Friday Update: Twenty-nine One Twenty-one...

Are you ready for your weekly long Covid update? Well, I'm less breathless than a week ago but I've been suffering with insomnia so this week has been tough, I'm on my knees really, but feel like I've turned the corner and have been able to get on with model making again after a week long hiatus...

This is a moment, and I can't really explain how happy it makes me to see Claremont and Concord number 31 come to life, over the past month or so Chris Mears and myself have struck up a conversation, which has re-invigorated my personal model making again with fresh ideas and energy. The Claremont and Concord has been a discovery though that time, and has been a long passion of Chris's - I feel late to the game, however, it's been a fun distraction, as if I needed another, from the big Canadian project! More on that shortly... This little Bachmann 44t is a beauty, one of the most recent DCC fitted release it's not quiet, but seems smooth and powerful never the less. I've carved off the moulded door handles and resprayed it, today I began adding the distinctive Claremont and Concord decals - it will have it's own post when I've finished. I'm not sure if it's just me, but there is something happy about the bright red bodywork and silver trucks that sings to me. Paired with a childhood 40ft boxcar and the tank car I finished previously, this little project feels much more accessible than 'the big one', and I will continue to bask in it's distraction.

A quiet moment on Canal Street Wharf... this week's lack of model making has allowed time for reflection... I had planned another 006.5 layout, indeed I have the track and stock and suitable box, but the realisation that these pocket marvels are not as accessible as I'd hoped in terms of storage and setup mean the layouts don't often see the light of day. I still  have the Wharf and Creech Grange - however Vowchurch found a new home last year. I do love the scale, and have another 006.5 mech, an NS2 that I've stripped right down, and pushed the flycranks down onto the wheels to look like balance weights - with a little ingenuity I think this will give me a rod driven inside framed chassis for a small Bagnall scratchbuild. I've asked on the 6point5 Facebook page, and here, if anyone has any burning desire for a more modern internal combustion locomotive in the scale. Mark Greenwood designed a chassis for his Keef in the Narrow Planet range (currently out of stock), I've looked at the late series Motor Rail 60S with it's long hood, before Alan Keef took over... what else should I look at?

I've also managed a bit of work on commissions, seeing the back of an illustration project for Bowaters Models, you should see the images appearing in Jon's catalog and website shortly, as well as wiring up the Paddington diesel with radio and sound, a real achievement yesterday as I could barely keep my eyes open but it all went together easily and worked first time, perhaps there is a silver lining in this tiredness cloud!

I can't put off talking about the Halifax South Western project anymore... and in fact I suspect it will garner it's own blogpost in due course. Having recently discovered Andrew Underwood's Hopewell sub layout, I have seen what others are doing in the same sort of space, and feel like I've designed a layout that doesn't really feel like the location it's supposed to represent, nor does it really fit the size available!

The map above shows how far my research in to the lifted and abandoned Chester Sub in Halifax looked towards the end of it's life - with industry and spurs shown schematically on the map. When I first penned a scheme it was for a 'round the room' design featuring both Bayers Lake and Lakeside, on opposite sides of a room with overall dimensions about 12 x 9ft... as I realised this space wasn't going to materialise I was pleased to repurpose the wall above my workbench in the studio/workshop - however, this is somewhat limited in about 100" long with 34" at the door and 12" at the window. The scheme evolved to fit the space, but despite having a passing similarity in industry design, the track plan and arrangement was freelance. Now I don't mind a freelance layout, but I began to worry that the space didn't actually feel as big as I thought, and my layout's scenery, what I had in mind, would feel to contrived and compressed to represent the length of line I was cramming in... and so I guess that's why the project has stumbled and stalled and despite working before Christmas to make space for it, and refurbish the workshop (which was an excellent decision I don't regret for a second, as a result Kinross was born) I've not got any further with the project...

...which does bring us nicely to a close, with a view of the un-expected Christmas project really starting to come to life on the shelf... Kinross is living up to exactly my scheme, and evoking the feelings and emotions I wanted when I first saw images of the prototype. That is great, and it makes me feel good every time I see it...

My trials and tribulations are a worthwhile reminder that layout planning can be really tricky. I've recently completed an N gauge scheme and am hoping to start work shortly on a OO scheme for another customer - I enjoy the process and guiding others through the complex but vastly enjoyable maze to distill exactly what they want and how it can be fulfilled in a meaningful way with the constraints of their space and limited factors - it is this mindful process that now needs to be applied more rigourously to my own project. In the meantime, have a good weekend, more soon...