Locomotive wish-list

Got the August issue of British Railway Modelling through the post this morning. I hjave to say I'm not often all that bothered by the layouts featured - it has to be something pretty special to grab my interest! But it's always interesting to read the reviews and find out about the latest product releases. This month Bachmann's new 9F is reviewed and it looks like an absolutely stunning model.

It really does seem as if the model manufacturers are taking great leaps forward in the quality of the models they're producing at the moment. I'm afraid that my layout won't have any requirement for a 9F, although I'm quite tempted to buy one anyway!!

My current 'stock' of locomotives is:

'2251' 0-6-0
44xx 2-6-2T
45xx 2-6-2T

I'm considering possibly selling at least one of the Prairie tanks as they're blatantly not appropriate motive power for an S&D layout (although I don't mind rewriting history a little bit because they are very nice models!).

My 'essential' locomotive wish list is:

8750 or 5700 0-6-0PT (Bachmann)
Fowler 3F 'Jinty' 0-6-0T (Bachmann)
Ivatt Class '2' 2-6-2T (Bachmann)
Fowler 4F 0-6-0 (Hornby) - I very much like the look of the Brassmasters 4F (complete with fully working inside motion!) but the cost, amount of work involved in construction etc. put me off at this stage.

My 'would like to have but need to do a bit more rewriting of history first' wish-list is:

8F 2-8-0 (Hornby) - did run on the S&D but as far as I know only on the main line
Bulleid Q1 0-6-0 (Hornby) - I'm not aware they ever ran on any part of the S&D but I could be wrong
M7 class 0-4-4T (Hornby) - ditto
56xx 0-6-2T (Bachmann) - ditto
Class 04 diesel (Bachmann) - My chosen period is probably slightly too early for diesels but I could stretch things. I know 03's were used on the branch at the very end.
Class 20 diesel (Bachmann) - not sure whether these were used at any stage on the S&D

And to be honest, then there's a whole load of other locos (steam and diesel) that I'd love to have but which would require a total time or region shift to allow me to run them on the layout so they can wait (well, so can most of the others while there are more pressing concerns than building up my loco fleet!!).

The Railway Room - Part 1

Yesterday we got the keys to our new house! This afternoon I had a good poke around the garage - the plan is that this will become the new 'railway room'. There's a lot to do before it gets there though. Firstly, it needs a very good clean to get rid of all the dust, dirt, cobwebs etc. Then the whole thing needs rewiring as the current electrics look a bit on the dangerous side! The plan will be to install some suitable lighting and power points. Then the ceiling needs boarding over and painting, the up-and-over door bricking up or boarding over from inside, the walls painting (or possibly boarding over to improve insulation?), a heater installed, blinds on the window, draught excluders round the door... and then we'll be about ready to begin thinking about constructing the layout!

Signal box - part 2

Work is progressing well - if fairly slowly - with the signal box. I have now added the outer 'shell' to 3 sides. The way I've done this is to use moulded brick styrene sheet for the lower half and 20 thou styrene sheet scribed to represent the planking of the upper section.

The tricky bit is making sure the two layers fit exactly, around the edges and door and window apertures. There's not really been a 'method' to this - just a lot of careful measuring, making things slightly larger than required and then filing painstakingly once the two layers are glued together so that everything is flush and no joins are visible. Slow but satisfying work!