Jump to content
 

Mark Forrest

RMweb Premium
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    8,675

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Mark Forrest

  1. Mark Forrest
    Looking back through the previous Foundry Lane entries in this blog I realise it comes to quite an abrupt halt. This is partly because I've been spending my time on other projects (BCB and WLL) but also due to me considering the blog Vs layout thread and RMweb blog or external blog questions.
    Anyway, here are a few photos by way of an update on what has been going on with the layout since I last wrote in this blog.
     
    The building which was under construction in the previous blog entry was finished and installed at the left hand end of the layout. This must be the third different building/structure I've tried in this position and it will be the last - I promise.

     
    In terms of exhibition outings last year (2012) was the busiest so far for the layout, with appearances at Sutton Coldfield, ExpoEM North, Loughborough and Burton upon Trent (a (belated) thanks to all who helped to operate or said hello). During the summer the layout was set up in the garden to get a few photos in daylight, an old door and a couple of trestles taking the place of the usual legs:

     
    Here are a few of the photos I took




     
     
    The layout also gained some new legs, which make it quicker to assemble (and more importantly disassemble) at exhibitions and which take up less space in the car. These are seen here on trial (out in the garden again - see we did have some sunny days in 2012). The trestles seen here have been changed since as I found them a little unstable.

     
    So what next? This year is really the year of BCB, however I'm very pleased to be taking Foundry Lane to Expo EM in Bracknell in May (had been due to attend last year, but had to postpone due to a diary clash).
  2. Mark Forrest
    In my last layout blog entry I mentioned having some concerns about the future of my Low Level project. To address this I’ve decided to put the baseboards and track work to one side while I focus on the buildings. As I’ve said before, the position of the buildings makes them critical to the success of the finished layout – so I want to make sure I can get these looking right before getting too carried away.
     
    I’ve been preparing drawings for the buildings and have been experimenting making the stone window surrounds from styrene strip, potentially to be used as a master to cast these in resin. Here is an example:

     
    Which will provide the ground floor windows for this building (and it’s twin at the opposite end of the station frontage):

     
    Starting at the south end of the station buildings, this is the first of the characteristic blue brick buildings:

     
    I’m not sure what purpose the building served, (guessing it may have been a toilet!) but here is my attempt at modelling it:

     
    I think I'm reasonably happy with how it has turned out, although not sure if the window openings might be little too narrow. It's made from plastikard and SE Finecast embossed brick sheet (flemish bond). There are a few more details to be added, then on to bigger things, this one is next

  3. Mark Forrest
    Sometime ago I bought myself a sound fitted two-tone green sound fitted class 24, with the intention of modelling D5038 in the condition seen here on the excellent Derby Sulzers site. D5038 was out-shopped from Derby works following overhaul in 1965 wearing the two-tone green livery applied to later class 25s. By 1971 (the start point of the era I model on Foundry Lane and the year in which I intend to set my new layout) she was in shabby external condition but retained many of her as built features, making it a reasonable match for the Bachmann model.
    A to do list was quickly identified as follows:
    • EM gauge conversion
    • Paint full yellow ends on cab fronts
    • Swap factory fitted speaker for a bass enhanced speaker
    • Change position of fuel tank gauge
    • Replace roof fan/grille with Extreme Etchings parts
    • Correct roof panel errors
    • Detail bufferbeams
    • Weather as in photos
     
    The EM conversion and replacement speaker were simple 5 minute jobs and the loco runs well and sounds better too. The speaker fitted neatly in place of the original and is currently held in place with a couple of strips of masking tape!

     
    A bit of filler took care of the existing fuel tank gauge – I have a Brassmasters resin casting to replace this with.

     
    In my haste to re-paint the yellow ends, I decided it would be good idea to brush paint the yellow paint directly on to the existing paint work. At the time I did not have any replacement glazing and thought I might break it if I tried to remove it, so carefully painted up to the glazing. Several coats of warning panel yellow later the green top half of the cab front was still showing through – I should have known better and undercoated first! Disappointed by my painting error the loco went back in its box and stayed there until last night.
    Having invested in a set of laserglaze from Shawplan; removing the glazing was no longer a concern and it popped out with no trouble at all. Last night I settled down with a glass of vodka and coke (remember please model responsibly) and began removing the yellow paint with some Precision Super Strip. A little further cleaning up this afternoon and the ends were ready for a coat of grey primer. The photos below show the current state of play – still plenty to do and Foundry Lane’s next exhibition outing less than 2 weeks away!


  4. Mark Forrest
    For a while now I've been considering my next steps in railway modelling since Foundry Lane has now fulfilled its role as test track/shunting plank. Perhaps I could extend and improve it, but there are a few fairly big things which I would've liked to have done differently (the baseboards and the method of turnout operation to name just two) which would mean a fairly substantial rebuild. As the layout has exhibition enquiries for the next 18 months I'm a bit reluctant to start ripping up track too!
     
    So, what next? Well, for a while I've wanted to build a model based on a real location, but finding a real location with everything I wanted in the space I have available would require a move to 2mm scale (or smaller ). With this in mind I've decided that the next project will focus on one particular aspect I've tried to include in my plans - parcels trains.
     
    In April 1970 Wolverhampton Low Level station was converted to a parcels depot; although a peak hour DMU shuttle to Birmingham Snow Hill continued to operate until March 1972. All stations (including Low Level and Snow Hill, both of which were now a terminus - a real life end-to-end) had become unstaffed halts with a reputation for being grim and uninviting.
     
    My plan is to model Low Level during these dark years; the area to be modelled will focus on the southern end of the station, between the bridge at Sun Street and the station footbridge approximately half way along the platforms. As with my previous layout, this will be 4mm scale, EM gauge.
     
    At the moment I'm gathering information (fortunately there are plenty of photos on the web and the remains of the station is only a short distance from home) and planning the layout. I'm trying to keep the plan as close to the prototype as possible and I still have some work to do around the positions and sizes of some of the buildings but latest sketch looks something like this:

     
    For comparison the aerial view here: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/w/wolverhampton_low_level/index35.shtml shows Sun Street bottom right with the footbridge in the centre of the photo.
    The 1972 photo on this page: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/w/wolverhampton_low_level/index.shtml shows the scene I want to recreate; hopefully this will be the view from the fiddle yard looking along the platform from beneath Sun Street bridge.
     
    Cheers
  5. Mark Forrest
    I finally got around to making a start on the boards for my Low Level project last weekend. The plan is to split the layout into four scenic boards giving a total scenic area of 2440mm x 1000mm. I’ve used 3.6mm ply strips spaced with 18mm softwood blocks glued and stapled together. Dimensions of these two are 1220mm x 500mm with a height of 80mm and I’m pleased with the ease of construction and the lightweight but rigid structure that it gives.

     
    Here is one completed board and the second board in its component parts, a further sheet of ply will form the top:

     
    However all is not well . Having reached this first milestone in construction I think I’m getting cold feet about the project! Concerns are that the layout just won’t be interesting enough to operate and that my modelling skills won’t be up to the task of constructing the station buildings (which will be position right at the front of the layout). I’m beginning to wander whether I should look for an alternative subject which gives more operational potential.
    Maybe I need to build two new layouts – Low Level to give me my “modelling a real location†fix and an improved version of Foundry Lane for maximum wagon shuffling!
  6. Mark Forrest

    13T High (dia 1/034)

    By Mark Forrest,

    Here I am at the end of a week off work, with that Sunday night - back to work tomorrow feeling. Amongst other things this week I have managed to tidy up a few projects which have been littering the workbench for some time. One of these is this little highfit. Basic ingredients are an ancient Airfix body and Parkside underframe, the following photo highlights the other bits:

    Buffers are from Lanarkshire Model Supplies - first ones of theirs I've used and very nice they are too, brake gear is the ABS casting for 4 shoe fitted wagons (F121)and MJT brake pipes. I suppose this represents my standard specification for wagons now, giving a nice balance of prototype fidelity while remaining robust enough to survive the rigours of exhibition life.
     
    Was just about to apply the transfers this evening (B477285, as pictured in David Larkin's BR Standard Freight Wagons) when I noticed I'd missed the metal strips between the bottom plank and the floor and the bracket on the solebar in the middle of the door. These where duly added and the paint touched in as you can see below; as soon as it's dry it'll be on with the transfers and that's one more wagon ready for action at Foundry Lane's next exhibition appearance (Worcester 12th & 13th March).
     

  7. Mark Forrest
    Over Christmas and New Year I've taken a break from house renovation for a few days, so I've grabbed the opportunity to do some work on Foundry Lane, but more of that later; first a recap of the layout's last couple of exhibition appearances.
     
    First a few snaps of the layout at it's last outing to Redditch way back in September:

    20073 (regauged Bachmann with Howes sound) delivers an air braked van to the yard:


     
    Failure of the resident 08 (the rivet in the coupling rods fell out!) saw an unlikely replacement on the layout:


     
    Previous to this I took the layout along to the member's day during the summer. Here's 24042 shunting in the yard:


     
    link to the next Foundry Lane blog entry
  8. Mark Forrest
    One thing I've never been happy with about the layout are the buildings along the back scene; particularly the end on terraced houses on the right hand side of the road bridge. I've decided to replace these with an industrial building. Before starting on this though I've added some supports to prop up the retaining wall (replacing the rainwater down pipes which used to hide the joints in the plastikard); also extending the wall to include the area behind the goods shed:


     
    At the opposite end of the layout this large industrial building, which I've been building today, will be installed at the end of the sidings. I'd previously extended these sidings through into the fiddle yard, thinking this would increase operating potential, but found that this wasn't the case; so now I need to replace the bufferstops I demolished earlier in the year (with some of those nice GWR pattern ones from Mainly Trains).

     
    The next Foundry Lane related entry in the blog is here
  9. Mark Forrest
    The layout has been stored away for the past couple of months since we moved house. However with exhibition appearances looming I thought I'd better dig it out and make sure it all still worked.
    Bea looked unimpressed as Foundry Lane arrived at its new home:

     
    It seems I've been away from the layout so long that time has marched on - a 37 takes the place of the more usual 24 or 25 and the Capri on the lane is now a Mk 3 B)
     

     
    The layout doesn't appear to have suffered too much from it's time in the garage, although getting it level in its new location was a bit of a challenge (uneven cottage floor boards!). A few scenic improvements are on the cards, but nothing major as renovating the house has (I'm told) to take priority.
     
    Next outing for the layout is the Derby members day on 10th July. After that it's Redditch in September (18th & 19th), followed by Worcester next March.
     
    Cheers
     
    link to the next Foundry Lane blog entry
  10. Mark Forrest

    13T Lowfit

    By Mark Forrest,

    Having found ourselves temporarily homeless due to a two week gap between selling our house and moving in to our new house, the Mrs F and I decided we'd rent a holiday cottage for the weekend over Easter. So on Friday morning we packed up the car and set off for Presteigne (Powys) with the dog and two boxfiles full of unbuilt wagon kits to keep me occupied. The fruits of yesterday's labour was a Red Panda Lowfit. As usual I was unable to build the kit as per the instructions and have gone for an example with LNER brake gear (B450608) once again Paul Bartlett's wagon site provided the inspiration here & here.
     
    The underframe came from an elderly Parkside PC01 steel highfit and required modification to the axleguards to represent the BR type. To do this I cut some thick plasticard (about 80 thou I think) into rectangles 6mm x 3mm, then cut these in half diagonally to give triangles. I cut a vee into these and they were then glued into the gaps in the axleguards and the axleguards were reshaped slightly with a file. The following photo shows work in progress:

     
    There is still a bit of work to do (most notably the missing buffers, axleboxes and brake shoes), but the bits I need to complete this are in storage with the removal firm so it will have to wait for now.

     
    Cheers & Happy Easter
  11. Mark Forrest

    16T Minerals

    By Mark Forrest,

    The following notes have appeared elsewhere on the interweb, but I thought I would update it and include in my blog here.
     
    My 16T minerals serve a dual purpose; being put to work on both Foundry Lane and New Haden. I've built a few to date; but have plans to do many more and (after a bit of messing about with other bits) have settled the following as the basic spec for my EM gauge fleet:
     
    Body
    For standard dia 1/108 I tend to use Parkside bodies (same again for dia 1/109 too) but for rebodies I have used the Bachmann "no top flaps" body, with a false floor to hide the the doors in the floor. Specifically for New Haden are a couple of SNCF and slope sided examples - again from Parkside kits.
     
    Underframe
    Either Parkside 9' unfitted or Red Panda clasp brake fitted underframe (suitably shortened to a 9' wheel base). Door stops are from steel staples bent to shape then inserted into a hole on the solebars.
     
    Brakes
    Most are unfitted so it's ABS 2 shoe Morton brakes (F.U04) - I did try drilling out the brake lever loop but broke too many drill bits or drilled the end of my finger too many times. For clasp brake fitted (only done one of these so far and that's a riveted body) I'll probably stick to the Red Panda parts, for four shoe fitted I've used ABS parts again but can't remember the part number.
     
    Buffers
    Most have ABS 4 rib unfitted (F.U03) or whatever other type is appropriate to the prototype. The use of metal buffers, brakes and door stops helps prevent damage when the wagons are being handled (on New Haden the coal load needs to be tipped out in the fiddle yard).
     
    Couplings
    Standard spec for my Foundry Lane stock is Smiths three link or instanter; however the wagons I use on Stafford Railway Circle's New Haden run in fixed sets of three with AJ couplings on the outer ends and three links in the middle. The middle wagon, having three links at each end, suits either layout (which was fine until both layouts appeared at the same show earlier this year!
     
    A few examples:




     
    and finally this is an old Airfix with improved door hinges, as described in Pennine's "Mineral Prospecting" article in November 2001 BRM, MJT w-irons and the wrong axle boxes :oops: ....

  12. Mark Forrest

    Bachmann Presflo

    By Mark Forrest,

    I couldn't resist buying a few of these at the recent Stafford exhibition and chose four of the Blue Circle liveried wagons (B873364) for my initial purchase. A photo of this prototype appears on Paul Barlett's wagon photos website: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brpresflorugby/h24e65b9#h24e65b9
    The painting and lettering detail on the model is excellent, the wagon carries the TOPS code (CPV) and the dates on the maintenance data panel read August 1977. It features the correct brake gear with the short brake lever for this particular wagon. I was pleased to find that EM gauge wheels fitted straight in without any modification of the W irons or brakes. I opened up the gap in the foot steps by chain drilling with a 0.5mm drill then cleaning up with a small file.
     

     
    Bachmann's representation of the oleo buffers fitted to this wagon are less impressive though; so I have fitted cast replacements from ABS. I also replaced the plastic brake hoses (with MJT castings) and fitted some Smiths instanter couplings.

    After a bit of paint, the wagon awaits its next move on the afternoon trip working back to Bescot

     
    To finish off, I just need to paint the curved top of the ladder in bauxite and maybe add a bit of cement dust.
  13. Mark Forrest

    Low Level progress

    By Mark Forrest,

    After playing around with various old maps, planning portal and some aerial photos I seem to have established that the area I want to model be approx 2.7m long to scale. This takes in the area from Sun Street bridge to the south facing wall of the main station building. I'm considering whether it might be necessary to trim this down closer to 2.4m by reducing the gap between the bridge and the end of the station buildings. The big concern however is the width of the layout. To fit this in to scale will require a board depth of around 1.2m some four times the depth of my Foundry Lane plank! It may be possible to reduce this slightly, by reducing the depth of the buildings and platforms a little. I've sketched the layout of the station building and have approximate dimensions.
     
    Unfortunately, I've had to omit one building (a single store red brick building which stood between the main building and the bridge adjacent to the bay platform) from the plan. Main reason for leaving this out is that it would block the view of the platforms as viewing (and operating) side will be from the front aspect of the buildings.
     
    Current plan is as follows -

     
    What I aim to achieve is a layout where most of the stock spends most of its time on the scenic area rather than hidden away in the fiddle yard. So, as shown in photos from the period, there will be vans awaiting loading/unloading on every available bit of track. The bubble car was often stabled in the middle road between its peak-hour-only trips to Snow Hill.
     
    There is a comment in "Mainline to Metro" (John Boynton, Mid England Books) to say that the final train from Snow Hill (1972) was unable to run to Low Level as track rationalisation meant it would not be able to run round. A caption in "Diesels in the West Midlands & Central Wales" (Bradford Barton) states that by 1974 connection to the mainline had been severed and only access was via the Midland line at Heath Town junction. Therefore I'm assuming that all parcels trains would have been propelled into the station - unless there was a 08 on pilot duties to release the train loco from inbound trains?
  14. Mark Forrest
    On the whole the layout's first public outing was a great success, although there were a few snags to deal with.

    * The combination of restricted access and three link couplings meant changing stock in the fiddle yard was awkward
    * There was no real purpose for the two sidings at the front of the layout
    * Operating the layout from the front (as I do at home) was ok, but due to my choice of couplings and the position of the point switches I spent a lot of time standing in front of folks who were trying to look at the layout

    To overcome these I decided to add a small fiddle yard to the left hand end of the layout which would take a cassette and a fan of sidings representing a small steel terminal, taking the total length of the layout to 2.7m. With the layout booked to appear at the Stafford Railway Circle exhibition in February 2009 I set to work to add the extension and refine some of the scenic details. A new factory building (kitbashed from the Wills north light engine shed) appeared on the Lane (replacing the previous Metcalfe example)

    and access to the steel terminal fiddle yard was disguised by a pipe bridge

     
    Until the Stafford exhibition the layout had been operated using an old hand held AMR DC controller; however I decided it was time to catch up with technology and invested in a Roco Multimaus (split from a starter set, purchased on eBay). Several locos were hurriedly fitted with DCC chips and a few further scenic tweaks were made ready for the layouts next appearance at DEMU Showcase in June 2009 where the following photos were taken




     
    The next outing for the layout is the Wyre Forest MRC's Kidderminster exhibition in March 2010. I have a few repairs and improvements to make between now and then; along with a few more wagons to add to the fleet
     
     
    link to the next Foundry Lane blog entry
  15. Mark Forrest

    AJ Couplings

    By Mark Forrest,

    For the stock I have built for Foundry Lane I used three link couplings (eventually standardising on the Smiths products after a bit of initial experimentation/trying to do it on the cheap). However the standard coupling adopted for use on New Haden is the Alex Jackson (AJ) coupling. For anyone unfamiliar with these the Manchester Model Railway Society website has a useful page describing them.
     
    When I started to assemble a coal train for the layout I bought a set of jigs for forming the couplings from EMGS, but found that fitting them in the correct position was a little hit and miss and often resulted in burnt fingers. So before fitting the AJ's to my new fleet of sand tipplers I ordered a mounting jig from Scalefour Stores (available on-line, to non-members reference "AJJ" here)
    The jig was simple to assemble (although it helps if you read the instructions BEFORE starting to bend some of the parts :icon_redface: ). Photos below show it in use - this wagon is the end vehicle of a train which stays permanently coupled once on the layout so has AJ coupling at one end and three links at the other:

     

     
    The jigs make light work of forming and fitting the couplings and I only burnt my finger once - which is good news as I think I'll be abandoning three-links in favour of AJ's on the parcels stock for the next project.
  16. Mark Forrest
    A couple of years ago I happened upon a Hornby Class 31 at a reasonable price. I just can't get excited about 31's but as I was planning to (eventually) build up a set of stock to run Foundry Lane in a mid 1980s time frame a 31 seemed appropriate. The model in question was 31174 with factory weathered finish. Having got it home and acquired a set on EM gauge wheels (Gibson, from EMGS) the loco then sat on the shelf until recently.
    On digging it out (to check the chassis hadn't warped!) I decided it was high time I did something about the weathered finish which I felt was too uniform and extended too far up the bodysides.
     
    Initially I tried to use thinners to remove the weathering, but found that T-Cut on a cotton bud worked much more effectively. Photo below shows work in progress as I worked from right to left along the bodyshell.

    Method was to dab the cotton bud in T-Cut then polish the loco - working in a spiral pattern. Another cotton bud, moistened in clean water, was then used to remove the paint/T-Cut residue.
     
    Working carefully it was possible to remove the weathering without damaging the double arrow logos or paintwork below; the numbers went as it was to be re-numbered anyway. The process left the body in shiny blue, but with small areas of weathering remaining around the edges of panels - already it was looking better (if a bit shiny!)! The loco was renumbered, as 31126, and I then applied some more weathering with enamels and powders and the end result is seen below:

    I still need to add the buffer beam pipework and plan to replace the windscreen wipers with some finer brass parts, but I'm pleased with the results so far.
     
    Now where did I put that Heljan Falcon.....
  17. Mark Forrest
    Back in 1997, after a few years away from model railways, I joined the EM Gauge Society with the intention of building myself a small layout. Having previously modelled in 00 gauge, EM seemed like a logical progression as I wanted the closer to scale track and it would allow me to retain some of my 00 gauge stock (once this had been suitably modified). A few years of armchair modelling followed and it wasn't until 2004 that I found myself with the time and space to make a start on a layout.
     
    The main purpose of the layout was to allow me to practice the ???black art??? of track construction and to experiment to see how I got on with modelling in EM gauge. With this in mind the layout was kept small and simple; measuring just 2m x 0.35m overall (that's approx 6'6" x 14" if you prefer measurements in pre-TOPS) and with a track plan consisting of six turnouts. The reason the boards were kept so narrow was so that I would be able to fit them in the passenger side foot well of my MG Midget. The track plan is based on the "Timesaver" shunting puzzle. Using Y turnouts has allowed a lot of track work to be squeezed into a small space. A downside of this has been that it has resulted in some fairly tight curves which does limit what locos can be used - diesels with long wheelbase bogies (such as Peaks) struggle through some of the trackwork!
     
    All of the track and turnouts have been constructed using parts from C&L Finescale, EM Gauge Society and SMP. These were built in situ on templates printed using Trax2 layout design software. The templates were glued to cork tiles on the top of the base boards; individual plywood sleepers and crossing timbers were cut to length and glued into position. I then threaded plastic chairs onto the rail and then glued these to the sleepers. This method of track construction is very time consuming, but quite a relaxing and satisfying task nevertheless.

    To begin with progress was slow and because I wasn't working to a plan there were a number of false starts but eventually (and very much due to the advice and support of members of this forum) the layout began to take shape and scenery started to appear on my test track.


     
    link to the next Foundry Lane blog entry
  18. Mark Forrest

    22T Tube

    By Mark Forrest,

    Another outcome of my recent workbench tidy up is this Parkside Tube. I built a pair of these (one fitted the other unfitted) very early in my return to modelling and they have languished on and around the workbench, being subjected to various painting/weathering experiments ever since. Other than missing brake levers and door bangs the fitted wagon was in reasonable condition and the paint finish was looking pretty good so I decided to have a go at fixing it up.
    I salvaged some replacement brake levers from the bits box, added new vee hangers (from a Mainly Trains wagon brake gear detailing etch) and a brass rod brake cross shaft. Replacement door bangs were from scraps of etched brass, bent to shape then melted in place. The buffers had already received attention, being fitted with some turned steel heads from 51L at some point in the past.

    Once the new bits were painted it was ready to join the rest of the fleet:


    The other one in the picture is a much more recent build, but I think these are now of a consistent standard and won't look out of place together on the layout:

  19. Mark Forrest

    13T Sand Tipplers

    By Mark Forrest,

    Some time ago, back on my RMweb3 workbench topic, I was working on a batch of sand tipplers which were destined for Stafford Railway Circle's New Haden Colliery layout, which is set in North Staffordshire in the late 1950s. The plan was to build about a dozen wagons; using the excellent Red Panda body only packs - at the time Mainly Trains were selling off their remaining stock of these at a discounted rate. With these I've used Parkside 9' wheelbase underframes to represent diagram 1/071 or 1/072 wagons, mostly in their original, unfitted, condition.
     
    As ever, Paul Bartlett's excellent BR Wagon photos website and several of David Larkin's wagon books provided the prototype inspiration.
     
    Below are the first three of these (posing on Foundry Lane) which already have two exhibitions under their wheels having appeared on New Haden at Holmfirth and Wolverhampton last year:

    Since then (over Christmas and New Year) I've managed to complete the construction of the remaining nine wagons which are now awaiting paint. Brake and buffers were from the ABS range of castings which I've used on all of these (and also on my 16T mineral fleet):

  20. Mark Forrest

    Scenic developments

    By Mark Forrest,

    The main scenic feature of the layout is the retaining wall which runs almost the entire length of the layout and hides the entrance to the fiddle yard and the slide switches which operate the points. At the left hand end of the layout this is made up of Wills retaining wall sections. In the middle is a road bridge carrying Foundry Lane over the railway; originally this was a girder bridge made from Wills Vari-girder but this has since been replaced with a brick built bridge. To the right of this the wall slopes down towards a Goods Shed at the end of the board (originally this was going to be a factory). The wall is painted with Precision Paints blue brick to help capture the atmosphere of the West Midlands.
    By Spring 2007 the layout was being to take shape and I began to think I might actually manage to finish it!



     
    The factory was changed to a goods shed based on a GWR example at Tettenhall


     
    It was it this format that the layout made it's d?�but at the 2008 members day.

     
    link to the next Foundry Lane blog entry
×
×
  • Create New...