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Jonny, You are more than welcome. RMWeb is a close knit community of modelers who help one another out. I have asked many questions and am consistently impressed by the depth and breadth of the knowledge of the community. I think I have become a better modeler as a result of the generosity of this community. Good luck with your build and keep us updated on your progress - its always fascinating to see how others do it! :-) Steve

Hi Jeff, This may have been covered previously, but whats your plan for the white space in the viaduct arches? Steve

Hi Jonny, I am not sure you have room for a helix? It is helpful to have the measurements and Chimer has already provided an option. The poem is Grays Elegy: written in a country churchyard - one of my favourite poems, if a little morbid at times! :-) Good luck with the build, Steve

Hi Jonny, I am not sure how much space you have but you are working in OO gauge. Have you considered building the layout on two levels? Upper level: running around the room (per your plan) to include a station and some modest storage space for passenger and express freight services. This could include the OHLE you specified. Lower level: the location for the depot/industrial sidings/port? I would not to include the OHLE on the lower level - this would be unusual in this setting. This would introduce some operational interest (shunting/marshalling) while the passenger services chased their tails on the top level. Junction: it would be a squeeze, but you may be able to include a small junction to run a single line down to the lower level. If there isn't room, the two levels do not need to be connected. The upper level can be roundy roundy and the lower level can be end to end shunting space. I hope this helps. Steve

Silence is golden

Thanks @Torper. Sounds about right, I seem to remember reading the Dave Shakespeare used 7mm sheets for Tetley Mills. Steve

I think Ian Beattie did a lot of the drawings in RM, some of which were also captured in the "Locomotives of..." series of books

I have the same issue with Wills brick sheets - the arch liners in their viaduct kit. Very brittle and almost impossible not to damage when using them for their intended purpose.

John, You are absolutely right, but my perfectionist self is manifesting itself. I will reassess my options! Steve

I agree that they would be difficult to get them from an embossed sheet, although I do recall seeing somewhere a sheet with different arch sizes created - but think these were designed for door and window apertures. I wonder if the voussoirs could be more effectively created by the likes of Scalescenes, where the size of the voussoirs could be scaled to the size of the arch? Failing that, creating the voussoirs from Das clay ala @Physicsman is not such a daunting prospect. Steve

Nile, It is my understanding that the arch dimensions are consistent on both sides of the viaduct - it is the piers that vary in width to accommodate the curve of the structure. Does that make sense? @Physicsman and his thread on GIll Head has covered this in some detail. Steve

Dave, I am not totally committed to have texture. Scalescenes provides a great example of what can be done with photo based materials. I do like your suggestion, but whilst I consider myself reasonably technical, this would be a very steep learning curve having never done this type of thing before. The viaduct is Dandry Mire and there are plenty of good pictures on the web. I am fascinated to learn how to get the scale/proportions right. The version I am building is 1/3rd smaller that the real thing. I will look into some video tutorials on the software you mentioned. Thank you Steve

John, I do have a Wills viaduct kit, which I have considered adapting, but as you say is cost prohibitive at close to £100 for my purposes. I would also have to augment their kit as it has brick liners and needs a brick parapet. I was thinking about using it as a template but the arches are two small, mine being 130mm wide where as theirs are 114mm. I also need it to be on a curve of varying radii (36" to 48"). This would mean chopping it into individual arches. :-( Thank you for the suggestion and apologies for not making the wider requirements clear in my original question. Steve

Hello Everyone, I am hoping for a little bit of help regarding embossed plastikard and similar. I have been trawling the web and RMweb to try to get a feeling for the quality of these materials. I have a large viaduct to build (7' long x 6" high). Unfortunately I do not have the patience of @Physicsman to lay stone courses in Das clay and am looking for a quick but effective alternative. The finish I am looking to achieve can be seen below. I am thinking there are three finishes required: large dressed stone blocks for the piers, smaller dressed stone for the arches and liners and brick for the parapet walls I am very familiar with Wills sheets, but their small size and thickness (making cutting difficult) put me off. I am aware of SE Finecast, Slaters, Redutex, amongst others; I have some brick embossed plastikard (I don't know which brand) but it looks like the mould is quite warn as some of the bricks totally lack relief - although I now we are talking about fractions of mm. Finding good images of these materials on the web has proven quite a challenge. Can anyone provide their insights and guidance on these materials to guide my decision on which products to buy for this job. Thank you in advance. Steve

Seep PM1 motors are much smaller than Peco and have an inbuilt switch if you want a small solenoid motor. The are also comparatively cheap. Would the recently introduced Peco/Rails surface mounted motors be an option? They are also small and fairly straightforward to install compared to the other options?

.....and can you get a refund on your survey?

Found this little film today, which provides a really interesting insight into the conceptual planning of the channel tunnel, in 1961. Lots of very familiar looking stock which makes it seem quite surreal, but a lot of the concepts actually became a reality 40 years later!

An another - somewhat closer to home:

F-Unit, I wish I were a teenager, and didn't just sound like one! :-) I was just quite surprised that most names originated overseas, but understandable for those configurations that didn't run in the UK. Steve

Because :-)

Got mine from Aldi - <£10. One of the most useful tools I ever bought.

Strange how many of the names originated in America!

Not sure what made me think of this but I am hoping RMWeb can help with a bit of a random question. I have taken a look here and on the web, but can't find any explanations. So, here goes. Does anyone know the origin of the names for loco wheel configurations, so why is a 4-6-2 a Pacific, a 2-8-2 a Mikado, a 2-6-4 an Adriatic, a 2-6-0 a Mogul, a 4-4-2 an Atlantic and so on? I am aware of the Whyte Notation but have struggled to find how these names, among others, came to be associated with these wheel configurations. Curiously yours, Steve

Thane of Fife arrived today, courtesy of Amazon, I have to say I am very impressed. I know a number of people have found several faults with the earlier version, I presume mine is one of the later batch and looks superb straight out of the box. Well done Hornby.

Hornby R3831 BR A2/2 Thane of Fife is also good value at £134+change and free delivery: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hornby-R3831-Thompson-Class-4-6-2/dp/B08485NFJ8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Hornby+r3831&qid=1621457286&s=kids&sr=1-1