Good evening all.
Today I managed to accomplish one or two things I've been meaning to get on with for a while. First of all, the Red Lion is now installed on the layout. Less obviously, so too is the paved are immediately around it (though the paving itself still needs to be added!):
This leads me to a question (and not a rhetorical one - I'm really looking for suggestions here!) What should go on the other side of the pub, the side away from the station? What building(s) should occupy the space? Answers please on a postcard to...!
Anyway, while you're all thinking about that, also installed is the new goods shed:
I have also glued down the water. One or two white blotches caused by the action of the glue (
) have been disguised as wakes:
All that being done, it was time to run some trains! First off was
Royal Inniskilling Fusilier which, despite having one of the least attractive 'faces' of any locomotive I own (I hate the chopped and angled smoke deflectors) is nevertheless slowly becoming one of my favourite models to run, as it has one of the best 4-6-0 chasses I've encountered:
Then, while in an LMS frame of mind, the Crab made an appearance, hauling a rake of 5 carriages, the newest of which is the old Hornby 12-wheel dining car (though re-wheeled with new Hornby metal wheels);
Thereafter it was time to give the other new coaching stock a spin. These are 3 Graham Farish (yes, you read that correctly - Grafar in 00!) LNER suburban teaks. They run extremely well (they had never been out of their boxes) and the wood grain effect on them is far better than my similar-vintage Hornbys. They ran first of all behind the locomotive for which I had bought them, the superbly handsome Bachmann V3:
Before exchanging locomotive - though sticking with the suburban theme - to run behind my old Mainline N2:
By this stage the LNER-fest was in full swing, and other locos came out to play. The first of these was my B17,
Doncaster Rovers - an appropriately named loco if ever there was one, as this Rover is a complete dog and the one really bad Ebay purchase I've ever made:
So to console myself it was time to play with what I still consider to be one of the most attractive locomotives ever made, Gresley's beautiful D49:
Finally, and with gratitude to Mikem64, who had his own part to play in the saga of the Grafar suburbans, I thought I'd have them behind a black K3. As expected, they looked good there too, particularly when passed by a same-liveried O4 delivering the last remnants of a train of empties:
That's all for tonight folks, though the mysterious Wills construction continues, and other scenic schemes are afoot...
Regards,
Gavin