Dinfield and Norton Rd - Will Pwllheli solve all my problems?

[pirouets]

Thanks both and your comment Paul along with Ramblin Rich's Kings Tawton line on here which is in Devon got me doing a bit more digging. Turns out if I stick to Devon the 33's did run from Exeter to Barnstaple as this picture from the Derby Sulzers website shows. This is May 78 so maybe there is a place for it after all. Better learn how to redo transfers.

 

 

The advantage of working at home is finish work a nip to the shed so I knocked up the free coal office from Scalescenes as I think the yard at Norton Rd needs a hut for staff. Not quite sure where it will sit.

 

On the other side I have removed 1st set of points in the Minories throat and pushed the 2nd set back. This means I now have platform lengths of 5ft, 4ft and 3ft 8 inches which is better. The siding can then be used to pull parcel vans from platform 3 and be stored awaiting the return later. The other points are imagined off scene and its a single line in from the rest of the layout with a curved point to split to double tracks so trains coming in and out on the correct line.

 

I did toy with the idea of having a siding run back but have decided there will be some form of yard. If you scroll down this page on the emgauge70s website for the 2nd hand car dealer/garage that can be seen in the 1st picture of Hornsey Broadway. By the way if you have a thing for 70's layouts that website is full of detail including 10 years of project updates - Go to the home page of the website and click the update page.

 

[pirouets]

Last few days have involved lots of card cutting and the carcass of the platforms has appeared. Not sure yet what sort of station building I will put in but the 2 options I am thinking are

- Classic Minories station on the end. This still gives me the option of a high level road to the right of the station.

- Put the station building on the right side and create a scene that runs along the back of the station made up of house & shop backs.

 

I'm thinking the shape of the station may be based on the old Reading Southern building.

 

 

Had a stupid electrical fault because I am a muppet which took me a while to find and all I had done was miss out 1 insulating joint causing a short circuit. I've also decide to use the panel mount controlled and not worry for now about a walk about controller as I can manage uncoupling in the station from here, plus I want to look at uncoupling mechanisms and try going hands off in the long run.

 

 

That's it for now as its quiz night tonight.

[pirouets]

So sent the eldest in for a play as he was at a loose end and he likes the passenger side of things and got a very good critique of things. In a nutshell my wiring needs more labeling as it only really worked because I knew where everything was, it needs track plans to go with the labels and it would make more sense for all switches to be in one place. 

 

You know what, he's spot on, especially as the signalling is yet to be added. As a result I have removed all the switches and create 2 things in the picture below

- The back piece is a 4 inch strip that has room for all 42 switches to be mounted. I will mount the wire from the switches behind so I can wire the connectors without having to grovel under the layout.

- I have then added a removable piece so I have a work bench when I need it. That way the door end of the layout can be redone later on to be a lift out section so I don't have to duck under.

 

[pirouets]

So much for just focusing on the electrics. I got distracted and started on the main station building for Dinfield. So far so good and next job is to fit the windows. As for the structure itself the single story on the left is the parcels office and storage area. Once the windows are sorted then the question is how much detail goes in each building. In the station building my thinking is the ticket office and staff areas will be on the left as you look at the building whilst on the right will be waiting rooms and toilets. As for upstairs, no idea yet. Its the early 80's so may boarded up.

 

 

The start of the re-wire is passing the eldest son test. he thinks its more logical. So far the power to the tracks at Norton road is working and tomorrow will be try and get the point motors for that side working again. The set of wires hanging loose is for and the 6 switches to the left have no where to go yet as the point motors are yet to be installed.

 

[pirouets]

Why am I still awake. Woke up at 5 with hay fever and for some reason i can't sleep so may as well post this. Apart from the 3 fiddle yard point switches power is restored now. Lots of tidying up to do still and it the new switch set-up needs testing by the kids to see if they can make it out now everything is labelled.

 

I did get a bit confused though as the points for Norton rd just would not fire and 2 of the points would try and fire when I connected the common feed. Turns out the switch they were connected to had a short and I wonder of this is why one of the point motors burnt out recently. Luckily if you look back 1 post I had a Blue Peter here is one I prepared earlier moment as there was a spare so swapped that in a voila, they all work. I've added in the CDU as well which has made the action much better.

 

Any way, time for something before bed and fingers crossed not wake up so early.

[pirouets]

So baring a point motor that seems to have shorted the electrics are working and everything can run. I have been holding off ballasting Norton Rd thinking I should have the basics off all the buildings but I think I am at the point it is time to find a couple of hours and ballast it. That will mean I can start thinking about the track boundaries, fencing and paths. 

 

Alongside that i have been watching various video's on making canals and have created a test piece to plat with. Whilst it looks quite dark when I left the shed, the water colour was drying much lighter. Aim of this is to look at

 

How to edge the bank

Reeds at the edge where needed

Path way across the bank, grass edge between the water and the path itself.

 

 

But for now the kids are off to bed which means I can watch the next 2 episodes of House.

[pirouets]

So i think the mock up came out OK. Plonked it here to show what I am after but obviously the grass will vary in depth to accommodate the sidings. At the end the path will continue on to the backscene as well as a 90% spur to the right to a crossing. probably will throw in a tree or 2.

 

 

So with 3 cuts on hands, 2 cuts to the head and a pair of sore knees it can only mean for now I am done with wiring. The signals are working but I did cut the optics to short in the Exkon ground signals so will see if I can get a new head unit and redo to get the clarity. I was toying with ballasting but I think for the next day or 2 its time to play trains. The good news is the kids looked at the new control panel and think it now makes sense, but only time will tell.

 

[pirouets]

Well a week of 1/2 days (almost) means a good amount of time in the shed. Lesson learned today is have the door partially open from 9:30 means the temp only climbed to 90 today rather than the 105 it has hit a couple of times this week.

 

The main station has a set of windows now. Simply marked out in powerpoint, glued to thin card and then lots of very slow cutting out. Time to start thinking about whether to have interiors now.,

 

 

Over on Norton Rd 2 things have happened. The ballast went down. Simple mix of 2 fine grades of brown with a 3:1 ration for the darker brown. I did have 1 point that got a bit gummed up but managed to free it. I think some glue had run down to the point motor below but a bit of oil down the pin seems to have fixed that. 

 

As that is done the platform is now being fixed in placed so a little bit of tidying up will be needed to have the ballast flush to the edge.

 

 

In other news, the station building will be based on Lapford. I can't remember which thread in here a n gauge model appeared but when I looked on google it has a fair sized building for what is not the longest platform. Again using powerpoint i knocked up the template and it will be low relief rather than a full depth building. Fingers crossed will be able to get the main pieces cut tomorrow.

 

[pirouets]

Another day of pottering an the shell of another building started. I really need to look think about finishing a building at some point.

 

I did make a mistake. The shape of the station was based on Lapford as I said in the previous post, but having put the template on, cut the windows and doors out I then added the brick paper to the exposed card side which promptly switches the doors and windows round. Do I mind, not really as it was the shape I was after rather than an exact replica. I need to have a look back at Lapford pictures to work out where chimney stacks need to be before adding the roof but that is for another day

 

Along with that need to think about gutters and down pipes, signage and whether there will be any form of canopy along with what is the right type of fencing for the back of the platforms.

 

[pirouets]

No progress on any buildings but after much searching around for fencing options I went for these from Scale Model Scenery. 1st time i've ordered and good service. They said they were busy as only 2 of them can work in their building to dispatch but it was here in a couple of days. Lots of useful extras on the site so will be going back, especially as my rough calculation on fencing is about 40 cm short and need 1 more pack.

 

 

First off I made a short section on my river test. Need to get some better tape to stick the netting to before cutting it.

 

 

The using some mig weathering painted up all the posts and have glued them in place down the track side. Once done I then was able to ballast up the sidings and I can start working on all the line and siding edging as well as look at making one of the gates up. I did however realise I have not left enough room for the ground frame in the yard so need to have a think about how else I can show that.

 

 

[pirouets]

No progress on the fencing as i have not yet ordered the extra pack and might be simpler to say get it as a Fathers Day pressie given I can normally think of nothing.

 

In the meantime started on the inside of the main station. I know its never going to be seen but for the 1st time I am looking at interiors to my scratch built buildings, so on one side we have a ticket hall and the other has the door for a waiting room. I do plan to fill the rooms out prior to adding the ceiling/1st floor.

 

 

 

Over on Norton Rd I have been working on the canal/river (still not sure which this is yet) but painted the base using some pictures of the Kennet & Avon in sunshine for the tone of the water. The 1st picture is with the PVA layer sealing itself and the edging cut. The 2nd is this evening with it in place and the piles added to hold the timber back in place. You will notice that it curves from the edge I cut in the board so that needs filling in down the line. The 2nd picture does show the 5th pile got fixed in using the wrong edge as you can see the matchstick itself.

 

 

[pirouets]

Slow progress over the last week or so but found some parts to a station kit with boards so thought they would look good in the hall area. 

 

 

Down by the canal I have started with the 1st layer of static grass up to the gate in to the yard area. The path will extend to gates across the line when done. Though I sit here typing thinking should I have painted the backscene?? hmmm!!!!

 

 

Looking the other way the path is in and the edging. Also knocked up the Nissen hut which is just sitting there at the moment. I'm thinking that as the river curves to the edge of the board a Weeping Willow or 2 would look good there but we shall see.

 

 

 

[pirouets]

Been playing around with the built up end of Norton Rd and think I have a layout I like. Behind the cottages i'm going to add small gardens backing on to a path. Each cottage will have a gate in the back wall so I will sort those out 1st and then add the remaining garden walls. The gates themselves are from scale model scenery who provide the chain link fence as well.

 

The road will run along the front edge leading to a set of garages which I am going to add a sloping roof rather than a flat roof. Beyond that the road ends goes past the local mechanics before ending at the Nissen hut whose purpose is yet to be decided, though thinking maybe a wood working firm of some description.

 

 

Also made it over to Alton Models today and picked up a some pipe wagons. Could have easily spent a small fortune as there was a 33 and 31 in the cabinet there but resisted for now. I have been wondering what to do with various clay wagons and box vans and looking at Ramblin Rish's Kings Tawton thread the final goods train will be a mix of these having seen this picture in his thread.

 

[pirouets]

So I've been spending a fair amount of time exploring http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/north_devon_line_okehampton_web_optimised/index.html thanks to Ramblin Rich and its a great resource. It might just be from here on all future layouts will be based off this. Its also going to get expensive given the number of additional loco types that seem to have made it down the line in the 70's and 80s.

 

Its also given me a way to use the clay wagons and box vans I have as there are some great picks of class 25s pulling such a train. (Link below as not sure on copyright if I hot link to the image)

 

http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/north_devon_line_okehampton_web_optimised/154 Along Anchor woods.html

 

In other news, we find the wifi reaches the shed so whilst pottering about the other night I also enjoyed watching the 1st 2 episodes of Dark on Netflix. Turns out my points hold the tablet just right :-)

 

 

So all that pottering has started to bring the more populated end of the layout together. The aim is to have a path by the fence that runs down past the Nissen hut, behind the Garages and houses to the end of the layout. Ignore the loose fencing as waiting for the initial glue join to dry before fixing the other end.

 

 

Luckily the cottage owners will all have gates on to the path. The house isn't fixed in place yet and i've since started adding patios and mud for flowerbeds in to the garden except for the 2nd to last near the backscene - That will be the neighbor with a very overgrown back garden.

 

 

The roof is now on the Garages but lots more to do in terms of boards under the roofs, guttering, concrete lintels and doors.

 

 

Finally this is how I see the scene ending up. On the other side of the line at this end I am thinking it will be tree lined from the station to the end though I am contemplating a low relief Station Arms pub, front on the line so the beer garden would be off scene.

 

 

Oh, and I even ran a train, just because I could.

[pirouets]

A bit more on the gardens today with the base grass layers as well as put the dirt layer down around the ballast and pathway. The space in the left hand garden is for a shed I will order when Scale Model Scenery re-opens following its move. I'm thinking of the following sorts of things to add

 

- Washing line in 1 of them

- Flowers for the beds

- Lots of weeds for the 2nd from right garden

- Garden furniture

- Flag pole (My neighbor had one)

- Bins

[pirouets]

Bit more work round the garage area with the path now running all the way along the back as well as signs added to the Garage.

 

Over on the other side I have fixed the 1st platform in place as this allows me to think about placing the back scene. I still have not worked out whether to have a high level road scene, add an extra line to the fiddle yard or just have some space between the station and fiddle yard. I now have some board to make this so for now will probably knock it up so it can easily be removed.

[pirouets]

Not a bad weekend of pottering. I knocked up a piece to see how a raised road might look and I think it stops that idea. It means I would have very little ability to see into the fiddle yard but with an 8 inch back scene I can see over and even possibly have an extra storage road for the passenger stock.

 

 

This evening I put the station buffers in place after toning them down with rust and dirt. I still need to add the red dot for the lamp itself.

 

 

Finally a bit of insanity (possibly) for the ticket office and put together an old bashed up notice board and cupboard unit. The books are from BR operating manual covers whilst the notices if you could read them are a mix of cookie dough recipes, a script my wife wrote for a youth video, my sons summer to do list and a couple of other random bits of paper with notes on them. Even though it will never be seen once the back of the station is in, think there does need to be an internal layer behind the windows to complete the room. 

 

The idea for the ticket office came together after seeing the superb pictures in the Horncastle thread.

 

[pirouets]

I'd been wondering what to do on the other side of the line from the cottages and after watching the video of Barmouth Junction and seeing the white hotel right by the line in Penmaenpool I have started knocking up a 2nd set of cottage but all white. In my head there will be a footpath to the front doors, a small amount of grass/scrub and then the railway fence line. You can see the pencil line on the board which marks where the fence will be.

 

At the moment the 2 parts are not stuck together so I am going to knock up an extra middle section to see how it might look if it was a row of 6. I've already got the spare windows and doors for that so shouldn't be to much work.

 

[pirouets]

So I've been wondering over the last few days whether a Minories style terminus actually fits with the idea. Since looking at a fair amount of Devon based info just where might such an urban station actually be along with I opened up a Railway Modeller and there was Newhaven Harbour. The other thought that has been troubling me is how to reverse some of the freight stock to make it operationally more interesting.

 

I drew up the key parts of Newhaven and it does fit in the 8ft by 15inch space with the only loss being the short siding alongside platform 2. The other thought is as well as somewhere for the passenger trains to start/finish, I can also run freight in to the exchange sidings and use it as though things come from 1 line and then go back out via the branch with Norton Rd and when needed in to the storage roads at the end of the shed to be turned again.

 

I have all bar 1 of the points needed and given I haven't fitted any of the point motors yet its an easy point to stop. Not going to rush in to this and to avoid that I have some entertainment in the mean time...

 

 

Lots of things to do to finish of the line side edges round Norton Rd but the 1st thing that came out was the garden shed. No weathering yet but at least I got the concrete base the right size. I also have the last garden gate drying at the moment which hopefully can be fitted tomorrow.

 

[pirouets]

So a fair amount has happened though not as much as I hoped given 2 weeks off.

 

The old station design has gone and a new model loosely based on Newhaven Harbour has appeared. Reason for the change is it means I have somewhere for the freight to run in to now which makes it far simpler to operate and reverse freight stock.

 

The back scene is kept low so on tip toes I can see over to the inner most line in the fiddle yard. The station building will be based on the Scalescenes medium station and there is some room for scenic development in and around the station throat. For fun I will keep working on the large terminus/parcels structure I was creating as who knows where that may come in useful in the future.

 

 

Over the other side of the layout I have the path way in across the line and the fencing finished. Need to think about the roadway in to the yard area

 

 

Alongside that i've also put together the fencing around the factory. This is from Scale Model Scenery and I have to say I am officially a fan of their product range though I do need a word with Mr Bodgeit as his installer, Mr Leggitt has put a couple of the fence panels in upside down. 

 

[pirouets]

Have started on the station for Dinfiled. Nothing that hasn't been seen before as its a scalescenes kit but as its the late 70's/early 80's I do need to grot it up some what, so the roof over that platform when it goes on will be corrugated with no windows in it and I will board up the top window. I need to find some felt tips to edge the tiles on the 2 story part of the building.

 

 

Over at Norton Rd its time to start thinking about roads and pavements. For the pavement I won't raise it to much so a thin piece of card gives me around a 2 inch high pavement. I'll edge it with scalescenes paper and then cover it with a light grey pavement.

 

I've bought some acrylic paints and am playing around with tones. The picture doesn't show it well but they are different tones. For the surface I will just stipple it with the brush or a sponge. The stippling in the bottom right is to much so I think thin layers and build up rather than 1 think layer. Once down i'll put a matt varnish layer over it but before that happens I need to look at what powders and washes I have just to give a dirty look to the surface.

 

My thinking is the road will be a lighter shade of gray and the garage area will be a darker, more worn surface. (See post on 30/6 above)

[pirouets]

Not a bad few days progress. More static grass has gone down and the base layer painted for the road. You'll not the board alignment has skipped slightly but will probably mask this with bushes and trees. As the river/canal turns I am thinking a weeping willow or 2 would look good there. 

 

 

I then had a play around with a dark weathering powder and a think wash of dark paint to get a road color I like. I've also created a pavement sheet for the houses but before this goes down I need to have a think about drains for the down pipes and cutting those in.

 

 

Looking the other way I've also finished the base layer of static grass so having a think about what will then go over that to remove the flat earth look. I know with a canal and railway it would be flat but some trees are need along with a fisherman on the bank.

 

 

Posed a crowded scene at Norton Rd and this is as busy as this station will ever get. Still working on a couple of timetables for the layout.

 

 

Finally the station for Dinfield has its roof now but I need to do the Gents again so that is not attached yet. I quite like the scruffy roof.

 

 

That's it for now as here comes Monday though the next few weeks are all 4 day weeks as I have some holiday I have to use by the end of the month. On the Dinfield side of the layout I need to crack on with the point motors which will be the main job over the next couple of weeks. I also want to get a couple of LED's to try out building lighting for the 1st time.

 

[pirouets]

Nothing much to show on one aspect of work over the last 4 weeks as I have been getting most of the remaining point motors installed and working which finally means I can route trains in to Dinfield Road without having to manually change the points. I'm toying with the idea of moving over to a walk about controller given the amount of shunting but that's for another day.

 

The other piece that has started is trees. I decide I didn't want to buy these so have been watching various videos and found Luke Town & MarklinofSweden on Youtube very helpful so set off down the twisted wire route. After creating a couple of wire carcases I then have covered them in PVA glue and sprinkled dirt over them to create the tree surface. This was repeated a number of times until I was happy. That then left adding polyfibre as the base layer for the leaves and you can see the progress below.

 

I have various scatters and flocks so will be experimenting with leaf options on some spare polyfibre over the next few days.

 

 

I've also picked up a set of platform signals for Dinfield which I will rig up temporarily whilst I finish off the platform. I would upload but for some reason when I load it, it rotates through 90 degrees.

 

[pirouets]

So this weeks important Tesco purchase was a can of hairspray instead of spray glue. I've covered the tree on the right with a light dusting of green scatter. Question is do I think it works? The left hand tree is not fixed in yet so I can add the scatter but will mull it over for a day or 2.

 

 

So inspired by Little Muddle, my 1st attempt at some form of arty shot.

 

 

Finally cracked on with the cottages and have decided I am not worry about lighting for the buildings so they now look like this. Hopefully i'll have time to add the chimneys this weekend and have a couple of ideas where to get chimney pits from.

 

 

The backscene has also been painted but that's a post for another a day to explain why it may well become the most expensive backscene ever on RMweb. Feel free to guess if you like though.

[saxokid]

Some very nice modelling work throughout your progress build

 

cheers neil