Black Marlin

Even more bemusingly, why is Hattons advertising a wagon as 'Busbys, East Kensington' when the wagon very clearly has West Kensington printed on the side?

Has there been any development or movement in the last... good grief, 7 months?

And so, the first of the queries. The fast lines and the slow lines ought to have slightly different colours of ballast. At the moment my inclinations are towards Woodland Scenics's medium-grade materials - pale grey for the fast lines and medium grey for the slow lines. But can anyone suggest a better alternative? The key criteria are: it'll look good (i.e. appropriate for an ER layout); it's easily obtainable (because I have hundreds of feet of this stuff to lay); and, not-unrelatedly, it doesn't require extensive modification post-purchase. The thought of painting 80' of tiny stone chippings does not appeal...! Your thoughts? GB

For those of you keen to keep an eye on 'Wright Writes's Milometer', post #24975 will be the last on page 999.

I find that interesting, because it chimes a little with my 'tastes' in research. When I was younger, nothing but the gleaming expresses would do. Now, though? Give me goods or freight any day of the week. The variety of rolling stock, the condition of the vehicles, the loads themselves all intrigue me far more than the more uniform passenger services. Is that a heresy on LB?

By way of penance... An empty loco coal train, destined therefore for the Up Slow line (i.e. heading north) on Girtby Sea (although it is here viewed on my previous layout, Starlingford). I sometimes forget that while loaded mineral trains look excellent, a balanced working requires empty wagons to head in the opposite direction!

Actually, you'd be amazed at how often I hear Churchill's dictum abused, with people assuming that 'Action' is being used as a verb. It isn't: Churchill, knowing that sometimes the soul of communication is the omission of needless words, simply dropped 'Requires' from the beginning of the sentence.

We need a 'gobsmacked' response icon...

Thumb finally pulled out: I have started what is likely to be a very 'slow burn' layout thread for what I fully intend to be my layout of a lifetime, 'Girtby Sea'. It can be found here. Regards, Gavin /end thread hijack.

Hello all. The time has come (the walrus said) to talk of many things: of track and trains and scenery; of timetables and Beeching... Well, not quite, but we may as well get started. I'm Gavin, and I have finally reached a stage where I can begin my layout of a lifetime. I have a 40' x 20' space to put it in, I have an awful lot of stock ready and waiting (the majority of which appeared on a previous layout that appeared desultorily on RMWeb, called 'Starlingford'), and I have a clear(ish) idea of the trackplan. It will be a 4-track mainline with a pair of branchlines - one rising 4" or so; the other dropping fully 8" to a quayside (that will itself be a fully independent 'dogbone' loop), which means that the mean track level will be 11" above sea level (so as to give sufficient clearance for ships 'passing' under bridges). Baseboard construction will be open-frame in 9mm ply with the main ribs spaced 15" apart. Track will be Peco bullhead throughout, wired for DC but using busses (which ought to make conversion to DCC at a later point, should I ever choose to go down that route, far more straightforward). Points, slips etc will use electrofrogs (or, rather, live unifrogs). As I've never done any of this before, expect to see pleas for advice/help! I intend to box a bit clever with eras. Although it will most often appear in an LNER 1930s/40s guise, I intend to make it possible to post-date it to BR days through some cunning switching of stock and vehicles. The pace of building will be slow. I have time and space but not much by way of disposable income; a slow-and-steady accumulation of bits 'n' pieces leading to flurries of progress is likely to be the way in which this works. My passion is the scenic side of things; my dread is the electrickery. I expect, by the time I'm done with the (hundreds? thousands?) of dropper wires the layout will require, to be able to feign a degree of competence, but I'm starting from square 1! In the meantime, and in order to get this thread moving in the way it ought, here are some pics of initial forays into developing the permanent way. The layout requires at least 8 bridges of various types, ranging from small stream-crossers to an almighty 4-track monstrosity to take the mainlines through 90 degrees on a 4'-radius curve (the inspiration for the biggun, incidentally, is Newcastle's King Edward VII bridge, albeit radically bent). Fortunately I really like building bridges and have made a good start. I now have 3 bridges in various stages of completion. The first is a twin-track trestle bridge for the lower branchline. It's (nominally) based on the one at Portmadoc and, while it requires 9 stone piers to complete it, enough exists to give you a reasonable idea of what the end result will be: The second is the viaduct that will carry the Up Slow line across the same body of water as the lower trestle bridge. This time my inspiration was the Oykel Viaduct at Invershin. As you can see, there is still some painting and construction work to be done (handrails are missing on one side; I have yet to work out the drop of the land beneath the stone arches, with the implications that has for the necessity for piers) but, again, the basic structure is there: Finally, I have a T-section girder viaduct for the upper branchline to cross the feeder river that creates the water feature the aforementioned bridges will cross. This is the only one (so far) to have been available as a complete kit in its own right, being made of laser-cut 3mm MDF. It's also slightly different in that the track on it is standard Peco Code 75; I wanted the closer sleeper spacing for the bridge span. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it to hand, but I'll get one put up at some point. So that's the current state of play: a long-term build of a layout of a lifetime, featuring dramatic scenery and scale-length trains. I hope you enjoy the journey with me. Regards, Gavin

Coming from my neck of the woods, I would be asking "Tyrone - after the county?" Sky is a very old name indeed - an abbreviation of the old Germanic 'Schuyler' (which I've seen rendered as 'Skylar', though only by Americans). Chantelle is almost as old but didn't often crop up in the UK (though it's worth noting that Chaucer, in his Nun's Priest's Tale, features Chanticleer, whose name is derived from the same source). Wellington as a forename is a surprisingly recent development - I'm struggling to find anyone bearing it before the 20th century. Chardonnay and Brooklyn, though... not my cup of tea. (My mother once taught a girl called Dakota Armor. You'd wonder what on earth - or, indeed, if - her parents were thinking...) Regards, Gavin P.S. I'm glad you were born when you were too - I am always immensely grateful when you share your reminiscences of ECML mainline steam, as it's a recollection of a firsthand experience I shall never have.

I remember really enjoying the film, but on reflection I think that's because I went to see it on a first date that ended spectacularly well... The books are the thing, though. They're unutterably brilliant.

Oh, that's wildly unfair. There was nothing incompetent whatsoever about the decision to use King's Cross as a focal point in those stories. It was one of the cleverest things in the books, in terms of its thematic foreshadowings.

I can only assume you're referring to the bridges I've been building for the last couple of months...! As for your mis-capitalisation (or should that be Ms-capitalisation?): I'm now prepared to bet you'll remember the distinction in future. "Ms. Glau's appearance on Sir's thread was for educational purposes, m'Lud; no other motivation can be fairly imputed..." Regards, Gavin (still free, and from whom the sky cannot be taken)

As actress Summer Glau, modelling M&S's Summer Collection, might point out, 'summer' may be a proper noun depending on context. (Tony is right, though, that it ought not to be capitalised in the video). /end pedant mode. An excellent video, though; and always nice to see the LNER on LB! Regards, Gavin (and Summer):

I'm currently working on a model of a high-street shop that provides the services of one 'Helen Hye-Wotter: Marriage Counsellor'...

Your fun fact for the day: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is entirely glued together. The only rivets to be found in it are in the microwave in the galley!

I've been messing around with a paintbrush... (And, for the sake of the discussion, the plastic parts were joined with CA while the wooden bits were glued with Uhu). Regards, Gavin

Good evening Tony As threatened at various points, here's an 'in progress' picture of my version of the Oykel Viaduct. There's still a lot of neatening-up to do, and lots of painting, but it is now possible to see the effect I'm going for. Regards, Gavin

I had no idea my Clan was such an investment! I got one, brand new, professionally renamed and renumbered, at the Glasgow show a few years ago for £120. I won't be selling it, though; I like it too much. BTW, a couple of pages ago, in post #251, the phrase 'exceptions inclusive' was used. I've seen some terrible things done to English online, but I've seldom seen such a grievous injury inflicted in quite so few words...!