JamieR4489

Hello Sam, Yes I saw you've restarted your layout. It's looking good and still retains that Tuxford flavour. Good luck with your gradients. They're something I wouldn't touch with a bargepole but I know others have used them successfully. I'm ashamed to say Tuxford North hasn't progressed at all since my last update; I've been concentrating on building and collecting stock recently: These are the latest projects, a Mousa/Bachmann O4/5 and an Isinglass D5 SFO. I've also managed to get 2 more A1s, Gladiateur and Pretty Polly (I'll change them to Harvester {this needs extra work to make it into an A3} and Persimmon, respectively) Thanks Phil, I wouldn't like to try building a mainline in anything smaller! I've enjoyed reading your layout thread and have previously admired the RTR A3 conversions you've shown on Wright Writes. Regards, Jamie

British India Line. It's the only Merchant Navy I've seen in steam.

Royal Observer Corps

66 Squadron was quite local to me when based at Duxford and Horesham-St-Faith so that gets my vote.

One of my earliest summer holiday memories is going to the Swanage Railway for the first time and being hauled by Eddystone so I'll go for 34028.

Having had a closer look (I was on my phone earlier) I can see that the panelling isn't at all Gresley-esque so ignore my suggestion of a D140

Repton Some may recognise the location as being not too far from Peterborough North.

Is the third coach a D140 52'6" FK? 7 were built between 1928 and 1931 with 2 being allocated to Cromer sets. Jamie

Sir Lamiel. I enjoyed my first trip to the GCR behind him/her.

Royal Air Force

Duchess of Sutherland for me. I enjoyed the return leg of a trip behind her a few years ago. The outward motive power was 60009 and as we approached York we overtook the Duchess running tender first light engine. Sorry for the poor pic. It's a screenshot from a video I hastily took.

Agreed. They're what I use and at about £5 for 39 they're very good value Hopefully the crew can just be made out on this O4/5. The fireman is sweeping the floor and there's an inspector on the tender keeping an eye on things. Jamie

Illustrious

Dauntless

I really ought to update this more often. As with most people, I had a lot more time over the festivities to crack on with ongoing projects and start some new ones. The RTP was primed just before Christmas and is now in lined teak awaiting transfers. Unfortunately I don't seem to have any pictures of this. For Christmas, I was given a Mousa Models O4/5 body kit and a Bachmann O4. I'd read about this kit on the LNER forum but had been a bit disappointed, frankly. There were lots of print lines and some rather over-scale 3D-printed handrails. Thankfully, Bill seems to have updated the CAD and it's much better now. The body is now printed in resin with holes for handrail knobs and very few printing lines. The body needed a bit of filing around the cab to fit over the Bachmann running plate (which was an issue spotted by Graeme King when the kits were first released). It's been designed to screw onto the Bachmann running plate but in all the filing I had to do around the cab (where the screws go) I didn't think there was enough material for the screws to bite into without splitting it so I glued the resin bits on. I've done mine as Colwick's 5008. As with the O4 I did about this time last year, the cylinders and slidebars have been raised at the rear. The tender may well be wrong for 5008 as Bachmann model the ROD (no water pickup and steam brake only) type but 5008 had vacuum brakes so either it towed a GCR tender or its ROD tender was built with vacuum brakes. I've gone for the latter as it meant I didn't have to faff about with the tender. My SEF J6 had developed a tight spot (no idea how I didn't notice it before). I realised that there was far to much slop in the rods and attempts to plug the holes and re-drill them were unsuccessful so I ordered a set of B1 rods from Lanarkshire Models. They're designed for RTR crankpins so I needed some Markits crankpin bushes as well (I had tried the bushes in the SEF rods but the bosses were too small and in trying to ream them out to fit the bushes I broke through one boss). Happily, the loco runs much better now. It's not as smooth as my D2 but I'm not convinced I built the chassis perfectly square. Another Christmas present was an Isinglass D5 SFO. This was put together in a few hours. I did have a few issues. The roof has tabs at either end designed to slip behind the ends but I found that these were too far apart so there was no way I could fit the roof on. I snipped the tabs off and filed the remnants down. The roof also seems a bit tall. There was a gap at the ends but the fit over the sides was perfect. I don't think I glued the ends too low on the sides. The other problem was that the vehicle rode too high. I used Isinglass bogies and building the pivots as the instructions suggest, the coach was very noticeably high. I took out the risers Isinglass give you but then found the solebars were resting on the bogie frames so both were filed down. Compared to Hornby and Kirk bogies, the side frames are considerably deeper above the axleboxes. This is my second attempt at teak on this coach, the first was far too orange. Overall I'm extremely pleased with this and certainly wouldn't hesitate to buy another. Jamie

Kenilworth.

The Lady of the Lake

Morayshire. I saw it at the Nene Valley a few years ago.

Tip top Tottenham Hotspur for me too.

Alycidon. It's the only heritage diesel I've been behind at over 100mph (down Stoke Bank, no less).

Coeur-de-Lion

Oryx

Erm there was a reason given on the previous page of this very thread... "2564's use of 'Knight of the Thistle' apparently came to the notice of Lord Lyon, King of Arms in Scotland, and incurred his displeasure."

I thought Knight of the Thistle was correct for both the order and the racehorse?

Mayflower for me as well