Leeds Weeklyn Hil

[Ed-farms]

Not a major update to report but last night the last of the points were motorised and tested and the final track in the storage area were pinned down to suit the new track layout.

 

As a result despite the lack of any scenics at the moment (this is due to start tonight) we are now willing to take bookings again. If any exhibition managers are reading this we can provide an 11ft by 3 ft layout at short notice that will fit in a standard family car along with 2 operators so we can provide cover for layouts that cannot make it for any reason.

[Ed-farms]

Some more progress to show off. The trackwork was completed a few weeks back but recent work saw some of the track lifted and Kadee magnets fitted in strategic points. Provisional trials with these uncouplers proved a success apart from an issue with wagons been drawn in by the magnets but a pad pressed onto the axle has fixed that. All wagons and a select few locos have been fitted with Kadee couplings to operate the fuel delivery trains.Concrete aprons have also been fitted and painted around the shed, ash plant, coaling tower, diesel shed and diesel fuelling point. Last night saw the back scenes finished off and fitted (these photo's were taken before the final town scenes were fitted)

 

 

An overview of the steam shed board, the balsa-wood has been painted with Precision Paints "New" Concrete Paint which I think looks more weathered than the "weathered" version.

 

 

The 3 Kadee uncouplers on this board, by positioning these at the front of the sidings we can uncouple there and push the stock back to its required point. Plus the advantage of using these magnets will be hidden once the track is ballasted.

 

 

The concrete foundations under the steam shed, the concrete is made in the same way as last time - balsa wood and polyfiller painted to look like concrete.

 

 

The other end of the board showing off this ends concrete foundation. The 2 point motors will be hidden by the water tower and the hut used last time.

 

 

Now onto the diesel shed, this one has its balsa-wood painted with the Precision "weathered" concrete paint, which looks more like new than the new stuff (were mine labelled the wrong way round?) the gap in the concrete is where the fuelling point will go in the future.

 

 

The final photo shows the diesel fuel delivery line end of the board, again there is a Kadee uncoupler on this line (with another on one of the diesel fuel lines buried under the balsa-wood now).

 

Although progress is been made we are not taking it too fast to cause long term problems. The next stage of work is to fit lights to the yard area and 2 shed buildings before full ballasting can commence, once this is done we will turn attention to the town scene.

[Ed-farms]

And now for something completely different, Leeds Weeklyn Hill at night.

 

 

D1746 and D27 on shed whilst D9007 and D5211 share some time on the fuelling point. The lights in the shed are Brelec Incandescent effect light bar kit bought from DCC Supplies, although these are designed to go into coaches we found them ideal to light up the shed. Although the instructions appear a little daunting at first when you actually read them and start work it is an easy job and well worth the effort.

 

The yard lights are from 12 volts DC http://www.12voltsdc.co.uk/ based in Birmingham, these lights are simple to install once you realise the wires have a thin film of non-conductive material on but once this was removed the lights worked beautifully. All the lights are wired up to a Hornby train-set controller which in these shots was set to half power - we dare not take it up any more at present in case we blow any of the lights.

 

 

 

After the work on this board we have fitted the same yard lights to the steam board with Hornby Skale scenic lights fitted inside the shed - I have been taking pics of the work required to fit the lights to the steam shed so once it is complete I will upload a guide here as it does make a real difference to the ambiance.

 

This next week should see ballasting started and completed so we can move the board elsewhere to work on the boards individually.

[Ed-farms]

Sorry it has taken a long time to upload these but hopefully they are worth the wait as here are the first views of the steam shed board in its lighted condition.

 

 

An overall view of the shed with shed, yard and street lights all light up. The shed is lit with Skaledale lighting (I am sorting out the guide as to how i did it at the moment). The yard lights are once again 12volts DC lights whilst the street lights are Viessmann lights.

 

Also to be seen are some of the new water cranes, this time we have 1 BR version to join the 4 Midland versions on site - I am sure some shed must have had some water cranes replaced whilst still keeping other older versions in use. The ramp that leads down from Brewery Lane that used to go nowhere now leads into the shed as a workers entrance whilst the previous hole in the fence has moved up the panel and is now bigger thus allowing kids a better chance of sneaking in undetected.

 

 

A view down Brewery Lane at night, must be late as there is not a soul around and all the house lights are off. Since this shot was taken we have purchased some zebra crossing beacons from Layouts4u which will be fitted on the crossing at the far end thus adding another source or lights to the scene.

 

 

A view from across the yard looking towards the public viewpoint, as can be seen we have added point levers next to the points to improve on the detail.

 

 

A view looking into the shed with its lights on, the lights are wrapped around the shed framework in the roof before hanging down at the appropriate point.

 

 

Now we move onto the diesel shed, this shot shows the latest overall progress with the board, ballasting is done with the excellent Knightwing tanks and fuel delivery point in position on the fuel road

 

 

A better view of the fuel tanks with the school behind, the school is a Metcalfe station made into a half relief building to match the rest of the street. The yard will be covered with a sheet of tarmac style paper with a football pitch and hopscotch patch painted on. The school is going to feature cameo's based on Greybridge School from BBC's Ripping Yarns so look out for a bear wrestling kids and the hopping contest winner.

 

 

The other end of the street scene, as with Brewery Lane the lights are Veissmann. To add some colour we have fitted Harburn Hobbies plant features to a small park between the road (Noch Roadways) and the shed.

 

 

Back to the middle of the board, this shows to good effect the excellent Knightwing fuel tanks, behind can be seen the new War Memorial (this is also Harburn) which looks a lot better than the old Hornby version we had. We now have a bike outside Arkwright's so watch out for Granville coming soon.

 

 

The new length of street brought new shops and with it more comedy roots explored. We now have Jack Jones the Butchers, Hodges the Greengrocers, James Fraser the Undertakers (all Dad's Army) and Green Midget Cafe (Monty Python Spam Sketch). As there was no backdrop in the Metcalfe kits we liked we took matters into our own hands. Just visible inside the cafe is a screenshot of the actual sketch - although the public will never see it it is nice for us to know it is there.

 

 

Another of the new features is a phone box, this is from Layouts4u which has a working light inside. The figure was a suggested addition by them to hid the wires to the top of the box.

 

 

Finally, the layout has now been moved to the attic for the Xmas period and given the fact that the only jobs left to do are minor jobs such as painting of figures there will not be any real updates on this thread now until the layout has been assembled in its entirety (for the first time since it has been "Finished") at Bishop Auckland Scots Show on the 20th January. Therefore I would like to thank you all for your support over the last year - it has been a pleasure to show the layout off to so many people and we are looking forward to going back out on the road and meeting more of you in 2012.

 

Finally I wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy new year and hope that the jolly red suited man brings you all the model railway products you want - in fact he is delivering new goodies to Leeds right now.

 

[Ed-farms]

This time last week Leeds Weeklyn Hill was in place for its first show of 2012 at Bishop Auckland Scouts Hall. The layout was making its first public appearance since the new diesel shed board was built and the steam shed board was rebuilt. Apart from a couple of points playing up which was fixed by swapping wires around in the Lenz point decoders the problem was minimised. The show saw the loco fleet reach an eye popping 45 locos including 5 locos chipped on the day before the show. Below are a few shots taken during a quiet spell in the operations.

 

 

The steam shed board, although the track design has remained the same the main change this time round has been some of the scenics, the water tower is now at the front of the board, the hole in the fence is bigger and more prominent whilst point levers, lights and an ash plant have now been added to the set up.

 

 

The central are of the layout featuring Greybridge School, the shopping street and diesel fuel siding. The old diesel fuel road has been set aside for a steam engine cleaning road, which in the future will have a loco undergoing cleaning on display.

 

 

An overall view of the layout looking down towards the diesel shed. The holes in the backscene are to allow the layout to be placed in a box shape for transportation, we are trying to devise a way to hide these holes when the layout is on display.

 

 

A close up of the ash plant/shed area. On display are 34051 Winston Churchill and 60142 Edward Fletcher. Winston features working lamps in the V shape as seen with discs on the great leaders funeral train.

 

 

One final line that was set up was the 4 east coast top link classes - A1 60142 Edward Fletcher, A2 60532 Blue Peter, A3 60093 Coronach and A4 60009 Union of South Africa together outside the shed. We beat Barrow Hill to it by 3 months!

 

We now have a few months break till our next show but we will be working hard to try and cure the point problem permanently and possibly some more scenic work to improve a few small jobs.

[petertg]

A great job. A pity you didn't go for City Square and the Black Prince and nymphs, since you have the Q bus with the City Square destination. I have also built the Metcalf terrace houses and corner shop, the Fish Shop like you. Another common point is the Brown Muffs van.

 

I was in Leeds last month, it's a pity I didn't know of you then.

 

petertg