Jump to content
 

Aberdaron, or, Little Aching


Recommended Posts

On 1/23/2018 at 11:19 AM, Edwardian said:

I sort of lost heart, having lined the upper panels painstakingly only then to discover that this should have been in black, not chocolate!

For this job, I can highly recommend the Posca paint pens - in about ten minutes I lined out a Triang clerestory brake just to see if it would work. Much more controllable than a brush on raised paneling, and they dry to Matt black being paint rather than ink. They also come in white and ivory which are good for colouring in panelling.

  • Thanks 1
  • Informative/Useful 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

For this job, I can highly recommend the Posca paint pens - in about ten minutes I lined out a Triang clerestory brake just to see if it would work. Much more controllable than a brush on raised paneling, and they dry to Matt black being paint rather than ink. They also come in white and ivory which are good for colouring in panelling.

Can you get one in blue? I've been trying to find one to line my locos for a while. 

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
46 minutes ago, RedGemAlchemist said:

Can you get one in blue? I've been trying to find one to line my locos for a while. 

 

I’ve ordered some from cultpens.com this morning - they have a range of colours and nib sizes - 

 

https://www.cultpens.com/i/q/UN12119/uni-posca-marker-pen-pc-1mr-ultra-fine-black---single

 

Just scroll down the list till you find the colour you want. Even better they have a 20% discount on the Posca pens at the moment! 

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

For doing the lining on my c1906 coaches I use a Rotring pen with a 0.1mm nib and Rotring black ink.  A cruel close up is shown below - I should add that the model is 2mm Finescale.  When I was modelling in 4mm scale I used the same equipment to do coaches in that scale albeit with a 0.25mm nib.

u21complete.jpg.e51c7a760e0c28399f6b2ae343fb3b94.jpg

 

Ian

  • Like 3
  • Craftsmanship/clever 11
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
11 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

For this job, I can highly recommend the Posca paint pens - in about ten minutes I lined out a Triang clerestory brake just to see if it would work. Much more controllable than a brush on raised paneling, and they dry to Matt black being paint rather than ink. They also come in white and ivory which are good for colouring in panelling.

 

2 hours ago, NeilHB said:

 

I’ve ordered some from cultpens.com this morning - they have a range of colours and nib sizes - 

 

https://www.cultpens.com/i/q/UN12119/uni-posca-marker-pen-pc-1mr-ultra-fine-black---single

 

Just scroll down the list till you find the colour you want. Even better they have a 20% discount on the Posca pens at the moment! 

 

Great minds think alike - I've been experimenting with these recently (bought from the supplier mentioned). If doing straw/yellow lined black - LMS or Midland/Great Western, if the yellow or straw can pass for gold - then the Posca 0.7 mm fine is just a bit too wide for the black so I'm digging out the old Rotring pen. 

 

My attention was drawn to the Posca pens by Grahame's mention of using the white for road markings.

  • Like 1
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Work continues on Castle Aching. The focus is going to be on locos and rolling stock and buildings  for now, as I won't tackle the shed insulation and electrification until the dry months are upon us. Plenty to do in the meantime.

 

I realise, however, that I have a single space in the house that is just large enough to take Aberdaron. This could provide a handy test-track/photo-plank/little layout.

 

The scenics will be fun, but first I would need to render it operational. I think I will need some on-line hand holding for this, but watch this space. 

 

But, yes, this looks like it will be the first project to be revived. As the original pictures disappeared in the Great Purge, I will dig it out over the weekend and we'll see what we've got.     

  • Like 7
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice to see this little seaside resort hove into view once more!

As I suggested many moons ago, a multimeter is an ideal tool to ferret out continuity problems.

 

"3 years later".

Sounds like the start of a section in a doorstop epic novel....

  • Like 3
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I have found the pictures I took two five years ago after I had brought the layout home, so have now restored these to the opening post.

 

I will attempt to find all the bits of it over the weekend, so I hope I will have a modest update at that point. 

 

DSCN2620.JPG.18ba307322258e0b25a23dc9485b016e.JPG

 

 

Edited by Edwardian
Five, FIVE years ago!!!!!!!
  • Like 12
  • Round of applause 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
25 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I have found the pictures I took two years ago after I had brought the layout home, so have now restored these to the opening post.

 

I will attempt to find all the bits of it over the weekend, so I hope I will have a modest update at that point. 

 

DSCN2620.JPG.18ba307322258e0b25a23dc9485b016e.JPG

 

 

It's lovely to see those photos again James, - thanks for restoring them to their rightful place.

 

It really is a fine old BLT layout that deserves to live again.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 23/01/2018 at 10:14, Hroth said:

Apart from the faded scenery, which has a period charm of its own, It looks like a perfectly adequate BLT well worth rescuing from oblivion! 

 

 

You and Annie are surely right about that!

 

 

On 23/01/2018 at 10:14, Hroth said:

 

I realise you don't like the magick juice, but a furtle around with a cheap multimeter set to the resistance range will soon reveal any shorts or disconnections without whacking a full 12v through the system.  The same goes for point motors!

 

Have one of thoise somewhere. Have not seen it since the move. Never understoood how it worked.

 

Bear with!

 

On 23/01/2018 at 10:14, Hroth said:

 

Apart from calling it Little Aching, how about Aching Parva or, for those holidaymakers who really need a break away from their toils, Aching by the Sea?

 

 

Yes, I think so. I was thinking yesterday about "Aching on Sea" or some such. I think I will see if I can swop out the running in board. If wanting to run it as a GWR/Cambrian*/LNWR/anyone else who got to North Wales branch terminus, I would retain the original name.

 

For random little trains, it might take on the guise of Aching on Sea/Aching by the Sea/Douloureux sur Mer etc. Somewhere to trial WNR and other trains pending the resurrection and completion of CA. 

 

* Not that I have any Cambrian stock. Yet.

  • Like 7
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Its horrible when your words come back to haunt you!

 

2018? A lot has happened since then.....

 

 

Only plague, war, the failure of democracy and to halt climate change, and economic depression. Honestly, some people are just 'glass half empty'

  • Agree 1
  • Thanks 1
  • Funny 1
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Only plague, war, the failure of democracy and to halt climate change, and economic depression. Honestly, some people are just 'glass half empty'

Well we've not had famine unless you include having to turn off your electricity for an hour at 6pm to earn a couple of quid if you are lucky.

  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Well we've not had famine...

Can't be having all our fun at once.

 

Looks a charming thing @Edwardian, congrats to you and Kevin for saving it. More to the point, it looks an excellent BLT with plenty to do. 

 

Is it to live in the shed, or is it considered house-trained? It seems to me this would dictate likely use and so likely successful identities.

 

How many layouts is that now?!

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Schooner said:

Can't be having all our fun at once.

 

Looks a charming thing @Edwardian, congrats to you and Kevin for saving it. More to the point, it looks an excellent BLT with plenty to do. 

 

Is it to live in the shed, or is it considered house-trained? It seems to me this would dictate likely use and so likely successful identities.

 

I don't see why it couldn't stay in the house.

 

If I do the conventional curtained front, it will create a space for model making materials and current projects inside the house, with longer term storage in the shed.

 

It means that it will not ultimately need to compete with CA for shed space, so can be revived and stay revived.

 

In many ways it replaces what the test track in the old office was there to do, a modest layout near at hand, a test track and a photo-plank. 

 

4 minutes ago, Schooner said:

How many layouts is that now?!

 

Er, 6, I think

 

And a further 2-dozen in my mind!

  • Like 3
  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Wasn't there a passing thought (BP*) that it might be subsumed into the mighty Castle Aching empire?  The idea of having it handy for indoor use is far more sensible, especially given day-to-day British weather conditions!

 

 

* Before Plague

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
3 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

* Not that I have any Cambrian stock. Yet.

 

Neither do I really, but it does not stop me!

 

Another nice layout, it will be nice to have it in the house close at hand.

Edited by ChrisN
  • Funny 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Wasn't there a passing thought (BP*) that it might be subsumed into the mighty Castle Aching empire?  The idea of having it handy for indoor use is far more sensible, especially given day-to-day British weather conditions!

 

 

* Before Plague

 

It could be added more readily to the slightly modular Butley Town

 

BT is also GW in infrastructure terms and although geographically flexible, I've always envisaged it as somewhere on the Welsh Marches and to be back-dated by me from Grouping to the 1910s. 

 

BT has similarly nice hand-built OO track. It comprises a 2-platform through station on a single line, with the option to add at one end, or, perhaps, via an additional junction section. Heybridge. Heybridge is a very modest single platform branch station that can be configured either as a terminus or through station.

 

One, thus, has the possibility of using Heybridge as a through station and of adding Aberdaron as a terminus beyond it.

 

As BT has far greater capacity than Heybridge, it makes sense to add a junction so that Heybridge can be on a branch, with BT's mainline running FY to FY.   

 

Whereas BT might happily see 4, 5 or 6-coach bogie coach cross-country services, it could also form the starting point for a modest branch service, something that, by the 1910s, very well might be served by a railmotor or motortrain, with, perhaps, a little passenger tank and string of 4-wheelers for those Saturday Only and market day trains. 

 

Equally, though, Aberdaron can be operated as the terminus of just such a line in its own right in an available space!  

 

  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

My goodness! 
 

I’d somehow imagined that this layout had faded away.

 

Warning: restoring things often leads by a tortuous route to the thought that it might have been easier to start afresh.

 

2018? Feels like another era, almost as long ago as BB.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

My goodness! 
 

I’d somehow imagined that this layout had faded away.

 

A love for real not fade away

 

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Warning: restoring things often leads by a tortuous route to the thought that it might have been easier to start afresh.

 

 

Bloody well better not.

 

 

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

2018? Feels like another era, almost as long ago as BB.

 

 

 

Ah, the Before Times. 

 

We will never see their like again.

  • Like 1
  • Friendly/supportive 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

So, it's in ...

 

20230128_150832.jpg.52b668f9dd9483d6050a89e28fcb47d0.jpg

 

Currently sat on boxes, the first job is to buy some wood for legs.  I think I will simply make a sub-frame. This is comfortably within my limited wood-butchery skills, so no problems anticipated there.

 

Once the sub-frame is erected, I can mount the short section to be added at right angles to the left of shot, and will have access underneath.

 

I think I shall mount it about a foot highter than it is currently sitting. 

 

20230128_150957.jpg.7234a9392b540e1f994c2def4cc50436.jpg

 

The backscene is past redemption, I think, and an embuggerance that I will remove. I will replace it with something higher, less colourful and surmounted by LED strips when we get to that stage.

 

The damage to the track is fairly minimal and I should be able to repair it. 

 

Then it's the electrics, I'm afraid.

 

The turnouts and signals are rigged to the Gem system. The whitemetal levers will probably collapse if touched. 

 

I have no idea how the layout is wired.

 

My thought is to strip off every single electric and control wire and start from scratch.

 

Any views on that?

 

The scenery will largely need replacing, but that is a job for consideration after the track is operational. I mention it now because it will be seen that the front of the layout features an embankment  hollowed out in places to accommodate various switches.  I'm not a great fan of this, as the embankment masks too much of the scene and one ends up looking at the back of this, not the modelled scene. I am tempted to remove it at this stage to create room to work. Of course, I do not know what controls, panels, switches etc might need to be mounted at the front of the layout.

 

Really scenery and identity do not seem very important at this stage, but my alcove setting leaves me 8 1/2" spare at the headstock end, so something purely scenic can be added to complete the scene if we get that far.

 

Shepherd's Port Hotel?   

 

 

 

Edited by Edwardian
spelling
  • Like 6
  • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
  • Round of applause 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

The scenery will largely need replacing, but that is a job for consideration after the track is operational. I mention it now because it will be seen that the front of the layout features an embankment  hollowed out in places to accommodate various switches.  I'm not a great fan of this, as the embankment masks too much of the scene and one ends up looking at the back of this, not the modelled scene. I am tempted to remove it at this stage to create room to work. Of course, I do not know what controls, panels, switches etc might need to be mounted at the front of the layout.

That embankment at the front of the layout is a horrible green barrier wall that stops the eye stone dead and prevents being able to easily view the layout.  My vote is to do away with the rotten thing.

  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Before you take the snips to all he wiring, could you draw a schematic f the track (showing both rails), identifying all/any isolating  gaps in the rails?

 

Its such a simple layout, and there are only a few ways it could be wired, so we ought to be able to “reverse engineer” how the builder originally wired it.

 

The bright green frontage will “disappear” if painted a very neutral colour, or black, once the scenery has been woken up. It’s an eye-poke now because it is the only bright thing present.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
  • Like 2
  • Agree 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Annie said:

That embankment at the front of the layout is a horrible green barrier wall that stops the eye stone dead and prevents being able to easily view the layout.  My vote is to do away with the rotten thing.

 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

The bright green frontage will “disappear” if painted a very neutral colour, or black, once the scenery has been woken up. It’s an eye-poke now because it is the only bright thing present.

 

I don't mind a bit of an elevation, but it seems too high to me. I will go with a more Ricean height for the layout than would have been the practice in the Days of Yore when this layout was built, and when I do, the embankment at the front will hide the little station entirely.

 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Before you take the snips to all he wiring, could you draw a schematic f the track (showing both rails), identifying all/any isolating  gaps in the rails?

 

Its such a simple layout, and there are only a few ways it could be wired, so we ought to be able to “reverse engineer” how the builder originally wired it.

 

Thanks. When daylight comes tomorrow, I will supplu a schematic and some pictures showing the visible wiring. 

  • Like 3
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...