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Lovely shots, that horse drawn carriage is awesome! P.S. Jerry - I have just bought a small 2mm finescale layout (work in progress) so will be badgering you for advice at the next Gas Cupboard meet!!

Looks excellent Richard, the grass has come out really well, very effective.

Definitely Seddon Atkinson, think its a 211

Pretty sure I read recently they were indeed ex Mk1 horseboxes.

Great result, and not surprised bearing in mind the research done for the 2mm version. Looking forward to buying a blue grey set (or 2), so the 2013 predictions will be a 3 car set then. Good choice of liveries to go for so should see Bachmann do well.

Very nice Jo, like the model 08947, an old westbury favourite!

Very envious of your space Peter, the layout is coming on nicely, some lovely photos there.

I am not quite sure how I ended up modelling BR blue, as I never really remember BR blue on the network as I was never into spotting, and only took an interest in diesels from the early 90's. I think it was a number of things which came together, but the biggest catalyst was I got fed up with Lima running qualities when Bachmann came on the scene, who started off with the Warship, 24 and 25 all of which I got in Blue. 2 Lima locos would fund 1 Bachmann one and BR Blue took over by stealth, to the point where of my 18 locos only 1 is green and due to be sold imminently. Also being in to doing respreays, BR Blue is dead easy especially on a 37 or 40!

I have to admit to being really impressed with this work, it feels like we are on the edge of a revolution in model making if only the 3D printers can sort out the graining!

Blimey, I barely recognise my "home" city these days, The bridge across was still there 15 years ago if my memory serves me correct. Shame the flyover went as well, as getting to bedminster now take a lot longer due to a myriad of traffic lights and roundabouts....

On the embankment in London I saw a Merc and Aston parked next to each other earlier in the year: Merc "2 BE" Aston "NOT 2B"

Blimey, half tempted to stick one of my Motorail flats on if rare wagons are going for that sort of money....

019 at one end had a cut back nose, as did 373 at both ends. 102 was converted back to standard when refurbished, but still retains the odd tail lights.

Out of the ones you mention, I would go for the focus, I had a 56 plate focus from new and other than regualr servicing it never went near a dealer, never broke down, despite my enthusiastic driving style. Never had a problem with boot space, and with the rear seats down it would accomodate a hefty amount of stuff. Out of all that size car it is one of the best handling, a mate followed me from Banbury to Towcester on the back way which is quite windy in his 1.9 diesel astra and struggled to keep up with my 1.8 TDCI focus, and he is infitely better/braver driver.

Another point worth mentioning if you haven't already thought of this and assuming you arent an Owner driver, it is worth speaking with your transport office and put your side to them now. Apart from anything it will speed up the process of you knowing if you have anything to worry about as they as the vehicle owners will get sent the initial contact from the police. I say this as well because when I was in a transport office the letter we received specifically asks to provide details of the driver and they will also know that you will want to contest it hence can ask for the photos etc. It is also worth getting any particular detials noted down by your office before you forget them, they should also respect you for being honest and be more sympathetic in helping you. Also are you a member of the union, if so speak with your rep and ask them the process, they should also be prepared to help you if you choose to fight any claim.

This layout gets better and better every time I view this thread, nice weathering on the locos Dave.

I think they are doing some sort of practice for tomorrow, 3 Hercules in formation just flown over Sainsburys in Chippenham.

You don't say what scale you are working in, but A1 did do the non working ones for the 37's, they were subtly different to the ones used on the 26's as the 37's were mounted on a bracket and were much more proud of the front of the loco.

I shall watch this with interest, I have been asked to finish my dad's one which has been in build for 40 years! It is nearly complete assembly wise, chassis wise has a cast block no the lovely etched version you have though.

Re putting a valenta in a production power car, the 125 group have acquired a number of valenta engines and associated cooler groups so they obviously have plans to do it at soem point. I also understood the RHC had assigned a complete set for preservation, not sure how recent quango changes affect this designation but irrespective of what the 125 group do we should see a complete set saved anyway. Hate to be the person that has to find a home for it though...

73's have vistied on railtours as has a class 37 - 37038

Very nice, like the trees as the backscene behind the depot, very effective.

My thoughts are: - Good on RE for putting up some cash for this and sorting out what has been a glaring issue which Heljan had previously been reluctant to address - The price of £100 per unit seems reasonable bearing in mind price rises due to inflation/ rising production costs, and also should note the specification is improved over the current Heljan offering. - 100% of my fleet is BR Blue, so there is no wasy I want a mixed livery pack, likewise I am sure many steam era modellers won't want a green/blue pack. I can see the logic for later years of mixed packs (i.e. NSE and Dutch for example) - I don't need 2 class 33's, but would think there will be a healthy demand for the second loco, and would wager you could sell them on ebay for more than £100, so 2 loco packs is not really an issue.

I really like this layout, lots of lovely Blue locos and weathering especially good! As an aside a number of books in my book case on BR blue locos which I use for inspiration orignated with yourself Dave, I think I brought them of the Ivor and co on the Growler Group sales stand at a Gala a few years back.

Its is an interesting point Tim, "Inspiring" and "great" to me are very different things. An inspirational layout will be one that makes me want to model something similar or along the same line hence why I chose the 3 I did as they all cover similar time period to that I model. I can appreciate great layouts that don't fit this genre but they don't inspire me to model that prototype or layout. An example of the latter that springs to mind was I saw a fantastic broad gauge O scale layout at Northampton a few years ago. In my eyes it was fantastic layout and while I was in awe of the efforts the builder had gone to, it hasn't inspired me to model broad gauge steam.