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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
    • 2,833 views
Lora's Park

Lora's Park, less a hobby more a necessity

Lora's Park   Why This does not pretend to be a perfect Model Railway. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a layout with which to Play Trains, but more importantly this is a bereavement layout, its main purpose is to give me purpose, give me something constructive to do instead of spending my time wailing at the injustice of the world.   My wife fully supported my Railway Hobby and was a great one for ideas and suggestions, her pride was the Whomping Willow she
PeterStiles

PeterStiles in Layout

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Chesworth - Horsham MRC's 00 Finescale project

Picking up again

It's been a while since I last updated this blog. Admittedly the Christmas break had something to do with that, but also that much of our efforts since the Dorking show have been on dull things like maintenance or on finishing off things already reported on. Our minds are now being concentrated on the fact the club has an open day of April 6, and that means we need to organise ourselves better.   One major issue we had on returning from Dorking is that between the exhibition and the ne
whart57

whart57 in Monthly Reports

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western viscount's Blog

Bachmann Autocoach bits and bobs

I am building a model of a prototype location in Wrexham NE Wales. Caia Road goods was a small set of sidings along the Wrexham - Ellesmere Cambrian branch.  Before closure in 1962 the mainstay of passenger traffic was made up of 14xx and autocoaches.    Here is a airfix coach being upgraded using the MJT detail kit... A BR(w) auto coach I built using the comet kit... And a bargain from Rails of Sheffield bought not so long ago... I have copied the bits and bo
Stevethomas6444's modelling blog.

Last one from Hattons

Hello!    The news of Hattons closing down has no doubt shocked a majority of the model railway community. The topic has been extensively covered by a lot of people so I won't rabble on! They will be missed and I wish the team all the best.    With the sale on I made an impulse purchase of a second-hand Bachmann Class 168. This is well outside my era/area which is usually SE London around 1991-1995 but I do have my reasons, not that I need to justify it! 😂   Back in
Fen End Pit's Blog

Little Grey Fergie

Techy bit ----   So this weekend I took delivery of my shiny new Anycubic Photon M5S Pro and a Wash-and-cure station. This was ordered direct from Anycubic and arrived 5 days sooner that the original delivery date. The printer has a 10" build plate so it considerably larger than my old Phrozen Sonic mini 4K. It also has the advantage of wifi connectivity so I can monitor progress in the garage from my warm workbench in the house. The printer also comes with a heater which means I don't
Fen End Pit

Fen End Pit in Fen End Pit

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MikeOxon's Broad Gauge Blog

3 - BG Wagons - Sheep, Coke, & Coal

I shall round off my modelling of the early wagons, produced for the GWR during the formative years before 1840, by considering three types intended for specific duties, rather than the ‘general purpose’ wagons described in my previous two posts.   Sheep Truck 1840   A sheep truck is one of the types mentioned in Whishaw’s ‘The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland’, published 1842. He described these ‘trucks’ as having high sides, four wheels, and to weigh 8,237 lbs. Apart f
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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western viscount's Blog

Dapol Kitmaster Presflo uplift 2

I am of the habit to start a project enthusiastically and then to gradually abandon half completed projects.  This time I am determined to complete and have powered on to complete the construction side of things... The side pipe was attached (on the wrong side initially as is the custom) and handle attached to the hatches. The catwalk located holes were filled ready for a scratchbuilt replacement.  The side pipe is .8mm brass rod. It is linked to the gauge using fuse wire. B
Modelling the 1840s in HO

Using PECO 009 couplers for magnetic uncoupling

A couple of years ago I started using PECO 009 hook-and-loop couplers, as the buffer beams on 1840s models are much lower than the beams on more modern stock and the usual 00/H0 solutions don't work. Gluing the plastic shafts of PECO GR-101 couplers to the bottom of the beams worked okay,  but I decided to try a more organised approach to  coupling and uncoupling stock.  I recently read that the 009 Society recommends setting narrow gauge couplers 6 mm above rail height, and I decided to experim
Barry Ten's Blog

Two new bargain restorations

Following the theme of the last entry, here are two more cheap and cheerful vehicular restorations.     The 3.4 litre Jag is a Lesney model that was in a very tatty state. I flush-glazed it from the outside using Glue-n-glaze as I didn't want to faff around getting into the rivetted interior. It worked surprisingly well although I've not always had success with glazing big gaps like the windscreen. The model was repainted. The Lesney wheels were retained, but I swapped the o
Barry Ten

Barry Ten in GWR

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western viscount's Blog

Dapol Kitmaster Presflo uplift.

I haven't used the blog section for a while and thought I would show what I have been up to this weekend.    I enjoy kitbuilding rolling stock, particularly wagons. Here are a few "improvements" I have made to the Dapol/airfix/kitmaster presflo wagon... A few changes include... Drilling out the sole bar mounted end steps as they are solid on the model but open on the prototype.  Some additional brake rigging detail An object which looks like a tie bar.  Lanark
4 COR's Modelling

A Stove Equipped BY

This seems to have taken some time to get mostly finished off, but I think I am done (bar adding ballast and the couplers, but I'll sort these out en masse when I have a few vans/wagons built).   Here is a Parkside BY Utility van (Van C) - kit PC34, finished in BR(S) green. Being in the very low range number wise (this is S402S), this has a stove and so has the relevant yellow panels. Many thanks to those who responded helpfully to my thread over here!    Had a couple of hicc
4 COR

4 COR in Kit Making

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MikeOxon's Broad Gauge Blog

Broad Gauge Trio – 2nd Movement

In my previous post, I described modelling of some of the earliest wagons ordered for the GWR in the late 1830s. At that time, much of the railway was still under construction – the complete route from London to Bristol was not opened until 30th June 1841. Information on these early wagons is sparse, although we are fortunate to have several illustrations by J.C.Bourne, which are sufficiently accurate to indicate the main features.   Bristol Goods Shed – J.C.Bourne 1842  
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Barry Ten's Blog

You little Minx

After a trip to the dentist last week I treated myself by popping into the toys & collectables shop on our high street. They sometimes have some railway stuff and I had my eye on a Superquick church kit that I'd spotted in the window a week or two earlier. Alas, the aforementioned ecclesiastical structure had gone but a rummage in one of the bins turned up a nice little white metal car kit in the John Day range. Although I didn't realise it at the time, it's a prewar/war Hillman Minx.  
Barry Ten

Barry Ten in GWR

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The Farthing layouts

Slater's GWR dia E37 Tri-compo clerestory coach

My GWR E37 tri-compo is ready for painting, built from the Slater’s kit. Earlier I did a blow-by-blow account of the C19 build from the same range, so this post will focus on new experiences and things that were different.       There was more flash around the windows than in the C19 kit, especially at the bottom. The window edges are quite thin and hard to distinguish from the flash, and therefore easily damaged when the flash is removed. Inspecting the sides from behind helped.
Up the Line - 1918

Mickleover

'Better late than never', as the saying goes so here a mere eight days but 192 very hectic hours (OK, I was asleep for some of them!), after the Trent Area 7mm Narrow Gauges' lovely showlet at Mickelover in Derbyshire, is a brief update on my contribution. A contribution which which spanned two tables with a six foot test track upon which four years work shuttled happily back and forth and and 14 out of the 22 planed models were displayed in some form of completion or other. It is rather scary t
KH1

KH1 in Up the Line

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46444's Blog

Wagon Miscellany. GWR ballast wagons x 3 and a Ratio Huntsman Ales kit.

Tonight's blog entry is an eclitic mix of wagons I am working on that are currently on the workbench.   The kit below I am working on is an excellent Chivers GWR P17 permanent way wagon. As with all Chivers kits the quality is superb.    It's just waiting for some of Mr. Frank's finest buffers from Lanarkshire Model Supplies (LMS).     The Cambrian GWR P18 is enhanced with Lanarkshire Model Supply buffers and Chivers door bangs.    
46444

46444 in 46444 Blog

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What happened next? A blog by Keith Addenbrooke

Ceteris Paribus: a lesson to remember

Ceteris Paribus I've been reminded of two assumptions I was taught when I studied economics, about how markets function:   The first seemed quite fanciful at the time - the idea that buyers (and sellers) have perfect market knowledge.  Although it was presented to us as a means of simplifying analysis, the rise of the internet means it is now within reach.  When it comes to model railways, I can compare prices, quality, availability and alternatives for anything I'm wanting to eit
Keith Addenbrooke

Keith Addenbrooke in 2024

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MikeOxon's Broad Gauge Blog

A Broad-Gauge Trio of Wagons

Following my stock review , I realised that, although I have quite a good selection of early broad-gauge carriages, there are relatively few examples of early goods wagons.   While thinking about the possibilities, I looked at the contemporary pen and wash sketch by J.C.Bourne, which shows three types of early broad-gauge wagons, including one with wheels outside the body sides and a tilt cover.     For more information and drawings, I turned to the invaluable set
MikeOxon

MikeOxon in General

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Fen End Pit's Blog

How does your garden grow? With 16mm Garden tools, obviously

Following a request for some garden tools I took to the Thingiverse and found a couple of items to print. The spade, fork and grass rake were made for 12th scale but scaled down to 16mm without too much issue. I then drew up a rake and, because I couldn't find ones I like the look of, a watering can and plant pots.     The nice thing about the plant pots was that I only had to draw one size and then scale them in the slicer on the printer to get a range of sizes.  
Kelvinbank, a Caledonian Railway project.

No. 583 , a condensing Jumbo.

The 83 members of the 709 Class 0-6-0 tender engines were built by McIntosh from 1895 onwards. They were the original Jumbos, all Westinghouse fitted for mixed traffic duties. Five members of the class Nos 583 to 587 were fitted with condensing apparatus for working the Glasgow underground lines.     The model dates back to the 90s, some of it from a secondhand djh kit, the rest scratchbuilt. Unusually for me it runs on Gibson sprung hornblocks. I noticed that it had developed a s
Dave John

Dave John in General

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Methuselah's Blog

15. Worth The Effort....?

Tractive Effort......in practical terms.   I have searched the forums here for an existing thread on Tractive Effort, and other than some mentions in other threads have not found one on this specific subject.   The 4mm scale, OO gauge diorama that I'm building necessitates gradients down to and UP from a lower storage level - or else I wouldn't be writing this. As a corollary of deciding what maximum gradient to allow, it follows that some sort of assessment of what it takes
Oldhaven Harbour. A novice tries n gauge

Track Plans

I'm jumping ahead slightly here in the decision making process but I wanted to cover what has already happened sooner rather than later.  Which is to say the track plan was developed over a week in early January, a welcome distraction from post christmas lethargy.  The first plan was mark 1.  The idea was to have a distinct pasenger operation mixed and matched with a freight operation.    The knowledge I brought to this was, run around loops are needed for loco operations, trains don't
ngaugenic

ngaugenic in track plan

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