This Locomotive is ACE!

I recently acquired this O Gauge, A3 Pacific Locomotive and, I must say, she is a real beauty. It looks as if she has never been taken out of the box, much less done any actual running! 

Her number is 60103 and she is named 'Flying Scotsman' and, I think, she dates from around 2005.

The manufacturer, ACE Trains of London have, I believe, only been in business since the mid 1990s but already have a well-deserved reputation for producing beautiful, precision-made O gauge locos and rolling stock.

For more information please visit their website at: www.acetrains.co.uk.

What's Brewing!

At long last here is an update to the work recently carried out on the layout. Actually, not much was done for a couple of weeks but this weekend we, more or less, finished 'planting' vegetation on the Tipper spur and have now ballasted this line. There is still some work to be done on the rock face at the back but this section is now almost complete. I hope to produce a video of it in operation in the next two or three weeks.

Meanwhile, work has started on the brewery and this is taking shape quite nicely - as can be seen from the photographs. The brewery buildings are, as you can probably tell, the excellent Oakhill Brewery by Bachmann but we will most likely be renaming it to suit our layout. We thought it a good idea for the brewery to have its own siding since, naturally enough, all the beer produced here will be sent by rail!! However, we have yet to decide on which loco will operate this but, I dare say, it will be either a Class 08 or a Class 14. 

The buildings have not been stuck down yet as there is more work to be done to the base but this will be its final position.

Corrie Scottie in Maroon

 

With work on the layout still in abeyance (we hope to do a bit tomorrow) I thought I would post this photograph of the Hornby Coronation Scot Train Pack. 

It is shown beside the three (plus one) additional coaches that Hornby produced at the time - but only as individual items and not in a pack as they tend to do now.

The Train Pack (R2199M) consists of: 

LMS 4-6-2 Locomotive Coronation Class "Coronation"

Two LMS Coronation Scot Composite Coaches (3934 and 3935)

One LMS Coronation Scot Brake Coach (5447)

The extra coaches are:

Two LMS Coronation Scot Composite Coaches (3936 and 3937)

Two LMS Coronation Scot Brake Coaches (5448)

This train pack (one of 1500 produced) is a representation of how The Coronation Scot might have appeared at the 1939 New York World's Fair if the LMS had used specially liveried standard coach stock.

Apparently, later this year, Hornby are going to issue another Coronation Scot Limited Edition Train Pack together with a Limited Edition Print of Barry J Freeman's "Days of Red and Gold". That has got to be one to look out for!

In The Morning Comes Electra!

 

With no updates to report on the progress of the layout this week, I thought I would feature a recent acquisition to the collection in the shape of Tri-ang's Class 77 (EM2) "Electra" Nº 27000 in BR Green. 

She was produced in this livery between 1960 and 1965 and was also available in BR Blue as well as BR Electric Blue for a short time.

When I bought her the BR logos were partially missing, as was one of the Electra names, so I purchased some BR logos and metal Electra nameplates from Fox Transfers and replaced them at the weekend.

The only other problem is that one of the pantographs refuses to  stay down therefore I have ordered a replacement so that I can fix this. 

I have been unable to test the pantographs to see if they work but, powered from the track, the loco runs extremely well although she is unlikely ever to see action on our layout.