Les1952

May already Not a lot to report- I've been sorting out a box for rolling stock- and managed to get all but two main line trains into it- and one of those is the inspection saloon. I've a small plastic box that can take the remaining freight train and the "loose" wagons for the top, while the inspection saloon can live in the other box with the locos. The only scenic bit has been adding a few figures- notably a welder sitting dangerously atop the safety netting- fall one way and he's going to break his neck, fall the other and he toasts himself. Where are Health and Safety when you need them? All the very best Les

A couple more pics from Cotgrave. I took a bunch of pictures to add to the ones from Sheffield and Mansfield to get some decent ones to send off to the N-gauge Journal when I get round to writing an article. They are all too big to put up here, and a lot of them duplicate what I've posted already, but here are a couple more shots of details. Looking at the top houses a 2CV has joined the row of parked cars- has someone got French visitors, or is it just one of the inhabitants of the flats bought a nice cheap bouncy car? Meanwhile above it Frau Schwarz is hanging out her washing. Three hikers can just be seen between the buildings coming to join their mates off-pic flaked out by the sunflowers. Looking under the wires people can be seen inside the pedestrian arch, and there is a skip beyond. In the foreground a street band have a jam session on the steps, perhaps depriving the hurdy-gurdy man of some business. Both these views are taken from wheelchair user height. All the very best Les

Latest Toy 60124 KENILWORTH would be a Heaton or York engine at the time the layout is set, so could be found on a Sunderland to York parcels working. Farish loco bought secondhand, breaking my rule never to buy Farish unseen. A few minor problems but now working satisfactorily, and taken into works for rem=naming and renumbering with the result seen in the pictures. I spent far more time than my parents thought was good for me hanging my nose through the fencing at Darlington shed, drooling over first Lemberg then Kenilworth. Memories. Not a lot done with the layout, though I have had to replace one of the pieces of setrack on the colliery end. When cleaning (with a piece of Dapol box inner) it disintegrated. Just in case I have any more go like that I bought three pieces- I have plenty of spare Radius 2 curves. I'll just need to make sure there are spares in the exhibition box before the layout goes out. All the very best Les

April already... Since we're having next week off time for a quick update or two. Most progress these last three weeks has involved cutting and painting walls- not all that easy when there's hardly a straight line on any of them. My good friends Messrs Flanagan and Allen (now I'm showing up my age) aka Alf and Trevor, have been working on what is happening underneath the arches to the left (North) of the goods yard ramp. This is the result so far. Alf has taken this section of wall away with him to finish. Meanwhile I spent last week looking directly into the weak sun painting the long wall- the wall is battered back by 5 degrees, and the buttresses by more, and there is a slight curve at one end of the wall. Painting in situ seemed the least worst alternative. Two tunnel mouths by Geoff- Rise Park with its protective layout-front slope removed, and Top Valley where the track disappears under the town. Still a lot to do, but it is all happening- admittedly slowly. Les

Back from Cotgrave show. Two enquiries for Furtwangen for 2014-2015, and one confirmed booking and three enquiries for Hawthorn Dene. Two casualties- we knocked the end house off the layout with the proscenium getting it back in the car (now repaired) and one of the setrack points in the fiddle yard fell apart- glued back together with superglue meaning we could run through but it reduced us to one long train plus railbuses for the last 3 hours of the show. I'll need to get a replacement point in the next day or so. Bed time....

News Flash I can now confirm the following show booking for Hawthorn Dene Syston MRS Exhibition, Sileby, 21/22 February 2015 I'm also going to be at Braunstone, but Chris couldn't remember whether that is November 2014 or Nov 2015. However he is operating Furtwangen Ost at Quorn in June, so might remember then...... All the very best Les

Buckets moved... I've spent a morning taking the buckets off the ropeway (breaking three in the process) and rehanging them with the fulls on the slacker wire. On most ropeways I've found pictures of the buckets come back upside down so they can drain, so that is how they've been modelled. With them having started off as Langley mine tubs, which are solid lumps of white metal modelling the returns upside down means they are a lot harder to look into...... The first mast coming out of the screens. The extra hanger marks where a bucket has fallen off and been replaced- the bucket is on the ground behind the ladder. It actually marks a bucket that snapped off and which couldn't be removed from the cable when I swapped them over- at least there is a plausible back story for it. A closer view of the turning mast. This batch has been taken with my old camera- it is lower resolution but has more of a mind of its own when focusing.... Crossing the netting Men climbing up to repair the tired old netting. Lunch is served- will get shouted at if I don't post and go... All the very best Les

Thanks for that. I'm glad you didn't look too closely- the returns are sagging more than the fulls- does this mean I need to swap the skips across, they're travelling on the right-hand wire at the moment. All the very best Les

The flight made and painted. When I started to hang the skips on the flight I worked out that it couldn't go round the outside of the wheel in both directions. The return journey now turns at the centre mast inside a guide. the view looking up into the colliery yard. The old boiler house has had some weathering also. Skips in place over the netting, viewed from wheelchair height. A Northbound express passed a Southbound train of fulls under the flight. A little grainy because the flash didn't fire. Also a little grainy for the same reason, the full hoppers are further onwards. Two miners are climbing the ladder to the safety netting to do some maintenance. More to do, and hopefully some better pictures later. All the very best Les

Thanks for the compliment. Tomorrow's job, apart from finishing painting the flight wire and some more miners, is to matt varnish the cab and tender sides of the WD- there was a number missing from the side you couldn't see on the vid- I'd forgotten to varnish over the cab after I renumbered it. On Sunday I'll start to weather it. All the very best Les

90344 back again. Now fitted by Jeremy at Digitrains with a Zimo sound chip and a Pauliebanger sound file. Not as strong a loco as I thought- the sound shows up that it was slipping a bit on the layout ends. It will probably run the empties northbound (a Hartlepool engine returning empties to Dawdon or Vane Tempest collieries perhaps. A Sunderland WD would be a little more likely to be on Southbound empties. Southbound empties hauled by 90344. The video is a little shaky as I was trying to run the camera and the controller at the same time. You can see that the flight now has its wires and some buckets. I'll get pictures of the flight done when I've added a few more buckets and finished painting the wire. All the very best Les

A few detail pics. Cruel enlargements. I've added a cat to the scene of the porter and dog at the front. Out at exhibition Jim asks punters, and not just children, if they can see the cat. Cruel enlargement shows the platforn edge needs a little attention. Now a couple of views from wheelchair-user level, which can't always be seen by the standing viewer. The Backhaus has a passage through to the street behind, invisible to those of a taller disposition. Cruel enlargement shows that I need to do a bit more to bed this building to the pavement. Another wheelchair-user view, through the tram stop with the kissing couple and to the postman delivering a large parecel to the rear door of the Rathaus, and the delivery van behind. Layout is back on the bench being prepared for Cotgrave in two weeks' time. The only casualty from last time out seems to have been a small length of fence, now fixed. Next job is to check the stock over. All the very best Les

Fairly Quiet Week .....but most of it spent on details and touching-up. Now I've got ladders up the three flight towers, the next one is for the work gang to access the safety net for repairs. I've got some more ladders so there will be one on the other end. All I need is some more people in appropriate positions. Looking at the net from the other side reveals why they are having to fix it. The farmer who has the field between the railway and the sea has left his muck spreader next to the hedge ready for next season. Ballasting and work on the ground at colliery level is what is taking the time. The GWR-type lineside hut has now been fixed in its final position, as yard office for the landsale yard. Some sacks (needs more) and a man with a shovel- but still a lot to do to this area. Lastly, while moving things around to find the pot of cheapo Chinese figures I turned up the pack of sunflowers I used on Furtwangen Ost, and discovered there were still well over a dozen left. The local leek show now has a sunflower section as well as the usual pot and trench leeks. Must find a lean-to greenhouse or two for these allotments. All the very best Les

Time to look at some locos I'm in the middle of a scenic bash at the moment and there isn't a lot ready to photograph. So as an interlude, some of the DCC loco fleet. The modern 6-pin decoders are a doddle to fit- getting inside the body is usually the hardest bit- my Class 101 DMU had as much of the glazing glued to the chassis as to the body. The test track along the shed wall above the mess that is my workbench. I do tidy up occasionally. The two 2MTs, both renumbered as long-term Darlington inhabitants. 47475 is the silent one with a Bachmann chip, 46477 the Zimo sound-fitted one from Wickness Models. Two of the A3s. These are both modified. 60051 Blink Bonny is my original Lemberg, fitted with a replacement New-type tender and renumbered. 60088 Book Law started off as a Bayardo but now has the boiler, chimney and blinkers from a "Not Quite Perfect" A3 bought from Dapol at their open day, again renumbered and renamed. Both have Zimo MX621 decoders. The pair of J25s. 65726 has a Silver Mini inside the tender, done by Wickness Models. 65695 was chipped by Digitrains (as a J26) with a CT decoder in the cab. The J26 had a pickup problem so I swapped its tender onto the spare J25. The tarpaulin is to hide all the wire. 65726 was previously one of the fleet I supplied to Trevor Webster's "Parnhams" as LNER 2000. This J39/3 has a tender with a CT decoder, done by DCC Supplies, but swapped to the J39 as the J26 loco needed some attention. The B1 is a Dapol one, renumbered and remnamed by me, with a Lenz Silver Mini decoder, as has the second B1 (also renumbered). The D20 was one of the fleet I supplied to Parnhams as LNER 711, now repainted and renumbered, then sent to Wickness Models for a Silver Mini in the tender. The "what if someone had bought them" pair- Silver Link and Papyrus. Both with Silver Minis and both used for specials. I'm going to have to give Papyrus a new pair of front buffers. On the colliery the Peckett is number 1 and the Geisl J94 is number 8. The Peckett was remounted on the best J94 chassis I could find, and the pair were chipped by Jeremy at Digitrains. Two of the V2s- the other two haven't (yet) been done. This is the modified pair, one with outside steampipes, and the other with a BHE double-chimney. Both fitted with chips by Digitrains. Most of the rest of the fleet haven't been modified, weathered or repainted- yet..... All the very best Les

First show is Grantham on 6/7 Sept. Chips are a mixture. There are s few of the cheaper Bachmann ones, in Farish locos. Those Dapols that have enough room have Lenz Silver Minis or Zimos- I prefer these but at £30-odd a pop it is an expensive business. The Union Mills are fitted with Lenz if Douglas at Wickness did them. These run much smoother than the pair with CT chips done by Digitrains (one) or DCC Supplies (one). Certainly Farish run well with the Bachmann 6-pin chips. Other makes less so, which is why I go for Lenz and Zimo. My older Farish mechs that need hard-wiring have been done by Digitrains- I'm dyspraxic so a mechanism probably wouldn't survive ne trying to hard-wire a chip into it. Whatever chips they use seem OK for Farish. I've been lucky. Trevor Webster has sold his two exhibition layouts I've provided locos and stock for, and we've downsized our club layout by 50%. That has left me with a substantial number of locos and a lot of stock to sell, and this has funded a comparatively quick fitting of more than enough locos to run the layout. There are 10 trains in each direction on the main line and two trains on the colliery, making 22 locos just for the basic service, plus at least one spare for each type of train. All the very best Les

Very many thanks, Brian. Always nice when someone likes what you are doing. Control is by NCE Powercab, of which I have two. One is permanently on the layout acting as master using the straight lead in the start set. The other acts as slave when on the layout but also runs the programming track mounted on the wall above the workbench. My workbench also has an oval of Unitrack set up with an analogue controller, or if Furtwangen Ost is being prepared for a show then that will double up as the analogue test track. Sound-fitted locos are A3 Lemberg and the 2MT, with WD 90344 waiting collection from Digitrains. I'm saving for a Dapol Bittern to make a quartet by the time the layout goes out for the first time in September. Hope this helps. Les

Walling In I had a week off last week, having gone off to Darlington to photograph a works drawing. Meanwhile scenery is proceeding. Geoff has made and painted the mouth for Rise Park Tunnel. At the other end he and Trevor have cut a hand hole in the baseboard inside Top Valley Tunnel as we had a short length we couldn't reach. Trevor has shown up with another row of buildings. These sit to the left of Top Valley Centre or Top Valley Goods, depending on which board is plonked over the right-hand end. Meanwhile Alf and Jim have made the long wall from brick plasicard. This took quite a long time as the wall slopes backwards and the buttresses also do, but by about 5 degrees more. The wall beyond the ramp is next to do- also sloping with buttresses but containing arched units. The "loose" track will be part-lifted trackwork in the former goods yard of Rise Park Station. More next week- I'm painting the walls, that should be fun....... Les

Take a pair of ancient tights..... cut a section off, spray it black, add rusty black particularly where the spray paint missed, superglue to tops of support poles, spend 15 mins releasing fingers, and lo and behold, netting of a reasonably dilapidated nature. Adding some rod front and rear to look as if it is stretched to it but rusting away we have the basis of the safety netting below the flight where it passes over the railway and track down to the beach. Plenty of grot still to be added, plus ladders and workmen trying to repair the poor clapped out structure- thereby giving a reason for the speed restriction on the railway below. I bought some ladders from N-Brass this weekend at Nottingham show and have added one to each of the flight towers (more skin removed). When all this is finished, and the pit yard surface is done, I can install the flight rope. However I need ten more P.D.Marsh mine skips first........ All the very best Les

Thanks for that, it was well appreciated. Two more invites- home show at Cotgrave April 12/13 then the NGS one-day show at Retford on May 31st. All the very best Les

Nice to actually see the layout at Nottingham even though our little bunch arrived at a time on Saturday when it was just too busy to interrupt and say hello.... Well done on the award. All the very best Les

Saturday again... Not all that much done this week as I've been out at exhibition (again) with Furtwangen Ost, then sorting out locos. I'll try to picture some of the additions for the next report. Meanwhile, the lift-off area with the Nissen huts is coming on. Also new since the last post is the sound-equipped 2MT. I've renumbered it 46477 as one that spent most of its time at Darlington. The older 2MT is also being kept and has been renumbered 46475, another Darlington engine. Although Darlington had them mainly for the Stainmore line , after that was closed they were short of work and used for all sorts of lighter duties. This one will work the inspection saloon mostly, with the older on spare or on light general goods. Here 47477 shuffles wagons onto the weighbridge then sets off down to the exchange sidings, stopping at the lane to let the fireman check all is clear before proceeding. Much to do, and a fine weekend in which to do it..... All the very best Les

More bits and pieces. Yesterday I was presented by Trevor with the lancashire boiler house to go on the backscene hiding the last blemish- and giving a reason for the leaning-back chimney. He also has used Jim's hot-glue gun to put some beading on the underside of the lids that cover the ends. This means at last there is a black hole in the backscene at each end for trains to disappear into. The boiler house, partly seated in and awaiting a dirty wash and some foliage growth. The new black hole behind the overbridge. The second Nissen hut arrived this morning and has had its first coat of black and rusty. I've also got the sub-base for it cut to shape and a first covering of flock applied. The hedges that will help hold the sub-base in place have been stuck in at the front and side, and some of the extra foliage for these has been applied. I've also had a go at the baseboard in front of them. Meanwhile post-and-wire fencing is being constructed from the stile to the colliery wall. Much still to do. Les

My only comment on the Class 28 is "oh bug@#r". I had one of the rather nice resin ones, and sold it as "not right for area" about 2 years ago. That was before I discovered they were run-in from Metrovick at Stockton on eight-coach passenger trains to Newcastle and back via the coast line. That becomes another "right" loco for Hawthorn Dene in original format, but not as a kit as DCC fitting a mongrel chassis made up of half-a-25 and half-a-31 in old-style Farish might be a little problematical, as might finding room for the chip. All the very best Les

Shhhhh......(Its hiding a nasty discontinuity on the backscene join) Don't tell them your name, Pyke! Les

A visit and a couple of new images. Trevor Webster came over to look at the layout today, largely so I could pick his brains about the area at the very front and about bedding in the Nissen hut (huts shortly) that will be seated on a sub-base to help disguise the board join. He took away the chimney to build a small boiler house next to it to hide the join in the wall. Overall I think he liked the layout, and seemed to enjoy playing trains- even though he reckons I've gone over to the dark side. Not shown recently, there have been a couple of bits tidied up at the end. The Tyne Dock O1 enters with a train of steel from Cleveland Bridge probably for South Sunderland. I'm getting the hang of "Lemberg". Second video showing progress. This time working the inspaection saloon, she pauses just before the bridge where workers are doing more repairs. The concrete structure is an LNER lineside hut which is only part-painted and yet to be bedded in. I'm not sure if there was one near Easington but it is the correct type for the region. The figures are Graham Farish with their hi-vis overpainted- there wasn't such stuff in 1960...... Still a lot to do. All the very best Les