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......

 

Class 31 No.31018 in the standard Rail Blue colour scheme

It was decided in 1965 to standardise the BR colours which became known as Rail Blue. Also known as "Monastral Blue", It was a dark, greyish blue tone which hid the effects of dirt well. The colour often appears inaccurately in photographs, generally appearing brighter and bluer than the real colour.

          In the early years the colour faded quite badly, becoming lighter and paler with time although this problem had been overcome by the late 1970s. United Kingdom paint "Ocean Blue" is a good match to Rail Blue.

The new British Rail "double arrow" symbol were appled to the  locomotives and the vehicle number and other ancillary markings were written in the Rail Alphabet typeface

          The colour was applied to all the diesel and electric locomotives, with the exception of the ends, which were painted yellow to improve visibility, and the underframes and buffer beams which were painted black; As Rail Blue was introduced, the last locomotive recorded  were  being outshopped in a previous livery the  Class 43  Rapid which left Swindon Works in August 1968 in maroon.

 

Take 3

This is the  latest stage of the rebuilding of my 1973 Stock, the rolling stock used on my Piccadilly line.

I'm still using the cut down versions of my old Mark 1 British Railways’ lines coaches.

I have now installed the engines in the front car and completed the  wiring to light this and other trailing cars.  

lower frame work has yet to be installed.

OPEN ALL HOURS

is a BBC television sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. It ran for 26 episodes in four series, which premiered in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. Open All Hours ranked eighth in the 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom poll. A sequel, entitled Still Open All Hours, was created in 2013.

The setting is a small grocer's shop in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The owner, Arkwright (Ronnie Barker), is a middle-aged miser with a stammer and a knack for selling. His nephew Granville (David Jason) is his put-upon errand boy, who blames his work schedule for his lacklustre social life.

Across the road lives Nurse Gladys Emmanuel (Lynda Baron), occupied by her professional rounds, and her elderly mother. Arkwright longs to marry her, but she resists his persistent pressures.. Though short-tempered with Arkwright, she is concerned for his and Granville's welfare.

Arkwright

Arkwright is a pragmatic, miserly man with old-fashioned values, whose world seems to stop at his shop door, except for his uncontrollable lust for Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, which may prompt him on occasion to wander across the road, usually with a ladder, to gain access to her bedroom window.

 

I have placed Arkwright ,Granville and Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in Metro land which allows me to have this famous shop in my train layout. At  present there is a lot to do but I've got Arkwright's ladder ready and  Granville is standing at the door ready to load his bicycle to do his deliveries

Nurse Gladys Emmanuel must be home, as her car is still parked in front of her house.