Ashlands (formerly Hornby Magazine layout in a weekend challenge layout of 'Ashland')

[SRfanJV]

This model was originally built during the 2011 Hornby Magazine live exhibition as a layout in a weekend challenge. It was constructed by Hornby Magazine Editor Mike Wild, Richard Proudman and Graham Muzpratt. After being exhibited on a few occasions, I believe the layout was sold on and eventually it ended up in Portsmouth. In August 2020 it was put up for sale and this is the point at which I come in. 

Generally I am 2mm modeller and have been for over 15 years, building N gauge layouts of Bodmin General, Trelill and Wadebridge. I also volunteer at the Swanage Railway, an important point in how I have come back to 4mm (for now). During the Covid lockdown some of my friends from the railway all of whom model in 4mm 'put pressure' on me to build a layout in 00 that could be linked in with their own projects. Eitherway, I cracked, but did not have time to build a layout from scratch myself. not long after, Ashland as it was then called was advertised for sale on Facebook which is where upon collection of the layout, the story of 'Ashlands' begins. 

[SRfanJV]

[SRfanJV]

[JohnR]

Followed - remember seeing this layout in the magazine and thinking it was pretty good. May I ask how much you paid for it?

[SRfanJV]

First post on the work that has been achieved so far: 

 

I started off small, by adding some subtle details such as the roxey models lineside hut and ballast bin. This is a white metal kit which did require a bit of filing to achieve a good fit.

 

I followed this by giving it a coat of Halfords primer and then painting the concrete colour on with Precisions paints weathered concrete colour. 

Once it had dried i started to weather it with some powders a d the use of some dry brushing. 

The door was painted with in BR (s) green and the hinges also picked out. 

 

Finally, it was secured to the layout and some diarama pressepe foliage added to the back as though it was growing up the side. I need to turn the roof 90 degrees as it is not aligned where is should be, but this shouldn't take long. 

[SRfanJV]

The next series of improvements centred around the replacement of the midland signals that had somehow found their way onto the layout over the years. 

I also used a piece of bullhead rail to attach the nickel silver l&swr sign. 

 

The base will be ballasted and static grassed later on. Im planning on putting point rodding and signal wire posts in so it would be better to wait until this is complete. 

 

Continuing the signalling theme, I then decided to move the location of the kernow LSWR signal box. In my opinion I felt it was too far away from the running line in that a signalman could not pass a token to the up train, rendering the balcony useless. 

Once relocated, I then decided turn the steps at 90 degrees as per some North Cornwall boxes (admittedly differently styles) so that i then came straight down onto the barrow crossing. This is a ratio crossing, however I am now going to change this into my own crossing using coffee stirrers to get a better effect. 

[SRfanJV]

An episode of fencing. 

 

The fencing on Ashland was originally all ratio spear fencing. For Ashlands i wanted a little more variety. Therefore, I purchased some ration concrete fencing for use down the side of station building. I also purchased some scale model scenery post and wire fencing for one end of the platform. 

 

Having looked at a number of photos of the North Cornwall line over the year, I noted that there were many examples of spear fencing with bullhead rail as a post between each section. There is nothing proprietary that I could get so I decided to make it using a length of bullhead rail and the ratio spear fencing. 

I then airbrushed them using railmatch BR (s) green. 

 

Since installing the post and wiring fencing, I  have become increasingly disappointed with it so I am now going to make concrete post and wire fencing. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

Here comes the big changes. Having extensively looked at literature and diagrams of various North Cornwall stations over the years, I was not convinced by the 3 way point and just how short the headshunt was which severely restricted the use of the goods area. 

I therefore decided to remove it and make the headshunt longer. 

 

  This entailed removing the single arch bridge and replace it with another one. 

[SRfanJV]

After playing with the design a little in terms of alignment. The whole area was cleaned and sanded. Once complete, the track was stuck down again. 

In the process I tweaked the loading dock spur a little more by bringing it away from the platform as well as shortening it. 

After this was stuck down, I then turned my attention to the new double track bridge. This is one of the Peco bridges that I have double sided in case I decide to expand the layout in the future. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

As can be seen in the last photo of my previous post, I also took the opportunity to build a Peco lineside hut. These are very similar to the ones seen on the North Cornwall, so I felt these would look more than acceptable. 

This will be painted and installed in due course. 

 

I then turned my attention to some locomotive detailing. It would not be the North Cornwall without having a Bulleid Pacific on the 'Atlantic Coast Express'. I purchased an etched set of boards from Fox Transfers and then modified them to hold the route discs that were actually held on the side of the board due to the brackets taking up space on the lamp irons. 

 

In order to achieve this, I cut out some surplus brass from an etch that I had lying around. I then soldered it onto to the side of the board which was a bit of a faff to get it positioned right so that it looked level. Once achieved, I then sprayed the route discs with Halfords primer and then gloss white. These were then glued on to the board brackets. 

Finally, I  stuck the whole board on to the front of one of my original Bulleid Pacifics. I think it gives the right effect. 

This Bulleid was then finished off with real coal and a crew. Ill add the rest of the detailing at a later date. 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

After detailing and sound fitting the Bulleid, my attention turned to some layout detailing and ballasting. 

 

My first task was to solder up an etched brass SR luggage trolley. 

The main body was folded up and then soldered in the relevant places. 

The tricky part was getting the wheels to fit and this was where disaster struck. When putting the second wheel on, the wheels managed to fly out of the pliers, hit the wall and then disappear. Sadly, I could not find it, so i have had to buy another etch to finish it. 

 

In the photo above you can I see that I have made a start on installing the brass fence posts on the platform. Ballasting had also started. 

 

I then started adding some foliage and static grass. These were a mix of Greenscenes static grass and Diarama Presepe. 

After this, I glued on a Bachmann station staff figure. 

Hopefully this gives a nice mini scene within the layout. 

The start of the goods platform wall using Ratio stone walling can also be seen. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

In the lead up to Christmas of 2020, most work on the layout ceased due to other commitments, either volunteering at the Swanage Railway for their Steam and Lights event or doing a project for Peco TV which involved kit bashing an existing peco product to make it look more representative of the down waiting shelter at Harmans Cross. 

This was a fun, but tricky side project to complete, but I think it was worth the effort in the end. 

Modifications were made by adding in stone courses around the base, and other small, but important features.

And this is the finished product. 

 

The other big commitment. It was great fun though.

Please note: this was taken with permission, whilst not undertaking safety critical duties.

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

On 31/08/2021 at 20:10, JohnR said:

Followed - remember seeing this layout in the magazine and thinking it was pretty good. May I ask how much you paid for it?

Hi There, 

Thanks for the follow. With all the associated DCC control system, I paid £300. I thought that was very good for an 18ft layout (9ft of scenery).

[Graham_Muz]

It's great to see Ashland living on and being further developed and providing even more enjoyment.

 

The challenge of building an entire layout (that started with building the actual baseboards once the show opened to the public) was a tiring but fun weekend that took a bit of a forward planning. 

 

I look forward to seeing its further progress.

[Graham_Muz]

I thought you might like a couple of snaps when it was operating at Warley in 2011 in pre-nationalisation guise

 

[SRfanJV]

On 28/09/2021 at 08:57, Graham_Muz said:

It's great to see Ashland living on and being further developed and providing even more enjoyment.

 

The challenge of building an entire layout (that started with building the actual baseboards once the show opened to the public) was a tiring but fun weekend that took a bit of a forward planning. 

 

I look forward to seeing its further progress.

Hi Graham, 

 

Many thanks for sending those photos of the layout in its SR guise, its lovely to see the layout as it used to be. 

 

I will do my upmost to do justice to the work that you all put in when the layout was built. 

[SRfanJV]

After taking a break to complete a couple of Peco projects just prior to Christmas, i got back to work on the layout by starting the construction of the goods yard platform and cattle dock. 

I used the ratio stonewalling and then normal plasticard to make the subframe.

I then put it into the space to test fit. It has been quite tricky to build it on a bend where it is not a consistent curve. 

At this stage, I had a change of plan and decided to extend the platform to include the cattle dock. 

I initially wanted to use the ratio cattle dock, but upon reflection I decided to build my own that was more inkeeping of an SR style. I used bullhead rail and then microstrip as wooden rail. 

After a short break, I then completed the cattle dock construction bar some detailing. Which I am still yet to complete. 

Edited October 2, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

Once the new goods yard platform and cattle dock were in position, I then trial fitted some barrow crossing timbers using costa coffee stirrers. These, once stained will give a much more realistic effect in comparison to the ratio crossing material.

This was the last piece of work I did on the layout for quite sometime as I needed a break from it, so I turned my attention to loco number changes and detailing. 

 

Although 34028 being a rebuilt would not have worked along the North Cornwall line. Being freshly returned to traffic at Swanage, I couldn't resist the temptation to renumber one. 

I initially went for red plates as this was how I remembered it from its previous spell in traffic up to August 2014. However, when it returned with black plates, I thought it looked so good that I had to change them. 

Here is the real locomotive waiting at Harmans Cross. 

She is an absolute monster! 

 

I also took the opportunity to renumber a T9 to 30120. Also a Swanage resident, however, she was also a regular visitor to the North Cornwall line back in BR days, so it was very apt to change the number.

I took the opportunity to repair the damage to the tender, replace the missing cabside support, instal the coal barge board, add real coal, a bucket and fire irons whilst I was at it. The final addition once painted will be a modelu crew.

[SRfanJV]

By this stage of the improvements to the layout, it had now reached late June. A busy period meant that little was completed on the layout for a while. However, the impending visit of a few friends from Swanage to 'play' on the layout forced me back into life. 

The first change I wanted to make was to re-align the track on siding 2 of the goods yard. This was to allow more room for road vehicles to get around the back of the Provender store at the far end of the layout.

 

I gently lifted the track and then sanded the cork surface flat before sticking the track back down with pva in its new position. (Photo below pre re-alignment) 

This has given enough room for road vehicles to pass by. An exciting project we are now working on is experimenting with the use of radio controlled 1:76 road vehicles for use on the layout. 

As part of this, I needed to cut a hole in the embankment for road vehicles to exit and enter the layout from the fiddle yard. 

 

I also took the opportunity to extend siding 1 so that it did not end so abruptly after the Provender store. 

 

Finally, I had some fun with a line up of my Bulleids, even though 2 of them will never be seen on the layout once it is exhibited. 

Another update will follow shortly.

[SRfanJV]

Disaster! In the process of investigating sound for my Kernow O2, a substance (still unknown to me) that was on my hands damaged the lining and paintwork when handling the locomotive. 

 I was extremely cross at this stage and took a little time to think about what could be done. It then came to me that perhaps I could hide this mess by getting the loco weathered. 

 

Luckily for me, a friend of mine who is a member of the Sarum Finescale Group is a master at weathering. At the next meeting I told him the situation and asked if he would be prepared to give the weathering to hide it a go. He was more than happy to and I am eternally grateful to Mike for the quality of work that he has produced on my O2 as can be seen below. 

I think it looks stunning and has gone right to the top of my list of locos to use of the layout. 

 

I finished of the Job by installing two of Modelu's fabulous figures which really enhances the look of the engine. 

One accident that has had a very happy ending.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

Having seen the quality of Mike's work on the O2. I felt it was time to bite the bullet and have a go myself. I chose a Dapol mineral wagon as a test subject. Dapol wagons are fairly basic and have a poor coupling system which makes them a pain when running with Bachmann or other stock, therefore, it was a suitable choice 

 

I started by looking at photo's of mineral wagons, as I was taught that the best way of weathering was to use a prototype. 

 

Once I had found a suitable example, I proceeded by giving the side being worked on a dirty wash using a MIG wash. 

I then started to pick out various bits of rust using a mix of MIG rust/dirt powders and a combination of MIG and Vallejo paints. 

I felt that got better at it, the more I practiced and I was very pleased with the end of the wagon. Still lots more practice to improve, but its all a learning curve. If you have any comments, then please let me know. I always love to learn.

Another example of heavier weathering shown below. The chassis needs doing next. 

 

I then did some research as I wasn't happy with the distance between coaches using tension lock couplings. I was advised to try out some Hunt magnetic couplings for fixed rakes.

The short ones are definitely the best and I will be getting some more shortly. I would highly recommend them for your fixed rake sets. 

[SRfanJV]

With the visit of a few friends looming (Mid July), the time had come to build the new fiddle yard. This was needed so that the headshunt of the goods yard could be extended to enable longer rakes to run in. One of my main criticisms of the layout in its previous incarnation was the headshunt because you could only fit a mogul and 2 vans in it. 

Orginal track plan above. 

 

The frame luckily had already been made up as it was originally destined to be used for a now defunct N gauge project. This was made out of 4mm plywood and a light construction was used for weight and strength reasons. 

I cut some 6.5mm birch ply for the draw runners that I had bought and decided that a traverser was the ideal fiddle yard system to serve both the mainline and the headshunt. 

4 draw runners were used in the end so that the traverser stayed nice and level. Next, I cut out the birch ply for the traverser and then glued down the 1/16th cork to act as the trackbed. the last job of this section was to screw the traverser to the runners and make sure that it was aligned and running true. 

To secure and align the track I super glued on strips of copper clad and then the track was glued down. 

 

Time was then against me before the visit of a few friends and about half an hour before their arrival I was still soldering up the track to the copper clad and wiring it all in for DCC operation. This meant that every track had to have a permanent feed so that the sound equipped locos did not turn off. Luckily the test using my sound fitted Class 08 proved successful. 

Brass tube and rod was used to align and secure the rails.

Im glad to say that everyone enjoyed their evening and first go on Ashlands so the effort was worthwhile.

 

After the event, I then took the time to finish laying the 6th road and tidy up some other bits. 

There is still a lot of work to do on the fiddle yard including: 

Laying the base in so that no stock can fall through, creation of the front and side display pieces, painting and varnishing, overall though, I am happy with how it is coming together. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by SRfanJV

[SRfanJV]

We are now pretty much up to date as through the summer very little happened to the layout as I was busy down at Swanage or enjoying my summer break. 

 

I thought i would show a few photos of the layout and some of the visiting/ home traction. 

Now that modelling season is back in full swing. I have moved the layout to the centre of the garage and a start has been made on the lighting gantry, so more progress will follow shortly. 

[SRfanJV]

Again, there was nothing like the 'pressure' of friends visiting for another evening using the layout to spur me into life. That and the half term break also helped. 

 

As stated previously, a friend of mine, plus myself have been working on getting a 4mm leyland flatbed to work using Radio control. Which im pleased to say has been successful. I will do a post on how this was achieved shortly. 

 

However, in order to use it on the layout, I needed to create a smooth road surface for the vehicle to drive over. For this DAS clay was used, my wonderful other half did this for me as being an Art teacher, she is more than used to working with DAS. 

Once completed, I then added a yard lamp and a Railroom Electronics swan neck lamp to the end of the provender store. 

Finally, you can see the finished lorry with a container on top, I used MIG weathering powders and some thinneds acrylic paints to create a distressed look.

More will follow shortly on the construction of the RC lorry and the lighting gantry for the layout. 

[SRfanJV]

The lorry...

 

Many hours of work and thought have gone into the construction of a working RC lorry in 1:76 4mm scale. I had seen it done on a couple of layouts before and had always aspired to do the same myself. 

 

A good friend of mine Ash was the brains behind the project after we had experimented with other projects using RC prior to this one. 

 

The first part of the process was to find an appropriate lorry to use. After some research a BT models British Railways Leyland Beaver flatbed was choosen, especially as it was assigned to the southern region.

 

Thought then went into how it could be motorised and steered using RC. Research by Ash worked out that  Faller 163703 car system chassis kit would work for the drive and the steering arm provided could be modified for use with a servo instead of following a magnetic track underneath. 

 

A 1.7g gram servo was then found to be the perfect size to go inbetween the metal chassis to act as the steering mechanism drive. 

 

With everything now arrived, I set to it! 

Being a vertical motor something would have to cover the fact that it would protrude through the flatbed surface. I chose a BR container for this as it would allow me to put the battery and receiver in there, instead of taking up the cab space. 

 

 

The chassis required extensive cutting and milling to get bits to fit, but we got there in the end. 

The front end of the lorry chassis, underneath the cab was dremelled off, followed by the cutting out of the section for the servo. 

At the back end, the top of the chassis had to be lowered slightly so that the motor and drive axle sat low enough to stop the wheels from fouling on the arches. 

 

After this was completed, attention turned to the steering and wiring of the vehicle. The servo was mounted and more research showed that a paperclip, bent in the correct shape was perfect to control the steering. 

As you can see in the photo above, the faller front axle was also used and mounted onto the front of the pcb that came with the Faller lorry kit. This was super glued on to the chassis with a couple of shims to gain the correct height and also cut in length so that the length of the vehicle was still accurate. Everything was then painted. 

 

Finally, before wiring, brass  section was added to the front end for 2 reasons. One for weight as it was a little back end heavy and two, it was used to get the height of the cab right so that the wheels when being turned did not foul the wheel arches. A little cutting of the arches was also required to achieve a good fit. 

Wiring then started by attaching a YouChoos connector to the chassis to act as a battery charging connector, the on/off/charging  switch was also added. 

It was then a case of soldering up the receiver, battery, motor controller and switches. 

 

The final piece of the jigsaw was to bind the receiver to the Flysky FS i6 transmitter. 

 

A battery charger was also purchased and then modified you connect with the small socket underneath. Handily, 4 batteries came with it, so plenty of scope for more vehicles in the future.

 

The finished article is shown below in both photographic and video form. 

The control of the vehicle is what pleases me the most, it's slow and very maneuverable. I also finished the vehicle and container off with some subtle weathering, I'll be adding a little more to it soon as well. 

Ash also completed his lorry, but used a small containerand a tarpaulined set of crates to cover the motor, battery, receiver and servo. He also went one step further and put a cab light in. 

 

 

Next up, we're both thinking a coal lorry would be a good addition and have found a horizontal motor, so hopefully we won't have to take up so much of the flatbed above the surface of the vehicle. 

I'm also hoping to get my yard crane on the layout working so that there is some potential with the lorry trailer to have loads moved from the lorry to a wagon and vice versa. However, that will take a while. Watch this space. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2021 by SRfanJV