DavidMcKenzie

In itself nothing amazing in this picture, the scene still needs plenty of work. But it's the first bits of 'green' that has been added to the layout.

Yeah great idea, I think I will end up with three magnets in the yard. I was thinking I could cover one or maybe two with some extra hard standing, but I don't want hard standing everywhere and a re-patched area would definitely not look out of place. Great to see the layouts beeing followed in NZ. I was born in te atatu and spent a good chunk of my life in NZ. I still consider myself a kiwi at heart (especially when the crickets on) even though I could probably also equally be English or German. Thanks again for the tip, All the best Dave

The yard and surrounding area got a first layer of ballast. It's drying now and later I will hoover up all the loose bits and then go over all the bits that are not fully covered, followed by some static grass and weeds, detailing and weathering. I had a moment this evening that reminded me I am still very much a beginner , just after getting to the end of covering the ballast with a pva and water mix I realized I've forgotten to put the easi-shunt magnets in place in the yard.......never mind, I'm sure I will work out a way.

Hi Anthony, I finally found some time to have a good look through your flikr of Sutton st. Anne’s and Sutton Park. Two great layouts and some amazing stock. I especially liked the class 08 in LMS black 86 627 the industrial society. You’ve got a lot of very interesting liveries there. Did you make the RCH jumper cables yourself for 47 717 or did you buy them from somewhere? They look brilliant, much better than I’ve managed so far. I’ve struggled to make them small enough for my 87s. I came to the conclusion with my 87s that they look fine so long as you don’t have a photo of the prototype sitting next to the model, but I’m always interested in learning how to make even better models. All the best Dave

You've picked a great spot to model. That pendolino model will look superb going through some nicely banked curves. Regards Dave

Let's see how the tree's develop . I might be turning back to the Forrest in a box approach if they don't work well. I need to give static grass a go at some point as well. Lot's to learn.

Thanks Anthony, I'm not on Facebook but I'll take a look at Sutton St Annes on the n gauge forum and your flikr account. All the best Dave

Thanks for your kind words Phil. I agree about needing some scenery in the background. It looks a bit strange with so much newspaper in the background. I'm afraid the weather's just too nice to be down in the cellar at the moment. I don't think there will be any drastic scenic steps until the weather gets worse. The job list for when the weather turns also includes getting the fiddle yard totally finished and possibly automated. So plenty to do like always. I've been doing as many of the smaller bits as possible on the terrace during the evening's. Away from detailing stock I've just started having a go at building my own tree's, starting with the wire frames. let's see how they turn out .

Great to be able to follow the progress Jeremy. That ramp looks good and has already added a bit more of that 'unmistakably euston' feel to the pictures.

I am looking forward to seeing Lunerigg develop, let us know when it gets it's own blog. Will the new layout be based on a specific location? You've made some amazing progress since Monday! Whilst your avoiding the class 92 thread, make sure you don't stumble on the class 321 thread or the KFAs . It's great to see them offering so much interesting wcml stock. All the best Dave

Great to see some progress Dave, thanks for sharing the pictures. The stream under the viaduct will add even more interest into that section without distracting too much attention away from that outstanding viaduct. All the best. Dave

47540 got detailed and weathered. It is a non runner and a very old 47 model from farish. It's not as nice as some of the latest models if you look too closely, but it should add an interesting bit of background sitting in a corner of the yard.

Thanks for the kind comments. The yard got the first bit of fencing and I have started to rough out where cars and vans might go. The container won't be bright orange in the end , I might even try to get the doors open somehow and get a guy unloading it to give some life to it all.

Hi Anthony, Thanks for the kind comments. I look foward to a few years time when your WCML project gets underway. At first I was also a bit put off by the need to respray a lot of locos to get the livery's that fitted my period on the WCML. But now that I am underway I acually think it is a positive thing. The Feeling of doing a respray and a little modelling myself has been far more satisfying than just buying somthing and running it. Of course it all takes a bit longer, but I have no deadline to get the project finished. Your 87101 Looks brilliant. That is also the correct colour for my time period (1995-1999). Is there anywhere I can follow your stock develop? You look like you are modelling exactly the kind of thing that interests me. I am one year out with 87101 in RFD livery (I believe it was in these colours until 1994), but I really like it as a livery so i've envoked rule #1. I do have a 'spare' farish 87 in Intercity excutive, which is a bit early for me, so there might be a future project to also do 87101 in blue . I always wondered if 90122 was named intentionally, or if it was just a considence/after thought. It seemed strange that it was not either 90127 or 90131. All the best Dave

Hi Jeremy One of the brilliant things about your layout, stock from the 60s right up to present day won't look out of place and you have found some really interesting stock that's been at Euston. Your list looks like it keeps getting bigger . All the best Dave

Some pictures of the class 87 in swallow livery. It still needs name and number, I am drawn between: 87021 Robert The Bruce 87031 Hal o' the Wynd 87023 Velocity Other than that it's close to finished.

Great picture of the Swiss trains at Euston Jeremy .

Thanks Jeremy. I have been having plenty of fun and really enjoying modelling/playing trains which in my opinion is more important than making it perfect, but I do think next time I get a bad weather spell I am going to spend a few evenings attacking the scenics on the layout just to keep it progressing. Talking of fun playing trains, rule #1 got evoked last night and a flyingscotsmen set and a little bit if swiss stock got a run . As well as beeing a lot of fun from the modelling/playing trains side, it's also been a slightly nostalgic project. The reason for the 90132 is not only that the livery is nice one, but also how often she came by in my days as a kid watching trains and taking (usually very blurry ) photos. I always remember the interesting name badge for 90132, here is a photo I took 20 something years ago. All the best Dave

And 87101 got a run on the layout. The photo's show that I could probably do with spending a bit more time on the layout alongside all the loco weathering .

The spray gun came out today. 90128 and 47450 are coming on slowly and I've started on a intercity swallow class 87 (87021 Robert The Bruce) and a 90 in railfreight distribution (90132 Cerestar).

That class86s looks brilliant Jeremy. How was a typical Wolverhampton service in 1989? I am pretty sure by 1995 it was 2x mk2 1st class, a mk3 buffet car, 6x mk2 2nd class and a dvt. But going back further that 1995 it gets a bit blurry for me. I don't know when the dvt came in and when a mk1 still got used. All the best Dave

A few pictures of 87101 after weathering

You have picked a great time period to model Jeremy. I wasn't born when 82s, 83s and 85s were running up and down the wcml so I don't have any memories of them, but it's great that such a variety of interesting stock is open to you. I agree about plan A being 4 or 5 revolution class 321 sets. But the class 321 is such an important part of the wcml during my time period that I wanted to check a plan B was possible. It would just look wrong to have a layout from the period I am modelling without them running around. They are such a critical part of a wcml layout that it has made me wonder why the uptake has been slower for the revolution models. Especially when you consider how nice the pendolinos look, plus the outrageous prices I've seen on evilbay for pendalinos and TEA show they will hold their value. Anyway I'm slowly drifting away from your amazing project sorry. All the best Dave

I just jumper back a bit to take a look at your 317 build again. It looks brilliant. A scratch built 310 would be a pretty special, but haven't you got enough to do already . If you do find a bit of spare time I found this when looking into possibilities for 321s if revolutions project doesn't go ahead for any reason. http://n-train.net/epages/deba4b2c-2faa-4fd7-967f-c57d7bf70bd2.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/deba4b2c-2faa-4fd7-967f-c57d7bf70bd2/Products/cab005&Locale=en_GB

87101 got the last transfers tonight. Just needs weathering now