HonestTom

Good question. Possibly Death didn't bring him along, as this is a trip for pleasure rather than business (although why did he bring the scythe? All very puzzling).

This evening I’ve been painting some more figures. Most depictions of Ankh-Morpork portray people in 18th-19th century dress, so on many recommendations I picked up some Stadden figures. These are the men (plus some Dart point levers, a pillar box and postman). My other hobby is theatre, including costuming, and the early-mid Victorian era may be my favourite to dress. I tried to get that flamboyance with some of these gents. The penny is there for the benefit of my non-modelling chums.

Something you might try with the figures is giving them a thin wash of dark paint - this can add artificial depth to the features. I had a similar problem with some cheapo figures I ordered online which had even less relief than the Bachmann ones.

That's a thought... I was considering the concept of a bit more horse traffic if I can fit it in.

The District Railway actually had a small amount of fish traffic in their guards' vans, but this was highly unpopular in the already smelly environment of the steam-hauled Underground.

Interesting subject. I've always thought the Strategic Steam Reserve was OF NO INTEREST. THERE IS NO STRATEGIC STEAM RESERVE. CONTINUE GOING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS CITIZEN. THIS WEBSITE IS NOT BEING MONITORED AND NOTHING IS BEING CENSORED. ry recently.

Fascinating image. I work fairly nearby and it's interesting to see what's changed and what's stayed the same. Many thanks.

The duplication we see is, I think, an unfortunate side effect of the manufacturing process rather than any deliberate attempt to steal a march on the competition. I don't know that Rails would have commissioned the Terrier if they'd known that Hornby had the same prototype in the works. And I feel sorry for Kernow, who planned a 1366, then Heljan announced the same, so Kernow switched to a 1361, and Heljan did one of those too. With current models, it takes so long to get from planning to production that I think there's a bit of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation regarding making your intentions known. If you announce your model too early, then you can wind up with such a long period until release that potential buyers get frustrated. I know I've given up on the Bachmann 94xx, and the Kernow D600 Warship has been in development so long that I'm pretty sure it started out as a modern image model. But if you announce close to release, you wind up with a situation like the one with the Terriers, where both manufacturers are too advanced to back out. That being said, I think the market can support duplication if there's sufficient difference between models to give buyers a choice. For example, the Oxford Radial is not as detailed as the Hornby one, but is significantly cheaper. Hornby even duplicates within its own range, thanks to Railroad.

I was once fortunate enough to be given a driver's experience course on a Schools class, and let me say, having done a bit of firing on that, I have nothing but respect for firemen. It's no easy task propelling a shovel full of coal at high speed into a small opening like that, I jarred my wrist several times.

I actually run very little - I tend to build a series of micro-layouts with one eye on "The Big Project." The current micro is New Ankh, a fantasy with a vaguely pioneering/Pre-Grouping feel, which currently has two dedicated locomotives and two more in the works. I also have a bad habit of buying locomotives for projects that either never take off or don't really have anything to do with anything. For instance, I recently obtained a Great British Locomotives C class and a battered Airfix 4F to see if the chassis from one could power the other, and I still haven't got around to actually doing that. So that's two locomotives just taking up space.

That's some interesting rust effects there.

A trainspotter has joined the Librarian. He used to watch from the lineside, but the staff got unnerved. Particularly the shunters.

I must confess to an ulterior motive for being pleased with this announcement. I'm hoping this drives the price of second-hand Dapol/old Hornby models down, as I've been looking for a cheapo example to mess around with. With the popularity of the C, H and P in full SECR livery, it's probably seen as an easy sale

Well, now you've put the idea in my head...

Harry King is not having a good day. He asked for someone from the Watch to keep an eye on a valuable cargo arriving later that day, and Captain Carrot promised one of the Watch’s best officers. Not only is this clearly not one of the Watch’s best, but there’s this dog hanging around the place. (I know I said I didn’t want to overload this layout with specific characters, but I found this dog in my bits box and decided it was a sign that Angua should make an appearance)

I like the contrast in "house styles" between the LMWR and WMR coaching stock. Adds to the world-building.

I know of two others - one has virtually no railway stuff, being mostly RC and aircraft, and the other is a little way out of centre. I wasn't particularly impressed by either, particularly the latter, which seemed a little bit "off."

I note that two of them are liveried for Scottish distillers. I wonder if Hornby made note of the number of Scottish-based layouts that include a distillery, or if they had an eye on complementing their J36... Funny, the last time we had a ready-to-run Ruston diesel shunter, it was the Trix example, which also came with a shunter's truck. I guess it's a tradition.

A (slightly) larger industrial is most welcome. I know I've been thinking for a while that an 0-6-0 would be a good addition to the current range. I'm envisioning an industrial set-up with a small Peckett and/or Barclay shunting and one of these new lads collecting the assembled wagons.

TBH, I've always found the "era" thing to be a bit of a mess. "Grouping" is a single era, but within that each company adopted a number of different liveries as time went on. "Early British Railways" includes the standard "unicycling lion," the early experimental liveries and the transitional era when Grouping liveries were being worn with BR lettering. "Network franchising" and "present day" cover all sorts of chopping and changing between franchises. And none of this applies to industrial lines, London Transport or independent light railways. As for road vehicles, forget about it. The whole thing just feels to me like categorising for the sake of it - surely it can't be too hard to say "This model is suitable for (say) 1951-1957."

With the Terrier, Hayling Island train pack for 2020?

Interesting in view of the Rails announcement. The advantage of the Terrier over something like the Radial or the 1361 is that the prototype was numerous and it's very popular. All that gives me pause is the fact that there is so much livery duplication between the two offerings.