Durrington Central. A fictional town somewhere in The North West of England (more than just a station).

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Hello everyone and welcome to my new 00 gauge layout called Durrington Central.  Durrington is a fictional town in The North West of England which is served by a spur off the West Coast Main Line.  Durrington Central is the main station on this line which is in a cutting below the street level and has 4 platforms which are all bi-directional.   The station sees quite a few rail tours so be prepared for some unusual loco hauled specials!  The station also sees passenger services and freight from the various FOC's such as Freightliner, Colas, DB and DRS.

 

The layout is a 2ft shelf end to end layout in the garage designed so I can still get the car in the garage if needed!  Below is a rough track plan which is not to scale and will be altered as I go along with a few sidings here and there and maybe even a TMD.   The track will not be this straight as I intend to have some nice flowing curving railway lines.

 

My old layout on here was https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/103667-a-fictional-region-in-the-north-west-of-england-a-dad-son-00-gauge-garage-layout-was-attic/&tab=comments#comment-2042433 and many of the items from this layout are to be recycled and used on Durrington Central . 

 

Here are a few photos of Durrington Central which is made from some Metcalfe low relief bank kits and other bits and bobs.  The station is low relief and serves as a scenic break as the fiddle yard (split into two is behind it).  The platforms are MDF covered with various Metcalfe builders sheets and the platform roofs are Peco.  The low relief town center buildings which dominate the station are also Metcalfe with many being re-used from my old layout.  The 00 gauge people are a mixture of Hornby and Bachmann.

 

The fiddle yard is split into 2 so the first 4 tracks leave through the station and around the layout and return on the back 5 tracks.  This leaves locos stuck at the end of the fiddle yard which means I either have to uncouple and move them to the opposite end of the train or run engines light to the opposite end of the train and couple up and take over the train leaving the loco that brought it disconnected in the fiddle yard.  I hope that the 2nd option of running locos light engine will create additional interest and play factor as well as save handling locomotives.  Below is a photo of the fiddle yard.

 

I have soldered some dropper wires to the underside of the track on  each siding in the fiddle yard.

 

Thank you for looking and I hope I can provide you with frequent updates in the future of the progress!

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Powerhaul 70 Pey

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good morning everyone.  So here are a few photos of the town centre low relief backscene which is above station level.  Just your Metcalfe 00 low relief town buildings, builders sheets with Hornby and Bachmann figures.

 

Which brings me to 00/H0 figures.  I thought a good rainy day lockdown project would be to buy some unpainted figures and have a go at painting them.  I will post some photos of the progress soon.

 

Jobs still to do on the town center backscene are road markings, road signs, station signs , maybe paint the bare boards sky blue and more people.

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Powerhaul 70 Pey

[Bogie]

I saw the title A fictional region in the North West of England. A dad & son 00 gauge garage layout. THIS LAYOUT HAS ENDED. THANKS EVERYONE and had terrible thoughts.

 

So glad it is just a change of direction - which after all is every modeller's prerogative.

 

Best of luck with the new venture!

[saxokid]

4 hours ago, Powerhaul 70 Pey said:

Good morning everyone.  So here are a few photos of the town centre low relief backscene which is above station level.  Just your Metcalfe 00 low relief town buildings, builders sheets with Hornby and Bachmann figures.

 

Which brings me to 00/H0 figures.  I thought a good rainy day lockdown project would be to buy some unpainted figures and have a go at painting them.  I will post some photos of the progress soon.

 

Jobs still to do on the town center backscene are road markings, road signs, station signs , maybe paint the bare boards sky blue and more people.

 

Coming along treat this Peter..

[Jack374]

Looking great Pete and good luck with this new layout...hopefully you like this one more than the previous versions! The Metcalfe buildings look perfect and build up the town scene really well.

 

Jack.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Thanks for the comments so far everyone.

So there is one road modelled which spans the 4 tracks into the station and provides access to the town centre.

On the wide footpath I was thinking of having a bus stop.  So to the left of the road is the station and town centre.  To the right will be a red brick old mill theme which I am hoping to have a canal cutting through the buildings.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Morning all.  A rainy day (not had many) lockdown pastime was to dabble with some unpainted 00 gauge figures.  I opted for a Preiser set rather than risk the cheap packs on the internet and, joined by the wife, we set about them.  Here are some in the primer state and some near enough complete.

Still lots to go at but as a very 1st attempt I don't think we did too bad a job!

 

More updates soon.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good evening.  Here is a photo of a mock up of some red brick mill buildings that I am hoping to make into a canal scene, kind of along the lines of Wigan Pier.

A photo below is the line swinging right as it leaves from the station and under the road bridge.  I have managed to use all my terraced house kits in this area although it was an almighty squeeze to get a terraced house either side of a road and 2 tracks!  Therefore, the line is in a steep cutting which I have used Modrock and a layer of poly filler over the top.  Once dried scribed out the rock formations and hopefully painted it like rock.  The scene is not complete yet, still loads to do.

[saxokid]

5 hours ago, Powerhaul 70 Pey said:

Good evening.  Here is a photo of a mock up of some red brick mill buildings that I am hoping to make into a canal scene, kind of along the lines of Wigan Pier.

A photo below is the line swinging right as it leaves from the station and under the road bridge.  I have managed to use all my terraced house kits in this area although it was an almighty squeeze to get a terraced house either side of a road and 2 tracks!  Therefore, the line is in a steep cutting which I have used Modrock and a layer of poly filler over the top.  Once dried scribed out the rock formations and hopefully painted it like rock.  The scene is not complete yet, still loads to do.

Coming along treat now!!

Im also following this

 

 

cheers neil..

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good evening.  A little update on progress.  So this is the view further down the main road after the bridge which spans the 4 tracks out of the station.  As I say, managed to use all my terraced house kits here from my previous layout.  It's a bit tight but had to compromise to fit it all in.

Behind the row of houses on the right is a cutting which will run through a tunnel.  I need to do lots here yet for example, stick the houses down, cobbled ginnels, road markings and signs etc. 

Where the corner shops are there will be a T junction which the tunnel will be under and I will end the road by sending it off the edge of either side of the 2ft board.

Opposite the corner shops I think I am going to have my service station and a pub with beer garden and car park.

 

In between the 2 sets of 2 tracks heading into the station there is a bit of a gap due to the wider platform ( platforms 2 & 3 ) so I was thinking of filling this with the reminents of an old siding, bits of old rail and piles of sleepers along with other railway junk!

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good evening.  I have painted some more Preiser people up as football fans which was pretty difficult but I am happy how they turned out.  

Layout wise I have no photos of progress but the track has now been extended through a tunnel which is assembled but not glued or painted yet,  beyond the back of where the service station and pub will be and exit the tunnel.  From here I will send the track on a up/down 1 in 75 gradient with some gentle curves.  I have run a train down the gradient and it does look pretty good to have some relief on the track and some gentler curves that 4th radius set track.

[Les1952]

Those figures look very good indeed.  I have a couple of hundred of N-gauge ones that need doing if you feel the urge...….

 

Les 

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

25 minutes ago, Les1952 said:

Those figures look very good indeed.  I have a couple of hundred of N-gauge ones that need doing if you feel the urge...….

 

Les 

Hello Les and thanks for the comments on the figures as I though they would turn out terrible and be money down the drain.  Thanks for the offer but I will pass on the N gauge figures, these are hard enough to do!  I am running out of ideas for what they should wear/colour of clothes etc now.  Here is a closer photo of the footy fans.  I have painted all of them on that platform except for the guy with the pram. . . He is a Bachmann figure.

[Les1952]

They look good, though if you can get the plates they stand on away it will improve them further.  It should be possible to drill into the legs with a 0.5mm drill in a hand chuck and use a shortened N-gauge trackpin or a piece of 0.3mm handrail wire to attach them to the platform once you have decided their final position.  

 

It can (JUST!) be done in N-gauge so in OO it would be a bit easier.

 

All the very best

Les

 

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

21 minutes ago, Les1952 said:

They look good, though if you can get the plates they stand on away it will improve them further.  It should be possible to drill into the legs with a 0.5mm drill in a hand chuck and use a shortened N-gauge trackpin or a piece of 0.3mm handrail wire to attach them to the platform once you have decided their final position.  

 

It can (JUST!) be done in N-gauge so in OO it would be a bit easier.

 

All the very best

Les

 

Thanks for the advice Les but I have stuck them on the bases so my children can play with them.  My children are 6 and 9.  My daughter is 6 and she loved coming in the garage and playing with the characters, farm animals and vehicles on my old layout so even though I agree with you that the bases are unsightly I wouldn't like to secure them and then not let the kids join in.  I suppose I can also change the scene if they are moveable.  Maybe a subtle trim is in order though!

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good evening.  Not the best photo below I am afraid but this is the tunnel portal and rock cutting at the back of the terraced houses.  It's tight but it's a compromise to fit it all in.  I might do some vegetation tomorrow in this area.  

Below is the 1 in 75 gradient I am hoping to have.  This will be where the train exits the tunnel and will head through some farm land I think.  The 2 buildings you can see are the rear of the service station on the left and the white building is the pub.  Remember that they are on a T junction and the roads will end off the baseboard either end.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good evening.  Here is a better photo of the tunnel in the cutting after some vegetation  was added.  The DRS 68 came out to play today.

I need to do some vegetation above the tunnel next.  Other jobs to do in this area are ballast in between tracks and there are some dropper wires that need attaching to the bus wires.

 

I am really struggling to get materials to press on with certain areas of the layout.  There are no metcalfe builders sheets available and I have nearly run out of track that I kept from my last layout.  As the fiddle yard is 9 tracks and over 7ft long to house 6 freightliner hha coal hoppers and 2 locos I have little track left.

 

It seems the nation have taken up railway modeling or baking during lockdown!

 

 

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Hello.  Not much to report today but I did decide to fill in the largish gap that I have due to platform 2/3 in between the 2 pairs of lines coming into the station. 

It just needs blending in when I ballast the remaining cork but  I am waiting for cable trucking at location  boxes.

I had a bit of a brain wave and decided to power the track with independent wires and use the disused track as a programming track.  I have some nice 2 pin Deutsch plugs that I will attach to the end of the wires soldered into the underside of the track.  I will also have a plug on the main bus wires.  I will fit a plug to the end of my controller and then if I am running trains plug into the bus wires and if I need to program a loco disconnect from the bus wires and into programming track plug.

 

I have also painted the rock cutting after applying some more poly filler and applied some vegetation to the top of the tunnel but this area if the layout is dark so I need the proper camera to get a decent photo.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good afternoon.  Following on from my last post  here are a few photos of the tunnel and rock cutting with Freightliner 66952 working out and back with a coal working.  Note the McDonald's billboard on the end terraced house.

This morning I had a go at making some homemade Buddleia plants as they are seen on various parts of the railway network.  I will get some photos of them soon.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

2 buddleia plants I made this morning growing in the ballast among some railway junk.  The buddleia closest to the class 60 has a mix of purple and blue crayon gratings which I thinks looks better.  Whether it looks like buddleia or rosebay willowherb I am not too sure but both are found in abundance along railway lines so i am happy enough to keep making them.

Other than that, not too much achieved today.  Done a tiny bit more blasting, a set of dropper wires near the tunnel are wired up and painted a few more Preiser people.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Good evening.  Not much to update as I have run out of track and metcalfe builders sheets.  I found some spare paint in the cupboard from my son's bedroom so I have painted the back boards blue until I decide whether to get a back scene or not.

I've done a little more ballasting by the tunnel and cutting.  It is a lovely time of year and the rhodedendrons are in bloom!

[Steam here!]

On 14/05/2020 at 12:29, Powerhaul 70 Pey said:

Hello everyone and welcome to my new 00 gauge layout called Durrington Central.  Durrington is a fictional town in The North West of England which is served by a spur off the West Coast Main Line.  Durrington Central is the main station on this line which is in a cutting below the street level and has 4 platforms which are all bi-directional.   The station sees quite a few rail tours so be prepared for some unusual loco hauled specials!  The station also sees passenger services and freight from the various FOC's such as Freightliner, Colas, DB and DRS.

 

The layout is a 2ft shelf end to end layout in the garage designed so I can still get the car in the garage if needed!  Below is a rough track plan which is not to scale and will be altered as I go along with a few sidings here and there and maybe even a TMD.   The track will not be this straight as I intend to have some nice flowing curving railway lines.

 

My old layout on here was https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/103667-a-fictional-region-in-the-north-west-of-england-a-dad-son-00-gauge-garage-layout-was-attic/&tab=comments#comment-2042433 and many of the items from this layout are to be recycled and used on Durrington Central . 

 

Here are a few photos of Durrington Central which is made from some Metcalfe low relief bank kits and other bits and bobs.  The station is low relief and serves as a scenic break as the fiddle yard (split into two is behind it).  The platforms are MDF covered with various Metcalfe builders sheets and the platform roofs are Peco.  The low relief town center buildings which dominate the station are also Metcalfe with many being re-used from my old layout.  The 00 gauge people are a mixture of Hornby and Bachmann.

 

The fiddle yard is split into 2 so the first 4 tracks leave through the station and around the layout and return on the back 5 tracks.  This leaves locos stuck at the end of the fiddle yard which means I either have to uncouple and move them to the opposite end of the train or run engines light to the opposite end of the train and couple up and take over the train leaving the loco that brought it disconnected in the fiddle yard.  I hope that the 2nd option of running locos light engine will create additional interest and play factor as well as save handling locomotives.  Below is a photo of the fiddle yard.

 

I have soldered some dropper wires to the underside of the track on  each siding in the fiddle yard.

 

Thank you for looking and I hope I can provide you with frequent updates in the future of the progress!

 

Llike the class 60 in front of the the background.

This looks like a great shelf layout.

Credit to you. :)

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Here is another view of the cutting.

Below is a photo of the T junction as the terraced houses and the roads will end on each side of the board.  The pub and service station will be used here.  The railway line in below street level here in the tunnel.

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

Hello everyone.  There is not too much progress on the layout as I have gone back to work due to being furloughed for a few weeks.  During the week the Wills relay boxes arrived so I have been making them and placing them on the layout on approach to the station.

Lots of weeds and wild flowers required by the buffer stop!

[GEOEng03]

1 hour ago, Powerhaul 70 Pey said:

Hello everyone.  There is not too much progress on the layout as I have gone back to work due to being furloughed for a few weeks.  During the week the Wills relay boxes arrived so I have been making them and placing them on the layout on approach to the station.

Lots of weeds and wild flowers required by the buffer stop!

Looking good. Really like the weeds and grasses around the relay boxes. 

 

Does the Wills kit come with railing as well or is that sourced from another kit/scratch built

 

Like the rock cutting as well, is this pre made or from a mould. 

Cheers