SWT442

Day Will Come - Keane

It's coming together nicely Rich, will have to have it back at Brock when it's all done! Andy.

That's My Girl - The Vandals

The Rock Show - Blink-182

Roll Up - The Struts

Little Rude Girl - Lars Frederiksen & The B@stards

White Light - Gorillaz

Pick Up The Pieces - Eve6

Loving the model of 58017 James! The attention to detail is just superb, seeing what you achieve is certainly an inspiration for me to keep improving my modelling. Andy.

Kiss Me, I'm #@!* Faced - Dropkick Murphys

Implement Yeah! - Suede

Evening all. It's been a little quiet on the workbench front, mainly due to it being a bit warm to be cooped up in the cupboard and also having a new toy to play with! Having owned a Chrysler 300C Touring for 4 years with the 3.0 V6 diesel, I was wanting something with a bit more oomph and noise. So, another 300C Touring but with a 5.7 V8 petrol fit the bill quite nicely! It's had a little bit of work so far, mainly a complete engine and drivetrain service and new wheels and tyres. In due course a new (louder!) exhaust system will be fitted. Might re-map as well, can never have too much power! Anyway, back to the workbench! First up is 37421 in Colas livery as produced by Bachmann. The ploughs and some bufferbeam detailing has been done. At one end, a close coupler that comes with Hornby coaches has been fitted, with the ploughs modified to suit. This is to allow the loco to haul the 3-coach NR set I have (MK1 genny, UTU-3 & DBSO). A spot of weathering was undertaken on it, but to my horror, the weathering mix took the branding off leaving the loco like this! The weathering was aborted, with the printed details on the other side sealed with sating varnish to hopefully stop it all coming off. Lesson learned for future weathering of Bachmann stock! Next up is a model of 67026 "Diamond Jubilee" in its Silver livery. This is a repaint of 67018 which was picked up off of eBay a little while ago. It's been sat on the shelf waiting its turn in the queue. The detailing pack was fitted, followed by a light-ish weathering on the underframe and roof. The loco sides seem to stay pretty clean, no doubt due to the fact that it's the "spare" loco for the Royal Train. A set of wire bar couplings will be fitted to finish it off. The Dapol 68's have been over the bench again to have a set of Shawplan etched brake discs fitted. 68010 has also had a roof weathering and wire bar couplings added and is now largely complete. 68002 may well get the weathering toned down a little as I'm still not completely happy with it. The wheel rims and centres were painted with Underframe Dirt to help the discs stand out even more. Also passing over the bench was a friends Hornby M7. A front wire bar coupling has been fitted, allowing the loco to haul the occasional train without having to remove the front end details to fit the tension lock. And finally, something a little different! Another eBay purchase, picked up a while back, is a scratch built model of one of Colas Rails Kirow cranes and its two support wagons. The crane itself will have some bogie work done, as one of the wheel sets has a habit of twisting when running, causing derailments. Some etched disc brakes will also be put on. As for the support wagons, they're both modified Hornby car flats. While a very good representation, they're obviously not quite right. I have a pair of scratch built KFA flats from years back (again, another eBay purchase way before Hornby produced theirs!), which will become the new support wagons. Looking at the existing wagons, the equipment has been attached to a plasticard base, which I'm hoping should "peel" off the top of the car flats in one piece. These will then be put on top of the KFA's. A set of Cambrian ASF Cast bogies will be fitted to make these as accurate as I can without going too mad. That's it until next time! Andy.

Bad Talk - Kids of 88

Woman - The Secret Handshake

Small Town Trap - Eve6

Wait For Me - Theory of a Deadman

Cheers guys! Was really pleased with how they all came out considering I'd never been to any of the locations before! The 70 and 90 passing was pure luck, and that shot was the only decent one! All the others had the masts on the cab fronts! May look to take another trip that way in early September and try a few more spots out before they all disapear. Wouldn't mind having a run behind them and do the full route. Andy.

Every year, a trip to the DEMU show normally winds up with a few days away preceeding the show spent lineside at a few locations. This year a trip into Anglia was done to catch the Class 90's and MK3 stock before they're ousted by EMU's. Below is a selection of pictures from the trip, along with a couple of other electrics caught during the trip. The 90's and stock certainly look very smart in the White and Dark Grey colour scheme, but it must be a nightmare to keep clean! Clattering over the River Stour at Cattawade, 90004 "City of Chelmsford" is seen working 1P35 Norwich to London Liverpool Street. 31.05.17 Slowing for the stop at Mannigtree, 90003 heads over Cattawade Bridge with 1P39 Norwich to London Liverpool Street. 31.05.17 Thundering over the river bridge at Cattawade, 86637 & 86622 work 4M87 Felixstowe to Trafford Park. 31.05.17 Seen from the hill at Brantham, 90003 races by with 1P57 Norwich to London Liverpool Street. 31.05.17 Heading away is 90005 "Vice Admiral Lord Nelson" with 1P50 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, while howling the other way is 70019 with 4S88 Felixstowe to Coatbridge. 31.05.17 Accelerating away from Ipswich is 90013 at Belstead with 1P63 Norwich to London Liverpool Street. 31.05.17 Seen on the bank at Belstead, 90012 "Royal Anglian Regiment" propels 1P18 London Liverpool Street to Norwich towards Ipswich. 01.02.17 Working hard, 90004 "City of Chelmsford" hauls 1P35 Norwich to London Liverpool Street past the camera at Belstead. 01.06.17 Still flying the flag for Railfreight Grey, albeit with Freightliner brandings, 90047 leads 90043 through Tamworth with 4S44 Daventry ILFRT to Coatbridge FLT. 02.06.17 Still in EWS colours, 90037 "Spirit of Dagenham" and 90028 hum through Tamworth working 4M25 Mossend Euroterminal to Daventry ILRFT. 02.06.17 Andy.

With the annual pilgramage to the DEMU done last week, the preceeding few days were spent lineside at a few locations. The trip up from Southampton to Burton took a small detour via Suffolk and the Midlands, although not all in one day! First up is 66721 "Harry Beck", seen storming through Brantham working the evenings 4M02 Felixstowe North to Hams Hall. 31.05.17 Trundling through Cossington is 66623 "Bill Bolsover" working 6Z67 Trowse Yard to Tunstead Sidings empty aggregates. 01.06.17 Not long after, 66618 heads South with 6V08 Tunstead Sidings to Brentford Town. 01.06.17 66615 heads along the Down Slow at Cossington with 6M84 Dagenham Down Yard to Hope Earles Sidings. 01.06.17 GBRf's 66735 has a fairly light load of empty ballast boxes on 6L15 Toton North Yard to Whitemoor Yard. 01.06.17 With the vegetation grown since the last visit, 66423 stands in for the usual Class 68 as it works 6U76 Crewe Basford Hall to Mountsorrel through Coton Lane. 02.06.17 Heading for my home turf, 66565 heads along the WCML at Comberford Hall working 4O49 Crewe Basford Hall to Southampton Maritime. 02.06.17 An unusual one! 66588 flys through Tamworth working a Leicster to Ditton service, according to RTT. Can only assume it started from Leicster as a continuation of another service that was stoppped/cancelled there? 02.06.17 Andy.

Some great work going on Will. Those 50's just look so good! The work on the 166 is interesting, I think the down fall of that and the 158 was the rather basic lighting. I picked up a 158 a little while back very cheap with a view to moving it on for a profit (bit cheeky I know!) but might well hold onto it and try out your mod with the lighting. Never thought of using the Shawplan etches to modify the clusters. Will have to keep a eye out for an express models lighting kit. Andy.

Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away - Suede