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Nell's Bridge


Jack

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Well, March is here and that annoying thing called real life still keeps getting in the way :(  In fact, he's wailing like a banshee as I type ...

 

The only changes have been to the stock roster.  25 054 is off to sunnier climes and will hopefully find gainful employment elsewhere.  It has been replaced by another 25, plus two industrial shunters which are still in the works ... an Austerity tank, being renamed 'Hanover' and a jinty, soon to become 'Redlake'.  Photos will follow, although any serious collectors should probably look away as the jinty was one of the Cheltenham models limited editions before I removed the '16440' and replaced it with plates from Narrow Planet!

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  • 4 months later...

Whats 5 months between friends ... the dust covers have been off today for a little play before loading up the layout for its journey to a new home.  PLugged it all in and switched it on and everything worked first time.  A couple of bits of scenery have come loose, and the sticky pads I used to hold he wiring in place appear to have all lost their stick, so when we get to the new house and everything is sorted I'll have to try a different method of tidying the cables.

 

There may even be somewhere to set this up and work on it permanently in the new place ...

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  • 3 months later...

Managed to get a day working on the layout yesterday.

 

All the sticky pads were removed (well, the ones which hadn't removed themselves, and I replaced them with nailed cable hooks and cable ties.  that should prove to be more lasting.

 

I also removed the buildings so I could put the photo backscene on.  That was, er, not a great success, so I'm hoping to get a day in december where I can repair the damage and take some pics.

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK, I'm hoping for a session or two on Nell's Bridge next week.  One of the jobs left to do is the interior of the 'former goods shed'.

 

Since it is curved and open at the back I tried putting a material curtain up to hide the back of the layout.  Its not really clear in post 2, but the curtain was rubbish, so i removed it a couple of weeks ago when i installed the photo backscene. 

 

Plan B, created after reading the Model Rail article on realistic tunnels, is to mount a photo of the inside of a goods shed inside the goods shed to try and create the illusion of contents (and hide the electromagnet switches).

 

Does anyone know a good source (or have) a good quality image of the inside of a 1950s/60s/70s goods shed?  I have a few, but they won't stand up very well to reproduction in a large enough size.

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  • 4 months later...

A suprising time slot opened up this weekend, so Nell's Bridge has been out for some re-working ...

 

post-7154-0-87777300-1398083072.jpg

 

 

Firstly the backscene.  I actually added this a while ago.  Although it is an improvement I didn't apply it very well (hence the line where two halves join) ... another thing to add to the list for next time!!

 

I was going to scratch build the dairy building, but the Bachmann item came up very cheaply and fitted the bill, especially as it is open to the rest of the world.  A couple of hours with the internet and GIMP and I have a suitable interior, plus a floor made from Wills sheets and the remains of the box.

 

I've added yard lights from the Train$ave range, very happy with them, although I had to buy an OnTracks converter board otherwise it would have been yet another power pack behind the layout.

 

I've re-glued all the bits that had fallen off in the last couple of house moves.  Hopefully they are more secure this time.

 

Finally, I removed as much of the greenery as I could.  It was done in a hurry for the 2007 comp and I was never very happy with it.  So, I stripped it back, painted it in matt earth and will re-do it at some point ...

 

... which given work commitments and childcare, could be quite a while yet.

 

What made me happiest was the fact I unwrapped nell's bridge after being in storage for 3 years and it all worked first time :)

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  • 11 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Is there an Easter 2015 update?

 

Easter 2015 was insanely busy work wise.  I also had to fore go some of my other hobbies such as sleeping and eating ;)

 

However, here is the Summer 2015 update - although sadly it is now 15 months since Nell's Bridge saw the light of day.

 

I can't remember which article it was, but one of the Railway Modeller articles was talking about private owner loco fleets.  This was of course referring to narrow gauge modelling and mentioned how rarely we see private owner standard gauge fleets (at least on this side of the pond).  This article, and Rev Audrey's biography by Brian Sidley got me thinking ...

 

... so now Nell's Bridge is in the process of gaining its own locomotive fleet.  All very improbable, but as they say, it's my trainset!

 

The locomotive fleet currently comprises of a Bachmann Jinty, Bachmann 57xx pannier, Hornby J94, Hornby Caledonian Pug and a Bachmann Wainwright C.  All except the latter I believe found their way into private owner hands at some point.  The C class is substituting for an O1 (which did work privately) as my kit building skills still arn't up to it yet.  These locos have had their original identities removed and new names and numbers supplied by Narrow Planet.  I have no connection except as a very satisifed customer of their 4mm and 7mm plates.

 

This weekend two new additions have been made to the fleet in the form of a re-painted pill box brake van and an ex-BR class 03.  The latter was acquired from Chatham show for a bargain price.  It was in BR blue, but the owner had replaced the double arrow logo with a lion and wheel ... not sure why.

 

Both vehicles have been disassembled, cleaned up and resprayed bright red using humbrol cans ... and what a pain in the tail-end that was.  The paint went on OK, but the spray varnish turned both models milky white.  Thankfully the interweb came to the rescue and I found some military models who cured the problem by cleaning the models in olive oil (and washing them afterwards).  It took 2 attempts, but really did the trick, although I have vowed never to use humbrol spray varnish again.  Next up I had to replace the glazing as I forgot to mask the inside (doh!).  When I fitted the replacement I used super glue which ... went white too ... thankfully the interweb rescued me again and a quick trip to Boots sorted me out with some acetone.

 

For anyone thinking of doing something similar to the latest Bachmann 03 all I would say is, allow plenty of time ... it took me longer to re-assemble the darn thing than it did to apply 3 layers of paint and 2 layers of varnish. 

 

However, it is now done and it is immensly satisfying to do it myself, despite all the mistakes!  When I manage to retrieve our digital camera I'll post some pics ...

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Sorry for the pic quality ...

 

... here is the 03.  It has already been chipped and the next job is to get some number plates for it.  I'll be numbering it 114 after the military police unit I worked with in Germany.  It seems appropriate given they painted anything that didn't move fast enough bright red ;)

 

As can be seen from the pic, I still need to give the glazing another dose of acetone.  Lesson learnt regarding glazing and super glue!!  I'm not sure what the white spots are on the running plate, but they wouldn't come off, so a drop of black paint will be used next time its out.

 

post-7154-0-89207900-1439577700.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

A further stock update.  All three Wainwright C's and the Midland 3f have had DCC Concepts wiper pickups added to the rear two axles of their tenders.  This turned out to be a lot more straight forward than I had been expecting.

 

The pickups were glued and screwed to the under side of the tenders, then wires run from each contact through the outer-most speaker hole and up to the relevant contact on the top of the PCB in the tender.  The only hiccup was the 3F - the terminals on the PCB are on the opposite side to the one you'd expect.

 

The whole operation took less than 2 hours and has made a huge difference.  I need feel a bit nervous modifiying my '592', know that any mistakes could be very costly to repair!

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