milkman matt

I wonder if the employees of the current incarnation of the GWR are asked to reach for the standards of the original? Would certainly seem that they are trying. 

How long before the local bobby tells the chap sleeping outside the pub to move along? 

Will there be an operating well in the middle?

If so, what dimensions?

Nothing wrong with dioramas. After all, a model railway is, more or less, a diorama with moving parts!

Top hat bearings maybe?

What about a Y6 Tram engine? Plenty of room for the motor in there! 

Fully agree about the cost of modelling these days, I thought the idea of shifting production to the east was to lower the cost of manufacture. Seems to many savings are not getting passed on to the end user.

I was shocked when I was in a local (Melbourne Aust) Railway shop a few weeks back and saw Hornby coaches priced at $105 (about 64GBP)! Seems to be only about 6 years ago, I was buying Hornby pacifics for that price.

Here I am trying to get my "grandson" interested in the hobby and it seems he will have to become the CEO on a multi national company if he wants to keep up!

Thanks for the support, It wasn't until I looked at the photos that I noticed that the chimney pots are slightly too wide. If I'd left the narrow bit of card off the top of the chimneys, they would have been the right width. However, it isn't noticeable from normal viewing distance.

Oh well, live and learn!

I was about to say, if you hadn't mentioned the different shade on paint, I wouldn't have noticed it at all. Great job Steve. You're a braver man than I!

What about a light in the doorway?

To quote Douglas Addams (or more precisely, Ford Prefect), "Time is an illusion, lunch time doubly so."

Small steps are the best place to start! 

Not trying to be condescending but, have you got both wheel sets the same way round (insulated wheels on the same side)? I've made that mistake before. 

Was thinking a spot of Araldite as I don't have a soldering iron or the experience yet. Knowing my luck, I'd melt it! Of course, if I practised a little patience, this wouldn't have happened in the first place! 

I didn't know that about flexi track. I'm glad I read this before I actually start track laying on my layout. Which is the right way?

Thanks for the comment, David. Unless I run a "Double stack" through here (Not likely), there is ample headroom for the stock I have to get through. It took me a minute to understand that you were talking about using 2X1 framing in an orientation that I would call "on the flat" but that would only mean that I could make the upper level even lower and thus lessen the gradient even more. As you would have seen in the text, I had already reduced the clearance by 16mm for the purpose of reducing the gradient. Most of the track work on the upper level will be toward the centre of the boards so I'm reasonably confident that any errant stock will remain on the board.

We're all allowed a blonde moment every now and then.I realised only yesterday that I'd spelled my username incorrectly when I rejoined the forum........7 years ago!! I also realised only a couple of weeks ago that when I thought that I was adding new entries to my blog, I was only extending the original entry and it wasn't showing u as a new entry. Now it looks like an entry I made 2 years ago was only made 2 weeks ago.

The beauty of Triang mechanisms is how easy they are to work on as you know. I usually doesn't take a degree in electronics to sort them out. The worst mechanism I have come across are the Lima locos. I have yet to work out how to get them open!

Look forward to your next entry.

Thanks, Dave. The hotel is the Metcalfe coaching inn kit with a climbing rose added and lighting from the Woodland Scenics "Just Plug" range.

Possibly one small advantage of modelling from the other side of the world is that I don't have ready access to the real thing (Other than grainy and Amatuer videos on you tube) so I can't make comparrisons against models. I could go online and research an engine to the nth degree but I'm too lazy! . For me the best comparison is hold one of my more recent locos up against one from 10, 20 or even 30 years ago and see just how far the manufacturers have come over that period. I get very frustrasted with the press pickking on what really minor imperfections in a model and failing to appreciate the efforts of the manufacturer has gone to give us a more realistic looking model than was available 10 years ago. As one manufacturer put it some years ago, where do they draw the line as far as what detail to include on a model? Personally I applaud the efforts that manufacturers are going to to give us what we want but then again, I am on the other side of the world!!!