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Melcombe Road Sidings: A beginner's inglenook


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I'm very new to modelling, though have been interested in railways all my life as my dad is a modeller, so I've been around his railways (00 and now 0) all my life. As such I have no clue what I'm doing and am learning by reading RMWeb!

So, the plan is to build a small OO gauge layout that will fit on the shelf in my office. I've bought Scale Model Scenery's BB017 baseboard as the length matches my shelf pretty well. After reading many of the lovely posts on here I've decided to to go with a set of sidings that appears to be called an Inglenook. Should allow me to learn a lot, though I doubt it'll be up to the general standard of excellence that I see here.

To start off, I have build the baseboards and laid track. I've already soldered dropper wire to the track and poked it through the baseboard, so the next step is to wire it all up.
 

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Edited by RobAllen
Added that it's OO gauge. Re-upload images.
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Welcome to the wonderful world of Inglenooks! Someone somewhere on RMWeb said that everyone should build one at some point, either as a learning experience or as a break from something bigger. Personally I made the mistake of running before I could crawl (trust me, walking is what I aspire to!) but I do now have a 'minimum Inglenook' layout to play with practice upon, thanks to inspiration from others on here.

 

You have made a great start using the Scale Model Scenery laser cut baseboards (no bent like a banana efforts out of 5mm foamboard or dodgy woodwork) and getting your track down - great idea to run the track at an angle across the board, too, to avoid lines parallel with the baseboard edge (plus it squeezes you a precious few extra mm!). I look forward to see how you progress your layout!

 

All the best

 

Steve S

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Inglenooks are definitely always a good start. You've got a solid base, and also a good length of scenic headshunt; one of my usual gripes is if the train has to go off the scene to clear the points, you can't see it anymore, and watching trains is what this is all about!

This looks like it will be a fun layout to watch!

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This weekend I dealt with the electrics and wired the DC for the track along with the two points with electrofrogs.

 

I have wire in 6 colours and really could have done with 7. I suspect that it’s always the case that “one extra” would be better, regardless of subject!

 

I picked red and black for the power to the track and then blue, green, yellow and white for the points. Blue for the common return, yellow and white for each direction of the throw of the point to the toggle switch (auto-return to centre-off) and green for the power to the switch. I also reused green for the common to the frog. 

 

Hopefully I’ve fixed it well enough that it won’t move and is tidy enough that I can follow what I’ve done in the future.

 

I’ve tested it and it all works, so ballasting is next, so I’ll be searching RMweb to find out how it’s done.

 

 

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Edited by RobAllen
Added info on frog wire colour.
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This week, I've painted the sides of the rails. The photo is from the first coat and then I did a second coat today.

I'm going to ballast next. I have Woodland Scenics fine grey ballast, but it looks a bit clean and new to me. Should I get some dark coloured ballast too and mix the two, or can I darken the ballast I have?

IMG_3070-web.jpeg.f7d3fce4a79bf3b3bfdecf0fdf884f24.jpeg

 

 

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1 hour ago, RobAllen said:

This week, I've painted the sides of the rails. The photo is from the first coat and then I did a second coat today.

I'm going to ballast next. I have Woodland Scenics fine grey ballast, but it looks a bit clean and new to me. Should I get some dark coloured ballast too and mix the two, or can I darken the ballast I have?

 

 

 

Choosing fine ballast for sidings is a good idea.

If you think the grey ballast looks too clean you can always darken it in places where a loco has been standing.

 

Here is an aerial view of KIngsland Road sidings in Bristol. Between the sidings the ballast is very fine, for ease of walking on.

scan0031.jpg.1967dad74e1139a454477f5d4b55bab6.jpg 

Kingsland Road 20/9/83.

 

Nearby Lawrence Hill yard was similar. Note the various items lying around, and also the two oily pathches on the right hand sidings, this is where the yard pilot would sometimes stand between shunts.

scan0003.jpg.c8616514dd4bdea06040d968358eb774.jpg

Lawrence Hill 22/4/81

 

Good luck with whatever you decide.

cheers

 

 

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Ballasting has taken much longer than I expected. A mixture of more work coming my way and being very slow! I'm reasonably happy with what I've done though.


IMG_3270-web.jpeg.e4569bb0ef984903f07a349bce4c9a56.jpeg


It looks a bit "new", so I think I need to learn how to make it look dirtier and "old". 

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I've also been turning my thoughts towards the setting. As I'm very new and have no clue what I'm doing, I decided on getting the Metcalfe small factory. It turns out that I have no clue about dimensions and there's really barely any space behind the sidings before the backboard! As such, I decided to see if I could modify the kit to make it very low relief!
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Flushed with the success of managing to glue card together according to the instructions, I then got ahead of myself and realised that I could use the other side of the factory to extend it.


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However, I subsequently realised that the north light windows were going the wrong way, so I converted it to a flat roof and put one gabled face of the larger building next to it.

The end result is this:

IMG_3421-web.jpeg.cf46c10382170458458decbfdf950bfb.jpeg

Not up to the standards that I see in this forum, but for my first attempt at a building, I'm happy. Again, it's far too clean, so I need to make it dirtier next. I also need to decide if I want a back scene or not.

Slowly but surely making progress though!

 

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4 minutes ago, lapford34102 said:

Looks good, a lot neater than my efforts. A darker grey/brown wash would tone it down, brush it on or if you have an airbrush even better. 


Thanks. A quick google tells me that a wash is a thin paint. Can I use standard Humbrol and then thin it with standard CarPlan thinner that I can find on Amazon?  Or do I need something special?

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18 minutes ago, lapford34102 said:

Curious about the name of your layout...?

 

 

The idea for the setting comes from Twerton Siding on the Somerset and Dorset Railway. This siding was 3/4-mile from Bath junction and it was served by the Bath banking engine pushing the wagons into the siding. Twerton Siding served the coal depot & bakery of the Twerton Co-opertive Society, but I wanted more than one siding and for a first layout, trying to model an actual historical building seems beyond my skillset.

However, the bakery is on Melcome Road, so I've fictionalised an idea that rather than just a single siding, more sidings were added to support more industry that built up and it was renamed appropriately. Though I totally understand that in the real world, once a name sticks, it's really hard to change!

The settings appeals as a good excuse to avoid having a run-round loop and there was a fair amount of variety of banking engines from Bath, so it doesn't have to just be an 0-6-0 shunting.
 

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2 hours ago, RobAllen said:

Not up to the standards that I see in this forum, but for my first attempt at a building, I'm happy. Again, it's far too clean, so I need to make it dirtier next. I also need to decide if I want a back scene or not.

 

Whatever you say, you can't deny that your trackwork and ballasting is very neat, and with good colouring on the rails too!

Your Metcalfe kit-bash looks good too - the slight modifications make it more unique. If it's not too fixed yet, can I suggest you swap the "front" and "back" sections around, so the platform is adjacent to the track again? I feel it's worth noting that the building doesn't need to be flush against the backscene - setting it at a slight angle, with some plain card for the small amount of roof that'll be needed, can give a surprising amount of depth to the scene.

 

But overall your work so far is looking fantastic, I'm looking forward to your progress!

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Hi Rob, I find a much cheaper and far less smelly way to make a wash is to use cheap acrylic paints from either The Works or Hobbycraft, dilute in a little water and add a drop of washing up liquid. I use the primary colour set from The Works  ( https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/acrylic-paint/crawford-and-black-acrylic-paints---set-of-6/5052089170940.html ) and just mix them up to different shades as required. 

 

As for weathering the Metcalfe kits, I like to use chalk pastels (again, from The Works) from which I make a small pile of shavings using a knife, mix the browns and blacks and greens (moss) and apply with a paintbrush. Here's my N Gauge Metcalfe Goods Shed. This layout was my first 'proper' build as well! 

 

DSC00505.JPG.f80f2179fcc3412316cc241dfea27e7e.JPG

 

There are details on the above in the my Dale Green thread (link in my signature) if you are interested.

 

I concur with what others have said - your ballasting skills are excellent! I'm following this build with interest. 

 

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On 04/07/2021 at 13:04, TechnicArrow said:

If it's not too fixed yet, can I suggest you swap the "front" and "back" sections around, so the platform is adjacent to the track again? I feel it's worth noting that the building doesn't need to be flush against the backscene - setting it at a slight angle, with some plain card for the small amount of roof that'll be needed, can give a surprising amount of depth to the scene.


It's too fixed to swap the order of the section, however, your reply inspired me to try an attempt to set it at an angle by even more cutting up of the kit. I figured that the worst that could happen is that I failed and just put it flat.

The tricky bit was measuring correctly and overall, I'm happy with what I've come up with

IMG_3436-web.jpeg.d80905cd45e0e5455d04d0d3749f5a8f.jpeg

 

 

All in all, a good weekend's modelling!

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6 hours ago, RobAllen said:


Thanks. A quick google tells me that a wash is a thin paint. Can I use standard Humbrol and then thin it with standard CarPlan thinner that I can find on Amazon?  Or do I need something special?

 

As Andrew says above, acrylics are much easier to work with and less smelly. The Citadel paints from Games Workshop are excellent and have a wide range of colours.

 

An eye dropper or a pipette is good way to apply your wash. Build it up in layers and remember to stop before you get carried away! Plus it doesn’t need to be uniform. Locos drop oil do you want a heavier application where they stand.

 

steve

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Another little job I did over the weekend was to tidy up the cabling to the controller from the layout. I have the Gaugemaster Combi and just had 4 wires running to connectors.

 

IMG_3422-web.jpeg.6dd7bbe074e369708586e971cbfa5403.jpeg

 

Other than the look of the 4 loose cables, it also meant that the controller was always attached to the layout. Hence, I bought a 6-way DIN plug and socket and some cable to sort it out.

 

Firstly, a socket on the baseboard:


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and then a cable on the controller:


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Makes it all a bit neater too! 

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Edited by RobAllen
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You might be 'new to modelling' but your wiring skills are inspirational. I really need to sort out the cables and electrics to my boxfile layout and already I've learned a lot from your posts - I like the simple and clear way you present things with detailed images. Thanks a lot! It's fired me up to sort out mine once and for all so I can progress with the scenics and buildings. :good_mini:

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I like the look of this Inglenook concept, you've done a real neat job re the wiring also the ballasting/track painting, & it will be interesting to see how the layout develops further. I'm not sure if you may have seen it already, but I had a an "Inglenook-inspired" layout of mine featured on this site a while back, which is actually an interactive layout, ie designed for public participation at exhibitions. It is called "Short Street Sidings", and attached are a couple of pictures of the layout, which may serve as a source of inspiration .... :D

Short Street Sidings (general overview1).JPG

Short Street Sidings (general overview2).JPG

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I did some scenic work over a couple of evenings and the weekend.

Firstly, using DAS clay, I created a yard area. Here’s where I should do some actual research as I have no clue what the typical road surface would have been between the wars. I’m guessing some sort of asphalt though.

IMG_3460-web.jpeg.31d29503c1bc180fc5bd7a4853451fc0.jpeg

 

Once down, I then used a paint bush to mottle the surface a bit in order to make it look less “spread on”.

 

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I then darkened the ballast with a brown and black wash, but I think I went a bit too far. Ah well. 

 

I also put on a green scatter in the areas that will be countryside. Again, not really having a clue, I got a light green and a dark green and mixed them up and piled it on top of PVA.

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Once it dried, I used the sock-in-the-hoover trick to save the excess and reuse it.

 

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I think it'll do as a base for the static grass that's currently in the post. I also have some fencing on the way.

On the other side, I'm thinking of copying Midford goods yard and placing a crane on the head shunt for the yard area. I then decided to try a raised area after the yard into the corner. There's no elevation at all yet, so this is my first modest attempt to do something.

 

I went with polystyrene with polyfiller over the top:

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I painted it brown and then covered with scatter that had some brown added to it and painted up the rest of the yard. I also built a 2 level ground frame.

 

This leaves it in this state:

IMG_3592-web.jpeg.659f57d36c22e8b8775b0bdb8f8055ee.jpeg

I need to do something about a base for the ground frame and presumably need some rodding too. Hopefully adding the static grass will help it look a little less uniform too. 

All in all, not a bad weekend's work, I think.

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