Barkham Green GWR OO Layout

[vulcanbomber]

I tried posting about this layout as a blog, but I now feel it will work better as a thread


The layout is a work in progress and has been for in existance for nearly five years now.
It is in a bedroom which used to be part of the attic, which the previous owner had installed.
When we first moved into the house, my wife also had her piano in the room.
This restricted the space available and I to build the storage loops under what used to be the eaves.
Which mean the layout was about 2ft off the floor and I could only have 3 storage loops.
I have since negotiated to have the piano moved out on to landing and now have the room to myself other that for an old settee, as part of the agreement the room still has to usable as a bedroom


The room is 12ft x 9ft




When I revised the size of the layout I realised that the area behind the station
No longer looked right and I wanted the corner to be a curve
All of this is built as a module so it was relatively easy to change to




The station building which is based on the GWR one at Langley, where I used to live many years ago, is built around a perspex shell which gives it strength and provides the windows



A view of the building which is dropped into a cutout in the station platform



I've still got to fit a station canopy

.
With the changes to the layout I had a space to fill at the far end under the window.
Then I read "Gas Lane" article in the Hornby Magazine Nov 2009.
So this is my take on it




The shed holding the purifier and washer is scratch built









Alot of scenery has been added since I took this photo

Edited January 27, 2018 by vulcanbomber

[BlackRat]

Nice one!

 

I see you have made good use of the Dapol/Airfix engine shed lamps!

 

About time someone brought out some nice lost was castings of them

[Jules]

Nice to see some more GW green

 

I like the way the station makes use of the corner - looking forward to seeing this develop.

[westerner]

Good to see another GWR/WR layout. I'm going to ask the inevitable question,, Any chance of a track plan.

[The Great Bear]

Again, nice to see another GWR layout. I particularly like the gasworks and the station building. Look forward to seeing more.

[vulcanbomber]

I'll post a sort of track plan later, this will a pic of the computer display I use to control the layout

 

Continuing around the layout in circular sweep, we come to the wood, I wanted this as a scenic break between the Gas Works and Viaduct

 

I started off with Polyfibre balls soaked in Diluted PVA and immersed in flock and stuck on the end of cocktail sticks

 

 

 

Then I made some wire trunks covered in Polyfibre to go at the front.

 

It now looks like this close up

 

 

The next section is the viaduct, this was built as a seperate module in the garage before being bolted on to the layout, and took several months to get right

The Water Mill is a Craftsmaster kit

 

 

 

 

This is how it fits into the layout

 

 

[vulcanbomber]

In the last pic, you can see I was thinking if making the scenic break after the viaduct, by having the train enter a tunnel, when I eventually built the diorama to go with it, it didn't look right.

The scenery didn't seem to flow together, so time for a new idea.

I realised I could add scenery in front of the fiddle yard, Also this meant I could extend the length of the fiddle yard, since originally it had to start after the tunnel.

 

 

 

 

 

[steve fay]

That's a lovely job particularly like the station building and viaduct.

 

[Xerces Fobe2]

Would I be correct in assuming that the layout name is derived from Barkham near Wokingham?

 

By the way I have not being to Langley Station in the daylight recently, however I will endeavour to do so in the near future.

 

XF

[vulcanbomber]

Would I be correct in assuming that the layout name is derived from Barkham near Wokingham?

 

By the way I have not being to Langley Station in the daylight recently, however I will endeavour to do so in the near future.

 

XF

Thanks for update, yes I used to live in Barkham in Wokingham, my daughter gave the station it's name, now making changes to layout, so it will appeal to her daughter!!

Eg adding lighting, I've also have a Christmas present of some Illuminated pullman coaches, not strictly GWR, but I shall run them behind a visiting loco, probably Southern once I decide on a loco. I'm sure she will be delighted to see them go round the layou.

[vulcanbomber]

Moving around again, there is a blank section which still has to be filled, will be starting that in the New Year, haven't decided on what buildings yet.

 

Then we come to the church

 

 

 

 

 

I know the church is a bit of cliche, as is the wedding group

 

The wedding group was added for my grandaughter.

The church is based on the scalescenes card one, which provided the plans and has already been described in the scalescenes thread.

 

We next move to bridge over the door

 

 

 

 

The plug provides power for the tortoise point motors in the fiddle yard from the DCC accessory switch and also provides power to the line by the cutting, If this is not plugged in, power is cut to the track on the right of the bridge.

So that is the bridge is up, trains can't fall over the cliff

[vulcanbomber]

Time to move around the layout again

 

This is an old pic and shows planning for track that has now been layed.

 

 

This shows the corner section, where the shuttle line disapears into a tunnel, as with a lot of my layout the scenery was built a removable module.

 

 

The pub is a Wills Craftsmaster kit

[vulcanbomber]

Well it's raining cats and dogs outside, and the uploader is working again so time for some more postings

 

First we have a pic of my control panel.

 

 

 

As you can see I'm using a PC to control my layout and this also gives a view of track design.

 

I'm running Rocrail to control everything on the layout.

 

All of the points are DCC operated and can either be operated by the software automatically as routes are selected or by clicking on the turnout symbol on the LCD display.

 

 

Normally I run the layout so that the train in platform 1 shuttle automatically back and forwards between the platform and the tunnel.

 

The trains in the outer fiddle yard run automatically to set a sequence controlled by the computer.

 

The trains in the inner fiddle yard I run manually, so I can easily do shunting etc. although I now find I get more pleasure in just watchinhg the trains go around.

 

 

The next pic is overall view of the layout from the entrance door. showing the currently installed lighting in the station area

 

 

 

 

|The next view show the latest state of the Gas Works and the wood next to it.

 

 

 

Thought I'd post pics of some trains for a change

 

This is the new Hornby 38xx class crossing the viaduct

 

 

Next is Dapol County of Chester with a couple of Hornby pullmans which are this years Christmas present.

The Dapol county is getting long is the tooth now and the motor is definetly underpowered and I',m trying to decide what to do

Either buy a new County, try fiiting a new Chassis or fit new magnets.

 

 

 

Next we have a 57xx pulling a rake of triang clerestories, which I repainted myself, I cheated here, since you only see one side of the coaches on the layout, that is only one painted!

The bogies have been replaced by Hornby BRMK1 's

 

 

Next we a Bachmann Sketty Hall pulling a rake of four Collet coaches,

 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

The scenes of the viaduct and water mill certainly evoke Oldbury Viaduct on the Severn valley Railway.....

 

The Goods Shed looks interesting. I take it that it is another of your rather good scratch building projects?

 

Lots of lovely space!

[Neal Ball]

You have a great layout - firstly apologies that I have only just found the thread! - Secondly the questions!!

 

I like the station building - how did you get the angles right for the roof?

 

Did you scratchbuild the viaduct?

 

You have put me to shame that my portion of the GWR is taking so long to come together :-( - I must get a move on!

 

Keep up the good work and keep posting the 'photos.

[witherbrow]

superb - i want my railway room to be just like this

[vulcanbomber]

The scenes of the viaduct and water mill certainly evoke Oldbury Viaduct on the Severn valley Railway.....

 

The Goods Shed looks interesting. I take it that it is another of your rather good scratch building projects?

 

Lots of lovely space!

The goods shed was stratch built and is loosely based on Tetbury. It was made around a perspex shell like the station, so much easier to add glazing then.

The goods shed was intially added when the track layout was planned, I should add the scenic parts were only loosley planned. With a layout getting on for 5 years old it' was bound to evolve and I make it up as I go along, As one bit of scenery is finished I see what would look good, also having the web availble now give me lots of new ideas.

 

For instance as I've already said I like to watch trains going around and I'm not really into shunting etc, this meant the goods shed was never used to it's full potential, even the points around the shed haven't beebn automated as I rarely operate them.

However I saw this new diorama on GWR modelling http://www.flickr.com/photos/beachcomber_bob/sets/72157627588047959/, which by the has recently been updated after laying dormant for sometime.

 

So what I'm planning to do long term is to turn the Goods shed area, into a static diorama.

[vulcanbomber]

You have a great layout - firstly apologies that I have only just found the thread! - Secondly the questions!!

 

I like the station building - how did you get the angles right for the roof?

 

Did you scratchbuild the viaduct?

 

You have put me to shame that my portion of the GWR is taking so long to come together :-( - I must get a move on!

 

Keep up the good work and keep posting the 'photos.

 

To be honest I can't remember how I designed and built the roof for the station, it was my first building on a previous layout and is over 20 years old now. The building is down for a major upgrade when I get some up to date pics of Langly station.

 

The viaduct was stratch built in the garage as a seperate module and took about three months work. The main problem was with it being on a curve and making sure the arches all ran a 90 degrees to the track wall. Fortunately because you can't see the other side I only to do the arches for one side.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

The goods shed was stratch built and is loosely based on Tetbury. It was made around a perspex shell like the station, so much easier to add glazing then.

<SNIPPED>

So what I'm planning to do long term is to turn the Goods shed area, into a static diorama.

 

I thought it looked different from the available kits.

 

I can see your point, watching the trains is good therapy too.

 

Thanks for drawing my attention to those Diorama photos, very nice.

[MinZaPint]

This is inspirational stuff, I've enjoyed the thread and will be watching for updates.

[vulcanbomber]

Been busy with woodwork, I've made the last piece of the jigsaw to go between the church and the manor/hotel, which the village building will fit on.

I'll pst some pics when we get some sunshine to take pics.

I hit a major problem after fitting it however, it brought back into true the piece of layout behind the church, so the lift out section by the door no longer lined up, so I've had to spend a day fixing that.

 

I solved another problenm I was having with the Bachmann 45xx. I brought this on Ebay and it never ran very well. So I placed it on my new rolling road and couldn't see any problem. However I had left the pony trucks unsupported, and when I placed it back on the layout it kept stopping and starting again.

It suddenly dawned on me that what was happening, was that the brass strip under the pony trucks was bent too much, causing in effect the pony trucks to lift the loco off the rails!

I removed both pony trucks and ran the loco quite successfully then I adjusted the spring under the rear pony truck and refitted that. Again it ran fine.

However no matter what I tried, I had no joy with the front truck, if I reduced the tension on the copper strip the bogie kept leaving the rails over points, increasing the tension I was back to square one again.

I'm trying a fix at the moment which so far seems to work, I removed the copper strip and added some lead weight on top of the truck held in place with blue tack foir the moment.

It's seems to be running alright so far

[vulcanbomber]

I've not posted for a year so I thought an update was due, most of the effort has gone into adding a new scenic section, ballasting and adding more lighting

 

Pics below

 

 

The grass is a bit too green but haven't added more autumn static grass yet

 

 

Scenery work done in Gas Works and added new railside poster with lighting

 

 

Lighting added to Gasworks buildings

 

 

Lighting added to Mill

 

 

Lighting added to big house/Hotel, biggest problem was stopping light leaking out from back of building since it  is half relief

Solved by  use of blue tack!

 

 

 

Run out of time now will post more tomorrow

 

 

[vulcanbomber]

I've made a start of my next building a row of Workers cottages

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictures are quite good at picking at details that need more attention

 

It will eventually have a fitted interior and lighting

 

 

[westerhamstation]

Great modelling, wish i had a settee.

[john flann]

Looking good, I particularly liked the coved corners. Very effective.