SparxD428

Evening All, I think I've spent more time in the garage in the last 2 weeks than I have the previous 2 years ! Have been doing a few light weathering tasks but not much to see, so instead here's a couple of pics of trains from tonights running.. 08243 (CW) on loan to OC back in service as Acton Green pilot parked up in the speedlink siding.. ..whilst London life goes on above. Think I need to repair one of the retaining walls, its listing a bit !! whilst at Acton Green 50008 waits to haul the breakdown BGs to Laira for servicing whilst 50020 can be relieved of pilot duties with the return of the 08 and will head off to OC soon Cheers, Stu

Evening All, A bit of track cleaning, some wheel cleaning and oiling of bearings today as I had a few hours spare this afternoon. Layout is running surprisingly well given its relative lack of use in the last 12 months. I now have a full length HST set (original 253 / 7 car) although it's a bit long for my layout. Ran a few trains and enjoyed a couple of hours of various different movements tonight, might even get round to finishing off a few tasks. 37284 on a short ballast on the depot upper yard 47418 , 31268, 50032, 50036 and 08243 on shed today 31102 parked on a couple of breakdown train BG's. Still need to finish these off 50010 sits at Acton Green with an early arrival to load an additional TPO to the West Country Cheers, Stu

The 2x 50s have received their transformation. I'm so losing any skills to remove the printed on nameplates on models these days, the numbers seem a lot easier. So Goodbye to 50004 & 50029, and hello to.... If I'd modelled Bristol to Gloucester I could have modelled the Fellsman 1 Railtour with this pair back in January 1988 , I remember it well, 36 had multiple working issues and was replaced by 34 at Gloucester for the main leg to Carlisle. Only when I was numbering these up did I realise I'd done a pair I have had haulage behind as a pair. They've had a little run out and now sit on shed I've left 36 in almost pristine condition as it was prepared once for Royal train standby, but I haven't added the network flashes to the headcode box as it didn't receive these until late in 1987 / early 1988 from picture history With the price of new 50s and even second hand ones I'm unlikely to get any new traction until Christmas/New Year. I'm beginning to seriously think about removing the liftout section, realigning the track in the fiddle yard and adding 4 extra roads behind the backscene just to give me extra on layout storage space. I still have a hankering to correct a lot of things and create either Acton Green 2, or something different but at the moment I don't really have the time. Got a few work trips coming up again so probably be a few weeks before I can do any more work on the stock. Cheers, Stu

Evening All, Another long hiatus but have been tinkering again with the layout recently, mainly just a bit of work on the stock. A new arrival is 73110 (originally the purple and lemon Dapol 73124). A lot of weathering and washing to try and dampen the purple to blue was done, as well as repainting the yellow ends to make them look less radioactive, coupled with having to strip down the pickups because the thing wouldn't move on arrival. Purchased a couple of Departmental yellow BG's to sit in the depot, one has been weathered an whitewashed to take away the gloss sheen, just need a breakdown crane to park between them now. The short container rake has been completed and seems to look and run OK. I've begun dampening the NSE blue on the Mk2B rake. Progress is slow and steady To keep a bit of interest I'm in the middle of providing 2 of my 50's with new identities (50004/029), as well as the old Lima 47402. Hope to complete them by the weekend and will post some pics shortly. Cheers, Stu

I have been working on my latest project of a short rake of Freightliner FFA/FGA flats and containers on a budget of no more than £150. It's currently half way through. I have purchased 5x Hornby Railroad FFAs and have so far done stage 1 painting/weathering on 3 of the 5 flats. I have scratchbuilt a couple of 20 foot OCL containers , added some ribs to the Red/Blue 30ft railroad containers and repainted them as unbranded, as well as purchased a couple of the P&O and ONE container packs. The P&O ones are very similar to 1980s style if not the same so they will stay but I will "unbrand" the ONE versions. I have built a couple of buffer beams for the outers from card but don't have any buffers as yet as well as needing to do some other minor details. A few pics of 47012 on a Southampton to Ripple Lane run.. View from wagon works bridge And panoramic (airbrushed out the underneath the layout clutter) Cheers, Stu

I'll certainly take a look at them when they arrive Rob for sure., the engineer sample pictures I've seen in the mags look promising. I see they're doing 14 and 21 in LL which I've already done so if I purchase an Accurascale #14 I might change my current Hornby one to 6 or 47.

Have been weathering up a couple more ballast wagons and creating loads to complete the rake as well as trying to further weather the TTA's and TEA's that I have. I've never been happy with their look either too clean out of the box or my weathering didn't look right so I have been applying layers of acrylic to try and get them to look a bit more realistic. A couple may need a bit more weathering and oil but they're getting there. View from the lake Also ran a few trains yesterday including at night with a down TPO paused on Platform 3 Cheers, Stu

I started yet another building for the speedlink platform but quickly decided it won't look right, so instead I decided to chop up some people (plastic ones) to make the old bashers coach a bit more populated. Started a second one too on the old Lima BSK just to keep in practise. So of course I had to have something worthwhile for the headhangers. Rugby special back to Wales anyone?? Trundling past Acton Green with a few headhangers.. Cheers, Stu

Unfortunately not, only 50028.

Completely irrelevant to any modelling but I've just gone back to the home page to see that me SparxD428 has had 428 replies and 42.8k views! 4-2-8 all round ! That will be 429 now I post this ! LOL

Had a quick visit to the Basingstoke show this morning to catch up with Ian and the Tidworth crew which was nice and also have a mooch on the trade stands. Picked up a few wagons and an NSE Second Open in to the bargain. Decided the depot Loco's have sat too idle for a while so had a bit of a light engine shunt rearrange, as well as running a few trains on the main line and trying better light filter options on the phone camera. A few Loco's in residence this evening Different light filter gives the impression of a sunny winters day at Little Oak Normal unfiltered image 33025 on the bank with empty vans which will head over to Waterloo later on Cheers, Stu

Cheers Adrian. In my world it would have been chucked on a previous days Bristol - Padd vans by Bath Road or could have come in on a Saturday afternoon Llandudno-Padd or Saturday night 1V19 19:20 Manchester-Padd

Has it really been nearly a year since I posted here? Looks like it yep. Not much to report really, layout has largely been ignored other than a few sessions to keep it ticking over but tonight felt like running some trains. Might get round to finishing a new building for the speedlink platform at some point too as fed up looking at what's there right now. That is my target by Easter anyway. Meanwhile OC turned out something unusual on the Padd-Bristol vans this evening Cheers, Stu

Some more weathering done whilst I ride out Omicron/Covid. Also had an issue on the down relief section on the lift out, as due to expansion the rails were misaligned causing 32 to jump into the station. A few tweaks and a temporary fix with 12mm screws and Blu-tack have got the line back open for now but going to maybe have to replace the hatch with a fixed board and realign the tracks better. 50032 back on track On shed at Little Oak, 50024, 50010 & 47012 Nearly finished the scenic frontage of the TMD Cheers, Stu

Weathering brushes out again. Have completed the short ballast rake, and made a start on 47012. Have also done the Railfreight flats, but just cannot seem to get the TTA's to look right so am keeping on experimenting. A couple of unexciting pics of 47012 and some wagons

First time I've been in for a while , Acton Green still around but not much happened, added a couple of items and slowly getting around to completing some tasks. Have some time off now so hope to complete the weathering of the ballast rake and the scenics on the TMD, all about 12 months behind schedule

OK, so finally cleared space to get to the layout the other week, then enjoyed a catch up with several members of this parish over at the home of Exford Park and Tidworth. The layout is running really well considering 8 months of neglect, apart from the Gaugemaster 15V PSu going bang when I turned it on first time. One quick visit to RS and back running 24 hours later. Just a few pics to remind me/everyone what Acton Green looks like. Also got a new phone with a better camera though I cant see much difference from the old one but eyesight is slowly fading these days. A couple of TMD pics and one outside Acton Green. I've just read my "to do list for 2021" earlier in the thread. Got some work to do if that's to be achieved this year! Cheers, Stu

Cheers Andy, It was good to catch up with the gang again and get some mojo back for modelling. See you at the next one. In the meantime I'll probably post some updates again for the first time in 8 months although as you know not much has happened on the layout since my last post

Great video Ian, layout is coming along a treat.

Very nice layout Warpy, my favourite era too. Looks like plenty of fun to operate as well. Cheers, Stu

Now, just to make the "D". Considering how fiddly it was putting 410 in the headcode boxes it may be a while before I attempt to fabricate a transfer. Etched plates fitted now and bufferbeam steps put back in place. And a quick test run on an Oxford - Paddington to welcome her to the fleet. Cheers, Stu

Weathering is now completed on 50010. Just need to add headcode numerals, refit steps and fit nameplates to complete the look. Also number 7 looks a little less glossy at the front, with only light weathering. I should really add a cantrail stripe for my era but that can wait a bit.. Hope to have 10 finished by the weekend Cheers, Stu

Thanks Ian, excellent picture and helpful too, I can clearly see the 410 part of the headcode numbers is centred. I only had 8 recorded runs behind number 10 , the last being on 12/04/88 from Paddington to Tilehurst on the 18.14 Padd-Ox. Remember having it from Exeter to Basingstoke on a Sunday night and it failed to make it out of the tunnel until 33204 was sent to push it up the hill to Central. Also had it on a particularly raucous 01.40 Waterloo - Yeovil (and return workings) ! Cheers, Stu

Number 10 has begun undergoing it's transformation from shiny limited edition Landore paint job to the 1987 version. Photo's seem to make it look worse than it does by eye, although my freehand orange cantrail stripe needs a bit of hiding with the weathering after masking proved difficult for someone of my paintbrush skills and failing eyesight. So far it has gone from this:- To this:- Next stage will be to weather the bodysides , underframes and yellow fronts. I am being picky but the black band around the windows goes a little too low for my liking but I will probably make it look worse if I attempt to yellow it up a little. Once weathering is done I will have to make the "D410" numerals it carried in the headcode boxes at that time. I can use IC exec carriage numbers for the 410, just need to fabricate a "D" Hopefully by the weekend "Diana" will be ready for service. Cheers, Stu

Firstly, a Happy New Year to all my friends here on RM Web and I hope we can all have a decent 2021 and maybe even meet up again and go to a show or two ! This year New Years Eve was spent tidying up the garage and shifting some of the under the layout furniture so I could accommodate a TV in the garage, as we finally got a new one for the lounge so I can now plug the laptop in to the TV in the garage and use TV on the go to watch the football scores if I feel like spending Saturday's with the trains. So what else, is new? Well, these 2 arrived pre Christmas. 50010 arrives in its 1983-spring 1985 guise with a blue roof. That won't be there long, limited edition or not, I intend to paint it grey and make number 10 look like it often did, tatty and dirty. As with 50007, some light weathering will suffice particularly around the roof/cantrail area and bufferbeams as at the moment they are just too red. The TMD was very busy stabling motive power over the Christmas holidays. Back to today, and early morning trains running have 50021 on the up TPO at daybreak(ish).. As I've cleared some space around the layout can get a better view of the lake I added a while ago to give the curved finish to the scenic section And finally whilst 21 is checked at the Up Main Signal, 14 thunders by on ECS to Didcot for an early morning commuter return. So , my plans for Acton Green for 2021 are:- 1. Finish the Underground line 2. Finish the TMD scenics 3. Remove the lift out section and replace with a fixed board, adding extended sidings around the back of the layout for more stock 4. Add some lights to the TMD and get higher rated PSU's to control the existing layout lights 5. Actually get some Class 47's 6. Audit and experiment with some DCC settings for better control on certain locomotives Not much to do then.. Cheers, Stu Happy 2021