Mikkel

Beautiful. One picture worth a thousand words. The embankment looks like an interesting new design for a golf course ;-)

Pete, looking at the second shot: You've just got to have a bungee-jumping figure dangling from the viaduct! ;-)

Hi Chris, I used handpainted Vallejo acrylics for the rail. I know that sounds a bit odd, but these are my standard colours now and I prefer using them for as many purposes as possible. Their primer provides an OK base and if left to dry well, and the top coat will harden up nicely I find. For the record, the colour is 70.822 German Cam. Black Brown. This is then weathered with a bit of light weathering powder. I sometimes think too much rust looks wrong on layout rails, when I view real track from a distance they seem dark brown to me on all but the most abandoned sections of track - even if rusty at close hand. I have a problem getting the top part of the bullhead rail painted - as you can see in the photos. When I wipe of the top of the rail, the top part of the sides tend to get wiped too. Must try with greater care. I look forward to seeing your new points painted!

Ah yes, Holmes and Watson. They would fit the Edwardian period too, I've just realized: http://www.sherlockp...ckTimeline.html What a colourful age that was - in fact and in fiction (omitting the numerous wars for a minute!). The next episode will follow, I just got a bit sidetracked with some more work on "The depot" - it gets a bit too much with all the figures sometimes :-)

Sorry to hear about the set-back, Ian, but impressed tht you redrew it all. Sometimes it seems that persistence is the most important skill a modeller needs.

Those are great-looking points, Chris. Thanks for noting down the main steps, I look forward to getting to this point (sorry!) myself.

Ah but Monsieur, you 'ave the mind of the devil 'imself ! These stories are much more devious than what I had in mind :-) I see what you mean about those coffin-shaped crates though...

Laughed out loud at that one! Great story. But why not Barrow Hill rather than Gretna Green :-)

That's two votes for Mrs Longbottom then. I wonder if your suspicion of her has anything to do with her somewhat tyrannical nature? ;-) The two half pictures above of a certain actor in a certain role provides a clue (well, sort of!). OK, I really must resist this faffing about and get back to modelling :-)

That is heartbreaking, Simon! Must be a little sad for you as well, if it's finished. Good thing you've got a new layout in planning! Very nice filming, editing and story telling as always, and your use of smoke is so very evocative. Thanks!

Hehe, hadn't thought of that Not far off, he's originally a Monty's skipper, modified a bit: http://www.dartcastings.co.uk/montys/MSV50.php Oh, and:

Good to see these locos getting some colour. Although it's always a little sad to see all the lovely brass disappear!

Amazing to think that her sentiments were shared by the early railway operators, eg having 3rd class passengers travelling in rebuilt goods wagons etc. I wasn't aware until recently that some early 3rd class carriages ran in goods trains, not passenger trains! Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.

Ta :-) That Poirot figure from Artizan does have rather long legs - perhaps they could be shortened. And it seems the Poirot timeline allows for a certain flexibility around 1914... http://www.poirot.us/timeline.php Hmm, maybe later. Doesn't quite fit this story, as will become evident...

Welcome back to the blogs, Will :-) I'm impressed by the relay boxes, but those seatbelts on Flickr... out of this world! I'm sure there are all sorts of (warning: management speak) cross-fertilization benefits from the various modelling disciplines you do. Good stuff.

Some rather extraordinary methods of deduction being applied, I see. But then there's not much to go on, is there. Not even a corpse! Wouldn't be very satisfactory if it was a real whodunnit (which is why I'll never become a screenwriter!). I came across this model representation of a certain master detective . I assume it's Poirot, with an altered name to avoid copyright issues. Unfortunately he is 28 mm tall, which I think would look wrong in the company of the others (25mm is probably about the max height for an OO figure, I would say).

Superb modelling, and some very interesting techniques. Thanks for the inspiration. The loco looks pretty good too, any chance of a full photo of it?

Thanks all, it's fun to do a model railway whodunnit. I'm taking notes of your theories, so we can elect the RmWeb Master Detective... On the issue of centimetres rather than inches... Ahem, bit of a slip-up! But come to think of it, there's a clue in there.... I've tried various ways of fixing the figures in place temporarily. Mostly I simply use a small blob of bluetack underneath both feet. It's crucial that the soles are filed entirely flat. And that the layout is of the solid type! Some of the figures also have more permanent positions, where I use pins fixed in the platform etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiaRuOjNOxM

"Francis, what on earth is that?" "I don't know, dear" "It says 'Monster' on the side. How terribly silly. Why on earth would they call a railway carriage something like that?" "I don't know, dear." "Perhaps it's for third class passengers? I don't suppose the working classes need much light." "I don't know, dear." "Francis, I do wish you were more knowledgeable." "I know, dear." As the Longbottoms fell silent, the Monster rolled past them in all its might. This was no. 484 of the P18 diagram, built to carry scenery and props for travelling theater companies. These carriages were recent introductions, and there were only six on the entire system at this time. No. 484 was the first of its kind to visit Farthing. Station Master A. Woodcourt was watching the approaching carriage with concern. It had arrived a day late, and the main yard was busy. So he had ordered it unloaded in the down bay. But he was worried about the loading gauge. In principle there shouldn't be any problems, but these new carriages were big, and they didn't normally use the bay for carriages of this size... In the cab of No. 835, the crew were also keeping a sharp eye on clearances. They had both worked this bay since it was built by the independent N&S many years ago, and they knew that the standards laid down by that company had sometimes been a bit, well, "optimistic". It would be close! Shunter George Mullins, ever the pessimist, was watching the scene with a sceptical eye. "Well the drawing boys at Swindon have done it again." "What's that then?" "Drawn something too big and impractical! It may look fine on their fancy desks, but out here in real life it only leads to problems." "It seems to be going well enough, though." "Well they've been lucky this time. But with everything getting bigger and bigger, there'll be no work left for us shunters in the end.You wait and see, in a few years a whole train will just be one long carriage!" Much to everyone's relief, the Monster slid neatly into the loading dock, with just a few centimeters to spare. As unloading of the carriage began, Woodcourt was confronted by the director of the travelling theater company, Mr Crummles (Junior). Clearly of a choleric disposition, he launched directly into an assault: "Do hurry up! This delay is totally unacceptable! Are you at all aware that we have our opening night this evening? We shall be needing our scenery and props in just a few hours. This is not some petty local act, you know, this is Shakespeare!" Ganger P. Quince had seen it all, and was not impressed by the fury of the theater director. With the sarcasm for which he was well known, he muttered under his breath: "Shakespeare, eh? Well, I reckon Shakespeare will have to wait for the Great Western just like everyone else." It was at this point that a shout of alarm was heard across the loading dock. As everyone looked up, carter Tom Gradgind stared blankly ahead of him and exclaimed: "A murder, I think there's been a murder!" A murder? As he took a minute to gather his thoughts, Woodcourt couldn't help but consider who might possibly commit such a foul act. The Longbottoms? Or one of his staff? Or carter Gradgrind himself? Surely not! And yet.... Go to part 4

Hi Chris. I know what you mean, poor running is such a killer. But thanks very much for sharing your 2FS run with us all, and especially those wonderful MR engines and Little Glenfield itself. An O4 and sand wagons in Norfolk sounds pretty good too - am looking forward to that.

I like that concept: a "pathfinder" layout. Good luck with the thinking.

That looks nice and smooth. I bet your fingers are itching to start track laying/ landscaping. Interesting way to use the workmate - you can enter it in the RMweb "innovation" challenge :-)

Ha, you couldn't make it up! Unless they were pulling your leg due to the date!

Manuêl: "Que"? Yipee, I was looking forward to your return to this, Pete! I really like the addition of the backscene - and the viaduct is just looking superb there!

Hi Jon. Looks good so far, but I'd tend to agree with Will: there's a bit too much track. Personally I would probably loose the front one and put a couple of view block sheds (or similar) at the front, and have a fairly "heavy" background (embankment or similar) to balance it off. But that's a matter of taste of course. If you decide to stay with the four tracks, it would probably be good to have a relatively clean look of the ground, and figure out a few other viewblocks (like the fuel point, or other delicate upright vertical things) to disperse round the diorama, so as to increase the sense of space. I like the look of that shed. Bachmann are making good progress in the building department, I think.