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Cotswold Metals

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  • Location
    West Oxfordshire
  • Interests
    M&SWJR, GWR, 1930s, steam, Wiltshire

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  1. I've got back into modelling after a long hiatus - this as yet unfinished plank is designed as a very gentle re-introduction to some basic modelling methods, and a chance to try out the (excellent) new Peco bullhead OO gauge track -also to display some lovely Oxford Diecast models. All the photos, except the last closeup of the track, have of course been fiddled about with in software - whilst I come from a farming family and run our farm now, I've always been interested in the more obviously artistic aspects of the modelling hobby such as photography and scenery-making - from a very young age I tried to make models that could fool the eye into thinking they were real. Aside from the farming which takes up a lot of my time, I'm also a professional music producer with a studio at the farm itself, which sadly leaves very little time for railways in my life - however, it's been lovely to get back into it and enjoy escaping into another era. The buildings featured in these photos are very likely to change as some are proprietary models, others acquired through the internet - I'm hoping to replace them with scratchbuilt examples when I get some time. I mostly started this thread to actually get some photos up on the net to motivate myself to carry on! A bit about the diorama itself: the model represents a private siding adjacent to a goods yard in rural Wiltshire sometime in the late 1920s - my other models / layouts are forming a fictitious Wiltshire Vale centred around an imagined section of the Midland and South West Junction Railway, in an area near the real village of Upavon. I'll start threads on those layouts when some tangible progress is made...probably not very soon! The layout is on a sheet of 3mm ply, spray painted an earth brown - ballast was a mixture of N and OO gauge Peco, with some real coal and ash added, and stuck with the usual PVA / water / washing up liquid mix applied via a plant mister. I used Woodland Scenics scatters for the road base and grass, with static grass and bigger tufts then applied. I'm aiming for a late October / early November feel to this scene. Static grass is entirely new to me (I'm not sure it even existed when I last did railway modelling), so this was very much an experiment. More photos to come when I've had a chance to make some progress - I'm quite a busy chap, so not sure when that will be! Any questions / comments / constructive criticism very welcome. Oh, and "Longman" is taken in honour of an old labourer by that name who worked on one of our family farms in the 1940s/50s.
  2. Hello! I'm constructing a small diorama of an agricultural machinery supplier, eventually to reside on a larger layout set in early to mid-1930s Wiltshire (an ex-M&SWJR "might-have-been" branch, but that's another topic entirely). I'm working in 4mm scale. I've found some lovely traction engines, tractors and machinery from Oxford Diecast and Langley Models amongst others, but I'm not having much luck tracking down examples of stationary engines, such as the Lister "D", which were so common at this time (I actually own a working one myself, on our farm...!). Does anyone here know of any suppliers producing a kit? I'm not terribly handy with scratch building things this small, if I'm perfectly honest. Any help much appreciated, thanks in advance. Any tips on other appropriately prototypical vehicles / machinery for this project also gratefully received.
  3. Dear all, hope it's OK to bump this topic and say many thanks for your suggestions and advice. Having mocked up my plan using some setrack and also PECO point templates, I realised that if I do indeed have larger space available (such as a 12' x 18' attic that is only occasionally used) I'm going to follow Neal Ball's suggestion (also mentioned by Harlequin) of a larger oval with a central operating well, splitting this up into three distinct scenic areas and a fiddle yard. This will allow such a greater space for more realistic trackwork, although the basic track plan for the through station will be much the same. I am now using RailModeller Pro for my drawings, which I much prefer over TRAX (I am Mac computers only). I am sating my appetite for actually building by designing and making two or three dioramas which will fit on this layout - I may start a thread on the layout topics board when the time is right!
  4. Thanks, JST - yes, the bay platform will definitely make it into the final plan, as I have a GWR siphon and a fruit van that I'd like to use for on-platform goods exchange, not to mention the possibilities of an autotrain as you mention! I've also just had a read through of this month's RM which features "Edwardian Splendour" by Darren Ray, as recommended by Phil (Harlequin) - seeing what can be done in just 6'x4' has been very inspiring.
  5. Hi Phil, I haven't got my hands on it yet - I'm due to pop into town and newsagents tomorrow, so will look forward to reading up on this at the weekend! Thank you so much for the heads up.
  6. That's excellent, much simpler and the longer platform and siding length is good too - I am definitely considering incorporating ideas such as this, although I am re-drawing another scheme now that has a central operating well - c.f. posts above. Thank you for your plan though!
  7. Aha, now that has really caught my attention. And as Happy Hippo alludes to, it has thrown something of a spanner in the works! I hope that anyone reading this thread can understand that I, like so many others, am searching for as near a perfect match between three factors: my own modelling skill level, the layout operating potential and finally realism to the prototype. Harlequin, your plan in the linked thread has definitely got me thinking again as to the practicality of a central operating well, within a smaller space than I'd anticipated being possible, and incorporating some of the ideas that Happy Hippo suggests. I think part of the problem is that I really want a testbed at this stage to practice modelling skills again, and get things up and running quickly - but if I can arrive at a compromise between this and a longer-term project designed for a more refined skill set (perhaps a more modular layout) then that would probably be the best solution. I will just make one quick point about the corner "real estate" of my plan so far: I had planned on modelling a canal in one corner, based on a photo of the Kennet & Avon canal passing under the railway not far from Devizes,with possibly a small wharf and / or warehouse towards the centre of the layout, before vanishing into the backscene; I realise that my very amateur plan, being blank and featureless now, gives very little away in terms of landscape! Right - I have some more planning and drawing to do! Thanks all. Please feel free to add to the discussion, it really is most constructive and appreciated.
  8. Thank you, Colin and Harlequin - very much noted! I have checked out Everard Junction's baseboard saga on YouTube, most impressed by the strength of his new ply boards. This is clearly the way to go. By a stroke of serendipity, we need to order some ply for another construction project here on the farm, so it looks like I could get the materials sooner rather than later. I'm happy with the plan now, as Neal Ball has suggested I will straighten out the goods sidings a bit and perhaps shift the passing loop points slightly to overcome the baseboard join problem. I did consider the central operating well approach earlier in planning, but this might make the layout slightly too large for the room it will be most frequently set up in. For the time being at least, I think (hope!) this is an appropriate and achievable size layout to serve as a re-introduction to the hobby. I think the next stage is actually getting the boards made, ordering those PECO Streamline points and flexitrack (or at least the templates for the points) and starting to lay things out on the baseboards to make the last adjustments to trackwork. I've been writing a fictitious history for the town and vale the layout will represent, a story which hopefully will encompass future layout builds as well. The most likely setting will be NW Wiltshire, I've been doing some research into the cross country branch between Holt and Patney & Chirton which passed through Devizes, the latter town being a good inspiration both historically and in terms of the actual railway / trackwork layout. Anyway, trying not to get ahead of myself - I'll start a new thread under the "Layout topics" sub-forum when some progress is made! Any further discussion, comments and advice very much welcome here, of course.
  9. Thank you all for your replies, particularly Harlequin's post regarding using the curvature of the point, and increasing the size of the baseboards - most helpful. The double slip idea raised by JST also makes a lot of sense. Colin's points raise the spectre of ill-fitting baseboard joints, which I must admit was my worry too. To make things worse, almost all the floors in our farmhouse date from the 17th century and are, to put it politely, "rustic" in their geometry - adjustable legs are an absolute must, I had planned for that. The baseboard sides and bracing would be 10mm thick PSE timber, with a 6mm MDF top - I wondered whether a combination of at least two pairs of pattern maker's dowels and carriage bolts per abutting side would be a sufficient alignment and join between boards? I've done a bit of carpentry work around the farm, but I also have a very skilled carpenter mate who can lend a hand. I had considered getting the boards made by one of the online baseboard vendors, but that seems a fairly pricey route to go down, and I'd rather have the satisfaction of doing the work myself (with some assistance!). So, I drew up a second rough plan this afternoon: As you can see, I have used some PECO streamline turnouts and flexitrack to achieve smoother trackwork - some pieces are not quite correct, but the track library in TRAX is apparently not complete, and I had some trouble curving the flexible track. The main downside to the new plan is that there is now some trackwork crossing baseboard joins at (what I would consider) unworkable angles, which will invite poor connections and derailments - I will have to rejig things a bit to make this work, so will get my thinking cap on. I am much happier with the overall flow of this station layout though!
  10. Hi everyone, In a not uncommon move, I've got back into railways after a roughly 20 year hiatus. The bug has well and truly sunk its teeth in again this time, and I purchased some OO gauge stock and PECO setrack for Christmas. After a couple of sessions laying track out on the floor and reliving some very good childhood memories, thoughts have inevitably moved to "what now?". Some criteria I set myself: Single track branch line, GWR, based on Wilts / Somerset area, 1920s / 30s - short trains, small locos An oval, to appreciate trains passing through the station and landscape Plenty of sidings for shunting and "Inglenook" puzzles DCC for sound, also all points electrically operated Must aspire to look and feel prototypical, albeit at a level achievable within my skill set Trackwork must be completed and stock running within a short timeframe, to maintain interest and momentum Scenery / landscape completed to a high standard - I loved making scenery and dioramas on my old layouts Portable, to allow running sessions in a variety of rooms in my home (more on this below) A testbed for modelling skills, both remembered and newly discovered With regards space for the layout, I have a number of rooms in our farmhouse that are infrequently used - however, none can accommodate a layout permanently. The smallest of these rooms is approx. 12x15, the largest 25x20. There are also converted (dry, warm) outbuildings that might work in the short term, and are larger still. So, the layout must deconstruct to be packed away, although the space it can temporarily occupy is relatively large. After some research, I've arrived at this draft plan, with some rough handwritten annotations: I'm afraid I don't have SCARM or Anyrail, as I work exclusively on Macintosh computers. This image was created with TRAX, which I find a little clunky (possibly just me!) and it didn't have all the right PECO components. The Y points for instance are not correct. As you can see though, I've stuck with setrack for the design - this is to ensure the track is laid quickly, and with minimum fuss. I'm very short-sighted and find working with small parts and tools quite tricky...! Also, you can see that I've arranged five 60cm x 120cm baseboards to create the layout. I'm aware this is by no means a popular or terribly practical arrangement, but I will have access to all sides in most running scenarios. Please also note that there will be at least one passing loop in the fiddle area. Some specific points of concern I have: The station loop is too small, and the platform length of only 70cm too short for even branch line stock workings (I will only have passenger trains of 2-3 coaches). Perhaps it would be better if the station and platform were on the other passing loop. Reverse curves leading into the station - even for small rural branch lines, this seems like a red flag. I guess the use of setrack makes this rather inescapable though...! Although I've tried to ensure a transition curve leading into the passing loop using 4th to 3rd radius curves, and hiding most of the remaining curve behind the backscene, it still looks too sharp. Again, probably a characteristic of setrack, and the small space, and like the reverse curves something to simply tolerate and work with at this level. A lot of my conflicts here come from trying to find a compromise between ease of construction and aesthetics / prototypical practice. The trouble is, I don't really want to launch myself into making an end to end layout or buying code 75 track at this juncture, I need to relearn a lot of the basic processes and skills that go into making a trainset a model railway. I did consider trying variation on "Edgeworth", but I worried that just end to end running on something so small might not prove interesting enough for my tastes! If anyone would care to critique the plan and offer some advice, I'd very much appreciate it!
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