Southbound Clan

Another loco that performed on home ground when we exhibited New Mills at the Glasgow show was the Guru's nicely weathered 72008 Clan Macleod, captured here by Chris Nevard, heading a southbound Anglo Scottish cattle train. Above, a Standard 5 heads for the flyover with a cross-country parcels..

Coaled Up

The Guru's scale length mineral trains have always been an impressive feature on New Mills but the up train has lacked loads. Not any more! Sparky has burnt the midnight oil in West Hillingdon and created authentic coal loads for the up set which had their first outing at Model Rail Scotland.

He cut dense foam blocks to fit the mineral wagon interiors then profiled their tops to capture that full load look. And for coal he actually used er....real coal. You can't beat it and it shames the synthetic alternatives. Before applying the coal to the foam formers he made sure that it was to crushed to a realistic size for 4mm. Check the contemprary photos...it rarely came in the large chunks that you see regularly modelled, often verging towards the 'fine dust' end of the spectrum.
Now for the iron ore rake!

Model Rail Scotland

A great weekend in Scotland - well 5 days actually when you take in the Thursday night set up and Friday opening. Good to see so many friends from down south - more than we see at local shows which says something about Glasgow's pulling power!
In good company too with the likes of Portchullin (still not seen an otter!), New Hey, Pempoul and the legendary Borchester. A quiet night or two in the Counting House to round things off.
Phill Hutchings scratchbuilt AL4 had its first outing on New Mills, fittingly performing just a few miles from it's North British birthplace. Probably the most unusual bodywork on any of the early electrics but Phill has captured its lines superbly. It behaved impeccably, hauling our longest anglo scottish sets with ease, something the original members of this class found rather challenging!