Saltmarshe Road - an ex SER branchline in Kent

[Jack P]

Thanks for that Pete, I see the gearbox is from Northyard over here in NZ - good to know that I have them local. A rather imposing loco it builds up to be. A shame no-one currently does a kit for it!

[pete_mcfarlane]

I'm not too good at keeping this updated - possibly because the layout progress is taking the form of lots of small steps rather than dramatic progress. 

 

This is the state of play as of tonight. 

The track at the buffer stop end is stuck down, and with working point motors.  None of it is properly wired up, but it has been tested with my ancient Hornby train set controller (1984) and my Heljan 07 (2018). 

 

(Pauses to ponder that 1984 was 34 years ago)

 

The station house is now in place, complete with a vegetable garden using Tasma Products plants - the runner beans seem a little on the tall side, but will do for now. There's also an outside loo at the bottom of garden.

 

Sockets for the signals are now in place (those are the laser cut wooden things you can see) and most of the trackbed is down using camping mat covered in grey card. I'm slowly laying the track, although I'm going to redo the point (plus trap point) I made for the goods yard, as they look a bit too straight and artificial. This will involve having another play with Templot.

 

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

And another of the occasional updates. The running lines are down, but not the yard, as I decided I didn't like the point I'd built. It looked OK on the plan, but odd when laid in place. So a rejigging of the geometry is called for, once I've go the hang of Templot. 

 

Meanwhile, the rest of the track is being slowly wired up and debugged. The more I do, the more time I seem to spend on it, and in the last few days I've been able to run trains up and down the platform road and loop. This has highlighted a few issues with tight spots, and a couple of kit built locos with running issues (under/over gauge wheels, dodgy pickups and so on). 

 

So here's a couple of photos of progress. First up is a posed shot of a suitable 1920s ex-SECR train. 

 

And secondly, a slight more useful test train consisting of a (rigid chassis) Judith Edge 165DS. This is useful in highlighting any dodgy bits of track, and has already fallen off or stalled on a couple of bits of under gauge track (since fixed) .

Meanwhile at the other end of the layout, I've laid the beach tramway using code 80 flat bottomed rail and PCB sleepers. This looks better in real life than the photo, and in an case will be buried under grass and shingle. 

Other bits of minor progress include ballasting the last 12" of track at the end of the line, and building a suitable water tower. I did this mainly as an experiment, using Copydex and Woodland Scenics ballast. I'm not convinced that this is the quickest approach, but it (and the foam underlay) seems to make the track a bit quieter than the cork underlay and PVA glued ballast on my previous layout years ago. 

 

The water tower is freelance (it uses the Wills tank from their water tower kit balanced on a pile of Evergreen plastic strip) but is similar to the tanks provided at several SER branch terminals such as Port Victoria and New Romney. It also has a bit of inspiration from the one preserved at High Peak Junction in Derbyshire, mainly because I liked the look of it on the many times I walked past it. 

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

Another of my intermittent updates. Progress happens in small chunks, so I forget how much the layout has come on since I last posted.

 

Most of the trackwork is ballasted, and some of the points have been tweaked to get them to work better (ie, so that stock doesn't derail or split them...).

 

Recent work has focused on the end of the layout away from the station, where there will be two wooden cottages of the kind found at some of these seaside locations. 

The first is from a Faller kit for a German building site cabin. Apart from painting, and adding curtains and drainpipes this pretty much straight out of the box but looks the part. I really must tidy up the front of the layout and paint the edge of the scenery. The post and wire railway boundary fencing is from Scale Model Scenery - looks great, but is a bit of a fiddle to assemble. The 3 bar (non-railway) fence is from the same people, and is a tad overscale but looks much better than the plastic stuff. 

The second cottage (where the bit of raw foamboard is) will probably be scratchbuilt.  I've a few photos from Dungeness of clapboard cottages and some Evergreen plastic sheet ready. 

 

I've also acquired a static grass applicator, so a far bit of this has been added and helps with the overall appearance. The two figures are Modelu 3D printed ones sold by Pendon and were bought on a trip there back in the summer (my first for about 30 years, so I was pretty impressed by how much progress had been made).

 

There's much still to do - the main area not yet touched is the goods yard. Luckily I've plenty of free evenings at the moment to work on all this.....

[N15class]

Nice to see it progressing.

[Jack P]

Any news to report on this Pete?

[pete_mcfarlane]

9 hours ago, Jack P said:

Any news to report on this Pete?

It's a case of two steps forward and one step back.

 

I wasn't happy with one of the crossovers, so spent a bit of time trying to improve it in situ, which was useful as I worked out all of the mistakes I'd made during the construction. But even after some tweaking, it derailed certain locos including both of my 4-4-2 I tanks, and the Bachmann Class 24. So I've bitten the bullet and lifted it. The replacement was stalled for a few weeks whilst I waited more copperclad and rail from C&L, but that's now arrived. So the new crossover is next on the to do list once the Albion D1 tank I'm working on is a bit more complete. The yard entry point next to it has also been lifted, so I can make sure that they are aligned properly this time.

 

Here's the civil engineers 48DS inspecting the engineering work. 

 

 

I've also tested a few of my kit built locos, as most of them were built before I had a proper layout and so had a few bugs to iron out. The Craftsman T1 was built a few years back, and needed some tweaks to it's pickups. It now runs a lot better than before. There are some lovely H C Casserley photos of E75 at Midhurst in the 'Branchlines to Midhurst' book) and I've finished the loco in the same condition, with faded paintwork and a dirty boiler, as if the cleaners ran out of time.

 

 

It really shouldn't be on an ex-SER line, but it was mu first attempt at and etched brass loco kit so I started with something simple. All of the bits int he kit that needed forming were done for you. 

 

The DC Kits class 71 also shouldn't be here, but ran OK after some more tweaking of pickups. This will need to wait until the layout is extended round the other side of the room and we get some third rail. This was built about 15 years ago before we had RTR models of this class. I've got a half finished 74 in the pile of things to be finished at some point.

 

And my other electric loco got an outing - a Hornby class 73, re-wheeled with Gibson wheels and the chassis and bogies correctly detailed for a 73/0 (the model has the correct body sitting on a standard 73/1 underframe). 

 

 

[DavidLong]

Always enjoy seeing progress in your work, Pete. I picked up on it soon after I joined in 2009 when I think that you had started work on the 2011 challenge. A decade plus on in time and I think that Saltmarshe Road qualifies for 'slow burn' but all the better for it. Looking forward to the next decade!

 

David 

[pete_mcfarlane]

And another update. The replacement crossover was built and laid, and stock runs through it without falling off (including the class 24, which the previous version had defeated). As a result, I've built a new set of points for the yard. This was a mix of C&L templates and a curved point built freehand to match to positions of the track in the yard. 

 

I suspect the trap point is a few yards too close to the running lines, but it saves a bit of space. Unlike my previous attempt at building this set of points it's been assembled as a single unit and everything flows together like real track. 

 

This has now been laid, and I've started adding the rest of the yard. 

For now the yard points don't work, as there seems to be a global shortage of point motors. I have some Cobalts on back order from Rails, so the yard won't be commissioned until they turn up. But there's plenty to do - having replaced one crossover, I'm a lot less satisfied with the running of the 'good' one at the other end. Most stuff runs through it OK, but DS1169, the civil engineers Ruston 48DS with 10.5mm wheels has a nasty habit of dropping a wheel into the crossing gap. I suspect the next major task is to replace that crossover with one built to my current standards. I've come to the conclusion that it's probably worth ripping up track and replacing it with a better version 2 now whilst I can. 

 

 

[37Oban]

19 minutes ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

 

For now the yard points don't work, as there seems to be a global shortage of point motors. I have some Cobalts on back order from Rails, so the yard won't be commissioned until they turn up. But there's plenty to do - having replaced one crossover, I'm a lot less satisfied with the running of the 'good' one at the other end. Most stuff runs through it OK, but DS1169, the civil engineers Ruston 48DS with 10.5mm wheels has a nasty habit of dropping a wheel into the crossing gap. I suspect the next major task is to replace that crossover with one built to my current standards. I've come to the conclusion that it's probably worth ripping up track and replacing it with a better version 2 now whilst I can. 

 

 

Hi,

 

could to see I'm not the only one who has been known to make a freehand turnout!

 

If you don't replace the crossover it'll niggle you for as long as it's in place.  Better to rip it up now and replace it than regret it later.

 

Roja

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

2 hours ago, 37Oban said:

Hi,

 

could to see I'm not the only one who has been known to make a freehand turnout!

 

If you don't replace the crossover it'll niggle you for as long as it's in place.  Better to rip it up now and replace it than regret it later.

 

Roja

 

Yes, I'm thinking that's probably the best thing to do especially given the extra free tie I have at the moment. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

A bit more progress with the goods yard - the track is now in place and tested as best I can without power. The (slightly unlikely, but they were the first ones out of the stock box) set of 1930s wagons make it look a lot more like a real railway (despite all the cluster).

Edited October 11, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

A bit more progress. Before tackling any more track, I've decided to build one of the remaining buildings. In this case, it's another cottage, based on a clapboard example at Dungeness that i snapped on one of the trips there by the RHDR. 

 

It's built from Evergreen plastic - including some very nice (but expensive) 2mm clapboarding. The windows are a bit of an experiment, with the glazing glued in place and then the window frames built up using strip and Limonene solvent. This seems to be going OK so far with minimal fogging of the glazing. 

 

I've been using my NWSL 'chopper' to cut up the strip material. I got this a couple of years back, and it's really useful for cutting things like window bars. As another experiment I have a pack of self adhesive slates from York Model making for the roof. These seem pretty good when other people have used them, so I'm looking forward to giving them a try. 

 

And this arrived today, and has been given a test. It's the Rails/Dapol version, and seems pretty good.

[DavidLong]

Remarkable Pete that the heading photo of Dungeness could double up as the windswept wilderness that is the Isle of Grain. Once seen, never forgotten!

 

David

[Bogie]

And this arrived today, and has been given a test. It's the Rails/Dapol version, and seems pretty good.

 

Although not my region, it also looks pretty good!

[pete_mcfarlane]

The cottage is now finished and in place on the layout. Plus points are that the York Modelmaking tiles look pretty good - I ended up painting them with the same Precision slate colour I used on the other buildings. The minus point is that one of the windows suffered a little bit of fogging. My excuse is that there's a bit of condensation....

 

It still needs a bit of garden clutter, although some of these wooden cottages seem to have very basic gardens. You may also note that I've actually installed this the wrong way round, with the 'road' side of the real house facing away from my road - it just looks better that way, and my excuse is that this is the back door rather than the front.  

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

I finally bit the bullet and replaced the iffy crossover with a new one. You'll note that I still haven't mastered Templot, and used paper templates in the old fashioned way. 

 

So not much difference in appearance, but the running is much improved. The 48DS peeking out in the corner no longer lurches as its tiny wheels drop down in the V. The next step is to sort the wiring and control panel out - this is the current state of the underside of the layout, with everything wired up in a temporary mess using choc blocks. 

The other big piece of work coming up is that the layout needs taking to bits so that the room its in can be redecorated. The layout room was a mess of boxes, which have finally been sorted out (I moved in six and a half years ago) so the plan is to gut the room and refurbish it completely.  I can then use it as an office, as I'm likely to be working from home for a while and using the dining table isn't ideal, as well as a hobby room.

 

Luckily it's designed to be dismantled, so baring some minor damage to the scenery it should come apart easily. I can also use this as an opportunity to get to the boards from the other side, as well as possibly replacing the backscene. The shelf above the layout that has the pelmet and lighting could also do with being raised up a bit. 

 

I've also realised that I started this layout for the 2011 challenge, which was 10 years ago. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

I had a few days of holiday to take before the end of March, so spent Monday doing the bulk of the wiring and control panel. With a bit more work over a couple of evenings, it's now mostly done (bar an isolation section and some tidying up - I'm waiting for a parcel of bits). 

 

I've got slightly iffy colour vision, which limits how many colours of wiring I wanted to use (so I don't have to figure out which is the orange or red wire in 10 years time) so bought a Dymo label printer to label everything up. 

 

Once I'd got the hang of the software it was pretty useful, and I managed to do some lever plates for the temporary lever frame (some project boxes and toggle switches). I even found time to paint the toggle switches the correct colours. This is temporary until I make a proper lever frame - the original plan for to use a Modratec one, but I'm not sure if they are still available. 

So here's the finished result. The section switches are on a control panel made from another project box. The track plan was done by spraying a panel yellow, masking the track off with 4mm Tamiya masking tape and then spraying the black over it. 

I'm almost at the point where I can play trains - I should probably have a go at making some cassettes next. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

Not the most exciting update - I've relaid a siding. On testing the furthest siding I had problems with buffer locking on bogie diesels, so have eased the curve slightly. 

 

Before:

After:

The trusty 48DS is doing track testing duties, not that it's really needed on plain track. So now the Class 24 can push wagons into the siding without them derailing. 

 

There's probably some moral here about testing stuff thoroughly (which is why a lot of the track is still unpainted and unballasted, until I'm convinced that any derailments are caused by dodgy stock rather than dodgy track). 

Edited March 17, 2021 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've been quiet, because the layout has been in bits whilst my railway room was redecorated (which will allow me to also use it as a home office, since it doesn't look like we'll be back in the office any time soon and I was fed up of using the dining table). So that's mostly done. but I'm waiting on some shutters to go in the window (the room is on the ground floor and faces straight on tot he pavement) so I can't reassembled the layout for a few more months,

 

Anyway, it dismantled as planned with minimal damage.

Most of it is still on the bed in the spare room, but I've brought one board down and plonked it on the workmate.

 

 I'm now able to view it from behind, and from above, and can see all the slightly dodgy bits where the grass didn't cover, the nameboards aren't straight and so on. So the plan is to work on this board, sort all the iffy bits (like the wonky name board), and finish the ballasting and scenery. And then repeat with the other boards, which all need much less work. 

 

I also need to replace the backscene with a new one - the original set-up had this attached to the shelf brackets that supported the shelf above the layout, which i don't plan to replace as it made the room a lot darker. So I need an alternative, which will also need to support the lighting (the first photo was taken using the layout lighting, and you can tell the difference from the ones taken using the normal room lights). More on this later. 

 

The empty space at the end is also going to need filling - the plan is to build a pub to go here. 

[N15class]

Nice to see this still is about. I do like this layout.

[pete_mcfarlane]

The end board has been temporarily moved to the garage, and perched on a wheelie bin, so I can spray the new crossover and surrounding track. The sleepers are now being painted - a couple of coats of Valejo German black-Brown.  

 

I also had to redo some of the grass after moving the board to the garage, as I noticed that I'd missed bits even though it looked OK when set up temporarily in the office (to fix the bits I'd missed under the original layout lighting). I guess the different light source from a different angle makes a difference in spotting these gaps. I've also done a bit of work on the garden of the station master's house, which I'll shop next time when I remember to take a photo.

 

Sorry about the state of the garage. There's some bits of my workshop dumped at the end, waiting to be moved back into the layout room. The blue step ladder to the left of the photo was originally my Grandfathers - I remember it well as a kid, as it it's normal spot was in the way of the closing flap on his 1930s LMS layout, so it needed to be moved to the landing for running sessions. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

The end baseboard is coming along nicely.

 

The track is ballasted (although it needs a little bit of tidying up of stray ballast) and most of the grass is now done. I also replaced the etched railings with some wooden close boarded fencing, which the SECR used at some of their stations. The Blacksmith etched railways were nice, but I didn't have any more of it to finish the platform and like everything else from Blacksmith it's gone into a back hole. 

The Station Master's garden has been redone, and looks a lot better. I dug up some of the beans, and shortened the remaining ones. 

There's still some platform furniture to paint - lamps and a bench, and the buffer stops need sorting. And then it's on with filling the empty space at the end with a pub.

[pete_mcfarlane]

Some new toys arrived, so I posed them on the one accessible bit of the layout

I've also added a few details - firstly a buffer stop for the end siding.

 This is a Mainly Trains cast GWR one, but it seems close enough to the kind used on SECR lines. the far buffer stop is a clip on Hornby one from my 1980s trainset, which is a bit crude but is removable if/when I extend the line. 

 

The platform now has lamps (Langley) and a bench (Scalelink). These match the ones I used on the original diorama 10 years ago (and I have enough to do the rest of the platform, when I get round to building it).  

 

I now have a rather nice Scalelink wind pump to build, to supply the water for the water tower. I've fancied one of these since I saw a photo in a book called 'Complete Railway modelling' by Vic Smeed. The local mobile library had a copy of this, and I borrowed it endlessly as a kid in the mid-1980s. Now that I have a copy of my own, I realise that the scenic modelling section is basically an advert for Scalelink and John piper's modelling. The other thing that impressed me were some photos of the 1/48 'Crooked Mountain lines' US trolley layout, which has lead to buying another of these 1980s coffee table books with a full description of the line, but that's a different rabbit hole. 

 

 

[Richard Jones]

Oo-er,  I wonder if they do those windpumps in 7mm scale?  (or if there's a drawing to build one to.....)