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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
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

Seeing straight (at long last)

I originally started to lay the track for Gerlos around Christmas 2010! So it is great to find that I'm making progress with the layout again. Over the last week or so I've been taking some of the lessons I've learned and started to apply them.   So if you go back you can see the upper level having been cut and the track being stripped out.   So without further ado, tada!     The track is back, much better aligned than before, I used a massive one metre long ruler clamped to the baseboa
AllScales

AllScales

2
drduncan's workbench

The wagon and carriage shop - GWR Python CCT

This Parkside kit has been slwloy moving from the errecting shop through to the paint shop and the signwriter has recently finsihed lettering it.     The kit has been slightly modified, with representations of the brake rigging for the clasp brakes (ABS castings) have been added, as well as Coopercraft/Blacksmith ethced grills behind the windows.       However, the CCT has not (yet) been compenstated - if running trials indicate compensation of this long-wheelbased vehicle will help
drduncan

drduncan

4
Somewhere in Germany

Stock jobs

I've been catching up with a backlog of unchipped motive power & rolling stock, which has been more interesting than it might sound. In TT there are at least five different interfaces in use, with NEM 651 (6 pin), NEM 652 (8 pin), Plux12 and Plux16, and Keuhn's Next18. By and large I go with Lenz or Zimo decoders, but I'll always give other a try if the price is attractive.   Tillig's BR189 has a Plux12 interface. Fine, I bought a Lenz silver with the appropriate plug. It didn't fit in the
Taigatrommel

Taigatrommel

0
Clachbeg: base and scenery

Rusting the rails

Having completed the building of the trackwork, and glued all the templates to the baseboard, it was time to bed the templates in to the scenery. There are several things to do: painting of the rails, building up of the ground layer around the track, and finally ballasting the track. Clachbeg is in the far north west of the Scottish Highlands, so rails would have very quickly acquired a rusty patina, and the traffic was hardly intense enough to coat the rails with the sort of grime which we are
Richard T

Richard T

0
The outcast modelling Blog

Howdy

This will be a dump for all of the modelling I do, some of which may pop up on my rolling stock or layout threads, but this will mostly be a place for projects which dont fit into other places.   A quick summery about me, my modelling is all in 4mm scale in 009, 00 and P4 encompassing 20-30s GWR and modern day London Underground.   My real passion within modelling is for scenery and buildings so most of what appears here will be of that ilk. Here is a quick example of a few pieces to show w
outcastjack

outcastjack

0
derekarthurnaylor's Blog

Aire Valley Railway

Hi All, I see it is just over a month since my last blog. Have I been up in the loft again? yes, but nothing to do with this blog. This is possibly my penultimate blog as I have come to the end of "what I built since the Aire Valley". more on the whys and wherefores next time. This one is about the small 1/1200 scale WW2 warships I started to construct after parting with the last model railway, Cranly Lake.R.R. Incidentally, the new owner of the layout has posted a video on youtube which
derekarthurnaylor

derekarthurnaylor

0
Fen End Pit's Blog

E4 construction - we have a rolling chassis

A few weeks work and progress can definitely be seen on the E4. I'd been concentrating on the body but today was the day to try and get some wheels in place. The loan of a GW wheel quartering jig from Middlepeak Tool Hire made this so much smoother. Being original Alan Gibson wheels these had the hole already drilled for the crank pins, another help when putting things together. You'll see from the photograph of the underside that the chassis is built using 'continuous springy beams' with High L
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit

3
Ullypug's tales from the tinking table

Peckett E Class - update 2

As my son has had a friend over for a sleepover (curious expression that, very little sleep seemed to occur) I've spent the best part of the day in the modelling room listening to the mayhem downstairs and intervening as and when critical mass approached. The outcome is some significant progress on the Peckett. I had done quite a bit since the last post, but things are moving along very nicely.   The wheels have been fitted and quartered. All works so happy days.   The t
ullypug

ullypug

3
Fourgig East

Rodding rodding everywhere!

An unexpected reprieve from loft insulation allowed me to get the rodding from the 'box up to the barrow crossing completed     I'm pleased with the way the #8 rod dips down to the point crank then continues on to the far end of the double slip, with rod #9 running in front and over the crank     Finally a close up of the 'box gubbins  
RedgateModels

RedgateModels

1
Up the Line - 1918

Another research trip

The reason for a recent lack of posts will now become obvious (although I was organised enough to pre post a couple this time), we have been off to France again. It is rather a long story as to why we went at pretty much on a whim but my lovely wife would be French if she wasn't from Stafford! She loves the place so to keep her happy (always a good plan!), I suggested a short trip to Paris. Imagine my surprise when I was offered what turned out to be two days on the way to do a bit more of my WW
KH1

KH1

0
Northall

Road and Pavement

I wanted to start with the arches, but then I noticed that this was not the right starting point. I had to start first with the road and the surface. The reason of this is mentioned somewhere below in this blog.   The asphalt road from Scalescenes is printed on Hahnemühle watercolour paper 150 g/m2 rough. I like the deep colour of the asphalt that I got this way. I always put the printer output on best quality and select the right type of paper. This will depend of what type of printer you are
Job's Modelling

Job's Modelling

9
petertg's Blog

Some positive movement

In a previous installment I mentioned that, among other problems I had a defective turnout. The replacement turnout arrived this week and was duly fitted. Since I had two spare underfloor motors, I decided to replace the surface mounted motor with an underfloor one which this turnout originally had and reserve the surface one as a spare. It was wired up and worked, albeit the wrong way round. However I am not going to bother about this for the time being. Since I had fiddled around with the CVs
petertg

petertg

0
garethashenden's Workbench

850 Part 1

One can never have too many projects on the go at once. So lets start a third locomotive, before finishing the other two. This may sound like the worst idea ever, but there is actually some logic behind it. The second locomotive is Duncan's Buffalo. This should be a straightforward job of reassembling the chassis, I'm just not in the mood today. The first locomotive is my 517. The next thing to do on that is to build the chassis. This is starting to sound like a familiar stopping point, but ther
garethashenden

garethashenden

9
The EMpire Project

Empire Mills: the Volvo strikes back

The open day went very well and we got a great deal of interest, so hopefully in the next few weeks we'll see some new members at the MRC and some new members of the Empire Mills team.   Last Sunday we had our first work session since the open day and one on which I had hoped to make progress with more cassettes for the fiddle yard. However, on starting the trusty Volvo there was a clattering noise as a bolt holding the alternator and steering pump failed and the cam belt disintegrated. The AA
drduncan

drduncan

0
Fourgig East

Signal box gubbins

I said I wasn't going to do this, the plan WAS to hide the lack of wheels/cranks/wires and rodding exiting the signal box with a wooden walkway so why have I made this over the last few nights?     the crank leading to lever 8 is even shown as pulled to match the lever for pete's sake. Have I any idea of the September deadline to get the layout finished!   I need counselling.
RedgateModels

RedgateModels

3
BRM Blog

Ratty LYP

Sorry; did I say tidy up in the previous blog entry? A slip of the tongue.     Hopefully ready for action on BCB at DEMU Showcase this weekend - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78016-demu-showcase-2014-burton-upon-trent-31-may-1-june-2014/ - even if you're not a D&E modeller it's a show well worth a visit for the quality of the layouts.
Andy Y

Andy Y

1
The Farthing layouts

MSWJR 3-plank dropside wagon

I’ve been building some “foreign” stock for the goods depot at Farthing. It’s a real pleasure, but also humbling to realize just how little I know about other companies, and how difficult it can be to obtain kit parts for other pre-grouping companies. We GWR modellers are a spoilt lot!   My 1900s period is before the “common user” arrangement, so most of the goods stock at Farthing would have been the GWR’s own - but there should be room for a handful of foreign vehicles, especially fr
Mikkel

Mikkel

35
Matthew Cousins' Blog

Blink Bonny arrives

The Sunset A3 has arrived and is running in on a goods. The paint job by Colin Tyler is first class and just what I wanted it to be - superb work. However despite Colin's best efforts the loco is still massively inefficient and draws a lot of power for not much output. My layout has gradients, not huge, but significant and the rest of my front-line locos have ABC gearboxes which handle everything superbly, specially the James King built B17 which with ball bearing drivers is a fantastic perfo
Matthew Cousins

Matthew Cousins

7
sigtech's Blog

Oh dear...

Well, the operating lever mechanisms for the two Ratio lower quadrant semaphore signals that I have spent loads of time fitting to the layout have just broken - they lasted all of TWO days!!!( I have already had to use the only spare available,after an earlier breakage).   So, reverting to just pulling the strings now to operate them - I do hope Dapol bring out a decent motorized W.R round post bracket signal sometime soon..as I certainly won't be wasting any money on ratio replacement
sigtech

sigtech

7
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

2 Shades of grey (and some tanned flesh)

Last night I put down the second coat of grey in the station yard and this morning it looked like it had now completely covered the cork tiles (I've got a couple of packs going cheap if you'd like them).   So tonight the track went back down, as it's set track that is fairly easy (come on Peco, some new OO9 nine points please, plus 12" radius curves?) but this is premium Roco track so I did very carefully! Some of the holes needed a little prod, but it's all back down again except for the curv
AllScales

AllScales

0
Ideas for starting off 1st large layout! (cheap)

The background!

Hello everyone, I am 17 and have been playing with model trains my entire life, I was playing with my Grandad's layout when I was really young! I used to have some simple Hornby track ect when I was quite young as well, When It came to my 8th (I think) Christmas my Grandad and Uncle supplied me with a Baseboard with track attached and everything, It was a dream come true, It was only a simple layout but it was mine (and my younger brothers) The layout consisted of a double track loop and 2 sidin
Stonely96

Stonely96

3

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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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