We have the technology... we can rebuild it.

I noticed this SD50 shell going cheap on ebay and picked it up for less than a tenner, it's an Athearn RTR and perfect as a replacement for the parted out Conrail 50 I have sitting on the 'to do' pile.  The shell has clearly had a major collision with the floor at some point, but its in good shape apart from the walkways which have disintegrated.  I already have a Conrail walkway and handrails, the long hood and other parts are the pieces I needed.

I really should get around to completing some of these rebuilds soon, it's getting crowded in the parts box!  :)

Yultide Revelling

I'm still collecting parts for my planned kitbash emulating "The Hardly Able Mfg Co" from Art Currans book on structure building.

I came across a few more Revell kits on ebay and snapped them up, an operating engine house and a sanding depot.  The depot is complete and sealed, but the engine house is missing a few pieces.

Great kits, and fortunately they weren't too expensive, an important consideration as I am not a collector and I do intend to actually use these parts.  The copyright on the kits suggests they are from the earliest releases in the late fifties.  These kits were reissued by Con-Cor and Heljan through the years, but they have been off the market for a couple of decades now.

 

The sand and pump house will make a good detail for my next freemo module, these old revell kits can look fantastic when they are detailed and painted.

Here are a couple of examples from various modellers I found on the net:

A Revell 'Weekly Herald News' reworked to make a stock auction house.

Another 'Weekly Herald' in a 1:87 auto diorama.

A pair of 'Superior Bakery' kits and some other Revell kits joined to make a factory.

A layout at home

After over a year of procrastinating I still hadn't got around to actually starting work on my home layout, I started looking into the possibility of buying something ready made and even bid on a couple of different ones on ebay.

I got talking to one of the chaps at the club and discovered that he had a layout in storage there which was in need of a new home, so after a bit of negotiating, I finally have myself a home layout, and not just any layout - this one is rather special.

I am now the proud new owner of Godinez, Iowa - a compact exhibition layout based on a fictional Rock Island branch line in the mid fifties.

The layout was originally built by Peter North in 2008 and has been shown at several exhibitions as well as appearing as layout of the month in Continental Modeller magazine.

It's a beautifully detailed layout and packs a lot into a very small space, with an entire small town and grain elevator crammed into its five feet length.

The layout has been in storage for the past couple of years, so it needs a little bit of tlc and some minor repairs, I will also need to repaint a few locomotives for Rock Island as I don't have anything suitable in my roster.

I've started a dedicated blog here to track the progress of the layout as I get it up and running again and hopefully attend a show or two.

Warley Show - NEC Birmingham

This weekend is the 45th National Model Railway Exhibition, being held at the NEC in Birmingham, I took the train up to spend the day at the show.

I attended last year so I knew what to expect, and the show did not disappoint, with over 85 layouts in all scales and over 150 trade stands.

I bought my ticket online so I was able to get into the hall early and have a quick look round the traders for bargains, as usual The Signal Box had a big pile of reduced US outline stock and I picked up a Walthers flexi-van and an Atlas RS36, there wasn't much else of note on any of the stands, and some of the second hand HO was obscenely overpriced (badly repainted blue box locos for £40 on one stand!).

I spent the rest of the day looking at the layouts, and there were plenty of great models to look at, including several US layouts.

 

Burlington Central - Perth MRC - N Scale

 

 

Union Pass - Leeds MRS - N Scale

 

 

Four Corners - Warley MRC - HO Scale

 

 

Roundhouse - Ian Lamplin - Ho Scale

There were several non-US layouts that caught my eye, I've included some pictures of them below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a couple of layouts that really stood out in terms of presentation, including two that used a very large surround in order to focus the viewers attention on the scene.

 

Veldhoven 1935 - Modelspoor - HO Scale

(Viewed through a picture frame)

 

 

 

 

The Blue Tram - Loek Bronkhorst - HO Scale

(Constantly changing day/night lighting cycle)

 

 

 

Cliffhanger - John de Frayssinet - 009 Scale

(Impossible to get close to all day, crowds three deep admiring

the wall of cliff and trees that almost touched the floor)

 

As for purchases, there were slim pickings for second-hand, and the few second hand US locos that were in evidence were overpriced, so although I spent a lot of time hunting around, I didn't find much worth buying.

 

Other than LSWR and Macs Models there weren't many US seller, and no bargains other than the usual Signal Box sale.  I picked up a couple of low priced specials from them including an Atlas RS36 which I hope will be suitable to fill the empty roster on my Rock Island layout.

 

 

 

Atlas RS36 - Brand New but no outer box

 
I also picked up this Walthers Flexi-Van IV set, brand new with 70% off from Signal Box, a really beautiful wagon which is probably a little too early for my era but I couldn't resist such a great looking piece of intermodal equipment.