Category Archives: review

Wordless Wednesday Hattons Genesis

Hattons Genesis

Posted in accurascale, Bachmann, black and white, blog, Branch Line, Cameo, Cameo layout, dapol, DCC, EM, finescale, Great Western, gwr, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, Inspiration, Layout, LMS, LNER, man cave, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, new release, news, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, peco, pre grouping, product news, railway, Rapido Trains, review, scale, scale modelling, shelfie, shelfie3, Southern, toy fair, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, Uncategorized, wordless wednesday | Leave a comment

Hornby 61XX R3723 Review

Hornby Prairie R3723 R3723x R3719 R3719x R3721 R3721x R3725 R3725x In through the man cave doors this week from Hornby is their latest release of a GWR 61xx design. The original Hornby 61XX model was the 1970’s Airfix model, well … Continue reading

Posted in 61xx, accurascale, Airfix, Bachmann, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo layout, dapol, DCC, dcc sound, Eastern Region, finescale, gwr, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, Kalmbach, Layout, life, LMS, LNER, man cave, mancave, media, Midland Region, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, monday motivation, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, peco, product news, R3719, R3719x, R3721, R3721x, R3723, R3723x, R3725, R3725x, Railway Modeller, Rapido Trains, research, review, scale, scale modelling, Scottish Region, shelfie, Southern Region, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, train show, Uncategorized, Western Region | 2 Comments

Hornby Prairie R3723/R3723x

The first of the Hornby Large Prairies has arrived at the man cave. Firstly an apology, I’ve taken it out of its box and run it already. Sorry about that, but if you want to watch someone literally opening a … Continue reading

Posted in 61xx, accurascale, Airfix, Bachmann, British Rail, Eastern Region, finescale, Great Western, gwr, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, LMS, LNER, man cave, mancave, model, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, new release, news, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, peco, product news, R3719, R3719x, R3721, R3721x, R3723, R3723x, R3725, R3725x, Railway Modeller, Rapido Trains, realism, review, scale, scale modelling, shelfie2, Swindon, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, Uncategorized, Western Region | 1 Comment

Throwback Thursday, The 74

74xx Bachmann 64xx 31-636 It was around five years back that Bachmann brought their 64xx to market. Adding to the high and low cab variations of the 57xx family already in the range. I bought a couple for the Forest … Continue reading

Posted in 2020, 3d, 3d printing, 64xx, 74xx, accurascale, Bachmann, bachmann 74xx, blog, Branch Line, British Rail, cambrian, Cameo, Cameo layout, dapol, DCC, dcc sound, Eastern Region, finescale, Forest of Dean, Great Western, gwr, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hobby, Hornby, Inspiration, Layout, life, LMS, LNER, man cave, mancave, Midland Region, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, Modelu, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, peco, railway, Railway Modeller, realism, research, review, scale, scale modelling, Scottish Region, shelfie, throwback thursday, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, Uncategorized, Wales, Welsh Marches, Western Region | Leave a comment

Man Cave Makeover

This weekend amongst night shifts and a quick visit to Expo EM North, I’ve been completing the final elements of Shelfie2. Like most man caves mine has too much ‘stuff’, particularly ‘stuff’ that gets in the way. I have two … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, Airfix, Bachmann, blog, dapol, EM, Exhibition, finescale, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hornby, man cave, mancave, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, new year, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, paint, peco, product news, Railway Modeller, Rapido Trains, revell, review, scale, scale modelling, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, train show, trainset, Uncategorized, wagon | 3 Comments

Essential Witness and Transition

Essential Witness and Transition are two books that do that rare thing of capturing the railway in an engaging and artistic way. Each book contains the work of one photographer, Jim Shaughnessy for Essential Witness, and Colin Gifford for Transition. … Continue reading

Posted in b&w, black and white, blog, blogging, book, book review, Branch Line, British Rail, canada, copyright, history, hobbies, Inspiration, Layout, library, life, man cave, mancave, media, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, monochrome, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Photography, product news, railway, research, review, scale, scale modelling, seasons, skill, skillset, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, travel, Uncategorized, usa | 1 Comment

Notes from the Man Cave, Getting to Grips with Dinghams

Many years back I settled on three link couplings for my rolling stock on the OO and EM layouts I’ve either made or been involved with. Their visual benefits are easy to see, but they do have a few practical … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, Bachmann, blog, Branch Line, Cameo, Cameo layout, DCC, dcc sound, dingham, EM, Exhibition, finescale, Forest of Dean, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hornby, kadee, Layout, man cave, mancave, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, peco, Rapido Trains, research, review, scale, scale modelling, shelfie, shelfie1, shelfie2, Southern Region, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, Uncategorized, wagon, Western Region, woodland scenics | 6 Comments

Hattons 14xx Finale

Well here it is, the end game has been played for this one I think. It’s been a frustrating journey for such a pretty model. Starting with my initial thoughts here https://albionyard.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/hattons-djm-14xx-review-h1410/, and the subsequent trials and tribulations with the … Continue reading

Posted in 14xx, 48xx, 58xx, accurascale, Bachmann, blog, Branch Line, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, dapol, DCC, dcc sound, djm, Eastern Region, Exhibition, finescale, Forest of Dean, Great Western, gwr, H1410, Hattons, heljan, HO, Hornby, iphoneography, Layout, llangunllo, LMS, LNER, man cave, mancave, Midland Region, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, n gauge, New Radnor, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, Rapido Trains, review, scale, scale modelling, shelfie1, shelfie2, Southern Region, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, Uncategorized, Wales, Welsh Marches, Western Region | Leave a comment

Motivation Monday, Brown…

Yup, Brown! Ok admittedly brown isn’t often the ‘go to’ colour for inspiration, but today, it is. This past week I’ve been in mid Wales, an area of the UK often overlooked in terms of landscapes the island has to … Continue reading

Posted in accurascale, Bachmann, blog, Branch Line, brassmasters, British Rail, Cameo, Cameo layout, DCC, dingham, Eastern Region, Eighties, finescale, Great Western, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hornby, Inspiration, Kalmbach, Layout, life, LMS, LNER, Midland Region, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, monday motivation, motivation monday, n gauge, Narrow Gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, Oxford rail, paint, Rapido Trains, review, scale, scale modelling, Scottish Region, shelfie2, Southern, Southern Region, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, tree, trees, Uncategorized, Wales, Welsh Marches, Western Region, woodland, woodland scenics, woods | 3 Comments

Heljan’s O Gauge Class 50

Heljan have kindly sent across images of the engineering prototype for their O gauge British Rail Class 50. As usual at this stage, it’s an early prototype and subject to change. Some details have already been identified for improvement. Release … Continue reading

Posted in blog, British Rail, DCC, Eastern Region, Eighties, finescale, Great Western, Hattons, heljan, HO, hobbies, Hornby, Layout, LMS, LNER, Midland Region, model, model photography, Model Railroad, Model Railway, modeling, Modelling, n gauge, O Gauge, o scale, OO, OO Gauge, peco, research, review, scale, scale modelling, Scotland, Scottish Region, Southern, Southern Electrics, Southern Region, toy train, Toy trains, toytrainset, train set, trainset, Uncategorized, Wales, Welsh Marches, Western Region | 2 Comments