9C85

Hello again. I hope you are all still enjoying the hobby. It's been 10 months since I last posted, which is a reflection on how much time I have had on the layout I.e. none. I got back into music after the covid hiatus and have been gigging regularly with my band. Next year I start a new venture as a solo acoustic act, which will take up all the free time i want to allocate to it, so I have decided to dispose of the layout. It is a static shelf layout but the baseboard is in three sections, so with a bit of razor saw surgery, in theory it can be dismantled with minimal damage. Ideally I would like to let it all go together (layout, stock and controller,) . I have no idea of a price yet.. I literally had this idea 10 minutes ago. It's in Chesterfield if anyone wants to come and look at it. Just message me and it can be arranged. Alternatively, can anyone recommend a dealer who will give a good honest price for the collection? Ta

Hello again. Following couple of years of neglect, I am pleased to say that after a bit of track cleaning, the layout worked pretty well. I decided to use the cleaning session as an excuse to shunt trains around the sidings - cleaning the track vacated by each shunt move. I had to get everything out of the fiddle yard and the headshunt behind the retaining wall was festooned with cobwebs. I ended up with everything in the sidings which I saw as a good photo opportunity.

Hiya, just checking in after two years out of the hobby - I like what you have done with your layout, it looks fun. Happy new year!

Hello again! - if anyone's still there? I have been in the garage a few times over the Christmas holidays and the layout is just sitting there, untouched for over two years. At one point just after Christmas I decided that I was going to try and sell it, but I talked myself out of it. I need to find time to give everything a good clean and have a decent running session. When I saw something on my YouTube feed for the 'new' TT120 scale stuff, that rekindled my interest in model railways - especially as PECO are doing track for it. I have also been contemplating going the other way and having a 7mm scale layout, but given the space I have I would inevitably get bored very quickly. Another option would be to try and get a continuous run around the garage, or at least a shelf along the three static walls. In fairness, the current layout does have some nice operating potential - I could switch its use to a goods yard or factory/quarry/steelworks/coal mine exchange sidings. Another option would be to keep it as an 80s carriage/parcels/newspapers sidings (my era and scenario of choice) and add OHLE to at least the arrival/departure road... I could then have an 86 or 87 popping on and off scene now and again. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the hobby... see you same time next year :-)

Having a rest from delivering Christmas parcels

A couple of images from my first session in a while. Not doing much work on the layout these days. In fact, this evening I ended up ripping out another of my wire-in-tube point controls - that's three out of the original nine gone now. I should really look at motorising the yard points but I have been so busy this year with other 'real' stuff that I don't feel like making work for myself at the moment.

Just found this thread. At first glance it looks great I will go back to page 1 and look forward to catching up.

I did think of that afterwards

What's the definition of insanity again?.... There was another Lima GUV within reaching distance so I decided to have a go at fitting the Bachmann Mk1 bogies. Got the roof off relatively easily and did a nice job tapping the pivot hole for the bolt. I looked at the other Bachmann-bogied GUV and counted two washers between the top of the bogie and the coach floor. I fitted it all together and found that the wheels were catching on the floor. I then checked original coach and found three washers. So I took everything apart again and refitted the bogies. This time they ran perfectly but then I checked the height of the Kadees. The result is in the photo above. Obviously, the correct diameter of the Bachmann wheels has lifted the coach floor. The Kadees are permanently fixed to the floor via a plasticard boss so there's no way I can change their height. I decided to take everything off and refit the original Lima bogies. Not a very successful evening.

So much for trying to improve things... I was trying to retrofit some Bachmann Mk1 bogies to one of my Lima GUVs. This requires removal of the roof to insert a washer and bolt above the floor for each bogie pivot (M5 x 16 bolt). I have done this previously on the one GUV I fitted with Laserglaze. I prised one window strip free but the other side wouldn't budge. Eventually the inevitable happened and the roof cracked. Rather than calling it a day there, sheer bloody-mindedness took over and I got that roof off alright - well most of it anyway. I don't think there's much worth saving so it's going in the bin. I think the issue is either the window strip has been glued in at some point or the weathering airbrushing and Dulcote had fixed the window strip to the coach body. Either way, lesson learned. Whatever it is?

I couldn't wait to get the weathering powders out on this one, so I have just done this. I've tried to use a bit of white on the sides to replicate the crossed-out chalk-written load destinations from previous trips. I am now going to do the Newspapers BG now and call it a day... a good one at that.

Absolutely no problem at all. The more information/inspiration, the better, as far as I am concerned.

This one stood out like a sore thumb so I was pleased to get this out of the way. Blends in a lot better now.

I am pleased with how this has come out. I will probably add some weathering powders and dry brushing later this week to complete the look.

Found myself home alone this weekend so I thought I would finally get round to weathering the remaining unweathered stock (apart from the Pullmans). I was quite pleased with how well the airbrush worked and actually enjoyed something I have been putting off for months. Some before and after pictures... This is the other side of the Newspapers BG that I have made a mess of... And this is it now...

A few pictures chronicling the moves of the 25 as it comes off the fuel point,traverses the yard, and follows the 08 (plus brake van) up to Burchill Station whence it will drag its train of mixed passenger and parcels stock to Chester. We start with a peek through the girders of the overbridge to catch the 25 waiting for the ground signal to allow it off the fuel road.

Another question... did Motorail Blue/Grey GUVs ever get moved back to mail/parcels/papers traffic?

The view from the yard access road bridge . I thought it looked a bit like a floodlit night view? (It's just the strip light in the Garage).

Struggling for space at Burchill Edge Sidings. The fuel point headshunt is brought into use as a temporary layover until the 47 can drop off the Pullman stock in No 4 Road and head back out with the coaches being marshalled by the 08.

Superb composition with the backscene looking like you could walk into it

Desperate times... In a state of panic, the shunter has to make use of the fuel point headshunt/cripple road to hold the four coaches of the Nottingham stopping service in order to make room in No 4 road for the 47 to shunt the incoming Pullman stock. Things will improve soon, however, as the 47 will then drop back down to the far end of the reception road for the 08 to drop its four coaches onto it. The 47 will propel its stock onto the arrival/departure road and head for Nottingham.

My poor Newspapers BG is getting a hammering. I tried adding more weathering powders to it, didn't like that, then I tried T-cut to clean it off, didn't have the courage to go through with it, so washed it off, then decided to cover that mistake up with Humbrol black wash. So this is how it looks now...

Yesterday evening, I had the first shunting session with the brake van attached to the 08. One of the Kadees was sitting a bit low and got caught on the turnouts a few times. I have had a go with a needle file on both the NEM pocket and the boss that the pocket clips into on the underside of the van floor. Things improved but I will probably try and file both down a bit further This is the first Hornby model that I have had trouble with the height of the NEM pockets. My Mk1s and BGs were all spot on. I also had an issue with the metal wheelsets being attracted to the hidden magnet at the yard entrance. I have put a bit of camera case foam between one axle and the floor of the van. This stops the van from 'quivering' and uncoupling over the magnet, but I think I need to reduce the amount of foam, as the axle is more or less locked up now. I still think the weathering below the solebars would be better done with an airbrush. I was looking last night and I hadn't realised that I have three bogie NPCCS in more or less ex-works condition. I will get the airbrush out when time and atmospheric conditions permit. I am still in two minds about what to do with the Pullman stock. I could have a go at weathering them but I might sell them as a job lot and get some more 'ordinary' stock. Can anyone think of any yards that we're 'dual-purpose'? i.e. passenger/NPCCS AND freight? I was thinking of an excuse to run a 56 into the yard. Possibly a steel terminal up the line with trailing access from one line only, which requires the train to reverse in the yard? There is actually a steelworks on the backscene so it wouldn't be too implausible. After all, Rule 1, and that.

Before... After...

Plus the 'ball board', or whatever it's called, would make a great indicator of what's in the hidden sidings.