Jump to content
 

Blogs

Featured Entries

  • SouthernRegionSteam

    Coastguard Creek - 15 months of planning!

    By SouthernRegionSteam

    Hold on to your socks - this is going to be a lengthy one! (In fact it's so long, I've now split it into 2 separate posts - the next will be up soon...)   I think it's fair to say that you are all long overdue an update on Coastguard Creek. Due to other commitments, no real progress has been made since the last post way back in March 2021; almost 15 months ago! If anything, things went backwards for quite a while, as I kept finding more and more inspiring locations that I really wanted
    • 8 comments
    • 2,794 views
Fen End Pit's Blog

A day out at Bressingham

On Sunday Fen End Pit visited the Narrow Gauge show being organised at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk. It was an excellent day out and thanks are due to the organising team for putting on a good show. We were able to set up on the Saturday evening which meant a much more relaxed setup and an extra hours' lie-in. The layout worked pretty well, no big issues which impacted operation. As usual my son produced a long list of 'improvements' to keep me busy for a few months.    
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit in Fen End Pit

1
Atherington Victoria & East Yard.

54. A Week of oddments.

It has been another case of 'two steps forward, one back', spending a few days off in the garage on short tasks.  Panicked last night at realising - why only now?! - that if my track around the passenger platforms was raised on 2.5mm. cork, there would be an unrealistic step up to the coaches.  It had not dawned on me that wishing to sink the buildings into a 'scenic base' to eliminate gaps, meant they would be too low.  Next I was worried the curved platform was too close to the track, so the e
Notes from the loft

Creating a backscene in the loft

My layout is in the attic and was designed when I was new to model railways and BRM. With hindsight and reading more I probably got the track to close to the edge of the layout (120mm in some places). To make matters worse  the basic pyramid shape of my loft means that my backscene is only about 120mm high:   Also  the transition between the backscene and the roof is very obvious, even with both being painted with the same pale grey emulsion.  This looks even worse/odd  in the cor
deepfat

deepfat in backsecene

2
Oxendale

Moving Oxendale

As you've had guessed by the title of this entry, I've had to move the layout.   Due to circumstances, it's no longer allowed to be in the spare bedroom next door so we've had to move the layout and the stock to the clubroom in Buckton. We started about 1:00pm on Wednesday and didn't finish until 7:00. Fitting it in my grandad's car was thought to be a challenge but we managed it - just. Due to the size of the layout, we thought it would be better to transport the layout first, set it
Oxendale

Making the hills (2)

08/07/23   Been a few months since I've posted in the entry but work on the hills has been progressing slowly. Hill 1 is now long gone and in its place will be a goods yard of some sort. The front of the hill faces will need repainting with a suitable colour but they're slowly getting there.        21/07/23   I've been busy filling the gap between hill 1 (was hill 2) and the backscene. I think it's looking good so far. Also, hill 2 (was hill 4) has ha
Chesworth - Horsham MRC's 00 Finescale project

Melting in the heat, but we still make progress

June was a hot month, but we still got quite a bit done on the two "long Wednesdays". The first Wednesday, a short one, was a distraction night. No work was done on Chesworth - or the other layouts - while club members headed out in the fine evening air to play with live steam.     Unfortunately the footpath was the only surface smooth enough to get a decent run on. To be fair to the little Mamods though, the gravel on the car park was scale boulders. Maybe play with model ta
whart57

whart57 in Monthly Reports

4
MikeOxon's Pre-Grouping Blog

3D-printed Double Fairlie

Background   Several years ago – 2006 in fact – I was driving away from a visit to Blaenau Ffestiniog slate quarries and noticed that the last train of the day was due to arrive at the railway station.   It turned out to be quite a long wait, as the train on the Festiniog Railway was in trouble and eventually arrived with a broken flexible steam pipe to one of the power bogies. With a sense of ‘make do and mend’, the trailing end of the pipe was lashed up and the train then m
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in general

6
Fen End Pit's Blog

Progress on a possible J17 kit

Since I built my J17 by scrapping most of the parts of a PDK kit and making my own etched and 3D printed bits I have been thinking about the possibility of turning the result into a kit. A first draft of the artwork was turned into nickel-silver by PPD with help from my good friends at Brassmasters. (If this turns into a kit that will be where it will come from). The intention is the use etched metal for the chassis and thin bits like the cab and foot plate while 3D printing the complex shapes l
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit in J17 Build

10
My version of Boscarne Junction

Version 9

Just when I thought version 8 was the final track plan, I’ve now produced a version 9.   When starting to consider how the layout was going to be operated, my thoughts went to the enjoyment I gained when invited to operate other modellers layouts. Especially those where a signalman controls a signal box and the train driver has to obey the signals. Using bell codes, interlocking lever frames, and trains being driven to signals fascinated me. I questioned how I could include this featur
Yan

Yan in Layout Planning

0
Learning Curve

So much staring into space I need a telescope

I finished making the 3 block detection units so I can now have 24 separate blocks and use current sensing to feed a signal to JMRI.  The first was a bit daunting but it turned out fine and I had some fun doing it.  From a cost perspective it has to be the cheapest way to do block detection and I would recommend it to anyone who has burn cream and wants to learn to use a soldering iron.   Now I’m stuck, staring into space.  Ella Varner once said, “I'm a big believer in putting things o
Learning Curve

Learning Curve in Electronics

0
Sixties Snapshots - 00 scale

No. 167 ‘D’ for Downhill and for Fruit ‘D’

The summer weather has disappeared so an incentive to spend time on railway matters.   This Post was initiated by the purchase of a Dapol Fruit D van.   One of Mr Dapol’s Fruit D vans   Over the last twelve months I have been imagining a Welsh themed layout.  What better for inspiration but to follow Katerfelto’s pictures on Flickr https://flic.kr/ps/SokUv.   I was fascinated by one particular picture which featured an ex GWR Fruit D in the process of
Silver Sidelines

Silver Sidelines in Blog Post

3
My version of Boscarne Junction

Further thoughts on the track plan (version 8)

I intended to postpone revisiting the track plan until the Man Cave was empty and its internal dimensions were confirmed.. That was until I could squeeze in a day’s visit to Boscarne Junction after being in Torquay for a wedding. The visit was to take photos of the wider surrounding area. The site is now dramatically over grown compared to the photographs I have which were taken in the early 1960s. That said, the embankments, paths, field boundaries seem to not have altered. I took plenty of pho
Yan

Yan in Layout Planning

0
Netherport - GWR 1908 7mm (mostly wagons for now!)

MERG DCC Controller

The build of the fitted iron mink, featured in my last post, is progressing rather slowly - a combination work projects, being away for a week or so, and the current heat. The room that serves as both my home office and modelling room is in our loft conversion, and gets very hot in the current kind of weather, which rather puts me off doing anything. So, to fill the gap before the mink is finished so I can write part 2 of that post, I thought I would share some pictures and notes on the DCC cont
magmouse

magmouse in Control

4
Barry Ten's Blog

Paynestown - exhibition lighting

I'm the worst for leaving the boring jobs until the last minute, but for this layout I was determined not to be caught out and to try and get ahead on the less exciting tasks, including sorting out the fascia and the lighting rig. It'll still be a mad rush at the end I know, but at least the presentational aspects should be reasonably finished.   This view shows most of the layout, with a start made on the fascia, and also with the LED lighting in place for the first time. The latter d
Barry Ten

Barry Ten in GWR

7
Fen End Pit's Blog

Progress on an Ivatt kit

I've been working on a chassis and detailing kit for a Bachmann Ivatt class 2 2-6-0 tender loco for several years now with my friends from Brassmasters. Progress has been sporadic but we recently received another set of test etches from PPD and this time we got two copies, one is being build by one of the Brassmasters team using the full Easi-Chas approach using the Bachmann motor and gears and mine is being built using a High Level gearbox and motor. This later option allows you to fill in the
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit in Ivatt 2MT

1
SWAN HILL

GWR N5 Horsebox No 88 (7mm scale, scratchbuilt)

There are still a few things to add to the model - trumpet vent on the roof (I can't find a drawing and my attempts from photos don't look right) and lamp brackets: I'm sure there should be a groom seated in the end compartment, reading the Racing Post.  The challenge with this model has been the braking assembly.  I eventually gathered together enough information about the Dean era, outside linked clasp system to make a reasonable stab at it, I don't have an undeframe drawing for this particula
kitpw

kitpw in Swan Hill

9
Playing with 1/50 scale

The 1/50 project, A Tank wagon, part 2

Given that it is just a background project the tank wagon has come on well.   I spent a bit of time faffing about wondering how to make something that looked like the clamping straps and hawsers that hold the tank on. Eventually it dawned on me, at 1/50 the simple answer is just to make some straps and hawsers and hold the tank on with them.   So I splashed out a tenner for 50 m1 nuts and bolts.   Some bits of brass and m1 nuts and bolts. Five strands of 5A fuse wir
Atherington Victoria & East Yard.

53. D.E.M.U. Show-case 2023.

Thought I would add my two-penn’orth of praise for D.E.M.U. Show-case 2023 with some photos of my favourite layout there, @sf315 ‘s ‘Hillport Goods’.  All the models were to an enviably high standard I thought, but this one beat the others by a whisker (and a few of my resulting pictures are presentable), having the liveries I like best and capturing an ‘atmosphere’ I find so evocative.  Thank you to the operators for letting me distract them with my photographing: I was trying to reproduce the
C126

C126 in B.R. blue goods yard.

3
Mattington - 4mm Scale Layout

A return to the lower deck - part 3

First semaphore signal installed and working.   2x front crossover points all wired up and working, have installed microswitches for frog polarity.   Now I know the wiring configuration the rest should be straight forward enough although I need to build a daughter board for the CANMIO to enable 16 outputs for the servos.   When I took the photo of the signal I had power to it but had wired the relay up wrong so that it wasn't moving but it is now. - (Its a CANPAN, t
MattB

MattB in Layout Wiring

0
Leeds (London Road) Stock

Black 5s.. you can't have too many of them!

Mixed traffic locos are a must for Leeds (London Road). I have plenty of kit built Black 5s (plus a Hornby one not shown on here).   Ks Black 5 with a Mainline tender and Comet front bogie - a Namer! Lancashire     A Model Loco Black 5 with Portescap motor and gears fitted     Another Ks Loco Black 5  - it needs to have the gears cleaned out as it is getting to be quite noisy. It is probably 45 years old and was built by Nicktoix  
Barry O

Barry O in Layout locos

0
Learning Curve

Welding with candles

As expected I did manage to touch the soldering iron to one of my fingers, however, there is no lasting damage and no hurty cream was required.  Once I got used to the VERY tiny components and the proper soldering method it was straightforward.   The MERG kits have excellent instructions and even a hints and tips page was included with recommendations on additional tools that may be of use…so I have been on the Internet shopping again!   Once the kit was complete I tested usi
Learning Curve

Learning Curve in Electronics

0
The Strawberry Line

Cheddar P4 - June 2023 Update

Afternoon peeps. progress has slowed a bit and been limited to detailing of the station building. The train shed has been adorned with signs, posters and timetables and after a couple of attempts, I’ve got some representative gas lighting installed and working. These came from eBay and are of Chinese origin. They just need painting and tweaking a bit. The platform lamps are from Kytes Lights and are the best I could do to match the original GWR gas lamp columns and replacement hea
ullypug

ullypug in P4 layout

3
Kelvinbank, a Caledonian Railway project.

Caledonian No. 263, a rebuild, part 2

The body needed a fair amount of sorting out, a lot of bits fell off when it was being stripped. It isn’t the best paint job, but painting is not my favourite activity. As ever with the CR a lot of awkward brightwork but I have tried to tone it down a little to give a practical in use look. I also simplified the lining a bit.                 The main reason for the rebuild was to improve running. So a bit of video showing 263 on a trip worki
Dave John

Dave John in General

6

  • Blog Statistics

    2,556
    Total Blogs
    21,989
    Total Entries
×
×
  • Create New...