The London Underground S7 and S8 Stock are commonly referred to as the S Stock.

This new type of rolling stock is now used on the Underground's subsurface lines replacing the A60, A62, C69, C77 and  the famous D78 stock.

The S Stock has been rolled out on the Metropolitan, District, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines.

This Stock has air-conditioning, lower floors for ease of accessibility for disabled people and it also has the "open gangways" to allow passengers to move from one car to another whilst the train is moving.

Building The S Stock

 

 

I have several old MK1 coaches lying around which  I picked up from a bring and buy model train show's stall.  

So I decided to try my hand at creating the new S Stock train.

As if my Underground fleet of C's, D's, and 76's are not enough  :)

 

 

Firstly, I took apart the coach back to the chassis.

 

 

After cutting out the end of the coach to build the driving cab, I then added/glued a clear plastic sheet.

 

I drew the stock up in my "paint program" and printed off both the front cab and side panels of S Stock's carriages.

I then glued the printed sheets to black cardboard, layering the card to build up the shapes required.

I proceeded to glue the card to the repainted MK1 coach panels.  

I also added some old plastic grills and hand rails I had lying around.

 I built a driving cab and added a driver.

 

I repainted the roof to give it a weathered look and added some fairy lights to the cab.

My new Stock is ready to run! 

 

 

Construction in process “weather or not!”

With the world in lock down, we train enthusiasts are very fortunate to have a hobby that keeps us safe.

At present I’m working on touching up a few trucks and tractors which I purchased, believe it or not, in a lucky dip early this year.

These vehicles are from China and come apart very easily to paint and add extra features.

As most of my paints are water based it is easy to rub off  and start again.

With construction vehicles I tend to heavily weather them - what my wife calls the “nuclear disaster

The British Class 47 is a class of British railway diesel-electric locomotive that was developed in the 1960s by Brush traction. A total of 512 class 47s were built at Crewe Works and Brush"s Falcon Works Loughborough between 1962 and 1968, which made them the most numerous class of British mainline diesel locomotive.

Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of three passenger sectors created by British Rail in 1982.

NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter. Before 1986, the sector was known as London & South Eastern. Network Southeast was finally dissolved with the privatisation of the network in 1994. The last passenger train still in NSE livery was run on 15 September 2007,.

The 47 is my latest purchase, I found them all separately on sale  from a bring and buy model train show, the total cost being $30 

There was not much work required.to bring them up to an excellent standard.   I repainted the roof linings  in mat grey/black with a little bit of weathering in brown.

Regarding the train coaches I also paint up the interior in red and green and added some passages

The locomotive I repainted the cab and added a driver

Now it all set to run the London circuit.

I’m thinking of adding some lighting later down the track

It's just not cricket

The Walker Ground, Southgate is a cricket ground in Southgate, London, in the traditional county of Middlesex. The ground was first used by the Middlesex 1st XI as long ago as 1859, but had to wait until 1991 for its next county match, and until 1998 to become a regular Middlesex venue. The ground is also used by Southgate Cricket Club. The ground is named after John Walker, the Middlesex player who founded the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a small loose end on the end of the train set and needed to fill it.

 I looked around for an idea and came up with a cricket ground.  Although my cricket ground is small it looks just right.

 

The Italian Job

What happened when  Charlie Crocker decided to do the Italian Job.

Well first he wanted to see how well those minis worked - putting them through their paces, roof top runs, and travelling  through deep tunnels. 

My latest idea is to have those fantastic minis do what they do best on my train set.

RACE......