Thanks! I don't think I'll be doing a lot of work on that bit of the station for a while now as I've got to work out how to do the station building (which will have to be scratchbuilt) beforehand. Should be able to make it all look a bit neater though in the meantime.
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It's the last day of 2021 today (how this can be, I simply don't know - it was August yesterday), and I thought it was as a good a time as any to share the latest acquisitions on the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway (really, the things I got at Christmas - which I refuse to believe was six days ago).
Let's jump into this and see how much I can waffle on then, shall we?
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The first item is this lovely Hornby A1 Terrier. It's in LSWR green and it's absolutely tiny in comparison to pretty much everything else on the layout! It came pre-DCC-fitted from Hattons and is a lovely runner. There's loads of detailing on it and the livery is superb. That's the main reason I went for it actually; the green isn't unique on the layout in the sense of it being a shade of green, but the bright colour is so nice and really adds to the whole thing.
The second item is the coach currently coupled to the first - a Hornby Mk1 brake coach. I can't remember the technical term at the moment but it's one of those ones with the guard's bit (or the brake bit, whichever) in half the carriage with the other half being normal seating; it's a design I've already got two of on the layout, but they're both test-train coaches and so would look a bit out-of-place in a heritage rake! This coach ticks two boxes - firstly, it's a passenger-rake-prototypical livery, and secondly, it's in maroon - a livery I've seen countless times on heritage railways but not yet had on the layout. Hopefully at some point I'll have a few more maroon coaches to join this one!
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The third item is this GWR Mk3. It's a first-class one and takes the number of GWR Mk3s on the layout up to three - thus meaning there are five total (the other two being old Hornby ones - the short ones - in BR blue/grey). Just as with the other two GWR Mk3s on the layout, there's not really much to complain about with this model - the gloss finish is lovely, there's plenty of detailing, and the couplings allow for close connections between the carriages. There's also the fact that being from the Western Region and having grown up with the FGW/GWR HST sets, the plan is to make a GWR HST set at some point (because I doubt I'll ever be able to afford a Hornby FGW Mk3 without selling a kidney) - probably using the RailRoad-style GWR HST powercars.
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The fourth item is this Network Rail Mk3 - I didn't put two and two together until I saw it in person, but I think it's probably supposed to go in a New Measurement Train rake. Either way, it's a lovely addition to the test train fleet, which now comprises four yellow coaches. Just as with the GWR Mk3, there's really not a lot to complain about with this coach - apart from maybe that some of the bits of plastic put in the windows to change their shape or otherwise remove them are very noticeable in places. However this is typical of the whole Hornby test train range so it's not a major problem as it fits in with the other coaches in the rake.
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The last items for today are these two vehicles - the first being a Morris Marina (no, of course I didn't have to look that up), and the second being a British Rail Land Rover. They're lovely additions to the layout and I can easily see how people start collecting these little models - they're not overly expensive and they make for a really good way of populating a town scene. I don't quite know where the Land Rover is heading off to, but I can only assume there's been some sort of issue up the line! Probably leaves - or the wrong kind of snow - or maybe that 'Jubilee' currently looking in the insurance offices' window...
Anyway - that's it for 2021 on the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway. Thanks so much for reading all of the stuff I've written over the past year (well, even if you've not read it all - and I don't blame you - I still really appreciate it) - it's really lovely to read the responses from everyone and the banter makes it all the more worthwhile. I've had two extremes really in terms of the outside world and its affect on the layout; for a not-insignificant proportion of the year I had quite a bit of free time, and got a fair bit done, but then for the past few months it's been a lot more full-on so less has been finished but I'm still really happy with the overall state of the layout as it stands.
I've got all sorts of ideas for 2022 - I've shared most, if not all, of them with you already: let's see how well it goes!
Happy New Year, everybody - let's hope it's a good one.
-Peter