I've been working on the railroad....

I'm currently toying with the idea of building a small train layout in my loft using my old "Midland Belle" train set (Because I needed "another" project). The layout would be set in the mid-1930s and would be based around the LMS railway company. I'm currently thinking about the track layout below (thanks SCARM).



This is roughly 4m long and 0.8m wide, so will fit down one side of the loft. It makes use of all my existing track, with the main expansion being flex track and several additional points. It has a loop allowing continous running, with a passing place long enough to store my new train (see below). It also features a goods yard with a decent amount of shunting potential, and even allows the option of using a second DC controller for this yard, allowing shunting to take place while a train runs round the main layout. It even uses most of my existing buildings, which I built in my teens.

I've added in an additional point near the station, allowing me to expand further into the loft if required, but I think this is enough for the time being.

So, with this is mind, another thing I've been painting in addition to Necromunda bits is trains.

These two are 0-4-0 Caledonian 'Pug' Tank engines. Commonly used for shunting, they are a common engine found in starting train sets. The maroon LMS model was my first engine, and probably my favourite at present. The blue Highland Railway engine was a later present for me. As the Highland railway was merged into the LMS company, I've decided it can stay for the moment, despite it's slightly ahistorical colour scheme (I think all the Highland engines were green from Wikipedia).

Sturdily built, the 0-4-0s are inexpensive models, this means they lack a little detail. Thankfully looking at old pictures, a lot of it can be added back with a bit of paint and ingenuity. These models have had the following work done.

• Service and clean
• Windows glazed with transparent plastic (a hole punch makes a disc of near enough the right size)
• Buffer beams, side boxes, rear lamps, hand rail and cab detail painted. Manufacturers plates have been hinted at on the side boxes (I can't paint small enough to get legiable text!). The Highland 0-4-0 got it's chimney painted as well. 

Future work may involve adding a resistor to the motor to try and slow the model down a bit (these models are known for being uncharectoristically quick), but for now I plan to try controller control first.

Next is a new addition. I picked up this 4-4-0 2P Passenger locomotive up off eBay with 3 LMS coaches (including a brake coach) for £90. I always wanted a tender engine in my teens, but they were expensive. As such, my passenger service was provided by a Lima Tank Engine (see below). Now I can replace it with a more thematic train, and it will even run on my first radius curves.

As it was not only second hand, but also quite an old model this loco also required some work and was a bit bland with all the detail in black. As such, I did some work here too, using some googled pictures for reference:

• Hand rails picked out in silver, and side mounted pipe (for the feedwater heater?) picked out in brass 
• Cab detailed
• Repaired the rear body mount
• Replaced a missing side wheel panel (see if you can spot which one!). pulled the other off the model and used it as a template for a new plasticard cover, painted black and red lining done. Manufacturers plate then roughly added (see disclaimer above)

There's still some work to do, I have a new rear tension lock coming from ebay, and I might remove the one on the front, as it is unlikely this engine will shunt. It also needs the cab handrail replacing (I may also add these to the Pugs) but I don't have the right wire at the moment.

I am also planning to add a front loco number plate to all three of the above locos, but I want to think how I want to do this first.

Here we have the final loco I own at present. This is a Lima 0-4-0 tank engine in Great Western scheme of an undetermined model. It uses to haul a Lima GWR carriage as my passenger train. When I got this out the loft it seemed to struggle to work, it also doesn't fit my layout theme, so I plan to retire it. As such it is now taking on a new role as my practice locomotive. As such it was the first to be painted, and the buffer beam was practice for the Pugs, for example.

I suspect it will be used to practice weathering at some point in the future.

Finally to round things off, I have painted some old barrels. These were 3D printed models I originally got printed for Necromunda, however the scale was off, and the model was about 20mm (1:76 scale). As such, they should be the right size for the layout. These aren't painted in a particular scheme at present, just quite generic. They will either be added to the goods depot, or used as a wagon load.

Next up should hopefully be desert Honey Stuarts, unless I get distracted again!