roddy

So sorry to hear that Andrew. You should name a locomotive after him.

Yes Mick, especially if you can add the sound and the smell. I can remember the London Terminii as a small boy, full of huge warm simmering beasts. The smell and the grime and the bursts of stem and so on are still with me. Guards whistles, and then that Puff puff puff as they got under way.

Flying Scotsman heading Mayflower over the Slochd Summit on 10 May 2019. Highest rail point in the UK. Look at the steam from full power! I have been over there a good few times as a kid behind double headed steam. I can hear the roar still!

What you need to really add an impression of distance, is some very small mountain climbers somewhere on the mountain. The smaller they are, the greater the distance will appear.

Study photographs of the steep hills in the Lake District and other similar places. Is it possible to continue your mountain around to the tunnel mouth? I am colour blind and would make a hell of a mess trying to do your backscene, but remember that the further away you go, the lighter the colours appear, so by creating layers of wash indicating mountains or trees, they need to be darker to the foreground. This should start to give you some sort of perspective. Does this help in any way? I drove over Hardknott Pass in the Lake District a few years ago. Some of the facing hills are in shadow, just for your information.

Have a look at Chris's backscenes in Amblethorpe Mick. That sky is really all that you need and to be honest is what I thought you had started above the tunnel. If you wish, you could suggest some hills, or a village. Note that I say suggest, rather than depict. That couple of simple washes would give the impression of being "somewhere", and I suspect that is all you need for now.

Now there is a detail never seen before, and mostly un-noticed in life. The tree stumps from clearance work, and the discoloured patch from beneath the tree or bush.

Hi Thomas. These cranks are most commonly used in Radio Controlled models, most often in aeroplanes. That is the sort of shop you need to look for. Sorry for butting into Ian's post.

You are absolutely correct about the height of the walls on the viaducts. They are too high. Now what's the easiest way to reduce them? Dremel? Old fashioned bread knife? Hacksaw blade?

I think it all looks charming in it's colourful eccentricity. Totally brilliant!

It's OK Mick, I seldom finish anything either. It's our Gemini split personality. So much to do that we can't even keep up with ourselves. Just enjoy what you are doing. That is the only important thing whatever we spend or time and money doing (or not doing).

Sorry Mick, but I must disagree with you. You do have many interests, just as I do, and that does mean that we flit from one to another and eventually back again, with nothing being achieved or finished in between times. Occasionally, we do get the bug and the weather all together and a sudden burst of proper progress is made. I abandoned my garden railway in favour of a portable tram layout. That is unfinished with not even completed trackwork. I have my Mazda MX5 which I look after. I have two partly dismantled stationary engines from the 1940's, and I have now bought a 26 year old campervan. Let's not forget the camera, and book reading, and metal detecting. Are we really any different? Probably both Gemini too. But we enjoy what we do, despite getting fed up with ourselves sometimes. Finally, don't forget that we are getting older, and that slows us down. It is not important to reach the end product, but it is important to enjoy the building and the progress. That's what you are doing, and it shows in your craftsmanship! Just carry on with what you are doing, buy all those new wagons if you want to. Arrange some sidings in your shed even if you have to split the rake into two to get them in. Tony has the prototype with his Indian Pacific in Sydney. Most of all, enjoy what you are doing. So that's you told!

Does this make sense? Make your cassette with say a 6mm thick bottom with the track laid onto it. You then need an area where the track is lifted to a flat 6mm height from the baseboard, and finishing in a square dead end. Place cassette up to and in line with track and just drive on or off. I suppose I am saying to build the rap as a permanent feature somewhere on the layout. In fact if space is at a minimum, the cassette could sit on unoccupied track in say a fiddle yard, and the ramp would then need to be the height of a track higher than the previous thought.

Or a bigger shed?

Height is great for that length Tony. Reduce the height and you will lose the effect completely.