Looking back through the previous Foundry Lane entries in this blog I realise it comes to quite an abrupt halt. This is partly because I've been spending my time on other projects (BCB and WLL) but also due to me considering the blog Vs layout thread and RMweb blog or external blog questions.
Anyway, here are a few photos by way of an update on what has been going on with the layout since I last wrote in this blog.
The building which was under construction in the previous blog entry was fin
In my last layout blog entry I mentioned having some concerns about the future of my Low Level project. To address this I’ve decided to put the baseboards and track work to one side while I focus on the buildings. As I’ve said before, the position of the buildings makes them critical to the success of the finished layout – so I want to make sure I can get these looking right before getting too carried away.
I’ve been preparing drawings for the buildings and have been experimenting
Sometime ago I bought myself a sound fitted two-tone green sound fitted class 24, with the intention of modelling D5038 in the condition seen here on the excellent Derby Sulzers site. D5038 was out-shopped from Derby works following overhaul in 1965 wearing the two-tone green livery applied to later class 25s. By 1971 (the start point of the era I model on Foundry Lane and the year in which I intend to set my new layout) she was in shabby external condition but retained many of her as built fe
I finally got around to making a start on the boards for my Low Level project last weekend. The plan is to split the layout into four scenic boards giving a total scenic area of 2440mm x 1000mm. I’ve used 3.6mm ply strips spaced with 18mm softwood blocks glued and stapled together. Dimensions of these two are 1220mm x 500mm with a height of 80mm and I’m pleased with the ease of construction and the lightweight but rigid structure that it gives.
Here is one completed board and the sec
Another outcome of my recent workbench tidy up is this Parkside Tube. I built a pair of these (one fitted the other unfitted) very early in my return to modelling and they have languished on and around the workbench, being subjected to various painting/weathering experiments ever since. Other than missing brake levers and door bangs the fitted wagon was in reasonable condition and the paint finish was looking pretty good so I decided to have a go at fixing it up.
I salvaged some replacement b
Here I am at the end of a week off work, with that Sunday night - back to work tomorrow feeling. Amongst other things this week I have managed to tidy up a few projects which have been littering the workbench for some time. One of these is this little highfit. Basic ingredients are an ancient Airfix body and Parkside underframe, the following photo highlights the other bits:
Buffers are from Lanarkshire Model Supplies - first ones of theirs I've used and very nice they are too, brake gear
One thing I've never been happy with about the layout are the buildings along the back scene; particularly the end on terraced houses on the right hand side of the road bridge. I've decided to replace these with an industrial building. Before starting on this though I've added some supports to prop up the retaining wall (replacing the rainwater down pipes which used to hide the joints in the plastikard); also extending the wall to include the area behind the goods shed:
At the opposite e
Over Christmas and New Year I've taken a break from house renovation for a few days, so I've grabbed the opportunity to do some work on Foundry Lane, but more of that later; first a recap of the layout's last couple of exhibition appearances.
First a few snaps of the layout at it's last outing to Redditch way back in September:
20073 (regauged Bachmann with Howes sound) delivers an air braked van to the yard:
Failure of the resident 08 (the rivet in the coupling rods fell out!) sa
The layout has been stored away for the past couple of months since we moved house. However with exhibition appearances looming I thought I'd better dig it out and make sure it all still worked.
Bea looked unimpressed as Foundry Lane arrived at its new home:
It seems I've been away from the layout so long that time has marched on - a 37 takes the place of the more usual 24 or 25 and the Capri on the lane is now a Mk 3 B)
The layout doesn't appear to have suffered too much from
Having found ourselves temporarily homeless due to a two week gap between selling our house and moving in to our new house, the Mrs F and I decided we'd rent a holiday cottage for the weekend over Easter. So on Friday morning we packed up the car and set off for Presteigne (Powys) with the dog and two boxfiles full of unbuilt wagon kits to keep me occupied. The fruits of yesterday's labour was a Red Panda Lowfit. As usual I was unable to build the kit as per the instructions and have gone for
The following notes have appeared elsewhere on the interweb, but I thought I would update it and include in my blog here.
My 16T minerals serve a dual purpose; being put to work on both Foundry Lane and New Haden. I've built a few to date; but have plans to do many more and (after a bit of messing about with other bits) have settled the following as the basic spec for my EM gauge fleet:
Body
For standard dia 1/108 I tend to use Parkside bodies (same again for dia 1/109 too) but for reb
I couldn't resist buying a few of these at the recent Stafford exhibition and chose four of the Blue Circle liveried wagons (B873364) for my initial purchase. A photo of this prototype appears on Paul Barlett's wagon photos website: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brpresflorugby/h24e65b9#h24e65b9
The painting and lettering detail on the model is excellent, the wagon carries the TOPS code (CPV) and the dates on the maintenance data panel read August 1977. It features the correct brake gear
After playing around with various old maps, planning portal and some aerial photos I seem to have established that the area I want to model be approx 2.7m long to scale. This takes in the area from Sun Street bridge to the south facing wall of the main station building. I'm considering whether it might be necessary to trim this down closer to 2.4m by reducing the gap between the bridge and the end of the station buildings. The big concern however is the width of the layout. To fit this in to
For the stock I have built for Foundry Lane I used three link couplings (eventually standardising on the Smiths products after a bit of initial experimentation/trying to do it on the cheap). However the standard coupling adopted for use on New Haden is the Alex Jackson (AJ) coupling. For anyone unfamiliar with these the Manchester Model Railway Society website has a useful page describing them.
When I started to assemble a coal train for the layout I bought a set of jigs for forming the cou
A couple of years ago I happened upon a Hornby Class 31 at a reasonable price. I just can't get excited about 31's but as I was planning to (eventually) build up a set of stock to run Foundry Lane in a mid 1980s time frame a 31 seemed appropriate. The model in question was 31174 with factory weathered finish. Having got it home and acquired a set on EM gauge wheels (Gibson, from EMGS) the loco then sat on the shelf until recently.
On digging it out (to check the chassis hadn't warped!) I dec
Some time ago, back on my RMweb3 workbench topic, I was working on a batch of sand tipplers which were destined for Stafford Railway Circle's New Haden Colliery layout, which is set in North Staffordshire in the late 1950s. The plan was to build about a dozen wagons; using the excellent Red Panda body only packs - at the time Mainly Trains were selling off their remaining stock of these at a discounted rate. With these I've used Parkside 9' wheelbase underframes to represent diagram 1/071 or 1
For a while now I've been considering my next steps in railway modelling since Foundry Lane has now fulfilled its role as test track/shunting plank. Perhaps I could extend and improve it, but there are a few fairly big things which I would've liked to have done differently (the baseboards and the method of turnout operation to name just two) which would mean a fairly substantial rebuild. As the layout has exhibition enquiries for the next 18 months I'm a bit reluctant to start ripping up track
On the whole the layout's first public outing was a great success, although there were a few snags to deal with.
* The combination of restricted access and three link couplings meant changing stock in the fiddle yard was awkward * There was no real purpose for the two sidings at the front of the layout * Operating the layout from the front (as I do at home) was ok, but due to my choice of couplings and the position of the point switches I spent a lot of time standing in front of folks who w
The main scenic feature of the layout is the retaining wall which runs almost the entire length of the layout and hides the entrance to the fiddle yard and the slide switches which operate the points. At the left hand end of the layout this is made up of Wills retaining wall sections. In the middle is a road bridge carrying Foundry Lane over the railway; originally this was a girder bridge made from Wills Vari-girder but this has since been replaced with a brick built bridge. To the right of
Back in 1997, after a few years away from model railways, I joined the EM Gauge Society with the intention of building myself a small layout. Having previously modelled in 00 gauge, EM seemed like a logical progression as I wanted the closer to scale track and it would allow me to retain some of my 00 gauge stock (once this had been suitably modified). A few years of armchair modelling followed and it wasn't until 2004 that I found myself with the time and space to make a start on a layout.
