sulzer27jd

Nice stuff Peter. The idling diesels bring back so many memories. Cheers John

My father-in-law fired regularly on the P2's and had a great respect for them and their pulling power. There was one of them though which didn't raise steam as well as the others. Apparently a fault in a casting, that only became apparent when it was stripped down for major works. Being an LNER man out of Dundee Tay Bridge he sang the praises of the Peppercorn A2's and the Gresley V2's, but he claimed the P2's were the finest machines ever built. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing it in model form and hope Hornby go on to do the other body style.

Before my time period, but I will be unable to resist this. Might even adventure as far as using some of the railroad version for other liveries, BR Blue and Green, would have looked great.

Good to see you back in action. J

Ex Caledonian, ex LMS McIntosh 2P in ex GNSR, ex LNER territory; Running the branch shuttle of Claterinbrigg

Balbeggie Sidings in BR Blue links below

That is a nice rake of wagons Mark, can you give us a few details of what they are?

Very welcome update Dave - I'm looking forward to them J

A strange option given that the steam/diesel era seems to be so popular as I would have thought then that the 21 would have been the better choice. Or perhaps that just me being hopeful. From a personal point of view it would be a big disappointment if it was just to be the 29. And of course the dilemma - do you convert the 29's and complete the project just as the 21's are released or do you wait with fingers crossed. I do hope Dapol confirm their plans as the speculation cannot be helpful. J

Test running an LNER liveried Hornby B1- waddles like a constipated duck. Hugely disappointed in that because it certainly looks nice, until it moves. Got a Bachmann earlier in the year and it looks much better when running and thats more important to me. J

Your layout continues to impress Peter. It is looking very nice. J

Possible early morning to Newcastle, but it could be a parcels working. Occasionally there were extra parcels put on that seemed to be expedited for whatever reason. I recall one occasion seeing a Deltic with 2 BG's heading up the ECML. ( I don't think I had ever seen anything moving so fast in my life before that.) Given the way the doors open in the vehicle behind the loco, it is either the guards compartment or a full brake/parcels. Just a thought. J

Wonderfully atmospheric, especially the station scenes. The other pics seem to me a bit rural for the setting, perhaps the backscene could show more of the city. All in all though a very nice layout. I'll be watching to see more pics. J

Guys I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the layout, thanks for the very positive feedback. When I set out to build this layout I was trying to get the feel of being lineside in the pre mobile phone days, and to build in an air of anticipation. Most of my favoured railway spots are out in the open; Carmont, Longforgan, Greenfoot, St Michaels etc. During the era I am modelling you went along and had an idea what was due and when, but you generally didn't know exactly what would turn up. Now it is all very clinical, you can get updates beamed to your communicator telling you exactly which class 66 will turn up and how many minutes it was late at some point or other. When I am writing these little updates I like to think of it in terms of the captions that would appear in a big railway magazine rather than a little railway mag. I suppose it is a bit of escapism but if I can disappear to the lineside in 1983 and make sense of the trains I am seeing, then I will try and give that same pleasure to others. The fact that others do appreciate the effort is very rewarding and despite the fact that I model as an individual; there is a real sense of community within the hobby which I find helps. Thanks again for following the threat and for taking the trouble to share your thoughts. - I'm off to see what is running the Aberdeen cement tonight! John

Thanks guys I suppose it is no surprise that the same locos would feature of both layouts. I noticed 27105 featured recently at Waverley West. That's a regular performer on my Dundee - Edinburgh stoppers. Re the multi-coloured push pull sets. Like any livery change there was a period when it was mix and match. The spare set especially was seemingly made up from anything that was lying around. I do try to keep them together but 711 is a bit of a pet and got used the other day. thanks again John

This is a shot of Eastfield based 47614 working the 1G64 Aberdeen to Edinburgh Waverley past Balbeggie Sidings. JD

Some photos from the lineside at Balbeggie Sidings during a mid 80's session; First up. The 12.00 Aberdeen to Edinburgh remains a loco hauled turn and is often worth the local fans checking out. Captured today with 47614 in charge, it is seen passing the late running 1S12, the 08.00 Kings Cross to Aberdeen. The HST is running about 25 minutes late and the 47 pretty much to time as this shot would be about 2.00 o'clock at Balbeggie Sidings. The 47 spent much of the 80's at Eastfield but spent a couple of years as an Inverness allocated loco and has flush headcode at both ends. This loco had been the test for the XP64 livery but is seen here in Large Logo Blue with the Eastfield terrier. Another service that is worth watching is the 7L30, off of Millerhill just after 10.00 am it is scheduled through Balbeggie Sidings just short of 2 hours later. It is seen with 37418 as power. This was another Inverness loco at the time. Completing the trio of Inverness associated power is 47546 with 1N30, the 15.25 service off of Waverley. (One advantage of modelling is that you can suspend any adverse reality. The Inverness trains were diverted via Stirling by the mid 80's - but not on Balbeggie Sidings!) The 12.00 Aberdeen - Edinburgh mentioned above is captured again a couple of years later. This time with 47711 Greyfriars Bobby in large logo blue propelling a Scotrail liveried push-pull set. I hope you enjoy J

That is very nice. A one time typical scene. J

Glad to see this thread getting back to normal. well done Dave. J

Superb, you can almost smell that hot oily aroma that hung about diesel depots. I wonder if the cab doors have been left unlocked? Nostalgia - definitely much better than it used to be. Great work J

Very nice. Of course being Glasgow its only dull between rain storms. J

Not sure of your time period but Bahram ran out of Ferryhill for some time with brown nameplates. That might make an interesting variation. John