Adrian Stevenson

Had not planned on starting the 16ton Toad kit yet, but a wet day has changed my plans. Got parts cut out from the fret and had a go a forming the rivetts on the solebars.

Shame it could not be sold whole, but good luck with the new project!

Cheers, Ade.

I managed to pop in for an hour to the show while Lez was in Sainsbury's.

You are correct Steve. It is Ian's old layout.

Cheers, Ade.

South Wales & Cannock Chase Coal wagon with an interior shot.

Here is the LMS 7 plank wagon with new removeable real coal load.

I have done some extra weathering on some of the wagons. These had already being airbrushed as seen in some earlier pics in this thread. I have now used Agrax Earthshade to the interiors plus a bit of drybrushing and then applied some weathering powders by MIG.

Here is a before and after shot of the Underwood private owner wagon in as purchased condition and now fully weathered.

Thanks Martin. We do plan on going again so we can arrange something in the future.

I am lucky that my layout will only require three signals.

I could have spent thousands....lots of really nice kit there. Good job I left the credit card at home too!

Met up with George T and Ian for breakfast at Doncaster show today. Always nice to meet up.

Picked up the 16 ton Toad Brake Van kit off Jim McGowan today. Also got some Slaters wheels and some extra soldering kit plus some Stay Alive capacitors for the DCC locos.  (More work for Andy P!) So a very nice day all in all.

The builder should be making a start on the log cabin base this next week.

Here are a couple of snaps from Llangollen last weekend. We bought a day rover ticket and spent Sunday riding the trains. The BR Standard 4 tank and the Large Prairie were in steam. Picked up Martyn Welsh's book on weathering while I was there off one of the stalls for a couple of quid. Had a great time.

Cheers, Ade.

I very much enjoyed the show. Luckily I arrived just after 9am so parking was not an issue and headed off to Asda for a cuppa before the show opened at 10am.

Came home with some goodies.

Very clever indeed. You amaze me with you craftsmanship.

A couple of snaps of the prototype on Minerva's stand today at Doncaster.

Some snaps taken by me at Doncaster today.

I was told today by Neil on the Dapol stand at Doncaster that these have now entered production.

Many thanks for the photo as it is one I have not seen before. You are right, the line did not feature autofitted engines.

Mike does cover some of the track changes. 

I am doing bullhead all round, as I am not up to making track yet.

Cheers, Ade.

Not made a posts re the layout progress in a while. 

Went down to Devon to the Dartmouth line for May day Bank holiday in the motor home. Had a great time. Did the trip down the line then the boat down the Dart.

Andy and I went to Derby Roundhouse show the other week and I picked up a couple more Dapol wagons, one 5 plank private owner and a Lime van. Got these weathered up. Started making some removable coal loads for the wagons too.

Awaiting the builder to come and do the concrete base for the log cabin now, so once that is down, I can order the cabin which takes about 3 weeks to arrive.

Now got 4 sound chips and speakers purchased, so the 3 Pannier tanks and the Jinty will be going DCC. 

Off to Llangollen Railway for the coming Bank holiday weekend in the motor home, so very much looking forwards to that, as again somewhere I have not been to before. 

Cheers, Ade.

The 37 looks great.

Just having a bacon sandwich to set me up for the show. See you later.

Cheers, Ade.

Picked up a copy of  Model rail: nice to see that the model is going to be extended and exhibited in the future.

Cheers, Ade.

You are off to a good start, looking good.

Cheers, Ade.

Hi Guys, as many of you know I work for Hansons Auctioneers. See my avatar pic. 

We get railway items in most month and today this framed photo caught my eye. It shows Riddles on a visit to Crewe in 1954 and shows the "Duke" before it was painted and named. I had not seen this pic before and I thought it might interest one or two people.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks for a nice night Andy. I am really getting the hang of the controller now.

Cheers, Ade.

Very nice. Where is the mouse? 

My Dad was a picture framer for 38 years and Cuneo was one of his favourite artists and as a kid I used to love to hunt the mouse on his paintings.

Cheers, Ade.

Lez and I had a great Easter break and the WSR was a real treat. We found a site just 15 mins walk from the station. I will resize all the pics and do a thread in the preservation forum. Here is one as a taster.

On the layout front, the Sig-naTrak box arrived on Thursday. 

Lez kindly bought me an Ixion Fowler GWR Diesel for an Easter present and this arrived yesterday.

George T of this parish also gave me a lesson in the dark art of soldering this afternoon after we got back from Leigh O Gauge show. So I now feel much more confident about buying a brass kit to make a 16ton GWR Toad brake van.

Cheers, Ade.

Hi Andy, looking forwards to seeing all the new OO gauge stuff next week.

Hope you have had a nice Birthday.

Cheers, Ade.