Only just, but here it is...
In all truthfulness I've been getting Wheal Elizabeth ready for Warley this weekend and as the layout hasn't been out since the RMWeb members day at Taunton it's taken up the majority of my modelling time, along with one or two associated items of rolling stock I hope to run at the NEC.
However I've returned to track building on Cheddar, finally lifting the turnouts from the bench and placing them onto the layout boards proper. These are for the down yard. There is
Morning all just a bit of an update on Cheddar. I hadn't realised it's been 3 months since I last updated, but then progress has slowed a bit (mainly as a result of other distractions!), but in between making track for a friend's layout and tinkering away with the prairie I've stuck the odd bit of track down for the 7th board. You can see in the picture what I mean; the line on the left is the stone loading siding which rose up towards the bridge. I think ultimately I'll need one of the High Le
I've had a bit of success with my quest for Mendip Stone. I've found a Spanish supplier that does, what I think anyway, is a reasonable representation of Mendip Limestone. http://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/textured-sheets/155-abs-plasticard-smooth-rock-wall-sheet-a4.html I'd ordered some previously and finally got round to having a play with it, once I realised that the present incarnation of the 45xx chassis wasn't going anywhere (literally). More of that later. So rather than cut the chassis i
Health warning : it's not that interesting Glad I put the year in the blog updates... So, I have at least started the wiring of board 4. I do this with the board on end so I can see what I'm doing and more importantly, have access to the CD player to take away the monotony. Palatine droppers are soldered to the rail and tails soldered through. Most of the TOU's are in place and I can start wiring it all up. The single slip and double rail catch point makes the wiring logic interesting. There's g
Evening all
not much by way of an update as my Christmas project, pannier 5757 hasn't quite been finished and I'm off to Southampton this weekend with one of my other layouts.
The next board beckons and as usual, ply trackbed and laminate flooring underlay have been applied. This board has the main Axbridge end cross over/end loop and the entry into the down yard. It also sees the start of the Callow Hill quarry stone loading siding which rose away towards the Five Ways bridge. Not entirely su
Funny how I always seem to spend Christmas and the New Year period playing with Templot and track plans.
It's 2 years almost to the day since I first posted a plan of Cheddar on my other blog here, which I've been thinking about doing for some time now.
Whilst I've been building Clevedon, I've been tinkering with the ideas on and off and have been playing with various incarnations of the layout plan. I decided that if I was going to build Cheddar, it would have to be pretty much a dead scal
Afternoon I've been wiring. I'd forgotten how long it takes and just how many mistakes you can make along the way! But on the plus side, I now have the first board powered up and working. The only track left to build is the run off to the (as yet unconstructed fiddle yard). It's on DC at the moment but wire sized and installed for eventual DCC. The water works siding is in and you can see the prairie shuffling back and forwards on the attached video. I'm not turning the board over yet to photogr
Afternoon all Not much to report this month. We had a great time at the Southampton show and I ended up coming away with another delightful little loco from CSP. More of that anon. Having had a bit of a break from Cheddar, it has been good to crack on with some more of the track work and I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, scenic section at least, now that the Axbridge end crossover is done. Whisper it quietly but that only leaves the water works siding turnout... Once again
Evening all
Another update and surprise surprise I'm still building track.
Moving on to the sidings on the up side (South side) of the station. There were three sidings on this side along with the permanent way hut. I picked up a book at Warley a couple of weeks ago called 'Quarry Faces', the story of Mendip Stone Quarrying. There's a rather nifty photograph on p252 of the loading bank complete with Dodge tipper lorry. something to acquire from Road Transport Images I feel.
Anyhow, the siding
With the second board now wired and working, I've been building Five Ways bridge this week. I'm now sold on the 'Green World Stuff' embossed ABS sheet for the correct stone type and I've been trying to faithfully recreate the prototype bridge, which still stands today. I've had to make a couple of guesstimates in respect of dimensions but otherwise it's a close enough representation to my eyes anyway. I dragged an assorted collection of stock to gauge clearances (and to have another play!). With
Another month another update!
As I've had some time off I've been playing with the Palight sheets I bought and I have to say I'm really impressed with this stuff.
It's a foamed pvc sheet, denser than foam board and no skin as such, the material being the same consistency all the way through. It cuts with a scalpel, can be sanded, scribes really nicely and can be glued with Loctite 401.
I've used an artists scraper board blade ( no idea what the technical term is) much the same way I scribe D
You might have been thinking it'd all gone rather quiet and that I wouldn't be putting any update this month.
Or you might think that I'd actually forgotten all about it.
One of the above statements is true but I'm not telling you which. Ahem...
I finally took the plunge and made a start on the single slip that gives access to the down yard and stone loading point. Over the course of the last week, I've been slowly making progress. I use a mixture of rivets and plastic chairs all on staine
Afternoon all
It's been a few weeks so I thought I'd put an update on here.
Progress has slowed, due to other pressures, shows etc, but in between I have been soldiering away mainly with the overbridge at the Wells end. This has caused a bit of head scratching since the underside of the turnout needs to be accessible should it ever need adjusting/fixing etc.
Therefore I've build the bridge on a ply base that can be lifted off the layout and separated into two sections. Originally I chose to h
Evening all
Time for an update, even if it's not all that interesting.
Modelling does slow down in the summer. Must be all those long sunny evenings (looks out window at rain and damp seagulls flying backwards in the wind)...
Inbetween the golf and the odd walk or two, I've found a little time to make a bit of progress on Cheddar.
We're on to board 5 which is where things start to get interesting track wise. This is bar far the 'busiest' board, as the tracks fan out into the up and down sidi
I can never quite believe how long it is between blogs. Doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I posted the last one. Mind you I suppose it isn't 5 minutes is it?
I must say thanks to the gent who sought me out at Wells last weekend and kindly gave me a load of photos of Cheddar goods shed taken in the 1970's. Must have been just after the branch finally closed in 1969, by then nothing more than a long siding operated from Wells. I didn't get your name but the photos have wealth of information, espe
Couldn't resist taking a few piccies of the up yard on Cheddar. I've built a bit more track for this and as you can see made a mock up of the goods shed to check clearances into the down yard. I think I'll shorten the shed by 50mm or so as this is one of the areas where I put a bit of compression into the track plan. Still need to lay the track through the shed itself but need to check if this was inset or chaired first.
The up yard sidings rose in level to that of the platform surfaces from wh
Evening all
My birthday present to myself this year was the Home Edition of Coreldraw. It is quite simple to use and as promised last time I've managed to put together the plans and elevations for Cheddar Station. The building scales out at just over 2ft long. At the moment I've allowed for the building to continue below ground level, but I may well end up removing this.
My plan is to use a MDF carcass for the buildings with overlays for the Bath stone quoins, door and window surrounds. These
Well it's been a while since I posted anything on this thread, almost since the beginning of the first lock down in fact.
Whilst I have been concentrating on my Stonehouse St James covid layout in the intervening period, I did decide to complete the signal box for Cheddar. The box itself is a Saxby and Farmer Type 3 and as I noted last time, this was drawn up in Coreldraw and the parts cut by York Modelmaking. What followed was a fairly simple assembly of parts, correcting the various mistakes
Evening all after a summer recess and the always wonderful Wells exhibition, the modelling season is well and truly back with us and I'm looking forward to the annual pilgrimage to Scaleforum next weekend. After one or two distractions (more of that later) and by way of a release from the travails with my Lima 55xx, I've returned to the track building on Cheddar. The good news is I'm on the last board now and fiddle yard notwithstanding, have built the (hopefully) final turnout. You can see prog
Evening all
Just a bit of a progress report on Cheddar.
All 8 boards are now built and I'm getting ready to start building the track.
The last two boards are a little different as they will have the embankment and overbridge on Station Road on the Wells end of the station.
I've just about finalised the final layout plan and have started to mark up the various features. Next step will be printing the entire plan at full size and laying out on the boards.
Each board is a 6mm frame aroun
Modelling time has been limited recently due to work, family weddings, uni open days and holidays. I did have a rather splendid weekend at Scaleforum, helping operate my old Wheal Elizabeth layout and it was great to see so many old friends again. Once I’d gotten over the urge to come back and start building another china clay layout thoughts returned to Cheddar.
Progress has been limited to the building of 1 Station Road.
I wanted to include this as part of the final board and
First of all, happy new year to everyone! Hope you had a good festive break. As we start 2018 I thought I'd do a brief review of progress on Cheddar. I spent the year wiring the s8dding thing. Seriously, that's it. Oh and doing battle with the lever frame, which is connected to yet more wiring in the panel. And I hate wiring. This may be why I was so easily side tracked building an engine for Clevedon and the PDSWJR brake van and embryonic cameo layout to match, and building a few wagons, and so
Coming thick and fast now, helped by the thinning out of track as I approach the Wells end of the layout. This latest board has taken very little time to wire up and (whisper it quietly) that should be all of them now done. I've just one board to check as it was done some time ago and I can't remember what state it had got to. I've certainly changed the colour coding for the wiring since I wired it up! I daresay there'll be the odd plug to wire up as well but that shouldn't take too long. Hopefu
So the good news is a week on and the panel and board have been connected up and duly tested. Trains have run, generally in the directions they were intended to and generally without falling off, though there is one rail in the slip that needs glueing to the slide chairs as it's wandering a bit. The only real issues were frogs wired up incorrectly to the tortoises, but that was a matter of moments to swap wires around. I can start fettling the track and test in earnest, though I really should le
And so the assembly begins. The main shed has been glued around the ring beam and the building annex supporting walls fixed in place. I’ll add the main building next, once I’ve glued the end walls in. The building ultimately rests on the baseboard so platforms still have to be built and the base of each wall has a thickening and string course of ashlar to add, hence the black plasticard strips in some of the photos.
