Modular French Branchline Network

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks Rob. I am not knocking UK stuff but I did need a change of scenery and a challenge that motivated me to do far more modelling out of my comfort zone. The lack of stock and buildings has not been a hindrance rather a motivator to my modelling skills.

 

The only thing I would say is that the rolling stock can be quite pricey!!!

[SNCF stephen]

It has been a while since I last updated this topic but work has been progressing. Unfortunately a lot of it is rather boring and not web friendly but I made some progress today on some of the smaller modules that was worthy of a few snaps.

 

The St Denis Des Murs 2nd module has not seen some progress in the form of a road, scatter material, static grass and some trees (see the blog for some info on how some were made). The module needs the main building to be properly constructed but the frontage does make it look quite nice.

 

The main module of Eymoutiers is still progressing, albeit slowly. I need to make a Plasticard frontage to the retaining wall which needs to be precisely measures for it to look right. It is getting there as the roads have now been made using DAS clay, I just need to finish sanding them and making them level!

The last photo above shows my rake of 4 Corail Carriages which were much needed. Although Corail services will be limited through the station I wanted to have the right stock to run them with. Now all I need is a 67300 and it will be quite authentic!

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Those of you who read my profile update might know about my little list of stuff to do. Well I have managed to get through almost all of it. I really wanted to get the main module looking a bit more like a town rather than the mess of foamboard and card covered with DAS clay.

 

The real thing looks like this:

 

And now my layout looks like this:

 

So over the last few days I have been at work scribing pavements and testing different colours to get them looking like the real thing. The difficult parts were getting the pavements installed around the curves in the road (of which I have one left to do!).

This next shot shows the car park (featuring a Herpa Fiat Panda) and the brass etched fencing that will eventually line the road up to the tram terminus. It needs to be painted light grey and I am hoping to spray it so it retains the detail:

The next shot is another one of the station featuring a new CC72000 (thanks to Kintbury Jon for this one!) and the new roof on the main building that has been missing for some time. It still needs all the details and I am not sure whether I will actually do these for a while but as a compromise at least the building looks sort of complete.

I also installed the large retaining wall that spans the length of the raised section. This shot shows it from the other side of the layout. It was made out of Plasticard as the card behind had sagged. I secured it using PVA.

 

I have also been at work on a new module which will be a camp site. This is similar to part of my last layout. The idea is that there will be a small lake and camp site with plenty of trees. It is early days but I have also purchased some tents from the USA which will set the scene quite nicely.

 

I have also installed DCC decoders into two of my autorails. The Bachmann 6 pin sockets are fantastic as they allow the soldering to be done without restricting which chip you can use. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for their decoders which are not so great. Still I have a Digitrax on the way and a TCS to try out shortly.

 

Thanks for reading, if you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask...

 

Stephen

[Joseph_Pestell]

I like the look of that ADX railcar body. Which manufacturer was that from?

 

Not quite in keeping with the Corail era though?

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks Joseph. The railcar is a kit made by AIM Trains 'N' Co who manufacture a variety of kits of railcars and locomotives. They are quite expensive to buy and they require a separate chassis kit to be purchased for each kit if you want to motorise them (saying that though I am using Tomix chassis' in the future as these are able to negotiate my tighter curves).

 

I am planning to run the layout through a variety of eras. Since that railcar ran on this line from the 1950s until the 1970s, I thought it was an important one to have.

 

Thanks for the interest.

[SNCF stephen]

Hello again,

 

Well after a disastrous weekend trying to DCC a 72000 locomotive I decided that I wanted to at least do something half decent this weekend. So I got to work on the Goods Shed which is now a builders merchant. I had already started work on the shed but a few sides were missing. I got to work on them using Photoshop.

 

I eventually came up with this:

 

I then decided to build a mock up of the building using the sides I had.

The sides you cannot see are pretty much mirror images of what you can see. This is not prototypical for this era (although it might have been forty years ago) so this will change. The scale of the building is much more than I anticipated. I am glad I have not reduced its size as I originally planned to.

 

I will keep working on this one to make it look neater and give it some more layers. Until then this mockup with suffice.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Pre Christmas Update

 

Here we are after 2 months of progress with little to show for it there are now a few results that are visible. I'll be posting some rolling stock updates shortly on the blog but here are some layout update photographs.

 

I am now in the fortunate position to be able to show the real thing and then the model to compare the two.

Here are two shots (the real thing and the model) that show the station building, cycle stands and my new Arnold X73500 (with sound and lights). The Arnold version replaces the Mikadotrain version which I loved and was a better runner but looked too wide and lacked some of the features.

 

Here are another two shots showing the layout from where the Tram terminus is further up the road. The road still needs another coat of grey but the pavement detailing and drainage parts (painted in beige) really set it off nicely.

 

A few shots showing the island platform in different lights as well as the water crane which is a modified Vollmer Kit made to look more French. This water tower needs to be painted in white and black. The trees on the layout are only temporary, I dislike these types of trees but I have a lot of them and they bring the layout a little bit more to life.

 

A few shots showing the layout with a bit less light (the last one with the lights activated on the 73500). I will be installing lights onto the layout inside the station building, on the platforms and on the road later in the build.

 

I hope that you like these pictures, I welcome any comments you have to make.

 

Stephen

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Stephen,

I've loved having a quick catch-up on here, you're doing really well with this!

Does the X73500 come with sound fitted? How does it sound? I'm still amazed that sound can be installed into N gauge models, incredible!!!

Bonne Chance!

John E.

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks for your kind words John. The fact that you can get DCC sound on N Gauge trains is what persuaded me to go DCC. This particular train has a sound unit available from Trains 160 (just a satisfied customer). They make two different types, one for the Mikadotrain version (see video below) and the other for the Arnold unit. They both work in the Arnold unit but only the smaller version fits the Mikadotrain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9CAVUWFU1o

Here is a video of the Mikadotrain train working with sound.

 

I got a package of goodies in the post today so here are some more pictures of the layout (sorry they are blurry, I only just noticed this).

A shot of Eymoutiers in the early 80s...

 

Here is the Y5100 I purchased today. This is going to be a difficult locomotive to install a DCC chip into.

 

The X3900 has journeyed to Eymoutiers with executives to see the new wagons in use.

 

While the DU65 has just unloaded a few sleepers next to the old engine shed.

 

The last shot here is of the maintenance/goods loading facilities. The bogie wagon is new. Note the laser cut wall on the side of the platform. The platform needs to be covered in DAS before it is secured down and painted properly.

[SNCF stephen]

First update of the new year!

 

Well here we are two and a bit months into the new year. I wish I could say it had been very productive but so far, in modelling terms at least, this year has not been hugely fruitful. Still there have been a few bits and pieces happening which are worth reporting. So here we go:

 

The canopy to the station has been constructed and attached to the platform side of the station. One of the support columns needs adjusting but it does add something to the station. The top was painted in standard Humbrol Grey (sea Grey I think) and the underside, which no one will see, has a rendition of the panels that appear under the actual roof. 

 

This morning I had a go at the other retaining wall. I was quite pleased with the results but I am not able to glue the wall down as the railings that go alongside the road need to be coated with primer and then secured between the two layers. You will also note that the car park has been give a coat of white paint and then some weathering powders thrown over it. I like the texture but my technique needs some refining. 

 

The Haute Vienne Tram Terminus building, which is an impressive - yet small structure in real life, has been redone. This is because the previous attempts were out of scale and had far too many errors on it. This time around I have savaged the electronic parts from the last version and improved them. I need to do another two sides before it will be ready but here is a picture of the work in progress:

 

And finally, something that I have neglected to post about but has been a feature of my layout for some time. The foamboard fiddle yard (that might be a good name for a modellers pub!!!). This is a temporary arrangement I came up with when I realised I needed far more space than originally anticipated. 

It houses 5 simple sidings. However, I don't think I will be keeping it. I am currently investigating moving the main station module onto the other side of the layout and having a fiddleyard that trains can run through. This would make my operation far better in that trains can just come in and out of Eymoutiers from either side without having to reverse due to the way the fiddleyard leaves the main running loop. 

 

There is plenty more to be done, hopefully in the next few weeks I will get back to work. 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[Les1952]

Nice to see an update.  Keep them coming.

 

It is only ONE and a bit months into the new year, so you've not lost as much time as you think.........   (Not even quite 2 months since you last gave us an update)

 

All the very best

Les

[SNCF stephen]

Thanks Les,

 

More has been happening but my modelling tends to involve a lot of smaller bits and pieces that only become apparent after many weeks of work (and by that I mean many weeks of me not working at the layout...). 

 

Now it is starting to feel more realistic due to the foliage being added and with the running qualities improved due to some good track cleaning it has meant that I am more inclined to do a bit more on the layout (famous last words). 

 

Here are a couple of images I took on my other half's new camera. They are a lot clearer and less shaky than my efforts with an 8 year old camera! 

 

 

As always, thanks for looking. 

[SNCF stephen]

A bit more work has been done on the layout this week with the final two sides of the Haute Vienne Tram System station building being more or less finalised. I need to find some good pictures of doors to use when I construct the final version but they are almost there. I will work on the roof next. 

 

Here is the card kit of parts I created:

And here is a shot of two of the sides in situ on a mock up frame:

 

Readers of my blog will know I have been working on the X2200 railcar in the past few weeks so here is a shot of the model on its chassis in front of the station building and next to the X73500:

 

EDIT - Sorry about he blurriness of this shot. Unless my camera is well supported it tends to do this, I have left it in because it is slightly better lit than the next shot.

And another gratuitous shot:

 

 

I am going to put together a bit of information about the history of the station and the line itself in the next few weeks. As well as that I am going to look at how the station will be operated and what services will run. When I got into the hobby I never understood why people might wish to run a timetabled service but now I am really seeing the logic in having a working timetable so that a reasonable variety of prototypical services can be run. 

 

Thanks for reading, as always comments are always welcome.

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Well it has been a while again. Not without good reason though. Unfortunately my father suddenly passed away in March so it has not been particularly pleasant times. The reason why I am writing this on the forum is not for sympathy but because my father was a big reader of my thread and blogs. His words of encouragement were a constant source of inspiration for me with my modelling. Although he was not a member of the board I think it was safe to say he was a lurker and enjoyed reading a lot of the other posts (especially those regarding Merseyside). 

 

So today I had a bit of a photo session to show off the progress that has been made. It is not much but it all adds to the layout in its little way. So I would like you to cast your mind back to the early 1960s in rural France:

 

The early morning train arrives at Eymoutiers bound for Limoges. This train is from Clermont Ferrand and is made up of an 050 (drafted in to replace the normal loco) and 3 Romily Carriages. In the foreground you can see one of the trees purchased from the 4D model shop. A row of these will be a feature on top of the wall here. 

The train pulls into the station and stops just before the passenger crossing (in 1950 the sidings where the car park is situated would have been in situ, however I did not have the space to put them in and the station is modelled primarily on the present day setup). The locomotive now has a Digitrax chip installed and it works well. 

Following the departure a single FNC on loan to the Limoges depot for testing struggles into Eymoutiers.

This is where the service terminated and it will run back at midday. The steep gradients make this little railcars journey difficult. Note the platform sides have now been stuck down and the platforms weathered to give them a gravelly appearance. 

Further down the line the line the ABJ4 is calling at St Denis des Murs. 

It then calls at Eymoutiers on its way to Ussel. This train is a Mabar model with a DCC chip fitted to it by Trains160 (just a satisfied customer). I was very disappointed in that the original railcar I had burned out a chip because of the poor design of the circuit board on the chassis. 

Another 050 makes the trip from Ussel to Eymoutiers to pick up the wagons in the yard and take them to Limoges. It is pictured here filling its tanks up with water. 

 

I have drafted a short history of Eymoutiers and the station. I will post it at some point shortly but I want to get some pictures together before I post them. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this little running session. Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Progress looks great...I do enjoying watching this develop. Certainly it captures an atmosphere that encapulates this part of the world.

 

I am sorry to hear of your loss; loosing a parent is always a shock. That said, it sounds like you were encouraged/aided and abetted in your modelling by your father, and no doubt he was proud and impressed with what you have produced.

[SNCF stephen]

Well unfortunately I appear to have lost a blog entry and a response to this thread which is very annoying. Still I will remember not to bother previewing the entries beforehand as that is what appears to be the issue here. 

 

So I have made some progress on the layout with the Haute Vienne Tramway Building. I am going to use Redutext for the roof as that will give it a nice texture. 

 

- Note the railings on these pictures. 

 

 

I have also made progress on 3 of the Autorails. I have airbrushed some cream paint on them and then painted two of them up in red with some of the details in grey. Here are some pictures of them sitting on a temporary chassis:

 

X2400:

 

 

 

X2800 - The front end of this one is not that great owing to the fact that the model is not enough like the prototype:

 

 

 

 

EDIT -Not sure why the pictures are not being shown. 

 

ADX - This has only been given a cream coat at the moment. I am debating whether to use an airbrush or not:

 

[SNCF stephen]

Well I am hoping that the pictures come through better this time following the debacle of the last update. I am just crossing my fingers and hoping this time around. 

 

Since my last update I have been hard at work putting DCC chips in small locomotives and then trying to get the bodies to reunite with the chassis. Also my DCC control system seems to be on the way out (or totally out depending on whether I can fix it!) so that is rather annoying. However, there has been some visible progress so today I thought I would show a few pictures. 

 

First of all the ADX has had a coat of paint or two. Unfortunately it is not quite as good as I would have liked it but I just think that I need to accept the fact that I am naff at painting and move on. I am not too displeased with it now I have finished repairing the bad job it initially was. Here is a quick shot:

 

 

I have also added a white backscene to the main station module and moved it around so it now sits on the opposite side of the layout. This gives it a much better viewing angle and means I can enjoy the fruits of my labour:

 

 

I have also managed to get the old good shed (now a DIY merchant) building completed except for the roof. The roof will eventually be Redutex but I need to save up a little for that as I simply cannot afford to finish it right now. Still I am pleased that the bulk of the buildings for this module are now done.

The above is the view from trackside.

This one is the building turned around. The change in textures is pretty much how it happens on the real building. 

 

I'll try and get some more pictures of the railcars up at some point soon. 

[SNCF stephen]

I asked the Mods to move this thread here as I felt it was more of an appropriate section of the forum. I am currently working on a few pieces of rolling stock and have developed my own waterslide transfers for the autorails. I am hopeful that there will be some tangible results soon which means those all important pictures. 

[SNCF stephen]

Well I had some spare time today so I decided to get on with the application of the waterside transfers. Some didn't work (the yellow ones going on a red background), however most did work fine so I am pleased with the outcome. Here are some pictures:

The x2400 with the red first and second class markings.

The x2800 with the co rail style first and second class markings.

And finally the x2200 which has TER markings. It is not strictly accurate as the sncf logo should be on the blue section but the transfer looks better with a grey background.

 

As much as I want the yellow ones to work I am thinking that I will just leave those models without transfers. I suppose I could add them later if needs be.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Stephen

[SNCF stephen]

Wow, it has been almost three months since I last posted. Mind you I think it has been that long since I did any modelling. I was worried I had lost my mojo and I suspect that my interest is not as high as it has been in the past. 

 

First piece of progress is the old goods shed. It had not had a roof for quite some time but now it does. I installed some Redutex terracotta weathered sheets to the roof and the results are not too bad. I had to weather the roof down a bit because the orange was just too bright for an old building. I am not sure if it is too much so let me know what you think. 

 

I have also been working on the X2400 and X2800 Railcars. They have had some new decals applied to them and both have now been glazed. Further to that, the X2400 has now had a custom chassis altered for it. 

The X2800 has some custom number decals on the front (home made on photoshop from pictures taken over the years). 

 

I have to make another roof in the coming weeks but before that I want to finish the stairs in the car park. The biggest job I have to d is send my Gaugemaster Prodigy Advance controller to Gaugemaster to see if it can be repaired! If it cannot then I need to work out what I might do with the layout. Do I go back to DC or stick with DCC. Frankly DCC is not without its severe downsides (the frying oh chips, the short circuits, my track not playing ball with reliable running etc) but the sound functions are superb and it looks like everything is going more in that direction. I still have a fair few locos to chip so it is a big expense. 

 

Thanks for looking. If you have got this far then I would like to wish you all the best for 2014. 

[SNCF stephen]

Today I managed to do a few of those little jobs that I needed to get out of the way. Here are a few pictures showing the trees to the western end of the station as well as the cobbled surface around the old Goods Shed. 

 

 

Next on the list is to properly sort the staircase on the eastern side out, plant some more trees, replace the support for the station canopy to something that is more suitable and install a fence around the car park. I might try and get this done next weekend. 

 

Thanks for looking

[SNCF stephen]

Spring 2014 Update.

 

After a fantastic annual break to the Limousin I am back in the modellers chair after some time away. Fresh purchases, work on unstarted modules and completed models are the order of the day with a deadline to get the layout looking half decent by July. 

 

To start us off here is a picture of the tram terminus building:

The roof is now almost completed, I just need to add the dormer section onto the piece that faces the road. However, that is not urgent as it faces away from view!!! I actually took this out to France to complete as I had some time to carry out the work. 

 

The next shot is a few new purchases. Mostly wagons. Behind the Fret 68000 there are 2 new REE wagons (Christmas present) and 2 new EAOS wagons along with a third I already owned. Also in shot is the new Ballast wagon and you might just about be able to see the two bogie flat bed wagons behind them. The latter set of wagons I thought would make a good permanent way train and I purchased them from Basa Vilara in Andorra. 

 

Finally here is a shot of the two modules I have been working on recently. 

The module nearest the camera is to be a camp site.  I am slowly adding static grass to this module. The other module is a lake module with a manmade beach. It has a "shack" where bathers can get snacks or rent a boat. There is a loading ramp for the boats as well. It needs more layers of paint and both need ballasting. It will be a fair bit of work before it is completed. 

 

Hopefully I will have more updates shortly. 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Stephen

 

[Class 74]

O là là, very nice!

[SNCF stephen]

Its been a long long time since I posted in this topic but with good reason I about 9 months ago I acquired one of those 1:6(ish) scale humans which has been taking my modelling time...

 

I have tried to get a few pieces done here and there but it has been a struggle. Nevertheless there are a few things worthy of report.

 

First of all is the ADX which I decided to finish without transfers as it would just take too long. As such I decided to apply a coat of acrylic varnish to the paint to seal it. This had the effect of blistering parts of the paint which was annoying but I think I shall just keep it as it is and weather it a bit to try and hide the parts that are most conspicuous. 

The above photos show the blustering effect if you look closely. 

 

I also decided to sell some of my home made rolling stock (AN X2100, X2200 in TER colours from the 80s and 00s respectively and an X2800 in the blue and white livery). These were good and I loved them but I wanted to go for something that looked the part and I had been wanting a Mikadotrain X2200 for some time. So I made the purchase and I was not disappointed. It runs on a Tomix chassis so it is reliable and smooth. 

Here is the X2200 next to the X2100. The dimensions were identical so the resin kit was actually pretty good. It was just that the resin kit did not have the detail and was showing its age. 

It has directional lighting (just white lights) and detail on the windows. It is a great model and, in my view, worth the price tag of €200 (which is not so bad right now as the euro is not doing so well).

 

Finally I wrote an article about this layout for the SNCF Society Journal. The article summarises what I have done so far with the construction of the layout so I won't repeat it here but I was very pleased to get this layout into the public eye. Indeed it was an honour to have shared the pages with so many other high quality articles in the journal. 

 

Thanks for reading and, hopefully, some more soon.

[SNCF stephen]

I am very pleased to announce that the station module from my layout will be attending the SNCF Winter Rendezvous at Lenham. I have been working hard to get some bits and pieces finished in time and with two weeks to go I am happy to report that things are going well. A significant number of improvements to the track have been undertaken to improve the reliability of the layout. 

 

As a taster of some of the features I had added here are some pictures:

You will note that the interior lighting has been added to give a bit more atmosphere.

I have also been adding details inside the buildings including flooring, wall paper, book shelves and even paintings.

The above is the most prominent interior that will be visible. I have amended it slightly since this shot was taken but essentially the details are just to give the impression that there is more going on inside than just a huge empty space.

 

The final shot is not much different to the first except for the trains. 

 

If you are coming to the show then please do come and say hello. I shall also be bringing along a few kits of the DU65 which will be for sale (drop me a line on here if you are interested in more details in advance or cannot make the show). 

 

All the best and happy new year for 2016!