Mikkel

Good, then it will be more challenging to do the 74xx conversion. Edit: By that I meant more fun :-)

Came across this. 3210 in 1943. Is that any help? http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrsa1495.htm Edit: Ah, probably not as in theory that would be GWR black.

John what a great post, it put a big smile to my face. The three new sidings look great. The last two photos are full of fun ( except the poor dog!). It's too rare we see families and layouts together!

Hi Robin, good to see the layout like this. Cattle dock looks good, nice fencing. How close is the layout to the real Brent? Regarding lighting I am in the same position as you. I currently mess around with all sorts of ad hoc lighting when taking photos, and I've grown tired of it. When finances improve I want to invest in some lighting equipment. What I'm trying to say is that it might be worth the cost for you to get some decent gear while you're at it?

I look forward to seeing you do a diorama with water! I think it will fit your approach very well, they way you capture urban/built-up atmosphere would be great for a dock environment. I was not kidding about Edward Hopper! For The Sidings my plan was to do the layout as shown in the fifth big image above. Ie the uppermost end of the head shunt, a single siding for the biscuit depot, and two mileage sidings. I think I can fit that in a small space. Or that is my hope. Thanks for the link. I will check it out now.

You mean they didn't cut stone with woodsaws? Bah, us Vikings do that before breakfast before getting on to the real work!

Another great entry. I like the way you make your experiences available to others. Meanwhile I spy an impressive layout in the background! Any chance of some more photos of that?

Thankyou Tim for these images and the link to the photo on the RCTS site. I agree, it is all there in one shot. It occurs to me that such images convey a time when a place had a significance in its own right, rather than just something we passed through in order to get from A to B. I would not personally call it progress. But the change has happened and there are different kinds of places and communities that seem to matter to people now. Some of them are on the internet. Like RMweb.

Good to see this Ian, you're on to something very interesting and unusual here, I think. I look forward to seeing those stonesaws! With the quarry face and one plankers, it will be really special.

Don't know but maybe he likes Taff Vale tanks. The photos in that collection are astounding. There are also a lot of 6438 and a couple of 74xxs. I especially liked this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/8437499103/in/photostream The good stuff starts here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/page2/

Hi Job, many thanks for the map of the Hockley basin shed. I had not noticed that before. I agree that the canal/railway setting makes for a great layout setting. I also like Brentford dock. I have used a little bit of the main Hockley depot in my goods depot - the mezzanine floor and cranes is sort of the same idea. For "the sidings", I sense that several people are trying to tell me it is a bit too large for Farthing :-) However I would like to see what happens if I adapt it into something a bit more modest. It is worth taking a step further before deciding, I think, but these suggestions are very much appreciated.

Many thanks Rob! It is good to know that Bachmann are studying our projects closely and announcing stock to fit them ;-) I can just see one of these working the sidings with a shunter's truck. I might remove the auto-gear and turn it into a 74xx, but let's see how it all plays out. PS: The option to convert it into a 2021 is also quite exciting for the Edwardian period layouts (maybe even rebuild the entire body structure including saddle tanks out of plastikard?!).

Coming together very nicely now, Pete. I have been hoping you would return to the idea of a digital frame that you brought up some time ago. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. I thought mini-me was some sort of clever architectural term you were using, until I googled it :-)

Thanks Nick for the excellent reply and illustration. And sorry about messing up the image display. I don't seem to have that problem. I wonder if this is related to the type of browser being used. Others are reporting Youtube embedding problems with IE, but there seem to be no problems with Chrome.

Hello Ray, I'm glad if it was of any use. It is a technique that takes a little getting use to, and thinning the paint right is key. But when it works it can be satisfying, I think.

Good to see progress on this. I know what you mean about leaving things for a while when you're stuck, and then coming back and solving the problem. Not sure about the coal rails, they do look a bit odd.

Oh good, these re-building projects are fascinating to follow. I suppose it would be another Buffalo :-) Out of interest, Nick, what are the signs of insufficient heat that you mention?

Meanwhile regarding the 74xx variant, here's a nice little collection of photos (except the first one). I especially like the shunting action. Note the shunter's wagon in one of them, another example of how the Bachmann range seems well considered. Sone of the captions state that the 74xx were autofitted, but that's wrong, isn't it? Or have I misunderstood something? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:GWR_7400_Class

Simple, clean, yet full of atmosphere. What an excellent little model, Dave. Let's hope they don't need to go when it rains :-)

Hi Pete, that's an interesting use of the sticky labels technique. And I like any approach that minimizes the (ob)noxious bits as much as possible. That Ian fellow is a clever man. Great looking bay platform. Will it be going back to BCN through the security checks? "Sorry Sir, no bay platforms allowed in the carry-on luggage. Can't have you threatening the captain with that!"

Looks like you'll be busy :-) Hope you'll share the build process. The Dean Sidings L1 sounds especially interesting.

Superb work. The texture and your eye for detail is impressive. Thanks for the tip about the plastikard stamp, it clearly works very well.

That's really weird! Sometimes it helps to have line break after the code.