PaternosterRow

Cheers Pete. Always encouraging getting great comments from high quality and inspirational modelers like yourself. Yeah, BR Blue is great - I guess most of us tend to model what we remember from our childhoods.

Iv'e gone with LMS upper quadrant signals after taking Dave's advice. These should now match the BR period depicted. Instead of rushing these, I should have researched Semaphore signals properly - alas, that's how we learn! A class 31/4 waits on signal. A HST speeds past the junction on the main line. This is a much beloved Lima set and it's great to see it run around and around. An old, detailed Lima 50 pulls an old Hornby class 86. The 'Freightliner' flats are the old Hornby type. I think they look much better with a bit of custom weathering. Just for a comparison - a new Hornby 50 pulls a new Hornby Class 87. The difference in detailing is remarkable compared with the older varients. I've added a bit more flock detailing to the front of the brambles and also painted the distant forrest atop the rear hill a lighter shade of green. A few telegraph poles have also been added.

Excellent issue this month. Plenty of old favorites for D-Day celebrations plus a new one (Remagen) I’ve never seen before. Particularly loved the picture at the bottom of page 52 - it just looked so neat and very realistic for N gauge - remarkable. The Kibri crane build was brilliant - looks like a great model to have a go at. What a shame about that D-Day diorama going missing at Hornby! Those numpties that took over a few years ago - the ones that also threw out all those kit moulds - just didn’t have a clue about the hobby. What a shame - just imagine how many kids were inspired by that layout down the years on a visit to Margate. Month in and month out, BRM just keeps giving. Well done the team.

Great issue this month. Plenty of interest and loved the article on Charwelton - the photography was particularly excellent with those broody skies and sunlight. Really crisp and that brickwork looked so real. Well done everyone yet again. Best mag in the market in my opinion.

Ah, the ups and downs of model Railway life.

Know what you mean about the Gold member reference. All this new business reminds me about a hilarious ‘Frasier’ episode. The one where he and Niles join an exclusive men’s relaxation salon. Never satisfied they both mithered on about upgrading their membership to Gold status once they realized they were only at Silver level. After much wrangling they managed to get an upgrade and got to go through to the super exclusive Gold sauna area. Once inside, both all wrapped up in robes and smeared with lotions, they spotted what looked like a Platinum door. They started mithering on again about exclusivity especially after being told by an assistant that the area beyond the door was out of bounds to them. Of course, they both couldn’t resist and eventually opened it and went through. The door slammed shut behind them and, after wiping off their face masks, they found themselves in a back alleyway amongst the trash bins! The funniest bit of Telly I ever saw.

Thanks, David. Haven’t forgotten, just got to pop down to craft shop and get a tin of white. Just wanted to see how they looked the right way round. Cheers again for the guidance. Mike

Very sorry to hear this news. My sincere condolences to you and the family. Mike.

Just an update after some much needed correction to the signals. Many thanks to Dave for pointing out my glaring error in having the signal arms the wrong way around! Despite having built loads of schemes, read numerous books about the railways and pouring over thousands of prototype pictures I am still prone to making embarrassing mistakes from time to time. But that's what great about being a member of RMWeb - always loads of help and objective advice from my fellow modellers. It also has to be said that in all my time as a member I've never once felt belittled, overly criticized or admonished by anyone. so much appreciation and thanks to all those who have offered advice or spotted mistakes down the years. Dave also pointed out that it would be better to have LMS type signals instead of LNWR (as above) during the HST era and I might actually order some of these and make them up. For now I'm just happy that they are the right way around.

Cheers Dave. I was going to use the layout to run br steam and the few green diesel locos in addition to my BR Blue. It’s really just a generic run around scheme. Do you think I ought to just replace the signals with LMS types? I have indeed pulled up both main signals tonight and made a start on turning the arms around and also putting lamps, ladders in correct positions. These are indeed the old LNWR types, but they seem to be designed to allow the arms to fall instead of raise. They were a cheap Ratio kit off eBay. I will indeed repaint the branch one. Thanks so much for pointing out the errors. Whilst I’m no finescaler, I do like to have things about right if not exactly right. Thanks again, Mike.

Hi David, don’t know. I’ve never been that great at accuracy and have no idea about all the rules of the British system etc. However, I think my ups and downs are the right way around. For example the 125 is on the left and therefore the up. The double signal faces the oncoming train with the main signal taller and on the outside. The Branch signal is on the inside and lower. I understand that to be the convention anyway. The main down is on the right - the signal faces the oncoming train. The branch down with the Lima 101 held at the signal should be the right way around, however, I’ve just noticed that I’ve put the lamp ladder to the front of the signal arm instead of at the rear. Is that what you spotted or have I got it all wrong? Please, please give me your advice as it’ll save me a load of embarrassment before I post more pics. Cheers, Mike David, scratch all above. I understand now, the arms are pointing the wrong way on the main line signals. How on earth I managed that is anybody’s business! Thanks for pointing this out and I’ll get on right away in correcting them. I thought I’d followed the build instructions but obviously not. What a dummy I am. Less haste, less waste, eh? Please let me know if I’m correct in my assumptions. Much appreciated. Mike.

Cheers Simon It’s bad enough having to compromise in 00 let alone 7mm. I damn lucky to have the extra room to do what I can in. Houses over here are much cheaper than in the UK and consequently much bigger price for price. Mind you, I still couldn’t afford a Pendon like space - more’s the pity. Cheers for the comments. Mike

Hi Mikkel, Yep, I do plough on with stuff. My wife has definitely become a bit of a Railway modelling widow over the last few years. Mind you she don’t seem to mind too much as it definitely keeps me out of the pub! I also suspect she rather likes the sound of whistling and general noises of satisfaction that emanate from the loft. Regarding the corner - you try telling the Ordnance Survey people that! Which reminds me of the time when my wife and I went on one of our many exploring trips. She firmly declared that a certain place we were trying to find did not exist. That was until I found that she was only saying that because she left that particular OS Map at home! Probably should have written ‘and here be dragons’ in the white space! cheers for the comments and nice to here from you. Thanks for the great comments.

Great progress, Pete. Lovely and the presentation is superb as usual. The mirror is a brilliant idea and the join is seamless - always a hard trick to pull off. Love to see those vids with sound.

I haven't posted in an age and, in fact, haven't even visited RMWeb for quite a while. What a great new format and I'm really interested in becoming a Gold Member - currently in negotiations with the financial controller about the monthly fee! The new layout, High Trees Junction, is nearly complete so here is a few initial test pics. This layout forms part of a roundy roundy scheme in my loft. My previous layout, Perry Barr Station, is on the opposite side. I just wanted to get my trains running for a change so have turned away from micro layout building for a while. After a previous country type layout some years ago, Cheslyn, I vowed never to go down the country route again. However, the thought of building a huge suburban theme really put me off after many hours of drawing up several schemes. It would just take too long to construct the required amount of buildings to populate it. To my surprise I enjoyed building this one. High Trees Junction is a simple enough scheme and soon became an essay in forced perspective. Having grown up in Birmingham, like most city folk, I fell in love with the English countryside. Whilst I am surrounded by natural beauty here in Ireland I do miss those English Church Spires. It always seemed to me that you could always spot two, even three, Spires from high vantage points in Britain so it seemed essential to include two in this layout. The signal box is Scalescenes and the signals are from Ratio. I really enjoyed making up these. I wanted to have a lead in curve although it is not based on a prototypical radius. I think the radius is generous enough to make it look convincing. The brambles are all made from rubberised horse hair and flock. There's always a Church Spire to be spotted somewhere in English countryside views. The small church is probably around 1/200 scale is merely a downloaded photograph that has been made up into a 3D model from card. The fabulous Lima 101 waits on signal from an imagined Branch connection to the main. The entire layout. All of the trees were handmade from seafoam and flock. It was a large task, but once a production line was set up it didn't take too long. I bought the seafoam from a Spanish modelling supplies company for a reasonable price and the flock from the UK. All the trees came in for around £150. The village scene. This hides the entrance point to the left. The church (approx N scale) is freelance from mounting card. The pub is Scalescenes and the house from Superquick. These two shots are from the same viewpoint at different angles. The illusion of distant hills is busted once viewed from above. That's it for now. More pictures at a later date.

Just watched the second episode. Really enjoyed both. Simon K came across really well and I can’t understand why Hornby let this very competent operator go in the first place. At least he has passion for the business; something obviously lacking in those who ran it prior to his return. I was really bemused by the reaction of Hattons and Rails re the 66 and Terrier. That’s just good business for you; it’s all about competition in a free market isn’t it? Thought the faux rage of the guy from Rails was a little hypocritical; why does he think it’s okay to use underhand tactics (the Banner) and not expect the same treatment from other competitors? Liked the cool and dignified way SK handled the badgering he got from both of them. Good luck to SK and I sincerely hope he succeeds with his difficult task of getting Hornby to turn a corner. As May said - Hornby, Airfix and Scalextric defined my childhood. How sad it would be to see it all go to the wall.

Worthy winner. Well done on such an excellent build.

Love that roof detailing. Fantastic piece of modelling.

Brilliant.

Wow! Lovely model.

Oh ah, lovely layout.

Clear winner. Brilliant layout.

Happy Christmas, Pete. Sound doesn’t half add an extra dimension. That 37 backing out was a real treat. Brilliant. Looking forward to the scenic updates. Mike

Got mine yesterday. Great issue and thanks for the brush set, that’s definitely going to come in handy. Loved the articles on the Barn and rusting techniques. Also, worthy winner and highly recommended models from the cake box challenge. All nicely displayed and described. All in all another brilliant issue with loads to peruse. No wonder BRM is the top seller, obviously on the right track (excuse the pun!). Happy Christmas and New Year to all the team. Mike