steamfinale

This pic shows the lichen in process of being glued to a tree skeleton. It's not anything like the sort of stuff you can buy commercially by the bag-full! I saw this stuff lying around in clumps in some woodland and it shouted "tree foliage" at me ..... It makes excellent hedgerows as well.

Cheers, Ray! I've close-coupled my B1s in the same way ... 

I too have a soft spot for Jubilees. My old Mainline locos have been modified by the addition of a fall-plate, cab doors and closer coupling of the tender. I've also painted out the crude boiler lining. The fall-plate is made from a bit of old toothpaste tube (from pre-plastic days) but the foil from the top of a wine bottle can sometimes be used if it's substantial enough. This is wrapped around a length of guitar string (say 12thou), two tiny holes are drilled into the inner side of the cab side-sheets and the string is sprung into place. Guitar string is "springy" so works well. Cab doors are bits of plastic card glued into place. The tender drawbar is shortened and a new hook made from a bit of cocktail stick. The result is closer coupling and no obvious large gap between cab and tender.  

Oops!! Well-spotted - clearly the work of the devil! I checked all of my signals and all other distant arms are correct (honest) so the offending arm will be re-painted forthwith.

Thanks for the kind comments. Re the HO scale kit (Pola? Heljan? can't remember) check out "London Road" model railway on you-tube as the same kits are used as part of the back-drop.

Nice control panel, as for the ECM, not seen one of those in a long time, must be a collectors piece by now..

I bought the ECM c.1982 and it's still my preferred control unit. It's currently powered by a Hornby Dublo A3 transformer that came with my first 3-rail train set c.1961! 

Just came across this - very impressive. I've also used flexible (paper) corridor connections to a slightly different design to good effect for some time. I was pleased to see the same technique used by the Bath Green Park guys when I visited their base at the WSR a few years ago.

The main let-down, having made the effort, can be the gap remaining between loco and tender, especially on older models. Cab doors and a fall plate are always an improvement. I make cab doors (set at an angle) from scribed plasticard and fall plates from a bit of guitar string to provide the hinge, lightly recessed into the cab-sides, and old metal toothpaste-tube or wine bottle foil to do the rest.