landscapes

Good morning Gilbert Wow 101 pages, how about a new A4 in white livery with black spots to celebrate, built in Disney's studios Do you know what class of locomotive you are going to build under Tony Wright's supervision? I would love the opportunity to have a go myself but I know I just do not have the skills required or the patients either. I have taken the easy way out, I am having PDK build me a A2/2, should be ready in about 8 months time. I love the photo looking down the tender of A1 60120 Kittiwake on the QSP, great realistic shot, it only needs a puff of Photoshop smoke to make it perfect. Good luck with the model. Regards David

Good morning Gilbert What a great model conversion Tony is working on, I am convalescing at the moment ofter a small operation and it was only yesterday that I was watching Tony's DVD of Little Bytham for the hundredth time, it came free with the February 2011 addition of BRM, what a collection of locomotives he has. I have never met Tony but what an inspiration that gentleman is to railway modelling, in the DVD he mentions this is the first progress update of Little Bytham, hopefully he will produce a second DVD soon. Also looking forward to the next instalment of Peterborough North. Regards David

Many thanks for the camera conformation Gilbert. Great photo of A4 60012 with the DMU approaching, in my opinion it's one of the best photos so far. With the signalling and surrounding structures it really pulls the layout together, and with a little bit of smoke from photoshop it could almost pass as the real thing. Please keep the photos coming. Regards David

Good evening Gilbert It's good to see the latest photo updates, I am very much into railway photography myself, I use a canon 5D MKII when I am out and about on the preserved railway's but I find it to big to take model locomotive photos. I must say how impressed I am by the quality of photos you have been taking on Peterborough North over the past few months. I know some time ago you said you had purchased a new Canon G12 Powershot camera, may I ask was this the camera that was used to take the Hornby & Bachmann coach photos you have just put on your thread as I am considering buying a smaller more manageable compact camera and the G12 has a very good report. Regards David

Hi Ian I have renumbered quite a few Hornby and Bachmann A1's, A3's, and A4's in 00 scale and I just use a cocktail stick, just slightly blunt the end and rub the decal gently and it comes off fine. Apply a coat of Johnson's Klear before and after you apply any new transfers and that should be all you need to do. I would recommend that you try this method on an old loco first. Regards David

Hi Guys I know just how you feel, those connectors are made for the Borrowers, incidentally the Hornby extraction tool does fit and remove the connector. I purchased one about six months ago for about £3.50 have never looked back since, a great little tool to use. Regards David

ColourRail have a photo of 60860 taken at York in 1961 and the nameplates have a red background. Regards David

Hi Gilbert I am very sorry I seem to have started up a nostalgia trip for many of our fellow spotters who like me enjoy seeing the progress and photos of your Peterborough North. But as Tom said it's very enjoyable hearing others memories of those great days, I was fortunate to be there for the last few years to see steam of the ECML and I still very much enjoy hearing others recollections. Perhaps we should start a new thread on this subject rather than hijack yours. Regards David

Good morning Gilbert Great to see the photos of A1 60141 Abbotsford, That was my very first A1 pacific, I saw it on a south bound express during my first expedition to Finsbury Park Station back in 1962, first stop out of Kings Cross. In fact it was only the second pacific I had ever seen the first being A4 60028 Walter K. Whigham on a north bound express five minute earlier, happy days. Sorry to waffle on but I am afraid that's what your Peterborough North layout does to us old trainspotters. Great layout and as usual great photos, please keep them coming. By the way did Tim do the weathering for you? Regards David

Hi Tim Many thanks for the information you me sent earlier. Well here's 60027 Merlin transformed into 60004 William Whitelaw one of Haymarkets finest locomotives. She has 247 brass etched nameplates, front number plate, works plates and shed code, also fox transfers were used for the cab-side numbers. She or He has also had two coats of Johnson's Klear. At some point I will carry out a very light weathering as I want the loco in ex works condition. Regards David

Hi Eric Great photos and a great layout as well. Harry Knox's second book on "The History of Haymarket MPD" also has a very good photo of Kenneth Moore taken on the fourth Bridge during filming of the 39 Steps. I must be honest it was the article in BRM back in 2009 regarding your layout Longdrem & Pinkhill, and Harry's publications that gave me the idea of modelling Haymarket MPD, a motive power depot I have always had an interest in but never got to visit. So three years later here I am now trying to build a 4mm scale layout of Haymarket engine shed, Harry has been very helpful with information regarding the depot building itself, I have been able to get much information from his two excellent publications of Haymarket but there are still many unanswered details I require especially relating to the roof structure and roof window lights and there locations. When the model starts to look more like an Engine Shed I will publish some photos in due course. You have a fantastic layout that is an inspiration to all railway modellers interested in the ECML and the locomotives that use to work on it. Regards David

Hi Tim Many thanks for your help and information, 60027 Merlins nameplates and cabside numbers have now been removed and just waitiing for 247 Development's brass etched nameplates and number 60004 William Whitelaw. There is still a small amount of glue on both sides of the loco body following removal but I do not want to chance any damage and I am sure the new nameplates will cover this ok. Thanks again. David

Hi Tim Regarding the Hornby A4 60012 you have altered recently for Gilbert, I am sure I have read somewhere that this was originally the new Hornby A4 60027 Merlin. May I ask how did you went about removing the plastic namelpates that come usually welded to the A4 body, the last version of 60027 Merlin I altered caused some damage to the surrounding loco body area which still shows after fitting new 247 brass etched nameplates. I have just purchased a new Hornby 60027 Merlin on Ebay which I intend to change to 60004 William Whitelaw and I do not want to have the same problem again removing the plastic nameplates. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Regards David

Thanks Tim I am afraid that Haymarket 64B is a long term semi retirement project for me so it will take some time as I want to get the model layout as close as possible to the real thing, my next quest is to get a superior brick finish cladding which includes brick arch lintels around the top's of the side windows to face up the MDF walls. Harry Knox's two books on Haymarket MPD have been a wonderful source of information for me and using my old building surveying skills I think I have got the profile and size just about as close as I can get without the availability of dimensioned drawings. I have so far 13 pacific locomotives Classes A1, A2, A3, A4, plus a Clan Class as well all Hornby and Bachmann and most have received a coat or two of Klear so I know how it can improve a model locomotives looks but that last photo you have published really makes it hard to believe that its a standard Hornby A4, it looks stunning, lucky Gilbert. When the time is right and funds are available I still hope to have an A2/1 or and A2/3 added to the list of 64B locomotives, you will know what I mean. All the very best. David

Hi Tim Many thanks for the information, you have done an excellent job on A4 60012, I am sure Gilbert will be very pleased to see it running on Peterborough North, the jewel in the crown as they say. You made me laugh with your comments on the Johnson's Klear thread link, as it was me that started that one up. I do enjoy all this debate about the old and new products of Klear. I can tell you first hand there is no difference between the two as far as I can see. Replica Railways who are based in Swindon kindly let me have one of their white plastic coach bodies to try our the new Johnson's Klear, so I applied the old and new side by side on the coach roof, I thought white plastic would show up any colour cast, I could not see any difference what so ever. I know the new product is a milky colour but it does dry Klear. I was interested to see A4 60012 as I am scratch building a 4mm scale model of Haymarket MPD 64B, I originally tried cutting out the walls in Balsa Wood but found it too difficult to cut the circular and arched window openings required so I have now got York Modelling Ltd to laser cut them for me in 3mm thick MDF, the model of the main shed building would be 1200mm x 510mm at 00 scale so I have reduced the overall length to 720mm to make it more manageable. I am also building up a fleet of Haymarket 64B based pacific locomotives and 60012 is one of them, here's A3 60097 Humorist one of my favourites Keep up the good work Regards David

Hi Tim 60012 look fantastic all ready for the Elizabethan, how do you apply the Johnson's Klear, by brush or airbrush? Regards David

A very Happy Birthday Gilbert Your progress and photo work of Peterborough North just gets better and better. Regards David

Hi Eric As Tom said it's great to see more photos from your layout Longdrem & Pinkhill. You have an incredible selection of locomotives. Regards David

Hi Kingfisher24 Great set of photos and good to see this thread on the move again. Regards David

Hi Gilbert Another superb set of photos, I really look forward to seeing each addition of Peterborough North as time goes on. Keep up the good work. Regards David

Hi I purchased my bottle of klear in the Swindon Tesco's store about four months ago, I have just been over to Tesco's this morning and they do not have any left on the shelves. I think both morrison's and Asda still supply it, you find it under Cleaning as you said or with the Floor Cleaning products. Regards David

Hi You can still obtain the new formula Johnson's Klear in Asda and some Tesco Stores, I tried it side by side with the old original Klear on white plastic coach body and there is no difference whats so ever. I would suggest to anyone by some now before the new formula disappears as well. Regards David

Good Evening all. I agree fully with Tim's remarks regarding a coat of Johnson's Klear on the Hornby A3's and A4's, it completely changes both the look giving the model almost a metallic look and brings the colour to life as well. I now give all my locos a coat of Klear brush applied to give that Ex Works look then apply what ever degree of weathering on top on the Klear, very happy with the results. I have just applied this to a brand new Bachmann A2 60533 Happy Knight, big improvement as well. Great photos as usual Gilbert, Peterborough North just gets better and better. Regards David

Good Morning All Great discussion on the cleanliness of loco lamps. I personally like to see locomotive lamps clean and white. Looking through colour photos of LNER locomotives in some of my reference books they seemed to be more of a clean white than a dirty shade of weathered white especially on express locomotives. Like all natural weathering I am sure the lamps are clean when first fitted when a locomotive as it leaves the MPD to start out on its journey, and they get progressively dirty as it completes it's journey just like the loco. When removed lamps I would have though are cleaned and put back into the MPD store and so it starts all over again. Freight loco lamps do seem to be very weathered, but I believe that they still had pride in appearance even with loco lamps in the late fifties. Regards David

Hi Gilbert Great photos as usual, so realistic. If anything can take me back to those great days in the early sixties watching Gresley, Thompson and Peppercorn Pacific's going by your Peterborough North layout can. Great work. Regards David