Owd Bob

Cheers Matthew! so that was a Tesco train, cheers for the info' on it, i agree it would make a great Ffesty type diesel chassis, main challenge at the mo' is to open one eye lid at a time and try keep them open ...i'm on half a dozen new tabs twice a day and they are zonkin' me out, i bought myself two GVT coal wagons the other week and i've managed to put them together over the weekend, i will paint them up this week, i'm just waiting for a mate to turn up later and help me brush off and clean up the track and points then i can possibly try and run something this week.

Many thanks lads it's really nice to have the support Medically wise i had three stents put in to prop up my arteries, i've been sent home with a bag full of tabs' and a big letter or two for my own Doc ' and my local health clinic, I was flown to Glen Clwyd Hosp' by the air ambulance from Porthmadoc....not that i can remember much at all as i was out cold for over half an hour I did manage to pick up a few bargains at the charity shops whilst away, a Sylvanian family log cabin which can be re-clad and made into a factory/wharehouse, and a cheap '0' gauge plastic train set, of which i can at least use the loco's working bogie chassis and turn it into some kind of funky diesel, the Red tipping tub and maybe the crane wagon can be altered without too much messing about with. I'm still taking it easy and lifting nothing heavier than a few pics' using the mouse. i might try and paint something up this week...like the Green loco' which i'd forgot to say will be named 'McMullen Coal No:9 The plates are on order

Well my weeks break in N.Wales did'nt go to plan at all as i had an heart attack on the third day away! I only came home yesterday after spending a week in a Welsh Hospital. I'll post what little i saw as a bit of therepy but my postings may be a bit few and far between over the next month or so. A visit on the Sun morn' to the WHHR to catch the first train was a lucky break as being the only passenger there i was allowed into the cab of Russell, i was then given a one to one tour around the museum Monday morn' and a trip to the Slate museum at Lllanberis and the nearby lake railway An eventful & memorable short holiday to say the least and one i've to catch up on and make up for later this year when i'm fit and well again,

Nice places in Kent, but don't forget to go and spot a few of those overgrown EMU'S with the go faster stripes before the Eurocrats brick up the tunnel i'll try to get some NG pics' and post 'em on here if enough are interested? enjoy your Hols' Matthew

No Ruston it's never been in any mags' in the ten years i've had it running, i can't say i know of the other line that you may be thinking of as i have never bought that mag' for well over 40 years and so i would'nt have seen it! Sounds like it might be summat worth me looking up though for more inspiration and ideas. Thanks!

No choice i'm afraid, it has to be that way through lack of space...or the loco's etc will hit it and its all pure fiction on my line anyway and rarely based on owt real!

Nice work yet again young Man! Hope you really enjoy the Hols' i'm off on mine all next week myself to a certain place in N.Wales beginning with the letter 'P'... so i'll be on a NG platform or train every day around there if i can help it! and sod swmbo Look out for my satin Black bling'd up Rat-Rod mobility scooter. I've always used car spray cans/paint for all my stuff, finished off by hand painting up the smaller details. but i've always wanted an airbrush Nice workshop Phil'...mine's not been used yet but just as cluttered up.

A few more from my garden line, i really take my hat off to you folks who can create such realism in the smaller scales.

Now that is proper engineering! and something i could'nt hope to make in a million years, i do hope it works well and you can churn a few more out to sell for yourself! I've seen those from down under advertised but the price and waiting time is just too much for my own coffers. The indoor layout looks Very impressive as well, i can't wait to see it's further construction, and maybe out at a show some day?

Still looks bloody brilliant though, real damage and not fake like mine! Love the colours and the lining on the countess and No: 4...lovely shade of Blue!

Cheers NM for the words of wisdom from the Guru. Thanks for the great link to valve cover Matthew, i must confess i was'nt happy with its look and shape Will get onto to buying one asap,

Cheers Nm, more great info' about the knob, i did try my smallest Allen key to try and get it off but it was too big so i might get the Dremmel and cutting disc on it later! I was in mind to put a full cab back on it but i'll need access to the gas control knob, and one loco with an open cab out of three is enough to make it different from the others. What would you make a tarp sheet out of NM? Safety wise summat that won't burn?

Thanks Gents' I think its just common sense to add rivets where they should or could have been and it breaks the plain slab sides up nicely, the original single coal basket was replaced by two, now there's one on either side and made from ready made to width brass sprue that came with my recently bought cab steps, it was also used for the square window frames which on a very boxy/angular looking loco' suit it better imo than the small cross-eyed looking round ones it had, handrails and steps and lamp brackets are put on where they might have been. My railway and all its stock is pure fiction, so i try to make stuff look like a skin-flint owner who had no inclination to spend money on lining and deffo' would'nt have his drivers and staff stood around polishing up the brass bits.

Excellent stuff Matthew" Working lights, double heading and night time shots, plenty to drool over for us novices Just watch the guttering in dry spells! and keep 'em watered well...and watch for heavy rain soakings as you'll soon see if they are fixed on well enough as i rightly know from my efforts Love the lattice work on the bridge sides, is it some sort of brass etching?

You can open your eyes now Ozzy! Apart from picking out the handrails and a few other bits in Black and then lacquerin' it all over, my third steamer is now repainted, i did'nt like the Ford Green as there was too much Blue in it, so i got another can from Halfords of Peugeot Conifer Green which is passable i've still to make a crank to replace the plastic regulator knob, monsoon like very heavy rain here today so i'll get in the new shed and make a start on it

Since i raised my line off the ground to thigh high level Callum i've not had a chance to try it out in the dark, all my buildings have lights in 'em but only one of my five coaches has...yet! And i've some street lights all set up and ready to fit on the stations one day I noticed that your Windmill had a light in it and it looked really good against the sky line.

Cheers NM! Hopefully the rivets help break up the flat slab sided panels a bit, i've a lot of filing and sanding to do tonight and a couple of coal baskets yet to sort out

Thankfully it looks like i was lucky as my loco's came fitted with chuffers, but i know what its like to order and pay for other stuff and wait weeks without even a word of whats happening with my order from the supplier. Heres a few pics' of my evenings efforts.

Lovely stuff Callum Something i'm hoping to do soon myself is a bit of evening dusk running, and it's nice to see it traveling at a realistic speed as well.

Great to have you back idris! hope you're on the mend i was thinking about how they would handle in very hot weather! Personally i don't think i'd want to be lighting fires in weather like that ..it was hot enough as it was! .....and don't mention the idiot neighbours around here who light the barbies up at every slightest glimpse of an hot day having swmbo bringing the washing in, and having to close all the bloody windows! A couple of times a week is ok but not every single day and a dozen at it all at once

Well i'm stuck indoors doing nowt heavy for another week Lads after a minor op' last week and swmbo is keeping her Matronly Yorkshire beady eyes on me So i'm back to tea tray bedroom fettlin' I got most of the extra rivet detail and lamp brackets soldered on last eve' another eve of more solderin' and then a good cleaning up should see the shell ready for spraying up at the weekend A new micro servo arrived on Mon' so i made a brass bracket for it and soldered that on footplate last night....i will post pics soon. I'll get all the regulator/burner improvements done i'm sure over this Autumn/winter time so many thanks for all the great info'

Look away now Ian! I've plenty of stripper left if you want your Lady Anne doing next Ian? It took two coats of paint stripper and a good scrubbing off with a Brillo pad to finally get all the paint off, the next job is to get some more holes drilled. A couple of old small spray cans of Ford Pine Green were on offer in the bargain box at my local car spares shop so i got 'em cheap! Not the right or same shade of Green as it was but any dark-ish Green will do for me.

I know Ian i get a daft vision in my head of how i want the finished loco' to look and i just go for it, and until i know and learn more about the basic boiler/chassis set ups they'll be staying just as bought...until i've learned a lot more knowledge on how to add better bits and bobs to 'em over time, i've got to save something for the Winter nights I think this one is going to be looking like a rejected version of a W&L Beyer Peacock especially with the square windows I'm stripping the paint off what's left of the body shell this week and then adding some bits by soldering, like lamp brackets and window frames and handrails. I'm trying to get the right shade of Green paint for it today...on the cheap as usual Ian....that's if swmbo will take me out. This will be a body that may well get taken off once i've built another body type i had really intended for this, which i'll also try to build this Autumn/Winter ...don't be surprised if it's another saddle tank..i have a real fettish for 'em!

Totally agree there should have been a rail line or a metro-link extension, i've not seen the hoards they predicted using or catching the guided Bus from Leigh, Atherton or Tyldesley, but there's always a good fair folks waiting at the park and ride stop near Swinton on the East Lancs Rd. But theres hope for a new line with the HS2 route but sadly not in my time i would think.

I have great memories in the early '90's of trying my best in single handedly restoring the remains of Hindley Green station whilst working for a landscape/civil engineering firm We were tidying up the track bed from Howe bridge to Hindley Green installing new footpaths, fencing and a bridal way. The original plan was to have the path running through the station on the track bed but when rare Newts were found in the flooded area between the platforms it was decided to bring the paths up onto the Southern platform ramp end and up the cobbled slope up to Leigh Rd. I enjoyed the job so much that i even worked through my lunch breaks and stayed over a few evenings using my tractor and digger to clean up the platforms and replace the platform edging stone blocks, when finished all that was missing was the wooden buildings and tracks. Sadly it only lasted a few years as the Leigh Road over-bridge had to be strengthened and was eventually under-filled, the paths, platforms and station remains meant nothing then and was almost totally destroyed during this work, a lot of the stone platform edgings and the stone flagged platforms also got robbed away and went missing not long after this work!. There is good photo' when the work i did was finished in one of Dennis Sweeneys superb books from memory Heres an old cutting from the Leigh Journal.