Model Railway Forum

The Flying Scotsman and Little Giant. Shankly is clearly an area rich in coal. Most of my freight wagons carry it. I'm a trifle worried that I might get busted by the RSPCA on account of the small spaces that I keep livestock in.


If you don't have a head for heights, look away. The Industrial Revolution was certainly made by a bunch of guys with remarkable heads for heights. The protective wall behind Shankly Station will be made more scenic with brickwork or stone using Wills plastic sheets.


The workers are actually figures that came out of Christmas crackers and the good folks around the Christmas table gave to me ( age about eleven). They are smaller than HO, so they will be moved to the furthest end of the layout ( the Gdynia end) to create an illusion of recession. Look closely (background top right) and you may see that Shankly Gerrard Street has a bright red Triang readymade ticket office (now replaced). This may be repainted with biegey-grey brickwork and reappear in Gdynia.

A clearer view of the ticket office mentioned in the previous post. I'm pleased with the Hornby bus stop behind the station and station hotel. The diecast metal red double-decker (just arriving) was from Poundland and cost..., well you can guess. I should probably make the road bridge (slightly further back) over the river (what road bridge?) my next job.

Nice photo. But where is the station platform ?

Good question Halstead,
It's in my garage waiting to be cut out of some board. Seriously, it's on the To-do List and penciled in for about next March.

The famous To-do List !

To Do or Not to Do, that is the Question.

Here's a little scene. The vicarage gardener chopping wood. In a previous life, he was an ancient Briton.


A view from a couple of weeks ago. The sign says Oakham. One day, it will say Shankly Gerrard Street (in very small letters).

The layout has got a lot of one-way streets on account of the small space(s). The Airfix ticket office took over 40 years to make. Is that a record or do any MRF members have kits that took longer to make? It looks to me somewhat underscale (compare it with the kiosk and houses nearby). As a result, it's another possible candidate to get moved to the back of the layout.

I can't access the photos on my SLR camera, so apologises if these are starting to look a little samey.

The workers don't seem to be doing much work, but then again the soldiers aren't actually doing any fighting. On the topic of fighting, I've been rereading Steaming to Victory: How Britain's Railways Won the War by Michael Williams. It's a seriously good read. It's just amazing how those men and men kept the country moving during blackout and bombing.

I'm a big fan of hopper wagons and am especially keen on the red Stanton model (Dapol). Nice clean lettering, white on red. Good design.

I've managed to access the pictures, but perhaps they still look a little samey.

I really don't have many photos taken from this standpoint on account of the loft wall getting in the way. It's always good to see the RAF are in town. I should paint up a few figures in RAF blue, so they can stand around and chat to the army. The double engine shed was customised by my late father in the 1970s. He bought three kits and made them into four by cutting out two extra end walls from plastic sheets, etc. When I dug them out in 2017, the plastic had buckled, so I inserted a plywood 'platform' to push and hold the walls in shape. I also replaced his dodgy roof with some Wills Kits slate roof.


What a patriotic layout it is! The tractor isn't actually driving on the right,it's driving the wrong way along a one-way street. The brewery horse and cart driver really is too big.



In a previous post, Chops mentions the way the passengers are all looking in the direction from which the anticipated train is expected. These passengers seem to have given up hope. On the other hand, one of the workmen has raised his pick to do some work ...

Opps, typo. In post 48 I should have said "...men and women ...".

Kissing Couple.


I've just noticed that the signal is facing the wrong way. Doh! The lone railwayman (centre) appears to be tying his shoelace. It might be the last he ever ties on account of that approaching train.