Hello again,

As I was asked in the comments if I could produce a number of photo's and a plan of the previous modules, so I took the time to produce a number of photographs of the first 2 made modules for you over the weekend. This part won't include work of the build on my segment, however, I have begun gathering parts for the layout, mainly in the form of the Pillbox, bolster wood sheeting, fencing and some smaller kits for the coal merchant. I have also got some modeling completed and photoed for you of the wagons for the two periods, which are being modeled.

Board 1:

As you can see Board one is the oldest of the layout, setting the theme and the way each board should be built.

This layout as you see it will be updated so it will match the newer standards of board 2 & 3. This is something that we as a club have recognized, as the boards get older they will begin to look rough around the edges, something that we as the club members will have to deal with. Board 1 is going to be changed slightly where a building will be put in place for storing wagons, the locomotive coal bunkers will be removed and a sugar beet pile will be put in place. In addition, the station is going to be cleared up and rebuilt in certain places. An update on board 1 will be put up sometime as my colleague works on it over the coming weeks.

Board 2:

As you can see this board is defined by the scene break which is the bridge which will help in regards to the third board, this section was added to give the layout some more operational interest. with the inclusion of a road with Loco pit and a spur leading to a cattle-dock obviously connecting nicely with board 1, in addition, the road will lead to a set of sidings more of extra storage for cattle wagons etc.

Board 3:

Sadly I do not have a picture of a built board 3 as of yet, however, there are currently three ideas moving around as to how this will be constructed:

A: The layout might be split down the middle to create a fiddle yard, and have a small warehouse or factory which could take goods from the railway to market and out back will be a passing loop to allow two trains to pass by bringing more material, or coming with empties to fill off the yearly goods.

B: This could be in a cutting which you can only just see the locomotives pass through, and the cutting will get lower almost flat as we enter the next board. The second road, of course, is there serving a few sidings.

C: This is a third basic, flat scene, but B is currently floating as the most popular.

Further board Ideas:

There are further talks of a large bridge being built which splits segments of the layout up, the image shown below is what is another idea being drawn up.

Operation:

The idea for the layout should be that there should always be something going on - continuous running is necessary to keep the public happy, so to do this N&SBLR is not only good scenic wise but should also be operationally correct and smooth, allowing for increased realism. The way the layout is operated is to give an idea of how the operation of a light railway or small railway should be carried out. In this case, to provide goods to the locals and brewery. The railway is central to everything. In this case, a series of small or medium-sized trains will be brought down the line from the GE, LNER or BR Exchange sidings.

Within these trains will be wagons for the coal merchant, brewery, cattle farmer and the odd passenger traffic diagram. Once the wagons are used they are organized in the sidings on the route (However board 4 is interesting) this allows several trains or one specifically sized train to move along the line picking up the goods and empty wagons until they are eventually put back into the exchange sidings. This then leaves the layout with an issue...The whole process has to start again. The idea is that the whole operation takes 15 - 20 minutes of wagons being moved and picked up and shunted into the train.

Wagons:

So I've been working on the LNER & BR wagons for the two scenes for the modular layout; So here we go...

LNER Wagons:

The LNER wagons have been pretty straightforward, as these wagons are RTR they don't require much in the way of work to get the wagons fitted with 3 links so the job was simply make up the three links and fit them. If interested I used these 3 links, springs and drawbars from Slaters.

BR Wagons:

Now as you have already seen I have made up the BR Riveted mineral wagon and fitted 3 links, since then not much has progressed with that, as I am currently struggling to find metal buffers for this wagon, if anyone can help please put a comment in thank you.

But this wagon required a bit of work...

Firstly on all the wagons, I tested the pre-fitted couplings to see if they can handle the 3 links, which coupling this wagon to the others, the pre-fitted draw-bar fell off, so I quickly set to work about fitting a newer metal draw-bar. Removing the body allowed me to inspect what I could do, sadly the molding required some cutting away, which I did to both sides, this was to allow the draw-bar & spring to sit comfortably inside the wagon, once fitted I put the body back onto the chassis, but again I found the body didn't sit properly. To which I found the model's aluminum weight was sitting onto the spring and draw-bar, so I went about with a hacksaw and cut the weight at each end. After that, I didn't have any problems and the wagon went back together nice and easy.

And here are the wagons together on Mile End Park

The BR Wagons:

The LNER Wagons

I hope you enjoyed this second part - Sorry this was not talking about the build but giving you a general background to the layout before we move the build, if you have any questions please feel free to ask :-)

Cheers

Tom

P.s update for the W1 is on its way...