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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
    • 3,297 views
backofanenvelope's blog

Wow..

.. a month goes by and nothing been achieved! well work and life has been busy so not had much time for modelling.. although have been to a couple of shows Railex being the best. I got to see Missy's little Nn3 Shunter and chatted to her near the end of the show, came away with some ideas and then the 2011 Challenge pops up! hmmmm even more distraction(s)   I am also going on a mad dash to the 2mm Expo oop north on Saturday with 8 hours on the train and around 4 hours at the show, but looking
backofanenvelope

backofanenvelope

4
Bw Leipzig Hbf West

Have a break – have some freight!

Don't you just love it when courses are cancelled with no prior notice? Well, I tried to make the best of this situation, and rode out for a photo session – in spite of the weather still being sort of crummy. I'd been meaning to check out how things look at Bischofsheim for a while – this being the location of a well-known marshalling yard.   Bischofsheim is an independent community of about 12,000 inhabitants, but used to be a borough of Mainz between 1930 and 1945. After the end of Wor
NGT6 1315

NGT6 1315

5
GWMark's Workbench Blog

72xx progressing slowly - in more than one sense

The 72xx that have have been building for quite some time now has progressed a little more since my last posting here. For some reason I only ever seem to work on this when I go to the Missenden Weekends, so one or two weekends a year makes for slow progress.   The job tackled this year was to get the chassis moving under power - this took somewhat longer than expected, mostly because it turned out that not all my insulated wheels were! I'm sure you can guess how I discovered that one. A lot o
GWMark

GWMark

6
Will J's Random Adventures in N Gauge

More designs sent for 3D printing: T Gauge Class 37s

Excitement, I had an email today letting my know that my latest couple of orders from Shapeways are now in production. Soon I hope to be able to show pics of the 'printed' N gauge Class 139 People Mover...   ...and also, here is a teaser of my latest tiny T gauge project: (as seen first in the T gauge group B) )   Note that the sides are smooth, as I figured that at this scale it would be wise to combine the wrap around livery, and grille details, into a single decal! The tiny Class 37 w
Will J

Will J

7
Dave Holt's Blog

Delph - Hits the buffers

Or, perhaps it should be "The buffers hit Delph"!   Following my stint with the bulldozer and grader to change the height of the road, just beyond the station, I thought I'd better get on with more directly related railway matters. So, I've fixed two rail built buffer stops at the end of the platform and loop roads. Quite a few more to go but progress nonetheless. These stops are made from the Mainly Trains fine-scale cast brass kits, which match the Code 75 C&L plain track very well. Yo
Dave Holt

Dave Holt

4
Barry Ten's Blog

Paynestown - backscene and station

A few more pics showing development of the station area and steps in the direction of a backscene:         I am intending to keep the backscene quite minimalist, hoping to convey that lunar landscape look which is typical of so much of the valleys, but there is still work to do. The station is still rudimentary, but hopefully will start looking a bit more finished in coming weeks - however, I think you can get the general idea.
Barry Ten

Barry Ten

13
The Grime Street Blog

First Gateshead Car arrives from Shapeways............

First print of the 4mm Gateshead car has arrived from the Netherlands, this again is in the slightly rough WSF, but it has come out pretty well overall, the roof detail and clerestory roof have come out very well. I'm still waiting on a few in FUD in both 2mm and one in 4mm, hopefully they should look pretty good.   The distinctive gates between the trucks on these cars is already available as an etch from Mark Hughes, and the Tamaden chassis is pretty close in wheelbase etc, but doesn't have
Red Devil

Red Devil

7
GWMark's Workbench Blog

XpressNet Interface

Tonight's little triumph on the work bench was to finally work out what I got wrong with my XpressNet computer interface I was building. The result a fully functional interface between an ageing laptop and my low-end DCC kit (a Lenz Compact), however this gives me access to do things over Xpressnet, and if I every do get around to upgrading the compact I will be able to control lots more.   The immediate gratification came in setting up WiThrottle and driving a sound equipped loco from my Andr
GWMark

GWMark

1
Jon020's Workbench Blog

P4 Class 55 "Deltic" conversion: One step forward, two steps back, and maybe one further step forward - P4 Deltic Pt 11

Well, there comes a time when we all hit that wall. After our local show (when I exhibited the 55s) and EMExpo last month, I felt enthused to carry on... the mojo was restored... but it didn’t last. Despite having a useful chat with Ian Rathbone (at EMExpo) the prospect of painting the loco looms over me and is seriously hampering my judgement. I’m also dithering over final details.   I’ve also spent some time setting up the Class 55 group on here (not much time doing anything, but a s
Jon020

Jon020

5
barrowroad's Blog

Bristol Barrow Road - Roundhouse Roof Girders - another rivetting day

I've had a few days off from Barrow Road at Railex with my other layout Sheep Pasture, a Cromford & High Peak subject.   Sheep Pasture at Railex   [ See Kempenfelt photos of layout dated 2nd June - please ignore his earlier post ]     I'm now back on the job finishing the girders, both long and short, by forming all 1400 rivets in the overlays for the top and bottom of the girders.   Here are some photos taken today during completion of all the girders - trial assembly revealed the
barrowroad

barrowroad

8
halfwit's fantastic workbench!

A1 Models Hunslet - Handrails and Radiator Grill.

Just a quick update on this one. I've added the handrails and bonnet catches using .33mm brass wire and Gibson short handrail knobs. I used the RSU to solder the wire and knobs in place from the inside by cutting off a small piece of solder, placing it where needed then using the RSU to make the join. I've never tried this technique before and it works quite well. A pic,     Note that the bonnet catches are all out of line, this is deliberate (honest!). The cab handrails and door handle sti
halfwit

halfwit

3
railbeagle's folly

The view so far

One of the gents from our second chapter was not available to host this coming week so I volunteered in his place. It's a great way to keep one motivated and building! Work progressed a little further this weekend with the passing loop mostly installed. We shuffled all the points around until we got a working plan figured out. Although I didn't have a plan beforehand these photos should give you some idea of what is going where. There may be some duplicates to my new member post so my apolo
railbeagle

railbeagle

0
SNCF stephen's Blog

Urban Degeneration

When I started the layout the village that formed the main centre was going to be very basic. Over the past few months I have "regenerated" the main section of the village and put in new supporting walls thus creating a new open space and a village on two levels. However there was something missing. The villages in the area I am porttraying have had similar regeneration but there are often large sections that have not changed significantly in hundreds of years. Therefore I decided to move the sm
SNCF stephen

SNCF stephen

0
Highclere - 2mm Finescale

Its all about the joints...

Hello.   I forced myself today to get the joint between the two scenic boards on Highclere finished off. I have been putting it off now for too long and it was slowing progress on the layout (as if it could get any slower!).   So I can now say with some confidence that I can now run an engine from one end of the layout to the other...     Its a really nice feeling knowing that I am now comfortable with the track, points, and joins and now I can start to look forward once again, alth
-missy-

-missy-

21
justin1985's Blog

Dapol Class 86 Renumbering

Not much modelling has been happening recently, but I did buy a Dapol cl.86 in Intercity swallow livery with the intention of renumbering to represent one of the machines used on the GE Mainline during the 1990s. Based on the availability of prototype photos with matching livery, I chose to model 86220 "The Round Tabler".   It proved relatively easy to rub off the Dapol numbering using thinners on a cocktail stick, and use Fox transfers to renumber it. The nameplates came from Shawplan, and I
justin1985

justin1985

2
Colwyn Bay Goods - 2mm Finescale

Tape. Lots of Tape!

Sometimes all the thinking in the world can't compete with a a well timed bodge up I've been thinking about how to frame the layout for a while now, some of you will remember my BcnPete style sketch from last summer.     After operating Jerry's excellent layout, Highbury Colliery at RailEx, I was convinced a picture frame type arrangement will work very well in this scale. Now time to put concept into practice.     Thanks to Mr Masking Tap and his old friend Double Corrugated I have
Bryn

Bryn

17
Ullypug's tales from the tinking table

O2 bogie

I've stripped down the O2 chassis to find the cause of a slight bind (this was the reason it wasn't released to traffic at RailEx) and took the opportunity of changing the bogie pick ups to something much cooler I saw on the Scalefour website forum. Basically, it uses Alan Gibson sprung plunger pickups bearing on a gapped copperclad stretcher to transfer power from the wheels. The two plungers also mean the bogie is sprung. Pick ups from 36swg phosphor bronze were added including a link to the b
ullypug

ullypug

1
Isle Ornsay

Yard Work

I've been cracking on with getting the basis of the goods yard in place.   Here are some photos of progress on building v2 of the goods shed (v1 just didn't look right), this time I decided to cut out the card that will form the base of the road and tie it into the platform surface too.         As you can see from the above photo, I've stuck the shell of the loco stabling shed together too.     It's enough to easily accommodate one of the large tank locos, has space down one si
invercloy

invercloy

2
GWMark's Workbench Blog

Dapol Railbus & Branchlines motorising kit

As a bit of a diversion I also built this back in March.....       I purchased it as a used kit at Astrolat, the "chassis" had been built and I just had to finish it and build the interior and body. These went together very quickly, most unlike me. Unfortunately the wheelset was P4 - how did I not notice that one! So I ended up cutting the axles, big mistake, one is now too short and the back to back is a little too small - need to replace the axles some time.   True to form, I may have
GWMark

GWMark

5
JJT's Blog

Changing Plans

HI,   Just working out the plan on the baseboard and I will have to take out the cross-over to the east of the station due to space restraints, its a shame but i really want to do the station so it will have to do.     I have found this picture online and this is what the A1 Tornado will look like after another respray:  
JJT

JJT

0
Highclere - 2mm Finescale

Fiddleyard beginnings...

Hello.   For a while now I have had tucked away the bits for Highcleres fiddleyard which were very kindly made for me by Alan S from the 2mm SA who is a genius when it comes to machining things on a CNC machine. The fiddleyard bits are all made from plywood and quite literally slot together, and after a kind offer from Mark C (mitziblue on here) to help assemble them at his workshop it was an oppertunity too good to refuse.     The above photo shows the parts for the 2 semi-circular end b
-missy-

-missy-

10

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