Javelin395

Not on a saturday? Blimey! That's odd. Thank god I'm on holidays! It's a shame, because saturdays are quiet in the world of freight. Hope to get to it this year.

Blimey, been a very long time since I last updated this! A whole 6 weeks. Time flies. Anyway, with nothing being done on Oakley for a while now, and not able to do much with my Stowmarket diorama until I've got 1) the money and 2) when my examinations are finished (that being 25th June), I am currently thinking about what I can do on Basford Parkway. Some of you may have seen my little electronic project regarding recreation of the TRUST screens, but that's not really 'physical' work. Just a bit of computer fun. And I've suddenly fallen in love with trucks and containers. So, I'm thinking of building a container terminal but just where containers are stored or held for further transportation. Not a scrapyard as such, nor a LockStock kind of thing, but a large (well, I'll build a small part of it) area of ground filled with various containers, and try and incorporate a few of Oxford Diecast's rather neat CombiTrailers for 20ft containers. I'm very tempted by the Norfolk Line CombiTrailer set as it looks rather smart and something I'd invest £16 into. And with this, I want to invest in a load of =C=Rail containers. I've already got one of Arran's amazing 40ft fridge containers (MAERSK) but fancy some more dry 40ft boxes, also some 20ft fridges and also some 20ft tanktainers. Got a load of Dapol containers along with two Hornby ones (came with the KFA but are rather unimpressive) and so I think I want to invest in this area properly.

Right, played around with some containers and my old 1/64 scale Corgi Royal Mail lorry (removed curtainside bit and it revealed a flat base for containers ) complete with container all in a rough place. Going to look at resources on how the containers are usually arranged just to get some ideas for my storage yard.

Blackcloud Railways, on 20 May 2012 - 06:16 PM, said:

This is a preserved railway? Ahh... that rules that one out of the books then. Brake van rides with a class 03?

Amazing work as usual Dave! Always love seeing your layout progressing, and glad it's part of our competition this year.

Look forward to seeing how it goes at the exhibition.

As m'lad-o says above, the flask trains would be your best bet. Just require some lovely DRS locos (unless you want to model them in the 1980s and earlier then a pair of lovely 31s would do you nicely!) and a couple of the Bachmann FNAs. In the North West around Warrington/Stafford, there are a few small runs often completed by 67s. Usually this working only has a few wagons, mostly tankers (this being the Bletchley - Warrington Arpley).

One idea is to possibly 'introduce' a wagon repair flow. These flows only usually include a few wagons, possibly due to the unknown reliability of the wagons. Maybe some very sorry looking wagons getting moved into the sidings then getting a lift up to somewhere for longer storage. Another idea, which is obvious when I think about them, are test trains. These, although aren't actual freight trains, are not passengers, and often found in sidings for a few hours at a time. Derby is a great place as that's where all of the trains are based, so if you're after photos, have a mooch for photos of that area. Just a few mk2s, possibly a mk1 and a loco. If you've got the money, then the Hornby NMT 43 power cars are out now, but you may want to invest in bashing together some mk3s as the Hornby ones are naff! I've got them and very unimpressed by Hornby's laziness.

HTH