Ben B

Agreed- those plants near the fence are extremely convincing!

Looks good, particularly the weathering on the panel lines! (Back to Gerry Anderson again, but... Star Wars gets a lot of credit for the whole used/battered/weathered science fiction angle, whilst it has to be said Derek Meddings and his team were doing that back in the 1960's). Will be interested in seeing how your X-Wings turn out, I have one in the stash which I keep being tempted to build, but don't seem to find the time...

It's why the cliff railway was closed for so long recently, the engineers mending the bottom-tenth of it accidentally tunnelled through the base of the Flat Earth and risked the cars falling out of the Matrix, disturbing the dinosaurs and lizard-people secretly running things. Better stop there, in case Mods Andy and Phil are in on the conspiracy ;)

My best mate grew up in Bridgenorth. He's 6ft 7, I'll have to ask him if he only moved away because he kept banging his head on the tunnel cielings ;)

Out of interest, do/have any units carried this scheme in preservation? Just thinking, the KWVR made a splash with their 101 in plain blue, and how they might top it with their 108...

Daft as it sounds, when I was at college in Stourbridge there was a lot of talk about tunnels under the town. Our Geology lecturer told us about it all, in connection with the Kinver rock-houses. Our college had blocked-up access from the basement into some, apparently a couple of tunnels that had been part of a tannery linked into them, the stone under the town being quite easy to dig out. It was meant to be heavily radon-contaminated though. I like the idea that there's a conspiracy of trogladyte Morlocks under Bridgenorth, biding their time. Either that or the SVR has the Strategic Steam Reserve under that hill ;)

I spotted that... I bought one for a tenner from the sales coach at Midsommer Norton last year, unbuilt. And that was a fiver more than the lady on the till was asking, but I was having a nice day out and told her to keep the change.

Question for the West Mids modellers... Ace Models in Dudley was my old haunt as a child, but I've been trying to remember a second shop in Dudley that sold model trains, it was near the Fire Station, I think it was on St.James road? I got an Airfix MK.2 from there with pocket money, and remember really wanting a pair of second-hand Lima 4-wheel shunters they had. From memory (we're talking 30 years back) it was small, pretty much a room with a counter, compared to Ace Models. Anyone else remember it?

I love stuff like this; I built a micro layout a couple of years ago inspired by the embryonic operation at Dolgarrog, but based off the old MoD line into the dunes near Harlech. I figured it would be a small, industrial diesels and single mk.1 coach kind of operation, ferrying holidaymakers from the mainline out to the beach. For a line which shouldn't have been closed, mainline, I'd have said Silloth, but it might also make a very nice preserved route. Characterful seaside town for the terminus, and a link to the mainline inland; if they could have kept the whole route into Carlisle, there could have been the possibility of tapping the WCML and railtours. Who knows, when the Freightliner runaway happened, and the goods lines were closed, it could have given the fictional preserved line a stop right into the centre of Carlisle, not far from Citadel Station itself.

And for added railway interest, weren't they the ex-Burry Port shunters with the cut-down bodies? I'm sure I've seen pics of Ashburnham (now on the KWVR) on the stretch near the East Lancs Railway

Guessing it'll become a boutique camping coach. Nice example though, and at least it will survive. There's quite a few bits in the NRM I fancy, reckon I could find room in the garden for the Port Carlisle coach, I need a new shed...

There seems to be two Angels- I used both in my pics. There's a smaller one, with toy like wheels at the wingtips, which came in a double pack with the armoured car. The bigger Angel (about on a par with the Airfix one) is nicer, but the pilot is horrifying, with big goggle-eyes. I recarved it to look like a full-face visor...

Class 97's rather than 37's, strictly speaking... the Cambrian Coast Express runs into Criccieth with the first excursion of the year. Being apparently the only photographer in town to lack a pole to stick the camera on too... After a nice afternoon on the beach, the weather had turned somewhat when myself and Elder Child went out to see the return at Minfford. Impressive, from this eye level from the public footpath. Lovely smell wafting down on us from the buffet carriage too :)

A couple from Whitby last Autumn during the half-term, where the NYMR's 31128 "Charybdis" was arriving into the town with a train from Grosmont.

I couldn't get the transfers to apply to most of mine, the kits were so old the transfers fell to bits or wouldn't separate from the backing paper. How did you get on with the SPV? I found it a very odd kit- the 'working' features really complicated the build (it had all the gubbins to motorise it, but not a motor itself which it said had to be bought seperately), and the caterpillar tracks at the back didn't work well with the aged rubber tracks, but the body moulding was rather nice. Again, I struggled with the transfers, but it was fun to paint even if I made a mare of the shade. The can of spray I bought turned out to be a different shade, and rather watery, compared to the label.