Steadfast

I believe the train that image is based on is an Electrostar derivative built by Bombardier at Derby for use in South Africa Whilst we're on the First subject, here's an alternative to Barbie GBRf livery Dynamic lines nicked from an HST. Hmm, I wonder how it'd work with the blue fade as per Trans Pennine Express... cheers jo

Thanks James! Yeah I know what you mean about the 153, both models look like one at first glance, but look again...Hmm. The 150 on the other hand... For Laira I need to do another power car or two, 4-6 mk3s, the sprinters mentioned above and a 66 and TTAs. All of this I have, just needing stripping, detailing and repainting, bar the oil train, which is ready to go. Still need to buy another 08, but I may well use the BR blue one for the short term. Additional stuff like a Cotswold Rail 47 and barriers can be brought in over time in the future, but the stuff above is the "core" fleet. Not much to it for a change!

After an early start and a long day yesterday, today has been a lot quieter - giving a chance to think through the theory of my 150/153 combo, and have a gander at how the 153 goes together. When I get round to actually working on this it looks like a fair amount of work, and that's without considering the FGW respray... Anyway, a couple of photos to illustrate the models. The Farish 150 is, IMO, one of the best N gauge items available at the moment, and to my eye, sadly, the 153 isn't quite on a par. I wanted to model something a little different, so a 150/153 combo seemed the way to go. A dummy 153 and a cheap 150 were bought at Leamington yesterday to modify and respray. As the pictures show, the coupling and plough areas of the two models are considerably different. I'm not a fan of the Scharfenberg coupler that Dapol fit, being considerably larger than the BSI prototypically fitted, and normally seeming to jut out at 45 degrees to the front of the model. So, I'm going to fit the Farish BSI and plough off the 150 to one end, and move the Scharfenberg from that end onto the 150, allowing the two to be coupled. They'll be a semi-permanently coupled pair, making the most of the better shape, size and detail of the Farish detailing parts. The Dapol ploughs will be fitted to the ends with Scharfenbergs, though as the photos show, will need a fair amount of work with a file to reduce their size. I reckon they are almost 3mm:ft scale. By making the small cab the end that couples to the 150, it'll also hide the erroneously recessed cab front. I'd like to add detail and relief to the underframe and fit Farish 150 bogies, but I think this is more than will realisiticaly be achievable. Moving on, as paper mache-ing of the boards for Baby Laira progresses, work has begun on stock for it (which the 150/153 is also part of). Those of you who were at Leamington yesterday and visited the DEMU stand may well have seen this pottering about the circle of track: The nose has had a hole cut in, and the coupling bar added allowing the power car to be shunted around be an 08. Here they are coupled together A close-up to show the bar coupled up to the 08 Demonstrating the turning capabilities, far extreme of what it'll ever need to do on track! The etched mesh on the roof is to represent the style of cooler group fitted to the FGW MTU power cars. Two doors have been cut out, and a bufferbeam has been added to the inner end. I think I'll use the drophead buckeye (though modified to be un-dropped) from the forthcoming Farish mk1s to fit the buckeye, as no others are small enough. This is still very much a work in progress, and there's a lot more detail still to add, and that'll be blogged when it happens. Here's a couple of shots of the 08 coupled to it, part way through becoming 08947. This will be heavily faded, and was a Westbury favourite for a few years. It still wears BR blue now, albeit in private ownership with Mendip Rail. This will probably be used to shunt the HST stock until I get around to doing an FGW example It's had 2 lights removed from each end and associated holes filled, and is actually sat on the chassis from an EWS loco, with faded red drybrushed onto the bufferbeams and rods. TPM Oleo buffers have been fitted to the cab end too. Although the rods are rather wide, once the loco is moving on a layout it looks fine, and for now at least, isn't worth the hassle of fiddling. Anywho, thats enough wittering for now, if I've left any gaps, please do pop up a comment and point it out

One side only, lost it a couple of months after repaint. Sideswiped a wagon IIRC HTH jo

I suspect 008 and 089 aren't good examples any longer, they've more than likely lost their good bits to keep the others going 60081 had a rather spectacular end, putting a leg out of bed (piston going outside the engine block) with damage to the bodyshell too, with denting and what looked like smoke damage, thus: http://daves-trains.fotopic.net/p13391285.html cheers jo

To keep things up to date, here is the 4th Tug to work 6B33 Theale - Robeston this year 60010 passing Rodbourne in the drizzle on 26-8-10 cheers jo

Nice one Trev, 011 is a bit of a beast, and a decent rain shot looks great! Here's my trio from today 60071 waits to depart Westerleigh with 6E41 back to Lindsey refinery 60013 passes Westerleigh village with 6B13 Robeston - Westerleigh 60049 passes Ram Hill in the rain with 6B33 Theale - Robeston. I wonder how long this one will work this train for - tug 13 did it for weeks on end previously You've still got to wonder if one day we'll see a red and grey 60, maybe, just maybe... cheers jo

Cheers Trev, Although the sun is on the "wrong" side of the train, I think the location makes up for it! It's a spot I've been to many times, but my friend spotted this alternative shot yesterday Definitely want to model 60049 without plough! cheers jo

Here's 60049 passing Callow Hill, just west of Wootton Bassett Jnc with 6B33 Theale - Robeston empty Murco tanks, taking over from 60013 after it's solid multi week run of this train 17/8/10 It's interesting to see that this 60 is currently (and has been for a fair while) ploughless at this end cheers jo

Hi Will, I was hoping that the paper mache will be thick enough on the edges to give some protection as well as bonding the structure. Time will tell! cheers jo

That looks great - as James says great use of the ready made buildings, they really look the part.

Thanks guys, really appreciate the interest. Tomorrow looks like it may be paper mache day, as the weather looks rather miserable for fotting all day Hi James, I've got a huge amount of Peco code 55 to use up, so sadly this is what it'll feature, with wire in tube for point operation, and plenty of Peco pits. Minimal spend too at the moment. Future projects may look at Easitrac, though I'm not sure point building and me would mix very well. A bit too much like precision! The shed in that photo is from a planned layout about a year ago, the structure is based on Westbury wagon repair site. More on the buildings for this below Mmm, the Bachy lifting jacks did provide a lot inspiration - originally I planned to do something WRD centred with them. Then I visited Laira... Oh, and mind your mouth please Alex, how dare you mention an EE loco not featuring stylish noses. Damn Vacs. There is of course the nature reserve at Laira, which would good to model with a 50 cab poking out of the lake. In all seriousness I'm sure a preserved on (31 or 49 I expect) will get done eventually and might creep onto here. With regard to the buildings for the layout, I'm a little unsure of how to go about the design. Whatever happens, it'll feature the characterstic "wave" style on the roof, that's present on the buildings at Laira http://britishrail19.../p61000709.html In terms of internals, I'm doing the shed on the right, featuring carriage and lighter power car work. However, I think I'm going to do the external as a three road version of the building on the left, as this is more iconic than the other shed, with it's one big "wave" at the front, rather than four or five along the side. Also there is more glass on this one, so it'll be easier to see what's inside. Not that that'll be a problem with my cunning plan... Bye for now, jo

Cheers, it's more "insprired by" than a copy, but I hope to get some features into it from Laira jo

I also forgot to say that there's a fair bit of glue gun glue gone on here, with the tape helping to hold it in position whilst it's glued, so hopefully all together it'll hold out jo

Well, as they say on the telly, "There's only one way to find out!" In all honesty I'm hoping, yeah, it'll hold out. I read on the old forum about making boards from foamboard, with cross bracing and the like, so hopefully my homage to that will work. I did try a wood frame with foam board tops a while back, and that was awful, as the wood warped, and had nothing strong acting against it. The top layer of paper mache should help to add rigidity too. cheers jo

In July I was fortunate enough to go on a trip with some other DEMU members to Laira Depot in Plymouth. The tour was very informative, and on the drive back up the M5 my mind was in overdrive, and wishing I'd taken more photos. I jokingly said it'd make a nice small space layout...and here it is. First up, concept artwork. Please imagine an FGW green or blue 08 with blue and pink mk3s, but it sets the scene And the track plan All trains enter from the left, under the dual carriageway and towards the shed. This will mainly be FGW DMUs, 08s shuffling mk3s and power cars and a 66 bringing the TTAs in with fuel, along with the occasional light loco for fueling. The road labelled oil tanks is where the TTAs run in to for discharging, with the loco using the run round loop to escape back off scene. The rear backscene is the wall of the HST servicing shed. Now some shots of the, err, "professional grade" boards. Nope, your eyes don't decieve you, that's duck/gaffer tape* holding the foamboard together. Quality workmanship * delete as appropriate The boards are nice and light, and having the scenic section as one piece is rather convenient. The fiddle yard will get some kind of traverser/tea tray arrangement. Crude isn't the word here. It's worse than that These show the fiddleyard detached from the main board, and the underside of the scenic board. It is light and solid, and fits in the car a treat A 57/3 in position to give an idea of scale whilst the board undergoes structural load testing. The next stage is a healthy layer of papier maché I am hopeful that the nice simple track plan means that this one has a chance of actually getting to some stage of useability, if not completion Buildings are being planned in my mind at this stage, though it's already apparent that they'll be, err, big! That's all for now, jo

Thanks very much, think I'll drop Mr Hanson a line and see if I can pick up a bargain to glue them too, despite not being overly fussed about the 50s, they are EE so do need some attention

Luvverly jubbley Will, can't beat a good 60 I loved the cab interior work you did, and if the wagons are anything to go by, Tug 14 will look great! The pale grey part on the underframe is the compressor by the way, and those on the bogies are the dampers. Refurbished compressors are quite common sight, often on one side only. As Rich says, pipework is painted white HTH jo

Hi Grahame, Lovely rake of NPCCS stock there, really looks the part in BR blue. What's this I read about Shawplan class 50 bits? Is this some new parts? Interesting...

Thanks guys! Yeah, despite their unconventional looks, the 67s do seem to carry off any livery well. I know others don't, but I do like the skips Powerhaul livery is a funny one. I agree that it's very fussy (and I do like that "more yellow, less fuss" variant). I based the application on the one sized doesn't fit all style used on the 86 and 90 (notice how on these two grills and lights etc are cut in two by the livery rather than the livery finishing in natural gaps). It looks like they've used class 70 sized stickers too big for the loco they're applied to, rather than using various designs adjusted to each class. First seem quite good at adapting their stripes to different stock on the Barbie style livery. The gentle curves and the big flat canvas like bodyside both help the livery application on the 47 IMO (contrast with the 70 and 86), though the grey "moustache" does spoil it a bit cheers jo

Should be Mainline blue 60011 again today as per Phil's earlier post. Here she is on the 27th July, having worked it for the previous few days, it would have been this one at Westerleigh you saw the day before, as 59206 in DB red brought in the other daily train HTH cheers jo