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  • 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
    • 2,864 views
General

My Atmospheric Caper - Part 2

Introduction   In Part 1 of this series, I described my model of the piston-carriage for the South Devon (SDR) atmospheric railway, based on drawings by Paul Garnsworthy in the Broad Gauge Society (BGS) Journal ‘Broadsheet’Nos 44 and 46.   It’s been great to receive so many positive comments – clearly some of my viewers like reading about ‘forgotten’ corners of railway history. They spurred me into getting on with the next phase. Thank you!   The carriage body was r
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

10
backsecene

Backscene West

The easiest bit of my backscene is the sea to the west of my layout. It's inspired by the view from West St Leonards with Hastings seafront to the west and Beachy Head to the right.   In my last post I showed how I set up my backscene and created the sky.  For the sea behind my layout I cut a 100mm x 3000mm strip of lining paper and airbrushed that with a slightly varying dark teal colour and stuck that so that the top was completely level to simulate the horizon.     For the
deepfat

deepfat in backsecene

0
Upgrading locos and rolling stock

Coaches and wagons

Currently, I only have a few items of rolling stock:     BR Mk1 Ex-BG Network Rail generator coach   BR Mk1 BCK Network Rail   2 HHA Hopper wagons in Freightliner livery,    A pair of MJA wagons in Freightliner livery   A pair of IOA wagons in Network Rail livery   An ISP Snowplough     I'm hoping to get some more at some point including:   T7 Translator vehicle (converted Class 313)   Caroline ob
General

My Atmospheric Caper - Part 1

Introduction   Having worked my way back to the very beginnings of the GWR, it’s been hard to think of where to go next. I’ve enjoyed exploring those odd-ball engines that Brunel ordered for his new concept of a railway, even though they proved to be disastrously undersized. Nevertheless, several of them had quite long lives as branch-line engines.   I do enjoy ‘bringing to life’ forgotten areas of railway history and, for the broad gauge, the ultimate in odd-ball ideas was,
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

12
General Help

Confusion With Point Motors

Hello all, I apologize for the long duration between posts, I have been extraordinarily busy with my various other obligations. I have a question surrounding the function of Peco point motors, specifically the use of the PL-15 micro-switch. Up until about an hour ago, I was under the impression that Pl-10E, PL-13, and PL-9 were all of the parts required to operate the basic Peco point motor, as these were the only parts mentioned in the various tutorials I have watched. I saw the PL-15 show u
FREMO

UK FREMO summer meeting

Onc more it's come around to a UK FREMO meeting, which will take place this weekend. Most of the UK FREMO members are attending, along with invited guests who help fill the driving roster and add to the conviviality. There will be something like fifteen of us (or maybe a few more) over the two days.   The arrangement, made up of modules mostly from the group, is H0 to NEM standards with code 75-80-ish track and gentle curves, and we run to a timetable (reminds me I need to check over i
readingtype

readingtype in FREMO

1
Cheddar

Cheddar P4 - July 2023 update

I've finally finished the station board and have swapped it out so that I can start on the last board, the one nearest Wells or board 8 if you want to be specific. It includes Station Road and its bridge. The last things on the station board were the coal bins on the down mileage sidings and fencing. I've still to do the station chimney pots but that will require a visit to the actual station to take some better photos as these will need to be 3D printed. The roof is going to be fixed down to cu
ullypug

ullypug in Cheddar

10
General

CR Diagram 16 pig iron wagons.

According to the 1907 wagon census the Caledonian had 1861 pig iron wagons, of which 1300 were to Diagram 16 in various build lots to either 8 or 14 tons.  Certainly the CR moved a lot of pig iron from furnaces to steelworks and foundries, but these wagons were used as a sturdy one plank dropside for anything that needed moved. One of those wagons that turned up everywhere and is very useful for forming short rakes on the layout.   These two are from the whitemetal 51L kit, they go tog
Dave John

Dave John in General

9
Upgrading locos and rolling stock

Locomotives

Currently on Draxbridge, I have three locomotives:   Class 08 08585  Class 31 31602 Driver Dave Green Class 73 73121    Now, I have come to realise that I need a lot more in order to run a decent timetable. However, I can't just go and buy one. I'll have to save up for one or two then buy them when I get the chance.    The diesel classes that are seen on the mainline which I'm after are:    Class 20 Class 31 Class 33 Class 37
Upgrading the trackwork

The trackwork

On the scenic section, Draxbridge had two sidings, one of which also acts as a headshunt, a crossover and a point that leads into the TMD shed. However, I think it could do with an upgrade as I'm not particularly happy with the current track layout.      So I set about thinking on how I could improve the layout. One of my ideas was I could add a pair of points on the two sidings. I had three points already but I could always buy some more if I needed any. So I set about comin
Buildings

Northumberton - Further Metcalfe Modifications

Hi again, a quick update and a description of some working doors I have fitted to a Metcalfe engine shed. The track is almost all down now, I want to spray this with a black/brown mist coat before finally connecting everything up. This also looks better in the tunnels where I will not be ballasting. I have been experimenting with my laser cutter (X-Tool D1 Pro) which has proved to be better than I had hoped. It cuts thin plywood e.g. 3mm with ease – examples below being the roof trusses in the l
Northumberton

Northumberton in Buildings

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Fen End Pit

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
B.R. blue goods 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
backsecene

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
The layout

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
The scenics

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
Monthly Reports

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
general

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
J17 Build

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
Layout Planning

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
Electronics

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
Blog Post

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
Layout Planning

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

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