1722 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 (edited) Welcome to Little Lawley, an 00 gauge layout based on Lawley Village Station on the Telford Steam Railway. The layout will be 72 cm x 20 cm and - having been hugely inspired by City Goods - is designed to fit in one of the Really Useful wrapping paper boxes. The track layout is a simple tuning fork, with a small station that fits one coach and the loco on the main line, whilst the siding will play host to whatever is left there. The layout will not be an exact replica - it is heavily compromised in terms of size for starters - but is designed to capture the essence of the prototype. Handily, the prototype has a ready made scenic break as the station is approached by exiting Heath Hill tunnel, the tunnel mouth being a perfect way for trains to leave the scene. So far I've got a few bits and pieces done, including the baseboard. There is a slight hitch as it is a little proud on one side meaning that it doesn't fit properly in the box but luckily I know 'a man who can' (my Dad) and tomorrow I should hopefully have rectified that with the aid of a circular saw table. My carpentry is pretty appalling so I'm pretty happy with what I've managed to do. It's reasonably lightweight (2x1 frame with 3mm mdf top), strong and level. For me I count that as a win! I've also 'bashed' the familiar Wills Pagoda kit by cutting out a pair of windows. As with all Wills plastic this took some doing but, with the building nearly complete (just some more dry brush weathering required) I'm glad I did it. You'll also notice that I've made the station name board as well. This was designed by Jack at modelsigns4u and was made up in about twenty minutes. A simple yet very enjoyable project. Other work done so far is the purchase of Narrow Planet nameplates as I've got the Lilleshall Hornby Pecket on pre-order and this will be turned into Rocket, the mainstay of the line. I have the plates, I just need the loco! Other motive power comes in the shape of a debranded MSC Sentinel shunter, which I've christened 'Clara.' The real TSR has a Ruston diesel but the Sentinel will do me just fine. I'm also currently fighting the urge to order a Hattons Barclay! Other items of stock will include a Toad - I'll probably order the shorter wheelbase Oxford version - and convert it to look like the one on the TSR, whilst I've got a Ration GWR 5-plank wagon kit to tackle. My only concern is coaching stock. The real TSR uses Mk1s, which will be too long for the layout. I'm toying with the Hornby 4-wheelers (however un-prototypical they may be) repainted into blood and custard and BR maroon or the Ratio kit. Perhaps I'll just even stick to brake-van rides. As of yet, I don't know. Sadly, I'm unsure how much progress I'll get done over the next few weeks. Although I'm off work for Christmas (perks of working in education!) I've got a house move in mid-to-late January (the third bedroom has already been signed over to me for an office/playroom by the domestic authorities) and an university assignment to complete for the end of January. However, there's no rush, is there? Edited December 21, 2017 by Chris 66522 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Hi Chris,I'm a fan of micro layouts, and small simple designs. I also have a penchant for tiny halts, for some reason Nice job on the pagoda hut - that's a neat improvement and a good job on the name-board tooPurely saying this from personal experience, but have you put plenty of cross-braces under your baseboard?MDF can tend to sag - especially the thinner pieces, and especially as you will be applying fluids in the form of paint and PVA...Looking forward to seeing this progress, and dreaming of halts now! lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 Hi Chris, I'm a fan of micro layouts, and small simple designs. I also have a penchant for tiny halts, for some reason Nice job on the pagoda hut - that's a neat improvement and a good job on the name-board too Purely saying this from personal experience, but have you put plenty of cross-braces under your baseboard? MDF can tend to sag - especially the thinner pieces, and especially as you will be applying fluids in the form of paint and PVA... Looking forward to seeing this progress, and dreaming of halts now! lol Hi Marc, Thanks for the comment - huge fan of your layouts and your recent tiny 0 gauge nearly turned me over to the dark side of 0 gauge (I'm sure it's an itch I'll scratch one day!). Currently there is one cross-brace underneath, aside from the two edges. However, I do have left over 2x1 that I can add to make three. Thanks for the tip. I'd love to see what you'd do with a halt. Cynfal Halt on the Talyllyn appeals to me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry1975 Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Hi Chris, Looking forward to this as my next layout is going to be a reworking of my collie lane layout, with a halt station and a goods siding but that's for next year. You've made a good start so far. Jerry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted December 21, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 21, 2017 (edited) Long time ago, this place was owned by an outfit called the GWR, and called Lawley Bank. Now and then as a kid I’d pass through. Later on in BR days, my sisters big pal, Stella, was the general factotum there. Nice to see trains moving through there again. Wishing you every success with your model. Edited December 21, 2017 by Northroader 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 This looks like another interesting micro layout project. I will be following with interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Firstly, thank you for all the positive comments. I do hope you all enjoyed the Festive season and didn’t overindulge too much, with Santa bringing lots of railway shaped goodies! Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys are a very guilty pleasure of mine. Therefore it I felt it only right that Little Lawley gets visited by the MP-turned TV presenter. I was put in touch with Mike Pett’s Supercast range of figures and after a quick turnaround they were ordered on the 21st and arrived on the 23rd. Excellent service. They come in three colour combos – the two I ordered can be seen above – so I ordered two and decided to tweak them to fit in with my own preferences. After 30 minutes or so I ended up with the figures below. A simple project, but enjoyable and a nice little cameo for Little Lawley. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Alex TM Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 27, 2017 Hi Chris, Even without the description my first thought was Portillo! Nice bit of work on those two figures. He's a regular visitor here in Edinburgh, yet seems to dress in more muted colours than on TV. As for his programme; it has certainly got a few more folk interested in railways, simply because he gives them a context. Regards, Alex. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 When we’ve moved (in around a month, hopefully) the picture above will be my office/railway room. It’s about 6 feet across (the window) and 8 feet deep (towards the camera. I’ve got an idea of how things will fit in my head, with my work desk in the top right of the room as you look at the photo. There is a reason for me posting about the inside of our new home. The box that has been bought for trains/wrapping paper is likely to stay as a wrapping paper box. I’m not going to argue with the domestic authority as she’s given me free reign on the room above. So, having been impressed whilst watching the micro layout on a Lack shelf, Fairport, I think this is the way to go. It can be placed above the desk, screwed onto the wall and removed when it’s play time. Perfect. The really good bit of this idea is this; I can get a Lack shelf measuring 110 cm (nearly 4 feet). This means Little Lawley will get bigger (although it will still be little) and should be able to accommodate the Peckett and a Mk1 in the station. Every silver lining, however, has a cloud. Due to the impending house move I won’t be getting the shelf any time soon. Therefore, any work that is to be done will revolve around tinkering with stock or small kits. There will be none of the layout building process yet. That’s ok though, because I’m still fiddling with my Ratio 5 plank wagon when time allows! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) Today I’ve had a look at the tunnel mouth for Little Lawley. I’d previously primed it and today set about making it look a bit better. I started off with a dark grey wash which I covered the whole mouth with before dabbing it with a paper towel to remove paint from the raised areas. This was left to dry before attacking it with various mixes of whites, greys and browns which were all dry-brushed on. Dry-brushing is my favourite technique as I love how it picks up little highlights, which was particularly good on a structure with such rough surfaces like this tunnel mouth. Generally I’m quite pleased with it although I think I’ll have another look at the smoke marks going up from the tunnel mouth as I’m not overly happy with them. Edited December 29, 2017 by Chris 66522 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted January 4, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2018 When we’ve moved (in around a month, hopefully) the picture above will be my office/railway room. It’s about 6 feet across (the window) and 8 feet deep (towards the camera. I’ve got an idea of how things will fit in my head, with my work desk in the top right of the room as you look at the photo. ... Chris it looks like the room is an irregular shape. In case you need to lay a new floor covering, I'll mention I've just done my room with commercial carpet tiles. I bought three boxes from the local carpet outlet, the left-overs from a larger job. If you lay the tiles loose, nicely tight against each other, they seem to homogenise into a continuous surface after a couple of days' use. The waste can be a lot less than using a broadloom too, and they are hugely easier to handle. - Richard. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 5, 2018 Author Share Posted January 5, 2018 Chris it looks like the room is an irregular shape. In case you need to lay a new floor covering, I'll mention I've just done my room with commercial carpet tiles. I bought three boxes from the local carpet outlet, the left-overs from a larger job. If you lay the tiles loose, nicely tight against each other, they seem to homogenise into a continuous surface after a couple of days' use. The waste can be a lot less than using a broadloom too, and they are hugely easier to handle. - Richard. Hi Richard, luckily it's just the trick of a screen shot off a pretty poor photo. All is regular for a 1970's build. However, if it proves to not be the case then I'll be straight on to your advice! In other news, this beauty arrived yesterday... Not totally sure when I'll get around to reading it properly, but on a first flick through I was mightily impressed! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted January 5, 2018 Share Posted January 5, 2018 That's a great book Chris, loads of different ideas and projects in there. I got it a little while ago and hardly put it down since! Steve. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 I’ve drawn out the plan for Little Lawley. It’s not exactly the world’s most exciting, but it is pretty much what the real Lawley Village has as well. I have said previously that I want Little Lawley to capture the essence of the real Lawley. I feel this plan does that, however what if I tweaked it slightly, like so: This gives me an Inglenook and, with the addition of just one point, plenty more operating potential. I’m a little torn personally. I feel that the real essence of Lawley is lacking with the extra siding, but the compromise of adding it is far more operational interest and a place to put wagons… which I enjoy tinkering with.Currently I’m leaning towards the second plan.Thoughts? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 47137 Posted January 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 7, 2018 Thoughts? 1. Alter history. Suppose Lawley had an industry which could have used a railhead (but didn't) you could pretend the yard needed the extra capacity. 2. Move the location. This is difficult for a terminus but if there was a source of traffic a few miles away, you could create a station to go there and call it say "Upper Lawley" or "Lawley Road". The station would reasonably look much the same as Lawley, but with the "through route" leading off the end of the baseboard. 3. Build a bigger fiddle yard, so you keep just two sidings and you can use them for different wagon- and train-loads. Seeing the space available in your room, how about tackling the "Lawley branch"? If the line had one more station as well as Lawley you would have traffic for two destinations as well as the fiddle yard :-) - Richard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 1. Alter history. Suppose Lawley had an industry which could have used a railhead (but didn't) you could pretend the yard needed the extra capacity. 2. Move the location. This is difficult for a terminus but if there was a source of traffic a few miles away, you could create a station to go there and call it say "Upper Lawley" or "Lawley Road". The station would reasonably look much the same as Lawley, but with the "through route" leading off the end of the baseboard. 3. Build a bigger fiddle yard, so you keep just two sidings and you can use them for different wagon- and train-loads. Seeing the space available in your room, how about tackling the "Lawley branch"? If the line had one more station as well as Lawley you would have traffic for two destinations as well as the fiddle yard :-) - Richard. Hi Richard, Many thanks for the thoughts. The 'Lawley branch' is an idea that is in my head long term. The Telford Steam Railway is not long at all and has a wish bone shape. Trains run from Spring Village to Lawley, where they then reverse back down the line, forking off to Horsehay. The train terminates here before heading back to Lawley, where it then heads back to Spring Village, where it terminates. Hope that makes sense? The idea of the whole line (including the planned extension from Horsehay to Broseley) is something that I'd love to model ultimately. There are expansion plans for Lawley (the real one too) but I enjoy the quaintness of the current location. In my head I'm modelling a preserved railway and perhaps the preservation society will run shunting demos - I'm pretty sure they do that at Rocks by Rail so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. Idea 1) is probably the way I'll go to validate the extra siding, except I'll be altering the present. Again, thanks for the thoughts - much appreciated! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted January 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 7, 2018 Back in time, Lawley Bank was a through station with no siding, goods traffic (minimal) for nearby being handled through the Horsehay goods yard. Preservation has made it a terminus with a siding added, and I would reckon that you’re fully justified to park and shunt whatever you fancy in the siding, and an extra siding which might add to the shunting interest, and give some more capacity for what rolling stock you ve accumulated. It’s yourlayout after all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 I think the extra siding is justified. It will certainly add to the operational interest. Remember the famous rule 1 of Railway modelling. It is your layout - and if you think the extra siding will add more interest without looking too cramped then do it. Many preservation centres add extra sidings to store stock. The Great Central at Loughborough has certainly added extra sidings just outside the station. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 Thanks for the feedback, gents. I’m leaning towards the inglenook plan myself but as it’s going to be two weeks at least before I do anything I’m not going to stress too much about it yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklammer Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 You could run the extra siding directly from the fiddle yard instead off a turnout: that would give you three long sidings instead of a two short ones and a long one. IMO two turnouts make the layout look cramped. But as having been said before: Rule #1 applies. Just get started, already. That is more important IMO compared to overanalyzing track plans.. Best Regards, Christian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted January 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2018 Thing is, you need the single line Heathgate tunnel at the end of the yard, so the lines need to meet before the board exit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklammer Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 Once one starts freelancing with the prototype one may as well do it thoroughly: Make the Heathgate tunnel double line : artistic/modeler's license resp. rule #1: I suggest to wait for Chris' reply. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 You could run the extra siding directly from the fiddle yard instead off a turnout: that would give you three long sidings instead of a two short ones and a long one. IMO two turnouts make the layout look cramped. But as having been said before: Rule #1 applies. Just get started, already. That is more important IMO compared to overanalyzing track plans.. Best Regards, Christian I'd love to get started, however a house move in the next two weeks means that doing so is a no-no for a while. The idea of the two turnouts is to end up with an inglenook. The general sparseness of the landscape is hopefully a barrier to making things look cramped. I'll have a play with turnout plans once I've got the baseboard. Sadly, everything is theoretical at this point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklammer Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Good luck with the house move! I am looking forward to watch your layout build once you are ready to start again. Best Regards, Christian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 House move a week on Friday meant a weekend trip to Ikea with the domestic authority. Result (amongst other far more expensive non-modelling related things) = one 110 x 26 cm Lack shelf for a base board! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now