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! 

Vans loaded

Off to the Glasgow show in the morning with New Mills. Another great photo by Chris Nevard, this time in monochrome, captures our chosen period superbly.

Last run for DP2?

No excuses for featuring DP2 again. Since we time-warped New Mills back to the early 1960s this loco has performed brilliantly on the exhibition circuit, effortlessly hauling our 12 or 14 coach expresses and creating quite a buzz amongst an admiring public gallery. The actual loco had real presence and this translates uncannily in 4mm too.

Our model is one of Phill Hutchings wonderful collection of diesel, electric and gas turbine prototypes locos from the late 1950s and 1960s. Crafted from a LIMA Deltic with Craftsman overlays and an A1 detailing pack, it captures the impressive bulk of this one-off was a prototype, a Type 4 mainline loco built in 1962 by English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows. Although lacking the power of the Deltics it did prove to be the test bed for the Class 50 build.

The 1A4C headcode tells us that our loco is hauling the the 14.05 Liverpool to Euston train in 1962 shortly after its completion.
The HELJAN DP2 is arriving soon and is sure to be a cracking model if their other diesels are anything to go by. So do we retire our DP2? There is something special about prototype models such as this that were never offered in r-t-r format so had to be created by adapting other models or kit bashing, by teasing resin or plastic into shape, and applying various detailing kits. Something tells me that our DP2 will always command a 'special place' in our loco fleet!

This model was part of a large collection of transition era steam and diesel locos originally produced by the team who create Radmore, a large terminus layout built in the 1980s and exhibited across S E England. It predated New Mills but heavily influenced the design concepts behind New Mills. But where is Radmore today? Has it survived? Rumours persist that it may have survived in the hands of a series of owners and you could hardly fail to recognise the striking station building based on Marylebone. If you've seen it let us know!

Glasgow bound

This is the Chris Nevard photo Model Rail used for the cover of their latest edition. No excuses for displaying it here in all it's glory!

Model Rail 166

It's out, Model Rail 166 with a super feature on New Mills thanks to some fabulous photography by Chris Nevard.....who'd expect anything else! This is their pre Model Rail Scotland edition ahead of the Glasgow show on the 24th - 26th February. Now in two halls - it's sure to be even better this year and we're looking forward to participating with New Mills. See you there!