luke the train spotter

Hopefully we'll be able to follow your progress on Rmweb? Always keeping an eye on ebay/Bachmann spares website for bodies with tablet catchers is worth a shout. I've just bought a tablet catcher body shell for a spare class 20 chassis, much cheaper than having to buy a whole new loco.

The paints have been out and both 24s are now weathered. I've gone for the standard approach of washes left to dry then removed with a cotton bud followed by dry brushing and powders. I didn't want to create an overly mucky look but capture a well used loco. Here are the 24s pausing by Dalmunach's signal box before continuing with their duties. The 24 on the left is the older Bachmann tooling, the one on the right is the newer post 2020 tooling. Without annoying the Sulzer purists I think the older one still holds up well compared to the newer variants, especially once the buffer beam detailing pack has been fitted. Before I left Dalmunach D5149 was captured running push pull with the managers inspection saloon, a rare working on the line, especially on a bank holiday, I suppose that explains the empty goods yard too.

I find the ploughs give the locos much more presence. I'm always surprised how many early diesels kept their ploughs throughout the year, especially in the backwater branchlines. David Dunn's 'First Generation Scottish Diesels in Colour' is a fantastic reference.

With Dalmunach beginning to near scenic completion there's just a few detailing jobs left to do and work on the rolling stock. Whilst the layout is modelled with the end of the line near and passenger traffic pretty sparse, I thought it would not be a proper station without at least one passenger. He is a Modelu figure painted up in a drab 1950s style brown suit, which accidentally camouflages him against the station building. I also still need to blend the end of the platform/headshunt in, a job for next week I think. My other focus has been detailing the Bachmann 24. I really wanted to model it with snow ploughs but using the ones supplied in the detailing bag meant that the nem pocket was used so no room for my kadees. I overcame this by separating the parts of the plough, removing the centre part and re-attaching the left and right sides with a strip of plasticard. This then slots beneath the nem pocket and is attached with a drop of super glue. Quite effective and a simple fix. I could then attach as many pipes and details as I could fit without fouling the coupling and cut down the rest and fitted them so there were now gaps in the buffer beam. I think the overall result is a good compromise of detail and no interference with running capabilities. I'm not to sure how plausible this is but I would personally love to see manufacturers using soft flexible plastics or rubber to make their pipes and hoses so you can have fully detailed buffer beams without compromising running quality. The dark ploughs don't show up particularly well in the photos but give the ends of the locos a bit more presence in real life. As this has been a success I will probably trial the same method with my 20s. The 24 can now be moved into the weathering queue along with some other stock. And whilst Dalmunach was out I spotted a little ruston which has pottered down from the distillery to shunt a couple of loaded open wagons around the yard.

Thank you. I'm not an expert at all when it comes to Western Region but looking at photos I'd suggest that the GNSR colour scheme used on the Speyside line is a slightly more muted and undersaturated. I think the warm white lighting on the layout makes my buildings look on the more yellow side of cream in photos when in reality they're slightly tinted off white. For all the buildings the brown is Vallejo flat earth and the white is Vallejo off white with a tiny amount of Vallejo light sand mixed in. I found this closely matched the contrasting look of the Speyside buildings especially at Ballindalloch, Carron and Knockando, see below. However, some of the buildings at Craigellachie have a much warmer hue much similar to the Western Region colours. I imagine that frequency of repainting and small tonal differences between paint tins means that as long as it is close enough it is probably accurate. I think the levels of light taken at the different stations probably don't help either but worth knowing that there was variety along the line.

The beck looks excellent! What resin did you use?

The workshop wall looks fantastic, love the colours and shades going on there.

A couple more of the 20 during yesterday's running session, I think the low angles work really well to make this small space more immersive.

The track weathering with the thinned enamels looks fantastic, might have to steal that technique.

Catcott Burtle is a very inspirational layout! The level crossing looks great there, lots of potential for some really nice photo angles.

After a pretty full on week back after Easter some modelling time was definitely required, so a Saturday running session was in order. I'm currently working on a small class 20 project, weathering and converting my current 20s to suit a more Speyside-ish condition. So far D8101 has only had a weathering treatment but may get renumbered at some point. My other 20 will be going into D8032 in 1966 condition as photographed by John Boyes, once a new body arrives from Bachmann spares. Anyways, here's D8101 shunting the yard at Dalmunach before heading down the branch with a very short pick up goods.

A great article, the photos have captured the layout really well.

A couple photos I took at York. There's quite a few videos of the exhibition on YouTube, maybe worth a search to see a few running shots?

With the bits I picked up from the York show last weekend I've made a start on the platform detailing. Looking at pictures and videos of the Speyside line of in the 60s it's clear that the platforms were very minimalistic. John Boyes even documents a class 20 running a service removing platform furniture so some later photos show essentially barren platforms. I wanted to try and mimic this sparseness which requires a lot of restraint. I've settled for a basic sign, couple of empty casks (Skytrex) and a couple benches (York Models). I've got a couple of Modelu figures to paint up but I think I'll place these at the goods shed end of the platform so they are only visible from a couple angles, after all it's a station with dwindling passengers. Whilst I was at my parents over Easter I picked up my 4mt standard tank, numbered as 80126 which regularly ran the Killin line, perhaps it transferred to the Speyside once the Killin line closed. Here it is on its first passenger service to Dalmunach. The 2 coach train just squeezes into the platform and runaround loop. Another unusual visitor to the Speyside line, a class 17, also makes an appearance as a recent purchase being run in and chipped to add a bit of variety to the freight traffic. Since these locos struggled on larger freight trains I imagine that it's fairly plausible that one was transferred to the Speyside area to work the much less demanding freight trains, especially since the trains to Dalmunach aren't longer than 6 wagons.

'Sputnik' aka the local railbus service pauses at Dalmunach before running back down the branch. I don't suppose anyone has replaced the destination blinds and made their own?