BurscoughCurves

Sorry Richard, I’ve only just seen your message. Everything was collected I’m afraid. Pete

Hi RD, Yes all still available. If you want to drop me a PM and we can pick it up from there. Thanks, Pete

Cheers Mike. I do hope someone can make use of them, it’ll be painful to bin them. Some of the larger factories and the terraced houses are coming with me though. Looking forward to seeing more of Wibdenshaw. Pete

Hi all, Hope everyone is well. Just a quick message to say due to a house move I am offering some of the buildings and retaining walls pictured in the loft at the top of the page free, collection only. Please read the link below if anyone is interested. Buildings and Retaining Walls from Halifax Powell Street Regards, Pete

Hi all, Due to an upcoming house move I am offering various sections of retaining wall and some buildings that featured on my layout 'Halifax Powell Street'. Halifax Powell Street - Layout Topics The items are in 4mm scale and are scratch built. After dismantling the layout I stored these in the loft for future use but some of them are starting to warp due to the conditions up there. As it will be a good while before I build another layout, I'd rather someone make use of these if possible instead of them deteriorating and being binned. The warped items could be salvaged with some additional strengtheners. The retaining wall sections could be useful to someone. Available with the following stipulations: 1. Collection only from South Liverpool L19 on the weekend of 29th / 30th of January. 2. Single person to collect all items in the photos below, first come, first serve. 3. They are free, however a donation to the Liverpool Womens Hospital is requested. Northlight engine shed: kitbashed from Wills kits with a scratch built office at the rear. It is mounted to a sub-board has x4 code 75 tracks running into it. Contains modified Peco inspection pits in the interior and is fully illuminated with LED's (items described as illuminated have loose wires and will require an appropriate power source). It was removed as carefully as I could from the main baseboards and is in okay condition. Very low relief station building: foam board and card construction. Stone part is 4mm Slaters dressed stone with a 'modern' Slaters brick office. Also illumined, quite delicate. Retaining wall sections made from Slaters 7mm dressed stone and topped with 4mm Cotswold stone: Various low relief factories: made from mounting card and Slaters plasticard. 'ARCH' factory was one of my favourites but definitely needs some strengthening. Long girder bridge with scenic top: Anyone interested, PM me. All the best, Pete

Looks absolutely fantastic Shaun. Great layout of a fascinating location. All the best, Pete

Chris, Roger, Thanks so much for your words, it means a lot. I said it before but there is so much talent on display on RMWeb, it's such a great resource. Thanks Richard and Nick. Glad you liked it. I was so please to make the front cover, it was published as the final baseboards were dropped into skip so it was quite poignant to me really. It was a great way to end it however. All the best, Pete

Hi all, Well it's been an eventful few weeks. On one hand, it was heartbreaking to dismantle the layout. The majority of the buildings are safely stored up in the loft, and I must admit I couldn't help but play around with positioning them on the loft floor to see how they could look... it really got the modelling mojo going! Safely stowed away: On a positive note I'm really pleased to announce that Halifax Powell Street will be featuring in the next issue of Hornby magazine, released on the 1st of April I believe. I had to take the images myself due the lock down and timing of recent events so hopefully they'll look okay. I'm really pleased I was able to do this, it has always been a dream of mine to have a layout published. Thanks to Mike Wild for helping me with everything. There is also some video footage that will hopefully be available soon. Before the dismantling began, I had a play around with an out of gauge train inspired by the 1962 short 'Measured For Transport' available on YouTube: Normal Sunday traffic was halted whilst the Class 20 crawled in with the over-sized load. The train was split, and assisted by an Ivatt 4MT, slowly shunted to the goods yard for transfer onto the road before crawling to its destination. The final train departed behind Dave Shakespeare's Fairburn 42094 and the last signal signal clanked on called time on the layout. It really has been a great project and I will take the skills learnt forwards onto future layouts. I will miss it greatly but I am looking forward to things to come, modelling and otherwise! Thanks for joining me on this journey and special thanks for all the positive and encouraging comments. All the best, Pete

Hi, I used one of their shorter length kits for my layout Halifax Powell Street. It was a little fiddly in places but I like it overall. It’s fits my small MPD much better than a 70ft one. The details can be found on page 7: I reference a Ratio kit for detailing and additional parts, I meant the classic Dapol ex Kitmaster kit. Regards, Pete

Thanks Ian. Maybe I should stick with my original desire to build Leeds Central then?!

Hi all, Thanks for the kind comments. I'm so happy and excited about what's to come with the little one, but I will definitely miss my modelling. I have been busy taking images with a decent camera for a change, with a hope to get some published. I imagine I will start dismantling in about 1 - 2 weeks. It will be a sad day. I've not decided what will pull the last train. Perhaps the Fairburn tank formerly of Tetley Mills? As for the future... I have a few favoured options. Staying close to where I grew up in West Lancashire (clue in my profile name!), heading a little further east into Wigan, or a venture into Scotland. I'll have plenty of time to think and plan! Thanks, Pete

Hi Mark, Sorry, I missed your comment somehow. Thanks very much I’m glad you like it. Unfortunately the layouts days are numbered as the room needs to be repurposed (due to the arrival of a small human). So I am trying to get as much running in as possible before the line closure notices go up. I’ll be keeping the stock and buildings for future layouts however. All the best, Pete

Hi Mike, You are correct. I have royally messed up on that one! She’ll have to rejoin the back of the weathering queue. Thanks Baz. I’ll blend them in a little and see how they look. My airbrush is the original cheap one that came in a set with a compressor. Although I strip and clean it after use, I haven’t removed the seal between the paint cup and the trigger assembly yet. I’m going to have to do this as I suspect it might have perished as I keep getting paint in the trigger area after about half an hour of use. I’m guessing finding the correct replacements may be trickier to find for an unbranded airbrush? Pete

Hi all, A little late but Happy New Year! As I've previously mentioned, I have cleared my modelling/home working bench over Christmas and set up my extractor and spray booth (a cardboard box) to continue weathering locos and stock with the airbrush. I feel I've made decent progress over the last few days and have weathered almost all of my locos. The only pristine one left is the SLW class 24. I haven't got the courage to do this yet! For all of my steam locos I have used a limited range of enamel paints (shown below), primarily from a set by AK Interactive. Once dry I finish with rust and ash powders and metal coat to boot polished steps etc. They all tend to end up looking rather similar though! A Bachmann Crab, early crest changed to late. The reference images I worked from showed a very prominent rust colour primarily on the cylinders but I think it looks a little odd being so isolated on my version. A Hornby B1. Re-crested again and more heavily weathered: A Hornby Black 5. Again, re-crested and more lightly weathered. The coal for all of my steam locos came from a lump taken (with permission) direct from the tender of a 1:1 Black 5 on a visit to the ELR several years ago. I have photos stored from this somewhere from an old phone but can't seem to find them right now. I asked the very friendly crew if I could take a piece, and was told 'take a bigger lump than that lad!' after picking a palm sized piece! I have enough for my future steam fleet for certain! From previous experiments I have had very little success with acrylics. I did want to revisit them so weathered my class 20 using a Lifecolor Rail Weathering set. I got on a lot better this time so have started to use this range for my coaching stock. The Bachmann class 20 has been renumbered. My usual method of very fine emery and cotton buds with T cut was taking an age so I (stupidly) decided to try an automated version. I dipped a polishing bobbin in T cut and used a multitool on low revs. Well, it sort of worked but the line between removing the decal and melting the plastic was extremely small so I made a real mess to be honest. I was going to give it a light weathering, but this increased to a medium/heavy to try to cover up my dressed back melted patches. It sort of worked but I am really annoyed with my stupidity. As it turns out, D8056 should have a grey cab roof (I think) and the number in a lower position. We live and learn... Coaches and wagons to follow. All the best, Pete

Hi Lez, Looks like a fantastic start; best of luck with this project. I can’t wait to build my own track on my next layout but it’s something I’ve never done. I’ll watch your progress with interest. All the best for 2021. Pete

Hi Steve, I bought a bag on Amazon. It was reasonably priced and sets very hard. The main reason I used it for the toy is because it is tougher than my usual PVA/filler mix and is non-toxic. Thanks Lez. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2021. Time to get the airbrush out I think. A couple of pre-Christmas shots below to finish. Pete

I wanted to put a shopping trolley in the stream! Very magical...!

Hi folks, season’s greetings. Managed to finish the tree house play set for my niece, and I must admit I did enjoy making it. I used a product called Sculptamold for the landform and I quite liked it. I got the idea from the excellent Luke Towan on YouTube; I may well use this on future scenic work. She seemed to love it thankfully, so once I’ve had a clean of the layout room (mainly removing all the dust formed) I can get back to my modelling! I consciously kept the colours brighter than I would for my own dreary modelling, especially the stream! Hope you are all staying safe, Pete

No egg chasing please...

Haha well I hunted high and low for a decent piece and gnawed it off with my own teeth! The whole tree had already fallen by the way... Wow amazing! I’d never seen those before. Maybe next year!!

Hi Mike, Page 4 for the finishing of the retaining walls. I did agonise about the colour at first; thinking they were too dark but I’m happy with them overall. No spare time for me on the run up to Christmas as the kit of parts for a fairy treehouse for my niece arrived today. I’m going to be busy...! All the best, Pete

Hi Shaun, I can’t get over the wooden finish you’ve achieved on your furniture, it’s an absolute masterclass! I will have to have a go in the future, following your methods. I always look forward to your updates, thanks for the inspiration. All the best, Pete

That’s a very good idea... I don’t think it’s as noticeable in ‘real life’ but now you’ve mentioned it they certainly don’t look right! Making working signals, kit bashed from ratio parts with etched angled cranks, was the most difficult and fiddly thing I have done on the layout. I will improve on these efforts greatly on future layouts. I’m concerned about dislodging any of the moving parts. So much so that apart from painting the brass base tube, I’m hesitant to do anything to them! Adding hand rails to the platforms was difficult enough without causing any issues, and I realise how bad a job I did of that in the photos! I think I may have to live with them as-is I’m afraid. A few shots from mid afternoon ‘59 below. Cheers, Pete

Hi Richard, Thanks again. It’s natural sunlight. I’m working from home every other week (from the bench in the layout room) and have seen some lovely shadows cast late morning. I’d like to take some better images but only have my mobile phone camera. I might try to borrow my Dads DSLR at some point / when we can meet up again! An N2 has just been released and is about to head to the MPD: Regards, Pete

Thanks Gents. I just love the architecture of the West Riding. I have tried to capture a hint of the atmosphere seen in so many fantastic images I have in the (embarrassingly large) collection of books I’ve collected on the region. Had a good, but brief running session earlier. Also had a play with the camera on my new phone. I quite like the following: All the best, Pete