37118

Recently I got round to making some of the signs on the layout. These were made using cocktail sticks cut to length. Then fine strips of electrical tape were cut and wrapped around the cocktail stick to create the attachment that’s fits the sign to the post. The signs attachments were strips cut from an old cable tie before being glued on the back of the sign. Once glued together along with a lick of paint and a quick weathering the signs were finished.

Recently got hold of the location case frames from scale mode scenery. It works well with the location cases them selves from wills and I have been able to paint the kit also. I shall get round to weatherthing the model and adding some workers in there too.

Hi guys, I've been away finishing work off before a break over the christmas and new year period. I have made some more progress on the layout where pictures will follow in the next week or so. There is a new edition to the fleet and shall be showing off the layout along with my entire collection very soon. Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and new year and hope to see more people and layouts in 2019!

Final post for today, these high quality images are from my sister. Being a photography student helps a lot! A link to her website is below. https://www.bekloukat.co.uk/

The track was the layed over the 2 boards before being cut along the joint. To wire up the layout I located where all of the insulated fishplates were due to me using electro-frog points and double slips. After locating the insulated fishplates I then marked where all the dropper wires had to be positioned in order for power to get to all of the layout due to me using DCC. I then tested the 2 boards seperately before testing them together to amke sure everything worked correctly and thankfully it did! Appologies for the poor photo as it was taken on the phone but more higher quality images will follow in future updates.

So the first task after making the baseboards was a simple way of joining the 2 sections together. There were two ways i selected to do this, the first being dowls and holes to line up the boards and make sure there was a flush connection. The secoond being 2 flat brackets along with bolts, washers and wing nuts to hold the boards close together to avoid seperation.

So this week I've been extremely busy getting as much done on the layout with the free time I had. Finally (with the help of my sister) managed to get the rest of timber to finish the base board construction so by the start of the week I had 2 base boards measuring 4ft x 2ft. Once completed I then spent the next 4 days laying the track and deciding where all the dropper wires had to go. The final two day were spent wiring up the layout making sure everything was neat and the holes were drilled ready for the point motors. I have the point motors on the way as well as a brand new loco to the fleet. Following this post I shall be posting the stages with photos of the work I managed to complete this week. Let me know if you guys want to see the fleet in the future once the new arrival gets here. Enjoy the next few posts with the photos of the layouts progress. Any questions you guys have I will be happy to respond!

So I've been at work alot recently and not been at home to make progress and next week I shall also be busy at work. On the plus side after working nights mid week and then days this weekend I've managed to sneak in a few photos of the area I've been working in. For those intrested, I've been in working between Rugeley Town and Rugeley Trent Valley. You can still see the power station at Rugeley and some of the over grown weeds on non working equipment as well as the equipment still in use. Head over to my Gallery to check out the photos I managed to take. Hope you enjoy.

Now completed the plan. This will be adjusted slightly before being used on the control panel at a later date. The plan has been created the same way that Network Rail draw out the panels (unless computerised). The only thing I have missed at the moment is the name of the track circuits/sections. I have also added the addition of the signal I.Ds just so operating the layout is easier. I placed an order for some rotary switches last week to operate the points and the double slip. The layout is basic however I don't want to flood the base boards with track, as I want to do a lot more scenery work which is something I haven't been able to do as much on other layouts.

Thanks for the follow. I've been over to look at your layout plan and it looks brill! Looking forward to its development. My plan is extremely basic simply due to the fact I have seen a siding set up in a similar way. It's also going to give lots of room to model buildings, roads and general scenery. I am currently working nights at the moment so pictures are not being 100% perfect but shall be uploading some soon!

HI GUYS! It has been an extremely long time since i have updated my page on here. I have been gone for some time due to personal reasons as well as completing my apprenticeship with and now in a full time job with NR. I now have the time and money and space to build a new layout. This will be a modern image layout with the size being 8ft x 2ft, so its bigger than the previous layout (Kings Heath TMD). This modern image layout will be a sidings so locomotives can change crew as well as being home to a Network Rail maintenance depot. The baseboards are currently under construction and there shall be many photos to follow, so I hope you guys will join me on this journey through its construction. Thank you for reading this far it is really appreciated. Photos and updates will be as regular as possible, if I haven't made any progress on the layout I shall keep this blog up to date with pictures from the lineside (an advantage of working on the railway). Hope to update you soon on the progress!

So after being away from the hobby for a few years Ive been tempted to start modelling again. This will be a new adventure to me in different ways as it will be my first DCC layout and since joining Network Rail as an apprentice I will be able to include things that I have seen on the line side to make the model more realistic. I am going to be starting by track laying next week when I have some more time on my hands and I shall include some photos on my progess, in the mean time if anyone has any questions about the railway today as they wish to include an item or items on to their model then please feel free to ask any questions you have and I shall do my best to answer your questions as quickly as possible.