SouthernMafia

Noted today (and apologies if already posted) wires up through Steventon. Under the bridge and then a very dramatic incline to get over the crossing.

Watched that at work I thought I was watching live CCTV of Castle Cary! Looking great Mike, I've always been impressed with your colour palette and surrounding scenics too. Hopefully whatever follows Portland will be to your standards!

Never even noticed that, thanks for pointing it out. Somewhat annoying that Bachmann have picked a loco with this modification preventing an easy renumber!

387s currently restricted to 100mph Pad-Stockley so likely the OHLE needs upgrading before this has any effect. Does this move also bode well for a future Pad-Reading via Heathrow service (using new Western Approach)

Very exciting....but not for my wallet.

I'd say you had the height right for future electrification work ;-)

Like the idea, similar in some ways to Portland ! I'd also thought about the Poole sleeper, waiting for some high spec Mk3 Sleepers to come out from Oxford for it...

I paid £10 for the interior which I thought was Ok, but yes he's not cheap. Then again model railways aren't anymore

There's a guy on eBay doing a load of spares/broken down models. He doesn't have any 150 interiors at the mo but might be worth asking if he can source. It's this guy: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F132048479649

It took a little longer than I would have liked but I managed to finish off my re-spray of 73102 into 73103. Black corrected to Exec Dark Grey and the lower white to Exec Light Grey/Beige. The masked double arrows turned out surprisingly well. I ran out of time before the Basingstoke show, but next steps are to add a headlight and orange cantrail for running up to 1999.

Further to my previous post, a post on some stock. The 73 was finished off. I didn't get a chance to install a headlight and orange line before the show but may revisit these to "modernise" the loco, allowing it to be run through into 1999 when it was withdrawn. For those that missed it, this has not been stripped down, rather the original Dapol livery elements masked and sprayed over accordingly, including the BR double arrows. I took some photos today of my 150 chassis mod which was asked about a few weeks ago. Using a method I found somewhere on here which involved hacking the chassis back to just the end bits, and remounting the motor. I then added seats from a spare interior, and a few chinese people off ebay. The effect is pleasing and I would say better than the revised Bachmann version, which has more window space blocked out. The speaker is in the fuel tanks, along with a microswitch to turn the end lights off for when running in multiple. Finally a Kernow polybulk that received some weathering ready for the show, was quite pleased with how it turned out. This is the Mark 2 version after I was informed that my first attempt was too Cornish and not Dorset enough !!

A few more pics of the layout from the weekend and a couple of prep shots too of some of the work going on. A few days before and the red doors had just been added to the parcels depot: The exit signal from the carriage sidings had been installed, although still some LEDs to add to the main aspect. This was a fiddly task getting the wires for the Theatre box unsoldered, down the tube and back onto the correct pin! And then some pictures from the show. As usual I didnt take enough but I was too busy enjoying playing trains which is something I don't enough! Some videos were taken too which I'll post soon.

A really enjoyable weekend was had and I was amazed at the feedback from punters, operators, other exhibitors and the host club. Still lots more to be getting on with to bring it fully up to standard, but a short break away from trains for a while I think after the big push for the show! I will do some pictures tomorrow so I can upload the best quality rather than resizing on my phone from which I currently type. Thanks Dave for uploading a few already, with some choice accompanying captions ! ;-) Thanks CJ and the team for your help. 4 expressions of interest with potential shows coming up into the 2020s but I need a break for now! Thanks Ben, very kind words. Good to see you too Mike, they're coming along but still lots to do!

Thanks Mark, pleased you were entertained, I think I spotted you watching for a while, do say hello another time! The 50 isn't my masterpiece but a friends. You can follow the progress here, it's absolutely superb! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112640-trethosa/page-4

A great first day today for Portland at Basingstoke, layout ran well and nice to see lots of RMWebbers and other modellers. Same again tomorrow and more pics to come after the weekend

4 days off work, 5 days until the show. A ridiculous amount to do but I'm getting there! Off to Winchester tomorrow to work on the layout for 2 days before it's packed up on Friday. Today I've been adding some scenic stuff to the town scene board, and finishing off the two main structures I've been working on. Still lots to do but adding windows, doors and glazing has transformed the buildings IMO. The station building needs cladding, chimneys and guttering, and is then almost finished. I won't get this done for Saturday (I don't think...) The parcels building needs doors (today hopefully) and maybe a light weathering. Very nearly there as well. Roof being glued on currently. This afternoon the Matt varnish and airbrush are out to tone down my road vehicles and seal the paint on the 73. Bulk weathering also took place last night, won't win any awards but most of my locos are at least not straight out the box anymore.

Looks great, think I'll just leave all my locos at home and let you run this on every service train!

Managed to attack the 73 upper grey yesterday morning, the masking tape has done it's job rather too well and taken a bit of the lower beige off! Shouldn't be too difficult to correct. But very pleased with the how the masked doubled arrows have come out. Hope to finish this off tomorrow and get all the bits back on.

The gantry has been wired and painted, nearing completion. Just the position light and some fine details to be added: The brightness of each LED will be toned down so they are all equal. Also been working on a signal for the exit from the carriage sidings. This has an Absolute Aspects theatre box, a 2 aspect R/Y signal mounted above a position light. Still some work to do on this. Wiring the theatre in will be fun as there are 14 wires to unsolder, poke down the post, through the baseboard and rewire to the correct pin on the connector! I am hoping to have these working at the show, depending on work load.

Thanks Roger, very pleased myself and happy to be able to share the design with club members

Thanks Chris, so am I! It will be nice to play trains for a change. Thanks Ed, I'm not well versed on history much but it looks the sort of standard SR design that was probably built there. I used the ones at Bournemouth and Poole as reference:

A few bits of progress but the list seems never ending ! Spent most of today working on the upgraded lighting gantry and then installing my laser cut carriage siding walkway: Barriers and booms: And some detail to go inside my mini office for the boom operator:

Looking great Ian, some lovely detail and lots of inspiration for my layout.

Thanks Kev, I'd clocked that video before. You're right about the seagulls, it was difficult trying to keep them flying only above my layout !

Yes it was your initial repaint of 73102 that inspired me to sort out the roof and Intercity beige, I thought a full strip and repaint at the time was a bit drastic, but by the time it's done the only original livery elements will be the red and white stripes !!