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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
Northall

Ince & Mayhew’s factory – part 2

First an introduction to the factory in the background of the diorama. Darrel Fincher is working here as a metal worker. In the archives of the Northall Gazette I found an interesting article about the factory.       Modelling progress (I had some extra time): I’m very content with the use of bookbinding glue. Althought it is a little more work the result is much better. With PRITT glue I had always parts that I had to glue again. Applying a thin coat of bookbinding glue gives a good resu
Job's Modelling

Job's Modelling

7
The Legge Lane MPD Blog

The turntable saga - early motorization experiment

My first attempt at motorizing the Peco turntable kit was a good learning experience. First, the motor kit featured in the photo is inexpensive, but this brings with it a number of setbacks, the main one of which is noise.   The photo shows that the motor and gears are fitted directly to the underside of the plastic "dish". The glued strips of wood give the dish strength but I cannot say the result is good (and it looks dreadful!) The slack within the gears also means poor registration but sur
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
The EMpire Project

Empire Mills: the Wagon and Carriage Inspector's notebook

There has, it must be admitted, been a hint of discord between the CME's and Operating Departments. The Operating department (Gareth), following Empire Mills recent foray to the nether regions of north London, had reproached the CME's department (Duncan) over the dross a certain Wagon and Carriage Inspector (again Duncan) had been passing as fit for use - apparently AJs were doing anything but uncouple at the time and place the operating department wanted, and his team were getting fractious as
drduncan

drduncan

2
sigtech's Blog

Sproston - the scenery

Carrying on with more progress on Sproston, the next task was to paint all the landscape with Windsor and Newton 'dark umber' poster paint -,for no other reason than I had two tins of the stuff!! This at least put an end to all the dreaded "snow"... The road surfaces were painted with thinned Humbrol hs209 'tarmac' enamel paint, and Jarvis 'rough pasture' scatter was applied to the hillsides on top of diluted pva glue, I found that this needed more than one application, to achieve a satisfa
sigtech

sigtech

0
The Legge Lane MPD Blog

The turntable saga - an introduction

I am far from the layout at the moment and much of my material is also not with me, so it is difficult to maintain entries in a consistent manner.   However I can relate an ongoing saga with motorizing the Peco turntable kit. I am now reasonably satisfied after buying two kits, two inexpensive motor kits and then replacing the latter with a more robust design using Meccano spares. The motor is DCC controlled and the last time I was in France I was able to test it and it is almost ready to cons
Focalplane

Focalplane

0
David Johnson's Blog

Carlisle: John Houlden's whereabouts

Members may have seen some images of my EM model of Carlisle on RM web which is in progress? I was wondering if anybody knew of the whereabout of loco builder of note John Houlden? John is helping with some locos and seemingly disappeared the last 6 months or so? It would be great help if any modeller know anything; just hope he is OK? I have his contact details/address etc but nothing heard so far this year (or much of last)! Thanks in advance for any information anybody has; very best David
David Johnson

David Johnson

0
jonas' N gauge Blog

Some N gauge weathering completed this week

Some N gauge weathering completed this week - a Dapol ferrywagon picked up from their factory shop on the way home from North Wales on Tuesday, and a Plasmor Oba that was £6 from Hattons when I ordered myself a circle of Kato untrack for testing/running in. I bought it because I like the livery!   Weathered using black and burnt umber oil paints and Humbrol dark earth weathering powder. Very pleased with these!
jonas

jonas

4
Up the Line - 1918

An Important step - and a huge sigh of relief!

It is not often that four pieces of plywood can be called a significant achievement but that is just what happened today. In my attempt to get more of the 'infrastructure' completed I tackled the thorny problem of transporting the boards. A trip to the local independent DIY shop last night resulted in a very handy four foot by three foot piece of ply being being sawn in quarters. I was rather worried that I might have to get an 8x4 but this piece was ideal and a good bit cheaper!   After rath
KH1

KH1

0
Black 5's Blog

Bakewell baseboard construction latest update April 2014

After the busy activity of the Easter weekend it is now down to the more mundane tasks such as varnishing the boards. I have chosen a matt clear varnish and intend to varnish all accessible areas. Does anyone recommend more then 2 coats?   My next stage is to glue the cork in place especially on the fiddle yards and then add copper clad strips to the ends so that I can solder the rails to them. I am debating whether to use rubberised cork for some of the track beds in the scenic section but th
Black 5

Black 5

0
mcrook62's Blog

From OO gauge to O gauge in six months..

Hi All I went out got a airbrush compressor and dvd 's on weathering loco's etc, I have tried to master the air brush but at 65 I think I've over reached myself with this one stick to what you know . But I really wanted a fleet that looks like it works for a living than all shiny and clean I am a modeller not a collector so one day I saw a advert for a company called the weathering works and I thought they would be expense like others I have look at but no they were really good at £20.00 for a l
mcrook62

mcrook62

2
The EMpire Project

Empire Mills - The CME's report 2 - the Class 22

The plan was just to pull out the wheels and file away the backs of the bogies to provide clearance. A rather course file was introduced to the bogies and just over 1 mm removed from each side of the bogie. I used a (borrowed) GW Models wheel puller - I really must get one of these things - to deal with the wheels and with a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing between wheel puller and back to back gauge all was sorted. The wheel sets were tested through various point work and there appeared to be n
drduncan

drduncan

0
SRman's Workbench Blog

Further progress on the H & D Bristol MW and Starting a Cambrian Kits Sturgeon A

Another project started and a little further progress on existing projects: I have started on the first of two Cambrian Kits Sturgeon A wagons, their kit C82 (the ones with the side doors still in place). Progress will be slow because each wagon has seven doors per side, with two handrails, two door springs and two door bangers per door! Thats 28 of each item per wagon!.         Work is also continuing slowly on finishing the buses and coaches. The green Little Bus Company Hants & D
SRman

SRman

0
The EMpire Project

Empire Mills: the CME'S report 1 - the western

Those happy few, that band of brothers (and sisters) who have seen Empire Mills in action will not have seen the projects' most shy and retiring inhabitant, the class 52 western hydraulic no 1067, Western Druid. The reason for this was simple; the line contoller (aka Gareth) had regretfully withdrawn it from the 1st XV (well 1st IV) due to antisocial tendencies: to whit pulling wagons off the rails on corners.   1067's history has been, it has to be admitted, rather problematic. One of messers
drduncan

drduncan

0
Jubilee Point

Aaaargh.

Being a hamfisted clot I have managed to push my fingers through the window frames when glazing the signalbox. This means many more hours to be spent, again, with a magnifying glass, tweezers and little sections of minuscule platicard strip that stick to everything *but* the place you're trying to stick them, and which then "ping" off into the outer reaches never to be seen again just as at the 5th attempt you think you've finally managed to get the little swines in place.   Grrrrr.
TT-Pete

TT-Pete

2
The GC and Met in OO

Lord Faringdon, Part 4 (also, my 100th entry)

I'm very pleased to announce that LNER 6169 Lord Faringdon is now finished (for a given value of finished, of course).   Lining has been done by two methods- the boiler bands by cutting thin strips of paper with a black line inked in, the cab and tender sides with the paint pens (my method with them I think is improving markedly).   If I can maintain this level of finish with my planned models (and perhaps update the better of my older ones to it) I'll be very happy indeed.     Ah,
James Harrison

James Harrison

0
Barry Ten's Blog

Shunting a goods train - a query.

I'm sure there are knowledgeable folk who can help with this one.   The track plan of the station area of the layout is very simple - a passing loop, two platforms, and a goods yard on what we'll call the "up" side of the line.     Trains arriving on the up loop can easily work the goods shed without a run-round move, just by backing into the yard - if necessary, leaving part of the train on the up line.   To shunt from the down line, an engine would need to detach from the train, run a
Barry Ten

Barry Ten

8
Modelu's Workbench

56xx - Research & Reference Photographs

The 56xx class of 0-6-2T tank engines were infrequent visitors to Oswestry, from what I can find only one a year would receive attention during the 1954-1959 period. These were predominantly 84E Tyseley or 84F Stourbridge Rd locomotives employed on freights and passenger workings in the Midlands. Locomotives of the Red route class had to navigate their way to the works at Oswestry via Gobowen with only a handful of sidings unrestricted for their weight category.   This chart shows the
alanbuttler

alanbuttler in Reference

9
Layout - Fisherton Sarum

Fisherton Sarum to return to its spiritual home of Salisbury

Fisherton Sarum as I am sure regular readers will know uses Salisbury shed as its basis and inspiration. The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) buildings and their relationships with each other are modelled to create the spirit of Salisbury shed, that hopefully to some is instantly recognisable. Albeit somewhat modified and condensed to fit within the quite limited space that I had available. This enabled me to use available drawings of the actual LSWR designed buildings along with photo
Graham_Muz

Graham_Muz

5
Up the Line - 1918

More DCC fun but Simplex almost finished

What with Easter and a rather misguided camping trip which suffered every indignity the British weather could throw at it progress has been a bit slow and certainly not helped by DCC. Having finally found a chip that worked I got brave and downloaded a slightly better sound from the Digitrax web site - OK an 08 shunter is not ideal but until I manage to make my own sounds this will have to do - well it would if it worked! Download seemed to be fine but no sound. I seemed to remember that I had a
KH1

KH1

3
Matthew Cousins' Blog

Out in the garden

The garden has emerged from the soggy winter fairly well, with only a small amount of electrical bonding and track alignment needed. It has allowed me to have some fun taking pics after a spot of hedge cutting and garden tending.
Matthew Cousins

Matthew Cousins

7
The EMpire Project

The Water Feature

Water runs down hill. So, front and centre should be the wettest part of the layout because it it the lowest. I always find myself drawn to water on layouts so I thought I'd add something. The first problem is that there is no space for a sizable water feature. Adding to this, most of the basic landscaping had already been done, the hills are in place along with brambles and a tree so really all that can be done is the hint of water beyond the layout. The edge of a pond or marsh, even a small st
garethashenden

garethashenden

0

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    • 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.    
    • WFPettigrew
      Post Scaleforum 2024

      By WFPettigrew · Posted

      If only you'd brought some crossing timbers, we could have had them down too 🤣. It was a pleasure to be able to help!   All the best   Neil 

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