Jamie

No they all look like genuine shots of (mainly) locally-registered cars, maybe taken for sales? Some cracking period backgrounds and streetscenes too - only the most obvious of which I could place. Think the final car (Aston) is inside Waverley with the station pilot in the background. Nice wee slideshow

Annan, unless I'm very much mistaken. Opposite end of the country from Nairn

The Cav looks great Pix, cracking colour too. I'd enjoy reading about your progress on that somewhere - I've had a similar distraction over the summer after a spectacular MOT fail. It's funny though, how as winter draws in, the cosy workbench is way more appealing than lying on a concrete garage floor or damp tarmac getting showered in rust and underseal!

Interesting, I don't think I have seen a photo of any of these NBLs on the G&SW - I was going to question inclusion of the line to Ayr, but I dimly recall mention of them being tried on Ayrshire mineral work. My library's not bad as regards the sou'west - but coverage gets sketchy after the end of steam.

Also a photo in D. Cross' "On Glasgow & South Western Lines" - from memory it is an 8F hauled train in the vicinity of Ayr, Alloway Junction or thereabouts. I suspect other photos of the same train feature in other Cross publications too.

Davy the hard, unflinching stare of that dog at the wheel of a 4x4 is the stuff of nightmares. I can't outrun a Discovery on foot :-(

My old 205 has 'driving lamps' in the front valance, below the bumper. On other variants foglamps are located here and look broadly identical. The circuitry is different though, as are the lenses and beam pattern. The 'driving lamp' version has a plainer lens and is lit from the main beam circuit. A pair of rally spots are way cooler though! Edit: clarity

Some of the vehicles in that train were returning south in First livery, I passed it at the same spot last night. EWS/DBS 66 at the head. It took me by surprise so I couldn't say if there were enough green ones to form a full rake or not - some had already flashed past the window.

Hi, these two lines have good books available. The Cairn Valley book has been around for a number of years, published by the Oakwood Press. The Maidens & Dunure line book is much more recent. I *think* it is also Oakwood Press, but I may be mistaken - despite it being home territory I have not yet got round to buying a copy. It looks good though, from a cursory flick through.

Aye. I well believe what's being suggested but it's the accompanying sales pitch where the advantages are proclaimed (although some are pretty dubious IMO), while the drawbacks are pretty much denied. I can understand finescale HO modellers wanting to run 'improved' OO models on their existing trackwork. But otherwise why would I want all the difficulty of rebuilding stock to P4 tolerances then running it on lumpen PECO. Which I'd need to hack about anyway? Frankly if I could work to P4 tolerances for my tracklaying and stock rewheeling/mechanisms, I'd go the whole hog and get the benefit of realistic track. If one can't work to those tolerances I just don't see how this is an easier solution. If it were presented more dispassionately it'd probably be accepted as a sensible solution to a very closely defined, specific problem. The sales pitch verges on hyperbole though.

The MOT gods did not smile on my old 205 today, oh no. I must have angered them somehow. Pixie - perhaps a local marque specialist could be commissioned to inspect it?

The build saga is long lost to the bad old days of RMWeb server crashes. The layout is currently in hibernation but broadly unchanged. I look forward to the book - would be really nice if it covered the grouping era, as the final years of the line are fairly well covered already in print.

A quick look through flickr suggests to me that they were repainted at some point, see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/david_christie/6034210251 https://www.flickr.com/photos/d1015/6714774951 https://www.flickr.com/photos/beechwoodphotography/4773504654 The clue to me being the concrete kerbing below the sign becoming painted green along with the sign, whereas in the first (earliest) shot they're unpainted? A nod to the LNER history of the line maybe?

Bert, that's just gorgeous - thanks for the photos, I could look at that all day long.

Love the Alfas. I have a huge soft spot for the late 90s GTV but lack the baws to run one as a daily driver. There's a MG Metro hereabouts, looks really fresh and rust-free in white, but I'm afraid other than curiosity it doesn't do much for me. Small 1980s-90s hatchbacks have to have a lion on the front IMO, so I waste all of my modelling budget on preserving this bit of 1:1 scale French tin: (that's the co-owner using it as a picnic table, not me)

Backscene looks quite good for Ayr/Ayrshire I think - and I live in the town :-) Have fun, if I wasn't modelling the early '60s I'd be doing this same era as you here. Lotta love for the railfreight grey days.

I welcome the findings of "the people"*, Roger. Many eyes help build up the bigger picture :-) Looking at the combined review thus far, body looks a winner but I might want to swap bogies for some spares and modify the buffer position. Maybe one or two other mods like those fire extinguisher housings. It all looks fairly easy to fix, so it doesn't worry me much. Windows look great in the pics, don't look too prismatic and glazing bars seem to meet the perimeter rather than 'floating' as per other coaches. Hope they look as good in the flesh. * bit dismissive, don't you think?

Too much cheese afore bedtime is what puts the 'mad' in this McCann, I think. ;-) I'm not buying the jets theory. Somebody in the Roads authorities thought it was a great idea, there, a Lanarkshire stretch of the 74 and on the A90 up about Brechin. People keener than I might want to see if build dates coincide, or whether it was linked to certain ground conditions. Hateful surface to drive on.

Hope you both have a safe trip North. Let me know if you need any budding operators sent your way... to return the favour! See you at the big tin shed by the Clyde.

Standard 2 as the next challenge Mark, or is that blasphemy?

Think different, break the mould: go GNoS, GSW (for the brave) or even the NB.

Sunshine on Leith highlights variations on a corporate image theme: http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=39836

Indeed, trees to die for there! Look also to have a decent height about them too?

Wouldn't bother Stewart - like on Cully the pale off-white does a good impression of an overcast day. That said, your vegetation looks a bit drier than mine, so a bit more blue could be in order (not rail blue though Pete )

I think you're a wee bit harsh in your opening self-assessment Simon, but as that's not the thrust of your post I won't risk diverting it. Suffice to say, failures show you're pushing your own boundaries, and that you learn things (the hard way) from your mistakes.