Foxwell Lane

[Mike the Train]

I'm a serial layout builder, preferring relatively small shunting type layouts which can fit easily into my car. Foxwell Lane is my 6th exhibition layout, the previous 5 having been sold on to create space and cash for the next project. Details of previous efforts, plus my larger 'home' layout are on my website: https://mikestrains.weebly.com/

 

 

When the Loftus Road crew were at DEMU in 2017 I bought a ready made 5' x 1' box from Tim Horne. At the time he didn't produce a sector plate board, so fellow Worthing MRC member Mark Butcher built one for me.

 

 

Presentation is at eye level using the usual steel trestles (bargain from Lidl at £14.99 a pop), having been impressed by several 'high' layouts seen at various exhibitions. Whilst this is great height for adults, and kids can use a step-up, it's not so great for those in wheelchairs. I'll have to source a periscope, which I've seen used elsewhere on eye-level layouts.

 

 

In OO, using Peco code 75 in a mix of bullhead, flat bottom concrete and wooden trackwork, the theme is a Network Rail depot. DCC controlled (Gaugemaster) with most locos sound fitted. Points switched by Cobalt motors. The backscene was assembled from downloadable kits plus pictures found on the internet, and adapted to suit.

 

 

Progress was painfully slow, but the layout had a couple of public outings in August 2018 (at Sevenoaks and at South Downs Light Railway), which acted as 'shakedown sessions' to ensure everything worked. It ran faultlessly over the two exhibitions. Long may that last!

 

 

Foxwell Lane will be at the Worthing show on 29/30 September 2018. If you are there, please do come and say hello.

 

[1722]

Very good indeed Mike. I particularly like the backscene. It really adds a sense of perspective.

[James Makin]

Looking good Mike!!

[Mike the Train]

Buffer Stops

 

At the Worthing show (last weekend in September - put it in your 2019 diary!) several people asked about the origins of the buffer stops on Foxwell Lane. One is straightforward Peco with the lamp cut off the beam, one Peco with a replacement buffer beam fashioned from SMP bullhead rail and the other two scratchbuilt from plastic card and strip.

 

Dimensions for the latter were scaled up (guesstimated!) from photos found on the net. Sides are 30thou, beam 40thou plastic card, the pieces being so small they came from my box of offcuts accumulated over time. The strapping is 0.5x1.5mm Plastruct styrene strip and all stuck together using Plastic Weld. Once cleaned up and painted the stops can be stuck onto the rails with UHU, Bostick or similar.

 

Ingredients & tools

 

Starting the build

 

Almost there

 

Primed ready for painting

 

The work is fiddly rather than difficult, the end result something different, suited to the modern scene. For those wanting a more accurate representation, there are some nifty etched kits available.