The Shankly and Gdynia Railway

[Hound Dog]

Hi Ian,

Nice shots of the Class 121 etc....... It seems to be a tidy version that Dapol have produced and I might succumb to a green or BR blue version at some point in the future.

I have to say however that I had visions of many steam enthusiasts blowing a gasket when you commented that you were looking to buy another classic, but when the Mallard was unavailable you went for a DMU instead....... that made my day - thanks

Richard.

[IanAlan]

Thank you IanS, WTD and HD.

Regarding WTD's comment about trying to take photos and missing the moving train, I got as many dud shots as half-decent ones. Unsurprisingly, I found that following the locomotive with the camera made the locomotive less blurred. Of course, it made the background very blurred indeed, but that's a good trade. Although it's almost too obvious to state, running the locomotive very very slowly also helped.

I'm glad that I gave you a good laugh HD and hope that all those blown gaskets didn't overwhelm the already hard-pressed NHS.

Watching the Wheels Go Round and Round


Careful as You Go


Zroom 2


Passing Shankly Sheds Signal Box


You might have noticed my John Lennon reference there.

[IanAlan]

Work and family duties continue to give me little time on the the model railway, but here are some more photos of the Class 121, both sharp and blurry.

Passing Paisley Tunnel


Saint Albright's Church and Boarding School


Now Arriving at Arkwright's Mill Station


Mud on the Tracks


Did you notice the Bob Dylan reference there? And yes, I realise that he was referring to the other kind of tracks.

[IanAlan]

Happy Days on the Shankly and Gdynia Railway

[Hound Dog]

Good to hear you are having Happy Days on your layout.......I went to the garage to do some work tonight and ended up happily running trains for an hours or so, but which time it was too late to start any work - nice way to kick off the weekend.

[RSR Engineer]

Nice to see the S&G still buzzing with life. Quite a contrast to the RSR, where most of the buildings are cardboard boxes and the industry bottles of paint and heaps of tools. Nice one, Ian! But what happened to the Scotsman's tender? She won't get far without her coal and water.

Cheers,
Artur

[IanAlan]

Hi HD and Artur,
Thank you both for your kind and encouraging words.

I liked your story HD about how you were distracted from your work by 'happily' running trains. It's a little bit similar to my inspiration for titling the photos as Happy Days. Last Monday afternoon my daughter (aged 10) asked if I was planning to go upstairs to the railway during the evening. I said yes as I planned to do a little painting on some models. So we went up later on and spent a delightful 40 minutes - me running the trains and her playing with the figures and animals. Nothing got painted but that didn't matter, of course. Happy Day, indeed.

Artur, your models and scenery may not be finished yet, but your layout is the Mother of All Layouts. Regarding the missing Flying Scotsman tender, I lost one of the couplings on the tender and have found that without any coaches attached the tender has a tendency to derail on points. Hence I've taken the tender off the layout until I put in my next order from Hattons (for couplings and other stuff).

More Happy Days on the SGR

[glencairn]

Good to see you are having fun with the layout .
Keeping it fun is a main thing imo.

Glencairn

[IanAlan]

Hi Glencairn,
I agree completely, it would be rather pointless if it wasn't fun - at least some of the time. I find that I tend to go through phases where my railway time is either predominately 'working on the layout' or 'having fun running trains'. Recently it's been mostly working on the layout (mostly building and painting scenic kits), so the time spent with my daughter running trains was an unexpected - and therefore even greater - pleasure. One of today's photos shows one of the many new scenic features that I've been working on.

Working Day on the Railway


The Flying Scotsman Arriving at Arkwright's Mill


Appearing Shortly

[IanAlan]

Today's photos showcase some more of the scenic details that I've been working on recently.

Sorry We Have No Bananas


Daily Sketch on Sale Here


Flashing Lights


Smile You're on Camera


At the moment I've got modern warning lights and lampposts/CCTV with old-fashioned level crossings, but in the near future I'll have one modern level crossing with lifting barriers on the layout. I've just got to make a base to fix it on (don't hold your breath).