Mikkel

Those last shots are a nice way of illustratiting that the thing actually works - not alway easy on the web :-) Congratulations on solving the problem of why it didn't run well backwards. These things can be extremely annoying until you find the fault and then it suddenly becomes an achievement! (curious to know what the problem was, I think some text is missing?)

Great illustration of bendy MDF, thanks for that.

That is beautiful track. Like art!

Very true. Strictly speaking, it's all totally irrational. Which is probably a major reason that it's so satisfying?! That could be, Captain. Although a quick search shows a feature in MRJ in 1988, which is 9 years earlier: http://www.modelrailwayjournal.com/issue.php?s=23 Of course, that's not a long time in layout building terms! :-)

Hi Ian, I don't know who it would have been in '97, but I remember getting friendly service there - and I think there was more than one light bulb :-). The ship models sound fascinating. At that time there was also another large modelling shop in Eastbourne, with a second-floor layout exhibition. Judging by Google, maybe it was the one that is now a Modelzone? Thanks for the offer of staying, sadly no plans to go any time soon though, need to pay some bills!

Matthew, that's a very evocative description in just a few words. Easy to imagine it. Thanks for sharing. Barrow Hill would look pretty good stocked with GWR locos! You've already got the Dean Single in there :-) Sam Spade and railway modelling, not the most obvious of combinations! But then again.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp7130Bjec4

Been looking through my books and the web for early photos of 3265, as I thought it would be fairly easy to find a works photo of the prototype of a rebuild . But no luck. If someone can find one, we could compare it to this shot of 3265, which claims to be 1936: http://railphotoprints.zenfolio.com/p1047678591/h11eab066#h11eab066 Edit: the link had changed, so replaced with current one.

Keeps getting better. What is the deadline - an exhibition?

Yep, the loco has no. 635 on the buffer beams, but she's always been No. 643 to me as I gave her those plates soon after we met. Just never got around to renumbering it (in 15 years, beat that! ). Will sort it later this evening so the buyer won't have to bother with her split personality! Not quite sure whether it's an M&L kit or the later Gibson version, but it's Portescap powered and a very good runner. Don't know who built it - probably someone on here! Sadly not going for this year's Watford show. I remember on that occasion seeing the excellent Lambourn layout that was doing the circuit in those days. I have a feeling I ought to remember who owned it, but I forget. What was it about Paddington hotels?! I remember that type of breakfast very well! Haven't been to any for a long time though, I wonder if it's all fancy boutique hotels now (well actually that would be OK!) I agree it's sad to be selling off stock when they are your old "friends". But funds are much needed and in that situatution it seems odd to have a bunch of valuable locos sitting in a drawer. Anyway, we'll always have Eastbourne B)

It was the winter of 1997 and I was in London for the Watford show. Or to be honest: My life was a bit of a mess, and I was trying to escape from some difficult decisions that had to be made. I had arrived a day early and was staying in a cheap and gloomy hotel not far from Paddington. The idea was to spend the day touring the model shops around London, but things were not going well: The weather was cold and windy, the shops were uninspiring and I couldn’t escape my own thoughts. So I caught a train down to Eastbourne. The warm carriage and gentle rocking of the train lifted my spirits a little. In Eastbourne I stood on the empty pier for a long time and tried to clear my head. Then I walked over to the Train Times model shop to see what was on offer. I saw her almost immediately, and I knew I had to have her. Sitting on a shelf was a 633 class loco, slightly scarred by life and hardly glamorous. Yet beautiful in her own way and longing to be loved. I bought her and walked out into the streets of Eastbourne, feeling a little lighter. On the train back to the chaos of London, I finally made those difficult decisions. ... So that was the story of the day I bought No. 643. I'm telling it here because I've just sold the loco, and I thought she deserved a proper goodbye. She'll be going off to another man now, but that's how it had to be. Here's looking at you, kid ;-)

Hi Ian, Only a railway modeller would be equally enthusiastic about (a) announcing his retirement and (b ) having bought four box files :-) But as fellow modellers we obviously recognize that these are equally life changing events! Seriously though, that is an impressive line-up of box files. It will be interesting to see your work on the Depron, light-weight materials are such an exciting area. And congratulations on the upcoming retirement, sounds like you're looking forward to it. We will now raise our expectations even further! :-)

Congratulations on completing it! Not often we haere someone say "finished" in this hobby :-) I wouldn't worry too much about the outside light effect, there's so much atmosphere in the already. Much impressed by the front buffer beam of that Class 33. Now if only the loco next to it had that kind of detail :-)

Antics Online claim that.... "3203 will be painted in the 1930s GWR plain green livery, as the Dukedog class carried from new." http://www.anticsonl..._105447337.html In other words, with the roundel. But whether that is just an assumption or they have this from Bachmann, I don't know.

Hi Paul, these are real attention grabbers. It's amazing to think some lasted into the 70s. I like the chunky look. Great stuff. It will be interesting to see them with etched brake gear!

What an excellent blog entry. I like how you've illustrated it so anyone could repeat what you've done. Thanks for taking the time! Plus, there's siphons. Siphons are always good :-)

Ceratinly beginning to look like an A1, as you say. Those curved tank sides must have been tricky, but what a nice result.The whole thing is looking very neat.

Great photos Ian, thanks for posting them. The first one in particular illustrates your important point about space very well.

Very atmospheric photos as usual! As for the sunlight streaming through smoke, I wonder if it would help to concentrate both things, ie concentrate the light source in more direct sources of light (spotlights) and adding more (thicker) smoke? Just a thought though, I can imagine it is tricky to get right. BTW, while there is no sunlight effect, there's use of a smoke machine here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/85/entry-1805-a-few-old-photographs-i-found-in-a-drawer/

Don't be so hard on him. It does come with a weight, after all....

A sight for sore eyes! Beautiful work all round. I imagine she must be an excellent runner.

Wow, that is *very* effective. The real wood of the trestle and the real stone of the "rocks" goes really well together. I find it can be hard to get real materials to look right in model form, but this is brilliant Frank. Here's a challenge for you though: Real water in the river! (I think not).

I've been planning a horsebox special for Farthing for some time. Now it has a place to go to :-) (has anyone ever done that - ie linked fictional line histories across multiple layouts so that the might-have-been stories integrate?)

Good to see more progress on Camerton, Nick. That Chinchilla dust is interesting stuff, must have a look at the local pet shop. The ballasting looks good to me. I also had problems with "heavy rain" from the misting spray the other day. It never used to be a problem. Either they don't make sprayers like they used to, or detergent has changed, or our water is polluted. It can't possibly be us ;-) The blues in the wall structure are very appealing, I look forward to seeing that in model form.

Bad luck, there's nothing worse than having to go back and redo an otherwise successful job. FWIW, I think you are right that the letters on the side you tried to change are the ones that are spaced a bit too far apart. In fact it has always annoyed me slightly that the GWR chose to space the letters so close together even on larger tank sides, which in my opinion didn't look quite right design-wise. It does look like a repaint of one side is needed. I think perhaps it might be best to do the whole side from bunker to tank front, as the eye might pick up the difference in shade between front and rear of the side?