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About this blog

Updates on what I have been up to on various layouts

Entries in this blog

Tis surely the season for filling between the tracks!

Having been following poor Pete's tales of woe with regard to filling, I was prompted to return to 'Abergynolwyn' (after far too long a gap) and finish the filling between my own tracks using my trusted method of lightweight filler (as also used in the MPD on Bruckless Junction). This is set far enough below rail height for the rails to stand just proud of the finished surface after ballasting. I used a bit of 40 thou plasticard to to create the flangeway while the filler was setting then cleane

Killybegs

Killybegs

The train shed - getting there slowly

The outer wall now has cladding and windows and both sides of the upper roof now have their louvres complete. Next job is to clad the ends, these have quite a lot of decorative work on them. Once they are finished, I will get the airbrush out, after which I can think about doing some slating and finishing off the glazing. Then I will need to do some weathering, build a bit of platform, make a few seats, some fencing ..............

Killybegs

Killybegs

The things people do to their locos!

I had a a couple of locos back into the workshop for repair today. The first was a County Donegal railcar that 'needed a loose wire resoldering'. True it did. In fact I think it had been rewired so many times, the wires were too short to make new connections, so I replaced them. As the front pony truck was only held in place by the remaining wire, I repaired that as well. However, when I applied power ..... nothing! A quick investigation revealed that the motor shaft and gear were securely arald

Killybegs

Killybegs

The joys of modifying R-T-R for P4

It's only a rake of nine coaches you say, shouldn't take too long. That's only 18 sprung bogies with 36 axles, 72 wheels, 72 pairs of brake hangers and 144 brake shoes to assemble. Don't forget the 36 cosmetic sides. Then there are 18 Kadees to assemble and fit (after modifying the coach ends to take them), 18 corridor connections to assemble and fit, 9 sets of underframe detailing to cobble up, 9 roofs that need all those strips removing. Numbers to be changed, bogies and roofs to be painted, s

Killybegs

Killybegs

Sunshine and a coat of paint - what a difference!

The trainshed roof and outer wall are now one unit. The jig to hold everything firmly in place while the two parts were soldered together was quite simple in the end. 3 lengths of brass tube that were a tight fit in the square tubes of the columns were let into the board to hold the wall vertical. 2 larger diameter tubes were notched vertically to be a tight fit on the wire cross bracing of the end trusses then let into the board in a position where the foot of the rafter butted against the ins

Killybegs

Killybegs

Starting work on the Cornishman

Having had to abandon our Christmas trip to Scotland (set out to catch the ferry from Larne but were beaten by the weather without making it to the border!) I had plenty of time on my hands to get on with the 'Cornishman' rake. Five coaches are now sitting on Bill Bedford sprung bogies and Exactoscale wheels. This really is the best running combination that I have found to date, they positively glide through slips. I have now run out of bogies but I do have some corridor connections to get on wi

Killybegs

Killybegs

Seasonal Greetings

Can't get to work today, the council are running out of grit and only treating primary routes. Having spent 30 minutes digging out the drive and slithering up the lane, we were defeated by the first hill on the main road. So, I have moved out of the workshop and into the sitting room with the turf fire lit and am building coach bogies on the dining table while watching the birds on the feeder. Isn't life tough! Attached pic taken between alternating showers of snow and hail!

Killybegs

Killybegs

Progress on CDR Class 5

Progress has been very slow as I had to find some way of fitting the wheels inside the frames while maintaining the back to back gauge and giving some degree of side play to allow the loco to negotiate curves. In the end I had to file the top hat bearings down to almost nothing (not so much on the front axle as I want minimum play behind the cross-head) and then do the same with the insulating bosses on the outer faces of the wheels. It wasn't quite hit and miss as I was able to work out the sid

Killybegs

Killybegs

Plenty of progress on Worseter

I can't believe its nearly a year since I last posted on this blog. In the last nine months I have:   Built an incline connecting the fiddle yard to the low level section that will house the MPD. This also involved modifying the removable bridge section that carries the tracks across the doorway.   The track for the MPD has been built, laid, ballasted and wired up. The base for the MPD including inspection pits was also installed at this time.   The coaling stage/water tower was built.  

Killybegs

Killybegs

Peco sleeper spacing

Having spent all day ballasting track on Bruckless Junction (and I've hardly scratched the surface!) I got to wondering whether there was an historic reason for the sleepers on Peco(and Hornby) track being so close together. Any ideas? I did get about 70% of the diesel depot ballasted so that's a start anyway.

Killybegs

Killybegs

News on Worseter

As threatened, I have started a thread on Worseter under 'Layout Topics'. Initial entry covers the first steps in scratch building a pair of coaches.

Killybegs

Killybegs

New foundations for a castle

Well to be more precise building an etched chassis to a Hornby Castle.   I had been waiting for Brassmasters to release one of their fold up chassis conversions for the Hornby Castle, but it seems that this has been put on the back burner while they concentrate on LMS locos. So I dug a Malcolm Mitchell kit out of the cupboard to see if I could use the chassis from that as a short term fix.   The Mitchell kit follows the prototype very closely which may be OK in 7mm but in P4 it means that cl

Killybegs

Killybegs

More vans for Worseter (and Clinkerford BR(W))

As a break from working on Killybegs Station, I have been working on the large number of vans and wagons that I need for Worseter. I have been experimenting with different painting and weathering tecniques to get a reasonable representation of the variation in colour found in any train of vans. This batch (all Parkside Dundas kits) were sprayed with Halfords red primer then weathered with Railmatch acrylics. I used a variable mix of 'frame dirt' and 'roof dirt', well diluted with water, brush ap

Killybegs

Killybegs

More Donegal Locos

While beavering away on the Castle in my spare time, I have continued building locos for the County Donegal Heritage Centre.   The latest project is a Lough Swilly 4-8-0. The upper works are now pretty well finished and await the loco chassis. I am waiting on wheels for this one and, as the chassis is of the fold up variety with external frames, it can't be assembled without them!   Back in August I posted an entry on the CDR Class 5A that I had been building but I forgot to attach a pic so

Killybegs

Killybegs

More detailing on the Class 5

Having sorted out what couplings are to be used, I have been able to get on with detailing the buffer beam area. The central buffers/ couplings, which are purely cosmetic, are knocked up from bits from my scrap box. It would have been nice to have some castings! I have also added some detail to the rear of the bunker which was looking a bit bare. I will leave off the rear vac pipe until after painting and lining.   I have also finished off the drive assembly on Railcar No. 4 so that is now run

Killybegs

Killybegs

Making hay while the sun shines (a chance to get outside with the camera)!

It is pretty amazing that, while you poor guys in the UK are suffering the most horendous weather, we have clear blue skies here in the north west of Ireland.   In between working on the train shed for Killybegs, I have been getting on with building wagons and vans for Worseter. Some of these are due to see service on Clinkerford at York next year when Kempenfelt of this parish (the new owner) is hoping to run the layout in BR guise on at least one day, so that's given me an incentive to get o

Killybegs

Killybegs

L&LSR 4-8-0 Finished at last!

After goodness knows how many hours No.12 is finally finished (all bar a bit of coal and some crew). It has been a long road and one which I don't think I would choose to travel down again. However, at the end of the day she doesn't look too bad and runs quite smoothly.

Killybegs

Killybegs

Kingham in 2mm (N gauge)

While looking for something else (that I haven't yet found) I did find these old pics of my Kingham Junction layout that are well over 20 years old. I wonder if it's still around somewhere! The second attempt at a back scene looks a lot better than the first, rather bright, one!

Killybegs

Killybegs

Killybegs Train Shed

With holidays in France over for another year, the drawings finished and materials ordered and delivered, I really had no excuse not to get on with the train shed roof. Construction doesn't exactly replicate the original but it will be very close in appearance (as the trusses will be visible through the rood glazing). The main members are in brass hollow tube and have been drilled to take the lengths of 0.5mm nickel silver rod which represent the bracing. The roof will be removable which is why

Killybegs

Killybegs

Killybegs Train Shed

The roof and wall structures are now finished. The next step is to build a jig to hold the roof and wall firmly in the correct position while I solder them together. Both components are too big to fit in the sink so I ended up cleaning them in the bath!

Killybegs

Killybegs

Killybegs Station progress

The basic shell for the station building has now been put together and work has started on the roofs. Next job is to make up and fit the brackets for the barge boards, then get on with the low level roof. That will just leave chimney stacks, slating, rainwater goods and flashings and all the other bits and pieces before I can think about getting out the paint brush. That will just leave the train shed, platform and water tower. I think I will be busy for a while yet!

Killybegs

Killybegs

Killybegs Station Building

Having finally got around to fitting some (temporary) chimney pots, I have been waiting to take some suitable 'on location' shots of the model here in Killybegs. Unfortunately, the weather has had other ideas, so here are a couple of indoor shots to be going on with. It still looks a bit bare without the train shed but at the moment that's on the long finger as I am still building 4mm CDR stock.

Killybegs

Killybegs

Killybegs does Killybegs

My current project at the County Donegal Railway Heritage Centre is to upgrade the 5.5mm/foot model of Killybegs built by Neil Tee quite a few years ago and which forms part of the permanent model railway exhibition. Last year I built the engine shed which is a pretty modest affair, so for something more challenging I have made a start on the station building. This is a fairly substantial building for a branch line terminus on a narrow gauge railway and includes a train shed - the only one on t

Killybegs

Killybegs

I wish the trees in the garden would grow as fast (but not the weeds)!

Spent a few hours today planting trees and undergrowth on Abergynolwyn, just enough to fill the background in the photograph! However, I'm now running out of leaves and because I foolishly didn't put the labels back in the various bags when they were first opened some time ago, I will have to wait for Railex when, hopefully, I can pop along to Greenscenes to match up my samples.

Killybegs

Killybegs

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