Jamesb

And the SJA done and ready for service (apart from the missing ladder )

Hi all, Not a lot of progress on Wall Heath at the moment. Pressure of work, family life etc has meant I haven't had a great deal of time to spend in the spare bedroom. Some small projects have been completed though. The scrap yard sidings have been ballasted (the last part of the layout that needed doing) and DAS clay has gone down for the hard standing area. A couple of additions to the wagon fleet have arrived as well. Four MCV's, a Cambrian SSA and a SJA conversion from a Bachmann MEA nearly complete the scrap metal pool. The formation of the SSA's and MCV's is entirely prototypical as this picture by Steve Allen shows. The SJA conversion is extremely simple and was completed with the aid of a Stenson models etch. https://www.flickr.com/photos/eagle50043/50062222163/in/photolist-2kKnjC6-2jgPYvr-2jguY1G-2jgxTLM Hardstanding completed. Wall Heath's scrap metal pool. SJA conversion is at the front. Prototypical train formation. SJA conversion. Still requires transfers and underframe weathering, plus an extra ladder at the other end. A quick and easy conversion using the Stenson models etch.

Thanks Rob! It's all a learning curve! James

A bit more progress. The coal yard continues to take shape. Having run out of the original hanging basket liner (which required painting after gluing down), I picked up a different brand from the local hardware/gardening shop. Purely by accident, this doesn't need painting! Once glued down and trimmed to length, it gives a reasonably good representation of dry, scrubby grass. The new stuff is in the foreground, the older stuff behind. The former weighbridge hut, now the TOPS office/shunters den takes shape. A single HEA sits over the discharge pit. A linesiders view. 08 419 ( I really must renumber it to something more appropriate) has arrived to collect the single HEA. This will be tripped to Moore Street yard for inclusion into the afternoon tripper to Bescot. Now, some serious stuff. It was never my plan to incorporate point motors on this layout. Being a newbie to DCC, I wasn't confident enough to tackle DCC AND DCC accessory control. So it was always my intention to have some some sort of manual, yet remote point control. The answer was the tried, trusted (and ancient?) wire control method. Dowel 'slices' form the knobs, or buttons on the ends of the control rods. Below the baseboards, the control wires are actually garden wire. I picked this up at B&Q on a roll for £6. It is pliable enough to be bent to form an 'L' shape to go up through the baseboard and into the centre of the point tie bar, yet firm enough to resist excessive bending. That said, longer runs require support otherwise the flexing of the wire renders them ineffective. I used terminal block connectors cut into twos. One half simply acts as a support for the screw to fix to the bottom of the baseboard while the operating wire/rod passes through the other side. This ensures that the wire/rod doesn't flex and also keeps them tidy and relatively in line. Control rods for three points. James

Hi all, Slow progress at the moment mainly due to playing with full sized trains. However, the progress I have made is detailed below. First off, some progress on the 'box. Windows fitted (what a fiddly job that is!), interior detail finished off with the addition of the bobby taking a break in his armchair and the roof trusses trial fitted. Front view of the 'box. One of the background buildings is also taking shape. A laser cut kit, this will become an appropriate Black country factory of some kind. Ballasting work continues, along with painting/weathering of the track. More ballasting. Work continues in the coal siding/concentration depot. The coal heaps are pieces of old kitchen scourer. The scouring side is cut off and the foam sponge was hacked into a heap shaped lump, before being coated in PVA and having real coal poured over the top. Still a bit of work to do to blend them in properly. A pipe bridge is taking shape alongside one of the road bridges. The pipe is Evergreen tubing with the pipe joints being very thin strips of electrical tape wrapped around. The whole thing was then sprayed black. The concrete supports are small off cuts of timber, covered in a thin skim of polyfilla. Once dry, they were sanded down and painted appropriately. Pipe bridge. The other end of the pipe bridge. I need to source some of the cast iron anti climb fences/fans. James

A quick weekend update. One of the first areas I ballasted was the small yard/run round area adjacent to the Titan alloys factory. After weathering the track with a Railmatch rattle can (sleeper grime shade, done with the bedroom windows wide open and a respirator on), I used some hanging basket liner for rough grass adjacent to and on, the track. The liner was glued 'hairy side' down with pva and once dry, the backing was peeled away. Acrylics in varying shades of green were used and the fibres were teased up with an old nail brush, before being trimmed down to a more prototypical length. I'm pretty happy with the result so far. It just needs some detritus in the form of old sleepers etc adding to finish off the effect. James Hanging basket liner glued, hairy side down. Cheapo liner. 08 419 among the weeds. Shunting SSAs Heading for the stop blocks.

A tiny bit more progress. I knocked up the corrugated tin wall and dividing partitions from offcuts of styrene strip, corrugated sheet and a coffee stirrer. These will keep the coal off the track and enable the 4mm scale digger driver to scoop up the black gold more easily. James

Continuing on.. After a quick wash of dark acrylics, the cobbled area is already starting to look better. I also realised I needed some apparatus to get the coal out of the under track discharge hopper and out onto the ground. I had a look at some pictures of Gobowen coal yard on the net which shows a conveyor coming out of a ground pit. Part of a Kibri kit I have (this) was used for the initial conveyor with legs added from Evergreen 'I' section strip. The structure the conveyor emerges from is a simple box of plasticard strip, topped with a piece of Wills corrugated sheet. The corrugated sheet wall is temporary to gauge it's suitability. I think I need something to prevent the coal fouling the track as it drops from the conveyor. James

A quicky, as I've not had a lot of time recently. After putting down the DAS clay for the coal siding, I wasn't entirely happy with it so it came up and was relayed. It looks better this time, especially with the inset part in the 4 foot between the rails. It will look even better when painted and weathered! I've also started on a building for the coal siding, this being a weighbridge kit. By the time I'm modelling I doubt the weighbridge would still be in use, so the office has become a TOPS/shunters office for the reception and dispatch of wagon load services. Luckily I had some plasticard lying about that was the right shade of beige to replicate those early computers. The metal desk and computer chair are also plasticard, with the window blinds being paper offcuts. Thanks, James.

Mos Eisley TMD, but it was on loan to Bescot due to a temporary shortage of freight traction for a new flow from Pensnett to Endor Thanks, James.

And the last of the DAS clay is used up in the coal yard. I got hold of a roller to replicate cobbles. Not sure how successful this will look when dry.

Some progress on Moore St yard. After the DAS clay dried, I smoothed over the surface with sandpaper and an electric 'mouse' sander. As the DAS had dried, it had formed some hollows and pits which required smoothing out. After sanding, the excess was removed from the 'four foot' where the clay had squeezed out under the rails. Then it was on to painting. I used a variety of Vallejo acrylics, thinned with water in a series of darkening washes. Once I had what I thought looked like aged, dirty concrete, I carefully scribed expansion joints into the surface as well as cracks in the surface where road vehicles would have caused it to break up. Then using thin washes of acrylics in dark tones, I filled the joints and cracks. I'm reasonably happy with the results. Not sure about the crane. I got it free with some other stuff, so it owes me nothing. If it does stay, it will get a coat of BR yellow I think. James

A very quick mini update. After studying some pictures of Moor Street Yard at Brierley hill, I decided that it was time to get some hardstanding in place. The reference pictures I found showed that the concrete apron/hardstanding came up to the edges of the rails, but not in the four foot between the rails. This made life easier for me, as I didn't have to mess around with putting check rails in place. Out with the Das clay and this is the result. Once dry, it will be painted and weathered to represent concrete. James.

Another quicky. Wall Heath's track plan this time. A piece of A4 and a sharpie seemed favourite to sketch out the plan. FY (Fiddle yard), naturally. Four roads in the lower one, four and a half in the upper one (the half is off the down goods line). 1: Moore street yard (primarily for steel traffic, but not averse to the odd Cargowaggon of imported chipboard, wine or mineral water). 2: Down sidings, now taken over by the as yet unnamed scrap merchant. 3: Titan alloys. Manufacturer of decidedly dodgy Mazak alloys, which will later seal their demise after supplying several well known model firms with substandard materials. In my time period, they've invested heavily in a new unloading building and lots of blue paint. 4: Coal concentration depot. In reality, a miserable little stub of a siding, to be overgrown, littered with discarded coal products and in receipt of declining levels of traffic. James

Another quicky. Resident shunter. 08 419 is gainfully employed in the yard. That brake van must be fresh out of the works. No time for the Black country air to do its worst. James

Just a quicky. Let's have some gratuitous piccies of some of Wall Heath's stock. After all, that's what it's all about. 37 717 lurks in Moore Street Yard during shunting duties. The crew of 717 have disappeared, no doubt for a brew. Before returning and drawing out a rake of BEV's. Meanwhile, the Wall Heath South bobby has got his hands full with 45 049 passing with the diverted Cliffe Vale to Exeter Riverside clay empties and 47 526 shunting in the down sidings. By the way, the card buildings and other scenery items are there to let me size up possible backdrop and scenic options. Not the finished article! James.

Yes, it's strange how a lot of buildings that were soon to become surplus to requirements ended up catching fire.... Hmmm. James

A bit more... So, the eagle eyed among you may have noticed the Hornby signal box lurking in some of the pics. Not quite what I had in mind, so I got hold of something a little better. No link to the manufacturer, just a satisfied customer. As I mentioned earlier, I wish I'd 'got into' laser cut kits earlier. The level of detail is brilliant and being able to put something together with just pva is a real godsend. While Kingswinford Jnc had a wooden 'box (not sure of the exact GWR type), Round Oak a little further up the line had a brick and wood one (type 27??). I was tempted by the Ratio kit until I came across the Leamington 'box kit. Partially constructed, 'Wall Heath south signal box' oversees some remedial track works. A coat of red oxide car primer spray forms the brick base coat with the mortar courses being from tinted and heavily diluted polyfilla. Rubbed on with a finger and then immediately wiped off with a damp cloth. The brickwork around the locking room windows and lower brick plinth is picked out in engineering blue brick paint. Interior. Partially from a Lcut kit off eBay and partially scratchbuilt (the sink, water geyser, cooker and fridge are just off cuts of plasticard). The doormat is a bit of red card with a (badly) drawn pattern in pencil The notices on the rear wall are off cuts of paper, doodled on as and where appropriate to give an impression of writing.

And continuing with the corner theme.. In the opposite corner I wanted a scrap yard. The layout, while named after a real location is really a conglomeration of Black country/West midlands ideas. So, we have Titan Alloys (the named based on Trident alloys at Bloxwich). The scrap yard will have a main building and loading wall based on the Norton Barrow yard at Bilston. The signal box and road bridge behind take their inspiration from Round Oak and also Wednesbury town, while the small steel yard is a hugely contracted take on Moor street at Brierley hill. The beginning of the loading wall. Knocked up from spare timber and ply, it wasn't until I placed it on the corner plot and gave it a coat of polyfilla, that I realised it was about a scale 17ft high.. Still too high.. Out with the sander and jigsaw (again) to lop some off the bottom. To give a more acceptable looking height. Faced with trusty Wills English bond brick sheet (I really must stop buying this) and the polyfilla surface painted. I wanted the surface to be dirty and used with rounded, worn edges where falling scrap and working machinery has taken its toll. A grotty hut, knocked up from a pair of ratio kits. The 40 has since been sold.

Ah, thanks Chris! Cramped and grimy is exactly what I'm going for. I've got an idea for finishing the corner which will include an overgrown grass embankment running down to the line, topped with a concrete and wire mesh fence. I've not decided what the R.A. Burgess works will make yet, but what ever it is, the yard will be cluttered. Forklifts, metal stillages and no doubt some skiving off in a corner! James

Continuing on... There are a number of pictures on Flickr of Kingswinford Junction and the area around the narrow, girder footbridge over the line (I think it runs from near Bull street to the housing estate behind where the box stood?) Facing the box were a couple of very noticeable factories which overlooked the line. I wanted to get this feature into my layout and a corner plot was the ideal location. The corner section is removable and contains the works and yard of R.A. Burgess (named after my late grandfather). It sits higher than the line and will hopefully overlook and dominate that corner, just like the factories overlooking Kingswinford Jnc box did. James First, the corner plot and a couple of buildings thrown on to try and gauge things. The coal siding is in the foreground. Cardboard templates of the main buildings were cut out. Ply formers were cut and the buildings faced with Wills English bond brick and corrugated iron/metal sheeting. Roofing is from Goodwood scenics and consists of asbesto type sheeting for the smaller workshop/factory and rusty corrugated iron for the main building. A Bachmann scenecraft northlight factory extension forms part of the works. The works yard was given a very thin skim of polyfilla and when dry, expansion joints and cracks were scribed in. A small factory extension from Railway laser lines was purchased (why I didn't get into laser cut kits before this, is beyond me!) Finally, the yard was given a coat of grey and the expansion joints/cracks touched in with darker grey/black. To be honest, its still a bit too light and requires more weathering.

Thanks for the kind comments Ben. The attitude of the parent you mentioned doesn't surprise me in the slightest! Replicated all over the country, sadly! James

Thanks for the info Bob. Cheers, James

The Titan alloys building is a much kit bashed Peco manyways diesel depot, kindly donated by a work mate. The roofing material is from Goodwood scenics and is very thin corrugated metal. The hard standing is from Scale model scenery and has had expansion gaps scribed into the mdf surface before being sprayed grey. The coal concentration depot consists of a single siding with an under track discharge pit, knocked up from plasticard sheet and strip. A hole was cut into thr baseboard to give depth, before the 'pit' was dropped in. Eventually it will have a hard standing area, conveyor and coal stocks. The coal yard at Gobowen and some distant shots of the set up at Pensnett were the inspiration. James. The start point of the Titan Alloys building. Kit bashing in progress. A coat of industrial blue. The roof goes on. The management at Titan alloys are a bit miffed that BR have wrong routed the consignment of rolled steel coil... The roof and small yard. The coal yard (does a single siding qualify as a yard?) A hole for the hopper is cut out below the track. The discharge hopper, knocked up from plasticard. The finished article, awaiting further scenary.

More.... I wanted to try and get the track layout as close to prototypical (within within realms of the constraints of 00 gauge, non finescale modelling). To that end, I wanted trailing crossovers and connections and as few facing points as possible. Working as a freight driver, I spend almost as much time setting back over trailing connections as I do going forwards and I'll be damned if my 4mm scale counterparts are having it any easier! The junction below gives access to a small yard which contains the Titan Alloys unloading shed and a small coal concentration depot. James The trailing junction and cross over goes in. In, wired and glued down. The baseboard is cut away at the front so I can get an embankment and road bridge in.