Mikkel

Any chance of a live webcam for the next exhibition? Just a suggestion, not entirely in jest.

It would also look good in G scale ;-) Only joking - I enjoyed this layout back then and it would be great to see an updated version. But easy enough for me to say :-)

Excellent, Captain. I agree that the new version looks better. I really like your eye for what makes a realistic and believable scene. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes "might-have-beens" creative (and challenging) to do.

Wow Mike, those are extremely evocative pictures. Many thanks for the mention, but as Jonte says this has a character all of its own. And you are definetely wrong that it is a clich

Personally I don't think you are too far off in the third photo. The mortar on the bricks is in my opinion not a problem but an advantage, because it tones down the red for convincing distance viewing. Captain, to post an image here it has to be already on the web. If it is, then right click the image, click copy, and then go here and paste directly into the comment box.

Hi Rich, agree with you about deadlines not necessarily leading to motivation. Human nature is much more complex than that. I look forward to seeing progress, especially the point rodding which I've been ignoring for too long myself. Sounds like your layout is a she :-)

More interesting stock, good stuff. The Chatham six-wheeler really oozes character, I think. Very interested to hear you have used Vallejo in a drawing pen, maybe something to experiment with. Thanks for the tip.

Nice to see updates on this again. Workers cottages are looking good. I do like the viaduct, it's a whole diorama in itself.

Thanks Al :-) I wouldn't have guessed it myself either! I don't mean false modesty, but it's a fairly simple object to model. The most tricky part was getting the curvature of the "frames" to look un- home made. The rest is just a matter of sticking things together.

Very much agree, CAD modelling etc produces some fantastic results but there's still a place for this kind of messing about :-) The poor old paintbrushes were actually subjected to a third assault, which provided the spacer rings between the gearwheels. Forgot to include the pic before.

Hi Southernboy, the beads are my daughter's. As far as I remember they are a mix from many different small bags that she collected throughout her childhood. They're all plastic. But she is 19 now, and so I dug them out of storage and plundered just two white ones! Those Victorian lamps sound very appealing!

Yeah, it's fun isn't it :-) And it doesn't have to be on a small scale either. Jim SW does the same on Birmingham New Street (no other comparison intended!).

I think you're right to maintain the idea of trains running in a cutting. It will look great. Especially if you are serious about a King and 14 bogies! Can't wait! Maybe the foamboard will be the simplest and most flexible approach? Only you know the condition of the wardrobe sides. What's this DMU business now?!

Hello Western Star, the photos are in "GWR Goods Services, Part 2A: Goods Depots and Their Operation" by Tony Atkins, publishers Wild Swan, page 88 and 93 respectively. The original photos are credited to the NRM. This series is highly recommended, perhaps especially this volume (part 2A), which has a number of photos from Paddington Goods and other London goods depots. If you like large goods depots, the photos on the Warwickshire Railways website from Birmingham Hockley are also a treat: http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/hockley_goods_part1.htm

Hello david, sounds like you have a very strong Southern enthusiasm, spreading it over two continents :-) Looking forward to the photos.

Thankyou everyone for your kind comments. The "can you guess what it is yet" mode of presentation can sometimes be a little irritating for the reader, but I couldn't resist it here :-) No, this is not the start of doing Paddington Goods, although it would be an immensely interesting project. As Buckjumper's research and project shows, there is so much potential for modelling the London area goods operations. Anyway I am just stealing the design of the Paddington cranes and using them in the Farthing goods depot as a way of hinting that this is a fairly large depot although we are only seeing a small part of it (which is also why I need at least one more crane). Sasquatch, I think the wagons in the 1926 (actually 1927) photo carry the 16" GW letters, which replaced the 25" letters around 1920. The 5" letters were introduced in 1936. So that is as would be expected? Doing something like this in plastikard and with ad hoc available items is fast and fairly simple. But it also involves compromises. For instance I would say I have stretched the plastikard to the limit here - now that everything is in place it is structurally sound, but there were some dodgy moments along the way when it looked like I would end up with a banana shaped crane! And there is the thickness of edges etc which only brass could get 100% right. So there is an awful lot of good to say for the more exacting and laborious approach that eg you are talking about, Nick and Buckjumper: That to me is still the gold standard way of doing things and in due course we'll all admire the results! To me it's just a matter of finding the approach that suits me best.

Kit-bashing and a 43xx again. What is there not to like? :-) Thanks for the tip about the stanchions, John, they could save a lot of fiddly work.

Superb. The texture of the stone looks very very good.

Thanks Andy and all (sorry the comments are jumbled up a bit, some of my responses don't seem to have registered). Yes, this was a real paintbrush massacre! Not only a sign of laziness, (reaching for whatever is close at hand!). The metal tip of a fine paint brush is actually a shape that can be hard to find anywhere else in the house. Job, your use of card and wood is in my view superb. It's funny how modellers prefer different kind of materials. Technically this crane would have been a more proper build in brass, but I feel much more comfortable with plastic.

Congratulations on getting underway Nick! That is indeed a very simple method of making boards, thanks for illustrating it so clearly. Looks like a nice loft-setup you have there.

Ah yes, the livery question :-) So far I think grey. But what shade? Dark?

Many thanks gentlemen. It's a great thing about railway modelling that we can take some obscure object from the past and bring it back to the present. I had better explain about the problems I had with the pulley wheels as I wouldn't want anyone to repeat my mistake: As you can see they were made from watchmakers parts. I had expected that I could polish the teeth/cogs away by mounting the gears in a mini-drill or similar, but this is hard stuff and you need much more serious machinery than I have. I think they would be excellent for making gears on a crane, but less so for pulley wheels. At least for someone like me. Modellers who have good metalworking skills and kit might fare better. So after various attempts I ended up simply using varnish to fill in/smoothen the gaps between the teeth. However this is not really an ideal solution. Next time I will simply try to scratchbuild the pulley wheels.

Here's a little scratch-building project that I'm working on in-between the coach painting. The prototypes were used extensively at Paddington Goods in the 1900s. A similar but more austere type was used at Hockley. I couldn't find any drawings, so the dimensions are guesstimates based on photos. The build was a real pleasure, especially sourcing the parts. I'll let the pictures explain the rest - gradually! In other words, a shed crane. I still need to model the operating lever which was situated next to the crane, and which (as far as I understand) connected to a mechanism beneath the deck. I plan to build at least one more of these - although possibly a more heavy duty type. There are a couple of things I might do differently on the next one. I think the counter-weight is a little underscale. I will also do the pulley wheels different next time. We live and learn! PS: Thanks to Missy for the tip about the watchmaker's parts, available on ebay.

Speaking of the NRM: If only they would buy it off you Tim. It would be such an excellent way to demonstrate prototype operation in model form, and those who are not interested could just marvel at the layout in general.