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To suppliment Lloyd's photos here are a couple of photos from Ally Pally

Thanks for your compliments on the layout and I'm glad that you found some things on the layout to inspire you with your US modelling. Dan

Lloyd If you could that would be great Thanks Dan

Day 1 of Ally Pally put to bed and back home. Despite the early start and mad rush to set up in time for 09:30 "Bachmann Sweepstakes" ticket opening time it was a good day. Layout ran well but the GP60 misbehaved so I'll have a look at the pickups later. Although we have our fair share of 'non UK outline layout run away' punters there were a good number that wanted to chat about (good to see you again Lloyd) Hopefully have enought time to gets some pics / video tomorrow Dan

Since getting back from Eurotrack I'be been busy with more detailing and weathering before the layout's next trip out. As this turned out to be an 11th hour invite to Ally Pally the pace of work has increased somewhat. While some small details still need to be added the main effort has been working of weathering stock and also adding some additional so protypical motive power. Thus the GP60 added to the roster and 2022 has received additional weathering. The previously pristine freight cars have now been matte'd off and faded with some airbrushed Lifecolour dust (pics to follow) Dan

Despite some decidedly grotty weather on the way down and back home again I had a very enjoyable weekend at Eurotrack with the layout. Thanks and congratulations to Ian How and the rest of the organising team. Heres a quick bit of video shot over the weekend - it was on my phone so it's a little jumpy https://flic.kr/p/r15oE8 Dan

Hi Lloyd Good to say hello to you on Saturday at Eurotrack - apologies if I was a bit spaced out but being up at 04:30 on that morning was taking its toll ;-) Keep up with the BNSF modelling! Dan

Looking good Ian!

It's going to be a busy few weeks aheadprior to Eurotrack. A dry couple of weeks (or will the bottle collection get eaten into?)

I've already crummbled (a little)

Oh go on then I'll have a look Cheers

Paul. Yes it is. Want to build my RhB layout before doing any further US stuff.......

Thanks Paul There is a slim chance that I might one day do a convention board to bring one end out to 18 inches and provide a wiring interface. Plus a new set up legs, which I'll have to do anyway when "Galatia" is sold as they share. Dan

Might have to come over Sunday and check on progress Dan

I guess it depends on what you mean by dump. When myself and Roundhouse first starting visiting in 2005 none of the main stations were anything special facilities wise but most were the original building in some shape or form. I personally quite liked it seemed close to pre-Velvet Revolution days and I wasnt walking in a carbon copy of Waterloo or Victoria back home. The loos were clean (and cheap) and we could stock up at some ungodly hour of the morning with rolls, paprika crisps, Snickers and Mountain Dew at the Pont / Relay vendor - sorted . When I last made it over on 2008 BK (before kids) Praha H.N. had just started ungoing renovation so I'd love to know how it turned out. Now for real dumps I'll get posting the shots from the various trunkcated ex-cross border branches we did around Liberec - huge station station building mostly unused, loads of abandoned sidings and an 5 trains a day with an 810! Perfect! Dan

Hope so - you were somewhere else on the same platform / train when they were taken Dan

Albums for Sept 2005 and Feb 2006 now added... Sept 2005: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13460546@N02/sets/72157647975505924/ Feb 2006: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13460546@N02/sets/72157649895323369/

Hi all fellow Czech enthusiasts I'm starting to uploading photos of my railfan trips from 2005 to 2008 (most in the company of 'Roundhouse') up on Flikr. If anyone is interested the first (April 2005) is via the below link https://www.flickr.com/photos/13460546@N02/sets/72157607149121033/ Cheers Dan

All Thanks for the comments Re: crossing then yes there is a slight kink to get everything to fit but I'm prepared to live with a bit of compromise for quickness Daniel - yep, will be bringing Hacienda Ave up to TVNAM later in the year so look forward to meeting up Cheers Dan

Andy It's a Atlas Code 83 and to be honest its not great - mouldings a bit heavy and some of the wheels drop in the gaps. However it saved handbuilding when I wanted to get the track down. Poss a Tillig one might be an alternative. What would be nice is PECO to do a couple of shallower angle crossing to match thier # 5 & 6 switches.... Dan

Following Tolworth Trainshow I got a late notice request for from Bognor Regis club to supply a US outline layout for their 2015 show that was held last weekend. Following on from Tolworth and the feedback received from a number of parties I went back and did a few more mods to get the layout looking 'right'. These included: A pair of storage tanks were added to the food distribution warehouse as a means to hide the joint between the backscene and the warehouse building Completing the lightling pelmet Redoing the majority of the chainlink fence around the storm drain as it was done in a hurry for Tolworth and frankly looked it Adding a low relief warehouse at the far end of the storm drain board to provide a more visually pleasing cut-off The addition of some low relief backscenes cobbled together from some pics off the interweb as nothing commercially available fitted. Some initial weathering of the rolling stock - some relettering and graffiti decals + all wheels painted So still plenty to do ahead of it's next outing in May inc: Lots of small detail like warning signs and general detritus Weather up the rolling stock esp the shove platform caboose Complete some SoCal specific locos so #2022 & 2049 can get back to Texas / Kansas! (Yes John that will mean that the Genset will get finished!!) Below are a couple of pics taken at this weekend's show. Any suggestions / comments always welcome Cheers Dan

I'm still waiting in vain for Dan Schneider to sack himself and the rest of sorry individuals that have run Washington into the ground

After a period of inactivity on the layout for various reasons an invite to Hampton Court MRS's Tolworth Trainshow provided a spur of crack on with fixing a number of issues identified at the layout's first outing. Main items addressed were adding the missing fences from around the plastics plant spur and the storm drain, resetting the height on the overpass and completing the basic shell for the warehouse. Next to work on some weathering and complete some proper So Cal BNSF motive power https://flic.kr/p/pJChwY https://flic.kr/p/q21Byc https://flic.kr/p/pJA8aB Dan

Another (long suffering) Washington fan and like most of the others cut my teeth as a callow youth on the Channel 4 coverage. Have done a couple of the regular season games at Wembley inc the first Miami / Giants game in the monsoon - had cr@p seats in the top tier but at least I stayed dry.... Dan

Dont know if it's still open with all the redevelopment of the station but the Three Guineas had a good selection of ales on. Other than that try the Alehouse (ex-Hobgoblin) that has a superb range and is in middle of the main shopping drag or ZeroDegrees for something a little diff and also v good pizza Dan