Chris37044

Another new addition for Greenford, my Bachmann London Transport Livery 20227. Not much needs to be said for this one, painted up for use on London Underground Tours, it was regularly seen during 2017 going to and from the Ruislip Depot just up the way from Greenford. This is the Bachmann Collectors Club exclusive with factory fitted sound. It’s and absolutely gem of a model and looks the business. I have added all of the bufferbeam details at the cab end and attached the etched plates too. So enjoy these photos and a video of the chopper passing through Greenford.

Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all. A while back last year I managed to pick up this Hornby Arriva class 67 (67003). You might be wondering why I bought a 67 in this livery as Wales is a long way up the line from Greenford. Well it turns out 67003 waa a regular on the diverted Bicester MOD to Didcot via Greenford working. It seemed to be a stickler for this job as we have come across several shots of this particular loco performing this working! A cheap sound fitted example on ebay was too good to resist, especially when armed with the photo of 67003 running with just a single VGA van that my brother shared with me a few days prior to purchase - It was a small rake just crying out to be easily modelled. It will appear on the various MOD workings through Greenford on our layout, from the short and sweet single van, as well as 2, 3 and up to 5 or 6 even. It also has done some with FCA’s and FAA wagons mixed in for good measure too. I have included some of these workings captured by flickr users below. This is not the only 67 within mine or @WCML100 ‘s fleet. With EWS, DBS, Wrexham & Shropshire, Royal and Arriva liveries all covering these and other workings through Greenford to make movements even more intriguing. And here is the prototype and inspiration…

Following on from the arrival of my Accurascale Class 97, 97301 - I have now added a nice little purchase from ebay in the form of MK1 Inspection saloon DB999508 in Network Rail Yellow. This goes perfectly between 97301 and my Bachmann MK2F DBSO 9702. This makes for an interesting working, not one that has done the Greenford route to my knowledge but has done several workings out of in this setup from Derby to various locations across the country. DB999508 is a kit from DC kits and is finished off nicely, and makes for nice little coach in the middle of this interesting test train. I have had a little play with the set across the newly finished trackwork at the junction. So enjoy some pictures and some running shots!

Some close ups of my Hattons 66502 in Freightliner colours. I have had this for a while now but will be used as traction for my 36 long rake of PCA Cement tanks. It may also make appearance on the calvert binliner and bardon hoppers. As well as potentially any engineering rake and RHTT runs too.

Recently I took delivery of 97301 in Network Rail livery. This is the brilliant accurascale model and I was lucky enough to get a sound fitted example of this run. It looks great, the depth to the bogies are something else, the incredible detail in the form of the etched seperate metal kick plates down to the prototypical dim lights. The chains on the bogies look really good too, along with really crisp printing of the logos and numbers across the body. I have always liked the Network Rail yellow fleet and 97301 was an ideal candidate for Greenford as it has ran down the line in test trains on numerous occasions during our modelled period. One of my favoured workings was in March 2012 which featured a nice rake of yellow stock, working top and tail with DRS 37261 (another loco on the hitlist at some point!). I have featured a couple of photos linked from flickr and a video from youtube of the working along the Greenford branch and New North Mainline. I will be working on replicating the coaching stock for this rake in the coming months. Bellow are some photos of the new arrival on the layout (with a Network Rail DBSO for good measure!)

Another new addition of mine for Greenford has come in the form of this Network Rail MPV. It is numbered DR98956 / DR98910 respectively and has had some customisation done to it by JB Models. It features yellow light surrounds at one end, heavy weathering as per when on leaf clearing exercises as well an upgrade to Legomanbiffo DCC Sound. I have been after one of these for a while so glad to finally have one, especially with its extra custom features. The DCC sound is extremely satisfying and well worth it. This will be a great addition to the rota for the layout and hopefully soon it will be passing through on its duties. There are some pictures of the MPV below along with a video showing a demo of the sound to enjoy too 🙂

So, a recent purchase I made on ebay was this set of 4 Aggregate box type JNA’s. 3 are NACCO owned MRL branded with one being VTG unbranded. One is an outer with buffers, and the rest are all inners. This was an inpulse buy - however I have always liked these wagons and as they were such regulars at Acton, it was hard not to justify them. They are enhanced kit built wagons from S-Kits - finished to a pretty good standard. I will be adding to these with some Cavalex JYA’s (x7) when they eventually release, a further JNA box wagon, and a singular S-Kits KEA. All based of the real working found below in the linked video (from 00:25). They really look the part behind my Hattons EWS Class 66, really giving that feeling of those Acton workings. It will also look good behind my Dapol Class 59 in DB Schenker red too!

Keeping up the EWS theme going, whilst working on the layout recently - I snapped a couple shots of my new purchases from Ally Pally. Hattons Class 66 66079 in EWS livery. The plan for this one is to renumber to 66177 with its notorious white cab roofs. I wanted an EWS 66 for myself but one with a bit of unique character too - so 66177 stood out to me. I will also add the white roofs & renumber the loco in due course. I also took the opportunity to pose it along side my RHTT wagons also from Hattons with @WCML100’s EWS 66125 completing the formation at the back - A once regular occurrence during our set period of operation - Freightliner seem to have the contract / duty on this route and around the London end of the chilterns in more recent years. & the real life prototype of 66177 for reference 😃

We had a good weekend at ally pally and a made a few purchases too. More on those to come but for now here is some pictures of another new arrival in the form of my new DBS class 59. This is the standard Dapol release and will be used on aggregate traffic including JHA’s, JYA’s etc. I have fitted the detail pack and name plates to finish off the model and in time will get it all weathered up.

Following on from the last delayed Warley purchase… here is one that I just hadn’t got round to posting yet! Grimy Times had some great weathered items on show and these Dapol HIA’s in Freightliner caught my eye. They had 6 of the newer batch available and after closer inspection I purchased the lot with a nice multi buy discount too. I also picked up a pristine white one later on in the day as well, taking the total to 7. I had no intention to start a HIA rake but after seeing them in the flesh all weathered up on the Grimy Times stand I was sold. I have recently added further to the rake with 3 more; 2x Green Early build types and 1 more later build in Green. I am basing my rake off the set in the video at bottom of this post, totalling at a healthy 15 wagons long. For now enjoy some pics of the one’s picked up at Warley and I will post further as I grow and work on the rest of the rake in the near future.

Hi all, hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. Not much time has been spare to work on the layout since the last update so I thought I would continue with showing some of my stock for the layout. One of the main diversion routes for Chiltern services when Marylebone is closed, is the New North Main Line to Paddington (until it was severed at Old Oak Common a few years ago). Our period between 2010 and 2015 provides us with good scope for variety for the diversions of this service. From Wrexham & Shropshire to the transition and evolution into the Chiltern Mainline brand - with class 67’s and 68’s being used as traction during our timeframe, along with MK3 coaching stock and DVT. So far I have acquired both a Class 67 and 68 in the two tone grey as well as the MK3 DVT as seen below. I aim to build up a rake of Oxford MK3a’s resprayed in the correct livery to match at some point however I haven’t decided which exact variation of the coaching stock will be depicted just yet, due to the many variations it has seen over this period. I will likely have 2 different rakes to show the variations and have at least one which will suit both the 67 and 68 operation periods. @WCML100 also has a few 67’s in his fleet which can provide alternate power on occasion to mix it up. These include EWS, and DB Maple Leaf liveries - both seen regularly in front of the these trains when the usual Grey 67’s were in for Maintenance. While the weather isn’t great both of us will probably stick to rolling stock projects for the time being but hope to be back working on the layout soon! Enjoy these pictures for now!

Hi Guys! I am the co-owner of the layout along with my brother WCML100 so wanted to introduce myself on to the thread and wider forum. This weekend we visited Warley and had a great time catching up with people and speaking to manufacturers as well of course making some purchases! One of the purchases for myself was a pair of Cavalex PGA’s. After doing some research I came across Cavalex’s very helpful page of PGA formations and found an interesting short mixed rake. This included (in order): 1x PGA, 2x RMC JGA’s, 1x PGA, 1x RMC JGA, 2x PGA’s. So I managed to get a rake of RMC liveried JGA’s recently and so was on the look out for some PGA’s to match at Warley. I managed to pick up 2 from the Trains 4U stand (one pristine, one weathered) and I have to say the detail is outstanding on these! Very impressed to say the least with these lovely little wagons! Can’t wait to finish off the rake with only a further 2 PGA’s needed for this nice short little rake! I will be posting more of our layout rolling stock and progress going forward, but for now enjoy some pics of this Mountsorrel Mixed Rake!