TravisM

That’s why I said ‘one of the heaviest’, not the heaviest

Thank you for that, much appreciated

As I grew up near Weston-super-Mare in the 70's, I was told by station staff there at the time that London bound and cross country trains, plus HST's generally used platform 2 (the station building side and longest platform) because they were generally the longest, and platform 1 was tight for a full length train with engine and coaches. As I'm modelling St Bees in the present era and has a similar track plan with passing loop to what the OP has drawn out, the Carlisle to Barrow trains use platform 2 (station building side), and the return workings use platform 1. It has a signal box and uses tokens from St Bees to Whitehaven and St Bees to Sellafield. Generally the signaller closes the road crossing gates and the Carlisle bound train arrives first on platform 1, then the signaller sets the route for the Barrow train via platform 2, and takes the token from the driver. Then will walk to the end of platform 2 via the pedestrian bridge and waits for the Barrow bound train to arrive. When it arrives, they swop tokens and the Barrow train is free to depart and the signaller walks back to platform 1 and hands the new token to Carlisle bound driver. Once that is done, the signaller returns to his cabin to pull the signals off and the train can depart. I've been told that it's not uncommon for the crossing gates to be closed up to 10 minutes should one train be late.

I'm trying to find out what stock was used on the 2018 'The Lakelander' between Oxenholme and Windermere. They are all Mk2's and appear to be a BSO and 2 TSO's, top and tailed between 47245 and 57316. Any help would be most welcome.

The Class 13's were specially weighted and from what I read, they were one of the heaviest diesel loco (or loco's) on BR at 120 tons.

A better revised plan showing the approaches to the helix and the whole layout will be built in sections. Once the station board is firmly fixed to the wall, the left hand 5'x1' section will be added (Towards Carlisle) as well 3'6"x1' section along the opposite wall, plus the triangular pieces. The rest will be built once Tim Horn has done the final measurements for the helix. There was supposed to be a lift out section but after discussion with Tim, I've decided to have the layout at Sternum height as you'll look at the trains as you would do in real life and it would disguise the sharper than normal curve at the station. If anyone has any sensible suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear them.

Had a better go at drawing out the track plan, still needs 'tweaking' but getting there.

Puts my bus driving in Peterborough to shame 😳, especially on the 2’s and 3’s 🤣

Thank you as I wasn't able to do that, it must be a knack to it.

I thought I would give my DRS loco hauled sets for my Cumbrian Coast layout a run, my Accurascale 37402 and 409 either top and tailing between Bachmann 2 Mk2F TSO's and BSO

I'm struggling to dismantle a Network Rail Mk2D BSO to remove a corridor connection at one end, as per the prototype as well as fill in the blanked off windows properly. I've done the usual things but the damn body won't come off the chassis. Anyone had the same problems?

Best person to answer this question is Tony Wright, I suggest sending him a PM or asking this question on his thread 'Wright writes'

I took these pictures a few weeks ago of my Accurascale 37423 and 37609 along with their KUA's on the Market Deeping MRC test track. I'm still waiting for the MK2E BSO escort coaches from Rainbow Railways to make this train complete.

I think the last four BR blue Class 56's were lined up at Leicester depot (I think) for a photoshoot in the early 90's. I can't remember the numbers of them but I think 006 was certainly one of them. I seem to remember that Rail magazine had a pull out picture of them all lined up within the magazine.

I recently bought two Hornby Mk2E's, a BSO in Virgin Cross Country livery which will be de-branded and weathered by GC Weathering, to similar to when DRS were using it. The other is a TSO in DRS livery and will go into the loco/DBSO set. As you can see, I now have two set of loco hauled coaching stock, and I do plan to create a third but not sure if to have it top and tailed with Class 37's or with another DBSO. I also decided to replace the points at the west (south) end with curved as they worked better, though straight is more prototypical but I just don't have the room. I lined up the two trains at the eastern end, to show where the level crossing, signal box and rail footbridge will go. I'm still dabbling and I think I'll move the tracks about 3-4 inches further away from the back scene so there's less in the foreground, even though St Bees station will be positioned within the arc of the curve (if that makes sense) Helpful suggestions would be most welcome

After a lot of procrastinating, I've decided to abandon my Sellafield layout mainly because it was planned to go out onto the exhibition circuit, and I honestly feel, because of health issues, I would struggle loading it into a large car or van. So the idea is sadly no more. On the upside, I've decided to reuse the baseboards I had and go with my original plan of St Bees during the time when trains were loco hauled with Class 37's and later, 68's. The baseboards will be hung off the wall and to get the full length along the wall, Tim Horn is going to create a 6inch 'filler', so I get the full 8'6". I've started roughly laying out the track plan for the station to give me a sense of perspective, though I'll probably move the tracks away from the back scene and nearer the front and put the points on another board. If anyone has any sensible suggestions, I'd like to hear them.

I saw this today on a model railway shop facebook page and I nearly spat my cornflakes out. They are very, very naughty people 🤣🤣😎😎

Here's a new one, nicked from Facebook but 50023 "HOWE" at Oxford Carriage Sidings on ECS, to form the (1F71) 17.00 to Paddington Service on 14/2/89. Note the black windscreen surround over the white.

Who does the barbed wire?

Great catch and I certainly need more of these FNA-D’s. I’ll probably get between another 6-8 for my Sellafield layout, but I think I’ll space them out between Accurascale and Revolution Trains models.

It's a book, you can see where it folds 🤨

Any news on when there's likely another announcement on a third batch of Class 37's? Is it likely after the second batch has arrived and been dispatched and all happy 😊

Finally managed to get two of my Accurascale DRS Class 37’s out of their boxes, along with the KUA wagons on Market Deeping MRC’s test track as my Cumbrian Coast line layout is still waiting for the wood butchering to start. They drew a lot of interesting comments and now waiting for the pair of Mk2E BSO escort coaches from Rainbow Railways to make it complete.

Going to be a b****r to reach over if something derails, even in N gauge

His ballasting could do with a tweak as well