Allegheny1600

That is simply STUNNING!

Thanks Andy! Apologies for going O.T. but in answer to Andy above, I started a suitable discussion here; https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/165006-how-do-you-go-about-designing-a-large-layout/ To make up, here is another view of my old large layout; A weathered class 40 (old Bachmann) storming up the gradient over the viaduct. Cheers, John

Original photo by Michael J. Collins Original photo by “on tour with the class 13 army” I remember drawing in to Bordeaux station and seeing long lines of these bogie vehicles, both in maroon and the later yellow as above. I can’t recall full trains passing me, my usual memory is of just one or two vehicles at the head of a regular passenger train. I have a Lima H0 example of the more modern vehicle and there are various examples of the clerestory vehicles, no doubt best from Rails Express Europe. Cheers, John E

I found this picture of my old layout recently, thought you guys might like it! It was 00 gauge called “Leigh Moor and Randale Summit” and was 27’ x 9’ Originally built by a former club I was in, I built a 32’ x 12’ shed at the bottom of my garden, it was good fun for a while. Kestrel is on a full 36 wagon mgr train while the Hornby Castle is on about 10 Bachmann mark 1s.

Apologies if this has been on here before only I haven’t seen it. I thought it most appropriate for a lot of us!

Hello Ian, According to my friend Andrew E, the name you are looking for is Arthur (Reg) Walkley* He did a lot to try and popularise H0 scale in the 1920s but after a while he gave his layout to the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (who know nothing about it now). A.R. Walkley then moved into 2mm scale. *Reg is usually short for Reginald of course but without sight of a birth certificate, who knows? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald I trust this is useful to you. John E.

Your wheels look great for a lovely prototype, well done!

Hi Gordon, Quite right, I don’t know if I could ever have a scale length ‘Etandard’ or ‘‘L’Aquitaine” on my layout BUT all I meant was that; a. This is a price to be expected these days. b. It’s quite a bit cheaper than the online auction prices for the LSM versions. also, c. Did these coaches ever run in short rakes, please? Cheers, John E.

Hi Chris, A belated happy new year to you and yours, I haven’t been looking in here for ages, sorry about that! Now that I have skipped a hundred pages of so, I’ll try and keep up. That station portion looks lovely btw. Cheers, John E.

Hi Ian, That’s a lovely model there, an acquaintance of mine picked one up cheap at a car boot sale once! Must have been hot!! May I ask, how is it powered, please? I didn’t bother to check the one I saw and I used to have a Trix Bavarian Gt2x4/4 Mallet and I was slightly disappointed that it only had one engine powered and that by a round motor. It was still superior to a Lima or Hornby ringfield motor though. Cheers, John E.

Rivahornby are doing some wagons, sorry boxcars, too. It’s a welcome sign that they haven’t given up the US/NA market which by last year, it looked as though they had. It would surely make sense for them to develop these assets?

Jouef 2022 https://fr.jouef.com/catalogue/nouveautes-2022?categories[]=locomotives&categories[]=voitures_et_coffrets_de_voitures&sort_by=8&page=1 Looks like the Grand Conforts will happen too! https://fr.jouef.com/products/sncf-additional-coach-a8u-ep-iv-hj4170 €76 each RRP, yeah - it’s to be expected I guess. I’m just happy they’re happening.

The large freight car/wagon builder, Greenbrier is very optimistic about the future with senior executives anticipating orders of up to 60000 vehicles by 2023! https://www.freightwaves.com/news/greenbrier-pent-up-demand-sustainability-could-drive-production-in-2023 Obviously, words like “could”, “probably” and “anticipating” are somewhat leading but with the world economy predicted to bounce back by then and with governments and companies pushing the efficiency and “green” credentials of rail transport, it is encouraging to see that such a company as Greenbrier is optimistic.

There’s a photo of a page from the new Hornby/Jouef catalog here; https://forum.e-train.fr/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=93901 showing details of forthcoming SNCF TEE ‘Grand Confort’ coaches in H0. These would be very, very welcome if it comes to pass as the old Jouef and indeed, Lima models are really just toys and the very nice LSM versions are as rare as hens teeth and twice as expensive! They always go for over €100 per coach if they come up.

Hello Mr Tortuga, Please forgive the huge rash of “likes” only I’m really enjoying this build. I must be getting nostalgic for Derbyshire as I’ve been away for a good while now. I used to cycle the Tissington and High Peak trails regularly back in the 1980s and 90s but only recently actually started getting interested in the actual railways that they used to be. As far as I can tell from studying numerous photos, you should be able to add Horwich Crabs and Ivatt 2MTs of the 2-6-0 varieties to your fleet - should you wish. I guess more or less anything allocated to Buxton could pass along this line, I’m amazed that the ex-LNWR 0-8-0s worked here but they certainly did. Cheers, John E.

Hello Simon, Wonderful work, I’m suitably impressed. It must have been very satisfying to see the loco running so well and the painting has come out very well. Cheers, John E.

Having worked in and been the supervisor of the “property” department of a constabulary where I used to live, that is very true. We had more things stolen than I could possibly list. It’s human nature. The only thing that was safe was if you left a bank note lying around as staff would consider it to be a test. The most incredible theft was that of a large food warmer that was kept just outside the entrance to the custody suite. It must have weighed half a ton and was naturally, covered by security cameras yet it was never recovered. Yet, a different incident where I was called as a witness was where a long serving officer was caught stealing towels! He lost everything but that’s the penalty I suppose - he was in a trusted position and abused it.

Hello Mr Northroader, Thanks for looking in! Yes, it has gone quiet on this thread for various reasons. 1. After two exhibitions and a few failures, I grew tired of it. 2. I had to devote all my energies to making my house at the time, look it’s best in order to sell it. 3. My wife and I moved to Greece. 4. We had to get ourselves established in our new country, get residency and various other documents to allow us to live here. 5. Complete the sale of the UK house and get all our possessions packed and shipped here. Leberecht was packed up by me as that was one of my priorities as soon as the house was on the market (we were planning on packing everything ourselves but the first Covid lockdown stopped that), here is a picture from that; https://flic.kr/p/2kLgepC Leberecht packing up by Virgil Wedge, on Flickr Sorry! My internet has gone a bit iffy, I’ll have to edit the picture in later. Once things settled down a bit for us, I realised that my interest was slowly coming back, I’ve started thinking about what I need to do once I can re-erect the layout, there will be quite a bit of work just to get it operational again. The first two points as you come from the fiddle yard, have to be rebuilt, they were simply too unreliable and the whole functionality of the layout depends on them. I did at least, acquire the material to do this before leaving the UK. The scenic sections got cut up due to being awkward shapes so they will have to be rebuilt or at least, repaired. Everything is still currently in its packed up state so hopefully, it will be well. It is at least in a dry and safe storage room. I’ve even partly written up how I built the buildings and some other bits and pieces! To follow. Cheers, John E.

You’re quite right but I did say “pre-grouping effectively”!! I would have loved to have stated the German equivalent of “Edwardian” but I understand there is no such thing. There is a German equivalent (more or less) of “Victorian” which would be “Wilhelmine” see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelminism but that only runs from 1890 - 1918. I couldn’t even call “my” period “Belle Epoche” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Époque All I can say is that this is a fascinating period to model, either side of the Channel! By the way, I would absolutely love to see some of your PLM models, credit mid 1970s Model Railway Constructor articles about “Clochemerle” I believe it was called. Forgive me if my spelling of this layout isn’t quite right. Cheers, John E.

Oo-er! see my signature for some of that (Prussian). I actually feel a bit out of place here but it is pre-grouping effectively, being more or less post ww1 and before the formation of the “national railway” but I have “only” used proprietary stock. The subject matter is such that there are few kits available and my knowledge is sadly lacking. Even in European/German forums, interest is rather limited. Cheers, John E.

Thanks for trying, Steve. Even had I used the internet, I could never have gotten those answers. I must be more ignorant of rock and pop than I thought!!!

Maybe but it’s a genuine Mallet; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavarian_Gt_2×4/4

Hi Tony, Seasons greetings to you and yours. Steve Hewitt has done a marvellous job on those signals - you lucky man! The whole layout and stock is wonderful to see coming together so well. I’ve much enjoyed following along this past year and look forward to seeing what happens in the future. Cheers, John

Hello Mol, Merry Christmas to you sir! As soon as I saw MSC, I was interested, will follow along. Cheers, John

Yes, as far as I know, it is still owned by Elena Ambrosiadou, a Greek lady hedge fund manager who is based in London. The richest woman in Britain? Hmmm, what about her Majesty Queen Elizabeth?