Dillmouth - desirable and achievable

[O-Gauge-Phil]

I wasn't sure about doing this as I'm certainly no wordsmith but have gleaned a lot of knowledge from these pages.  It seems everything I do poses questions about things I hadn't even thought of. 

Why GWR BLT?  Well, not very original but nice buildings and rolling stock.  However my main reason was I liked building the Malcolm Mitchell and Martin Finney kits.  Also so spoilt as just about everything is available in kit form to a good standard.  I think I started in O over 30 years ago when there wasn't a massive amount available to the standard now the norm, there were some real howlers.

In my 20s I started building Dymock, C & L track etc. I think all to a fairly good standard but soon realized how much stock would be required to make it interesting.  Then due to life in general, (i.e. the majority of your life waiting for plans to come to fruition and opportunities when you can do what you want as opposed what you have to do to  pay the mortgage), anyway no more trains for 30 years or more, but I always thought " When I retire...."

 

So - sold the business, paid off the mortgage,  got a little job, all nice, very nice. No more working 18 - 20 hour days, weekends off, mmm.  Then in hospital for a year only to be told I only had a few weeks.  Anyway, luckily my medical consultant tried some more surgeons and here we are.  So the point I'm trying to get to is : everything has to be done in a timely manner, hence desirable and achievable.

 

The thing is ... I like building stock, so I wanted something where I could run three coach trains and must  have a cattle dock. I don't play trains much so it doesn't have to be a permanent location, it can spend most of its time packed away.  Originally three four foot boards, soon to become four boards - mistake #1.  Two foot wide as far as I can comfortably reach, no point in auto-couplings,  3 links, much quicker to fit and If I'm not going to be running very much does it really matter?  Mistake #2.  Because it's so narrow I had to make it longer to fit the cattle dock in and I always think back to if it was in oo it would be one foot wide - Not for me.

 

Sitting in my hospital bed I hatched a plan.  Someone brought me in an MRJ and the seed was sown.  Searching Google I settled on Alcaster, a Midland station really but a Great Western branch terminated here.  This then became my track plan but I had to move the cattle dock.  Great but not very Great Western, now I really like the station building at Dymock, so hunting around for another William Clarke building I settled on Abbotsbury.  So the track plan is Alcaster and the scenery is based on Abbotsbury.

 

Google and my magic card became good friends, sitting in my bed I ordered boards, buildings etc. etc. all to be delivered when I got home.

 

Hope you can see where I'm coming from.  Anyway not sure how much you can fit in in one go, so here are a few pics of the part-built layout, taken when we exhibited the layout at our local Model Railway Club exhibition last September.  Here's to the next one.

Edited October 1, 2022 by O-Gauge-Phil

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Could only fit three pictures on above,

 

 

 

Only the part that the western run on has been used.

Edited December 14, 2019 by O-Gauge-Phil
added f in fit

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Some pictures I got from Mr. Google

In this first pic does anyone know what is the pile of stuff in front of the platform?

qqq

 

 

Photo from the John Mann collection.

 

 

And the model.

 

Phil

 

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by O-Gauge-Phil

[Happy Hippo]

Phil,

 

My only criticism is there is not enough of your work to see.

 

More please.

[O-Gauge-Phil]

More to come but the hardest thing is to make a start. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time but it’s always after I’ve painted this or just do this or that.  Hopefully will get up to date before to long and  I hope people find something of interest before to long.  

 

Phil

[Neil S]

This looks fantastic. I'll second the comment above - can we see more please?

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Thanks for your kind words.  Looks like I'm going to have to take some more pictures.   I have a few more.  Sorry  I don't really know how this web thing works so it will have to be three at a time.   Would you like a few  of my stock as well?  I was intending to string this out a bit over several weeks because I suspect some would be interested in the wiring, lighting gantry and fiddle yard.

 

 

Sorry it say no only  10 MB.  Will try again in a mo.

 

 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Phil, I look forwards to seeing more.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[O-Gauge-Phil]

The Model 

Most of the basics are now there.  All the big trees are in place, particularly by the backscene and just about everything is taken from old photos of the real thing.  If I attempt to make a tree from scratch it looks like a Brillo pad on a stick.  Real trees grow in all sorts of ways you could not imagine.    I don’t think you can invent nature.  All the big trees are fitted into pieces of 20 mm dowel glued to the baseboard above or below, then a hole is drilled and the tree dropped in.

The backscene was a bit of a pain. The first one I tried in some super duper material creased every time two pieces touched. That was binned.  The other problem I encountered was getting one over 20 feet long with no modern houses in it, in the end it boiled down to just a few to choose from.

Anyway some more pics I’ve just taken,  lower resolution this time.  Think it better to do one board at a time.

 

Board 4

 

This is the last one before disappearing off to the fiddle yard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for all the off cut and rodding hanging off.  At Reading I bought a new motor/gearbox for my City, so I had to fit it and an encoder.  Out today but I’ll tidy those loose ends tomorrow.

 

The hill at the back holds a little secret.

 

 

yep - head shunt for the fiddle yard, long enough for a tender engine or railcar.

 

 

 

 

[O-Gauge-Phil]

I Just popped out for a moment, so posted so I wouldn’t lose it all.

Anyway funny thing about the trees, when you plant it , it either looks right or it doesn’t . So they have had a little shuffle until they sit right.  The tree I was most happy with ended up just behind another, so you can hardly see it.  Still, not going to move it as it looks quite at home.

 

The 150 degree curve at the end was to prevent you looking directly down the fiddle yard tunnel.  I used that slotted sheet stuff you see all over but I cut a strip glued on smooth side out.  When the glue dries it’s very rigid .

 

Phil

 

 

[Richard Thomas]

Phil.  I do like your layout.  You have that rare gift of making the railway look like part of the landscape rather than the landscape being part of the railway!

 

Bravo, and please keep the updates coming.

 

 

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Hi Ade

Glad you like it.

Hoping to move next year, looking for something that has a room or garage suitable for my layout.  If not you have opened my eyes to cabins.  It doesn’t matter what colour you paint it, it will still be green to me - green with envy.  Also the brake van and the Cordon not the easiest brass kits but boy did you nail it.

Phil

 

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Hi Richard 

Thank you, I was most touched by your comment.  Will do!

Cheers, Phil

[Neil S]

Amongst a lot of other things that Abbotsbury-esque loco release just looks so right.

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Wow thank you, much appreciated.  

 

Phil

 

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Board Three Goods Shed

 

Board three contains the one and only post signal.  It is removable using MERG 3D printed mechanism but I will come back to this when I have a little more time. Again trying to keep to low quality pics. Think I should have straightened up the tree and signal and I don’t know why some come out large and others small.  Actually I could do with some instructions but I can't see any.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will try and upload some more pictures when it lets me.  Is the limit per hour or day?  Anyway lt looks much better in the pictures than in real life, probably due to the viewing angle. Thanks again for your kind words.

 

Phil

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2019 by O-Gauge-Phil

[Nile]

The limit is per post, 10MB max.

[O-Gauge-Phil]

 

Hi,

Thanks Nile, I thought that It was, that’s why I split it into two posts, but then it maxed me out on the second lot of pictures.  Perhaps I was a little too quick between them, count to ten next time.  I have found the instructions and FAQs. Bit of a hard reading.  I think I’Il only do it if I have to.

Anyway some more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted the lighting in the goods shed to be very subdued and to form little puddles of light   As I remember it, even a 100 watt bulb wasn’t that bright and a gas light must have been worse.  Bought a crane at Reading, so that’s another job.

 I think today is the shortest day, so roll on spring and of course  Christmas. Always have a decoder on my Christmas list. And you know what that means.  That means a new loco to build in the spring.

Cheers

Phil

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by O-Gauge-Phil

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Phil, the goods shed is very nice indeed. I have got one to scratch build at some point in time.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Thanks, It’s Timber Tracks , I think they build into quite a nice model, in fact all the buildings are T.T. They save a lot of time and of course hours of research.  I have seen them on EBay for a fraction of the list price.  You do have to be a bit careful, though, as they can come out very big in 7mm. 

They do laser cut roof tiles, or did - he is supposed to be retired but keeps popping up, he was at Reading.  Might be okay for your roof, you’ll be suprised at how big a roof is.  No connection, just a satisfied customer.

I suspect many of us are looking forward to the developments at Malmesbury, no pressure then.

As I’m posting, it just occurred to me to add a picture of today’s progress. Water tank for the porters’ room/ toilets, cows and sack barrow.  Also transport boxes for the station, a good day all in all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that makes sense, fits in a Really Useful box.  Same footprint as my stock boxes.  As it was out, couldn’t resist trying the water tank on the station building.

 

Food shopping tomorrow, then get some paint on the tank, cows etc.

Goodnight

Phil

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Merry Christmas.

Hope it was a good one.  Nothing done on the old train set, so with no more adieu some pictures I took this morning.

 

Boards 1 & 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The London- Exeter then all stations Dillmouth express arrives.

“

 

 

[O-Gauge-Phil]

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking .

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Phil, loving the City of Truro. Was this a kit you built yourself?

 

Cheers, Ade.

[O-Gauge-Phil]

 

The platform is removable and runs over three boards.  The buffer is Peco with the back cut off, in reality the back part would be bricked in.  The two layers of cork can be seen under the tracks, I think this helped with the ballast elevation.  The two layers are glued with contact adhesive, I don’t know if this reduces noise but it doesn’t do any harm and it must be better than pins.  I don’t have any problem with noticeable noise so maybe it does work.

Need to paint the wood and add the plates for the end unloading. Wood now painted, these pictures keep showing jobs on the to do list.

 The bus also wants weathering, it’s mainly there to add interest when looking through the booking office.

 

 

 

 

Boards without platform.

 The speakers play sounds of seagulls and breaking waves, until I got used to it it kept me running to the loo.

 The point rodding was supposed to help hide the gaps but the cork is so snug it’s not really required.

 

Now the platform.

 

 

 

 

 

The join between boards 1 and 2 is partially disguised with the garden in front of the parcels office.  Must take some higher resolution pics. The parcel office then sits on the top. Sorry out of meg bits.

Edited December 29, 2019 by O-Gauge-Phil

[O-Gauge-Phil]

Hi Ade

No, I am afraid it’s an EBay.  I wanted to get things going quickly and my wife said that you can always sell them again and all you have lost is the commission plus a bit. Unfortunately prices are dropping all the time.  I think I have bought 5 locos now, and lots of coaches as they take an age to build and one isn’t much use on its own.  I’m 65 now and with my medical issues time is a major factor.  The City is one of the ones I am not going to sell on. It just puts a smile on my face.

 

 

It was nicely built and painted but has never run.  I had a number of problems, the outside crank axles were jammed into the body and would not turn, the gear ratio was so high the motor would only turn the wheels if it was held above the track.  Top of my list at Reading was a 40:1 MSC helical gearbox and also with a short or two it’s been a while getting it going. It seems to be okay now on my bit of track, so looking forward to giving it a run on the club test track.  I could do with doing a bit more on it but you have to take a view or you end up having a nice loco and nothing to run it on.  As time goes by I’ll get round to all those little jobs.

 

I did however build the coach.

 

 

Anyway that’s all for now, hopefully more tomorrow.

Merry Christmas 

Phil