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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
    • 2,782 views
Shawslong Railway Company

Well i forgot i had a blog....

No pictures this time again...   i actually forgot i had a blog till i checked whether i had one or not!   Recently again its been hectic because of exams fastly approaching and the like again, which as always are a pain in the rear end.   recently i bought two engines off another fellow forum member and i am tempted to transform the class 47 into one of the 1977 Jubilee livery variants using vinyl graphics (a call to electra methinks...) so watch this space, it may or may not happen.  
Leicester Thumper

Leicester Thumper

0
Will's workbench

PNAs: Frankenstein's underframe

I finally got hold of a Bachmann SSA locally, which I've wanted for ages in order to try Nigel Burkin's underframe conversion from the Modern Wagons book.     I followed the book's recipe fairly closely, although I cleaned up the original SSA buffer mouldings (which had a fair bit of flash) and used brake details recovered from the PNA's underframe. Not strictly correct, and I suspect there should be more stuff under there but I can't figure it out from the pictures in the book. To fit the
Will Vale

Will Vale

4
First Steps in O gauge

Part 2 - the trackplan

After some deliberation I've finally settled on what I think is a suitable trackplan to capture what I am looking for.   The layout is nominally based "early 80's", somewhere in SW England. It draws a lot of inspiration from Chard Junction, although very little of the actual prototype location can be seen!   The scenic area is 12ft long x 2ft 6 wide, accommodated on three 4ft x 2ft 6" boards made using standard construction methods that I won't bother to detail.   It is essentially a term
cromptonnut

cromptonnut

4
barrowroad's Blog

First Show - Bristol Scalefour Society AGM

The Scalefour Society AGM was held today in Bristol. Thanks to the Bristol Area Group for inviting the embryonic Barrow Road to it's first show. Assembly of the legs and boards were complete in a record 20mins - positioning the shed buildings, coaling tower and stock took a while longer, but I am very pleased with the ease of assembly.   Thanks go to Chris and Morgan of the Glevum Group for assistance and to Morgan and Dave Holt for the lone of additional stock - photos of some of their locos
barrowroad

barrowroad

8
RJRs Branch Lines

25 body progress

I have now acquired some drawings with kind thanks, allowing me to continue..         This next shot gives a better idea of my construction methods.     Next up was the outline of the fuel tank     Following a kind suggestion I have made the bogie end of it concave to allow it to sit more off centre.   Having taken these pictures I decided something was missing at under the buffer beam, it just didn't look right and was obvious the bogies were just cladding. So some more
johnteal

johnteal

3
R.Langley's Workbench

Lima Class 117

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first entry from my workbench. A couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought myself a 2 car 117 in NSE livery (however I stupidly overlooked the TSL next to it!) with a view to adding extra detail, lighting and improving the performance of the 'pancake' motor. I started to add detailing parts to it yesterday, the pictures below illustrate how far I've got with it so far. So far, I have flush-glazed most of the windows, added a screw link coupling and high
R.Langley

R.Langley

3
coombe junction - moorswater

coombe junction - Display II

Update - Following Alex's question on my last post, I couldn't quite manage to upload an image within a reply so have added it here.   Whilst being something of a 'tradionalist' and liking to see a nicely presented layout complete with full length fabric to disguise the support structure, a pet hate of mine is to see the fabric pinned to the front of the layout or resembling something of a washing line running along the front edge.   For CJ I am aiming to align the black fabric with the fron
bcnPete

bcnPete

5
Cherry's Corner.

Jinty - nearly there!

The wheels have arrived for my next project which has spurred me on to get this Jinty finished before I plough into the next job.   So having finished most of the etched detailing I've given it a clean before starting on adding all the whitemetal castings. So this is the current progress, the chimney casting was carefully drilled out before fitting so there is a decent sized hole down into the smokebox, sanding pipes have been fitted to one side and a few of the other castings have been adde
Adrian

Adrian

0
Ramblings from the Man Cave

Where'd it go?

I visited Littlemore recently to take some photographs of the site as it is today and better understand the topography. Here are just some of the pictures I took to help with the layout, along with some explanation to help make sense of them.   The site of the station itself is now occupied by a fabricators. Here is how the approach looks today from the road:     and the approach itself:     The station buildings are long gone. The road is carried on an overbridge, mostly built up ov
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

0
SNCF stephen's Blog

One cab down one to go!

Well I have spent most of the morning (and a small proportion of the afternoon) removing the front end of the 159 donor unit and replacing it with the class 323 brass etching. I was quite pleased with how well the front came off and in the end I had nothing to fear really. The pantograph bay has also been almost completed with just a small hole needing to be drilled before I can complete the work on that entire carriage.   What did surprise me, with regards to how problematic it has been,
SNCF stephen

SNCF stephen

0
Somewhere in Germany

Taking stock

With Bad Horn currently ensconsed in the Marklin Model Railway Club's clubrooms, and me still living in temporary accomodation, work is slow. Plus, what little work I have done I can't show as I keep forgetting to take my camera. Still, one thing I can do is a little stock work. Even that is a little limited though, as I have nowhere for spraying or getting really messy. However, in the interests of my sanity I had to do something, and so using Tamiya Weathering Masters I started work on Bad Hor
Taigatrommel

Taigatrommel

3
John Geeee's OO Garden Shed Blog

21. The Station Rebuild, Part One

The OO Garden Shed   By John Geeeee   I decided to extend the length of the terminous track and add an extra crossover for a longer runaround. I also thought I would build a new station building and a new platform to accomodate the extra length. The extra length will now hold 5 carriages plus the loco and tender. I also wanted to move the station building to sit along the track rather than across the track ends.   The new station and platforms are made using Scalescenes kits. Here is the s
John Geeee

John Geeee

3
SNCF stephen's Blog

A sunny day at Pantograph Bay

No not a seaside resort with a terrible name, but a small update about how the pantograph bay is coming along. I spent most of the day filing it out and it has come out about right. I believe its about half a milimetre too long but I shall rectify this wil some milliput when I install the brass pantograph bay. This will be done after I have drilled the hole for the pantograph which was donated from an old Farish class 91.     Some pictures of the before and after treatment of the bodyside
SNCF stephen

SNCF stephen

0
Barry Ten's Blog

Paynestown - a valleys terminus in 00

Just a quick update from me - here are some summery snaps of a "quickie" layout I've been knocking together since Christmas. The idea was to have something other than Cogirep to exhibit this year, and to plunder the scrap box and general leftovers from my old layouts to the fullest extent. For a long while I've also wanted to create a compact, valleys-themed terminus on which 56xxs and panniers can potter about happily, and which gets away from the chocolate box look of so many GWR branch line t
Barry Ten

Barry Ten

13
Hiesler's Blog

English narrow gauge engine fleet.

As I suggested, I have also been doing some work on my British locos. So first up is the Middlemill Railways engine fleet:         Injector piping and hand rails have since been added.     At the moment the smallbrook engines are sharing chassis, I am waiting to see if it will be possible to use the upcoming Bachmann Bill/Ben chassis as a replacement as they are bound to run better.   Another project that I have been working on for a long time is Prince from the Ffestiniog Rail
Hiesler

Hiesler

0
Esso Tanker Train

‘Esso’ Tanker Train - The Tanks

The Dapol 20t tank wagons is a simple kit top produce, one I actually would recommend to anyone who was starting out or wanted an add some non-taxing details. However, there were a few slight hiccups when opening most of the kits. Broken parts as you can see here. This isn’t a major, if incredibly irritating, problem. So first check all of the parts and prepare to spend the best part of a hour trying to rectify any problems you come across! I started wi
Sylvian Tennant

Sylvian Tennant

8
Esso Tanker Train

‘Esso’ Tanker Train

It’s been nearly two years since I’ve picked up a kit. The reason why was down to a lack of confidence in my own ability. However a recent house move and prospect of employment had given me a new drive for modelling. This has been a project I have wanted to do for a long time since hearing about the Esso Oil Trains to Fawley hauled typically behind a 9F or later by a Type 3 (Class 33). The actual inspiration came from a picture of an N gauge layout were a Crosti 9F was pulling was rake of Es
Sylvian Tennant

Sylvian Tennant

2
RJRs Branch Lines

More 25 in G work continues

Okay chaps, here is tonight's update. The other end now is at the same stage. I have added steps to the bogies and the starts of the buffer beams are taking shape.   In these pictures I have clamped the side piece on to help visualise where I am going.           Looking at the pictures I realise I have marked out the grilles wrong at both ends they need making a bit bigger to take them up to the top of the cab window line.   I realise at this point, some compromises are going
johnteal

johnteal

4
43179's workbench

Colas Class 47s

Thanks to the forum I recently aquired the Rail Express/vitrains class 47s in Colas Livery. Im really pleased I treated myself to these locos - I've spent a week or so gradually adding all the bits , which is most enjoyable - I've added some extra pipework on the bufferbeam associated with the ETH gear - and changed a few detail parts for Heljan/Bachmann alternatives. Vitrains have done a lovely job of these models - Demelza is finished - Rebecca is taking a bit longer - as it has a d
43179

43179

2
SNCF stephen's Blog

Before the cut - The class 323 moves a step closer

Its taken a little longer than I expected to get all the bits and pieces to get this project moving but I have been making a bit of progress on converting the Farish Class 159 into a Centro Livery class 323 EMU.   I have started painting the brass etches and I am looking at how best to colour the air dam at the front. The Electra Grapics could be used to cover these areas but I am not sure whether it might be better to paint them white and see what that looks like first. I started strippi
SNCF stephen

SNCF stephen

0
Smallbridge

The Sound of Silence

While not much has happened on the layout, due to sickness, and other commitments. A decision has been made that sound is not really viable for either me or my layout. With a list a mile long of locos wanted and other things needed for the layout, my 37 with sound is for sale.   The main reason though, and this my personal opinion, is that with such a short run, DCC sound cannot be used to it's maximum potential. I agree that shed layouts with loads of locomotives do gain a lot from the sound
wollastonblue

wollastonblue

0
Layout stored on the ceiling

Grace's layout using a LTM Layout Lift

I have managed a start on my good lady Grace's 8ft by 4ft layout using a LTM Layout Lift to store it suspended from the ceiling in our small guest room.   The lift was installed as per the instructions     The layout base would have to be made as light as posible and was made from one sheet of 9mm ply for the framework and one sheet of 6mm as a top to hold two sheets of 50mm styro foam.     I began by cutting the 9mm ply sheet into 8 110mmm strips to form the sides; each strip double
emac

emac

0

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