Tom J

I used to work on the platform at Newton - I'd be fascinated to see this. Make sure you model the bullet holes and scuffs in the canopy ;-)

A bit of searching on this has come to nothing so I may have answered my question, but how far north did a Blue Siphon make it during the 70s? I know Southern vehicles made it to the top of Scotland, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of a Siphon... I might hope to be proved wrong though!

I went through Myrdal on the train from Oslo to Bergen in 2006. I tried every possible means of making a journey work out, but out of the tourist season the transport connections are limited. I was very disappointed to say the least. The main line train was notable for having a children's play area (with Lego, flatscreen TV and DVD player, and bean bag chairs as I recall!) and we passed through landscape above the tree line which in winter just looked like the moon!

Crikey, that was quick!

'Kyle of Tongue', 'Nether Stowey' and 'Drem' spring to mind, as does 'Copenhagen Fields'. More recently, 'Ring Road' Recently my little lad has developed a fixation with 'Banbury' - and I certainly am finding it a inspirational and challenging benchmark!

Mine might not progress for a while but if I get all the bits together I stand a better chance of 'hitting' it at some stage! Have just ordered the decals at your prompting ;-)

I have only just ordered the 950 etch - to go on the selfsame base model! Will be interested to see how you get on with it.

He had a cracking time, thank you. He has confused lots of people since the first time he saw the layout (at Ally Pally, I think?) with his repeated references to Banbury, a place with which he has no connection at all! Come on then, hit me with it - what do I need to buy to drive our trains with my iPhone like that?! (other than a second mortgage!)

Ian, thank you again to you and your team for your kindness to my little lad. You were struggling for wifi at Aylesbury, so I'd not seen the iPod controllers - very impressed. I think we might have to bite the bullet and actully do this whole DCC malarkey! Apparently our layout is going to be just like yours, Thomas Ivor tells me. I'm not sure how I am going to keep pace!

Message from my son! "I like your model railway. I will see you soon. Thank you for running Oliver Cromwell and Tornado for me and the silver Skip. I like the sound of the class 66" Thank you for your time this afternoon. Cracking little piece of the modern railway you have re-created.

I imagined the platforms would be bursting at the seams and no decent shots to be had, so I didn't go. Really annoyed that I didn't, now!

Incredible progress, David. Very impressive - look forward to seeing it and your layout in the flesh some time.

Depends on the livery. Matching Dapol's rendition of fGW 'swoosh' livery will be nigh on impossible. I think it's one I'll live with.

Thank you for the list, Dave - and as an aside, the new website looks nice. Will the fGW TSO/TFO have different coach letters to last time? I have a 'G' and three 'D's so far, all with different running numbers! It is a shame that there won't be a TRFB, but even so, with a TGS in due course my four year old will at least stop telling me our HST is too short!

Can anyone confirm which traincrew depot the loaded train from Teigngrace is worked from, please?

Is there yet any whiff of a Colas liveried model when the BREL-built ones arrive?

A vision of what Bulleid might have produced as a steam multiple unit. Hopefully not using his and Alstom's most famous technical 'achievements' - Leader, and the Pendolino Toilet... Very well done though David - I took a lot longer to get rolling in Sketchup!

I saved a grand total of four quid compared to an offer which came out the day after an auction recently. I was pleased to find, as expected, that the one I had bought was in good nick and nicely run-in, the latter probably making it a safer purchase, ironically!

99.9% of winning bidders can't be wrong. <cough>

Bit more recent than that for 70013, Dan - it was red until we did the firebox work in 2010. Certainly was red in the March, as I was on the crew for the 'Roaring Monster' trip over Shap. I did wonder about 70000 - I thought I remembered it having the other ones when I was a kid (ie during its last stint on the main line!). That explains why the deflectors look a lot tidier than '13s, which have had a piece let into them! 70013 also still has its painted nameplates from the last days of steam. They were discovered during the overhaul and were painted round to preserve them behind the cast 'plates.

Have I understood right, though, that there will not be a TRFB, but an RFM will be done in fGW/EMT livery as a compromise?

Saw the layout at TINGS for the first time and loved it. I figured that someone had to make a layout with loads of cheap 'Turbos' from Hattons - contemplated it myself more than once! As Ben said, white units everywhere is the thing that registers it as being where it is, for me. Well done.

Just stumbled across this, Mick - Depending on the time of day I recommend the sausage and bacon sandwiches, or the chicken nuggets... I was lucky enough to have a couple of trips on Caroline - I even gave a TV interview in front of her, when Kettering - Harrowden 3-tracking re-opened! I do have the odd interior picture of her laid up for service, if it helps. A 2mm version would be nice...

Thread from the dead! Tom, did you just brush paint the window frames? How easy was this? I'm struggling to find much to go on as regards the feasibility of doing this.

If you put a pile of locos in front of me, all in their boxes, I will find the dud! Mind you, I've repaired the tender steps already. I'm on a roll! There was an accident at Milton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_rail_crash where the handrails were deemed to have impeded the driver's view. I have done my fair share of miles in the cab of 70013 and the driver's view ahead is not exactly panoramic! As a result, the WR changed the smoke deflectors, by removing the handrails and making cutouts to create grab handles in the deflectors themselves. Dapol never produced these (I suspect that the thickness of the deflectors on their model would have made the cutouts look odd) and I imagine this is why 70013 was produced with the early crest, rather than late as originally listed. 70000 carries the original handrails to this day, but 70013 has the revised ones. I'm afraid I don't know exactly when it gained them. Until recently it also had one red and one black-backed nameplate - both are now black! Cut a long story short, I've swapped Britannia's late crest tender onto Cromwell, which now needs new 'blinkers' and nameplates. With new plates, and maybe the ceremonial white roof, this could represent 70000 as she looks now, but I am going for broke - and a respray...