Northbridge - 1960s BR(WR) N Gauge

[Davexoc]

I take it the Mk3s are for clearance testing, or are you stretching to the late 70s?

[Ch4lkst3r]

14 minutes ago, Davexoc said:

I take it the Mk3s are for clearance testing, or are you stretching to the late 70s?

Bit of a stretch to get to the late 70s!  They're a pair of old Poole Farish ones that I use for clearance testing.  The HST from which they came went via ebay a long time ago but kept them for just that purpose.

[Ch4lkst3r]

The work on the diesel sidings continues when time allows.  The diesel shed building is now built.  The picture below shows it sat on the layout roughly where it will go although the hard standing needs to be put down first before it can be permanently installed.

 

Round the back of the shed I've installed a little pump house along with storage tanks.  The plan is to have a couple of tank wagons here as a supply for fuelling the locos.

 

Now to sort out the hard standing and ballasting of the diesel sidings which will complete the whole of Northbridge steam and diesel depot.  Then it's on to the rest of the town above the tunnel which I've kind of got planned in my head but if it's like the rest of the layout it will end up nothing like that plan!

[Ch4lkst3r]

It's been a quiet couple of months in terms of layout progress.  I've been busy with other hobbies and any model railway time has been spent running trains for a bit of a change and to finally get the locos run in.  A lot of stock has been in the box since purchased with the exception of a quick test run.

Anyway over the last couple of days I've finally got the hard standing for the diesel shed completed and the fuelling point installed.

 

The shed is ready to be placed onto the pins in the hard standing (made from cocktail sticks!) which will hold it in position but enable it to be removed for access.  A trip to the Warley show yesterday enabled me to get a few finishing touches for the area.

[Ch4lkst3r]

The diesel shed is in place and blended into the hardstanding which was slightly awkward as the building can still be removed.  A couple of lights have been added in front of the shed.

One of my recent additions (the lovely class 128 by Revolution - thanks @Revolution Ben) takes fuel alongside the shed.

 

Now that's finished it's onto the town above the retaining wall where all the glue/scatter currently sits!

Edited December 7, 2023 by Ch4lkst3r

[Ch4lkst3r]

Just a bit done on the layout this week.  The loop line platform starter bracket signal, complete with a disc signal on the ground for access to the shed headshunt, has been planted and ballasted in.  There is a bit of a hump around the base of it as I've had to raise it to give clearance under the bracket.  Behind that you'll be able to see the barrow crossings I've installed to give access to the steam shed which will run from the end of the island platform.  The island platform will be in the big grey gap in the centre of the photo.

 

The town area has been cleared of tools etc. ready for some planning of buildings.  I've got a partial plan of what is going where but there's plenty of buildings to be built for the area.  That's all going to have to wait for a few weeks as I'm off on holiday for Christmas!

[Ch4lkst3r]

Well I've now returned from the land of Oz but not the one with witches and a yellow brick road!  Unfortunately a return to modelling was delayed due to me picking up some kind of bug that knocked me about for a couple of weeks but thankfully I'm now over that so can get back to the layout.

I've started on finishing the buildings for the town section.  First was to build a few more low relief terraced houses followed by a corner shop to end the road previously seen in photos of long ago!  These are now pretty much finished although chimney pots need to be added but I'll do those when they are going to be installed to save knocking them off!  Photo shows roughly where the new buildings will go.

 

Before they can be permanently fixed I need to add the road and pavement but I need to get a few more buildings built first to finalise the road layout.  Next on the build list is the terraced houses on the opposite side of the street.  Fortunately now I've built a model shop I won't have to go as far for supplies  😂

[Ch4lkst3r]

Work slowly continues on the town scene with the construction of the terraced houses for the opposite side of the road.

 

The finished buildings for the opposite side of the road are now mounted onto the pavement and I've built a little gate between the two sets of terraced houses.  The two sets can't be one long row as they'd go over the join in the baseboard and the backscene doesn't have an appropriate image at that point so it seemed easier to cover it with a gate!

[Ch4lkst3r]

The other side of the road is now nearly done.  The roofers are in putting the tiles on.  Shopfitters are due soon to put the windows in the pub and then the building for the other side of the first of the town's roads will be done.

 

Once that's done I can finalise that part of the road layout and design the backyards for them to fit.  After that it's on to yet more buildings for the main high street of the town.

Other tasks are to have a little tidy so that I can run some trains around again!

[Ch4lkst3r]

The roofers have finished and the shopfitters (or should that be pubfitters?) have been in and The Great Eastern pub is nearly open for business.  Like the other side of the road the only thing missing is the chimney pots but I'll leave them until later so I have less chance of knocking them off!

 

 

Now to work out the back gardens etc.

[Ch4lkst3r]

Slow progress, as usual, on the layout due to work etc.  Here's a list of what's been going on!

• Base card for the town area has been put down in the area of the terraced houses.  I've done this to provide a nice smooth surface for the roads and also allows me to remove some to provide a void under the buildings to run lighting cables.
• Spent what seemed a long time watching Chandwell Youtube videos on how to use Inkscape to design roads.  Have now managed to sort out the awkward corner junction area and print that out and stick it down.
• Spent more time playing around with the image for the road off into the horizon in Inkscape and Gimp.  That is now stuck on to the backscene.
• Added the chimney pots onto the low relief buildings and now that the road surface and backscene were in place they have been glued into place.  Lighting wires have been run through the baseboard so next job will be to go underneath and connect them all up.

Here's a little picture of the buildings, road and added backscene section.  The Boots low relief roughly joins up with the Boots on the backscene.  It's near enough for me anyway!  The rest of the corner junction does look a bit strange at the moment but once the pavements are in it will hopefully make sense!