and the grey passenger doors that replaced the famous zebra stripes on all the fleet from 2015 onwards

IMPORTANT ANOUNCEMENT Harriton is back from the dead and on a brand new thread everyone! Please like and subscribe Welcome back!

Arguably my most favorite part of the layout and the area most recently worked on last Autumn, the line then emerges from a tunnel where it is carried over a canal before heading off into another tunnel before the fiddle yard. The Bridge, tunnel mouths and walling are a mixture of scratchbuilt items, off the shelf items and kits all married together, I spent a lot of time researching various locations across the country for inspiration and finally decided that I wanted this scene to be cross with Sydney Gardens in Bath and the Iconic North Wales Mainline that goes past Conwy Castle. Next major development for this scene will be adding water to the canal along with other small details to really bring this scene to life. That more a less covers where the layout is at the moment, I will be posting content featuring workbench projects I have been doing on the side during the period RMweb suffered its Tech issues in due course as well, so stay tuned - its good to be back!

Finally this is subarbs/ canal and castle ruins scene part of the layout which is the area I spent the majority of my time working over the last 18 months The idea for this area was always going to be subarbs turning into woodland and countryside, I'm really pleased with how it looks, it's very close to what I had pictured in my mind. I really had a lot of fun building it up using a wide variety of foilage, grass, scatter and seafroam trees and other materials. Not 100% finished yet, but getting there.

We now move along the throat leading out of the station towards the first tunnel that sees the line go underneath a subarb and come out just before carried over the canal by a bridge. Pictures once again taken in the Summer of 2020, a retaining wall will run the whole length of the layout from the station to the tunnel mouth's A view showing the signal box that will be integrated into the retaining wall when it is built View from the tunnel mouth looking down towards the station, here we see a LNWR 350/1 EMU disappearing into the tunnel with a service to Manchester.

Here are pics of the Station half of the layout in its current state, bar a few discrepancies here and there as these been taken at different points over the last several years between work that has been undertaken This is a view looking down at the station platforms , from left to right 1 - 5 taken during the summer of 2020, I went home for the first Covid Lockdown which ment I was able to get a lot of work done on layout during the time restrictions where in place. While admittedly this part of layout has not seen much attention since, the station bar of course the ballasting lineside equipment, lighting and a few other small details is mostly complete. Summer 2021 Covid Lockdown three, saw Platforms 3 and 4 undergo a slight transformation, I decided to remove the canopy on these platforms as I felt for a while now that having a canopy on the two middle platforms as you look across hid a lot of the station from view and trains coming and going. The station is now much more open, it's easier to see trains arriving and departing and will most certaintly make life easier when it comes to installing OHLE Equipment eventually. This is view of main station forecourt, here we see the drop off points and short stay car park at the front of the main station. This is the view overlooking the main road looking a Premier Inn Hotel and a Virgin Active Gym. Opted not to go too over the top with the scene and make the common mistake of making it look too much like a High Street as most Station's are usually a fair distance from Town or City Centres. Again hasn't changed much since 2020, however fast forward to here and now that will change soon imagine