Alcanman

Added some sea-moss bushes and grass tufts next to the road over-bridge to create an overgrown look. Scenic areas of the layout are now finished. Operationally, the layout has settled into a rotation of swapping wagons in 2 of the 3 sidings, using the 4th siding to make up the outgoing train of empties. Incoming loads are removed by hand. A session usually takes a relaxing 20-30 minutes to complete and, of course, can be repeated as many times as desired.

Great to see more Blyth & Tyne photos. Thanks for sharing. Your third photo showing 56131 about to run around at South Newsham is the same location used by Alcan trains to run around these days. The scene hasn't changed much over the years.

Finished adding static grass and grass tufts.

Added a few details around the yard office area and my old Morris Marina has turned up at the car park, in suprisingly good condition.

Once the J27s arrive, we'll all jump for joy like these excited children!

OTA and OBA wagons in timber traffic at Crianlarich and at Craiglang.

For a moment, i thought you were going to build a small layout. However, I agree the Rubelandbahn is fascinating.

My guess is the Rubelandbahn class 171 electric.

The short siding at the front of the layout has been extended by a few inches and can now easily accomodate 2 OCA/OBA wagons. 2 OCAs with steel pipes arrive for unloading. The loads are easliy removable so, like the timber siding, I can operate loads in, empties out.

Another pic taken from underneath the road bridge showing the static grass and bushes in front of the stone wall.

Progress update. Added static grass and grass tufts / bushes in front of the stone wall and warehouse.

I've started bundling the logs together and strapping them with masking tape. This will enable the timber loads to be easily unloaded by the 'hand of God' so I can run loads in, empties out. I've also started adding some grass/weeds between the tracks in the sidings.

I decided to extend the stone wall to bridge the gap between the rail served and non rail served warehouses. Some seamoss bushes/trees also helped to fill in the space.

Thanks Jordan. Yes I'm still here and 'still game'.

Yes. I've just returned from the garage where I've been making more seamoss bushes this afternoon. I find 3M photo-mount adhesive works well, but any spray adhesive will do. I find Noch or Gaugemaster leaves give good results.

I use seafoam/seamoss to make bushes and small trees. You can see some on my photo.

When I decided to include a timber unloading siding on the layout, I immediately thought of purchasing some Bachmann OTAs. However, apart from the fact there there were very few available, those that turned up on E-bay were selling for around £40.0 secondhand! At the same time I had purchased a copy of the newly released 'Modelling British Railways Wagonload Formations Vol 2' which includes a comprehensive guide guide to timber traffic. An excellent publication, in which Simon Bendall states that the OTA (ex VDA) modelled by Bachmann was not introduced until 1988. Too late for my chosen period of 1981-1985. However, he also mentions that Hornby OTA (ex OCA) were introduced in 1985, so suitable for my layout, except Hornby have never released the model in Railfreight livery. A quick search revealed brand new Hornby OTAs available for around £25.00. The Hornby model is every bit as detailed as the Bachmann model, so I purchased a couple of wagons which were easily repainted Railfreight Grey/Red and weathered. The timber logs in the OTAs will be cut down to size later.

I 've used a Noch Grasmaster for many years and always been happy with the results. I think it was the only static grass applicator available at the time . Yes, it's expensive, but it's been a great investment. Nowadays,of course, there are many other alternatives to choose from. I would also mention being careful with the choice of grass colours. Some greens are very garish and some have yellows, red, and blue mixed in with the green! I have had good results with Silflor/Mininatur static grass but it is difficult to find at the moment.

37264 at a rainy Fort William, August 1984. The loco was very busy on the West Highland line during the last week of August 1984 working trains to both Oban and Fort William.

I can't wait for you to build Fort William. Another pic of 37264 at FW, I recently 'found'. The loco seem to turn up everywhere during the last week of August 1984.

Thanks. There are six daily Mossend - Craiglang trip workings. Last workings today T56 14:55 Mossend - Craiglang brought in 2 timber loads in OBAs, 1 VDA with bottled water and 1 OCA with sheet steel. Return trip T56 17:42 Craiglang - Mossend consisted of 2 empty OTA timber wagons and 1 empty OCA.

The warehouses have been painted blue and these 2 photos show the entire 6ft scenic area of the layout. The main elements and structures are now in place and I will now focus on adding some greenery and ground cover. After a few weeks operating the layout, I'm finding that the middle long siding is best used as a sorting track for placing outbound wagons. The class 26 can be seen departing from the siding with a short trip freight for Mossend yard.

The buyer's PayPal payment will still go directly to e-bay who will then process and send the money through to your bank account. I don't sell a lot of stuff and now simply wait for Ebay to offer £1.00 selling fees. I've found the new payment system works enough and I'm not really bothered about waiting 2 or 3 days for money to go into my bank account.

A couple of low relief non rail served warehouses have been built using a Pikestuff kit that I had to hand. They fit nicely along the right hand end of the layout next to the over-bridge. I've simply painted them with grey undercoat for now. I may paint them blue to match the other warehouses in due course. I've also added some stone walling (re-cycled from a previous layout} which matches the over-bridge and butts up to the bridge.

The timber unloading vehicle has been weathered and unloads logs from an OBA wagon. The logs are made from small branches of shrubs from my garden.