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  • SouthernRegionSteam

    Coastguard Creek - 15 months of planning!

    By SouthernRegionSteam

    Hold on to your socks - this is going to be a lengthy one! (In fact it's so long, I've now split it into 2 separate posts - the next will be up soon...)   I think it's fair to say that you are all long overdue an update on Coastguard Creek. Due to other commitments, no real progress has been made since the last post way back in March 2021; almost 15 months ago! If anything, things went backwards for quite a while, as I kept finding more and more inspiring locations that I really wanted
    • 8 comments
    • 3,311 views
Harton and Hopeguard BR 1960's Layout

Update- Much Progress and Many Tough Decisions!

Hello all,   I have been busy making progress. There are some new arrivals (Hornby WR coaches, Bachmann Warship. Some developments including a cassette fiddle yard and removal of the branch station. Eventually when I finish this part of the layout I will be adding a central ex GWR branch line.   The dual track mainline heads into one side of the cassette fiddle yard and a branch line diverts off it. This allows me to run my Western region stock and Midland stock   Enjoy!
danstercivicman

danstercivicman

0
sigtech's Blog

Sproston - platform canopies

Whilst still awaiting for the signalbox nameplate to arrive from Cooper-Craft, I decided to tackle the problem of making some sort of platform canopy for Sproston. The station buildings which are Peco 'Manyways' kits already have a small flat-roof valenced canopy, so I decided to keep this and make the new structure from 4x Wills SS54 kits, these were chosen as being the closest to stations platform width. Assembling the basic canopy was straightforward, problems arose when I at
sigtech

sigtech

1
Heworth Sidings

Heworth Sidings - Update - 22/11/2014

Hi,   As the last update for the blog was written towards the end of June, there's been quite a bit of activity to catch up on.   TINGS 2015 Countdown - 9 Months   Heworth Sidings has been invited to attend The International N Gauge Show for 2015 (12th / 13th September), so we have now have a 'real' deadline to aim for.   Retaining Wall   Construction of the retaining wall is now largely complete. We've revised our original plan to have the wall curve on the Left hand side of the layou
Vonzack

Vonzack

0
Ambridge - the rolling stock.

Hudswell-Clarke - a new body!

After 8 hours the body-work is starting to take shape   -   I followed Chris's instructions almost to the letter - so valances first, then bend down buffer-beam supports etc. I'm using in the main 'Carrs Solder Cream' - excellent stuff.   Only about 15 mins into the build - and I couldn't resist!     Next job was the smoke-box. The former folds out of te chassis with the smoke-box front soldered to it. Then the wrapper is applied - with much heat & swearing. It actually has 'r
scanman

scanman

0
N-Gauge LMS Layout

Foster Street - Time for Another List

Well this time last week, the Domestic Overlord and I were running around trying to get fit the proverbial quart into a pint pot, or more accurately Foster Street into the a Focus.   Well it just about fit and I just about fit behind the steering wheel, anyway a week later, and no modelling has been done, to be honest I needed a bit if a break from it.   However I could not quite break away from it entirely, and I have spent a little time working on a list of the things that either need comp
paulprice

paulprice

8
The sleepers workspace

Into the 21st Century my adventures with Inkscape

Hi, I stumbled upon a very interesting thread here on RMweb a couple of weeks ago. The name of it was 'A guide to using the Silhouette Cameo cutter, by JCL. For those who don't know of these machines they're similar to an inkjet printer but instead of a print head they have a tiny blade which cuts designs out of a sheet of thin material which has been fed into it. Primarily they're designed for cutting shapes out of thin card, vinyl, or paper for things like scrap booking etc, but some of the
sleeper

sleeper

3
Up the Line - 1918

Exhibition Debrief

Well, that is the second exhibition done and dusted and on the whole things went a lot better than the first but still found dome things that I will do differently next time (Nottingham in March). Biggest problems, again seemed to come from the fiddle yards - both of them this time. The smaller yard at the far end which is laid with two ordinary OO Peco small radius points gave problems, just couldn't seem get any stock one side of the Y point which effectively meant I had only one road to play
KH1

KH1

3
Bw Leipzig Hbf West

Where Red and White Trains Rest: Open day at Leipzig ICE workshops, 19 Nov 14

Morning all!   It's been a bank holiday out here yesterday, and I felt like for me, the best way of spending it was to pay a visit to the ICE workshops where an open day was held to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the facility's opening. I took a lot of photos and not strictly in order of stations, so I think regrouping them into thematic "blocklets" might be best for you to keep track of everything.   The workshops are located a few hundred metres north of Leipzig Central Station off Rac
NGT6 1315

NGT6 1315

0
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

The Midland 3F conundrum - solved

I think I have finally found a prototype loco for renumbering my Midland 3F. Though this is not without some uncertainty. Today I received my copy of Middleton Press' "Branch Lines around Towcester" which is a strange title for a book dedicated to the Stratford upon Avon and Midland Junction Railway. Obviously the authors had leanings toward the eastern end of the line.   However, there is a photo of a Midland 3F, No. 3529 at Fenny Compton, hauling a Stratford bound train in 1939. This is
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
ANOTHER Challenge!

Tannery Lane - the construction begins

It's 'Challenge Wednesday' so' up 'n at 'em'. Sort of! The major job today was to try & get the viaduct in place, but first I transferred all the salient points onto the baseboard surface     Next job (now that I knew where the major elements were going) was to add the cross-members to brace the foam board - made from 5.5mm ply with a hole in each for the wiring (little though it will be)     Having resolved them I was able to add another scenic item -     the 'Quaggy dit
scanman

scanman

0
Hydraulic Heaven

A Non-Runner

Oh dear!   It looks like my Hymek won't be appearing at Warley.   The Hymek developed an issue a few months back with one of its wormwheels skipping on the worm. I think it had been happening for a while before I figured the problem out. The upshot is that the wormwheel teeth have been rounded off making the problem worse. I'd temporarily solved it prior to Kidderminster by swapping the bogies end to end, the intention being to keep it going while I got hold of a spare gear. Unfortunately no
D869

D869

9
drduncan's workbench

The Locomotive shop - Dean Goods 2322 part 1

While I have been mulling over the horror story that has been 2811's progress (or lack of it) since the early summer - as detailed in The Locomotive shop- 28xx no 2811 - I have been making slow but steady progress with 2301 class or Dean Goods class no 2322. The loco is based on the familiar Mainline/Hornby model - a bit long in the tooth, but capable of making a high quality model, especially with a replacement chassis (essential if you work in EM or one of the even wider 4mm scale gauges...).
drduncan

drduncan

14
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

Lumber has been acquired

Today I took advantage of B&Q's Senior Wednesday promotion and saved 10% on the purchase of the 4" x 1" nominal framework for the baseboards.   Note I call this "lumber", a relict from my years in Houston, Texas. There is a common thought that the UK and the USA are two nations divided by a common language. This is a very real observation. After over 10 years in Europe I still think sheetrock (gypsum board), trunk (boot), and lumber (timber).   Lumber in the UK seems to be better qual
Focalplane

Focalplane

3
St Ruth

Getting Ready for Warley

Some of you may have seen the two new signals over on the 2mm Workbench thread. Last night they were planted on the platform. Unfortunately I failed to photograph the little signal covering trailing moves over the carriage siding points before the station board was boxed up ready for Friday.   Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the bracket signal covering the same points. The shunt arm covers the move into the sidings, the 4' arm into the platform and the call-on for use if there are already
D869

D869

8
The Legge Lane MPD Blog

Engine Shed Area Ground Surface

In my previous post I noted that the Woodland Scenics medium grained cinders seemed to look more like coal. But what does the ground look like around real outside shed roads? If my memory serves me well, then the ground was black, often wet, and much finer grained than typical track ballast.   I recently read (in the latest Heritage Railway, I think) that many heritage railways have now restricted access to their engine sheds and workshop areas, citing the usual H & S dogma. Accidents can
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
BRM Blog

Packing for Warley

It's nearly Warley weekend and I'm busy packing Owen's Bridge up for the BRM stand.   With the fragile wooden bridge out front, I don't want to chuck the layout in the back of the car without some protection so it's now got a wooden cover. Just in case I can't remember what's in there, I've stenciled the layout name on the top in a suitable military style.     To make the stencil, I printed out the name in an appropriate font on a sheet of paper and cut out the letters with a sharp k
Phil Parker

Phil Parker

5
Matthew Cousins' Blog

Latest re-paint from Colin Tyler

A couple of years ago I bought a D49 named as Rutlandshire in LNER green and found that as it had been built as a display model really, as although is was nice the paint worked flaked (not properly primed) and valve gear had problems. I decided that I would have the loco as Hertfordshire and then have it in very early BR days and also paired it with an almost correct second hand ex-GC tender that is similar to that which was attached to that D49. I am using the group standard tender from this
Matthew Cousins

Matthew Cousins

3
On The Workbench

44xx (2) a tarnished character...

I've spent the last couple of days restoring the loco to a semblance of cleanlinesss. It was an 'executors sale' of a former member's stock and this had obviously been sitting in its box for some time.     Several applications of 'Cillit Bang' (does anyone else think this product is weaker than it used to be??) and about 15 fibreglass brush refills later,     the old lady is looking somewhat better. I still need to get rid of some errant blobs of solder, but that will have to wait 't
scanman

scanman

6
drduncan's workbench

The locomotive shop - 28xx no 2811 part 4

It has been quite a while since my last post, and even longer since my last update on 2811's progress - aside from some sulphurous mutterings in other posts which just may have indicated I was vexed and discontented.   The causes of this winter (well autumn) of discontent were various: First, there was the tender issue expounded on at length in my last blog entry. In particular the rewiring to match the loco wiring was rather timeconsuming and is seems that Hornby used spit to solder the ele
drduncan

drduncan

11
Barry Ten's Blog

Meat, meat, meat

Nothing very thrilling here, just a trio of Airfix BR meat vans, now pressed back into service with Spratt & Winkle couplings on the outer vehicles. Actually, there's a bit more to it than that as two of the vehicles are from the original Airfix kits, purchased and made more than thirty years ago, while the third was built about twenty years later from the Dapol reissue of the same kit. Without turning them upside down to look at the colour of the plastic, or the maker's trademark on the bas
Barry Ten

Barry Ten

1
The Strawberry Line

Cheddar hybrid baseboards

Two updates in as many weeks? As I mentioned in the last update, I'm infilling the baseboard tops with 15mm model foam acquired from Panel Systems. For the two embankment boards the foam is cut to fit between the ply stiffeners. For the 'flat' boards it will sit on top alongside the ply track bed. It's glued on with 'No More Nails' - actually the local Proper Job version 'Instant Nails' at £1 per tube. Lots of photos that probably explain things a bit better. I'm using off cuts to make up the
ullypug

ullypug

7
Fen End Pit's Blog

The branch passenger service now arriving...

I finally got around to fitting the buffers, crew and coal to my E4. I also converted the bogies on my second Hornby Gresley to make a nice short branch passenger train.     I'd be tempted by the 3rd coach, possibly seeing if there is something suitable in the Ian Kirk/Cooper craft range may be an LNER 51' Non-Corridor Full Third ?   I'm not sure what the typical make up of train down the Stour Valley might have been.     I'm rather pleased with the way this kit went together, I've n
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit

2
Bw Leipzig Hbf West

Remedial Railfanning Rounds

Afternoon all…   Having been more or less poorly for some weeks but now finding myself on the mend, I do think the fact of having been able to do some railway photography and thereby catch some sunlight and fresh air recently did contribute on my feeling much better by now. That is to say that both last Friday and this morning, I spent some hours at my favourite freight spotting location at Thekla Station, now enabling me to post another round of images for your delectation!   Friday, 14 Nov
NGT6 1315

NGT6 1315

0

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    • bcnPete
      Kyle - an update...and a visit at last...

      By bcnPete · Posted

      Many thanks Mike - yes Scotland is indeed beautiful...in all weathers!   Interest in Kyle....hmmm...where do I begin!   I guess a number of reasons - I am an 1/8 Scottish so I guess part is in my DNA. A few trips up to Scotland over the years and I guess a love of the interesting small trains especially in the BR Blue era.   Kyle came about as my 2mmFS china clay layout layout was expanded too quickly so I became a bit bored with it...even though china clay seems to
    • Yan
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By Yan · Posted

      Thank you for leaving the comments and thoughts guys, much appreciated.   Both Butley Mills and Ditchling Green are with new owners that are currently refurbishing them. Even the modelling skill and composition still shine through, so they were both well worth seeing in the flesh. One of Iain Rice's layouts I'd like to get the opportunity to see is Trerice.
    • BarryP
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By BarryP · Posted

      It's good to see so many positive reviews of a model railway exhibition. I did dabble in S4/P4 way back and Iain Rice's writings were inspirational. I saw Butley Mills when it was first shown at Scaleforum in 1987 and I loved it. Gordon Gravett's models are fabulous and I would love to see them in the flesh, as it were. I did visit two shows specifically to see the magnificent "Pempoul" layout that the Gravetts built, that was the finest I've ever seen. I'm dabbling in "O" Gauge and an opportuni
    • Keith Addenbrooke
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By Keith Addenbrooke · Posted

      Good to see it was a positive experience - and really nice to see a couple of photos of Ditchling Green (I didn’t realise it was still around).  Always struck me as a lovely layout: an early example perhaps of the ‘less is (so much) more’ approach to railway modelling that is now widely appreciated.  Keep up the good work, Keith.
    • Mikkel
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By Mikkel · Posted

      The layout and info display looks very good. Thanks for posting photos of the other layouts, always a gift for those of us abroad - especially when they are this good.   Imposter syndrome is common I think, it can hold us back but on the hand I'll take that over bragging anytime.  

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