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WOW ! That is a stunning picture 😎👍

Vitrains were without a doubt the best Ready-to-Run locos available in Kit-Form 😀 Seriously though, the mechanisms are good, I have quite a few Lima 37s & 47s that I detailed and repainted decades ago that now sit on Vitrains chassis and hold their own with the Bachmann, Heljan & modern Hornby locos.

I thought I'd share my recent experience ordering from David Lewis of Southern Pride. Southern Pride is still very much with us, though it does sounds like he is now semi-retired or moving in that direction. I got in touch via the email address on the SP site and we talked back and forth over several weeks about availability and stuff like that. There were typically a few days between each email. I was wanting to order the 3 Crewe breakdown coaches, some of the window grills for departmental caches plus a few other odds & ends. He is out of roofs for mk.1s but some years back I ordered some basic coach 'starter kits', just chassis, sides & roof, so luckily I had 3 left. As an aside, the roofs from the old Kitmaster mk.1 coach kits can be made to work on SP coaches. Kits have now arrived & I am a happy camper, posting overseas has never been an issue with him. Those window grill etches are excellent, looking forward to using some of them. Overall, it sounds like it is worth reaching out to him if interested in any SP items, you never know ... particularly if you can overcome the roof issue with an alternative. He is a gem to deal with, impeccably polite & super helpful.

Thanks folks

I have an issue with a few Hornby wagons where they squeak when in motion. Miniature mousetraps didn't solve it, so I tried applying a tiny drop of lubricating oil to the inside of the axle boxes and hey presto, squeak no more. It also makes the wagons run noticeably more freely. I'm not sure which brand of oil I have, it is whatever the local model shop over here in Canada recommended for Bachmann locos. It has a long needle type application so pretty easy to get just a drop in to the right spot.

And a very good suggestion that is too - thank you !!

I spent several evenings the week before last ploughing through all 17 pages of the static grass thread and riveting reading it was. It isn't the only thread in this section that I've been reading (and often re-reading). So many fabulous pictures that are pure inspiration - a massive thank you to everyone who has shared their work on here ! As i said, inspiring - so much so that i spent an hour or two each evening last week trying to put some of that inspiration into practice. Here's some of what you folks have stirred me into action with - comments and tips are most welcome ! Here's the product of last week's efforts: Most basic of them all, I ordered a pack of those cheapo Chinese trees off of ebay a few years back to try & use as a starting point, something to get an idea of heights from, structure, that sort of thing. They came, I took one look at them, went "yeah, right..." and tossed the bag in a tub - "Chernobyl Green" just didn't work for me as a colour. A bit of spray adhesive, a bit of green scatter and they're now totally different animals. Well worth using them as the guinea pig for the spray & scatter technique: Here's a bunch of different experiments using Seafoam bits for the structure, spray adhesive & static grass applied, then everything spray painted either brown or a grey, then more spray stuff and green static grass of different shades for the foliage: To the naked eyeball they don't look too bad. When you get really up close or see them in the enlarged pictures I think i should try shorter length static grass next time, these used 4mm stuff which in the pictures looks a bit long and pointy, so worth trying again with 2mm lengths next perhaps. I've started installing some of them on the layout & they really don't look too bad. These ones are offcuts of Seafoam with static grass attached with the spray stuff to form smaller branches, everything then sprayed brown or grey, then green scattery stuff spray glued on. I'm liking how these are looking. After all, everyone wants a Shrubbery, right ? Just to create something to compare with those, these are just seafoam offcuts with the green scattery stuff applied directly, no static grass to form a layer of smaller branches. Really shows what the static grass can do when you compare with the pictures above. Still, not too bad. I do remember seeing plenty of scrubby looking things like things on cuttings and embankments where I grew up in Somerset, so they've gone on to the layout. Now, second Monty Python reference - what to do with all those "Emperor Stringettes" ? Well, more inspiration i found here - bits of string, glue one end, tease open the strands at the other end then spray brown then spray adhesive & green static grass. Not too bad I am thinking... Next batch (and there's about 6 feet of Emperor Stringettes glued and ready to go in the basement) I think i'll try different lengths of static grass and also try doing a mix of with and without green scatter stuff on top. I also have a nice big pack of Crayola crayons chilling in the freezer downstairs - another piece of inspiration I've gleaned from here, so i'll be trying that out shortly. And finally, some electrical inspiration. These trees are all made from electrical wire twisted together, painted with a latex mix to cover copper wire and make it look like a trunk, then painted grey/tan shades (some i've added green washes do with a dry brush to create moss), then that Woodland Scenics Polyfiber stuff for foliage mass, then spray adhesive & different green scattery stuff. I'm mixing these in with the Seafoam and Chernobyl trees & they don't look too bad. These are mostly taller trees, i was intending to have these rising above the main height of the tree canopy. We'll see how that pans out when i get more in place. Here's a tree without the foliage: Well there we - I figured showing the inspiration you folks have caused in action was the best way of saying thank you

That looks distressing.... or rather, looks like it needs a bit of distressing applied to it :-) It looks like a really nice wagon, interesting and just different. I'm looking forward to mine arriving, though that will be at least another week while it makes its way across the Atlantic. Definitely a thumbs up to the Oxford folks. It will be interesting though to see what the price tag is for the next batch though...

Maybe i've just got off easy over the years compared to some of the folks and models above, but I'm going to nominate the Heljan Class 47 - on some of them the body shell is so tight on the chassis that it is a struggle to get them off (no, they're not mazak-ing, some of them have always been like that since i got them many years back, others not), then getting the drive shaft in place when refitting the bogies....

Got an email from Hattons saying my card had been charged for my one wagon, I can see it in my trunk :-) I'm looking forward to running it in my 'wierd'n'whacky' departmental train, should go well with the odd mix of bolsters, Borails, mess coaches, that warwell with the bolsters, brake vans & Toads..... might even prompt me to get that Dapol crane out and do something with the 8-wheel tender chassis I have sitting in a siding. Pity that Hattons crane wagon seems to have vanished without trace, that would have looked good right at the front of that train.

Couple showing the front of both sheds at Bath Road - looks like pretty much straight to gravel & ballast

Probably the most useful shots i've got are from Tinsley, I took more pictures there than any other depot Concrete aprons at either end, shorter aprons at the east end of the lifting shed, gravel right up to the side of the shed buildings

Few of Margam in 1988, looks like no apron, straight to ballast also included a couple that show some of the ground elsewhere in the environs

Few shots of the east end of both sheds at Immingham. Looks like a concrete apron for the newer shed meeting really cruddy looking cinder ballast. The older shed (the pic with the syphon on jacks) looks like a very small concrete apronimmediately in front of the shed where the tracks are, then a smaller apron to the left, just big enough to hold a 55 gallon drum.

Not sure if this is what you're after, but here's a few pics of Gateshead in 1989 showing some detail of the fuelling shed, looks like concrete apron at both ends & on the nearside stretching under the road with the fueling kit