The Stationmaster

The more I have looked at Pre-Group Scottish railways over the years the more I have liked and admired the Highland railway - nice looking engines and signals and magnificent scenery.

Branson is one of those who failed to deliver (and had to be bailed out by Stagecoach). So it looks as if he's right in that respect.

And hardly 'inspiring' in my book - he's a PR man through and through and most of that is aimed at self-publicity in any case; looks like it works. Up close tho' the Virgin rail involvement is far removed from the publicity gloss and the competence of some of it is questionable (such as one his 'rail experts' who suggested back in the 1990s that some electric stock looking for a job could be used to Bristol .. maybe that bloke had a crystal ball?)

Not my area at all Missy but do you have to specify the type of material they use or the degree of 'non-lumpiness' in the finish I wonder? (not that they seem to have pointed that out of course!!). It certainly compares very badly with soem other examples of 3-D printing which have appeared on RMweb.

Presumably the term 'Inner Starter' is some fiendish Midland terminology? I would have hoped that by the time of your representation of Callow Lane the Western would have got to grips and it would simply be the Down Starter (even if it was still a Midland signal

Interesting too to see that it is what looks like a wooden arm - and some did survive until then but I've an idea (judging by the one I owned for some years but eventually sold) that the spectacle plate was rather more substantial - do MSE do different patterns of spectacle plate for Midland arms I wonder? (or is my memory confusing the weight of the thing with its visible 'meatiness'?). Anyway nice to see the place still has some signals with arms which move in the proper quadrant Cap'n.

Yes Nick - signal ladders are rather hard in nasty places if you happen to walk into one!

PS Nice signal Cap'n - even if it goes the wrong way (but at least it's a proper job engine passing)

That's remarkably clean track for inside a goods shed Cap'n - are things very quiet on the goods front at Callow Lane? (no waste paper or bits of string, dropped labels, packaging straw etc).

But a question - I see you refer to adding a bit of pva - does this imply that Klear is not an entirely reliable ballast fixative?

Excellent job - shall I put up some pics of the real thing so that you can put it to shame?

At last we have an explanation for some of those D63XX failures which could never be solved at the time - loose peat in the air intakes etc. (and a good pic of it too - glad you could get down there at the time)

The slip is perfectly correct and in some cases one end of it would even have been worked as a hand point!

Bring 'em - they'd definitely help to make my Sunday out

Great to see it coming along Steve. I take it that Robbie is not being too 'helpful'

I don't know the Swilly engine but the other two look spot on and those Swilly engines were big beasties if pics are any guide. All in the garden (and that pic) looks just right to me Missy.

That crane is delectable Missy - lovely job and glad the pics proved useful. I'm not at all sure how you've done it but that channel rodding has a distinctly Western look to it, brilliant job.

The crane is looking excellent. I'll PM you a pic of the real thing so you can see the colour to paint it.

Excellent choice I reckon (don't forget the trap point!)

Excellent job Missy - I was looking forward to seeing it 'in the round' and I wasn't disappointed. the fiddle yard design struck me as an excellent, nay brilliant', idea and looked to be working well. As I said - now you've got a fully workable layout i'm sure it will encourage you to get working on the scenic bit and develop it further to the same high standard with even more original ideas.

Talking of original ideas that gearbox was amazing and ought to merit a description on here or in Andy's 'Modelling Inspiration' if only for its size and compactness - great stuff.

Looking pretty good JZ . The red for the 2nd Class seats looks good (the material was different from that used in MK1 coaches) although the 'leatherette' type finish originally also went round the front of the seat squab as well as the headrest. If you're doing them in original livery - I think I've lost track of your intentions there - you'r not quite right on partitions and doors as they were all covered in the fake wood-grain Formica.

As for the 1st the seat covering etc colour you have is far too light - the original (very early re-design of the seat squabs period, blue was much darker and the carpet matched as far as I can recall.

Hope this helps a bit.

Looks nice Mark - make sure you get the right number for it as you don't want to spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar. (7240 - 53 is the correct series for the detail you have).

Great stuff Mark - when you've finished it you can tell me how to build mine!

Great stuff Simon - it definitely looked more than ok on the day!

Definite improvement on 'out of the box' but I think a tad too much emphasis on 'rust' (or rusty colour) which was usually not present on regular working locos except , sometimes, in the vicinity of the smokebox although 30586 had one or two touches of it in other places judging by prototype colour pics. Still very nice tho'

I'm concerned about the oedipus complex.

An excellent afternoon and a friendly welcome from the club members - thank you for the invite Graham and congratulations to the club on its anniversary and glad I was able to be of some small assistance to Harry and Mark in their quest for information for the new club layout project.

PS And the cake was nice too.

Yohoho, Santa Claus is coming to town. Very Christmassy feel to that as the boss has said; it injects a nice touch of warmth into a cold scene and is rather attractive (even if it involves a 'strange' railway). Definitely worth the effort.

A consequence of using bucket loading with a none too marvellous operator (or number thereof) driving the bucket loader(s). If you look into the top of loaded wagons (pic available) you can sometimes see how it has happened. It starts to become a serious problem when bits are broken off and discharged into the power station's coal handling plant and are not caught at the first grid intended to catch such bits (or even worse things).