MRDBLUE17

Hi Everyone, With the 4 boards of Rannoch currently seperated it has stopped me playing trains and progress has been good. The viaduct has been the main focus as this board normally sits up tight to a wall and behind the door to the room so is normally quite difficult to do any work on. My first job was to fill in using plastic strip and section around the top sections of the stone pillars. I even used some of the Wills rivitted steel plates that come with the bridge parts around the tops on the facings just to add a bit more detail. Once this was all set inplace with some EMA plastic weld it was on with the painting. With it out I had masked up everything and put some large sheets of card around the board so I could spray the structure with some BR Brunswick green. I used a full can of the humbrol spray but this gave all the underside and frame work parts a coating so at least it all looks green now. As this was too dark and glossy for what I wanted I have then painted out all the facings on both sides and most of the visible steelwork inner parts of the frame using railmatch acrylic LNER Darlington green. There are a some photos to show the progress so far. Next the plan is to glue on all the upright posts to support the railings - 64 of these in total and then some tiny T section supports also need adding in at an angle from the base of these back towards the main structure before the railings can finally be added. I am then going to add in the stone pillars which will be made from wills sheets cut to suit. I'll keep you posted as it develops. The final photo is just for fun - taken in natural light - yes the sun was really shining the other day. Despite having had 37411 in my collection for a while I have never paired it with 37425 even thought they were often seen together. In reallity I still need to add a sound chip to 411 before I can really pair them up to run like this. Thanks, Mark

Hi Dave/Peter, Seeing that list of 47's especially 492 somehow reminded me that I travelled behind that into Poole once. I was very young at the time probably only about 8 as there was a couple of years when we never had a car and went south by train which suited me just fine. I only remember that as seeing a Scottish loco with that name so far south seemed very strange to me at the time. Looks a cracking choice for either of you to do and one would be nice on Rannoch! Thanks, Mark

Hi Dave, Those night shots add a whole new dimension to your layout. You get a real sense of life lurking in the shadows on the platforms, engines idling with the exhaust haze hanging in the warm summer night air! Well it has been warmer and brighter as the weeks gone on maybe summer is on the way! Carlton hill is well captured in the dark and living in Edinburgh I know the views across Waverley well and your photos capture this brilliantly. I really like 47 644 but like Chard has said you have to stop sneaking in photos of the real thing like that and passing it off as your model! Good luck with your house hunting - the wife has got us doing that too as she wants to move at some point this year. The first house we saw had a nice railway room in the roof space and a double garage which I already had a workbench planned into as well I think the rest was ok too! Mark

Hi Alex, That interior of your depot is really taking shape nicely. My next 3 locos from Andi are right up your street for filling that up when its all operational! They will hopefully be working some engineers services that might just take them up the WHL. I recognised your layout in an advert in Model Rail when I was flicking through last night. thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, Seeing how you all like LL Blue this is the nearest I can get to recreate those happy days. 37 425 heading south bound with my new rake of Regional Railways Mk 2's from Model Rail. These aren't for use on Rannoch but will eventually form a 5 coach Barrow to Manchester Club train with a 31/4 on the front so I can re-create the trains I saw and travelled on when I was younger! But that is a whole new layout for the future! Thanks, Mark

Hi Gary, Hope the show goes well for you. The natural light suits your layout well especially with your headlight fitted 37 posing like that! Thanks, Mark

Hi everyone, Thanks for all the comments and a massive thanks to Carl for not only braving the elements but for sharing all those excellent photos on here. They will be really useful for getting more of the detail right. There are angles and viewpoints I havn't seen before and the ones looking across at the sidings and the south end of the station are especially useful as I still have a bit of work to do at this end. I have only just bought a pack of corrugated metal sheeting to make the old rusting hut that use to stand next to the green wooden one and your photos confirm what I thought from a photo I saw on line recently that it has been demolished and the old caravan removed. Will I still model them? The sidings look a lot cleaner with all that grey ballast on them as well. I'll have to get more of it right now I've seen these! Many thanks Carl - hopefully catch up with you at Perth again this year. Thanks, Mark

Hi Kev, That last shot is great - and better than my attempt to capture a train from that viewpoint when I saw your layout. Thanks, Mark

Hi Peter, Great pictures of your layout. That NSE branded coach is very nice as well. That working reminds me of a scratch set I saw at Grange once in the late 80's with a blue 37 and 3 mark 1's. I don't know why I remember that so well but at the time it was usually 31's and 108's even together when the DMU's failed and to see a 37 with NSE branding coaches was something a little unusual. The real picture of the 40 is very interesting as well. Thanks, Mark

Hi Kevin, Missed catching up with your layout for a while but I'm glad I have. That information on the electrics is very interesting and might be something to explore in the future. I also must say I really like those Powell Duffryn wagons and the 37/7 on them a few pages back. Yes very Hamworthy-esque. I spent school holidays watching that working alongside Hamworthy park. We would walk across from my Great aunts beach hut down to the furthest point and you could often see the 37 started up in the afternoon ready to take its train out from the Harbour limits and usually a good blast from the horn on the approach to the open road crossing! Glad to see you have preserved it in model form. Thanks, Mark

Thanks Andi & Alex, The wife and a couple of freinds will be at the bottom taking all the pictures on the day! The last one I did was for the blind off the Ocean Terminal shopping centre in Leith its fine once you get over the edge ts just that bit before as you start to lean backwards! Still should be fun. No rush on those 60's Andi the lines blocked by the engineering works at the moment! Although that red 60 will look pretty good on it! Thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, I had a busy but it might look like quite a destructive day on Rannoch. Due to needing to get at the viaduct for painting and assembly of all the parts etc - the only way to do this was to move the board out and round in my room as it was right up against the wall behind the door. I have moved all 4 boards around a bit so as to work on them - I still had some soldering to do for the point motor wires so I turned the south end board on its side and got this done before doing the same to the pointwork on the viaduct board. It looks a little odd with the boards laying on their sides but it does make wiring so much easier to do. I have also made a start on cutting plastic strip for the hand rails - 64 uprights in total and worked out and now purchased the final bits to get this all done. A few photos to show some of the progress. At least by having the layout in sections stops me playing trains and makes me get on with everything. It won't be joined up again until the backscenes are added, wiring completed for track circuits and points and the viaduct structure finished! Dave thanks for picking up on my previous comment. On the 8th May 2011 I am helping to raise money for ###### Buds of Scotland which is a charity supporting people with Breast Cancer in West Lothian in central Scotland. Its run completely by volunteers so all the money raised goes to the work of the charity directly and Mags the lady that runs it was amazed at my willingness to volunteer for this event! Who couldn't resist the opportunity to abseil off the Forth Bridge. Having travelled over it by train for 3 years when I worked in Kirkcaldy to be able to do a 165 foot SAS style freefall abseil onto the beach below was to good an opportunity to miss and a great way to raise some money for a great local cause. If you would like to help me over the edge on the day please folow my link in my signature box to the just giving page I have set up so any money you give goes directly to the charity. Many thanks for your support in this and any questions/comments welcome! Thanks, Mark

Hi YVM, 67018 certainly gets about a bit I have seen it a few times on the Edinburgh Fife circle workings - it certainly adds a splash of colour on the grey winter days we have seen up here! Thanks, Mark

Hi Peter, Nice to see your updates and photos of Lanbourne and Larry's photos are also very interesting as well. Your speedlink workings look especially good worked into the station area - the weathering on the PCA is spot on. Keep up the good work, Mark

Hi Dave When I first clicked into your thread and reading the caption I was expecting to see a prototype picture as I could just see the top of the roof line and sky - the whole picture overall is very well captured it does make you look twice! I like those shots of the locos on the depot it has a distinct atmopsphere about it you can almost smell the diesel on the engines that are idling! Its funny the sun was shining over haymarket depot just a couple of days back but I never saw that fine loco line up you have captured, just some 158's and 170's! The Haymarket Tunnels at the end of the gardens would be nice to have on your layout - the track curves into them so would create a nice scenic break at the end of run out of the station and the way trains are often held at the signals waiting for a route into the station through the pointwork at that section would create some nice photos and great operating potential. I hope it comes to plan for you! Thanks, Mark

Hi Kev, Hope the show goes well, please take some pictures of your 80's stock and put on here if you get chance - I am working all weekend so won't get to see it this time! Thanks, Mark

Hi Claggy, Thought I hadn't seen your updates for a while - glad to see your still about on here and you certainly are lucky in your job! Will have to keep an eye out on my days off in case you are on any runs into Edinburgh. I very occaisionally see the DRS working on the Carstairs to Edinburgh line with the Torness flasks - it was in a nice morning mist the other day just about to go through near Kirknewton with 2 66's on it. You know I have quite an interest in the DRS fleet and whilst your playing with the real ones I am probably running mine on Rannoch! 37229 has been a regular since I fitted it with Digitrains sounds on a Zimo decoder. 37 423 will be next for a chip! Hope to see you updates again soon. Thanks, Mark

Hi Alex, With the real photos and your model progress your thread distracts me from getting on with mine! Always worth following though. When is that depot open day as I will soon have a couple of 60's back from Toton works - well Andi Cairns road works with a nice red 60 and something a little dirty in triple grey and a little later a loadhaul 60 will also be returning to my fleet - I'm not sure how I can get away with that many on Rannoch! Keep up the good work, Mark

Its really coming together well now. It doesn't matter how well you measure your platforms even with the longest vehicles you have something will still catch you out - I can only run Hornby Class 60's in one direction as the buffer will foul my platform and I only discovered this well after it was all built and tested - everyone just says thats prototypical though and a real 60 would probably do the same on the real line! One thing that might work is just carve a little of the platform edge away just next to the point to allow for the overhang of longer locos running round. Keep up the good work, Mark

Hi Everyone, Having found the Stobart Group link on the net I decided that it was about time to get on with the dreaded viaduct! Its not that I don't like it its just the realisation of trying to paint it all once it is complete. I will perhaps learn more from that other great railway bridge in Scotland when I jump off it in May! (No seriously I am jumping off it but there will be a rope attached - but more on this later!) I have worked out what I need to do to and the list involves adding a lot of angle T sections and then some I uprights which will form the main rail supports and then there will be 2 runs and a thicker top rail as found on most of the viaducts. I am still deciding whether to go for the quite neat block pillars as found on some or more rough stone pillars using the block work for the track level pillars that I have made over the last few days. I have also painted the top decking area with some Humbrol Gunmetal acrylic after painting in the green metal work sections. This will all get weathered down a bit at the end but it is meant to represent the work carried out in recent years on the actual structure. Having seen some more photos of the viaducts a lot seem to have quite large beams on the under side at angles to the main beams so I have added these in with some plastic weld to give the structure a bit more realism. The photos will hopefully make more sense! Any questions/comments welcome as always, Thanks, Mark

Nice photos there Alex, I remember back in my teens I had some old Railway Modellers with Carstairs featured in it and I remember trying to re-create it around my bedroom - never really got anywhere with it but it was interesting to change and split trains. I use to travel on the services into Poole when I was younger with a electric from Lancaster to BNS and then a 47 was put on to Reading and then another 47 was added for the reversal and run to Poole. That was when we had proper trains! Mark

Pete, Many thanks for that detail. I really like the blend you have on your layout so that is a good starting point for me to try out. I will let you know when I actually get round to it and may look to you for further advice. My plan is to build up the vegetation from the grass mats/ hanging basket liner currently in place using the polyfibre and course turf materials and some of the those branch bits from Bachmann and Hornby to create the heather, gorse etc, and then in the bare patches add in thee static grass. Hopefully this will get me close to how I want it all to look. Thanks again, Mark

Hi Dapal Dave, In the future would you plan to realease D1015 Western Champion in its current main line condition as that would be ideal for me to run then. Thanks, Mark

Hi everyone, With my interest in all things DRS I think I will have to splash out on that particular pair with the minimodal branding. I have a model of 33207 with Howes sound fitted already and it has to be one of the most fun to operate. I wonder what recordings they are using in their factory fitted models, will try and find out at some point when my order goes in but think I would stick to adding Howes at a later date. With the updated spec for these £100 a model isn't too bad especially when the early build 26's have that as an RRP and the 33's will even better. I'll see if the wife will buy me them for Christmas ! I think Charlie has come up with a good idea maybe not for RMweb directly but I'm sure people near each other / in clubs etc could organise to split packs between them so as not to miss out. I wish Rail Exclusive continued success with this project. I have seen my payment for the loadhaul 37's has just come out as well so looking forward to those arriving. Thanks, Mark

Hi Pete, Many thanks - seeing your grass on your layout was a big factor for me as it looks very effective and has a lot of the shades in it I plan to use. I was going to add a mixing pot on top of the tea strainer when I get round to it. Just need to find the right grass fibres to use! Mark