Mikkel

Good to hear (and see) that it was a success :-)

What a great layout. Somehow I've missed it completely so far, but there's always something new to discover on RMweb :-) Everything looks so well built, and the casettes and rack are an inspiration.

I also want to say thankyou Geoff, for all the inspiration and fantastic images you have provided us with through Penhydd. This one must be one of my all-time favourite images here on RMweb (and there are many!):

It may be time consuming, but it seems to be me this will contribute hugely to the whole feel of the layout. Thanks for documenting the process so carefully, Captain.

Hi Nick, What an inspiring and interesting entry and layout idea. I especially like the idea of those little workings you describe. Typical GW: What seems standard on the surface has it's own interesting little variations when you look closer. Must have been interesting for the crew too, four locos in one shift! This layout will be a real classic, no doubt.

Lovely shot Frank, thanks for sharing!

Thanks everyone - really good to hear you like it as I've been very uncertain about this livery. We are our own worst critics and I can see a number of details in these close-ups that need adressing. Miss P, must I really weather the ballast? I have a thing for light dusty ballast like this and I like how it's come out. But seriously, now that you mention it I think you are right. Notes taken! As for lights: I've begun looking into this and am aiming for gas lamps. I'll probably take my cue from an Edwardian photo of Paddington in "GWR Goods Operations" which shows quite a mix of styles. In the photo there are lamps mounted on the columns along one deck, and hanging lamps along another, which would suit me nicely. Missy introduced the idea of working lamps but I'm not sure I'm up for it. Let's see. Not sure about the source of lamps. I have yet to find readily available 4mm hanging gas lamps. I am thinking of chopping up some cheap Hornby platform mounted gas lamps and just using the lamp itself. Unless anyone has a better idea? http://www.Hornby.com/shop/skaledale/r8673-platform-lamps/

Many thanks for these comments :-) Dave, I hope there will be one or two melodramatic events at some point, although the photography for the stories may prove a little tricky. All those sloping lines and things that get in the way! Fortunately the columns can be temporarily removed to allow room for a small camera. Mike, yes many thanks for the input on the roof-meets-wall issue. The whole roof can be taken off very easily now. Will take some photos once the painting's done.

Been following your progress on the exhibition with interest. I have never tried it myself, but I can imagine how stressful it must all be. Many thanks to you and all other exhibition organisers for doing it. Sounds like it will be a great exhibition and good luck with it. When it's done, you deserve a month off! :-)

Looks great. Lovely buildings (including the grounded van body!) and the restrained colour scheme rally gives it character. Look forward to seeing more.

This looks visually very well balanced. The artwork is very nice too, I like the style of it.

Really pleased to hear that Nick, as I know you've been studying some of the same books and photos :-) That sounds like an interesting experiment you've done with the last photo, I must try that myself. BTW I put the red wagon in there to see what it would look like in black and white. It comes out fairly light, as did the wagons in David's experiment here. But as you say in the comments on David's blog, a straight conversion from digital image to monochrome doesn't capture the emulsions of the time.

Thanks everyone for the comments and input. I know I may seem obsessive about the livery issue here, but as can be seen the columns and ironwork are very evident on this layout, so the livery makes a big impact on the look of it all. The description on www.stationcolours.info is interesting because it says a couple of things I haven't seen mentioned before. This includes the comment that chocolate may have been used on stations (not just signal boxes) up to about 1907. I think it was Nick on here who first mentioned the chocolate at the base of columns in goods depots, and what I have seen seems to confirm this. As for chocolate on the walls, this seems to have been a later thing from what I can tell - at least in larger goods depots. But I definetely need to add some weathering at the base of the walls, as others have commented in the past. The light and dark stone combination is something I would also have expected, and it's certainly not impossible. But I just haven't seen photos yet where it is clearly evident. One tricky thing here is shadow, which I find can easily create an illusion of dark stone in a photo. I have seen a couple of photos where I think dark stone may have been used here and there for decorative purposes (?), but not on the columns or roof supports as I would have thought.

Modellers try to recreate the real thing. But sometimes we don't know how the real thing looked. Then what? These photos show my experiments with what I think was a standard livery for larger GWR goods depots around 1907, following lots of browsing of photos in books, and a brief discussion in this thread (many thanks gentlemen!). The trouble is of course that photos from the period don't have, er, colour - and are full of light and shadow. So it's hard to tell grey from light stone, or light stone from dark stone, or dark stone from chocolate. Above is the same photo again, without the colour. I think it highlights how hard it can be to interpret colours in b/w photos. Also, the photos themselves are just reproductions. Alas, the treachery of images ! You'll be forgiven for thinking that this livery doesn't look very GWR. Neither did I at first. In fact I hated it, and thought it was completely counter-intuitive. I felt that shades of dark grey would be more appropriate. Or at least dark stone which was the preferred livery for ironwork on the GWR's public station buildings. But certainly not this BR look! Still, the photos that I could find suggested that light stone ironwork with a darkisk chocolate base (to hide wear) was in fact common. And that it was often more clean than I would have thought. So I left it for a couple of days, and I began to get used to it. I also realized that it made a lot of sense: In a place like this you'll want things to be as light as possible. Looking at the results so far, I think it may need a little more weathering after all. Maybe I should also align the height of the chocolate base so that it's the same all around (at 4ft heigh?). Plus, the weathering highlights in the chocolate has made it look too grey. Perhaps this livery didn't just apply to goods depots. Looking at photos of other large non-public buildings on the GWR at this time seems to show the same livery (see eg the photos of the Swindon Works Road Wagon workshop in Kelley's GW Road Vehicles p27)... But then again, I fully realize that this livery may turn out to be all wrong. So, any further comments and info would be much appreciated.

Boiler makers, 1907. Is this really the same planet? https://www.flickr.com/photos/swindonlocal/5430074909/in/set-72157621865702351/lightbox/

Madness can be a good thing, and you prove it here. What an interesting bashing project (although slightly painful to watch - the V2s are among my favourite non-GWR locos!). Those resin components are pretty interesting too. Looking forward to the next instalment :-)

Ah now this is good stuff. Buckjumper has already said it, but it deserves to be repeated: The restrained weathering is superb.

That looks really good, Missy. Glad that this turned out well after the initial frustration. You deserve it too, with your persistence.

Brilliant. The weathering of the coaches really suits the scene, I think. And that tank shot is great. So very believable.

I may reluctantly have to agree with you :-)

That's pretty good for three weeks, Chris, and excellently done too. It all looks very appealing, you're advertising the MR really well. I want some of that too!

You're probably the only one who noticed that. Keep 'em coming please.

Ooo, nice detail. Must have been satisfying to do. The ladders look superb.

You'll be running a kennel soon! I suspect the seller of the Dukedog on ebay thought: "Good thing this bloke doesn't know there's a new Dukedog coming out RTR soon. No doubt he's a complete newcomer to railway modelling who knows nothing about Dukedogs" ;-)

Looks good Chris. The paintjob on the wagons is particularly good, I think. Must try the chaos black on a loco sometime, several people have recommended it.