SouthernMafia Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 All been a bit quiet on Portland lately due to various things but mainly lack of spare time! However, I'm moving flats soon (to somewhere that cuts my commute by about 75% giving me back at least 2 hours a day, hurrah!) To assist in the move, not all the layout is coming with me (yet) so two boards have been shifted back to the parents gaff for the time being. The station mini board and main board 1 will come with me where it is hoped that scenic work will progress at a lightening rate ready for Basingstoke in March....hmmm! In the meantime I've been thinking about building and infrastructure placement and the fuel sidings (that were never designed to be fuel sidings but have turned into fuel sidings) just weren't sitting right for me. I played around with some wagons and settled on this: The siding on the left will be slewed over to run more parallel to the siding on the right, and fuel depot bits and tanks will then be added. This gives me a bit more space and looks much more on purpose. I've also bought a model bus that will fit well on the station forecourt. This will be detailed and weathered with passengers and maybe even an open door, and I'll change the destination to '22A Portland Bill', which I've seen in a photograph so taking to be correct...? Lastly my modern image modeller self got the better of me and I've accidentally bought a Colas 60 to go with all the other locos I really don't need. But it does look rather nice. Obviously I had to stage a scene or two... 60087 and 60007 on shed 60087 on ballast duties at Portland. 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwnewall Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 Yeah the photo of the bus is on Flickr with I believe Portland Bill on it. However, it will look out of place with the era you are modelling. First buses were new back then (well, atleast one pf the double deckers hasnt been renovated since the 80s). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted July 21, 2017 Author Share Posted July 21, 2017 Yeah the photo of the bus is on Flickr with I believe Portland Bill on it. However, it will look out of place with the era you are modelling. First buses were new back then (well, atleast one pf the double deckers hasnt been renovated since the 80s).Thanks, when would this bus have been suitable from? I figured mid 90s to late 90s which I will also be running.Otherwise I was going to get one of these, which is seen here at Weymouth in 1993: Unfortunately I haven't found an accurate Southern National model of this yet, only Western National ones I think in full green otherwise this one is the most simlar: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292172665388 In terms of route numbers, I've seen 1, 22A and 501, are all these acceptable? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwnewall Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 To be honest i'm no bus spotter, so can't be too accurate, however researching Portland for 5 years has gotten me some info! Brian Jacksons book of "The Isle Of Portland Vol. 3 road transport is mainly about buses and will most likely feature that. I say most likely because its at hoke and i'm currently on holiday! will comment it when I get back. Good luck for the move! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simpsonjock Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 Thanks, when would this bus have been suitable from? I figured mid 90s to late 90s which I will also be running. Otherwise I was going to get one of these, which is seen here at Weymouth in 1993: 20170721_140828.png Unfortunately I haven't found an accurate Southern National model of this yet, only Western National ones I think in full green otherwise this one is the most simlar: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292172665388 In terms of route numbers, I've seen 1, 22A and 501, are all these acceptable? Southern National had two versions of this livery. the 'Dorset' version shown in the photo, and the 'Somerset' version which the EFE model is based on. The latter had two green bands, the former also had a green roof. Either would be suitable for a layout based in Weymouth/Portland as they did occasionally swap territory! EFE have also done a Leyland National bus in the same livery, and a Plaxton Paramount coach, so along with the Olympian you've already purchased there is scope for a nice small fleet in that livery. So far as route numbers are concerned, 22A is the original Southern National Portland route number, up to the early 1970's. When NBC merged SN with Western National, Portland routes were renumbered to the 42X series, anything from 422 to 428 being common depending on route and destination. When Southern National returned in 1983, Weymouth - Portland became route 1, with variants such as 1A. However 501 is also correct - that was the open top service to Portland Bill - which EFE also model a version of, in a yellow/blue/red livery which is correct for most of the 90's from memory, and would be another good addition! Finally, Smiths of Portland operated buses from a garage very close to where the old Portland Station was, including some very old Bristol RELL's until the late 90's, bought from Western National and operated in that livery (Blue/Cream/Red stripes) minus the branding for some years - google Smiths of Portland RELL and you should get some decent photos - these would very local to the model. Again, EFE did a model in that livery, with Western National Branding, which would be appropriate. Hope that helps David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted July 23, 2017 Author Share Posted July 23, 2017 David, many thanks for the comprehensive information, a great help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted September 13, 2017 Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 A busy period moving my life from Hampshire to Berkshire means modelling has been restricted recently, however I am now settled into the new flat, and in the past week the small station board has also made the trip to its new home. The idea is that by only bringing the small board I will be forced to work on it instead of play trains...in theory Whilst physical modelling has yet to commence, digital modelling has been in full swing in preparation for some upcoming laser cutting. The station building has taken priority, and the 2D files have been produced. In the meantime I decided to design the Parcels depot, and a mock up may well follow. I hope to also have this laser cut. As mentioned previously, this building is loosely based on the one at Southampton Central... More soon....(he says) 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRUNFOS Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Thanks, when would this bus have been suitable from? I figured mid 90s to late 90s which I will also be running. Otherwise I was going to get one of these, which is seen here at Weymouth in 1993: 20170721_140828.png Unfortunately I haven't found an accurate Southern National model of this yet, only Western National ones I think in full green otherwise this one is the most simlar: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292172665388 In terms of route numbers, I've seen 1, 22A and 501, are all these acceptable? I think T reg was August 1978 to 1979 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 Mocking up the parcel depot today out of some 5mm foam board. Getting a good feel for the size of the finished product. No parcels stock to hand... Laser file also pretty much there as well. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 After being away on holiday I have returned to the Winchester club room to find the first stages of Portland's station building waiting for me. One of our members owns a laser cutter and is kindly assisting me in the project. These are the "bases" of the building, ie the main structure. On top of this will be similarly sized Wills dressed stone sheets, also being laser cut. These will interlock with the window and door frames, as well the corner stones. The plastic pieces have yet to be cut, but this is what I'm working on today. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 A couple of hours gluing and squaring up and the basic shell is complete (minus roof) 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWT442 Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 It's coming together nicely Rich, will have to have it back at Brock when it's all done! Andy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwnewall Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Yeah i'm still here and still loving the layouts progress, some houses are being built right next to the line on the Portland Castle side but besides that the trackbed is still a great walk! Have you ever been down to Portland and seen the old station site? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted October 6, 2017 Author Share Posted October 6, 2017 Yeah i'm still here and still loving the layouts progress, some houses are being built right next to the line on the Portland Castle side but besides that the trackbed is still a great walk! Have you ever been down to Portland and seen the old station site? Pleased you're enjoying the progress, it's slow and steady but coming along. I hope to have some major scenic works complete for the Basingstoke show in March. I've only been to Portland once when I was much younger, and it certainly wasn't a model railway recce trip! But i do recall the roundabout and sculpture thing where the station once was, although at the time I didn't realise this is where the station was. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted October 21, 2017 Author Share Posted October 21, 2017 (edited) With more lasers than a 90s rave, I have a station building and parcels depot. The roof is temporary as I need to work out the angles for the middle bit, hence the apparent short bit. Frustratingly, the Wills sheets are not long enough for the middle bit and so I need to devise a way of concealing the joins This was the first bit I did, and experimented with some fine filler and then a grey primer to see how it looked. Generally pleased, but will take a while to do the rest of the gaps! Parcels depot: A slight mis-calculation in the laser file means I need to redo a small fascia piece. The white stuff is 2 x 5mm foamboard glued and laminated with 1mm ply. Rather impressed with how its gone together, and you'd struggle to get such clean straight lines with a knife. My thanks to Roger Stonham for his help and time with cutting of the components. Windows and doors have also been cut and this is the next job, along with white primer and painting for the parcels depot. Edited October 21, 2017 by SouthernMafia 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wigan Wallgate OO Gauge Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 Loving both buildings there! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doolish Posted October 21, 2017 Share Posted October 21, 2017 WOW - should have charged more! Both buildings look great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted November 24, 2017 Author Share Posted November 24, 2017 Just to prove that there is infact some work going on on the actual layout itself... Have been mulling over adding a second carriage siding for a while. Had the point ready built from years ago, just so happened to fit perfectly. Bit of embankment cutting back to become a cliff face and things are coming along. Polyfilla to be added to the front to give it a bit more of a rock appearance and then plaster some paint on it. Both sidings will take 5 Mk1 coaches (when board 4 receives the same treatment), which is going to make operating even more entertaining. Still not sure what's going on top of the embankment cliff, probably a load of greenery, a footpath and a discard shopping trolley. Also decided on the final alignment for the fuel siding, which is to remain one siding and will be fenced off neatly with pumps and pipes to be added soon (hopefully). A bit of realignment of the turnout in the foreground to become more Y shaped has provided me a bit more space to achieve this. The second siding will become a general siding, thinking some dropside wagons (OCA etc) with depot stores, used sleeper chairs etc etc) As the layout remains at the parents gaff progress is limited to when I can get home, but some annual leave this week has given the opportunity to sort it out a bit. Don't expect a huge improvement from the current state for Basingstoke in March, but at least I'll have a few buildings and a couple of extra sidings to play with! Maybe some proper signalling too, who knows the layout might even work still... 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 Things on Portland have been continuing despite no updates on this thread. The Basingstoke show is a mere 6 weeks away and as usual I'm starting to panic a bit around how much there is still to do. Luckily, the layout moves up to our clubroom this week, allowing it to be worked on in its fully exhibitable state. Some strategic time off work will hopefully allow a good couple of weeks of solid progress to take place to get the layout ready for the show. I will hopefully be in a better position to update with progress on the layout in the next few weeks, as a lot of the things I have been working on are nearly finished, just not finished enough to show here just yet! In the meantime, I have also been working on some stock. Installing DCC sound and de-chassis-blocking a Bachmann 150 has been the main project, which is almost there. I've also been working on improving the running of my Hornby VEP, and seem to have a successful 8-VEP set-up with the standard Hornby motor in one unit only, the other being de-motored. This week, I've been distracted by my Dapol 73, of which some advice was required and so a post made to the Dapol Class 73 saga thread, copied below: Following a thorough read of this thread and an impending show I decided to tackle my Intercity 73102 properly. I had previously corrected the lower Intercity white to beige and also changed the roof colour some months ago from black. However I didn't touch the bodyside black or warning panel yellow as I thought I could live with it. After leaving the model alone for a while, I decided to tackle the pickups this week using Temeraire's method and am pleased to report much smoother and reliable running. I then also had to sort out my DCC sound installation as I had a vibration caused by the speaker rattling on the cab/headcode wiring when the body was on (custom build speaker enclosure which I made too tall!) Annoyingly in sorting this out, I've chipped away some of the paint on the roof, so this needs redoing. Also a number of grilles popped out, and my not very careful gluing needs covering up. I then thought, I may as well correct the black whilst I am here, so the model is currently masked up awaiting spraying. I know that the black should be executive dark grey, but what colour was the roof? Pictures on Flickr seem to show various different colours which is most likely down to weathering/lighting/camera, but does anyone know what it should be? If its also Exec Dark Grey this is a great help as the airbrush only needs to be filled once! I will then attack the warning panel yellow, and also thinking of adding a Replica headlight to each end to model a loco from around 1991 with the orange cantrail too. 73103 seems a good candidate as it is unnamed and remained in Intercity livery for the duration of my modelling period. Note I have ambitiously masked the double arrows in hope I don't need to buy any transfers! The printed nameplates have yet to be rubbed away. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Fatadder Posted January 28, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2018 (edited) Do you have any pictures of your improved class 150 chassis? I have one which I need to improve this year and haven’t quite decided how I am going to set about doing it yet I’ve never thought about masking a logo like that, will be interesting to hear how well it worked Edited January 28, 2018 by The Fatadder Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 Do you have any pictures of your improved class 150 chassis? I have one which I need to improve this year and haven’t quite decided how I am going to set about doing it yet I’ve never thought about masking a logo like that, will be interesting to hear how well it worked Hi Rich, I don't at the moment but I will get some done soon. It's a lot easier than I thought. I was working on fitting a lighting decoder to a dummy 150 which will enable 2x150s to run on my layout together (as great an idea as consisting is, I can never get it to work properly!) I've been somewhat distracted by other things so the 150 has been sidelined. The masking is actually quite simple, 3mm and 6mm tamiya masking tape laid lengthways over the logo, and the bits that shouldn't be there are very carefully removed with a sharp scalpel and ruler. Fiddly but hopefully it will work! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Temeraire Posted January 28, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2018 Hi Rich Pretty sure the roof of the 73 is the same as the upper body sides, and certainly is on mine with no adverse comments so far! Glad the pickups worked. Hope to see you at Basingstoke let me know if you need any help. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwnewall Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Would love some recorded footage on the layout in operation at the exhibition. Sadly I can't attend due to money being tight (for travel costs mainly) but I still want to see this run! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernMafia Posted January 29, 2018 Author Share Posted January 29, 2018 Hi Rich Pretty sure the roof of the 73 is the same as the upper body sides, and certainly is on mine with no adverse comments so far! Glad the pickups worked. Hope to see you at Basingstoke let me know if you need any help. Cheers Ian, like you say I don't think it matters, especially by the time it's weathered ! Yes do say hello at Basingstoke. Would love some recorded footage on the layout in operation at the exhibition. Sadly I can't attend due to money being tight (for travel costs mainly) but I still want to see this run! I will see what I can do! It's difficult to get decent videos with punters around but I will try hard on Sunday morning to get some footage. One thing I regret about Brockenhurst was not taking enough photos of the layout in its rarely exhibitable form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
37672 Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 (edited) Cheers Ian, like you say I don't think it matters, especially by the time it's weathered ! Yes do say hello at Basingstoke. I will see what I can do! It's difficult to get decent videos with punters around but I will try hard on Sunday morning to get some footage. One thing I regret about Brockenhurst was not taking enough photos of the layout in its rarely exhibitable form. There is a very short clip from the Brockenhurst show here, at 4:42 Rich I'm sure I can hear your seagulls in the background for some of the other layouts as well. Edited January 29, 2018 by 37672 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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