warpy

@markwilson you’ll also have to remember O gauge is harder to sneak past the good wife than N gauge!

Having placed an order for the RevolutioN class 59 I purchased 10 of the NGS PTA kits a few months ago to provide a suitable train. It was my first kit since attempting basic Airfix Spitfires when I was a kid - and they turned out terribly. Finally plucked up courage to start the first batch of 5 a few weeks ago. It’s taken a long time to build them and the transfers were probably 2 hours of hair pulling stress per wagon. My first attempt was pretty rubbish but by the 5th one I’m pretty happy with the result given my inexperience of kit building and painting. Hopefully weathering will cover the poor paintwork and transfer mistakes on the first couple. Went for the earlier Yeoman livery on the wagons as it simplified the transfers and matched the whiter paint better. I couldn’t find an offwhite in an aerosol as I don’t have an airbrush. However looked at Paul Bartlett’s great online photo library I think this livery was still in use by the time the class 59 arrived. I’ve taken them for their first run on the layout with the first photos. I think with a bit of weathering and a suitable load they’ll look even better. The load might just provide a fraction more weight to improve the running. Now for the second five and looking forward to the Class 59 arrival.

Apologies all for the slightly boastful post but delighted to have made it into print for the first time, with Warphampton appearing in this month’s Railway Modeller (Dec 21). @markwilson thanks for the brilliant photos that really bring the layout to life. It’s 10 years since I first started planning Warphampton (longer with procrastination) and I never really thought I’d finish it and see it in print back then. I chose RM to submit to as it was my read of choice when I was a teen in the 80s/90s. I still kept the RM edition with the layout that inspired me to get into n gauge all those years ago - Maybury, July 89. Thanks Dave and I hope you don’t mind I pinched so much of your design.

Enjoyed a good running session over the weekend with all the track and stock behaving well. Decided to shoot some new footage which includes some of the recent purchases. I hope a few of you might enjoy viewing it over a cup of tea or something. Sorry for the shaky closeup shots. I need to find a mini tripod that can stand on the scenery without damaging it Also in two minds as to whether music adds anything.left it off for now but the change in noise from scene is a bit noticeable. Currently I’ve only got the default windows video editing software which doesn’t offer any transitions to reduce the impact of this. Alternative suggestions welcomed for those with more experience.

Feels like quite a productive week for Warphampton. Preordered a Revolution 59 in original Yeoman livery as I’m sure I remember occasionally seeing those around when stood on stations in the late 80s. Anyway it fits my era and given I’m reasonably fluid on region and it’s something different for my fleet decided to go for it given a very competitive early bird price. Then spent some time looking around for something for it to pull. Very limited choice in RTR Yeoman livery so I’m braving my first kit and have ordered some of the NGS PTA wagons. Excited to start building them as a project before the 59 arrives. Have to say though the size of the transfers look like they will slowly drive me insane - see photo with UK penny for scale - makes you realise the work that goes into RTR! Also finally got around to fitting some Dapol easi-shunt magnetic couplers to a couple of 24s and a rake of coaches. Had these for about 6 years I think, as originally Warphampton was designed for some loco hauled trains to terminate in the bays. Replacements would then come from the MPD but I wanted something reasonably automated. Up till now I’ve never felt like l had the spare locos available so the couplers sat in their boxes but finally decided to try them. A little rejigging of the other rakes freed one loco up. Now means I’ve got one formation to run into the bays and the spare loco from the MPD to form the return leg. Along with the DMUs this really adds to the operational enjoyment of the layout when I’m not just watching trains go by. I have to say I’m pretty impressed with the Dapol system. Fortunately the stock had NEM pockets so the couplers swapped in very easily but they seem to work pretty effectively. It’s a shame the magnets are visible but weathering helps. With a bit of practise the uncoupling hand of God has disappeared and spent a fun hour this afternoon running trains on two loops whilst practising the the loco hauled terminating service back and forth on the other.

Thanks although I couldn’t seem to access this link. Would you mind seeing if the privacy settings allow sharing please as I’d like to see the video. I see the BBC published some photos at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58271871 but not the same as a moving image.

I think the location has been mentioned before but couldn’t resist this photo from Bude tonight whilst on holiday - the section of narrow gauge rails still showing in the path down from the canal to Summerleaze beach. I believe used to transport sand from the beach up to the spur from the line to Bude station. High tide tonight

Evening all. Last weekend I was fortunate enough to showcase Warphampton on the N Gauge Forum virtual exhibition (see https://ngfshow21.weebly.com/). It was never intended to be an exhibition layout so I was delighted to get the chance for others to see it running, albeit if only virtually. A big thanks to the organisers of the virtual show as it was a great collection of layouts, interviews and guides. Also, thank you to any members here who viewed it, gave me a thumbs up or comment etc. Really appreciated. Having spent a few hours preparing the video I thought I'd also share a copy here. I've actually uploaded a slightly reworked version with no background music allowing you to hear the commentary more. The scenic shots were also just a couple of seconds longer as I realised the previous edit didn't really allow you the time to view each scene. I hope you enjoy watching it as I certainly enjoyed filming it. It was filmed a couple of months ago so I'd like to do another one soon with the new rolling stock recently acquired as hopefully that adds to the variety.

Enjoyed a morning last weekend running a few trains with a good friend who due to lockdown hadn’t had chance to see the completed scenery. He also spent some time taking some photos with a much better camera and skill set than I possess so thanks Mark for the time. Look forward to seeing the results. as a result realised there are still some niggles in the running so spent a couple of hours this week replacing the track join between the flip-up upper fiddle yard and the ascending ramp. As you can see from the before and after photos the original looked pretty horrendous and it won’t surprise you to learn the lack of rigid track alignment, slight dog leg etc led to quite a few derailments. Having seen a post ages ago about how to do it properly I finally made it to a local model shop to pick up the necessary brass tubing. I’m sorry I can’t credit the author of the original post as I can’t find it now but if you recognise your recommendation - thank you. The new join works a treat. At the same time I also managed to squeeze another cm or so into the radius of the curves on the ramp leading to the yard. That’s also improved the running particularly of co-co bogies on the inner most curve. Delighted with the overall improvement. Now to sort the other side. Just wish i hadn’t procrastinated for so long!

Since finishing off the scenery earlier in the year I’ve been spending time sorting out a couple of niggles in the track and just enjoying some running sessions. Over the last couple of months I’ve also treated myself to several purchases from that well known auction site for the first time in ages. Firstly, a red parcels 47, two parcels GUV and two TPO wagons to make up a new parcels train. The 47 is my favourite loco so I couldn’t resist another one in a different livery. It took some inner persuading that I wasn’t being disloyal to the 80s as I believe the RES livery is more like early 90s but in the end it was a 47 and rule 1 won. More recently I was finally successful in bidding on a batch of a TEA tanker wagons at a price I was happy with. I’ve wanted a train of these since I was a teenager but never got around to buying them. I couldn’t justify the beautiful but pricey recent models so was just satisfied with the older Grafar one. I rejigged another formation so that my blue 37 can haul them whilst I wait for the promised Farish petroleum sector 37 that may one day arrive. Again apologies to the purists as I appreciate the wagons probably aren’t period accurate and predate the 80s. If you’ve read my thread you’ll know I don’t model an exact region or time and I haven’t yet bothered with accurate train formations. I prefer just the pleasure of watching a nice variety of trains running around and these two new trains have provided a bundle of that. A few snaps below - apologies the angles are similar to before. I’ll try and get some new angles next time.

The station looks superb Michael. Well done and definitely worth the hours put in. As others have said the gentle slopes but with the level windows works really well. The clock tower looks suitably imposing enough to represent the sort of railway folly so common from that era. And as usual the attention to detail with the VCTB, the cafe and all the signs, posters etc really makes the difference. I’ll look forward to the videos when they’re ready.

Shame to see those holes in those lovely units you built but like a cutting through the hillside a necessary evil for railway progress! 4 broken blades - I assume there was a visit or two to Wilson’s then ;-) good to see some track down and look forward to seeing the overall plan. The longer platform will suit all those new Mk2s!

Nearholmer, I’m also local to Olney. I knew about the proposed but abandoned railway line linking NP but I never knew about the tramway. Fascinating. As you say it’s quite a hill around Emberton so it would have been some climb. Is there any remaining evidence of the tracks laid or were they all lifted to your knowledge?

I’m hearing Inkscape (Inkscape.org) mentioned more and more on a couple of YouTube model railway channels I watch. It’s free to download and I’ve given it a quick go and it seems to offer a lot of potential. Michael Scott from the Chandwell model railway YT channel has posted several videos on the package itself and his projects using it. He’s created some great scratchbuilds using this and free textures from Textures.com. I’ve still not had time to really get into it but it looks reasonably straightforward but with lots of features. if you search YT for Inkscape tutorials there are other sources of help.

I think my approach could definitely simplified as I’ve basically got three sets of wiring under each point - the peco motor, the LeD feedback and the frog power switch. Metres and metres of wiring. At the time it was my first proper layout and the book I read (I didn’t really think to research the web resources 10-12 years ago, if there even was much out there) suggested best practise was to separate the DCC bus from all other circuits. Certainly with 54 point motors the fault finding is much easier when the DCC, LED feeds and point motors are all totally separate electrical circuits. Point taken though, if I had my time again I think there are simpler approaches particularly with more tech out there.