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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
Sixties Snapshots - 00 scale

An alternative view? – from the Branor Systems Cam Truck

I am reading on RMweb that there could be a shortage of Hornby models. When I saw this truck for sale a little under £100, I would snap it up. £100 Truck By chance I had stumbled upon a video on YouTube which had been made using the Branor Systems Cam Truck. I was impressed and I thought that I would investigate further. In fact I have purchased truck No. 230. Branor Systems Cam Truck I have swapped the standard Hornby couplings for the older Mainline type with a shorter hook. I think th
Silver Sidelines

Silver Sidelines

14
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

Map of the Branch Line

I put this together from screen captures on the Windows on Warwickshire website:     What the map doesn't show is that west of the abandoned Longdon Station (Halt) the original tramway joined from the north.   In the past we have noted several of the road crossings of the now abandoned line with the usual clues. Some of the crossing cottages will no doubt hold clues as to the local architecture, choice of brick, etc. employed by the owners of the line.
Focalplane

Focalplane

3
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

A location has been selected

The branch line model is coming together, at least in my mind. As noted yesterday, warwickshirerailways.com is a really valuable resource and well deserving of financial support. While scanning through various photos I was reminded of the long gone branch line from Moreton-in-Marsh to Shipston-on-Stour. The history of this line actually goes back to the Stratford-Shipston horse tramway which still has some evidence of its existence in Stratford on Avon, the footbridge was built for the tramwa
Focalplane

Focalplane

6
Up the Line - 1918

A bit more barn

Rather a hectic week so not as much progress as I would have liked but I have found something out - doing wattle in 7mm takes forever - there were some expletives in there by the way !   I was looking for a suitable thread to use for the wattle but the best I could come up with was some elastic from a bead making set (sorry Izzy!). It worked but was difficult to trim at the ends and didn't think I had enough of it anyway. I then got out a photo trimmer and my best letter paper and sliced real
KH1

KH1

0
The Strawberry Line

Cheddar baseboards - getting jiggy with it...

Sorry...   It's been a long time since I've posted anything on this blog, but plans have developing and the game is most definitely afoot. Clevedon's now out and about on the circuit which means it's time to start building the next one. Well there's no point in hanging around is there? So what's happened since the last post? Well, the track plan has been tweaked and twiddled so that all in all, the layout plus fiddle yards is no more than 32ft a ruling dimension stipulated by an exhibition m
ullypug

ullypug

1
Barry O's Weathering Blog

A Rebuilt Scot...

At last - an ex LMS loco in BR Green which isn't a Duchess!   A Comet kit built and painted by Graham Varley   Welsh Guardsman     a bit of the boiler top..     and a bit of the tender..     enjoy...
Barry O

Barry O

5
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

The engine shed is ready, where's the layout?

The engine shed has been my main project for a couple of weeks while I am away from the LMR project and is one of the reasons behind this new project, based in England. The other is the Airfix 14XX restoration.   The shed is a standard build of Scalescene's small engine shed with water tank over the front doors. I have done no weathering to it as yet:     The interior is up to the usual scalescene's standard and again, no weathering has been applied:     The next card project will
Focalplane

Focalplane

4
Fourgig East

Reading Matter

This week I have mostly been building the "WH Smiths" kiosk from the Scalescenes Station Structures kit. Again enlarged by 175% on my printer to make it O scale.       As it's O gauge, I have put a bit more into this kit to add relief detail and have popped a cheap eBay figure sitting on a left over doll's house chair.   Not sure his reading matter is suitable for an Ivor the Engine event though     also a bit of self promotion, quite proud of that mag cover     The roof w
RedgateModels

RedgateModels

1
Shipston-on-Stour Branch

Introduction and Explanation

This blog is an offshoot from my Legge Lane MPD blog, which is established and semi-operational. I grew up with memories of steam on the Western Region, so an old Airfix 14XX tank engine has reminded me that I can run both, albeit in different countries!   So far I have a plan, two Airfix 14XX tanks which may produce one that will work, a new Bachmann 57XX pannier and an auto coach brake van and coal truck. The time period will be c. 1935, the prototype location a mash up of Oswestry and Wes
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

Completing the figure of eight

Yesterday I did some experimental glueing down of the cork strip for the upper loop. A quick examination this evening showed it had worked as planned so I've now finished off the main track of the upper level.   The upper station loop and siding are still to come but I'll wait until the glue sets.   Here you can see a photo of the cork as laid. The nice thing about doing it this way, is that it requires no compression to stop it from warping.     On Friday, I hope to complete the passin
AllScales

AllScales

0
sigtech's Blog

Sproston - more detailing

No new work done on layout - as I've been on a week of night shifts (yeuch!). However, have taken a few more pics to see if it is starting to feel "real" - which I think is the 'acid test' for any layout.   More photos showing the little details that I am trying to add, to make up for the layouts small size! Next task will be adding two more starting signals, ( and hopefully making them work...) and all the ground discs.   Regards Sigtech.
sigtech

sigtech

0
Up the Line - 1918

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Getting back to filling the odd corners of the layout that are not yet finished seemed like a good idea so I started on this which is unlike anything I have ever done before. Actually two points here; most of what I have been doing I have never done before and if I have it was thirty odd years ago and not done terribly well and two perhaps I have done something a bit like this! It suddenly occurred to me that building a barn is not that dissimilar to building a radio controlled aircraft of which
KH1

KH1

3
Adventures in N-gauge

It's all right and it's coming along

It's all right and it's coming along We've got to get right back to where we started from   (Maxine Nightingale, "Right back where we started from")   If Wikipedia is to be believed - and when is it not - J. Vincent Edwards and Pierre Tubbs knocked off their plinkety-plonkety classic in a mere seven minutes while driving to the local hospital to visit Tubbs' wife, who was about to give birth (although they did cheat a bit in that they used a tune that Edwards had written several years earli
Jim Martin

Jim Martin

2
Barry Ten's Blog

A Mink and a Mystery

Just off the workbench is this David Geen diagram Y3 Mink C/D, one of two that I've got to build. The kit went together well, any problems being more to my lack of experience with the entirely white metal kit than the product itself, this being only the second of such that I've done. Unlike a plastic kit, where you can build the chassis and then "spring" the wheels in later (or remove as required) the nature of this beast is that you have to trap the wheels in during assembly, and once in place,
Barry Ten

Barry Ten

7
Barry O's Weathering Blog

At last ..an ex LNER engine!

It isn't very often I am asked to do a "dirty" loco.. well here is the latest offering i have received to weather. Built and painted by Graham Varley its off to Carlisle and it is...   a V2 in BR Green in EM.     a close up of the cab area     and the dirt build up along the base of the bottom of the cab sheets and the lower edge of the tender tank     some of the weathering added around the cylinders     Hope you like it!
Barry O

Barry O

5
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

Glueing cork the best way

Now that the track formation has been cut, I have commenced laying the cork for the road bed.   I'm using 1/16" N gauge strips fron All Components, these by default, won't curve around the kinds of radii that I'm using (291mm).   To overcome this I'm cutting slits in the cork on the outside of the curve about every 5mm to 1cm.   Next problem is that the PVA comes up through the cuts which means I can't really use clamps to squish the whole lot together. So I'm taking it in small sections
AllScales

AllScales

0
Somewhere in Germany

... and while I'm at it...

While putting things in my blog, I thought I should give an impression of how things stand generally. There's a road progressing down the middle, there was a concrete segment coal yard where the paint pots are, but water leaked onto it from the iron I was weighing it down with and trashed the laser cut slabs. Stupid mistake. I have a petrol station kit to go in at the end roughly where the pic is taken from, and decisions to make about scenery between the road and the paper mill, especially wher
Taigatrommel

Taigatrommel

0
Somewhere in Germany

What? Progress?!?

I've spent a while fiddling with electronics and computer interfaces, to the detriment of visible progress. I got a new controller in January, a Roco MultiMaus Pro & MultiZentrale, which I thought would give me a start with JMRI. Nope. The MultiZentrale just doesn't want to communicate with JMRI, and I haven't got the will or expertise to make it happen. This leaves me with basic options, a change of controller or use Rocomotion. As Rocomotion only allows the use of Roco's own train detector
Taigatrommel

Taigatrommel

0
Peter Findlay's Blog

Country cottages

Before discovering RMWeb, my interest in railway modelling was rekindled by a chance purchase of a copy of BRM as something different to read. In this issue Right Track 7: Building Buildings with Geoff Taylor was advertised and a short time later I purchased a copy.   This DVD was quite a revelation, before this I had never considered scratch building anything, but this looked like something I'd like to try. But what to build? Not long after I learned that the farm cottages that my Grandparent
peter findlay

peter findlay

2
AllScales' Gerlos Blog

The snake in a nutshell

Yesterday, I promised a picture of the cut upper level, well here it is:   It was quite an effort to make sure whole lot didn't break and it's time like that you wish you had a properly equipped workshop with a nice big bench.   The advantages of doing it all as one piece is that you the wood helps to make the transition smooth. Of course there might be some issues at the bottom but they can be overcome.   Next I will be laying a cork strip along central track formation, then the whole l
AllScales

AllScales

2

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    • 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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