Jump to content
 

Buckingham West


Richard Mawer
 Share

Recommended Posts

I don’t know how you manage to keep all that track clean. More power to your elbow Rich!

Hi Neal. It’s relatively easy: it doesn’t seem to need much. Not sure why. I only seriously clean it once or twice a year as a whole. If I see a mark somewhere or a loco hesitates, it gets a going over with a track rubber. The point ladders get a rub perhaps once a month and thats it really. I expected it would need more.

 

I think being DC and getting regular use helps.

 

It had a month’s non-use in September and it suffered then.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

EARLY MORNING

 

attachicon.gif3F9E8FFC-941F-479F-8F28-8BDCAEBC97F5.jpeg

 

Its early morning at Buckingham West. The 6.35am to Banbury waits in platform 2 behind Dean Goods 2516. Looks like the crew have wandered off to find some headlamps!

 

I think they went to find a rag to remove that cobweb off the front.

 

Looking good though, coaches look smart behind a Dean.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

BALLASTED!

 

I am pleased (and relieved) to report that all of Buckingham West is ballasted at last. What a job!

 

post-15300-0-84556800-1544479653_thumb.jpeg

 

The final parts were the points at Evenley Quarry Junction and Buckingham West throat, shown above.

 

I may not be the neatest ballaster on the planet, but I’m pleased with it. The glue mix was a little too strong on Buckingham and the run off along the edges is a bit cream coloured in places. But the next job on the track and ballast will sort that. I trialled spraying the track and ballast at Brackley Road ages ago and I like the result, so I will do the same everywhere else. The effect can be seen at Brackley Road on the high level. The cess and areas between ballast still need to be sprayed.

 

post-15300-0-18435600-1544481066_thumb.jpeg

 

The rails and ballast on each side of each rail will be sprayed with sleeper grime. This gives the characteristic two (almost) stripes along steam age track. The amount of oil and rubbish sprayed off a steam loco’s wheels and motion left these. I will tone the ballast colour down in station areas as well, using weathered black and dark washes. I will also use weathered black on the cesses.

 

Another view across Buckingham station throat with the Loco yard behind. A 45xx, ROD, Castle, Collett Goods and Ex GCR Director are on shed.

 

post-15300-0-75686900-1544480308_thumb.jpeg

  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Well done!

 

I remember when I first started following your thread thinking what a major job ballasting would be for you....I am amazed you have accomplished it so quickly and effectively.

 

On reflection I think your approach of waiting a while before ballasting is much sounder than mine. I cringe at the amount of ballasted track I have lifted and had to replace as a result of operational experience

 

Regards

 

John

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well done!

I remember when I first started following your thread thinking what a major job ballasting would be for you....I am amazed you have accomplished it so quickly and effectively.

On reflection I think your approach of waiting a while before ballasting is much sounder than mine. I cringe at the amount of ballasted track I have lifted and had to replace as a result of operational experience

Regards

John

Thanks John.

 

Looking back back, I started ballasting on 19th November 2017! So I managed to string it out for just over a year!!!! That’s dreadful! Ha ha. But I have managed to get way-layed with a few other bits and bobs, like backscenes, bridges, electrics and electronics, We’ve also done a lot of operating of course!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

WEATHERED

 

Finally I’ve weathered all the track. I sprayed it with Lifecolor dilute sleeper grime and then weathered black around Buckingham throat and where locos stand. Its just toned down the brown ballast notably (when compared). Its also coloured the sides of the rails and got rid of the brightness.

 

post-15300-0-72865000-1546024303_thumb.jpeg

 

Of course the whole track then needed cleaning!!!

Edited by Richard Mawer
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

LAMPED

 

Happy New Year - belated!

 

Apart from a bit of operating, my time over the holiday has been spent on sorting a few wagons and vans with running problems.

 

Since then, for some reason, I then decided to add the lamps and crews to my stock and locos. Wow! How long did that take!!

 

I have glued 17 tail lamps on coaching rakes, the autocoach and parcels rake; 20 lamps on Toads and 4 on the milk vans making 41 tail lamps in total.

 

I have 27 locos in service. I haven’t touched the mogul because that will be replaced when the Dapol model comes out. So I have lamped 26 locos. That’s mainly 2 lamps per loco but of course there are 4 on tank engines. So in total, about 66 headlamps. Given the era, these are mainly red, but it was about the time of the change to white, so a couple of locos have white and one a mixture. Spare lamps are on the sides. The LNER locos have white lamps. All the lamps are Springside.

 

Every loco now has a crew as well - except the banker which still needs a crew and a couple of lamps - I ran out. They are from Bachmann, Peco Modelscene, P&D Marsh and Preiser. Very fiddly getting them into closed tank engine cabs.

 

When I have built some scenery and weathered the coaches, I will weather the locos.

 

I am surprised what a difference the lamps and crews make.

 

post-15300-0-33209100-1547337353_thumb.jpeg

 

post-15300-0-30257100-1547337375_thumb.jpeg

 

post-15300-0-14138500-1547337395_thumb.jpeg

 

post-15300-0-20402200-1547337418_thumb.jpeg

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

Excellent work :)

Can you signpost me to where you got your track underlay?

Best

Dan

Hi Dan,

 

Thanks.

 

Its not track underlay as such. It is foam underlay from Homebase, intended for going under laminate flooring. It comes in bright green or grey. I obviously chose grey. It about 3mm thick closed cell foam. Comes in a big roll. I only needed two for the whole layout. I stuck it onto the baseboard with pva. The track was then glued directly on with pva. No track pins. That way the flexibility remains. The track in the yards are covered with artex which is also flexible. The ballast is glued with dilute vinyl glue - also flexible.

 

I hope that helps.

 

Rich

Link to post
Share on other sites

Awesome that’s a big help!

 

Did you seal the baseboards first?

 

I’m trying to ensure that my track operates effectively and I will be using glue this time-probably copydex

 

Cheers again :)

 

Hi Dan,

 

Thanks.

 

Its not track underlay as such. It is foam underlay from Homebase, intended for going under laminate flooring. It comes in bright green or grey. I obviously chose grey. It about 3mm thick closed cell foam. Comes in a big roll. I only needed two for the whole layout. I stuck it onto the baseboard with pva. The track was then glued directly on with pva. No track pins. That way the flexibility remains. The track in the yards are covered with artex which is also flexible. The ballast is glued with dilute vinyl glue - also flexible.

 

I hope that helps.

 

Rich

Link to post
Share on other sites

Awesome that’s a big help!

Did you seal the baseboards first?

I’m trying to ensure that my track operates effectively and I will be using glue this time-probably copydex

Cheers again :)

 

Hi. No I didn’t seal it. If you go to the start of this blog there are photos of what I did with the underlay. And around post 75 ish are some photos of gluing curved track with pva. By the way, whilst the super-elevation looks good, some locos don’t like it too much at slow speeds because they have no suspension/compensation so marginally lift wheels.

 

I thought of copydex for track and ballast, but the cost for the amount I needed was quite high. The pva worked fine for underlay to board and track to underlay. The track still had vertical cushioning. You need to make sure the track can’t move sideways! I tried pva on ballast and it really tightened it up, negating the cushioning, so after reading about vinyl glue from Ray H on this site, I tried that.

 

I have read elsewhere that Copydex is good unless you have to drill through it. It can pull like a thread from under your track or ballast.

 

Cheers

 

Rich

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

DYING FOR GRASS

 

In a bid to move forward with scenery, I decided it was high time I dyed the hanging basket liners I bought about 3 years ago. So out came a large pan, a pack of dylon tropical green (it is set in Spring), salt and hot water.

 

post-15300-0-43355200-1548714244_thumb.jpeg

 

Its a messy process, but it did produce a reasonably good green and quite hairy mat. So hairy that to scale its rather a jungle. It also shows the loops. The otherside is flatter but has very long threads. I shall have to run over it with beard clippers.

 

post-15300-0-13458600-1548714505_thumb.jpeg

 

post-15300-0-98183600-1548714529_thumb.jpeg

 

You can see a few areas that did not take. The liner is made all sorts of material!

 

I put a second liner in the residue of dye. It has come out far more of a mossy colour, so it clearly only works well once per packet. I have some more packs so will do my third piece. I might redo the second.

 

Whilst I am happy with the outcome, I’m not sure its worth the hassle and mess (dying and trimming) compared to commercial grass mats.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

WHEN IN DEVON.........

 

Over the last few operating sessions I noticed that the brake control on Buckingham’s local controller was not so smooth at the end of the rotation: the locos were stopping abruptly. Gaugemaster have a lifetime guarrantee so when my wife and I were off to Devon for a week I decided I would send it off for repair. Gaugemaster are simply brilliant! A parcel was waiting for me when I got home. They have changed the brake pots for me. I cannot praise them enough.

 

C892C0A5-A372-49AF-9B7A-241FB2BC5E32.jpeg.6e9682d379299fe50e331510857c036b.jpeg

 

Unfortunately the weather was going to be really bad whilst we were away, so we took hobby stuff instead of bikes. So Evenley now has a station building.

 

370AF697-29E0-4EF4-A7C2-16BDBC429B07.jpeg.a9baf4a1391eb9cbc0ee7c3620159c42.jpeg

 

AC248B5F-597E-4C00-8C63-8D8537207642.jpeg.a2081780185ad971eaf2aaa42084e5fb.jpeg

 

I also built 12 simple MERG kits. These are train detectors or TOTI. One for each hidden storage loop at Banbury and two for the exit line to monitor progress. They light LEDs when the line is occupied. They are really cheap and easy to make. I already have 2 in the train shed at Buckingham. 

 

A0516135-6FC5-40A2-951C-51AE40C9C8FE.jpeg.2e65f0c275561c95794b68aa7ec86626.jpeg

 

Finally, whilst in Barnstable I found a model shop. There aren’t too many local shops left, so I like to support them if I can. I bought 3 new Oxford coal wagons.

 

1199A62C-D84F-4782-975A-4A3FCF95E5E4.jpeg.fe5031089c8d8d66f8e648c9606dd817.jpeg

 

As soon as I got home I weathered them.

 

84808A8D-040A-4BE7-A55A-9D845051B376.jpeg.9bdb2a16c1fed5655b7252f60f7606c8.jpeg

 

Its amazing what a week away can do.

 

 

  • Like 8
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Thanks Richard, I didn't realize there was a lifetime  guarantee on Gaugemaster products. My rolling road is giving me trouble so I might do the same.

 

I like the station building. Incidentally, it's interesting to see the clerestories with dark and white roofs next to each other.  The white looks nicer but the dark more realistic.

 

Edited by Mikkel
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...