Locksley

Hi Graham, These look absolutely excellent! It was after a discussion with a fellow club member about the lack of wagons to go with the Hornby TT 08 that I first thought about drawing this design up. I'm delighted to see they print well in 3mm! I drew the VGA to roughly match the Bachmann model so the main dimensions should match that - with a few improvements here and there. It still baffles me how the Bachmann model is missing the coupling hooks! I'm completely new to TT so I'll try and get my hands on some wheelsets to have a go myself. Are there any off-the-shelf buffers and coupling hooks available in 3mm as there are in 4mm? Are there any that are recommended? I guess if not I may have to draw some up and try a print. Looking forward to seeing these painted up! And thanks again for purchasing the file!

I couldn't actually find these on their website, the link appears to just default to the home page, or at least for me it does. They are however listed on eBay for £15, there's still 3 x 47628s and 4 x 47714s left at time of writing. I managed to nab a BR blue one before they dissappeared :) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234680959019?var=534393229616

The show went really well, despite being a tad quiet, I had some great comments and even an invite to an exhibition in 2023. Hoo Ness ran excellently, with the BEL racking up some serious mileage over the 2 days having run almost non stop for 13 and a half hours! No issues arose except for a single minor derailment. I resisted the temptation to buy a new Minitrains loco for the layout, even though 2 separate traders had a nice selection (and even the promise of a discount) but I think one will be nearing the top of my list soon.

The Sheffield exhibition went brilliantly, a little quiet, but good fun. Garnswllt ran flawlessly both days and I had some great comments, plus an invite to an exhibition in 2023. Unfortunately the show hadn't even opened on Saturday before I made my first purchase! I've had some vague plans floating around in my head for some sort of On30 layout for a while so thought I better give this little Porter a new home given it was such a good price.

Delighted to be back! As I mentioned on my Hoo Ness thread, massive thanks to Andy for his gargantuan effort in getting us back online. The Sheffield Model Railway Enthusiasts exhibition is this weekend (April 2nd-3rd) at Birkdale School, Oakholme Road, Sheffield, S10 3DH. Garnswllt will be there, as well as Hoo Ness unexpectedly making its debut public appearance! If you've ever had the unexplainable urge to see either of these in the flesh, do come along and say hi. I've even bought a Jinty!

Good to be back! Pity about the loss of photos but I'm sure it could have been much worse. Massive thanks to @AY Mod for his gargantuan effort. The Sheffield Model Railway Enthusiasts exhibition is this weekend (April 2nd-3rd) at Birkdale School, Oakholme Road, Sheffield, S10 3DH. After a couple of dropouts, Hoo Ness will be unexpectedly making its debut public appearance! I'm also taking along Garnswllt, so if you've ever had the unexplainable urge to see either of these in the flesh, do come along and say hi.

Having finished my latest layout I thought I'd dig Hoo Ness back out again. Since the last update I've clad the baseboard edges with balsa to neaten it all up a bit, and I've also wired in a DCC plug. Although the layout runs fine on DC I figured if I can fit a chip & stay alive in the BEL then it'll run even better, and more importantly, slower. I finally got the rolling stock I bought last year painted up, complete with sand/spoil loads. These generally run well however I've found that the little Roco tippler has a tendency to pull the other wagons off the rails as it doesn't roll particularly well - I think I need to check the back to backs and probably put a spot of oil on the axles. Pretty happy with how it's turned out other than that though. I think the next step will be sourcing a better chassis to redesign the Hibberd around, I've seen a few 'ARU' ones on Plaza Japan which look considerably better than the one I have now. It'll be nice to have a decent alternative to running the BEL all the time.

Got the big camera out to get a few shots this evening.

Well, I think I'm ready to call the layout complete. Really pleased with how it's turned out. I even got the Christmas tree box to put it in I finished off the pair of NGS Bogie Bolsters, as well as a trio of Peco 15ft plate wagons. As usual for me, I painted each side of these up differently, some are based on real examples seen at various BSC sites, some are more fictional. Really struggled to get decent photos of all these for some reason. Finally, I've made a start modifying the latest Hunslet. This involved T-Cutting the number off the cabside and adding some wasp stripes along the chassis. This is just awaiting some BSC decals from Narrow Planet.

Thanks again Paul, I'll give it a try!

The bogie in that photo is the same type as came with my kit, the NEM pocket part which is the bit in the middle left of the sprue clips onto the bogie where those 2 notches are. I might forgo the NEM pocket and just use the Elsie type, or whatever it's called.

Thanks Paul, part of the issue is that the NEM pockets are moulded as part of the bogie so as far as I can tell their position can't be adjusted short of cutting the whole thing off.

First of the internal user bogie bolsters complete, this one is an E finished in a scheme very similar to some at Stocksbridge. I have a further pair of Bogie Bolster C's still to build. The kit is from the NGS and is absolutely superb, I honestly didn't realise the NGS were knocking out such fantastic kits. Comes with everything needed inc metal wheels, turned brass buffers, excellent instructions and the most comprehensive decal sheet I've seen in a model railway kit (which unfortunately I've used none of being an IU wagon!). My only slight disappointment is that the NEM pockets and couplings stick out way too far. I'm planning on standardising on ELITE Hunt couplings once they come back into stock at West Hill so I think I'm going to try and mount them slightly differently once I have them.

Busy weekend on the layout, tbh I'm about 99% done. I got the lighting wired up which was a bit of a nightmare but it all works well and looks great irl despite being very difficult to photograph. Each building has internal LEDs, floodlights, and entry signals which are switchable from a switch on the facia. I've since added a smoke wash to the signal lights to heavily tone them down as they were far too bright. In other news, the Hunslet has multiplied And finally for now, I've finished off the area around the gatehouse. I found quite early on that there's a real lack of late 80s - mid 90s era vehicles in N scale, luckily I was able to find a decent selection on Thingiverse and with a bit of modification and scaling down they 3d printed pretty well. I think they look quite good now they're painted up. I've also added the rest of the general clutter to this area too. All that's really left now is to add some downpipes to the main works building and I think I'm ready to call it done.