ScR steam in the 50's

Latest out of the works is a CR 0-6-0 57585, that was a long time Thurso engine. Another conversion from the Hornby 700 with a homespun cab extension to give a bit more shelter when running tender first. This is it newly finished and will get a dusting down from the airbrush when the weather permits it - my spray booth is the back door and a dining room chair and is done when the wife is safely out of the way…  ;-)

Looks very good in that setting.

What colour's the back door?  :lol:

Lovely photo by the way - one of those where you have to look twice as to whether it's a model or the real thing.

Regards,

David V.

Some recent potterings have been trying out the new Peco bullhead points - and very nice they are too. Above is a shot of two laid in the goods yard, replacing a Code 75 3 way one. The photos below show the old set up and the newer version.



The one replaced is on the right, above the turntable.

And the bullhead ones.

Certainly looks better in the track curvatures.

Actually it is a bit too generous - the sidings at Thurso were rather tight and if modelled as such would look like a train set. Here is a shot of the approach to the sidings ….

Looks very good and not so compacted, nice looking points too, what's the difference between your Peco and SMP rail?

Phil

This layout just has so much atmosphere. The colouring and detail are really superb. Definitely one of my favourite layouts which inspires me to do better!

Thanks. I use C&L rather than SMP but they are both much the same with a thinner sleeper base than Peco, which makes ballasting that bit easier although a bit more care need to be taken with it to avoid twist or kinks. I use Tracklay base to hold it and the ballast  and up to now Code 75 point on their foam underlay but Peco have discontinued these so I cut an outline of 5mm closed cell foam and Copydexed ther new points and ballast on it in a oner. This worked well - I thought I might have to add more ballast but the Copydex oozed through enough to get a decent depth attached. When it came to lay this  I cleared away the existing 5mm foam that I laid on top of the baseboard - to give  silent running and to allow for eventualities such as this -  dropped the unit in with a piece of balsa packing and the adjacent plain track and point aligned perfectly. A couple of photos to show what was done.

The Thurso engine shed has had a makeover to give it a more HR look, and is basically a mix of Kyle and Wick sheds with Lochgorm's rather nice arched etched window frames. Here are a couple of shots…

Omitted this one that shows the nears side a bit more in full.

A look at the fish traffic, once an important part of traffic in parts of Scotland. A train of empties arrives and is shunted into the fish sidings for loading.

Hi Ben
Loving the shots of the fish vans

My wife is my best judge of scenic matters and she agrees that the views of the loading wagons with that backscene and foreground detail is absolutely superb. 

Very inspriring

Thanks. Here are one or two random shots. The plethora of groups springing up on Face book are bringing gems of images up for many hobby interests, and railways are one of them. I recently came across one giving links to images of various HR classes of locos, most of which seem to have never been published before. One of these was a Small Ben with built up tender cab, about 1930, but I decided to incorporate this in one of my fleet, so here it is on shed at Helmsdale.



And the two Dornoch tanks doing some shunting there.





And a cattle train arriving behind an ex HR 4-6-0.

Superb. Can't think of any other way to describe this.

Thanks - I'll try and post some more up soonish. Bit of maintenance going on just now, which should have been simple but has taken a fortnight off and on….

Reminds me of my many '10 minute jobs.'  :)

Golly, months have passed… but with a lot of goings on….



Sunlight from the Velux warped the platform - done quickly with hot glue in the initial build, and now paying for it



As seen here - Peco sides and a thin plasticard top proved inadequate against Old Sol. I have now evostuck a 1/2" balsa base plus a further balsa top to the sides which should sort things out, and the blinds are now kept down  :cool:
 This job expanded in to a major tidy up and rebuild of things that were omitted or needed sorted from the build six years ago; some major and others more cosmetic, and still not finished, but a lot further on…Main visual change is the addition of more yard sheds and huts, plus extra poles and lights that the place sprouted. Couple of pics to give an idea and I'll return to it soon..

If this is OO it makes you wonder why EMers bother!  And I was an EMer!  As good a OO layout as I have ever seen.  A real joy of consistency, starting with very nice trackwork.
And a fascinating part of the country to model too.

Cheers,
Martin

Thanks… :oops: Indeed  good old 00, with C&L track and Peco Code 75 pointwork with cosmetic chairs added though there are a couple of Peco bullhead points now in the goods yard. I did contemplate EM at one time but all the conversion work, plus track building , made me realise that I would never have enough time to get to where I wanted. Hence the decision to use "proper" 00 track - this makes a huge visual difference and there is really no excuse now, or has been for many years, to lay HO sleepered track. With the advent of RTL Peco EM points it did cross my mind briefly to go wider, but I have far too many locos that would need regauging.