That Model Railway Guy

I was the Guard on one of the trains for Sunday so I didn't have time to take many photos, but I did quickly snap these on my phone as the day was winding down...

Mine arrived yesterday afternoon so I've put together a quick review for my YouTube channel - sharing here in case it happens to be useful or interesting to anyone. For those who just want to see the loco running with sound feel free to skip to the 12min mark

No I totally understand @Andrew P. I would have preferred there to be no music either but unfortunately the majority of my sound wasn't great. It was quite busy when I went (which was fantastic to see!) so a lot of my audio also features the conversations of those around me who probably didn't realise I was recording. The music is really there just to mask the more dodgy sections where I didn't have useable audio. But glad you enjoyed it for the most part

Another video here (hope this is ok to post, let me know if not) from when I visited the layout a few days ago. I spent a good few hours watching the trains go by so I managed to capture some from a few different angles. I will say my video doesn't do it justice so definitely go and see it in person if you can. Well done to everyone involved!

Here's another video overview of the event. There was so much to see that, even at 20mins long, this really is just a quick snapshot of the day...

Following on from yesterday, here's another video that shows the construction of the tunnel from start to finish, including the access panel on the back...

Where does the time go! A couple of posts ago I said I would share an update on the tunnel once I had it installed on the layout. Well it's a bit later than I anticipated and it's been on the layout for a while now but here are some pictures... finally. The tunnel itself will lead into the fiddle yard on the next module. It's acting as a scenic break, which is why it's so short. The landscape over the portal is chicken wire held up by two columns of polystyrene which has all been covered in paper mâché and plaster bandage. It drops off quite sharply at the moment but obviously the flat bits of baseboard you can see before the tunnel won't be staying flat for long. Fortunately I remembered to ballast the track and paint the sides of the rails first before adding the hill. I also painted the baseboard and polystyrene inside the tunnel black so that it would absorb as much light as possible - hopefully making the tunnel appear much darker than it is in reality. I'm quite pleased with how the portal looks in situ too and all being well it'll look even better once it's surrounded by grass and bushes. The back of the tunnel also has a little access hatch held on by magnets as seen below. This allows me to get inside easily should anything derail or if I'm cleaning the track by hand. It's absolutely overkill for a tunnel this short but it was fun putting it together and it's very satisfying the way it all snaps together! Now that the Summer is over I'm hoping I'll have some more time to spend on the layout - ideally I'd like to get the majority of the scenery done before the end of the year if possible. The next big project though is to get all the points on the scenic side of the layout motorised which I'm really looking forward to doing

Apologies for the lack of updates. It's been a busy week capped off by my SE&CR D Class arriving on Friday, so much of the weekend was spent putting it through it's paces on the layout! (P.S. You'll also catch a glimpse of the new tunnel in place during the video too!)

Very pleased with my D Class. Was able to get it running on the layout over the weekend so here's a bit of video of it in action if anyone's interested. (Starts off with the Hornby H Class but pretty quickly moves to the D Class). Still running on DC for the moment as I haven't had a chance to put a decoder in it yet. Enjoy

Finally had a chance to run my D Class over the weekend so here's a video of it running on my (work in progress) layout should anyone be interested. Features a little bit of the Hornby H Class at the beginning too just to keep you on your toes

Hi everyone, hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! Work on the layout this week has been focussed around getting the basic structure for a tunnel in place on the new curved module that joins to the fiddle yard. This will likely be the highest point on the layout so I needed to get this sorted out before I can start building a storage rack for it (and the rest of the layout). For the tunnel mouth itself I used the Peco Modelscene double track portal - as seen below before any work had been done to it. I originally discounted these because I thought they looked a bit cheap and nasty but after I wasn't able to find anything else I liked the look of, I decided to take a shot on it - the idea being that I could try touching it up with a bit of paint and at least if it all went horribly wrong I hadn't paid out loads of money for it. (I think it was £5) Even though the layout only has a single line, I went for a double track portal for clearance since the tunnel is on a curve - and also because I preferred the proportions over the single track version. As a heritage railway I think it's more in keeping anyway to believe that this was once a double track line that the preservation society have only restored as a single line. The moulded detail was actually better than I expected (The images PECO has online don't really show this). The portal did have some flashing on it which I cut away along with these ejector pin marks that were moulded into the plastic. I did my best to remove the most noticeable ones and then scribed the stones back in. Next the entire portal was given a coat of sand/tan paint... ...followed by a coat of grey over the top which I then dabbed away with a tissue to reveal some of the tan colour underneath. This gave me some variation in the stone colour which you can see a bit better in the cruel close up here! This was finished off using the classic technique of painting the stonework white, then wiping it away to leave only paint between the stones giving the effect seen above. Finally I added a bit of an interior to hide the supports that would be holding up the landscape above. I used Slater's embossed brick sheets for this as they were thin enough to bend. Unfortunately the brick sheet wasn't wide enough to reach to the floor so you can see I've added a stone strip along the bottom to make up for this. Everything was painted using similar techniques to the portal. It's not a particularly long interior but it should be enough to maintain the illusion should anyone decide to get down to eye level and look inside. Just need to sort my images out and then I'll have some more progress to share on how I installed this on the layout

Just realised I never posted a picture of the new curved modules like I promised, so here you go. (Do excuse the messy room behind!) And here's a new arrival on it's first outing round the new loop! A little bit of an indulgent purchase from me since I already have one of the B2 Pecketts, but I couldn't resist the livery on this one and it does look good pulling the Mk1s so I can definitely see it in a heritage setting.

Good to know, I'd completely missed that. Thanks

My money would have been on: "When are Hornby announcing their version?" Definitely looking forward to these though, in fact I was just wondering last week if anyone would do something like this and then Rapido announce them. Funnily enough it was the same with the Hunslet and the Titfield Thunderbolt announcements too... starting to wonder if they've found my wishlist!

There's been a big update to the layout recently and a bit of a change of plans too. Originally I had been intending to complete the scenery on the two station modules, the idea being that I would run it as an end to end layout for the moment. Then once that was done I would move on to building the final two corner modules that would complete the circuit to give me a continuous run. However, as my model railway YouTube channel has continued to grow it's become apparent that having a continuous run is quite important. Certainly for filming it's much easier to let locos run round the circuit and do their thing while I setup shots rather than having to to start/stop/reset the loco for every take. Additionally I've been doing livestreams from the layout each month and (much like at exhibitions) it's better if I can have trains running constantly on the layout while I answer questions or get the next train ready. It makes the broadcasts much more enjoyable for those watching as anyone who tunes in is more likely to see a train actually running rather than me faffing about! Storage is also something I need to consider too. At the moment when the layout is dismantled it doesn't have a permanent home. I've started building a set of racks for the modules to be packed away in but I can't easily complete these when a big part of the core layout is still yet to be built. So with all that in mind a few weeks ago I decided to build to the two final corner modules that will allow me to complete the circuit and have a continuous run. Instead of these new corner modules being square like their predecessors, I decided to make the baseboards follow the curve of the track this time. You'll see what I mean in the video below but it's made these modules a lot easier to move around in comparison to the others which are much more bulky. It also means I'll be able to have a nice long continuous backscene down this who side of the layout. So another big step for the layout as this marks the end of track laying for the core part of the layout... al least until I decide to add more modules in the future! I'll post some pictures soon but in the meantime here's the video I made while building these two new modules. Feel free to start at around the 2:50 mark to skip the intro which is basically everything I just said above.

On the subject of videos, I didn't take many photos of the inspection pit's installation but I did video the entire process. If you're somebody who likes seeing things come together from start to finish this may be of interest:

Thanks @Legend, glad to hear you've been enjoying the videos! Yes, the Scale Model Scenery buildings are very good and have served me well on Pickwick Yard. I may well try to find space for a few more on this layout if I can.

Thanks guys, I have to say I'm really happy with how it looks. The techniques I've used on the layout so far are mostly things I've pinched from much better modellers on here who kindly share their own processes. In this instance though I completely winged it with the inspection pit. Despite having no kind of plan though, it's not come out bad at all!

A little update: the final bit of trackwork has now been completed on the yard module with the installation of the inspection pit as seen below. I've added some coal dust to the floor of the pit to represent discarded ash as I deliberately wanted it to look dirty/grimy and well used. I got this idea when I was at Spa Valley Railway last week doing a PTS course and while there I had a quick look at the pits for some first hand research. Eventually my plan is to have quite a stark contrast between the nice pretty station areas for the public and the yard so as a result a lot of this area will be finished in the same way. Anyway here's the Peckett sitting on the pit. I used the Peco Inspection Pit Kit which is made up of sections that you can join together to get the pit to the length you want. As I had a couple of these sections left over I added a second pit inside the shed for a bit of interest. It's quite short but it's only visible when you get down to look inside and when there's a loco sat on it you can't tell that it doesn't stretch all the way to the back. The frame of the shed is still just held together with blutack at the moment from when I was marking out the position. Hopefully that won't be the case for much longer though!

I have to admit, having just looked at the SE&CR samples I'm not keen on the lighter red either. The detail looks fantastic but the bright red almost makes it seem a bit toy-like at a glance. There is another image where the coaches are pictured with the P Class and after seeing that I can understand why they've gone for the brighter shade as they do look very colourful together. But still, I personally would have preferred the darker more muted colours that were shown on the original announcement. I can't claim to know anything about what's prototypically correct but those were just my own thoughts, which may lead me to not picking up a set of the SE&CR coaches as I had planned.

Hi all, progress on the layout has been slow lately but to celebrate my youtube channel hitting 3,000 subscribers recently I did host a little live stream earlier this week where I ran some locos on the layout in it's current state. Naturally I completely forgot to post about it here at the time but if anyone's interested you can always watch the replay below. Feel free to skip to when trains start running (around the 6 minute mark I think) and I won't be offended at all if you mute it since I imagine most people don't want to listen to me talking for over an hour!

Hi @Jeff Smith - apologies for the delayed response, I somehow managed to miss this. Yes I had the same thought but when I took the keeper plate off a while back I couldn't see any springs on the centre axle so that would explain why it seems so rigid. In comparison, my other 0-6-0s that do have slightly sprung centre axles have no trouble on the point work. I'll continuing working away to see if I can find a more consistent solution but as a result I haven't made much progress on the layout lately so at some point I may just have to call it a day and live with the J72 as it is.

More great photos @Jonnie! I'm definitely planning to come along to the model railway weekend at Spa Valley Railway if I can, so will be great to see Paybury in person. I saw the call for layouts on the Facebook group and briefly considered submitting my own... then I realised getting it finished by September might be a bit ambitious! Still looking forward to attending though

Thanks for this @Off Tackle, good to know it's not just mine that's playing up although I do feel your pain. It's a real shame when they're such good looking locos but even now I find myself reaching for other 0-6-0s to run because I just trust them more. I thought about adding a stay alive too although my soldering skills are on par with yours and I'd be worried about messing the model up even further. Maybe I'll just take the decoder out altogether since it seems to run ok on DC, though it seems a shame considering it's one of my favourite locos - or at least was until all this started

Yes I noticed as well that a lot of my locos tend to have a bit of slop in the wheels. In comparison the J72, which formerly was "the problem loco", has a little bit of give on it's centre axle but is still quite rigid in comparison to the others so I think you're right and that was also exacerbating the problem. Still it's brought my dodgy track laying to light sooner rather than later. Just glad I discovered these issues now rather than after I'd put down all the ballast and scenery!