thegreenhowards

I’m back to painting my signal box today. I’m basing it on this picture, in which the steps are still dark green. I think I’ve also seen them in yellow green and white. But this is roughly the right era for my main focus of early ‘80s. It Here’s my attempt. I mixed a bit more hello into the yellow green mix and added a bit of white to both as suggested by @03060. I think I’m happy with the colours now, but I’d welcome comment from those less colours blind than me! I’ve also had a go at printing the signal box sign. I think the letters are slightly too big and need to be spaced wider (anyone know how to do that in word?). But the colour seems OK. Again, comments welcome. Anyone know where I can source the ‘passengers must not cross the line’ sign? Sankey scenics do the lower half with ‘Warning….£200’ but I can’t find the upper bit anywhere. Andy

Personally the only sports I bother watching on telly are F1, tennis and my beloved QPR. I find the commentary excellent in all three, but particularly for football where it now seems to be possible to have dedicated commentary for your own football team, certainly in the Championship - I can’t speak for the money pit division above us! I rather enjoy the combination of a commentator who’s also a fan paired up with a former player, in our case, Andy Sinton. The scream when a goal goes in is worth the money alone! Andy

I think this is a classic case of the ‘ best being the enemy of the good’. Personally I find attempts to model coal or aggregates being unloaded are fascinating and really add something to the model. They’re not perfect for all the reasons that Tony states, but that doesn’t mean they’re not an improvement on not trying. I say well done to those who have the skill and determination to try. Andy

Yes, the tour was very good apart from the safety b……s about not standing by the window. The 37 was audible through the a/c, but rather muted compared with fresh air stock. The dog box was a surprise to me. RTT didn’t have it in advance, so I think it was an on the day adjustment. Andy

I answered some questions during my visit to Glenfinnan. The first was, that the water tank has no top. I think the grp tanks postdate my era, so it would have been open and full of water. I gather the local kids used to swim and fish in it! I now have to consider scratchbuilding it. Those curved tops look challenging. Any suggestions as to how to proceed? Andy

Arnobol is very hemmed in by trees and is quite a rough hike to get to it. Probably why it doesn’t feature in train photos more often. Borrodale is even more hemmed in, although I could have done better if I’d left myself more time!

After the tour I spent a few days staying in Morar with some hill walking friends. And then on Thursday they all went home and I had a day mainly spent on a Glenfinnan site visit. I took loads of photos and some will trot out over the next few weeks as I continue detailing the layout. But I also spent some time checking out other iconic locations on the West Highland Extension in case I get the opportunity to include any around the garden. I’ve put this video together as inspiration. I hope you enjoy it. Sorry it’s only got sprinters in, but if there’d been decent trains out, I’d have been in them! Andy

Back to the run round loop at Mallaig. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a real train to Mallaig today. This was load 7 Mk 2F (mk 1 RU) and I can report that the run round loop is big enough for seven vehicles … but only just! It was this tight at both ends. This shows the loco having run round. Andy

Coming back to the subject of colours, I’ve bitten the bullet and tried some new colours on my signal box. Only one coat and it hasn’t covered particularly well, but I think you get enough of an idea of the colours. I’m trying to replicate the ones shown in my first post on this subject here. I decided not to buy the Tamiya paints because a) I’m not convinced the colours weren’t spot on, at least for the faded state at Glenfinnan, b) I prefer enamels, and c) I have inherited (almost) unlimited supplies of Humbrol enamels from an estate. So I went with. 1) Humbrol 101 (mid green) with a tiny amount of Humbrol 104 (Oxford blue) for the darker green; 2) 3 parts Humbrol 120 (light green) to one part precision signal yellow for the yellow green; and 3) Humbrol HR 103 (cream) for the cream. I think the cream is a bit too yellow, so I may switch to BR coach cream for that. The others I’m quite pleased with, but I’d welcome comments as I know my colour perception isn’t the best. Andy

Never mind the B1, that’s a lovely steel 5 set behind the tender!

This is pretty standard in O gauge for Mk1s. Both the main manufacturers use a form of Buckeye. Darstead actually use Kadees, while Lionheart/ Dapol use their own version - annoyingly at a different height to Darstead. The other manufacturer of Mk 1s, Heljan, still use screw links but they’re nigh in impossible to couple up under corridor connectors, so I’ve replaced all mine with Kadees.

If you really believe that then you’re deluded!

Probably because that would be an unnecessary extra cost and complication.

Always nice to see a 27…although I wouldn’t have said that back in the day!

If I can weigh in on this too, then I would say 1) is possible, but often not achieved; and 2) nearly always. The ‘Chuff rate’ is programmable on modern chips, certainly the more expensive ones. However many people just fit and forget rather than taking the time to change one CV (CV 267 on Zimo) to get the correct rate. It needs to be finessed because different locos will have different gearing etc. On my O gauge locos this is particularly important as the chuff rate is normally roughly set for 00 and the larger diameter wheels mean they chuff far too frequently. As for coasting, there all decent modern chips will do this, but early DCC sound didn’t do this and maybe some current cheaper ones still don’t. I particularly like ‘active drive’ available on Zimo and ESU (maybe others) where shutting off means the loco coasts with just some clanking and slows down very slowly (just like on the real thing) and one applies a separate button to brake (with appropriate noises). Andy

Thanks Peter, I will interrogate G&H on the subject of rollers. Andy

Thanks Rob, The base is chicken wire covered with plaster bandage and painted to seal it. Then I use layers of static grass from WWS, starting with 2mm and then different colours of 4mm and 6mm grass. These are scrunched up with my fingers between layers to give the rough look. Between each layer I spray with cheap hairspray. The rhodendendron is woodland scenics tree armatures bent out fairly flat. Then dark green clump material from woodland scenics. The pinky purple blossom is made from kids wax crayon put in the freezer overnight then grated with a cheese grater (when my wife is out!). This is attached to the trees with scenic cement sprayed on. The gorse is light green clump material with yellow crayon. Most of the trees are from a ‘Forest in a box’ which is a large pack of sea foam. These are soaked to make them pliable the sprayed with scenic cement and covered with a mid green flock. I put several stems in a hole on the side nearer the camera to represent Sycamore coppice which seemed to be prevalent here. The bigger trees are stems made from Hebe in the garden with smaller bits of seafoam attached with hobby tac. The bramble is rubberised horse hair with ‘bramble’ flock over the top. The other shrubby weeds are small dead heads of sedum and astilbe from the garden, dipped in Modge Podge Matt medium and covered with different flocks. The fence, which is a bit more wonky than I’d like, is cocktail sticks and cotton with the corner posts from firework rocket stems. I hope that’s useful - is there anything I’ve missed? Andy

Thanks ‘GWR57xx’, I appreciate the thought and effort which must have gone into that post. I intend to use a much bigger central bearing like this one. https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcing-map-Aluminum-Turntable-Dining-Table/dp/B0CDT8DG6S/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=38LSB3H9M7VXG&keywords=last%2Bsusan%2Bswivel%2Bbase&qid=1707752141&sprefix=Last%2Bsusan%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1 It claims to take 200 KG, so even if I filled the turntable with nothing but Heljan 37s, I’d only use half its capacity! Yes, you’re right about the 15 degrees and symmetrical nature of the turntable. The support underneath would just be in line with the turntable rather than right round. G&H do not recommend rollers. They suggest instead that the layers fit closely and are polished (beeswax?) for low friction movement. I’m slightly sceptical about this, but will probably follow their advice. A physical stop at the end is definitely required. Not least because DCC sound fitted locos have lots of momentum. I’ll ask G&H to engineer one in. Andy

I’ve now broken the back of the eastern station throat board. It’s difficult to know exactly what level of undergrowth I should be aiming at, as every photo I find is a bit different. I suspect there was less tree growth back in the ‘80s than there is now, but there was still some. Although more recent, this gives an idea of what I am aiming at. And although the gorse wasn’t in bloom here, this is more in era. A few days ago, my board was just plain grass. I’ve added a lot of weeds/ undergrowth and trees, plus a fence and some sheep. Not sure about the sheep, but they illustrate the point of the cattle creep. I’ve also laid my first stretch of point rodding. This is the Wills OO product, which everyone says is over scale for OO. So I thought I’d try it in O gauge. To my untrained eye it looks OK. But it was very fiddly, so before I do any more, I’d welcome other peoples thoughts on it. Andy

Thanks for the photo. It always gives me a buzz to see something I built running round PN.

I only have a basic sketch at the moment, with a full drawing promised in the next week. But from that it looks like he’s proposing a c.100mm deep framed ply baseboard for the turntable deck. I’m sure I could add some weight in the centre to move the centre of gravity if necessary.

I’ve never built or operated one either. I just think that they’re a very neat solution which avoids handling stock. I have seen 8’ turntables on O gauge exhibition layouts like Kensington Addison Road and they seem to work well. I think that inevitably all the trains will point the same way at some point. They should all face the layout to start with. One then runs through the contents of the turntables with all the locos ending at the outside ends. Then the turntables are rotated and one starts again.

You may well be right Rob. I probably am being greedy. I plan to run it as a through the ages sequence starting in the early ‘50s with a V4 and Thompsons …moving through green diesels. ..and ending with 37/4s in the late ‘80s. I should really stop with RETB in Dec 1987 but I like triple grey livery so I may push it a bit. I seem to have about 16 trains at the moment….but I keep buying more! Unlike your layout on the WHL proper, there aren’t really enough trains on the extension to maintain interest for a full day’s operation if I stick rigidly to one year. The alternatives would be to concentrate on either 50/60s or 70/80s for any particular exhibition or to incorporate some form of cassette system into the turntable. One also has to leave a spare road on the turntable so that trains from one end have somewhere to go. So a 4 Road turntable would mean 7 trains in total. Andy

Meanwhile I’ve been ‘weedifying’ another board.

That’s the big issue Ian and I’m nervous about it, but the guy at Grainge and Hodder thinks it will be OK. Each Heljan diesel can weigh up to 3KG so I could have 21KG hanging off the end. The plan is to use a large lazy Susan (24” diameter) in the middle. And of course, the coaches aren’t light so will balance the weight a bit. If the engineers amongst you think that’s impractical, please shout now! Andy