Ben B

A couple of mine from the Worth Valley Diesel Gala... 37403 "Isle of Mull" at Damems on Sunday, and... ...37401 "Mary Queen of Scots" doing a good job of making Keighley look like a station north of the wall in the early 1990's :)

A few of mine from the KWVR Diesel Gala :) Those Scotrail coaches were wonderful, a nice bit of air-con on a hot day, and a well-stocked buffet/bar too!

I used to love Carlisle Station at night (I worked there in the cafe for a bit in the early 2000's, and on student nights-out would sometimes stop in for a bit on my way back to digs from the pub). I think it's that massive roof, it feels like being in a huge well-lit room. Loads of MGR and goods trains too at that point, great echoes under that roof when a 66 was pulling away from a crew change :)

I've a part-built tramway skirted Double Fairlie in a box somewhere... started it back when I'd plans for an industrial layout. 2 Nellie bodies on a Bachmann US diesel chassis... might have to finish it at some point

It's why the 08 shunter is my favourite diesel loco; high bonnet, coupled spoked wheels... and still in service on the main line when far more modern designs have been and gone. Imagine if the battery conversions (like they're trialling at that light-rail factory in Dudley) work out, the last few Gronks in revenue-earning service might see their centenary!

Actually I took it as being an arty real-world shot from high up on an embankment or above a tunnel portal, with flowers in the foreground (I started doing shots like that last year on the Ffestiniog), so I think it works. I think what helps convey the illusion is that the track is so good with proper sleeper spacing :)

Actually, add a pony truck at the back, and it has the flavour of the Taff Vale 0-6-2 tank loco no.85 on the Worth Valley. Oh, I do not need another project, I do NOT need another project...

That James rebuild has a bit more of a miniature railway, Ravenglass look, or like some of the Guest locomotives like Katie to my eyes, but it's absolutely lovely :) There was a great rebuild of a James into BR Express Blue livery on show at the Llangollen Garden Railway Exhibition the other week, enough to tempt me to buy one for a rebuild, though I'm thinking of something a bit more Midland-ish for mine, like a 3F or 4F...

Thanks- I managed to find the rules. My wife (who's a school DT tech) cut me a circle of wood, so no excuses, this time I'm determined to get a layout done :)

I remember when I worked at a cafe-bistro about 15 years back, we did a personality test with a visiting consultant one evening. Much hilarity came from the fact that, as we suspected, our most flamboyantly extroverted staff were the two cooks who spent all day in the basement kitchen, and the manager who was stuck forever in her office. Meanwhile, the two highest-scoring introverts were myself (in charge of daytime front of house) and my colleague Scarlet, who ran the evening shift :) Thing is, I pointed out to the consultant I was damned well aware I was an awkward introvert, I'd taken the job on purpose. As a shy, quiet, slightly depressive chap who'd graduated into an equally depressed economy where the only local jobs were in the service sector, I needed to get over my dislike of people if I wanted to earn any sort of a wage...

Maybe when the machines rise up and replace us, they might be tempted to keep a DCC "Flying Scotsman" as a pet, and the model shops will stay open. I for one welcome our new Robot Overlords ;) I'm a Clinical Education Technician, running and maintaining a dozen of these High Fidelity Simulation Mannequins. A friend jokes I'm a quisling, facilitating the machine uprising that will eventually doom us all. Personally? I doubt the robots can screw the planet any worse than we have ;) ...and yes, my copies of BRM go into the simulated ward as reading material in the waiting room!

Another great issue :) Am I imagining it, or did I see somewhere that there's a competition this year to do a Pizza layout? I can't seem to find a reference to it though, browsing back through the facebook page. I missed out on the Carl Ardent-inspired build last year (I started making it, did the baseboards, then for one reason and another ran out of time)

The long grey bonnet is the middle section of a class 58, the sloping sides had a coping saw run along the insides at cantrail level before they were gently flexed out, and they were fixed to the cut-down class 06 bonnet which had everything above toolbox-level cut away (the best way to make sure it still went snugly into the metal baseplate). There are two chassis, each slightly different (one has a larger plate for the cab footsteps, better hiding the steam loco cylinder block. I toyed with retaining this and doing a hint of jackshaft drive, I might still do if I can get some spare coupling rods). Originally it was going to be two bodies to swap on the chassis of the Virgin shunter, but I sacrificed the chassis from the miniature railway Class 06-conversion I did for Port Eden. Incidentally, the Caley metal steam loco chassis plate in the first pic is for a related build, which I ran out of time for, with a Wells clockwork tank loco body. Hopefully I'll be getting that built soon for the layout :)

Another one from me, from May of this year. I have family in Cemaes, and over the winter we went for a walk in the village, on a footpath to the quay. I thought it looked a bit too level and with a heavily-engineered bridge, and looked it up to discover it was a tramway. Anyway, the May weather proved rather better for photography. The quayside, where wagons had their loads transhipped to boats. The bridge in the middle of the village. Pathway a little inland. So far, so much a trackbed, but my Dad mentioned there was something interesting a bit further on the path... And there we go, rails in the... dust? As best as I can tell, the original track. The tramway served a brickworks inland (still there though mostly in ruins, and the tramway soon dissapears under the embankment of the new road). It was 2ft gauge, horse/man worked, and brought coal in and bricks out. Info from the Cemaes Bay Heritage Centre indicates the works only ran from 1907 to 1914, and the tramway was turned into a footpath in the mid 1970's.

Back on page 35, there was some talk of the Middleton Railway, and the connection between their running line, and the original link with the mainline (the Balm Road branch to Hunslet yard). Anyway, last weekend I was there for the gala, and with Elder Child needing some pics of disused railways for a project inspired by Joel Sternfeld's excellent "Walk the High Line" project, we strolled on with the cameras... Level crossing, very much disused. I'm sure I remember being on a train which reached this crossing this a few years back. One of the gates is missing now too. Looking towards Hunslet. I gather the last time the mainline connection was used was in the 1990's? Flangeways very blocked. Looking back towards Moor Road. There's something fascinating about a disused railway, though it is a little sad. :) But then, at least some of it is still in use, if only on galas. Apparently a lot of work had gone on here the weeks before, ballasting, new sleepers, etc. A vol was even there trimming the greenery moments before this, the first train of the day, arrived. Look at the dust being thrown up from the flangeways of the crossing. Moor Road crossing, I gather the main reason the branch is so little-used, as it has to be flag-controlled. Visiting Kerr, Stuart on the overgrown link to the Moor Road crossing.

Here's something new from me, from a project I've been working on for the Hornby "Collector" mag. I needed a couple of entry-level, budget industrial diesels, and didn't fancy just doing a repaint of an 06. I'll just post a few pics. Ebay for the Virgin shunter, Peters Spares for the rest. An evening with the razor saw, superglue, and pretty much no planning... Loco one, something a bit Hudswell-Clarke high-bonnet in flavour... And something a little more Yorkshire Engine Co. or maybe Bagnall with the slightly-angled bonnet sides. They're not quite finished yet, needing some odd details like extra handrails, a bit of filler and touch-up of paint, they were a slight rush job for a deadline.

I read in one of the mags at the weekend (Trackside, I think) that there's a long-term plan to have the loco at the Derwent Valley made functional, powered/charged by renewables as the site is quite breezy, and there's room for solar panels. The piece said it would be done in conjunction with York Uni. Should be good :)

I say, Mr.Nearholmer, can I ask a couple of questions please? What brand is your track? And how tight a radius are the curves? I've an idea for a micro (relatively speaking) layout, but it needs fairly tight curves... Oh and whilst I'm nagging, is your Austerity tank an Ace product? Thanks in advance :)

Something suitably summery? My foster-daughters were chucking a ball around on the beach at Criccieth yesterday morning, and a 158 rolled by so thought I'd try a slightly cheesy composition :)

Interesting to see Moreton-in-Marsh again; I lived in Moreton in the mid-1990's, used to like seeing the evening HST come through. Shame it's such a simplified track layout (there were more sidings near the signalbox; I recall Networker DMU's terminating here) and not sure I like the massive new footbridge, but good that the line has been doubled in the Chipping Campden direction, and the services seem better and more frequent now than when I lived there. Thanks for posting the photographs :)

Magna in Sheffield have done a good job of becoming a tourist attraction. Atmospheric old building, enough genuine industrial gubbins and a couple of the furnaces amongst the STEM exhibits, I was impressed with the place on a visit last summer.

Mine is due today, will be a nice pressie for after work :)

Waiting for the next issue of the magazine partwork? Engine comes with part 20 :)

One of the London police boxes on streetview could be entered, and it was the Tardis interior, I remember my eldest showing me during Lockdown :)

Absolutely loved that atmospheric shot- I'm supposed to be editing some of my own shots this evening but struggling to concentrate on the job, and couldn't resist knocking up the above for you. Hope you don't mind!