Spital Bridge - Whitby MRCs 7mm Urban BLT

[Boris]

It was quite nice to get Spital Bridge out of the cupboard for the first time in 16 months a few weeks ago and run it, the only minor fault being a loose wire to one of the point motors.

 

This week we got round to starting the job of ballasting, and of course started with the board with no pointwork to worry about to get our hand in.  We are using O gauge brown/grey ballast and I have to admit its definitely growing on me, it gives a nice bit of variation in colour and texture.  I suspect the ballast will need topping up a little bit as it might have ended up a little bit thin in places and there may be a little bit of cleaning up to do as well, we will also use an airbrush at some point to add a little bit more subtle colour variation.

 

In the meantime I will be working on little scenic jobs for the layout which I will update the thread with.

[Boris]

A fun summer spent ballasting has finally come to an end and we were able to fault find on the layout last Wednesday.  There are still some bald patches to fill in over the next few weeks but overall the ballasting doesn't look too bad, once the ballast has been patched and a few other minor jobs finished we will be adding some tones to the ballast with an airbrush or two.  Rodding stools and cranks have been painted, but the whole lot needs rodding, terminating back to the box and I really want to find some decent looking signal wire pulleys.

 

So, first photo is of something in the goods shed, the rails in here will be set into cobbles as per the surviving brick goods shed at Ganton.  We also need to get some shading on those walls and floors, block the underside of the floor off and probably add a no smoking sign and a door to the office. Some form of sliding shed door is also needed.

Kevs J50 runs past the yard on the shunting line, there is a little ballasting to think about round the base of the dock and then to work out what the goods yard surface will be made of.  Behind the goods shed we will have the back of a housing estate made out of some 1940s style prefabs and gardens. 

The Junkshop dog shunts the yard whilst another J50 arrives in the platform, having 2 J50s on the layout was a total fluke, I needed to get some miles on the dog as its not had any running since overhaul and Kev decided to bring his along not knowing.   I know you can see ballast through the missing cab floor of the dog, its still missing a cab, crew and a few other bits.

This "action" shot was unintentional, it just happened to be taken with my nasty phone camera, shows an RCT wagon on the dock and part of Kevs suburban set in the background.  The RCT wagon is a basic Slaters kit with the MMP interior detailing set, which is fantastic by the way.  Unfortunately being tight I only bought the wagon interior set and not the underframe set as well, something I must do for the next project.

Edited October 3, 2021 by Boris

[kes]

We have been busy during the last few months, ballasting track, building a station building on a bridge, out of lamminated cereal packets, and generally playing trains.

[kes]

I have modified some Peco station lamps so they now have the characteristic NER heavy metal support at the rear.

[kes]

Further along the platform, there is going to be another cereal packet building based on that at Marishes Road.

[kes]

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by kes
System error

[kes]

[kes]

[kes]

We have been busy creating a scenic break for the fiddle yard out of old Airfix girder bridges. Dave has been busy adding pva and black ballast mix to the sides of the boards.

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by kes
Text missing

[lmsforever]

On 06/05/2022 at 15:43, kes said:

Further along the platform, there is going to be another cereal packet building based on that at Marishes Road.

Thats a lovely view to model the building is an interesting piece to model ,dont forget the cat!