Hello all,
I haven't used the blog section for a while but thought i'd share a new project i'm building with my dad.
Many many moons ago ( 1963 to be precise ) my father went to Austria on a school trip and despite being a dyed in the wool steam fan was very taken with austrian electric locos, this planted a seed which would years later manifest itself in this new layout that is currently under construction.
My dad recently discovered that a company called kleinbahn were still trad
Hello all,
Finally finished the Kato test track / layout. I've done odd jobs to it over the last couple of months but just never seem to get anywhere fast so for the last few days i concentrated on getting it completed, There is one remaining job which is to connect up a final point motor but i'm waiting on a new lead arriving, once thats done i shall put it in the classifieds here and hopefully it will get a new home.
Few pics of the finished layout.
Cheers
Hello all,
I've been plodding along with this doing a little bit at a time, the ballasting is all finished and now requires weathering with an airbrush.
The scenery is almost complete to a basic level, the freight yard has had a concrete pad fitted (needs painting) and ballast pile, On the station side the platforms have had a coat of paint and some lamps fitted although i managed to knock half of them off when moving the layout, there is also a factory unit and some retaining walls in pla
Hello,
Spent a pleasant day at the Bexhill model railway exhibition with Smithdown Rd Junction, A lovely show, some very good layouts and a very friendly atmosphere.
heres a few pictures from the day.
Really impressed with the signals on BLS Sud Rampe.
Detford.
Ashington.
I think this is Nant-y-glo Mine.
Hayes lane.
Mineral point.
And lastly mine.
Cheers
Graham.
Hello all,
I seem to be having a few productive days of late, Todays task was to push my brothers new layout along so out came the tools and i made a start on the bridge that forms the scenic break to the fiddle yard, nothing to adventurous, embossed brick for the walls some plastic strip and a couple of Peco bridge sides job done. I was going to leave it a redish brick colour but instead decided on an engineers blue brick that has been fairly weathered, overall i'm fairly pleased with it.
Hello all,
I'm working on several different projects at the moment and almost all of them are at a standstill either due to the hot weather or awaiting materials so today whilst feeling a little bored i got on with something that has been put aside for months.
A few years ago i purchased a selection of Kato unitrack to see what it was like and possibly build some kind of test track, at first i would set it up on the kitchen workbench (sorry table) and would run in new locos and just have
Hello all,
Well its a been a while since i posted in my blog so i thought i'd share something i've been building today.
My brother Stuart has recently sold his N gauge layout and a fair bit of stock as he is heading towards married life and with two layout's in two scales it wouldn't have gone down to well with SWMBO, however he started to venture into DCC a while ago and didn't wish to loose his controller or the few DCC loco's he had. Whilst he was going through items to sell on we c
Hello,
Some small jobs have been completed over the last week or so, first to be completed was the remaining ballasting outside the Mail terminal and also a small section behind the fuelling point. Fencing has been added to the retaining walls, fuelling point and also the mail depot, various painting and weathering done.
Built a Hurst PCV thats been sitting on the bench for far to long, just needs to be painted now. Whilst doing this i also shortened the gap between my mail vans, simple lit
Hello everyone.
Have been completing quite a few boring jobs of late like electrics etc and one job that got finished today was the lighting pelmet. Its nothing fancy, just a length of ply with some bracing a fluorescent light and bob's your uncle, I have built it so it slides in position either end of the layout using the frame that supports the facia.
Other news has been purchase of a Branor Systems Kam truck, (no connection just very happy customer) What a great little piece of kit,
Hello all, I've been struggling the last few months to get any progress on the layout, There's always things to do but i seem to loose interest quite quickly at the moment, I keep myself busy by building kits or weathering stock etc but work on the layout (especially scenics) has ground to a halt. Nothing major i know but having to wait for kits etc is preventing me doing other work so the knock on effect is nothing gets done and my enthusiasm starts to dry up.
Well this morning i've had ple
Hello, Its been about two months since i've done anything on the layout due to it being stored while i destroyed and rebuilt a bedroom, that now finished i can start on its new home. The layout has its own legs which are fine but now it's going to be living in the smallest room in the house and because i am still working on electrics and the fiddle yard dragging it out to work on is quite hard. I needed a different approach so that access to the rear of the layout would be easier and came up wit
Hello all, Theres not really much i can write here as the photos will speak for themselves, A few new locos joined the fleet this week, they were resprayed and weathered by Mercig studio's, i'm over the moon with them. (no connection with Mercig other than a very happy customer).
37229 & 37069
37203
90019
Altogether
37's on the fuelling point
Cheers
Graham.
I have been having a little tidy up of the layout and something that resembles a workbench over the last few days and found a cheap airbrush i bought many moons ago so set about doing some weathering and a respray, The respray is nothing grand, its an olive liveried seacow i picked up specifically to paint in Mainline blue, shame is its the wrong variant but It'l do, i've addded what transfers i can find but need specific white Seacow lettering and Tops panel. (Sure i'l find something somewhere)
Hello all, Few days off work so i thought i would attempt to finish the freight only line on the layout, I have been putting off doing it for a long while mainly because it involved cutting new trackbeds out of plywood and lots of general noise and mess, however i was feeling rather enthusiastic this morning and went for it, as well as finishing the trackwork i also boxed in the right hand side of the layout with a removable top for access.
few photos to show whats been done.
Also
Good evening all,
I have done hardly any modelling for a long while and its about time i pulled my finger out and got on with some. I have just purchased among other things some of the beautiful Graham Farish MK1s with an intention to turn them into a charter rake used by WCRC. The first big change that had to happen is to replace the bogies with more modern commonwealth types, first problem is that you cant get them as spares so i have had to find the cheapest full RES brake coaches and stea
Play with new toys of course.
Hello, Work on the layout has been at a very slow pace this last few months, having to spend a lot of time working on the wiring has drained a fair bit of energy out of me and although i'm happy with what i've achieved, i find that endless wires, burnt fingers and a loss of temper don't do much for my modelling enthusiasm. However, with some time off work, some new toys for christmas i find myself wanting to get on with some work. christmas gifts consisted of
Hello all. Thought i'd post a few pictures of my recent progress, After a fair bit of work, several coffees and a little swearing i have now something that resembles a control panel, I've wired up six points, completed four signals one of which is automated,and added some catenery on the main line.
Graham.
Hello, Its been quite a while since i've updated the blog so i thought i'd share some of the progress i have made lately. I've been putting off the bulk of wiring for to long so this weekend i decided to get stuck right in and get on with it, On previous layouts my wiring usually resembled spaghetti, so this time after many lessons learnt i've drawn out whats needed and glued all wires to the underside of the baseboard, labelled and colour coded each one, I'm about halfway through what is need
Hello, Its been a few weeks so i thought i would give a small update, Had a clear out of some of my older locos which dont quite fit in the era i am modelling, but in doing so i bought two new ones whilst using a well known auction site. first off is 66200 in EWS and then 60006 in British steel blue, got the pair for a 100 quid, very pleased with both.
The fueling point is pretty much complete now, needs a few more people, vans etc and some weathering but i'm quite pleased with the overall r
Hello, Over the last few weeks i have had some time to catch up on modelling, much of the work has been completing all the trackwork in the fiddle yard but whilst clearing up one evening i found my old fueling point from the original Smithdown rd, On the new layout the triangle on the upper level between the mainline and freight branch was a bit sparse so i have been trying to think of what to put there, first i thought of a warehouse but probably to small, then maybe a scaffold yard or somethin
Hello all, I've had a reasonable evening of progress tonight, finally bit the bullet and started drilling holes that i've been putting off, In my haste to get the layout up and running i forgot to pre drill for some point motors and signals so rather than work from underneath i worked from above. I am using both Seep and Peco point motors, Peco ones have been fitted to the points in front of the mail terminal then re-layed along with a shunting signal which i have managed to destroy, with my wir
Nothing much to update other than some extra stock, I've been working far to hard of late so thought i'd treat myself, recently picked up a Loadhaul 60, The dummy EWS 67, 4x MOAs( very nice to) a dutch seacow, pair of container wagons, also the Bachfar offices and a lovely piece of technology that will run one of my signals automatically. must catch up on weathering and detailing now.
Graham.
Evening all, Having little or no time to work on the layout at moment is getting quite frustrating and when i do eventually get to do some i seem to get absolutely nowhere, however, last few days i have managed to do some small jobs. First off was the ballasting on the Lower main lines with associated greenery, all that remains to do is weather the track and sort the over head wires, (think i'l wait till i'm feeling more patient).
Second job was to ballast the inside of the mail terminal and l
Its been a fair few weeks since i've done any proper work on the layout and have got some time off work to try and push things forward a little, spent some of yesterday cutting and fitting the required timber for the upper level and also started on the point motors, the junction outside the mail terminal can't have point motors fitted underneath the board because of the lower level trackwork and framework supporting the top level, Its been a bit of trial and error but i'm going to use wire in tu
The layout has been out of action for a while whilst it moved rooms, but now in its new home i've been playing (i mean testing of course). with the layout packed away it gave me a little push to get on with things i had been putting off like the mail terminal building and some weathering of stock etc, so tonight i borrowed some of my brothers new acquisition's and played about with the camera. I have also been planning what's next? I need to complete the timber work for the freight line just be
