Category: Locomotives

Popham Depot is sized to be at least a little different from a shunting loco + coal wagons minimum space exercise. As motive power, I have dimensioned the layout for the Bachmann Class 20 I have.

Last weekend I finally finished the job of rewheeling it for P4. I had dropped in the ultrascale wheelsets some time ago, but had been foxed by the brake rodding which fouled the new, wider, wheelsets.

With a bit more modelling under my belt now, a quick bit of surgery with a sharp knife removed the moulded on rods, and I replaced them with some thin plasticard. 20 seconds with some black paint, and a viewer is none the wiser…

As things stand, it’s really the same model that came out of Bachmann’s packaging. Next phase is to research a real loco, and detail this one to resemble it.

Not yet featured here, but a model I’ve invested a lot of time in is Tornado.

After my first attempt at chassis building, I wanted to move onto something more complex. However, there was a conundrum – most of my modelling is of the recent railway scene, and yet the well trodden path for complex chassis is in steam locomotives.

I therefore turned my mind to preserved locos, and then the ultimate preservation loco came to mind: 60163 Tornado. This is a truly modern loco, having been built over the last 20 years or so, entering service as a new build in 2008.

Fortunately, a well regarded designer of P4 chassis – Dave Bradwell – makes a suitable kit, and Hornby have a well regarded 00 RTR model. Combining the two will certainly stretch my skills, but seems within reach.

I started just under a year ago with this:

And a sense of adventure!

I remember writing that life had got busy. At the time my largest customer was based in Birmingham, and I was spending a fair amount of time (as were many of my team) commuting up the West Coast Mainline. I became accustomed to the 8.10 from Euston, and I was usually impressed with the service. I’m sure I mentioned (more than once!) to everyone who travelled with me that I had grown up in a house that I could see the WCML trains from. When I decided to leave Symbian and take some sabbatical time this year, I was surprised to be presented with the Hornby model of the Pendolino I’d spent so much time on.

I enjoyed model trains as a kid, and as an adult I went along to the odd show, and procrastinated about building a layout ‘someday’. Laying the new trainset out on the floor rekindled my interest, and I’ve now spent the first few weeks of my sabbatical building that ‘someday layout’. I doubt that was the effect my colleagues expected, but thank you all, it’s been a blast!

Incidentally my picture doesn’t do credit to the model Hornby have created, which is a nice replica of the real thing – complete with great details like tilting around curves.