Having been busy of late, work on the layout came to a bit of a halt for about two weeks.
I've had the materials waiting in the wings (play sand, brown spray paint and Copydex glue) and I'm pleased to say that I've finally ballasted one (the larger) section of the layout!
I've been apprehensive about it for a few reasons: I've never used latex based glue when ballasting before, I'm worried that the "peculiar" smell that Copydex has will linger, I've never used sand as a ballas
It's been a long while! Today I made a completely fictional, unprotoypical Signal Box - from a few odds and ends found around the house.
The main inspiration came from a clear plastic lid I found that had an inner segment - I forgot to take any pictures prior to starting this project, so this vague description is the best I can offer! Here is a pic of the lid, masked and primed:
Alongside this clear plastic lid is a small eyedropper bottle, which - as luck
So it doesn't look like much does it? :
Ta-da! :
I needed to add some finishing touches - the closed position was a little loose, so I secreted a thin magnet and a washer to act as a securing catch:
Of course, I only use the beer for illustrative purposes....
Cheers!
Just kidding! I've had this "Monopoly" hotel kicking around for ages in my box of scraps - I think I picked it up off the pavement years ago...
Today I set about converting it into something useful for the layout - a newsagent kiosk.
Step one was to drill a hole in the side of the hotel and then square the circle using a file.
Next, I sanded down the surface of the building - prior to gluing on corrugated styrene sheet, to represent wood panellin
I went about laying the "New Line" at the rear of the layout today, I don't have the "Streamline" large radius points I really want to use at the moment, so progress has halted at the point work - I have put the medium radius points in the pic for reference.
The track was laid the way I've found works well for me - positioned by eye, checked with a 6' way gauge, marked out with pencil and then fixed down semi permanently using double sided tape. Checked again by eye and 6' gauge, pressed d
Went about the task of adding third rail today.
I used British Finescale track for this as I've used it before with good results. The rail is simply super glued to the sleeper parallel to the existing rail.
It was a fiddly task, but I hit upon the idea of using Blu-tak style adhesive to hold the track in place while gluing and it seems to have worked well! The Blu-tak was removed after a couple of hours drying, and left no residue - except where it had mixed with super
Constructed and test ran a new traverser today.
The parts I used were the top and base section of a bookcase (the main baseboard is made from the side panels.)
The traverser base is wall mounted with reinforced brackets, the deck is fitted with heavy duty drawer runners.
*EDIT - 8/2/21: Magnetic connector snapped at weld, see posts for 8/2/21 and 9/2/1 for details on repair and improvements!
Power is supplied from a connection block wired fr
I finally decided on a name for the layout, and added name-boards to the station today.
I settled on a French influenced one, inspired by a local road which in turn is named for a medieval landowner whose legacy is the road name and the remains of a gatehouse.
I think that the name fits in well with the Southern Region near-coastal setting.
The signs are "Knightwing" white metal (8 pack) and are grey primed with a bit of white dry-brushing (thanks
A Dapol Class 73 Diesel-electric arrived bright and early this morning - my first step towards populating the layout with more "prototypical" loco's.
(Still don't want to get rid of my Class 20 though...)
So, it's been a while! But today I finally got around to adding the Scrap Merchant Yard to the layout. It existed on a previous layout, which I decided to dismantle and "rejig."
I enjoyed doing this area of the layout today, but it is by no means finished.
The goods shed (adopted by the merchant) is just a temporary fixture, I bought this model second hand and would like to repaint it.
I have yet to add a surface to the area outside of the engine shed (also reappropriated by the
For anyone who doesn't know, Tommy Gander was a fictional Music Hall comic, a character that featured in the 1941 British film "The Ghost Train" portrayed by real life comic, Arthur Askey.
On his way down to Newquay to start a new sixteen week season of his act at The Pier Pavillion ("Well, we'll see how I go Monday night...") Tommy gets caught up in the events that unfold in the film (or was he instrumental in causing them...?)
Years later, Tommy Gander finds himself per
One of the magnetic connection terminals snapped off today, where the wire meets the magnet. Despite reinforcement measures, I guess the strain on the thin metal shaft was too great.
So, I had a stab at making my own (hopefully sturdier) version of the connector. I stripped the end off some .6mm electrical cable and wrapped the exposed wire around a neodymium magnet, I then took a second identical magnet and sandwiched the wire between them.
Next, I sealed the whole terminal
My homemade magnetic connectors were not as reliable as I would have liked - current transfer was intermittent and unpredictable.
I had a few trial runs with stripped wire ends as a method for achieving electrical contact, these were no more reliable! I also considered buying some sprung contacts online...
However, inspiration struck - in the form of a set of cheap wire and brass cleaning brushes!
After a swift encounter with a pair of pliers I had removed three se
Just a couple of quick jobs attended to today - some timber details added to station gable ends (these are just cut card, primed grey and dry brushed green/brown) plus a couple of chimney pots - grey primer and "sand" coloured paint, weathered with black.
I also added a bit of Southern Region concrete fence erected around the old engine shed, I primed this white and then hand-painted beige, followed by a black wash and then dry brushed with beige again.
Just a few odd jobs today, attached the lift shaft to the flats, added some concrete fence panels to the pub yard, made some platforms for the Railfreight Depot loading bays, and (because I can't find a suitable permanent candidate) added a temporary door to the goods depot - just to make it look functional. Also got on with adding a bit of greenery to the trackside...
Primed some station name boards today, as soon as I figure out
I thought people might be interested to know how I came up with the aged "Gander's Holiday Camp" billboard. So here's the method I used:
Firstly, I searched online for a good photo of Arthur Askey (not easy as photo's of the man himself were largely of him larking about and pulling faces!)
Having found a nice picture - I won't reproduce it here, in the interest of copyright laws - I set about drawing a passable charicature sketch in pen:
As you c
After much discussion and thought, the "Railfreight" depot is now a "Zanussi" warehouse (special thanks and credit go to Nearholmer https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/profile/26817-nearholmer/ for the idea.)
The signage was easy enough to find online - one of them is for "Zanussi Professional" - I imagine this would be the industry arm of the business.
I decided to keep the Railfreight and BR logos in situ, I doubt it's very prototypical practice - but I think it looks ok.
I wanted to share a small collection of images from this thread: (with special thanks to those who contributed.)
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/162153-input-ideas-on-planning-a-timetable-and-creating-a-location/page/1/#comments
And the layout, fictitious though it be, now sits on the North Coast of Kent.
For some, it's "Reculver" - a real place, developed beyond its actual status by the power of imagination to a relatively busy wharf, with indus
Had some fun today coming up with my first draught timetable, obviously it needs some honing - but the basic outline is there.
Here's one of - what some might call - the more "imaginative" manoeuvres undertaken:
Cannon Street service arrives (Class 40 diesel hauled) at the Holding Siding. It uncouples from the coaches, which are taken to the facing siding by my class 20. (Plenty of clearance room!):
The Charing Cross service has be
Finally received my bicycle tyre valve caps yesterday (the previous order were "lost in transit" so, progress was delayed somewhat.)
These are plain aluminium, but various colours are available - this could be useful if you wanted to allocate specific knobs to certain functions.
However, I opted for these ones - I think they match the overall style of the "control panel" of the layout.
The uncouplers and points are brass rod controlled, no electronics are involved.
I though I'd spoil the little residents of the layout by adding a lift shaft to the flats that were erected recently, I also enlarged the pub - adding ground-floor flat roof extension (room for a couple of pool tables, or a dining area, or a function room available for hire - who knows!?) :-)
All additions were constructed from plasticard and / or leftover bits from model kits.
Taking certain liberties with reality once more, I've made a small block of flats for my layout.
I used various bits from my box of scraps, plus plasticard, card and even baking paper(!)
I "raised the block up" with a section of plasticard painted to represent concrete, and a piece from a European N Scale kit to give the impression of underground parking or something like that...
The doors and windows are from spares, the windows are dressed with baking paper net curtains (the kin
Injured my hand really quite badly while cutting styrene sheet. Annoyed at myself for not being more careful - using a scalpel and a metal ruler, the blade jumped over the ruler and cut a sizeable bit off of my finger.
Anyway, onwards and upwards!
Finished the last of the ballast today, a strip at the back of the layout.
Also, added some detail to my pub building -
Air conditioning ducting from a P and D marsh white-metal kit, a stonework base (Kibri te
