Hello folks, sorry to intrude as you all seem to know each other, but I came across this thread after checking the latest posts and finding it was mostly fare dodgers seeking advice as usual.
I have to say, this is so incredibly fantastic and utterly inspirational. Absolutely astounding work and attention to detail....it really is astonishing!
I suspect we may be of a similar vintage given the era you are modelling, and, also, I suspect like you, I miss the golden days of varied traction in the 70s and 80s. But until I'd seen your fantastic work, I was sort of resigned to it all being just fond memories to cherish, and to revisit those times by looking at my reference books, my own spotting and bashing books from that era, and my reasonable slide collection I managed to accumulate in those days.
But I never thought of recreating it in every minute detail until reading your inspirational thread. So I must thank you for sharing. I have read every single post on every page of this thread, and looked at every photo in detail - which is not something I've managed or indeed been motivated to do anywhere else on this forum!
I've always rather fancied the idea of a model railway, but lacked the inspiration, and, until recently, the physical space, but now the latter is sorted, and you have provided the former in spades, I am determined to make a start!
What I end up with will be a pale imitation of your spectacular layout of course, but I am determined to give it a go, and I've been sketching some layouts, with an idea to re-create where my railway enthusiasm was born.....Slateford and Craiglockhart junctions with a section of the Edinburgh sub forming a triangle, with a fiddle yard at the back joining it all together. I think extending the layout to include the viaduct and parallel acqueduct a bit further up the line might be beyond me, however!
So much of what you've done is daunting, and so fantastically good it's actually a bit off-putting in a way ...although I mean that in the most complimentary way possible! And it's not entirely off-putting of course, otherwise I wouldn't be typing this post!
N guage is the way to go I think, as I don't mind small and fiddly, and the ability to cover more geography is very appealing - as is the loco availability for my part of the world, although I don't mind repainting and adding my own numbers (although the blue star on the front of a class 40 might be a wee bit small at N guage!) 20s, 24s, 25s, 26s, 37s, 40s, 47s and the odd peak were the usual traffic, with HA and ED having numerous examples of each (except the peaks of course). IS 26s and ML 37s were also regular, but all sorts of 47s used to pass through on various freight workings, which gives me scope to include 373 (with it's yellow flashing light!) that stopped a football match when it appeared on the Paisley Underwood dog food train one night in 1981!
I'll also need to find out what class of DMU used to work the Glasgow Cen via Shotts trains in those days......I'm not proud to say I used to routinely ignore all units back then, and still do to be honest. It was largely an aural thing for me, and they made a pretty crap noise! I'd recognise them if I saw them, but I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea what class they were, but I'll be obliged to get one for authenticity purposes!
Anyway, I am rambling now, with my ideas running away with me, but I just wanted to say what an inspiration this thread and your fantastic work has been to me, and joining this forum was worth it just to read what you've done! Thank you and I will keep checking back for even more inspiration, if that's possible! Cheers, Murray
