Hammer

Those vans turned out nicely. Do you mind if I ask who you bough the buffers from? I'm looking for some to improve the look of some Parkside LNER kits.

I am left wondering how best to promote modelling Scotland. After all, my own layout in progress is of such a size that it could be anywhere in the world, let alone in the UK. Admittedly it's specifically on the GNSR, but I'm running whatever I can get my hands on that might have worked out of Kitty. Edit: That said, converting one of the new Derby Lightwights to the BEMU is certainly something from that area that's pretty unique.

'Chard was making a joke. Scotland's population was 5.2 Million at the 2001 census. The implied joke is obvious: every Scot wants to model what they know I'd be pleasantly surprised if there are 5.2 million modellers in the English speaking world.

Thank you for the comment. I did think about having a small station off stage (as it were), but I don't think I could get away with the level of grot I'm wanting if there was a station nearby. Given that the layout and I are only in the same locality every few months, I've got plenty of time to decide on what else to put in there. It's why I'm looking at things I can work on away from the model - like the grounded van body and the coal stands.

More then two years after putting together my baseboard and after many false starts, I've finally laid rail-to-cork-to-glue-to-wood. I don't have massive amounts of space to play with, so it going to be largely flat. with maybe a slight slope coming from the right of the phone to break the billiard table look. But what else to do with all of that? After all, an angled inglenook in the middle of nowhere (the track at the bottom runs right across the broad to allow for posing big engines) already looks rather strange, so if it's just grass and trees, it's going to look even stranger and present me with no operational fun at all. So far my ideas are pretty limited - the main one is a set of coal stands, with a coal merchant's van and an area with mud and gravel when coal sacks can be filled. There would probably be a deal of railway rubbish - old sleepers, bits of rail and so on - around here as well. In between the two tracks or at the far left, I'm thinking about putting this: It's a rather poor attempt at a BR/LNER goods van, which I think could be hacked into some kind of shelter or storage hut quite easily. Making some kind of tarpaulin and procuring some model corrugated iron to lean up against it would hide it's origins enough for it to be suitable for a 1940s/50s theme I think. It could be perfectly complemented by some over long grass and a tramp. But what about the rest? And the backscene? That I'm not too sure about. I think the coal area and the grounded van probably give enough set peices to be getting on with. Some trees would probably be an idea. Rural or suburban backscene maybe? Village in the distance but not close enough to the line for a station to have been built? Who knows...

Cheers for posting that response Andy. It's good to know that Bachmann (and presumably Hornby) are reading this I hope that Bachmann and Hornby can understand why people can get so disheartened by some responses. After all, every year we see new and better GWR and Southern models from increasingly obscure prototypes with excellent support in the form of, for example, model shop commissions and collector's pieces. The attitude can also arise because this isn't a new campaign, just the latest thrust from an extended effort which has been going on for a good few years - I know I voted for at least three of the above engines in the MREMag Poll since 2007 thanks to this sort of coordination and I suspect that many others have as well. There have been some really positive moves forwards, such as the Clan Class and the various high-quality LMS built engines which have come out in the last few years, but at the end of the day we can't run branch lines services or shunt with express engines, no matter how good they are All that said, don't let the company feedback get you down chaps. We can push on, with growing numbers, raising interest in an under-modelled area.

The quality of the shop almost goes without saying. It's certainly one of the nicest model shops I've been in, with friendly staff. I didn't even get a frown for being loaded down with two bulky bags and spending a good 20 minutes going through the kits. Excellent selection of their own scenic bits and pieces as well, although I'm sure they have a smaller selection on display in the shop then they take to exhibitions. Of note however is that they are currently doing the Hornby SPT 101 for £50. At that price I'm sorely tempted to pick one up and damn the consequences (can always repaint it BR Green ).

Great work Caledonian. Thank you very much for putting in the effort on this. Next step is up to all of us of course: dropping hints to the the Bachmann and Hornby reps at MRS Are you still planning to write to the modelling magazines on the issue?

It looks good from above (and from the other angles). Keep up the good work. It's definitely a nice adaption of Queen Street.

Is there any chance of putting up a wider shot of your layout? It looks quite interesting. I'm guessing it's inspired by Queen Street before all the building around and above it?

Personally, I'm very happy with my 123, although purely as a display piece with a Glasgow connection rather then as anything I'd ever run

Spotted this at Model Rail Scotland 2008. Afraid I can't remember who the layout belonged to.

Damned nice piece of work. I'm sorely tempted by them despite the price and the fact that only one that ever ran near my areas of interest is a preserved loco.

What was the open-topped bus in NSE livery used for? My first guess was that it was just a rail-replacement bus, but it doesn't seem sensible to use an open topped bus for that given British weather.

Looking at the condition of the tower now, I'm amazed that it's not been demolished as a dangerous structure.

That's a great picture. I hadn't realised that Haymarket had ever been quite so shabby looking. Wonderful piece of industrial grot. Of course, now they are just taking the wrappings off the building after repairing and cleaning the stonework and so on.

The reason that so many were preserved was because they out lasted the BR engines in private ownership. There were still working Austerity engines working in the 80s. By the time Austerities were being sold off, we'd realised just how criminal melting down our industrial heritage was. And of course, they were a cheap, easy-to-maintain workhorse for smaller preserved railways.

The first limited edition model I ever bought was a Hornby Collectors Club Austerity. I fell in love with their design the first year that Hornby sold them. Both in model and prototype form they are visually stunning, powerful engines. I prefer the BR Black livery, but it's interesting to see the wealth of different liveries they ran in. Anyway, no-one complains about the bizarre number of liveries you see 08s and 04/06s in. My only object is when they are seen as "disposable" engines which can be chopped up to make them look like Thomas & Friends. I can't remember which heritage railway did that, but it just doesn't sit right.