JBM37404

4 minutes ago, PjKing1 said:

Looking good mate, I love the fact that with 2mm you can fit full length trains into a decent space with room to spare.

 

Paul

Cheers, that's my motivation, also the scenery can dominate hopefully as I am limiting to track to a handful of sidings. The N stuff has come along way now and once dome weathering and detailing is done holds its own. Just got to stop dropping small detailing parts on the floor!

Finally some progress, I have been waiting on a garden building to be constructed which was done just a couple of months ago. The baseboards arrived from MRS and were duly constructed. Behind the scenes finescale flexi track was constructed and now the final tweaks to the plan a going on. I have decided in keeping with the area that the line will feed in and out as a single track. That will mean trains passing. Also as I will be on my own operating it most of the time it's a bit easier. I am bugging a friend over some possible occupancy detection stuff  before the signalling is finished and hope to start laying track soon....

J

22 hours ago, meanach said:

Hi and thanks . 
 

The rock formations are from Woodland scenics moulds made with their own plaster type mixture . Once set I popped them out and hacked them about with a small saw. I filled any voids and glued them to my back scene using No Nails glue.
 

 They were given a sprayed base coat of brown (Rail Match Track dirt) then painted with Games workshop acrylics (4 shades of grey). Then I used MIG enamel based dark and  grey washes , working whilst the paint was still wet so that the colours blended . You have to work quite quickly with acrylic paint as it dries super quickly . Finally I dry brushed the edges with white and very pale grey acrylic. 
 

Ian 

Cheers Ian, 

Was thinking of using some Woodland stuff, last time I did anything similar was 30 odd years ago with chicken wire and paper mache!

John

Great layout. Fantastic era and stock quality is great with the weathering.

I wondered how the rockfaces on the cuttings were formed. I am looking to do some in places on my Highland mainline style N gauge layout.

Cheers

J

I wonder if they will offer snowplough front skirts as per the scottish fleet from the early 90s onwards?

Having dropped out the world of O gauge partly due to the lack of quality despite the prices going up Dapol are proving to be a right one twice in a row now here in N gauge. The mk3 sleeper was substandard and as result needs paint and transfers. The ST 156 isn't much better. My work bench queue is now huge although I will persevere.

Terence Lane is looking for a home, advertised on a well know auction site and various Face book groups. If anyone here is interested let me know. 

***Now sold****

Cheers

John

10 hours ago, Matt said:

Seeing Blair Atholl when I was a teenager shaped My modelling interests and my last layout was HML based - sadly my space was too limited to do it justice and layout is long gone. I’m sure you’re aware but there are loads of great books from past few years with evocative HML images over 1980 - present day periods.  I wish I had access to such great works when I modelled this area- if you’re not aware I can list some of better ones.

Got a couple of books, also spent some time up there over the years, also some good stuff on photographers albums online for reference. Was into following 37s for some time in the 90s and that took me to Inverness a fair bit.

6 hours ago, class26 said:

Good location with the viaduct, PW siding and passing loop. Fancy that myself !

Trying to figure out if I can do Findhorn viaduct justice or do something more traditional like Culloden.

2 minutes ago, class26 said:

Have you decided which part of the HML you will model ?

I'm going fiction for somewhere in the Tomatin area. Pretending that a small freight branch goes off and some sidings feature. Hopefully a viaduct of some sorts at one end that the single line will sweep over with some cant on the track to give it mainline feel. 

55 minutes ago, class26 said:

Will look out for your layout, i did contemplate the Highland mainline a few years ago. Always fancied a HST thrashing through the scenery !

That's it, full length HSTs and Sleepers plus the freight swing it for the HML for me. The Far North though is a great line. I love the desolation as it winds its way through the harsh but changing scenes on its full length.

J

This is great work, love the colours on the open stretch, building an N Highland Mainline layout myself in the new year plenty of inspiration found on your thread.

J

4 hours ago, 47475 said:

 

I like the sound of your plans.

 

I'm planning to use some of the Regional Railways MK2A TSOs to customise to Provincial livery, i.e. the lower grey band to be resprayed to InterCity beige and 'Trans-Pennine' branding to be added to some. The missing pieces will be the MK2A FK and MK1 BG, though.

 

I remember having a Lima TP set years ago in OO, may still have it in my parents loft. Those mods will work to get a TP set out of the RR livery. I imagine they will fly off the shelves when released leaving a few folks dissapointed so I have pre ordered for them.

5 hours ago, woodenhead said:

A BFK might be long time or never, it's not often we get a brake for the other end of a train!

 

However, this blog shows how it can be done:

Cheers, will probs do a conversion of some sort.

18 hours ago, scottystitch said:

It is perhaps surprising what is needed, coaching stock-wise, when we try and assemble authentic trains from official marshalling documents.  Taking just 13 of the 25 rakes required for my lifetime layout (off in the distance) - Glasgow to Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness - I need about as many BSKs as I do SK/SO.  Both of these types being the hardest to find:

 

BG 6

BSK 25

CCT 1

CK 14

FK 4

RU 3

RMB 5

SK 23

SLF 1

SLS 1

SO 4

PMV 1

 

Of the 195 Passenger and Non-Passenger Coaching Stock I'll need to populate the layout, I'm only short 20 now, mostly BSK and SK/SO.  I know they'll come and the cash is waiting ringfenced. I don't mind the wait, I've resigned myself to playing the long game.  But if I was just starting out in model railways now, knowing what I've learned over the last 10-15 years, I'd probably have chosen OO9 as my primary scale. 

 

It certainly helps to have more than one focus or even hobby.

 

All of this said, my feeling is that I am very much in the minority and most modellers don't really care all that much about authentic rake make-up (and that is not being derogatory). If a seven coach train is required, 5 SKs and a couple of BSKs/CKs I'm sure would suffice for most.

 

Best

Scott.

 

I am doing early 90s Scotrail so waiting on the RR mk2s which I will rebrand to Scotrail. They aren't offering a BSO or BFK in RR though which means I may have to respray or use something inaccurate. Also waiting on the 158 and cant get a Provincial 156 (Dapol) as they are absolute hens teeth. I managed to get a pair of Power Cars in Swallow mind by being lucky and the green 26 pair by fluke. Its proving to be a long haul job just sourcing the right N stock as others are finding. I will persevere though and refuse to go to the easy access 4mm scale as with 12ft I would be running half length trains or looking at another TMD layout.

On 18/11/2021 at 08:47, woodenhead said:

If you are all really that fed up with Graham Farish (and Dapol), perhaps you need to consider changing scale - Accurascale have lots of new locos coming out though many are possibly sold out.

 

It's hard to know what Farish are currently planning as the new approach to announcements means that we only get to know about them when the are ready as shown by the 00 scale 47, we can probably make educated guesses though.

 

I still think you also need to consider the current world situation, there is a pandemic, it is causing shortages of raw materials impacting many industries yet somehow Bachmann are expected to be flooding the market with stock for N gauge which is a fraction of the size of it's OO scale market.

I have just dropped out of O to N scale helped by the fact that the main O manufacturers Prices and the quality don't line up in my eyes. In N it attracts less attention from the powers that be as the prices are considerably less although yes for smaller models. My primary reason though is to run full length trains not cost or quality they were secondary reasons.

25 minutes ago, PjKing1 said:

Nice one just followed it, I see your in my neck of the woods to 

West Derby part of town

2 hours ago, PjKing1 said:

Hi John thanks for the kind words, my boards arrived within two days but Tim had what I wanted as a stock item, best thing to do is email or phone him and tell him what you want and when, he’s a pleasure to deal with and highly recommend.  I’ve got a little side project in the pipeline to in N gauge using code 40 rail, line yourself so I can run full length trains, let me know if yiu start a thread John I’d love to see your progress.

 

cheers 

Thanks Paul, link to my thread is in my signature Inverbrough Jcn. Nothing to see yet really I have been buying stock and planning till I have the building up. Have 3 26s one 47 one 37 and a pair of HST power cars and some wagon kits and a sleeper train set. 

@PjKing1Can understand the move to 4mm, I am dropping from O to N (Code 40 mind) in order to fit full length trains, will keep an eye on your work as its always a great standard of modelling. Out of interest how long do Tim Horn boards usually take to be delivered after ordering. We are building a Garden room which should be done around Xmas but I dont want the boards until its done but am keen to start the layout once I have the room built?

Thanks

John

7 hours ago, Rob Hayes said:

Sorry but I think this is the first time in a long time the colours actually look closer to how they was in service. The recent models of the last 15 years have had overly dark beige. The colours varied on the originals and where much lighter to start with. 
I agree it’s slightly to pale for some. But comparing to photos and memories this is much closer to what it should look like. 
people have just got used to looking at overly saturated shades. 
 

Yes  I agree. Though the InterCity font is wrong and other markings missing or wrong plus no silver window surrounds gives me the impression they phoned this one in. Frustrating as I have 7 of them to get up to scratch for my 1993 Inverness Sleeper train.

J

26 minutes ago, Duncan. said:

Hi,

Mercig are gradually introducing roof grilles and fans for many loco types. I can spply you etched footsteps and the deeper cab window frames found on scottish class 20s. I have designed the window frames so they can be finished open or closed.

Cheers

Duncan

Thanks for quick reply much appreciated haven't got any 20s just yet but thinking of having a go at the weedkiller Hunslet barclay ones in the future when my workbench empties a bit.

J

On 23/09/2021 at 16:18, Duncan. said:

20101 Ready for service.

Here a couple of photos of 20101, now ready for service on Shirebrook. Please note I have modified the standard Farish offering to a Scottish Region 20, with the deeper cabside windows, recess below the windows that used to house the token catching equipment, replacement roof radiator fan and grille (from Mercig Studios), etched steps below cab end and a general weathering. 

 

It is running day on Saturday so I hope to get some photos  of the loco on the layout.

 

Cheers

Duncan

 

Great work on the 20, I'm getting back in to the N world now and wondered if anyone does etched replacement fans and other such parts as I assume Mercig don't sell them individually (not that I have found). I want to start upgrading my growing collection once my garden building is up for my new layout.

13 minutes ago, jonhinds said:

Yep, first project full stop. Building the track is very straightforward, but I found the turnouts a lot trickier as the components need to be assembled in a particular order. I found the Finetrax thread over on the N Gauge forum to be useful, as well as a bit of careful trial and error.

Cheers, will have a look at that!

Looking at finetrax too for my next project,  this your first handbuilt track layout? How did you find it if so?

Here I go again switching from one gauge to another and back again. I have had much work going on in the house and my O gauge Terence Lane Shunting plank has spent much time on its side with little work done, That said its not a huge task to finish it off so my thoughts turn to the next project.

I have missed being able to run full length trains in model form and have an itch to return to some Scottish modelling which I had last done when I was a teenager around 30 years ago. Around that time I managed to get up to Scotland for what would be the final summers of loco haulage north of the border over the next few years. Fantastic it was to walk on to the concourse at Inverness and see a pair of Type 3s at the head of 1S25 Sleeper from Euston. The stock would be in for the 10:15 Edinburgh service and the 10:40 Kyle Service also. Not to mention what was on the depot and other trains that were booked haulage at the time. Anyhow my initial thought was how about Inverness in model form and set about on Anyrail trying to figure it out. I got some plans done given that I have approx 12ft X 3ft to work with. However the triangle layout is a bit awkward and requires some compromising.....

With time to ponder alternatives I thought no more stations, depots, fuel points wagon works etc. How about a scenic layout thats got some railway in it as opposed to a railway with some scenery dotted around it.  The more I thought the more its appeal grew on me. A bit of fast railway that goes double track to single and sweeps over a viaduct at one end. The other end which is double line can have a trailing crossover and a junction off to some distillery sidings and a tired old freight only branch serving a distillery further on.

Given the space I hope that the scenery will dominate and the railway will be just a part of it. I hope to incline the track towards the viaduct and put plenty of Cant on the curves to give it a mainline feel. Also use finescale track which will mean handbuilt points but these will look better for the effort I hope (will be my first go at this...)

I cant wait for this one I am slowly getting stock together and trying to figure out what I need to learn and plan properly next to get there with it...

J