It Must Be Mine!

Trouble with big model railway exhibitions is that I turn into Igor. Last weekend's Alexandra Palace show was no exception.

At the top is a new Bachmann class 46 "Peak" for my next British layout. In the 1970s Plymouth Laira had a sizable allocation of these locos. Bachmann's N gauge offering looks like a scaling down of their 00 gauge model, which Electric Nose was very scathing about. Scaled down to half the size, any faults are far less apparent, resulting in a more than satisfactory model as far as I'm concerned. One compromise is the bogies are somewhat overwide, but this results in a model that will negotiate 8½" curves. Running qualities are excellent, great slow running out of the box without any need to 'improve after running in'.

For my current layout rather than the next one, I also picked up a Lima Minitrain Swiss NPZ set. (There are actually a pair of intermediate coaches too, converted from loco-hauled stock). These are now getting hard to get hold of, since Lima are no longer in business, so I was pleased to find one on sale. There's some scary-looking sprues of detailing parts I have yet to add, including cab-to-shore radio aerials, windscreen wipers(!) and assorted gubbins around the pantrograph. Hours of fun await!

Since I've travelled south, I've taken a few more of my British outline stock out of storage. These three are all modelled as running in 1988, all the work of CJM. In the foreground is 50149 "Defiance", the one-off experimental class 50/1 freight conversion, which spent that year working based at St Blazey, working china clay trains. Behind are a pair of 47s, 47508 "SS Great Britain" in "banger blue", and 47500 "Great Western" in Great Western green. Both were named as part of the 150th anniversary of the GWR in 1985, and both were allocated to the Inter-City sector in 1988. 50149 and 47508 are detailed and resprayed Farish shells on CJM Saturn chassis; the third loco still has a Farish chassis.