Barry Ten

Please do! My only visit to Atlanta was - gulp - 20 years ago (Jan 1992), in very cold weather. Don't remember too much of the surrounding topography other than a very chilly visit to Stone Mountain. Snow came in on the day we were due to leave and we were eventually de-planed after ice build-up on the wings. Staying in any central Atlanta hotels? The one I stayed in is the same one used in the film Manhunter. Quite amazing lobby, with elevators swooping up to dizzying heights. Love to go back, if only for that hotel! Perhaps I'll pop over for some railfanning fun

It's amazing, isn't it? Southern ceased to exist - what - 30 years ago? Guess they painted 'em good in those days.

A brief spurt of progress on the G,A&E: I can't believe how long it's taken to reach this stage of development on the top left corner - I've only added about two foot of semi-finished scenery in the last couple of years. Along the way there have been technical snags and minor rethinks, as well as long months where I didn't touch the layout at all (other than to run a train now and then) but I think things are finally moving forward again. The hidden storage yard is - touch wood - working really well, better than I could have hoped for, infact. Since I installed the monitoring camera, there have been no derailments and only the very occasional instance of a stalled train. Double-heading eliminates stalling almost completely, and most of the trains need it to get up and down the grades. It's not hard to lift the concealing scenery but I haven't had to do it more than a couple of times. Here are a couple of shots illustrating the start of scenic development on the 2% double-track grade. Watching slow freights creep up and down these reverse curves is very satisfying. It makes me wonder what could be done in a similar space using British models: maybe a South Wales branch line in the 70s, with double-headed 37s? The road over the tracks swings around to the left and eventually enters a town district, which at the moment is little more than bare polystyrene and a collection of unpainted buildings. I've included this shot (below) to give an idea of the modular scenic elements - as I've mentioned before, all the hills are removable and lock together in a way that is hopefully not too obvious when in place and covered with foliage. Some of the older hills, on the right side of the layout, haven't needed to be moved since they went in, over three years ago. I've also continued detailing some of the existing industrial areas. This building has received some additional roof detail and extra supports for the canopy over the loading bay. That's it for now, thanks for reading.

No, put them aside to work my on American layout over the last month. I'll pick up the 4mm stuff again soon.

Small consolation, Frank, but I can't be the only one who enjoyed seeing your layout in Model Rail, especially as we had seen its development on the forum. Here's to a happy and positive 2012 for you and your wife, and may we continue to see more quality modelling from you.

Here is a Lima siphon G on a pair of Blacksmith bogies. The bogies go together very nicely, and mine are running on the Bachmann coach wheels, via Gibson bearings. I had a lot of hassle getting a satisfactory ride height. The Blacksmith bogies come with mounting plates but these only increase the gap between chassis and bogie. In the end the penny dropped and I realised I needed to cut rectangular slots in the floor of the Lima chassis, one per wheel, to allow for flange clearance. This was achieved very easily, the bogies screwed directly in place via new holes, offset only slightly from the originals, and the model is now extremely free running and will easily negotiate 30" curves - probably quite a bit tighter as well. I have another of these to do and will have a think about extra detail and any necessary alterations to the underframe. Meanwhile, the BP project creeps along. Here is the motorised power car with the Chris Leigh bogie side frames in place. The black beetles have been wired together and run very well. I have set the leading bogie back a tad compared to the original mounting. The rear bogie is also set back a bit, but in this case to permit bogie swing without fouling the underframe detail. The dummy driving car will be treated similarly. Just watching this power car trundle up and down the layout is giving me an enormous kick, and a deep desire to move the project along. The nose handrails need to be removed and re-installed a smidge closer to the windscreen. I got it right on the other car. Nosing around Wilko's, I spotted some Plastikote enamel spray paint in what is called "Harbour Blue". It looks damn close to Tri-ang's version of Nanking blue so I will be keen to see how it comes out. The published material shows a wide range of reproduced hues for BP blue so I'm not going to lose too much sleep on it. As elsewhere, I apologise for the ropey photographs. It's a lot of hassle to set up a tripod for the layout so these were all handheld.

Decided to re-position the front bogie of the BP back a bit, and spent the last two nights putting separate handrails on the driving units. Very tedious but worth it as the extra detail really lifts the mouldings, which are quite nicely done overall. I have to decide whether to do the same with the lifting rings on the roof. You have to wonder why Triang cocked up the front so badly. I know there was a general requirement to have the buffer beam raised on Triang models, so that the coupling wouldn't foul when going up gradients, but why didn't they just leave off the coupling? I bet not many modellers ever coupled their BPs up to anything. Next job is to wire the Black Beetles together and arrange for DCC compatibility, although I won't fit a decoder just yet. I'm pretty impressed with the BBs and the ease of fitting; I may order a couple more to go under some of my older DMU/railcars.

To be honest, I wouldn't have started this Blue Pullman project had I known that Bachmann would be doing one in 2012. Back in 2007, though, when I started acquiring the bits, an RTR model seemed like a very remote possibility indeed. Even now, I can't see Bachmann ever considering a WR eight-car set being an economical proposition. A lot of modellers, myself included, would probably be happy with the MR formation (which, after all, did run on the WR anyway) - it ticks the BP box for me, and I'm sure Bachmann's model is going to be a stunner. Still, in the words of Magnus Magnussen - I've started, so I'll finish. Here's part of the formation under construction - two parlour seconds and a driving car. The parlours are all back to the front for the time being, since I need to find some clearance between the driving bogies and the (largely fictional) underframe detail. The driving car is running on black beetles. The bogies are Chris Leigh castings, the cabs are from Genesis, and the window inserts from Southern Pride. I currently have enough donor vehicles to do a 7 car set. With some moderate weighting, I hope that the black beetles will have enough grunt to shift the whole formation. A bit more of a quicky project - like, an evening's easy work - were these quick and dirty upgrades to the Hornby ex-Lima CCT. Finescale types look away now. The main problem with this otherwise nice model (I remember being thrilled to bits with the original Lima one, when it appeared) was that Lima fitted their usual heavily flanged underscale wheels, and then Hornby merely substituted the correct diameter wheels without adjusting the ride height. The resultant tip-toe look means that the vehicles look a bit odd unless something is done about it, and even more incongruous in a formation of other vehicles. Looking for a low-tech bodge, I inserted Gibson shouldered axle bearings into the existing holes and then carefully melted them down a smidge using a soldering iron, applied sparingly and with constant correcting and cooling-off until a consistent ride-height was obtained. Once at the right height, the bearings were further adjusted to give free-rolling wheels. Et voila - not one for the purists, obviously, since the brake gear is still miles out, but at least they look OK in a train. With the models on the workbench, I also got the roofs off and inserted Shawplan lazer-glaze windows. I retained the original glazing (sawn off the roof mouldings) so as to provide the effect of bars behind the windows.

People also said that an S&D 7F was not practical in RTR, and yet Bachmann managed it. Makes me wonder if the longer wheelbase types such as 72XXs are equally feasible with a bit of clever engineering.

This is a bit good. Excellent, very welcome development.

OK, that is officially brilliant.