I spent most of the day measuring maps, and marking out the baseboard.
Red for building floor plans,
Black for roads,
Blue for the river,
Green for grass.

I'm happy with the placement of buildings, and the odd compromise needed..

Building a viaduct before laying finescale track. Brickwork and bridge spans laser cut designed in Lightburn and cut with a Creality 2 laser cutter.

I've been feeling a little under the weather today due to having my Shingles booster jab first thing this morning.

Just sitting and flicking through some YouTube videos I came across this :
I know that the Tedeschi Trucks Band aren't everyone's cup of tea but in my opinion Midnight in Harlem is an absolute classic and here is a fine live version.

For the second track the band are joined by Warren Haynes, guitarist with the Allman Brothers, for the superb Comin' Home made famous by Delaney and Bonnie in the early 70s.

Some great slide guitar work on here by two great guitarists.

See what you think.

And for those who don't recall the original version of Comin' Home here are Delaney & Bonnie with a couple of friends who you might just recognise :

I know exactly how you feel. A few yeas ago, I started a thread about Dapol and their total ignorance about the fitment of DCC decoders. I will paraphrase but when asking a Dapol "Service person" asking if a decoder would fit, was told "Don't fit! This after looking in the service sheet stating "Fit the decoder of your choice". Appears that they have not learned anything about customer service

we did consider wires on Mid Albion, but decided against, mainly for robustness, but also for ease of set up at an exhibition.

I think the recent Heljan O Gauge sale has generated a lot of orders for O Gauge Class 45 numbersets! I have 45133 "Zephyr".

Based on my preferences a late crest green Hall with Hawksworth tender would probably be the best seller. Late crest is I think the most popular livery for steam locos in terms of sales (based on what is heavily discounted, but I could be wrong) and the Hawksworth tender makes it different enough to be a necessary addition to the fleet. The new Farish Hall is a great looking model but I am keeping my powder dry until the late crest with Hawksworth tender version appears.

Quote from: Bigmac on April 08, 2026, 07:42:27 PMi read somewhere the old farish poole hall looks more like a modified hall.

Indeed the old Graham Farish Hall is a modified Hall, the plate frames can clearly be seen in front of the smokebox. additionally the fabricated smokebox saddle tapers outwards from the smokebox. it is a shame that Graham Farish have chosen to produce the first four with a Collet 4000 gallon tender insted of the Hawksworth one.

I can only assume that they are hoping for more sales when these are finally released. they have done this sort of thing with Coach liveries e.g. releasing blood and custard then a year or so later the Maroon 

Regards,

Alex

I'm in the 'masts but no wires' camp. Wires do look superb when present, but it's way beyond me to install them!
Kev E.

Well that is very sharp!!