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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
    • 3,310 views
General coach works

Making some Mk2c BSOs

I’ve got a MK2 rake (Some Bachmann 2a/Some detailed Lima 2bs) but for some time I’ve had an itch that it is not right without a couple of Mk2c BSOs as ran in the early 70s. Although of course the ‘Riviera generally has a BFK as supplied by Bachmann. I could of course bought a couple of kits but time is tight and I was after a quick fix.   Lying around I’ve got a few Lima Mk2b coaches that I don’t use and so after a lot of pondering and studying photographs it struck me that I could probably
chrisstiffer

chrisstiffer

0
BRM Blog

Time for some winter painting

Some time ago I built a model of Penmaenmawr station building. I thought that it was time to man the paintbrushes and decorate it as per the prototype, ready to be fixed to the layout.     In the January 2015 issue of BRM, I'll be showing how it was transformed from an unpainted and plastic-looking building to a weatherbeaten building that has endured years of the North Wales coast weather.     If you'd like to find out how it's done and the full summary of what products I'm using, get
Howard Smith

Howard Smith

0
On The Workbench

OMWB - the 'EM' test track

I needed something fairly light today - migraine yesterday, not helped by having to finish a 'distance-learning' course (but thats another story!)   So on with the scenics for the test track... First job (between rain showers) was to use a baby surform to finalise the 'rough' shape:-     and it was then fixed in place using a spray adhesive (Rolabond)     Whilst this one SMELLS like 'Evo-Stick' its not so fierce and works with just about everything. It is, however a bit messy so th
scanman

scanman

5
Modelu's Workbench

74xx - First attempt at a whitemetal kit

Oswestry had a number of 74xx Panniers on its books, as well as Machynlleth and Aberystwyth, so I'd been keeping an eye out for a cheap NuCast 64xx/74xx whitemetal kit on Ebay when one came up a few months back. I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to kit building in anything other than plastic, the only contact I've had with whitemetal was a brief foray into Warhammer 40k when I was 18 and that didn't involve any soldering so probably doesn't count! The rough plan is to use the kit to get som
alanbuttler

alanbuttler in Kit Building

9
Fen End Pit's Blog

Penpits sprung chassis - progress on a springy diesel

I spent most of this afternoon with soldering iron, files and a 'hold and fold'. My 'Traction Ears' now slide smoothly in my 'Traction Horns' and even the job of dismantling the Bachmann chassis and modifying the gear drive was only made difficult by not being able to find a sharp drill that could cleaning cut the rather soapy plastic of the bogie easily. So far I am vary impressed with how this is going together and I'm looking forward to the 'rolling test' to see how the springing works.  
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit

0
What have I let myself in for??

Two weeks to go!

Almost a month on from my last blog and we are now a fortnight away from the third Weston show. Things are starting to come together, although maybe not as quick as I would like. What I can confirm is that we will have our largest ever show as we will be opening up a third classroom for this year's event in order to fit everything in. The layout list has now grown to 19 and I am hopeful of hitting the magic 20 mark before the show comes around. At least 7 of these layouts will be exhibited by
andyram

andyram

0
Show visits 2016

Burton 2014

Today was the day of the annual Burton Model Railex, the exhibition organised by members of the Burton Railway Society. For the third year the event was held at the National Brewery Centre (former Bass Museum) site. The show is split between the museum's event marquee and the Worthington Suite in one of the buildings. The admission price also allows visitors access to the museum which includes heavy horses, fire brigade vehicles and some full size railway exhibits. If thirsty there is also the "
andyram

andyram

3
Ben Alder's Blog

Improving Peco points

For better or worse, I have stuck to 00 gauge all my modelling life, apart from a brief trial of EM about thirty years ago, which foundered on the twin rocks of chassis replacement and point building. I just did not have enough spare time ,or indeed interest in tackling PW, to devote to the hobby to achieve anything worthwhile in a wider gauge, so since then have used C&L plain track and Peco points along with Tracklay underlay. This was covered in a blog entry here- http://www.rmweb.co.uk/c
Ben Alder

Ben Alder in Category

3
ess1uk's Workbench Blog

VEA vans

just a few pictures of my VEA vans 2 on the left are weathered by Neil Mason, the other 2 (still needing a bit more work on the underframe) by myself. Those white rims on the wheels need to go. I also intend to get some new transfers from Fox and renumber 3 of these.
ess1uk

ess1uk

2
culmvalleymart's Blog

Lochalsh Street

Lochalsh Street is my current layout. It is OO scale DCC and is based on a 1970s track layout of Kyle of Lochalsh.   I have decided for operational interest to make it an urban setting. This has meant that I can have urban local trains, regional loco hauled trains and freight trains to the railserved factory.   The layout is being built to be displayed at next years Culm Valley Model Railway exhibition (www.cvmrc.co.uk).   The layout will be mainly sey around the early eighties, but I plan
culmvalleymart

culmvalleymart

0
Up the Line - 1918

Lakes, Gearboxes, Excitements and Disappointments!

A week of very mixed fortunes - and it has certainly cost me a fortune! Am afraid there is little actual modeling to report but lots of inspiration. An exploding gearbox on the M40 put an early and very expensive end to our attempt to get to the narrow gauge show at Swanley last Saturday. Very disappointed my self but even more so for my unfortunate companion and Trevor whom I was meant to be helping with his layout. Anyway, half term trips to the Lake District was then disrupted by my other car
KH1

KH1

0
Duddeston Road Workbench

Rolling stock

Hi Here's my first contribution to our Duddeston Road blog   This is actually a loco I am doing for my brother - but its bound to appear on shed sometime.   We bought this Fowler 4P at the Huddersfield MRC show. It looked fine and ran well. When I came to start weathering it I realised there was a horrid gluey thumbprint on the LHS tank.     I carefully reduced it with a fibreglass pencil, a scraper and some very fine abrasive.   Martin had given me a prototype to base it on   an
saxman

saxman

1
The GC and Met in OO

LNER D6 Part VI

Getting there; indeed nearly finished:     A cab roof was made up from cardboard tube, rolled with a rolling pin to the correct radius.   Safety valve covers were fabricated from a sheet of 0.5mm plastic; two laminations for the base and three for the covers; with a length of thin wire glued around the top edge to form a fairing.   This same thin wire was used for the cab handrails and the smokebox door dart.   I think that the largest job still to do now, if you ignore the paintin
James Harrison

James Harrison

0
The Legge Lane MPD Blog

Peco Turntable - 2nd revision

Earlier this year I bought my third (!) Peco turntable kit. My earlier attempts at motorizing were slowly moving in the right directyion but the spindle on the bridge had been damaged along the way. So this weekend, while suffering from a bout of recurring bronchitis, I made No.3.   So far everything is working well and the movement is smooth and relatively quiet. I think some additional lithium grease and maybe some soundproofing around the Meccano motor could lessen the noise but actually th
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
When You Don't Like What You See....Make it Yourself

Making KFA Log Carriers

So as promised here is my work so far on scratch building my KFA units from Heljan cargowaggons. I have made all the uprights for one car and modified the top of the cargowaggon getting rid of the timber layer and replacing it with a smooth sheet of 0.5mm styrene that has been sprayed rusty brown to simulate the steel plate surface that seems to have replaced the timber judging by photo research. I have made one Bulkhead end but will be looking into seeing if I can get part of them 3D printed to
cooley_boy

cooley_boy

2
Duddeston Road Workbench

LNWR Coal Hole progress

Appologies for the quiet spell, Ive been rather busy with work recently, and was out at a show all of last weekend.   Not huge progress, but a little, and there may still be time this weekend to get a tad more done.   Anyway, here are the photos of whats been happening...
benblack5

benblack5

2
Neil_S_Wood's Blog

End of the line

Having now recovered from six weeks away I now feel a bit of an update is on the cards. I spent most of my time in Scotland with a week in Yorkshire and a week in Berlin. Railways were very much the theme of the visit and I managed to take in most transport museums in the areas visited.   Glasgow's new transport museum was first up and was quite impressed by the architecture.     I was also rather impressed by the large South African locomotive on show. This was the one that was on
Neil_S_Wood

Neil_S_Wood

4
Fen End Pit's Blog

E4 - just needs buffers and the next project

So the E4 got some transfers and looks a lot better for it. I have then picked out the various brass fitments in Humbrol metallic paint and finally given the loco a light covering of Humbrol matt varnish before adding a light dusting of Railmatch Frame Dirt.   I'm quite pleased with the results, it has blended the areas where I'd had to retouch the black nicely.     Left to do are the crew, the buffers and enough coal to get from Cambridge to Marks Tey and back.   As a half painted loco
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit

0
petertg's Blog

Same old story

Hi all! Finished remaking all the connections, put my baseboard level again and then found that a different point motor was out of service although it seemed to work. I could hear the movement of the solenoid but the turnout did not move. I thought at first that the actuating lever could have separated from the turnout drawbar, but no. The motor had burnt out but I don't know why, since it was wired up with a capacitor. Anyway, with the system I used for connecting the motors, it will not be to
petertg

petertg

0
Petes Model workshop (or ramblings from the balcony)

GWR 850 CLASS (16)

Reassembly has started although slowly due to lack of time.   I have done the transfers and the number plates. The panniers are now screwed onto the footplate. I shows that the panniers are a different green to the cab. I have since varnished this assembly and it all now looks the same. Saves stripping it all down again.   Next up will be the chassis and get the two parts to mate properly. It did before painting but that was a couple of weeks ago.   I still need to
N15class

N15class in GWR 850 CLASS

4
Catweasel's Blog

My new start

Well, here goes. My first blog. I first started railway modelling many years ago,then work, marriage and family stopped play. Now that I've retired, I'm back. I chose to build the Hornby "Build It" layout, but with my own twist on it. I've put the main line on a curve to add interest and will terminate with a level crossing,as if the line went further then was cut. In the goods yard I have installed a double slip, again, to add interest. Track is Peco Code 75, with live frog points.At the moment
Catweasel

Catweasel

2

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  • Blog Comments

    • 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.  
    • Mikkel
      Netherport and Basuto Quay Chronology

      By Mikkel · Posted

      That sounds like a good approach Nick, thank you for clarifying. A sense of space is so important, less is more and all that.   The Penzance photo shows unloading of flower traffic from the Scilly Isles (no date). It features on the front page of this volume by Tony Atkins. The book is perhaps not unexpendable and a tad dry, but it is informative and some of the photos are lovely.    

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