A busy day last Thursday and also today, with the final preparations for the Hartlepool show nearly complete.
I put the layout up on Thursday to test the new alignment dowels that Re6/6 and I fitted a fortnight ago, and I'm pleased to say that they are doing what it says on the tin and making the alignment of the three scenic boards easy, saving us a few minutes off the time it takes to set the layout up.
John (Re6/6) has very kindly let me have a couple of his recent trees for the layou
Having had part of 'Engine Wood' set up this afternoon to start the process of fitting baseboard alignment dowels, I took the opportunity to take a few more photos of the recently weathered RTR rolling stock that I did recently:
The Gresley full brake:
A Hawksworth full brake:
Bachmann Mark 1 BG:
Ex-GW horsebox:
Two coach Hawksworth set:
Finally, another photo of the bogie bolster taken last week:
For the last 18 years, each time 'Engine Wood' has been set up, it's been necessary to align the track over the baseboard joints by eye, tightening up the bolts between the boards as you do so. Yes, there are some relatively primitive alignment aids but it generally involves kneeling down and carefully adjusting each baseboard joint by hand, whilst a friend watches the alignment of the rails from a different angle.
I've got fed up with this and have decided to fit C&L alignment dowels be
With 'Engine Wood' planned to be attending 'Hornby Magazine Live' at Hartlepool in early July, I thought I'd open some of the boxes of new R-T-R stuff and introduce a bit more variety in terms of stock used.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been working on a pair of Hawksworth coaches, three full brakes (one each of Hawksworth, Gresley & Mark 1 BG), a Hornby GW horsebox, a Hornby 'Van C' and finally a single 16t mineral wagon (needed one more to make up a second rake of 16 tonners). I
Having completed most of the work on the Townstreet goods shed recently (as per earlier blog entries), a test placing on the layout revealed just how tight the railway openings were for stock passing through the shed. Definitely a case of 'do not lean out of the window'...
Various items of stock and locos were tested through the building yesterday, with the result that some of the plaster on the door frames had to be removed, ie. thinned down, and then re-painted.
Now just about all my P
I've completed most of the 'structural' work on the blue Dapol Class 22 now, with the exception of glueing the lifting rings on the bogies. Having run it this evening with some wagons, I think that I'm going to have to replace the Dapol coupling hook with a Smiths one, to standardise it with the rest of my rolling stock.
After having done the basic chassis conversion using the Ultrascale wheels, as described in the earlier blog entry, I decided to put a driver in each cab and do something ab
Having previously felt that I wouldn't be able to remove the moulded slate detail from the roof of the road-side awning, I looked at it again and decided that the difference in slate finishes was such that I really ought to make the attempt.
This is how it was done...
First of all, the whole structure was encased in card, to protect it from stray movements of the gert big ** file that I was planning to use, and to keep plaster dust from the model generally, and from the interior espec
When John (Re6/6) and Peter came round the other day to refresh play on Engine Wood, we naturally had a play on Callow Lane as well. Peter brought his P4 converted ex-Lima GW railcar, which utilises the drive from a Bachmann 158 to power it, and it looked rather at home on Callow Lane:
A bit of mindless shunting was also indulged in:
Still haven't glued the roof to the goods shed, waiting until after TrainWest:
Since completing the most recent row of cottages for Callow Lane, I've been plodding on with the Townstreet goods shed kit. These are plaster-cast kits, where the plaster takes enamel paints beautifully to create realistic stone or brickwork effects.
I've always liked the idea of their kits, and built a water tower for Bleakhouse Road several years ago. The goods shed always felt 'LMS/Midland' to me, so I bought a kit at Ally Pally some years ago now, and started it fairly soon afterwards, b
Until a few years ago, I wasn't really much of a diesel buff. Pretty much preferred kettles to diesels, to be honest. After all, the S&D was a steam-only line when it was open and before that, my interests were more for the Great Western in the 1930s.
However, all the diesel releases of recent (and not quite so recent) years haven't been in vain and have begun to make a bit of an impression. So much so, in fact, that Callow Lane will be my first layout to have a 100% diesel sequence, whe
I finished the second row of Howard Scenics cottage fronts the other day, and finally took some photos out doors today while the sun was out (well, mostly):
Here is what they look like from the back, posed on the layout:
John also took some footage on his new camera on Sunday afternoon, so here are three representative sample pieces, showing the 08 shunting around. My thanks to John for taking the footage and taking the trouble to upload it to YouTube.
John (Re6/6) visited today and we had a few pleasant hours shunting some wagons around Callow Lane. I put all the completed buildings up, which give a bit more of a flavour of what I hope it will eventually look like.
Bagnall ('Jinty') 47276 shunting a few wagons into the yard:
The new cottages are almost finished, in the distance, with just the ridge tiles, chimney pots and guttering/drainpipes still to add:
'Lord Salisbury' waits the road back to Frog Lane pit, a mile or s
The doors and sash windows of the latest row of cottages have now been done (albeit door handles and letter boxes still to be done), which provided another excuse to put them on the layout for some photos and play trains for a few moments:
The windows weren't so easy to see against a light background, so I placed a cutting mat behind them (they will have a back wall and darkened interiors when they are finished, like the adjacent row):
A bit more progress has been made on the latest row of Howard Scenics cottages. The brick paper has been applied, the main walls glued together and a start made on the chimneys and window frames.
'Bagnall' 47276 poses in front of the new row (it's evidently been borrowed from Radstock shed for a jaunt up to Westerleigh Yard):
I seem to be perpetually building card cottages for this layout.
I decided a few months ago that I would need a further row of four cottages in 'half-relief' to go opposite the main goods yard and immediately in front of the backscene. The area just felt a bit too open, and I think that in real life there would have been more dwellings here.
Having painted the main brick colours on the goods shed last night, I really need the enamels to thoroughly dry for a couple of days before I contin
I'm a happy bunny tonight, having finally gotten my act together to go out to the shed, put the warm air blower on for a few minutes, in readiness for a bit of spraying on the goods shed.
I decided to spray the exterior brickwork in red oxide, as a base for adding the final brick colour in due course. This will be more orangy in hue, and the base colour will actually be B.R. early freight stock bauxite!
I sprayed the crane with grey primer at the same time.
I've finally gotten around to doing a bit more on the goods shed for Callow Lane.
To recap, this is based on the Townstreet plastercast kit, which I have always liked, although it is not based on Midland Railway practice in the area I am modelling.
It was one of their very first kit, and as such the castings would appear to be slightly less refined than their later productions, certainly the kit that I picked up has a number of minor casting defects, which I am disguising or otherwise tr
I've started work on scratchbuilding a model of a small brick farm access underbridge, which is located on the north (London) side of the Ouse Valley Viaduct. I will be assisting Rod (10800), John (Re6/6) and a couple of Rod's colleagues from the Eridge project at Scaleforum in a couple of weeks time, demonstrating on the theme of B.R. Southern Region. My contribution to all of this, besides helping run trains up and down the viaduct, (no doubt), will be to continue construction of this farm bri
Since finishing the signal box, I've been working on the railway goods shed for Callow Lane. Several years ago, I bought a Townstreet plaster-cast kit, which I felt has a sufficiently 'Midland' appearance to it. I'm aware it's not in the styles of the M.R. goods sheds at Bitton or Yate, for example, but I like it, it cost a lot of money at the time, and so I'm going to use it on my train set.
The gist of these kits is that you fettle the individual cast components to get a good fit, then glu
Having replaced the missing finial on the roof, the only major job remaining is to affix the down pipe to the guttering, which I will probably do later today.
In the meantime, a visit by some friends prompted the chance for a little 'play' on the layout, so with the other buildings temporarily put in place, I thought it would be a good chance to take some photos of the signal box in it's proper location:
I posted on a status update yesterday, that I had lost a component, that pinged off my workbench and through a conveniently-placed wormhole to Tharg, the home world of the Zillons.
That component was one of the finials on the roof, which had already been glued in place.
Repairing it wasn't going to be the problem, but finding it was impossible. It is still out there, in the wormhole, hopefully giving pleasure to Midland Railway-modelling Zillons...
Anyway, after a false start last ni
A bit more progress since the previous blog entry, nearly ready for the interior illumination and the roof...
Bit more weathering of the boards on the exterior walkway, plus the handrails to be added:
Just glued the two 'omnibus' circuit phones on the wall where the signalman is standing. A noticeboard also to be added above the Train Register desk:
