The Oak Hill Branch - LBSCR / SECR 1905ish - New layout starts on page 129

[Edwardian]

The head says, given the period, use it as a grounded coach body.  The LBSC coach volume 2 has a number of pictures of grounded mid-Victorian coaches and there was one on the platform at Dyke station.

 

The heart wants to see it run, however!

 

A fine stud you're amassing there, keep it up!

[BlueLightning]

You have the same opinion as me. It is such a nice looking carriage that I want to see it run but I just can't imagine that any of them would have been by the period of my layout

[BlueLightning]

So bank holiday weekend, 4 days of modelling followed by no time to post updates about what I've done.

 

Firstly I finished soldering the droppers and now have a fully functioning layout. YAY! So I took a couple of overall shots of the layout while it was clear so progress to date could be seen:

 

The Station End:

 

And the fiddle yard exit / Loco Yard End:

 

I also when back to the loco yard and cut down the water crane then finished the rest of the stage. I will post some more pictures including some with Loco's next to the crane once I have added a pile of coal but I think it looks great:

 

I then continued work on the Gladstone. First a picture side on with its new trailing wheels, kingdly provided by SarahAgain of this parish:

 

And a shot of it at the front of my Stroudley Carriages with it's cab finished and tender on display:

 

And lastly I set up a YouTube channel and posted some videos of a loco running (Currently the only LBSCR Era Loco I have a chip in):

 

First Leaving the yard after taking on coal and water:

 

Then Shunting some coal trucks:

 

The made up goods train leaving the station (all these wagons were shunted from their respective sidings and was quite enjoyable to do):

 

After that a passenger train arrived:

 

The loco ran around:

 

And then departed through the tunnel back to the fiddle yard:

 

Comments and feedback most appreciated. Thanks for looking,

 

Gary

 

Edited to correct some spelling mistakes

Edited April 11, 2017 by BlueLightning

[Edwardian]

Like it (but you've got to get rid of that wallpaper border!).

[BlueLightning]

The border is going eventually. The misses has agreed to me putting up a backscene. Just got to decide what I want. Scenery or just Sky. Torn between the two at the moment.

[choo1choo]

Hi Gary,

 

The Gaugemaster backscenes are pretty good. I think they are mostly taken from the scenery in the Arun Valley near Arundel. Used them on my last layout(dismantled for house renovations!!) and looked ok.

Cheers,

 

Craig.

[ChrisN]

It is good to see trains running, and it all looks fine.  Videos are nice and short which is always good.

[BlueLightning]

Thanks Chris,

 

I kept the videos short on purpose as I don't like watching long running videos. I will make some more once more locos have chips in. As it is I have lots of later era locos with chips but want to keep the stock on this layout to LBSCR / SECR only as much as possible.

 

Gary

[ChrisN]

Thanks Chris,

 

I kept the videos short on purpose as I don't like watching long running videos. I will make some more once more locos have chips in. As it is I have lots of later era locos with chips but want to keep the stock on this layout to LBSCR / SECR only as much as possible.

 

Gary

 

Gary,

Having just been and checked my layout again it struck me how smooth running your layout is.  I look forward to more videos.

[BlueLightning]

Ahhhh Chris, My smooth running layout is just an illusion. It took a lot of takes to get the videos right. I kept finding more bits of track that needed cleaning or points that didn't fire all the way and I still am having some issues with it.

 

In fact if you watch the last video you can see the train stop as it found another spot in the track it couldn't get over but that was a bit more than dirty track so I never bothered refilming it.

 

The secrets we all hide eh.

 

Gary

[BlueLightning]

Another week, another update.

 

This week I have been concentrating on the loco yard,

 

I have finished the coaling stage and include a couple of images showing the water crane and coal from ground level.

 

First the stage on it's own:

 

And with a loco to show the hight of the water crane:

 

I have also modified some Peco bufferstops to make LBSCR style ones. The have had all the supports cut out the center and had the buffer blocks replaced with a coffee stirrer:

 

I superglued these to the track before adding ballast:

 

I also added a a floor into the engine shed and painted the interior walls. I have based this on a photo from the book "Southern Sheds" which shows an LBSCR engine shed with wooden floors and very clean whitewashed walls:

 

After that I ballasted the rest of the yard which blends the base of the building in much better:

 

And finally a shot showing the yard on an early summer evening with locos resting ready for their next duties:

 

As always comments much appreciated.

 

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed,

 

Gary

Edited April 11, 2017 by BlueLightning

[Edwardian]

Like what you did with the buffer stops.

[ChrisN]

Quick work and very nice indeed.  I like the brickwork, it looks very effective in fact it all does.

[BlueLightning]

Thanks Guys,

 

I did originally try to scratch build some buffer stops making a jig for bending rail but found getting it right proved to be near impossible and when I realised just how much like LBSCR buffers the Peco ones looked I decided to modify them.

 

The brickwork is very simple, I started with SE Finecast embossed brick sheets which are painted completely with Humbrol 103 and then once that has dried I just colour them in with pencils stolen from the kids which don't go into the lines for the mortar leaving very nice looking bricks. Hopefully it will look even better once weathered. I stole the idea from a DVD that came with BRM at some point last year and had never used it until now but was glad I decided to try it.

 

Gary

[BlueLightning]

This week my modelling has been hampered by running out of things again. However most of the work has concentrated on the loco yard and the layout has seen a couple of new arrivals.

 

Firstly with the work I have done the loco yard is looking a lot more complete, static grass has gone down at the front of the layout although I have run out of PVA so that has now halted along with ballasting but the model shop didn't have any fine cinders when I went in so that was on hold anyway.

 

The layout has also had its facia repainted which gives the layout a much tidier look in general:

 

The water tower is also coming along nicely but I ran out of plasticard to build the tank with so that has been halted:

 

and then the yard had a visitor from another company:

 

That is the new Adams Radial from Oxford Diecast in LSWR green as preserved at the Bluebell Railway, that having arrived made me want to get my collection of Bluebell locos out giving me a full shed of preserved locos:

 

The Adams radial is a very nice loco and can be seen again in the loco yard and then in front of the newly started rear wall of the platform, this will be the same as the wall at the rear of other LBSCR platforms such as Hailsham:

 

 

and finally I have a new wagon in the form of an LBSCR wagon from Simply Southern a company local to me who sell all sorts of different wagons in both 00 and n gauge:

 

Thanks for looking hope you enjoyed,

 

Gary

Edited April 11, 2017 by BlueLightning

[CKPR]

 

 

I did originally try to scratch build some buffer stops making a jig for bending rail but found getting it right proved to be near impossible and when I realised just how much like LBSCR buffers the Peco ones looked I decided to modify them.

 

 

 

You and me both ! There are jigs for bending rail like this  (anti-clastic bending I think it's called)  and I think that Studiolith did one back in the 1970s but I've never seen one, let  alone tried to use one. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by CKPR

[BlueLightning]

I have a copy of an article from the November 1976 edition of Model Railways Magazine it was written by some members of the Mid-Sussex P4 group and has details about building a jig for bending rail, and having seen pictures of the layouts mentioned it obviously works quite well I think it just needs someone a bit better than me to try building it.

 

Gary

[BlueLightning]

Well this week has brought about near completion to a couple of projects firstly the Loco Yard itself just needs final details adding although this may now wait for some bits I still have on order meaning I can move onto another part of the layout.

 

First a shot taken from the bridge end of the yard:

 

and a shot taken from higher up showing more of the water tower which is just waiting from some detail to the top and a ladder at the front:

 

and a shot from the other end of the yard showing the static grass now applied to the hill in the background just waiting for an oak tree to put on it:

 

And to finish off I have been doing some more work on the Gladstone class and have finally got most of the body stuck together, and in my opinion is really looking the part:

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Gary

Edited April 11, 2017 by BlueLightning

[BlueLightning]

Well after missing a week I return!

 

The missed week was due to absolutely no modelling happening due to a very stressful week at work. However since then I have got straight back on with modelling starting with the most important thing the layout has seen thus far as my hill now has an oak tree (with 1930's ish person for scale):

 

I have also now finished the bulk of the modelling in the loco yard with the final ballast being laid, so now we just await me getting round to adding the finer details:

 

But I decided before doing that I would get the rest of the layout to a better standard starting with the bridge and road over the entrance to the yard. I have started rebuilding the bridge with brickwork that matches what is in the loco yard and resurfacing the road:

 

 

This has made a huge difference to the area but also means I will need to stop storing paints etc on the bridge.

 

And finally (and hopefully with much approval from Edwardian) I have some paint for the rear wall!!

 

Time to get rid of the border!

 

However the layout may now go on hold again for a week or so as I have been approached by a magazine that would possibly like to feature an article about my Gladstone. So I had best get that finished and an article written.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Gary

Edited April 11, 2017 by BlueLightning

[Edwardian]

 

 

 

 

And finally (and hopefully with much approval from Edwardian) I have some paint for the rear wall!!

 

Time to get rid of the border!

 

However the layout may now go on hold again for a week or so as I have been approached by a magazine that would possibly like to feature an article about my Gladstone. So I had best get that finished and an article written.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Gary

 

Yay!                     

[ChrisN]

That is some tree!  The problem with most trees on layouts is that they are too small, this one is certainly more of the correct size, excellent!

 

Glad to hear about the article.  (and not because it is stopping you modelling.)

[BlueLightning]

Thanks Chris,

 

I agree with the small tree issue on most layouts and had originally planned on at least trying to make my own. but I then saw this one from Noch which stands 160mm tall and only costing about £7, I thought why bother making one when this one looks so good and by the time I had brought materials for it I would of probably spent £7 anyway.

 

The offer of the article has been really good for me as I have always suffered with confidence issues with my modelling but this has put me on a real high regarding my abilities and I have spent most of this evening working on the Gladstone and have started work on the cab roof which I originally planned on paying someone from club to do for me. I am looking forward to getting back to the layout and getting the bridge finished though.

 

Gary

[BlueLightning]

So after another week as predicted nothing has happened to the layout. However the Gladstone has progressed at a great speed and will be getting a first coat of primer later this evening ready for more filling and sanding. So some pictures:

 

 

 

 

I will be making my own transfers for this and would love some feedback from you all regarding the loco.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Gary

Edited April 11, 2017 by BlueLightning

[ChrisN]

So after another week as predicted nothing has happened to the layout. However the Gladstone has progressed at a great speed and will be getting a first coat of primer later this evening ready for more filling and sanding. So some pictures:

 

 

 

 

I will be making my own transfers for this and would love some feedback from you all regarding the loco.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Gary

 

Gary,

Given that I do not know much about this engine I will give my thoughts.

 

It is a very clever idea and I keep thinking is there a way I can make the locos I need like this.

 

Looking at images from Google your loco certainly looks the part.  How does the wheelbase compare?

 

I thought the sand box was too far forward but there are images of some with this type of sandbox.

 

You have a curvy footplate but I assume that is because you are half way through.

 

You have not quite got the colour scheme 100%.  ( Sorry.  )

 

It will make a very convincing model.  I will buy a copy of the magazine when the article is published.

[BlueLightning]

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for you comments. If you can find a way of making locos like the it is a good way of doing it as all I have had to buy for this so far is some handrail knobs and the Westinghouse Pump, although as seen on Londontram's excellent Caledonian thread these can be made if you are feeling braver with the soldering iron than I was. all the other materials I had already so this has cost me about £15 as opposed to the GEM kit which costs £75.00 without the motor, gearbox, or wheels

 

The overall wheelbase is correct however the rear driver is about 1mm to far back but I'm sure I can live with that when taking the money saved into account.

 

The sandbox is correct for the loco. It will be Number 183 'Eastbourne' when finished I have a picture of it in umber showing a nice close up of the front end. I will not post the image as its not my image and I don't know who owns the copyright.

 

The wonky footplate is due to me breaking the last one (You will see it is black in previous pictures) and not having any decent plasticard to hand to replace it so the one on for the photos was made from Styrofoam and will be replaced, it is actually the 4th footplate the model has had as I keep getting bits wring.

 

As for the colour scheme. I was sure there was something wrong but couldn't put my finger on it   I will get straight on trying to fix it.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Gary