Temeraire

Hi Ken I have a mid range 16 x 10 shed that houses Exford Park sourced from a company in Romsey. It is on a concrete base and was specified to be sized that I could fit full size security door with 15 point locking in the end elevation. I also had two double glazed windows made locally that can be opened for ventilation and have blackout blinds to keep the sun and prying eyes out. Myself and a mate erected the shell of the shed over one weekend which kept the costs down. I then fitted Celotex insulation to the walls and roof before sheeting over with 6 mm MDF and the whole lot painted with several coats of paint. There is 50mm of polystyrene sheets under the 18mm wooden floor. Once all this was complete I fitted skirting board and carpet tiles, before the electrician did his thing and fitted three 5 foot LED strip lights. The roof covering is felt that was stuck down with bitumen and the shed is now connected to our home alarm system. The shed was completed and layout ready in late 2017, and so far (touch wood) hasn't given any issues, and other than coating the outside with fence protection regularly has been maintenance free. If its cold a small fan heater brings the temperature up fairly quickly, although the two of us have since built another shed in the same way for a mate who has fitted an Aircon unit to it, very posh! Unfortunately all the pictures taken during the construction phase were lost in the great outage here otherwise I'd post them here but as you're only in Oxford you'd be welcome to come and have a look if it helps you?

Evening all More work done on the modifications this week and this afternoon. More rubberised horsehair added to the area and WS scatter added as well as some yellow 'flowers' to hide where the fascia was cut back. Second view of the revised area. The two baseboards now fit closer together and form a box the same size as the extension board/traverser box. This afternoon the two endplates were cut down to size, extra spacers added, new holes drilled and redundant ones filled. Once the filler is dry they will be rubbed down and painted to hide the evidence! Finally a pic for the archive before the building is torn down for housing redevelopement now that the transport company appear to have left the site.

Evening all As I mentioned just now over at Tidworth, I had some visitors over to play on Wednesday and it lead to me spending yesterday afternoon in the shed running trains rather than painting the outside of the shed as planned! (Don't worry it got done today!) Most of the trains were videoed and I'll put together another compilation soon but I took a couple of pics as well. The afternoon postal service from Plymouth to Bristol comes to a stand in the goods loop at Exford Park behind 47575. 'City of Hereford' waits for the shunter to arrive and uncouple as there is a loco swap to be done. A few minutes later after 47575 had departed to the stabling point, 47582 arrives to take over the train to Bristol.

Evening all Tidworth has been up in the garage this week as I had some visitors from the Winchester club over on Wednesday night to view/play with it as well as the shed layout. Whilst it is up I'm taking the opportunity to make a slight modification to the original station board to allow it to be 'boxed up' a bit narrower with the other original part of the layout to give just a little more room and be easier to load in the new car. Firstly the 'hump' in the fascia was flattened off with the Dremel creating a bit of dust. Then the exisiting embankment was also dremelled back making a whole lot of mess!🙄 Once I'd cleared up with the hoover some filler was added mixed with a bit of PVA and left to dry. Once the filler has dried completely I'll paint it and make good again with the green stuff. When that is done the boards will be paired up and the endplates cut down to suit, but I'm hoping to gain 2-3" which should mean the nameboards/lighting rig for the layout will sit down the side of the two 'coffins' once loaded.

Hi Rob the Skoda or VW Passat were options for 2 litre diesels, but the Kuga is a plug in hybrid and is substantially more tax efficient, as much as a new loco each month!

Two TSOs in NSE, two in B/G and a BFK in B/G to mix in with the Mk2As I’ve already got. Just waiting for a couple of Mk2Cs and I’m done!

Back again. Recently whilst upgrading some locos for Ropley I also made a start on some wagons that have been waiting for sometime! When Cavalex released the warflats (2 years ago?) I purchased 8 for Tidworth with a view to replacing the Genesis ones I have been using but to date they haven't been seen. So finally they have had the wooden decks painted and weathered ready for permanently loading four of them with vehicles, chocks and tiedowns and having four empties. Firstly all 8 had the wooden decks painted with various browns and then weathered with washes and powders follwed with some dry brushed grey to give the bleached wood look. With futher weathering of the bogies and underframes they are now ready for loading in time for the Exeter show all being well.

Evening all Yes I know its been rather quiet here for a few months!. Last Friday an end was put to the jeopardy that Tidworth has been in since June when my new company car was ordered! With the Mondeo estate not available anymore and few other options an order was placed for a Ford Kuga with fingers crossed! Although it is around 250mm shorter in the load space Tidworth thankfully fits. However there is no room at the back for the stock boxes like the Mondeo. The only way to get everything in is not to carry a passenger unless another operator can take the stock! Obviously the boxes will need lashing together with a couple of cushions in front to protect them from forward movement. So panic over, Tidworth can still go to the ball, see you in Exeter!

Evening all So two months flies by again with no update here! Part of the reason for the lack of progress was time spent tittivating part of the Ropley diesel fleet in time for the Basingstoke Show. At the same time I also made progress on a Tidworth project (check the thread later😉). Once the paints were put away for a bit focus turned back to the shed and unboxing my batch of Accurascale Mk2B coaches, with that out of the way I fired up the static grass machine and added more grass and foliage to the embankment from Exford Park station up to the cliffs. Looking towards the station with grasses added at the base of the slope and some yellow gorse added. Turning the camera we look towards the cliffs again grasses added at the base as well as more trees and bushes added. So progress at last and I now need to look at the stabling point and weather the now ballasted track before adding further detail and build up the scene.

No problem Chris I’m glad you’re happy with them, just the thumper now! I really like that pic with the way the light is catching it. i forgot to ask have you got the 37s the right way round?😉

Hi all Kevin is having trouble posting so asked me to add a reminder here that Millway Dock will be at the Basingstoke Show this coming weekend.

I was probably sat on the cabinet off the western end of Plat 5, unless Millwall were at home!

Evening all Dropped by Exford Park earlier and there's what looks like a loco convoy in the stabling point. Three locos awaiting a path and a tow presumably to next weekend's diesel gala at Ropley perhaps? 😉 Upfront is 33109 'Capt Bill' on loan from the East Lancs Railway. This one has had plates fitted, yellow paint on the bagpipes, orange on the electrical connectors and finally lightly weathered. MHR resident 37901 'Mirrlees Pioneer' came in for weathering. Bringing up the rear is 37324 'Clydebridge' that has finally gained its plates. All had a wheel polish and are ready to go next week.

Oh no not another A1A - A1A, I'm out I'm afraid I MUST have all wheel drive!

Look forward to finally meeting you fella and yes still got my season ticket!🙄

Hi Ray thats good news we’ll definitely catch up for a beer! Maybe have dinner at Exeter before you head home?

Evening all First post since November! Just a quick update as I've had a couple of exhibition invites confirmed for this year over the last week or so. Exe Model Railway Soc show June 22nd-23rd 2024 Matford Centre Exeter. Swansea Model Railway show September 14th-15th 2024 Swansea Leisure Centre. I look forward to seeing some of you at these two shows.

Hi Dave Good to see you posting an update and that the layout is alive and well. It took me a while to drum up the enthusiasm to repost all the pics to my Tidworth and Exford threads but glad I did as it drew responses from the 'crowd'. 😉 Like Brighton, Tidworth will hit 35 shows this year, although only very few with the extension completed. I don't know about you but invites seem very thin on the ground since Covid and I've almost needed to chase invites? Look forward to seeing the layout again at some point and th return of the pictures! 😉

Hi Martin, these are Bachmann.

Evening all So having completed all the ballasting of the stabling point last week and cleaned all the track up so that my 08 run through test was passed, the law of sod intervened and one of the point switchblades failed! So the errant point was cut out and the area cleaned up for the replacement. A few minutes later the replacement is in place and just needed a feed to be reconnected. After a break for lunch the new point was ballasted in place and I'm back to square one!😉 So feeling pleased with myself I unboxed some wagions that arrived on Friday and gave them a quick test run. Part of the rake of 9 ZKV wagons sat in the goods loop. These will be further weathered with a bit more rust and the insides need rusting as well.

Just come in from the shed having done the last bit of ballasting, I’m bloody freezing!🥶

Hi Adrian Looks like you've been busy. I been looking back to try and work out the plan of the layout,could you do a updated trackplan perhaps as its come a long way since the original terminus it seems. One question I have is where does the incline go, to an elevated FY? Kepp going mate.

Try this one from 2013 then. 😁 Or this one?

Evening all Just a quickie! While I have the bug to ballast, I've continued on with the stabling roads this evening and there's just 3 roads to go now.

Evening all A Happy New Year to you all. Over the Christmas break I spent a bit of time in the shed and had a play with the fuel point canopies that had been unused since the loft version of Exford was dismantled. The lights still work for the first time since 2014! Both canopies had 5mm trimmed off each side, a couple of extra supports were fashioned from old kit sprues and more substantial roof supports were added before a coat of paint ready for weathering later. As you can see the lights in the running shed were also tested. Since the start of this year I've started the process of ballasting the depot area. First the concrete pads around the fuel points were repainted with a conrete colour as I had 'overdone' the weathering previously. Then the tracks immediately adjacent to the pads were ballasted. This afternoon I've continued the ballasting with progress on the entry track and pointwork up to the end of the fuelpoints. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can recreate images like this from 2011. There we go then I've finally made a start on this side of the layout and hopefully the enthusiasm will continue to get it all done soon!