Finally, I have got round to creating the last building required for my Freshwater layout. There were two reasons for the procrastination afforded to this project. Firstly, the building is right at the front of the layout, and would get in the way, or be damaged, when working on other parts of the layout. The second reason was the severe shortage of images or information about the petrol station as it was in the 1940's or 1950's.
Having completed the rest of the layout scenics, excus
Just shown Freshwater at OXRAIL 2019 in Abingdon. I finally got around to adding some more details to the layout a few weeks before the show, mostly adding further vegetation along the river Yar, and the brook that runs behind the platform.
I had some extra operators, so I managed to just sit and watch shunting operations, for a change.
And an additional detail added was a pair of benches, a ModelU scan of yours truely, an
Freshwater station only has one platform, but it was extended at various times over the years. The first section by the buffers where the locomotive would stand is very low with plain brick facing. It then ramps up to a more normal height. The next section is typical Southern Railway concrete panels from the Exmouth Junction concrete works, while the latest extension used the Southern Railway lightweight concrete trestles, more standard components from Exmouth Junction.
Modelling the
As I have said before, woodworking is not my speciality, but I am building my own layout instead of helping build a club layout, so I have to do everything. Before advancing with scenic work, I really wanted a secure case or lid to protect the layout in transit or storage, and before the next exhibition, I wanted to have adequate lighting in place.I looked at what we had done previously, and what other exhibition layouts are using, and then decided to do something completely different. I decided
18 July 2010: Following the Expo, I can now get on with adding the uncoupling magnets. I had always intended using permanent magnets, following their successful use on Brunswick. I bought some small magnets from Merg, but they were nowhere near powerful enough to operate the DG couplers from below the baseboard. Now I have purchased 50 'rare earth' magnets via Ebay. These are really powerful for their size (about 5mm diameter and 3mm long) and come with all sorts of warnings. 'Rare earth' magnet
Freshwater will have more trees than any previous layout I have built, so I wanted to get some planted in time for the Farnham show (and 2mm Scale Association AGM). Previously I have used plastic tree armatures from Heki and Woodland Scenics. These start off as 2D trees, the branches of which need to be bent to produce a not very realistic 3D tree before attaching bits of foliage.
This time, I wanted to try new techniques. I had purchased a tree-making kit from Ceynix many years ago,
Another long pause in activity following my participation in the Channel 5 'Great Model Railway Challenge'. Having completed our heat, and then being in the final, we were asked to build another layout for the Radio Times. Then, Peco invited us to have our Santa layout on their stand at Warley, which was followed by a visit to Bognor Regis. Finally, I could get back to worrying about Freshwater, with two shows in February, Stafford and Tonbridge.
As reported earlier, I use small 'rar
Not much progress recently - I was diverted by a different project which was no 2mmFS.
Anyway, with a couple of exhibitions coming up in October (Fareham and Abingdon/Didcot) I have set up the layout ready for some more work to be carried out, and took the opportunity to take a few, up to date photos:
No major projects to report on for this entry, but lots of little jobs here and there that are moving the layout forward slowly towards completion (if that is ever possible).
First off, lots of telegraph poles and power poles. Seven telegraph poles where only two pairs are identical. Based on Ratio items, chopped about to provide the correct number of arms and 'pots', plus some 0.2mm diameter wire for two 'stays' where the wire course changes direction to cross the tracks.It took a l
It has been some time since my last post. During that time there have been various improvements, design changes, failures, successes and experiments on the electrics underneath the layout. I have still not quite finished, but I do have a working system again.
The original plan was to use Merg Servo4 kits to drive micro servos controlling points and permanent magnet uncouplers. A temporary switch box connected to the 25-way connector on the layout operated the individual points and un
A busy last few weeks in the run up to exhibiting the layout at the 2mm Scale Association Expo in Keighley saw the completion of the woodwork, and application of paint to protect it (and cover up my poor joinery skills).
Setting up on the Saturday morning I was pleased to find that I had not left any important bits at home, and everything fitted together as planned. Even though I did not clean any of the track, it ran really well, with just on sticky bit through one of the points to
One job that I had been putting off for too long was fitting dummy point rodding. It needed to be done before I could get on with adding details to the front half of the layout, as it would be too difficult to access where it had to go without causing damage. With an invite to the Ally Palley exhibition, I really wanted to get it done in time for that. I just managed to complete it before receiving confirmation that the event was cancelled. C'est la vie. Anyway, it now gives me time to add furth
If you have ever used hand held controllers to operate a layout, you will know that you need somewhere to put them when you need to deal with a derailment, or drink some tea. Often this means hanging it over the backscene, or letting it dangle down to the floor.
On previous layouts, I have used Velcro to allow the controller to be stuck at various places at the back of the layout. This is very handy, but removing the controller from the Velcro can cause some fairly major earthquakes
The station building that fronted Freshwater Station from 1889 until it was demolished to make way for a Co-op supermarket, was the largest and grandest of the stations of the Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway. It comprised the two storey Station Master's house, with single storey booking hall, waiting rooms and conveniences, and was extended at some time to add a parcels office. It was red brick, with tiled roof rather than slates. The brickwork was quite ornate around the eaves and arou
I love the sound of deadlines flying by. Having a deadline certainly provides a bit of impetus to get things done, even if not enough things actually get done in time.
When I accepted the invitation before Christmas, I had just about got all the electrical and mechanical gubbins beneath the layout working as required (see umpteen previous posts) and so, 4 years after the initial deadline for the 2mm Scale Association Golden Jubilee Expo in Oxford, I thought the time was right to star
No, grab handles. Four little four-wheeler carriages seem to require a lot of grab handles. It took most of an evening just bending and cutting these. I have drilled the coach sides for the lower end to fit into, but the top end will be above the window line, and the door surround is too narrow to drill. Fitting them will be interesting.
I have also, with advice from D869 (Andy) and Merg member Simon, completed some artwork for creating an etch. This includes window frames for the signa
Not much progress to report on my Freshwater layout itself, as various projects have stalled for one reason or another. However, with some exhibition bookings a couple of months away, I had to make some progress somewhere. I turned to the fiddle yard.
Originally, in the rush to complete the layout for the 2mm Scale Association Golden Jubilee Challenge, I just roughly laid a few 60 foot track panels on double sided sticky tape across the fiddle yard and joined them up electrically. Th
Built by the North London Railway in 1864 as a four compartment, all-first class, 4 wheeled carriage, this vehicle was purchased second hand, over 30 years later by the Isle of Wight Railway (IWR), along with six other carriages. It was numbered 46. It retained the varnished teak livery, but bore the garter motif of the IWR, with its number in the centre. One of the first class compartments was down-graded to second class. When the Southern Railway took over in 1923, these 60 year old carriages
1 March 2010: A milestone (or is that a millstone?) has been reached. All the track is now laid, except for the buffer stops which will be the eagerly awaited etched SR kits. I have made a start on installing the dropper wires, and one point mechanism and servo is in place, so I have some way to go before proper testing of the track can start.
As can be seen from the non-painted track, there was a lot of curved track required (half track created in the jig, then the second rail being a
28 October 2010:
It must be the season for ballast laying. With all the track laid, wired up and painted, and a successful two days operation at the GJ Expo in Oxford I just needed an opportunity to have the layout set up for a few days to allow the ballast to be laid and for the glue to dry.
I followed the method used on previous layouts, applying the ballast dry, painstakingly moving around and removing it from sleepers and flangeways, then spraying water with a couple of drops of wash
'Freshwater' will be on show again next Saturday, 14th April 2018. It will be the first 2mmFS layout to be invited to the East Surrey N Gauge Show at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Linkfield Lane, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1EA. As usual, I wanted to get a bit more completed after its last exhibition, and next on the list was the Newsagents stand and the signal box. The main part of these buildings were 3D printed by Shapeways, as were most of the other structures on the layout. However, for the
Having had a successful weekend running 'Freshwater' on 'Freshwater' at Abingdon, I have now turned my attentions to a second Dapol A1X Terrier locomotive, carefully copying the process that worked with number 8 'Freshwater'.
The chassis is etched nickel-silver, available from the 2mm Scale Association along with suitable wheels and gears and 'muffs'. A Nigel Lawton motor provides the power, and a CT electronics DCC decoder fits in the cab. Some extra lead weighting has been added inside the
With the CMRA Stevenage exhibition coming up this weekend, I have been busy adding some detail bits to the rear half of the layout, while it is still accessible, before starting on the foreground stuff. I hope visitors to the exhibition manage to spot them.
The figures are mostly ModelU, except where noted.
The newsagent now has a browsing customer, matching the photo of the real thing that I have.
The old git on the bench is a 3D scan of me.
As anyone who has seen my layout at exhibitions can tell you, so far some very unlikely motive power has been operating the Freshwater line of the Isle of Wight. I do intend to rectify this, but getting the layout operating smoothly, and scenery added were higher priority. I have acquired some Dapol A1X Terriers (one at least with the correct extended bunker) ready to be converted to 2mm finescale. Many months ago I started work on modifying the original chassis, as per an article in the 2mm Sca
