37114

Thanks Rich. Unfortunately due to space and operational constraints the mainline has been deleted from the layout. I would need another fiddle yard/ operator which would add to the costs and "non productive" frontage length (i.e. a 13ft layout with only 5ft of scenic area), both of which would make it less appealing, while train length would be restricted to 3 carriages plus a loco. You could make it work by imposing some sort of downline closure so the only through trains are a DMU shuttle service plus engineering trains. The track has been laid fully under the bridge to allow an extension in the future if required.

Thanks Steve, yours is coming on well as well.

Really nice job with this Steve, well done for persevering with inset track, it has come out nicely.

Lots to like on this layout Steve, especially how well the backscene blends in with the foreground both colour and appearance wise.

Thanks Steve. I will have a fresh look at the road markings and compare to some photos of real ones to see how much to tone them down, it could be a bit of a challenge due to the slightly glossy nature of the labels I used. The bullhead track is nice, I just wish the double slip was available at the time I laid the track.

From memory 20228 retained the boxes at the cab end as did 20163. The marker lights used on 20163 were similar to the ex split box 37/5s, 20228 used the type similar to class 26 marker lights.

Ah, yes Replica did high intensity which is what I presume the OP meant, partly because most class 20s retained domino marker lights to the end but a fair few got high intensity headlights. I think shawplan do sealed beam marker lights.

I managed to get to the local art shop yesterday to get one of the Posca paint pens Jo mentioned earlier for the road markings. I decided to practise on a scrap bit of road surface first to experiment with drawing the lines. I had hoped to be able to create a template to do the edges straight but unfortunately due to rough surface paint bled under the template, the same happened with masking tape. In the end I cut my own from a brand new self adhesive label which stuck well, time will tell how long it lasts.. With the road surface sorted I added the fence at the top of the embankment and the lamp posts. The road vehicles have all been secured to the road. For cars and plastic vehicles I glue them down, for the heavier lorries I used wire from freezer tags which is wrapped around the axle and then fed through 2 small holes in the baseboard and twisted together. This has the advantage of providing a strong securing method as well as making the vehicles removable when I sell the layout at some point (both the Leyland Bus and the George Taylor Lorry I will be keeping). I placed the British Gas Sherpa parked on the kerb to hid a misplaced drain cover, eventually I may look to make this more of a scene with a hole being dug but for now I have put 2 workmen behind the van having a discussion I have been wrestling a little bit with the location of the water tank for the train heating boiler, so I decided to put both the yard lights in (temporarily hence the tools acting as weights to keep them in place) and some stock on the layout. As I am insane enough to use 3 Link couplings it is important I can access certain points with the hand of god. My initial thoughts had been to put the tower quite centrally in the layout: I think this potentially breaks the layout up too much and is in the way slightly for a couple of the sidings. A new consideration is to put it closer to the control panel which is virtually where the tank was in reality: This position creates more a challenge with the front siding but I like the more open nature at the front of the sidings. It creates a challenge what to do with the boiler house although I can convert the building over the control panel into the boiler house which would work. More pondering required. In answer to the Fatadder's question about how the layout works operationally, hopefully some of these photos help. A train enters from the right of the layout, in this case 31210 The loco runs forward into the headshunt: Then runs off scene by an empty loop: Meanwhile the carriage cleaners have been busy and need to put some rubbish in the muck truck. 08950 retrieves it from the dead end siding and places it next to the carriages: Later on a MK1 BCK is ready to go back into service after a brake fault has been traced and fixed: The carriage needs to go on the London end of the train so the 08 runs past the rake in a vacant loop 37032 arrives with another rake for servicing. (The appearance of 37032 is entirely prototypical as despite split box 37's being rare at Bristol, 37032 did indeed get to Malago Vale)

37032 pulls into Parsons Vale Carriage sidings:

Replica do/did them.

Looks good, can't wait to see this one develope

They are the correct shape etc but need flush glazing. The 2 I had both had plastic wheels so they need rewheeling, I sold them a long time ago so not sure how easy it would be to put Bachmann bogies on but I imagine that it is feasible.

Coming together well Tony, I like the goods shed.

Let's see how these predictions pan out: - I think it will be a close 3 way fight between Verstappen, Hamilton and Vettel, with Hamilton coming out on top but probably not until the penultimate race - Renault will win 1 race due to weather/extreme circumstances - Williams will stay routed to the bottom of the grid but both drivers will stay around for another year - McLaren will finish 5th in championship with 1 podium for Sainz. - Force India will go backwards and Perez will wipe the floor with Stroll - Ferrari will fall short again, expect Vettel to have the better hand over Leclerc but only just. - Raikonnen will beat Giovannizzi comprehensively, scoring at least 10 points for each one Giovannizzi scores.

From the bottom upwards ( and some of this may not apply dependant on which 37/4 you have)- Bogie footsteps are 2 dimensional - Bogie brake cylinders are malnourished - Bogies frames are too low and too wide - No guard Irons - Fuel tank supports not modelled - the corner cut outs of the fuel tanks are too shallow - Fuel tank pipework missing - Jumper cable socket on buffer beam is a blob - Trench around central grilles - Windscreen surrounds lack representation of the window frames - Windscreen pillars too thick - Roof fan grille looks nothing like the real thing - Roof hatches are too proud. There are other compromises with the nose of the skirted 37/0 as well. It could be argued that the above are "picky" and 10 years ago we would be happy with the current model but things evolve and the 37 is ripe for a revamp.

I am giving Electric serious consideration, my main journey is to Southampton and back, a distance of 130 miles round trip and we have electric charging points at the office for 8 cars so I could charge at work for free mainly. The only thing that puts me off is the initial high purchase price and the technology is advancing quickly as well so expect range to go up and costs to go down over the next few years.

I have made some more progress on the scenery and am basically working from the left of the layout to the right. Firstly some more details have been added to the garage thanks to a Busch garage interior kit. Not all of it has been used as some of it is more suited to a repair shop rather than an amature mechanic keeping an old banger on the road. The other thing I had been keen to model was an extension being built to one of the off-scene houses to the front of the layout. Ostensibly it is a small outbuilding/utility and is at an early stage of build. I used Wills sheets for this, glued back to back to give the right thickness and it will now be painted. I recessed the building into a trench cut into the mod-roc to represent foundations that hadn't been backfilled. The shed previously located here has been cut in half and split between 2 houses at the back of the layout. At the back of the layout the interiors have been added to the semi's (including a couple who should have drawn the bedroom curtains), while a start has been made on the gardens and fencing of one of the houses. A concrete hard-standing has been laid for the Austin A35 in the spares box. A set of steps are needed for a number of houses as in reality these were built on the side of a hil that sloped towards the track as well as the footbridge.

The current generation Mondeo Estate is an excellent car, I had one as my last company car and still miss it. The previous generation Mondeo was very good, I had a 60 plate one from new, it is still going having done 250k.

Hi, The main train length on the longest siding is 3 coaches plus a loco, the shorter sidings are between 2 and 1 coach plus a loco. I will do a few photos when I next have the layout up. With Peafore Yard, The platform only accommodated 1 coach and the basic premise was: - Train arrives, loco uncouples - Loco runs around and goes off scene -Shunter repeats the above in reverse. Hope that helps?

Really nicely done Richard, lovely diorama.

The engine is in, it is leaking as is the gearbox and nearside swivel hub. Give me model railways anyway....

Sadly true, I have a couple of oil leaks already...

Agree, I used the same approach for the top level of Peafore Yard, effectively modelling part of Bristol temple meads in 4'. I never got bored as you could have such a variety of traffic, including motorail, Parcels and DMUs

Make the product and the demand will come. I have an Accurascale Deltic on order but until the announcement I had no plans to add a Deltic to the fleet. I have 3 Bachmann class 37s that have had a lot of work done to them but I would replace them tomorrow with a better model.

While I don't disagree about the class 45, the current 37 is fine by the standards of when it was first tooled but not by today's standards. The windows, roof detail, bogies and underframe all need work and the nose ends on the skirted version are distorted to clear the buffer beam.