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What are you doing next weekend?
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00 Gauge above the garage c.1960 BR

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Signals ...

It's been a long cold dark winter since I last posted but here goes for anyone interested.......   The basic concept for this imaginary layout is the re-location of Culworth junction on the ex-GC to a more urban and more northerly location. Thus, locos and trains are those that might have rubbed shoulders at Woodford Halse or thereabouts but with the odd bit of modeller's licence.   That said, attached are a couple of pics showing newly installed signals at the "south" end of
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Control Panels

Being snowed in over the weekend provided an excuse to progress the loco shed control panel as at least some of it could be undertaken on the kitchen table! It's been attached to the layout this afternoon and now awaits completion of the wiring. The panel is simply a piece of thin plywood. I drew the track layout with a felt-tip and then drilled/cut the holes for the switches, the controller and the screws that will be wired to the point motors. It was then given a couple of coats of white emuls
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trees

A few trees ....

Attached a few pics of the trees that have sprouted at Blackford & Hinton replacing the more toy-like specimens previously in situ.   My latest lockdown project was to commit to learning how to make a half-decent tree. After watching a few tutorials on you-tube, I took the plunge and bought some reels of florists' wire and some Woodland Scenics liquid rubber. Twisting the wire to shape is not easy on the hands but wearing some cheap latex gloves was a great help. Foliage was made f
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Ballasting in progress ...

Most of the main line(s) have been ballasted over the Easter period using Geoscenics 00 gauge ballast that looks about right to my eye. It's been glued with the standard watery mix of PVA into which I'd stirred some grey paint mix to tone down the appearance. The remaining ground has been textured with ordinary sand and painted dark grey. Further work will be done to add patches of grass/weeds etc.   The WD and the Black 5 have recently been weathered by "Grimy Times" and look great! A
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Introduction

I've taken the plunge and decided to share my modelling efforts with the wider world .... "Blackford & Hinton" has been under construction for about 12 months since a house move enforced demolition of its predecessor. The basic premise is that it's somewhere on the former GC between Brackley and Leicester giving an excuse to run ex-GW, LMS and LNE locos side by side. So, Woodford Halse but a much more urban setting ... The available space is a generous 19' by 16' providing for a continuous r
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So will the plan work in practice...?

Having more or less finished the baseboards, the first fun part was seeing whether the track plan would translate from paper into reality. To some extent, the plan was constrained by the wish to re-cycle buildings/structures recovered from earlier layouts and future blog instalments will expand upon this.   The attached pics show some of the first attempts and the gradual evolution. All track is Peco code 100 with electrofrog medium radius points. The main station building (low relief) can be
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Scenic Progress

After the long hot summer, the railway room finally cooled to a bearable temperature. Indeed, the main lines imitated the real thing by distorting despite what I'd regarded as adequate expansion gaps ... So scenic work on and adjacent to the removable section has finally been resumed.   The base of plaster-covered polystyrene was first of all covered with a static grass mat cut to shape and this has provided the base for further embellishment using good old flock powders, lichen and yet more s
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A bit more scenic work

Attached pics show a bit more progress on the road/canal scene. Buildings have now been bedded into the landscape and bits of detail added - chimney pots will be added to the buildings in due course but it's not a current priority! The landscape is a base of polystyrene covered in a plaster mix with plenty of PVA incorporated and then painted dirty brown/green. A Javis Scenics static grass mat has been carved up today and glued down as the basis for further landscaping. Fencing and shrubbery sho
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B&H Update

So, self-isolating is what railway modellers are good at most of the time although the spring weather means that the garden has taken priority for a few days. That said, a photo session in the railway room was long overdue so I thought I'd share some of the progress that's been made on "Blackford & Hinton" over the winter months....     Here, the trainspotters are in place perched on the fence watching an 04 heading an up cement block working while Neasden's Stanier tank
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Control Panel complete ...

... and it's a rat's nest but it works! The shed throat is also wired into a switch on the station control panel using good old analogue "cab control" allowing the smooth transfer of locos between controllers as required.   Attached a couple of pics of the completed depot pending scenic work as time permits. It must be a Sunday as it looks pretty full .... There's even a visiting "Castle" on shed.     One of the locos is an old Ks kit (Johnson 2F). Back in the 70s, buoyed by my success i
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Building the baseboards ...

The basic timber framework follows the method set out by John Aherne (of Madder Valley fame) in his book "Miniature Landscape Modelling, originally published c.1950 - see photo. The surface is half-inch chipboard. I've used this method for 40 years and it's relatively easy as no carpentry skills are required The exception is a removable section at one end where in order to accomodate a Metcalfe bridge, I used thin ply for the track bed - less than ideal but it works - see picture. This section h
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Building the station

Much appreciate the comment re my last blog entry - sound advice and thankyou! I have a metre-long steel straight edge that has proved invaluable when track-laying and it's also handy for slicing up card to make straight platforms.The attached pics show the evolution of the station area and i think the tracks are just about straight enough....   At the early stage, I was anxious to get the platform clearances correct. My island platform buildings are obviously 'Superquick' so that dictates pl
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Goods Yard

The goods yard, such as it is, fills a corner at the down end of the station. The main goods depot is a continental kit (Pola? - can't remember!) essentially cut in half to supply a low-relief back-drop. The platform is simply made from mounting card. The other factory buildings have been bodged together from scratch-built plasticard structures originally designed and built for an earlier layout in the 80s. A bit of Townscene backdrop completes the scene.   The purpose of the layout is to run
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Bringing it up to date ...

A couple of pics showing another corner of the layout, in this case typical terraced housing a stone's throw from the loco shed (like where i lived as a kid and caught the railway virus).   The housing is a mix of Superquick, Metcalfe and some scratch-built from card some 40 years ago and still going strong (the house-backs to the right-hand side). A few chimney pots wouldn't go amiss and it's on the to-do list (has been for 40 years). The backscene is obviously from Townscene.   One of the
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Down at the loco-shed

The current project is to configure the loco-shed area. The pics show the progression of the back-drop with the embankment and boundary fence now in place. The turntable (Peco with a few bits added from the Dapol kit and the well walls lined with brick-paper) has recently been sunk into the baseboard and motorised using the excellent "Locomotech" kit.   Advice from the following link http://www.goldcoastmodelrailwayclub.com/motorising-a-peco-turntable.html has been invaluable.   With the w
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A stroll by the canal...

It's been a cold few months so limited work done in the railway room/man cave. That said, I decided to attempt to model a canal scene as I regularly walk the dog along the nearest towpath. The pics show work in progress but with the canal now in situ. It's a piece of thin ply mounted on bits of scrap wood, painted a dirty green and with several coats of gloss varnish added. The lock gate is knocked together from scraps of balsa reinforced with a few ordinary pins cut to size and a few other scra
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Bridging the gap

This shows the "removable" bridge section at the early stage before electrical multi-plug connectors were wired in and before then cutting through the rails thereby enabling the section to be completely removed, if necessary, to access the radiator. As stated previously, the track-bed is made from thin ply suitably braced to enable the Metcalfe bridge to sit comfortably underneath.     Looking in the other direction, the signal gantry "controls" the up lines station throat. It's made from a
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A bit more track-laying

Well, track-laying in the loco shed area has been completed today and it's divided into suitable sections to enable maximum loco storage - I've never got into DCC so it's strictly analogue. The layout incorporates a double and a single slip and a 3-way point for no better reason than that these were spare having been used on previous layouts. I'm not happy with the appearance of the 4 buffer stops on the turntable over-runs so these will have to be replaced with a few piles of sleepers or some s
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