Markeg

Looking forward to this, the GNR Stirling Single 4-2-2 and the Model Rail J70. All from Rapido. And don't they look like the bees knees. Mark in Oz

Hi Jesse, The layout is progressing well. Clear sidings and access are very important. Tony, I think I know your problem. "there's nothing better than sharing a cold beer while running trains." lol. I am currently building some Kirk 61' Gresley Teaks for the layout. A couple of years ago I bought 20 kits for $10ea from a deceased estate in Melbourne (Oz). So far I have built a Full brake, finished just before Hornby announced theirs and a Rest first. I bought a Comet Restaurant Triplet Set which was part finished, just interior and roof detail to do, which is done. I have part constructed a End Vest 3rd and a Composite. Next will be a 5 compartment Brake and an End Vest Composite. I have a Silver Jubilee set nearly finished and once these 4 coaches have been completed I will start on the Coronation set. Some time I will try a post a photo or 2. Jesse's layout is DCC as you can see his NCE handsets in the photo of the Control Panel. I think seeing some excellent layouts, such as Grantham, Retford, Little Bytham are truly inspirational. I was lucky to see The Gresley Beat and Gainsborough MRC (O gauge) when in the UK. keep up the excellent work Mark

Thanks Steve, Was meant to be 31, but got to 35, thats celcius. Same again tomorrow. I have been considering getting a sound version in BR of the J11. I visited the UK back in February 1989 and it was cold. Last time was in Spring 2011 and it was great most of the time.

Hi Steve, Yes it does on the two outer wheel sets. Runs very nicely. Mark in Oz

I too have come down with a cold and have been resting up today. I did swap some rollingstock over from BR to LNER. The LNER stock has not been out for a least 18 months. A couple of repairs to do. I also changed the coupling/er any Mainline or Dapol wagons too. Mark

Hi Jeff, You certainly bowled us over with that one. I have done the same on the few Hornby wagons I have that take that style of coupling. I suppose you are off to the BRMA Convention tomorrow. I have been busy with work and other things and now have a bad cold. I was going to display my O gauge layout at the AMRA rooms. Mark.

Hi Jesse, Good to see some progress. I didn't think to look for some coal when I was at Beamish in 2011. I do have a small lump found locally (Bendigo Vic) somewhere. I found that if you sprinkle bits of coal after you have put glue over the coal in the tender, the coal you have sprinkled over the top will stick to the glue underneath. The coal on top will keep its natural colour/shade/lustre. The key is not to fill it up to where you want it to be in the end and sprinkle the dry stuff after you have poured the glue. Any loose coal can be reused. I did this with a Britannia and has worked very well. Similar to the A4 tender you have there. hope this is of some help. Mark

PDK Models has a photo of a model. It looks very nice. I have 3 Bachmann D11's. GCR Butler Henderson, LNER Marne and BR Prince Albert. The later has been converted to a D10. That is BR 62654 Walter Burgh Gair. Family name on the loco and a relative. I was planning to buy the PDK D10, but checked dimensions and the boiler being only 1" lower than a D11, in OO scale I thought I could get away with it. The boiler frames are slightly different too, so these were filed to shape. http://www.pdkmodels.co.uk/Pic%2054.jpg Mark Gair in Oz

Hi Rick, Finally caught up with the new plans. Glad Maxwell's 'Silver' Hammer did not need to be used. Look forward to seeing the progress with all that stock in tubs being utilised. Maybe not all at once. Mark

Hi Peter, Looking excellent. Hope you find whats wrong with the T's. Looks like some good operating can be had. I wont be making Caulfield this year as I have friends staying. Hope you enjoy the show. Mark

Ordered mine last night Australian time. I see it is now on its way. Looking forward to it. Shame I can not get the authors signature in it. Mark in Oz

Hi Peter, My layout 'Filching Rd Yard' which you have seen at Caulfield is laid straight on the plywood board. As it is a shunting layout and locos are only slow moving the sound is quiet enough. I would think that for your size of layout it would be the same. My friend Adrian's layout is a 45' x about 16' roundy layout with 7-8 coach trains and about 15-20 wagons. He has used the Woodland Scenics underlay. I think that is rubber, possibly what you have used. So when his Peppercorn A1 and Black 5 hurtle around it is quieter than if he did not have it. I wouldn't bother. You could always come to Stawell as I will have Filching Rd Yard there this weekend. cheers Mark

I think it is Model Signal Engineering point rodding. It is finer than the Wills rodding. I bought a couple of packets of the Wills Point rodding to see what bits and pieces make up point rodding. I have made this up. It looks okay to me. I now understand a bit more of what makes up point rodding. Next time I plan to use the MSE items. google 'Wizard Models' and it will come up. Mark in oz

What about Australia? Excellent modelling in 7mm. I am currently building on a Parkside SR Pill Box Brake van. So very good inspirational stuff. I model LNER mostly in OO. The O gauge/7mm bug seems to have caught on a bit here in Oz, especially with the r-t-r items from Dapol, Heljan and the rest. Since I built my 2.4m (8') x 450mm (1'6") layout I have seen at least 3 members of the Victorian BRMA (British Railway Modellers of Australia start small end to end layouts. Mark in OZ

Hi Gilbert, That will still give us some excellent pictures of your layout and stock. A teaser for the next one maybe. You have certainly provided me and I think many others with plenty of inspiration with your photos on here. Mark

We hired a car for 21 days and went from Heathrow to Maidstone on M25, Canterbury, Ashord (including The Gresley Beat Home) to Eastbourne, Winchester, Devon, Cheltenham, Chester, Durham, York via Whitby and NYMR, Leighton Buzzard, Windsor and London to drop off the car. The only difficulty we had was a sign at a round about was unclear as it was on the side of a building and made it a bit unclear which road was the one we should take. We knew we had taken the wrong one by the time we drove around 50metres down the road and turned around. This was at Bishop Auckland heading to Durham. We also purchased a AA directory before we left and planned our routes before we got to the UK. It helped that I did a lot of hiking and studied Survey drafting in my earlier years. So map reading is not difficult. So driving is not to different from Oz. Lots more traffic in the south. The excitement must be building. Have a great time. Try eating some of the local fair, such a black puddings, Tea and Lard cakes, etc Mark

Its always nice to see LNER stock on excellent layouts, especially The Silver Jubilee. Lovely looking model. Far outshines my 8 coach Mailcoach set, which I can say I built and painted myself. I have 3 LNER Silver Locos to pull it. Link, Fox and King. If I did not have that I think I would be very interested in that. Hope it goes to a nice home. Agree it would look good if LB was all LNER, but that's another set of Locos and rolling stock. Not to mention any infrastructure changes. Mark

Hi Peter, That's looking good. We may have a large contingent of small O gauge layouts in the BRMA convention in October. Frank K is working on his. I am off to Stawell in a couple of weeks with my small layout. I have gained a LNER F8 2-4-2T l'll be sticking with steam. Tempted to get Dapol 08 but would still prefer steam. A friend has the 08 and runs very nicely. I may have it at Stawell. I hear Frank and Manfred are attending. Look forward to seeing your progress. See you sometime. Mark

Maybe the next post? Mark Nope

The Tony wright Right Track dvd's are great. George Dent from Model Rail Magazine has written an excellent book on Model Locomotive building. 'Kit Building for Railway Modellers' See his page on website http://georgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.com.au/p/blog-page.html Comet do a J72 Chassis and it is/was cheaper than the Mainly Trains version. I am about to order one from Wizard Models. They bought the stock when the previous owner and founder died. If you need to look at the details for these items from Comet, then google Comet Models and the old website comes up and you can look at the instructions and some photos. All the best with it. Mark in OZ

Thanks Phil for uploading photos. They look very nice. Some say tempting, but I wasn't tempted at all. I was going to buy one no matter what. I have been looking out for one of the D&S kits for a few years so this has made the decision easy. As I run LNER expresses this will go nicely with the Coronation kit I have yet to build. I have The Silver Jubilee (Mailcoach), Gresley Teaks including Restaurant Triplet Set (mixture of Hornby, Comet and Kirk) and Gresley Suburbans (Hornby and Kirk). I have ordered one and look forward to its arrival in due coarse. It will give me time to build the Coronation set. Thanks Rails and Rapido. Mark

Hi Rick, Not long to go then. Well done on the following on Facebook. You have a lot of 'Friends.' Well your layout has a lot of followers. Its good that know you have found a place in London, convenient and good for Sharon. Good that Penhayle will be displayed in part in the flat. Lots of photo opportunities with a variety of rolling stock. I wont be able to make it this time. I will be going into the club to fix up the club's English layout Oakham for our Easter Open days. I will be helping out on Saturday only. We are thinking that we will visit the old dart next year. May be able to catch up. We have accommodation available to us in Chelsea and a couple of other places. All the best. Mark

Does that mean the Dodo is not extinct? Mark

Thanks Rick for the great afternoon. Nice to meet you and see Penhayle Bay. Hope all the plans for moving go well for you both. Mark

As you walk the Shambles remember to look up. There are hooks on the front of some of the buildings/shops which indicate the hanging of meat from butchering. You can enter the Minster, but can not go past the barriers to see the long chapel (or whatever it is called). We didn't as we had been into Canterbury, Winchester, Exeter, Hereford Cathederals. I had been into St Pauls and Westminster in London on a previous visit. I even went to the Church where John Wesley preached/Ministered on my way to St Pauls. That was not planned for. Mark