As suggested, a new little station has appeared by the loco shed along with a signal that has mysteriously sprung up . Must be the time of year. . As Steve has named the GW high level station Upper Mill, me and Kenny reckon the new station is called Lower Mill.
I think Steve will get back to me on that one...
A nice Marcway curved point has also appeared near the junction. I think it was one of those "I've got one of these going spare/free if you can make any use of it Steve" things.
Well not exactly all change, but Steve's Station (reputedly going to be called Upper Mill; doesn't sound very ex GW to me..) has already been changed before it's even reached the serious tracklaying stage.
The original wide board which spanned all 4 storage roads and the hidden lines leading to the LM station is now only half it's original width and the retaining wall will be moved back to suit.
This has now exposed the inbound and outbound lines to the LM station which run
Finally got round to painting the retaining walls along the edge of the LM yard. About 9 foot of it..
It was all painted in a concrete colour, allowed to dry then a colour mixed about 50/50 matt black and Humbrol 26 ("matt dark earth" I think) brushed diagonally over the raised bits. took about 3 and a half hours including brew breaks. I think it looks ok.
Steve's now started the GW station track laying. The station throat board is removeable at the moment, so
In our banker siding, Steve has provided a little coaling facility to feed the bunkers and tenders of the busy bank engines.
Another ex Talacre signal has been re-furbed and positioned at the LM jc; this is now the home signal coming off the incline from the GW station.
More retaining wall has had its lumpy stone added ready for painting and the yard at the LM station now has a cobbled area. Steve has left a space that might as well have a big arrow with flashing lights that says "The good
Ok here's a bit of an update. I can't currently include any pictures within the text due to what must be, to Andy and the dedicated admin team, frustating problems, but the link to the gallery should give you an idea of where we are now.
Steve and Les are much faster and more regular workers on the layout and have for the most part, completed the major scenic work on the main lines and surrounding areas. I've plodded on with my little area by the LM station entrance when I can, but work and oth
After receiving an offer of 4 petrol tank wagons, Steve decided to squeeze a small petrol terminal in to the end of the LM station yard. Again, several bits and bobs were unearthed from boxes of stuff rescued from "Talacre" and fashioned into a representation of an unloading area. Although it's a "bitza" it began to look ok. We're not rivet counters here, it's more about having a bit of fun with the stock we have.
This gave Les and Steve a chance to fill a bit of space with a roadway. This pr
To fill a hole in a corner, Steve dug out some old bits of low relief buildings from "Talacre" and added a few walls (with support) to create a nice dank scene behind the signalbox. When it was completed (much to Steve's consternation)someone noticed the similarity to a scene from a certain grisly British film of the early 70's. A suitable street name was printed up and applied to complete the scene.
(If you can't guess, you'll have to wait for a later post to see it )
Meanwhile, a scenic
While I battled with the wiring, Steve next turned to adding more detail and atmosphere to the MPD, getting the turntable working well, making a control panel and wiring up some lights. More green lumpy stuff was applied and plenty of colour sprayed to blend it all in.
To complete the scene, a Skytrex enginemans bothy was added and blended in after Steve worked his magic on it.
Firstly, must apologise if these entries seem to be coming a bit thick and fast. Just trying to bring it up to date without making each entry too big!
Steve had a bit of luck when someone gave him a load of photgraphic backscene sheets. OK they were seconds but very useful nevertheless. They were quickly mounted on boards and installed (to hide my point motors!)
A bit of work with the plaster bandage, paint and green lumpy stuff and a nice scenic area was the result.
I placed my detailed Alph
When the track was layed into the LM station, we knew we were on the very limit of curvature for most of the locos (we reckoned some of the curves were 4' 6" radius) and this proved to be too much for some. A re-think was necessary which resulted in much alteration of the woodwork and a reduction in complexity of the trackwork. We had originally envisaged a double track into the station but this was reduced to single. Many attempts were made before a compromise was reached.
As the corner by t
Seeing the first train run gave us a bit of a boost and once the hidden loops were in it was time to start adding the upper station area. This will eventually be the WR station and will be the larger of the 2.
The large board will be hinged for access until the lower area is proven to be ok then it will be fastened down with a removable front retaining wall for access.
The turntable was rescued from Talacre and tried here but proved to be a little out of reach (more of which later!!)
Th
After seeing nothing move for quite a while we decided to up the pace a little (which with hindsight was a little ill advised). Much sawing, drilling and er...screwing went on into the wee small hours and after a week or so we were fastening the last bits of the main line baseboards. You can see how strong the boards are as Steve had to clamber into the corner to add the last bits!
Another few days of painting tidying and track laying and our first train was trundling round. The honours went
We moved into our lockup in October and started with this.
After a week or so Steve had painted the floor and found a bit of carpet
and the place seemed quite homely.
As work beckoned, I missed the next 10 days or so but imagine my surprise when I came in to offer a bit of help and this lot had appeared.
The track was only placed just to see what would fit where, but it gave us an idea of what we could do. All the planning in the world won't really tell you what looks right until you
When the old Talacre gauge 0 garden railway had to come down in October 2009, we were feeling a bit down. We had amassed quite a bit of stock and a lot of scenic work had been done in the sheds. We were left with a lot of very second hand track, a mixed bag of locos and stock,quite a few working signals and all the elctrics. We even salvaged most of the buildings. What we didn't have was somewhere to build a new layout.
Steve found the answer on his doorstep. A secure lockup, 27 X 17. A bit tig
