The Black Hat

Perhaps Darlington to Saltburn for chocy and cream as they used to be regular on that route. Off the top of my head, 142017 to 142022 were all chocy before then being painted into Tyne and Wear PTE livery version of Regional Railways and these were based at Heaton. I think 142023 to 25 and 26 were based at Leeds but 25 was also at Newcastle. I am sure 26 moved to Newcastle too as it was always working around the North east, with its yellow doors. 142023 was the first one painted into regional railways standard livery and was the depot pet of Neville Hill, hence why that one was also done for the Hornby model in that livery.

Already moved it cheers. Just needs a few (quite a few) class 142s for it!

o all, An update on the layout again. The boards for the main junction have both been put into storage in the garage. That has allowed the one with the platforms being worked on and the main station board to both be brought out and put alongside each other for work to be started on the station proper. With one board having had its platforms placed into position, the other now has its put on so that the station can be measured and plans made for how the structure will be built visually seen for the first time. Some of the pillars have arrived from York model works and these are being drilled through so that they will be able to take the wiring needed for the station lights. These have been ordered as 0 gauge as they were the correct size and then had some height taken off the main column to match the height needed for the station. Its a task that needs a little patience to drill the columns as its being done using a Dremel by hand and line of sight. Photos show the station area coming together: As ever, I couldnt resist placing a few locomotives and coaches on to start to see what the station will look like when trains are in. Given where the building is in relation to the platform, the main services will all call at one end of the station, meaning a run to the north end of the trains heading that direction on platform 4 (seen with the 37 in place) and where the platforms get wider for southbound which is after the first coach on the HST. With the station building put onto the layout you can start to get an idea of the station approach. In fact the station needs to be onto the platform placed behind it so will stand higher than shown in the photo. This has created a problem in that the clock tower, based on Darlington will actually stand too high for the crate idea for transport. It will now see the town boards used to crate up to get around this problem - although this might need some protection made for transport. There is also to be another building on the far side for passengers accessing the station on the other side of the mainline. This has been purchased using a similar Faller kit to match the main building. The station clock tower has been added to the kit being a custom and scratch built plan so model one similar to the approach at Darlington's Victoria Road entrance. Here you start to get a look at the scale of the sets that will use Briganton as a station. HST's I think could be about 2+8, being some of the longest sets to take up the full platform space available. Other sets can be Voyagers, DRS / Regional Railways loco haulage and the regular units that will call here. The size and scale of the station will also demonstrate the need for cameras in the buildings which then allow operators and the public to view trains under the roof. In this view your starting to see the roof structures being tested for measuring and seeing how much is left to do. A Northern 144 has been placed showing how units will look in the station having arrived and waiting to head back to their next service. The fact that the timetable for the layout was done at the start of the build, allowed for most of the regular workings to be accommodated in the design, with a few alterations to the build only really effecting the likes of things like charters which will be the novelty trains anyway. Speaking of the novelty trains, the New North Eastern Railway Directors set is sat in platform 6. The signals protecting the platform are just off the photo. This has shown that this set, when in use will need to propel back into the station if the observation saloon is to face the platform and if engines are to be swapped, as in moving the signals together on platforms 5 and 6 there is not enough room to top and tail this set in and shunt release the engine. So, it will either have to use platform 1, propel back into 5 or 6 or use rule book instructions for starting a train past a signal, although that will technically foul the main junction. To be honest I can see propelling being the easier option, but this also leads me on to uncoupling and building them into the work currently underway. So more on that and other builds soon. Hope its of interest. Comments and feedback are most welcome.

Post written into wrong section.

There were a few of them sent to Newcastle that ended up working in the area. All of the ones that went into Tyne and Wear livery were formerly Choc and Cream. One 142026 survived for ages, with the yellow two leaf doors until then painted into Northern Spirit livery. Those that were are all ones that did carry original liveries being 25, 26, 50 and 65 off the top of my head. I grew up with Pacers having lived at Bishop Auckland so developed an interest alongside them having started most journeys with them. I keep meaning to try and get out some of my photos to help Charlie. Will see what I can do.

The Liverpoool version isnt far off and set the bar incredibly high for the next class 66 model. The more recent models have had DCC control used to its fullest, including light functions and sound. This should have been done from the start but now they are doing it. Add in extra features such as the axle boxes and all the detail and this could have been a model that did push the boundries and set new standards. Its clear that on paper the design should all work as it should. The contacts for lights, features, controls all work on the majority of models and the sound fitted models completely vanished faster than loo-rolls before a lockdown. Its only that transport, actual use (including on some lines built with track thats gauged too tight) and having lifted the body from the chassis that some issues have been highlighted. I expect tweaks are being worked on the model so that these are overcome. As a result a high-spec Accurascale model would find it runs against the Liverpool version and in that market both would face competition from those undercutting it, rather than aim for a model where the Next-Gen DCC hi spec model hasnt been done yet and thus stand a much better chance of fast, strong and economic sales. Thus I think Accurascale will avoid the 66... a class 50 however....

While looking at the area of the layout featuring the loading area there was a chance to grab a photo or two of other areas that were nearby or being worked on. Here a photograph of the shed area. Its likely that this will often be used by 'the New North Eastern Railway Company', which will be my fictitious railtour company running an awful lot of new build steam. To service this, former Fragonset engines were bought en masse to help run the operation, alongside other personal ones in the fleet such as 47833, 47535 and 31470, which is also fictitious too carrying BR Large Logo livery. As the new build engines are mentioned, two here of the fleet featuring 60541 Thunderchild with 64991 which has been done out in lined BR livery. The engine was chosen for this as it was done in LNER livery so ended up being non-standard given my fleet is done in BR liveries either real or not, so it leant itself to a conversion. Behind the engines is the start of the NNER Directors set - done out in British Racing Green and white livery, featuring a brake coach, Pullman with kitchen, one with a bar and a observation saloon.

Another update again. This time more work done on the area around the loading area. The plan was for there to be a warehouse that was featured in this part of the layout. Large, so it warranted rail traffic to the site and then onward movement by road. With a kit arriving here, the building has been built and is placed here on a test siting. It will feature a number of kits from the Walthers and Pikestuff ranges that have been adapted (butchered) into making the whole complex. What seen here is one half of the area. The rest of it will be seen on the next board which is where the two inner tracks on the left lead to. This will include a run round loop beyond the loading area shed which is on the right above the track. This is the view of the building that creates the back scene. There is some slight fettling work to be done to level the boards. The Wagons in the front of the picture are there from having been shunted through the area for loading / unloading. It does mean that the main part of the building will be hidden from some angles from the front but that is because of the boards and back scenes needed to fix the whole layout together so is being seen as just being necessary. Hope those are of interest. More soon as work on the station continues.

Personally, I dont think its just Hornby. Yes there are a range of announcements that have gone head to head with Hornby's range but equally I think that Bachmann's range (which for ages has centred around more of the workhorses) has equally been given competition. I can see the age of the big two being over and now being the big three.

Nah, but its a subtle clue that the 50s will be due at some point.

57/3 and 57/6 should have a higher idle rate for ETH, I think.

If I were them I would be pushing the idea of getting the 00 gauge model done as there will be a nice demand for them to meet and allow them to then reinvest in other tooling they are working on.

Nice to see developments of the class 31, Im late to the party after having a busy few days, but did see the announcement and thought it was doing to go down well. The choices and variants included are also looking interesting as the possibilities of many of the details the class featured can be done. The liveries chosen represent many specific ones that will capture the novelty element of the class with things such as the white stripe BR livery being something not often seen. What will also be important will be if there are any limited edition style models done for partner retailers and what liveries these might feature if done.

Ive just painted straight onto the plastic. With no issues.

A nice way to remember a stalwart of the railway industry. Commendable of this to be part of the NRM as well as Bachmann Collectors Club.

I'm glad your happy.

Not anymore just one left. 66704.

More of an update again; Work has been carrying on lately, with the station roof still being done. Spans will come together and be joined up ready for the new pillars which are now on order. Attention has turned to the main station area and how best to go about viewing inside given the roof will cover a great deal of the area. I am planning to put cameras into the station buildings that will then view the areas of interest. To source the right kit I have bought a webcam and tested it with one design. The test, though crude, still gave good views when seen at home. Webcams also gave good frame per second and allow connections via USB so the cabling for them should be fairly easy. I will be needing software or a means to switch between the various camera inputs. It also will allow the feed from cameras to be put onto a screen that will fix onto the backboard so that viewers watching the layout also get to see easily into the station. Plans are to also focus on some minor detail work on the junction and depot end, before then being able to remove these boards for storage and focus on the full station area.

While the black paint has been out, work has also been done on another project that has been sat waiting for some time. There is still a lot of touching up and work to do on the engine.

Looks great! Cant wait to get them. Just hope there are not more problems in China that delay things, but these will be worth the wait.

My layout is very much Northern midnight blue period and as such waiting on the 156 and 142s from Charlie. If it hits the exhibition circuit I can see there being some more locomotive haulage!

More an imagination on Fragonset getting more hire-ins as it would have remained standard 50 given ETH still in use. But do think 50s are a topic that can have a back-story easily edited to include stuff like this and 50149 helps start that rolling. I think my Regional railways 50 is near the front of this thread too.

50030 Repulse joins the rank of Fragonset...

Meanwhile, work continues on things other than building the layout. With the probability of a class 50 being done for me ever on the increase - I noticed that the one I had done to be a GBRf 50 needed repairs to its louvers. A bodyshell was purchased as it was the only way to get parts, but instead donated itself to be the next engine done for a repaint instead and the GBRf 50 will be obtained when a new one is done. As a result, the Fragonset team have had another engine join the group operating on the layout (although the history tweaked for this is that Fragonset was bought by the New North Eastern railway company upon its collapse...). It still needs some finishing touches, such as hazard flashes and cantrail stripe... but overall is coming together.

Hello all, Update with the station canopy. One span is more or less completed. There have been parts stuck more together as the plastic has slightly warped from when its been attached. Cue lots more glue, clamps and fingers being stuck together. The photo below shows the roof up against the station wall and thus needs clamping more to make it true. This has been done so will try and get an updated photo. Some of it may need to be sanded away to bring the roof in line with the wall, probably using my Dremel which has been a great bit of kit. However, when looking at the station when lifted into position on the next photo I just knew something was not right. After looking over and over at the roof and liking that it was starting to look like the real thing - I noticed that compared with the engine at the front, the canopy overall was too low. I did think that this would be enough to leave it as it was, that this station could just be slightly lower. The main reason for justifying this was the wires from the light fitted into the roof were thought to be too short. Thus, with the lower station they could be taken through the station wall, to the baseboard underneath and wired into the electrics for power. However, measuring again found that the run from the wires from where they would join the wall was longer than expected. This was partly due to avoiding looping wires around the spans and instead threading them through the struts, again thanks to the dremel. So, with that there was actually little wrong with attempting to raise the station roof higher to what it should be. Cue the next problem - how high should it be and which pillars would be used. After messaging a question to a regional Facebook group (The North Rail Scene) an answer came back with the right dimensions, taken from a drawing used for the possible refurb of Darlington in its forthcoming modernisation. The photo with that information is shown below. I replied being very grateful for the information. This saw the current pillars being roughly 1.5cm too low. Another part of this research raised the fact that my initial drawings used from the measuring of the station did not look much out of place. The shape and pattern of the roof span that was ordered and cut from York Model Works really looks good and true to the one done in the more accurate drawing. The next problem was sourcing pillars that looked like the prototype and this has started me looking at the direction of getting me my own 3d printer. Yet, the drawback to this is that I could then buy the kit and then have the layout done. At which point the outlay might not justify itself if not used continually. Contacting York Model Works again saw that the 00 gauge pillars were too short, but that instead the 0 gauge might be possible to cut it down to size that can be used, given the cap and pillar come in two separate parts. This would mean they can be the right size in height but then might be too broad. Thankfully, they are sending a sample - so that's excellent customer service. The photo above shows the roof resting more or less in place. The pillars that were to be used from the peco roofs are being used. The roof overall is sitting lower but this shows that even when the middle section is lifted clear (if that is possible to be build but likely) that you still would not be able to see through much. The advantage of raising the roof will give better views through the station for those watching. Work is continuing on a number of spans to be build for the next span on the far side. This can be progressed as then the canopy will come together ready for the pillars to then take the roof when it fits into place. Hope its of interest.