Friday Update: Fourteen Seven Twenty-three…

Another week of waiting on parts for the Ruston LBs and working on the plan book project for a customer (whilst my own is still being proof read) has meant that there is physically less to share with you all this Friday…

James Jordin photo

So let’s kick things off with a photo from James who commissioned me to create Gwyneth with him a month or so ago, on Pont-y-dulais! Yes, his Mum bought the layout for her mantelpiece so when visiting her recently he took the locomotive with him and it’s absolutely wonderful to see the two together, she looks very much at home, as I suppose in some ways she is!

David Cook photo 

I also received a photo this week from the chap who took Kinross off my hands, and it’s really interesting to see how my slice of Prince Edward Island has seamlessly been transformed into Southern railway territory. Really glad this has also gone to a good home, and I’m already working on the layout that will fill its space!

The only physical modelling commission this week has been a small weathering job on a long standing customer and follower’s Victory. Getting a working finish on these is slightly more difficult in some ways then the plain industrial liveries but I’m happy with the result and will share them in a separate post soon, if you’d like me to work over your Planet Industrials model I can fit plates, coal, crew and a deluxe 4 stage weathering for £130 get in touch for more information.

On my own bench, so to speak, these turnouts for Gerald Road have been wired up and aligned ready for installation. They are from the British Finescale range and look great, I intend to try out the DCC Concepts ‘Cobalt’ surface mount system, but the motors will be mounted 6mm below the track surface to better match the turnout throw bars in N. The system will also switch frog polarity and you can use the accessory ‘switches’ to power the track feeds beyond, allowing the turnouts to behave like insulfrog, perfect for this layout I think. I’m slightly reticent about wiring things up but that’s to be expected - it’s not a cheap system at £60 for two turnouts.

The weekend promises a bit of a rest, it’s been a busy week of commitments with running about for the kids on school trips and leavers ceremonies, I am looking forward to slowing down a touch and just seeing where the hobby takes me. The beauty of having a myriad of projects means there is usually something that appeals. I do wonder about maybe a touch on Beaverbrook’s next structure, but we will see! I’m tired and bordering on burnout again so will just roll with it. Wherever you are though, enjoy the weekend. More soon…

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Additional bits ‘For Sale’…

Farish 37/4 - Regional Railways 37422 ‘Robert F Fairlie’ - £125 (body only £55)

DCC ready, smooth running chassis. Box with couplings and detail pack included.

This is a popular livery and I spent months tracking one down in this condition with no damage to the tampo printing. Lightly used by the original owner why not add it to your collection, or join me on the N gauge adventure?

Oxford Rail ‘Janus’ in United Steel yellow - £55

This model has been modified but removal of the coupling slots and extra fuel tank cut outs in the skirts along with replacement buffers. A full repaint into yellow with red beams and white step wells, this is an abandoned project, but I did fit a second flywheel which made a noticeable difference to slow running.