Flood

just to see

although he admitted

Now Is The Time - Yngwie J Malmsteen's Rising Force

Seeing as 2/3rds of our locos are Class 47s the noise would be very repetitive, we'd have to find at least three different loco sounds to make it worthwhile. Anyway, I've currently got two weeks off work on holiday (yippee!) and I've told Glenn that I'm going to be getting down to some coach renumbering. Seeing as Kirkhill is a rolling stock depot it's about time I did a post on rolling stock. First up the Mk1 BFK. Readers from old RMweb will remember I started this in early December 2008 and it was actually finished for the May exhibition. With most of the stock normally being at Glenn's I've not had chance to photo it until now. This first picture is of one of the two sides when first glued together wih a BSK side for comparison above it: The next photo shows the assembly before commencement of the roof amendments, filling and rubbing down and final painting and adding transfers. With it is one of the donor BSKs for comparison. Now a photo of the finished BFK as used in the Inverness - Aberdeen rakes until 1989. Today has been spent renumbering BGs, tomorrow will be renumbering three HST rakes (if I finish them in a day). Not all BGs look the same whatever people may think so we have: SC84399 an NDX with BR1 bogies, dual heat 90mph, dual brake E80861 an NDX with BR1 bogies, dual heat 90mph, dual brake, part of the Bounds Green dedicated parcels pool E92143 an NEA with B4 bogies, dual heat 100mph, air brake and E92332 an NEX with Commonwealth bogies, dual heat 100mph, dual brake All the decals are HMRS Pressfix except the ScotRail transfers which are Fox. That's my excuse for the renumbering taking so long, each regional prefix and digit are separately applied.

Whilst I appreciate that I am normally first port of call for questions on the layout (solely because I spend more time on the net than Glenn does) I must add that this layout would not have been possible without Glenn's depot knowledge and his construction and modelling skills. The recent input from Glenn's friends Ian and Richard have added even more areas of interest which feel is attributable to different people noticing areas of development which Glenn and I may have missed. We've thought about the possiblity of sound locos in the future but as I have stated before the cost would currently be £3000 which we cannot afford and in addition we would require baseboard speakers with the sound of air-con units, motor alternator sets, slamming coach doors (and possibly seagulls!!!) to give the depot the real feel required to make the scene appear authentic. The open day was quiet and the sounds from Andy's layout were easily heard but in normal exhibition circumstances the amount of movement and people talking tends to drown out any other sounds. Perhaps in five years time....

Once again a big thank you to everyone involved in today's open day. An extra special thank you to Temeraire and Pitbull for making the effort to come all the way from Hampshire and end up having to talk to me! Like I said this afternoon I hope we can repay you by exhibiting down your neck of the woods in the future. You were both very polite today, I hope you enjoyed the layout as much as Glenn, Richard and I do.

Nah, they're Great Black Backed Gulls - Herring Gulls have mid grey wings (and are about 2 mm shorter in OO). Here's a link to the relevant RSPB page, scroll to near the bottom and it shows they stick to the East Coast throughout the winter. So for anyone looking for items of interest we now have the Wheel Lathe at one end of the layout and the Seagulls at the other. Plus the man walking his dog, the scrubbers, two sub-stations, four barrels of Shell Spirax HST Gearbox Oil and even the occasional train! By the way, Glenn has worked out why his phone camera was taking blue tinted photos and corrected it. Expect some better photos of the Wheel Lathe to be posted on his previous post.

Only the arctic ones, ours find it warm enough to stay put. Check the RSPB website! Winter has also given us the chance to have a light sprinkling of snow on Kirkhill and no leaves on the trees, it all adds to the variation.

You know me for dates Richard. I was really hoping to hit February 1988 on the head but as we've got a model of 43092 in executive livery (and it was in repainted swallow at Derby Loco Works that month) I've had to have some give and take. I could try for late December 1987 but 47593 hadn't been repainted InterCity until late January , oh well at least I've narrowed it down to a couple of months!

Thank you as always to everyone. Derby's right in the middle of the country ya know, it would be a real pleasure to see as many of you as possible on July 10th. With a bit of luck we'll spend so much time chatting to folk we'll forget to run the layout sequence. I'll apologise for the lack of variety on the layout now. It's only diesels in large logo, plain blue, three tone grey, old railfreight, InterCity or ScotRail . Likewise the coaching stock is only blue and grey, InterCity, ScotRail or Post Office red and Mk1, Mk2 pressure vent, Mk2 air-con or Mk3 (with the occasional HST) :yawn:. Plus it's modelled on Scotland, probably not much interest for anyone after all. ;)

Not much more I can say really.

I've had a chat to Glenn this afternoon to give him the responses and I'm sure he would join me in saying thank you to everyone for their words of praise. Excellent work by Richard with the handrails and filling in any gaps in the pit interior walls and yet again Glenn's lighting really highlights the modelling to great effect. I did help to paint a few things and add the mesh (I wasn't just shooting Seagulls!) I've put a few photos through Gimp to reduce the blue, they're not perfect but are a bit better. The others have now been reposted by Glenn later in this thread.

, whilst probably needed,

a design which

How about the two of you get all your different Standards running on Duffield in two weeks time. That'll make an interesting sight.

wildly optomistic as

made in Taiwan

I feel it's small variations like this that really bring out a model. When you'll look at the finished model next to a Britannia it'll be the change of length in the smokebox that really gives it some character. You now have a specific body for this class as opposed to having a Britannia body with a different wheel arrangement. Two and half weeks until the mini open day - you'll have it done with a week to spare!

I'd shorten the smokebox and the running plate mate. You'll only be wondering why you didn't when you had the chance in years to come. Like you say, you're gonna be adding new lubricators anyway. Must say she's looking good, be interesting to see how many she can pull around Duffield one evening.

I just used one Dapol Mk2D FO which I cut a section out comprising three windows and a door on each side (plus the end below the cantrail as well) then the brake section from one Dapol Mk2D BSO suitably shortened. The compartment interior came from a Lima Mk2B BFK which I was once going to use with a Lima TSO to make a Mk2C BSO (way back in the mists of time).

I've noticed this in the photos as well. I've thought that it might be due to the amount of wide-angle used on the camera lens but the view below also highlights it. The side-on view below that is less pronounced, it's certainly not as noticeable when you're normally viewing.

The number of people in the back room has been commented on at the club before, it's strange because from behind the layout it never seemed particularly busy - probably because I had the running of the layout to think about. It'll have a nice big room to be viewed in at the RMweb day in a month, hopefully anyone who wants time to take it all in will have more of an opportunity. Please feel free to add any suggestions (bird bath, pidgeon loft etc.) Seriously though there may well be more we can add in the way of clutter to give it an even greater "well used" feel. We're look forward to seeing as many of you all as possible.

No big changes over the last couple of weeks. We stripped the roof off the carriage shed last Saturday to re-glue it after the sun warping fiasco. This worked reasonably well and the roof has now been repainted along with the vents and just requires weathering and then the whole shed needs reattaching to the boards. With the next exhibition being only a month away we're not planning to do too much but we may install another uncoupling magnet. On that note we did have some problems with getting a full 18v from our transformer when at the Moorways exhibition, this meant it was difficult to get the Kadees into the delay position. To solve this potential problem Glenn is looking at using a AC adapter from an old laptap - 19v, 3.42 amps always available from 110v to 230v. We may need to lower the current a bit but apart from that it should work fine. The wheel lathe being made by Glenn's friend is nearly complete and looks superb. Glenn will probably be going to collect it in two weekends time so it may well be ready for the mini RMweb open day on July 10th. The only other small item which might also be ready is as below. It needs filler adding and smoothing down (the filler is at Glenn's and I won't be able to pick it up until Sunday) then it can be undercoated and painted in executive livery for the Plymouth to Aberdeen rake. Oh yes and the roof vents need sorting. Four weeks and one day - just about possible. Only four Mk2e TSOs required to finish after that; apart from the Highlander charter rake, renumbering of BGs, numbering of the HSTs etc. etc.

Looking at the 1969 locoshed book 5528, 5535 and 5539 had gone to Old Oak Common. The rest of 5520 - 5529 were at March, 5543 was the only one you've listed at Tinsley and 5547, 5551, 5552, 5555, 5556, 5559 and 5562 were all at Immingham. I'd have thought that the March and Immingham batches could just as easily have turned up - someone else may know different. I have got the Railway Observers from 1969 to 1979 but I know that they're not 100% correct for liveries. Russell Saxton seems to be the guy on here to ask about liveries.

Not far off now, I've been tuning in to read this thread ever since Ramrig told me about it in late October last year. Scratch building and product utilisation of the highest order. Talking of Ramrig I notice that all those seats that you needed to make (mould) haven't been seen yet - you're just keeping us all in suspense aren't you!