Gill Head: Kirkby Luneside's neighbour

[JustinDean]

4mx60cm is one hell of a plank! 

[Physicsman]

29 minutes ago, JustinDean said:

4mx60cm is one hell of a plank! 

 

"Plank" is a bit of a pi55-take name that appeared from emails amongst a number of people on here.

 

It'll be made from 4 boards, 3x122cm plus an end bit. Not quite that simple - keep an eye out for the thread "Hell  Ghyll Sidings", starting in January. 

[Physicsman]

At risk of boring the pants off you with this "vegetation malarkey", here's the current state of the cutting, from a low angle. I'm now completely out of brambles, blackberries and low-crawling weed: awaiting a re-stock....

 

 

 

[AdeMoore]

Mighty fine view that Jeff, the track the vegetation looks spot on, a great view low down like that.

cheers.

[Dragonboy]

If it wasn’t for the end wall you’d swear that was a prototype picture. 
 

Brian

[Physicsman]

15 hours ago, AdeMoore said:

Mighty fine view that Jeff, the track the vegetation looks spot on, a great view low down like that.

cheers.

 

8 hours ago, Dragonboy said:

If it wasn’t for the end wall you’d swear that was a prototype picture. 
 

Brian

 

Ade, Brian - thanks for the comments. It's taken a few hours to reply, with the Forum offline.

 

I was hoping they were going to fix the advert problem at this point, but as I write this (on my tablet) a video of a turtle swimming through the ocean is blocking the central third of my screen. Quite ridiculous.

 

I'm still working on the cutting - may have something to show later in the week.

 

Jeff

[Rowsley17D]

Really good photos showing up your excellent work. Jeff. Just needs a few telegraph poles and you're there. To avoid the ads and swimming turtles you'll have to go Gold membership. I don't think it's a ploy by Andy Y and Co though!!

[Physicsman]

Hi Jonathan.

 

Andy York has agreed a non-Gold option with management, but it's taking time to get it going. What does Gold cost?

 

I don't spend much time on here or I'd have taken action already. Poles will be forthcoming, I'm just keeping "protruding" details out of the way at the moment until other work is done.

 

Jeff

[Neilgue]

It’s looking very convincing Jeff. It’s amazing how realistic the textures of modern scenic materials are. Things have moved on a lot from green sawdust. 

 

Have you run any trains through it yet?

 

Cheers, Neil

[Physicsman]

Hi Neil.

 

You're correct about the scenic stuff - just over 10 years ago I was still using flock with not a single blade of static grass in sight. Static grass isn't the be-all-and-end-all, but as a basis for incorporating flock, foliage and other clump materials, it is superb.

 

My pet hate with static grass is its massive overuse on model railway lines. Most main, and even secondary, lines were almost entirely free of the stuff until the late 1970s, though sidings could be infested. There has to be a reason for putting it on the layout, not just a convenient excuse to cover something up.

 

Funny thing about that last photo. The cutting has had a static grass covering since May-June. I thought it looked ok, and was going to (mostly) leave it alone. Then I started adding vegetation to the other embankments and the cutting looked bl**dy awful - bare and utterly unrealistic. As more and more layers are added it all - hopefully - comes to life. It's taken about ten days, with an hour or two every day, to get it to the present state. The layers take time - of course, you can "mash" it together in a hurry if you prefer.... No thanks.

 

As for "trains". I've run a couple of diesel locos through, but not a train. I have some 3-links fitted hoppers in the Bunker. Might couple a train up (no steam in EM, I'm afraid) and take some pics.

 

Jeff

Edited December 13, 2021 by Physicsman

[Rowsley17D]

14 hours ago, Physicsman said:

Hi Jonathan.

 

Andy York has agreed a non-Gold option with management, but it's taking time to get it going. What does Gold cost?

 

Jeff

 

Jeff, the Gold membership is £50 pa.

 

Telegraph poles and trees are among the last to go in, even so I still manage to knock a few over.

[Blandford1969]

That cutting is A Maz Ing 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Just a thought Jeff. Might there be some drainage covers and such like in the cutting, what with the wet weather in that part of the world?

[Physicsman]

1 hour ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Just a thought Jeff. Might there be some drainage covers and such like in the cutting, what with the wet weather in that part of the world?

 

You may be right, Peter, but I've never noticed anything significant on the dozens of photos I've looked at, so I'll leave anything that might be there to the imagination.

 

Currently re-vamping the overbridge that goes into the end of the cutting. Started this in May and got side-tracked. Hope to get things sorted by the end of the weekend and then I'll post a few pics.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Fair enough Jeff. 
As an aside. I once had a lad in my class whose dad had written a book on aspects of the MR. Needless to say, I bought a copy of the book and got his dad to sign it.

[Physicsman]

1 hour ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Fair enough Jeff. 
As an aside. I once had a lad in my class whose dad had written a book on aspects of the MR. Needless to say, I bought a copy of the book and got his dad to sign it.

 

Morning Peter.

 

If you have a specific example of cutting covers, please post an image or sketch on here. It would be useful and, if necessary, I could take the appropriate action.

 

Jeff

Edited December 16, 2021 by Physicsman

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I'll do some delving; will report back later...

[Physicsman]

I'm presently working on the overbridge/cutting - the bridge is finished, work is ongoing on the corner backscene and more vegetation around it. I should be able to get some pics of a (fairly) completed state by Monday.

 

In the meantime, here's a couple of views across the Bunker, taken from the corner directly behind the bridge. 

 

 

 

 

Jeff

 

EDIT: May as well chuck this in - slightly broader view - coffee cups and all....no standing on ceremony!!

 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Physicsman

[MrWolf]

I've finally had chance to read through this thread and I have to say that I am seriously impressed with the model making here. I've been inspired by model railways in a landscape setting ever since I first visited Pendon nearly forty years ago.

Each to their own, but I have seen so many room sized layouts where virtually every inch is covered by track, to me, this is so much more real and actually looks far bigger than it is. A definite case of less is more. The sweeping curves and expanse of countryside create the illusion so well.

My own layout is on a much smaller scale, but an important thing for me was to create a sense of space. The landscape is in the early stages, but I feel like I'm getting somewhere at last.

 

If it wasn't for the inspiration found here, I think that I would still just be hoarding wagon kits. 

 

[Rowsley17D]

I spy an interesting 3-arch bridge in that last photo.

[Physicsman]

Good morning "Mr Wolf".

 

First, do you have a name I can refer to - I'm Physicsman but would always want Jeff to be used in discussions.

 

Thanks for your comments and I'm glad you have a similar "addiction" to the scenic side of things that I have. I don't look at many threads on here, but the scenic aspect is why I'm likely to look at Al G or Jay 's projects, as well as Little Middle and Mike's S&C Dent layouts.

 

Building to some kind of prototype, allowing leeway in the plan, is important to me. And the S&C has the landscape and key structures - viaducts, tunnels, walls etc that give plenty of scratchbuiding opportunities.

 

I like your stretch of water. I'll be leaving my ghyll feature until last to minimise dust contamination. Yes, "less is more" works well - the upcoming Ais Gill -based thread will be around 13' x 2' with nothing more than a double track main line - and tons of scenery.

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

1 hour ago, Rowsley17D said:

I spy an interesting 3-arch bridge in that last photo.

 

Yes, Jonathan. That's the overbridge, kept out of the way while the plaster sets. Updated pics on that area in the next day or so.

[JustinDean]

2 minutes ago, Physicsman said:

 

 

Building to some kind of prototype, allowing leeway in the plan, is important to me. And the S&C has the landscape and key structures - viaducts, tunnels, walls etc that give plenty of scratchbuiding opportunities.

 

This strikes a chord with me - on returning to railway modelling I’ve come to realise I’m more interested in locations than railway companies. 
A childhood visit to Pendon along with purchasing ‘Landscape Modelling’ (Barry Norman?) are also early inspirations. 
The layouts you mentioned Jeff are also the ones I tend to follow on here along with Bleddfa Road, Tom Foster’s layouts and some other gems that get buried within this site, which is probably why your layout is very much up my street. Or should that be hill. 
 

Jay

[Rowsley17D]

Jeff, @MrWolf is his name aka Rob to his RMWeb friends.

[MrWolf]

Hello Jeff,

 

When your name is actually Wolf, you tend to beat everyone to the punch line and make the most of it.

I certainly have over the years 

 

I too like the idea of basing my layout on an actual place. Although the place in question never got its proposed railway, I have made a point of making the landscape recognisable as the actual location, even down to the geological makeup of the river bed. 

It's a lot easier when you can simply go to your chosen location and take a stack of photographs.

The buildings are all based upon prototypes from the area and the traffic is based on local industry and agriculture.

The river I had some concerns about, for the same reasons that you give for hanging back with completing the beck. 

Having found how tricky it was to work around the rather low bridge when creating the river bed I modelled the shallow water as soon as the landscaping was done (and keep the board covered now.) The main reason for this is the fact that the river Clun is bordered by a lot of overhanging trees which would doubtless cause all manner of frustrations had I installed them first.

I'm actually quite looking forward to that part of the construction, but there is an awful lot of other work to do first.

 

I have to ask, what are the origins of "Physicsman"?

 

Mr(Robert)Wolf.