roverdriver

For some time now, I have been steadily working on a OO scale Layout loosely based on Dunstable. As I now live about 13,000 miles away and was getting close to my 5th birthday when we left there, it has been a challenge to get sufficient information and details, but persistence has paid off. The Dunstable branch was a single line, so using 'modeller's licence' I have made it largely double track. I used to operate a hobby shop in the Aussie town where I live, but closed it some years ago. There is no local retailer stocking the same sort of goods that I did, so buying suitable raw materials has been a problem. I solved that by building with card, and now really enjoy doing so. Here is a video covering some of the work to date. There is still a very long way to go.- The two stations are scratch-built with details obtained from photographs alone. The house shown as 205 Jeans Way is where I was born. The terrace is actually much longer but had to be chopped to fit. I used old family photos plus help from Google Earth to build that. I took the liberty of making a modified downloaded kit building into a shop with the same logo as I used here in Leongatha- Hawley's His and Her Hobbies. Even though my real shop was only single storey. Some of the background buildings are temporary ones, downloaded and built to learn techniques I am happy to discuss any of my modelling methods with people, but rarely visit this Forum, so if you have questions or comments, please be patient, or alternatively e-mail to roverdriverp4@gmail.com

IMHO a printed card building is merely the base on which to create a more life-like structure. Additions as menti9oned of glazed windows, along with embellishments such as window sills, lintels, doorsteps, and perhaps even the odd open door will produce an even more satisfying model. I am pleased that some of you are finding them of use. Some buildings on the site are most definitely specifically of USA prototypes, but some of the commercial town buildings could be placed almost anywhere in the world- perhaps needing a little 'local' embellishment to make them fit in. Dane

In my search for a variety of card buildings, I have come across a site with a range of town structures that look very usable on a OO British layout, despite the fact that the prototypes are in America. I have downloaded a couple, but so far have not attempted a build They look straight forward and the pictures of the finished products are impressive. https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Preserve/pages/construct_mainstreet.aspx I would like to hear comments from others. Dane,

Some months ago I found this site- http://paperbrick.co.uk/ The site owner set it up so that enthusiasts could create and download brick paper to their requirements. At the time, I downloaded and printed a couple of sheets just as a test and found them to be ideal for what I perceived would be my needs. I did not keep the PDF files that were created. Yesterday I went to the site with the intent to make a donation and download some papers, but although after selecting ones parameters, the site says that a PDF file was generated, it cannot be viewed or downloaded. I sent an e-mail to the site owner, but it bounced back. Does anyone know what has happened? It would be a pity to lose such a clever and useful site. Dane.

I too had a sudden non-responsive TT. I first blamed my own soldered joints, as I had to cut the 3-wire ribbon and rejoin so that I could feed the wires to my control panel. The soldered joints proved to be intact so I had to look elsewhere. Thanks to this forum, I got clues of how and where to look. My hunting on the TT bridge showed up a minute piece of metal adhering to the flap of the solenoid. I might say that it did take some time to actually see that that was possibly the problem. With the speck removed and TT reassembled, all is now working well. I bought my TT recently second-hand. The bridge assembly differs from the one illustrated in that the slip ring is on the TT base but the pick-up 'fingers' are on the bridge. That suggests to me that it is quite old, but nevertheless if it does the job, I am quite happy with it. Dane. !00 miles from Melbourne Australia.

I am returning to model building after a long layoff doing other things. I was very pleased to discover downloadable paper materials, as the 'ready-made' seems to have got so expensive these days. Because I am endeavoring to model an actual location, none of the available kits are of use for me, but I will be using lots of brick papers. So far my experiments have shown that printing on 110 gsm cartridge paper works well. The cartridge paper glues onto the surface of picture-framer's mat board quite well and is quite effective. Regarding the actual printing, for many years my wife and I have used what is called Continuous Ink Systems. We have found them very economical and generally they work well. A CIS has external reservoirs of ink with a ribbon of fine plastic tubes to take the ink to specially designed cartridges within the printer. When our last printer was showing signs of its likely demise, we discovered that both Epson and Canon are now making printers with an in-built system, similar to CIS. Naturally the printers are more expensive than the standard cartridge ones, but they really are cost effective. Our new machine is a Canon Pixma G3600. My wife prints off lots of photographs and the quality is very good. For the brick paper, I find that I get very good results by putting in the settings of 'matt photo paper' and 'best quality print', even though I am printing onto plain cartridge paper. It is worth experimenting with the computer's settings for your printer because they do create quite different effects.

Thanks, Kernowtim. I had found the aerial photographs and found them most interesting. I was very young when my family left Dunstable for Australia near the end of 1949. I am finding it quite fascinating to research the railway and its reason for existing. I am sure that there are not too many places where there are two stations so close to each other, and that is just one of the curious things. It fascinates me that so many industries were in or about Dunstable. I was born in a house that faced the line as well as facing Blows Downs. Nowadays there are houses on the opposite side of the road so the view is obstructed. I am enjoying my research but look forward to the day when I have my shed prepared so that I can start building baseboards and then lay some track. Regards, Dane.

In my recent hunting for all things Dunstable, I have happened upon a set of highly detailed maps. They are to a scale of 1:2500 and are Ordinance Survey maps updated to 1925 for rates valuations. I have been able to use them for details of the Dunstable branch line- Leighton Buzzard to Luton via Dunstable. I am sure that other Bedfordshire lines could similarly be traced. The detail is extremely good and shows all tracks, sidings, points etc. as well as lineside features. The key map is here- http://apps.bedford.gov.uk/vma/#1926%20Rating%20Valuation%20Maps An example, this for Luton station area can be found here. One can 'zoom' onto the map for great detail. http://apps.bedford.gov.uk/VMA/Viewer.aspx?map=DV2-H32b I hope others will find this of use. It is possible that such maps exist for other counties as well. Trying to research the Dunstable line, especially the two stations within Dunstable itself is proving quite interesting, especially as I am doing it from Australia. I have found quite a few photographs on the 'net, including a series of aerial photos over several years starting from 1928. As any researcher knows, there is never enough information, so if other members here can offer information or photographs of anything to do with the line, I would be most grateful. Dane.