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Much Murkle - back on the road


nickwood
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Thanks guys. It's interesting to hear your views on the photoshopped backgrounds. When I first saw the photos after the shoot I went 'WOW!" but the more I looked at them, I started to see the things that are not immediately noticeable, for example the lack of roads leading away from the bridges. Not so apparent on the lower shots though I agree. Perhaps I'm a little too close to it.

 

One thing I will say though is that Trevor Jones does knows how to light a layout. :declare:

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Nick, the main thing is not to be too critical - or you'll end up driving yourself crazy! There are always missing details - I'm terrible when it comes to correct signal positions, point rodding and - what about telegraph poles...how many actually have wires?...

 

Your layout is very popular because it looks right (don't worry about the odd road or two!) on the whole. I certainly enjoy looking at it!!

 

Jeff

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Hi Nick,

I have to add my voice to the chorus of approval for your masterpiece!

I must say that having studied both the 'Hornby' pictures and your own - I like yours better! I hope that doesn't sound too fawning but the 'Hornby' pictures (for me) are a little too clinical, good as they are! Maybe that's one reason why today's magazines don't have the impact (with me) that they used to?

I didn't see the magazine article, which is a shame but I'm more than happy to keep reading about your work on here, so please: keep on writing and photographing!

Cheers,

John E.

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Hi Nick

 

Great work and a fantastic layout, like others who have commented I think the photoshopped background is very good. I too have just started a GWR branch and need to include a lot of the things you have on yours, if I can achieve anything close to your work I will be more than happy. Some of the things are the timber framing on the station building, short flat topped water tower and the general yard appearance.

 

I shall look forward to more on this.

 

Jim

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Nick, the main thing is not to be too critical - or you'll end up driving yourself crazy! There are always missing details - I'm terrible when it comes to correct signal positions, point rodding and - what about telegraph poles...how many actually have wires?...

 

Your layout is very popular because it looks right (don't worry about the odd road or two!) on the whole. I certainly enjoy looking at it!!

 

Jeff

 

Thanks Jeff, I realise that photos always show up things that you just don't pick up under normal viewing conditions. No harm in striving to improve by a bit of self criticism though at times.

 

Just lovely....well done!

 

Dave

 

Thank you Dave. I've just had a look at your layout thread for the first time and take your comment on my humble efforts as a great compliment.

 

Hi Nick,

 

I have to add my voice to the chorus of approval for your masterpiece!

I must say that having studied both the 'Hornby' pictures and your own - I like yours better! I hope that doesn't sound too fawning but the 'Hornby' pictures (for me) are a little too clinical, good as they are! Maybe that's one reason why today's magazines don't have the impact (with me) that they used to?

I didn't see the magazine article, which is a shame but I'm more than happy to keep reading about your work on here, so please: keep on writing and photographing!

Cheers,

John E.

 

That's very kind of you to say so John and the same comment has been made on another forum I use. For me the biggest difficulties with home photography are

a) the lighting. I can get good light onto the layout but have diffivculty avoiding harsh shadows, particularly on the backscene boards, and accepting the limitations of my camera to get good depth of field.

 

Hi Nick

 

Great work and a fantastic layout, like others who have commented I think the photoshopped background is very good. I too have just started a GWR branch and need to include a lot of the things you have on yours, if I can achieve anything close to your work I will be more than happy. Some of the things are the timber framing on the station building, short flat topped water tower and the general yard appearance.

 

I shall look forward to more on this.

 

Jim

 

Jim, I was a complete scenic novice when I started MM and had only limited experience of making building kits before constructing the Weighbridge Office which was my first scratchbuild. If I can do anyone can. Have you started your own layout thread as I would like to see how you progress?

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Jim, I was a complete scenic novice when I started MM and had only limited experience of making building kits before constructing the Weighbridge Office which was my first scratchbuild. If I can do anyone can. Have you started your own layout thread as I would like to see how you progress?

 

 

Couldn't agree more with this comment. It's easy to think you can't achieve something, but you don't know 'til you try, do you? Like Nick, I'd encourage anyone to start their own thread and they will soon receive tons of positive feedback from Forum members.

 

Jeff

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Jim, I was a complete scenic novice when I started MM and had only limited experience of making building kits before constructing the Weighbridge Office which was my first scratchbuild. If I can do anyone can. Have you started your own layout thread as I would like to see how you progress?

 

 

Hi Nick

 

I will be posting something soon as I have just started to lay some track for Hemyock, I just need to check the alignment against the pictures I have. Progress will probably be slow until I get my new workshop next year, in the meantime I will be inspired by work like yours and have a go.

 

Jim

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Does anyone have a link to the Video///

David

 

Hi David

I assume that you have a problem seeing the embedded video in post 10. The link you need to copy into your browser is

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7fCpwDSzqI

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Hi Nick,

 

As a native of Herefordshire (and a particular fan of Mr. Henry Weston's golden drink), I would like to say that you've done an absolutely fantastic job of setting and capturing the scene. It's simply the model of a lifetime, and more than once I was wondering if your photographs were photographs of the real thing! Your poppy seed apples are simply an inspired idea, and I don't think your premise of a rail-served cider mill is too far from the truth since Westons did dispatch their finished product via the GWR at their local station for many years (I would imagine from Ledbury on the Hereford to Worcester line, but I do remember reading somewhere that it was somewhere along the Hereford, Gloucester & Ross). But I think that's probably drifting too far from the point of this post.

 

One thing I would like to ask, is how did you lay the grass in your fields? It looks too perfect (by which I mean both perfectly applied, and completely realistic) to be static grass - but then again, as the rest of your model has been so skillfully made it probably is!

 

I am only familiar with the modern railways (I'm mid-20's), and as such my two "attempts" at layout building have been firmly set in the modern era (or recent past), and all I have is the relics of the GWR and Western Region. But your model is truly inspirational, and I am seriously considering building a GWR layout based on another Herefordshire station in the future!

 

All the best

 

 

Andy

 

P.S. Please let us know if / when you will be appearing at exhibitions!

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Hi Andy

 

Thanks for those comments, very kind of you. When researching I came across a number of photos of Cider Factory installations in the Hereford area in the early to mid 1900's including a staged photo in Bulmer's yard that was the inspiration for the loading dock in Rancoutt's yard.

 

The shorter field grass is Woodland Scenics medium turf. The longer grasses are static grass, a mixture of spring and winter fibres from Mininatur.

 

If I'm ever fortunate enough to get an exhibition invite I'll post the details here.

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Watching the video Nick I noticed that in course of shunting you had to move the coal wagons and return them and this, of course, is because of the placement of the coal depot at the front end of the siding rather than the more customary back end.

 

However, I suggest that.if you had a trailing or facing siding to serve the coal depot the unloading of the wagons could carry on unimpaired other than when the coal siding itself was being shunted. More prototypical, I think you will find.

 

There would seem to be room to enable this to be done without detriment to MM as a whole and the cameo. Personally I think it would enhance the layout and make shunting more straightforward. It was usually done against the clock and this seems an unnecessary complication..

 

You will re-call we did discuss this earlier but seeing the video brought it home again.

 

Any more thoughts on the matter?

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Watching the video Nick I noticed that in course of shunting you had to move the coal wagons and return them and this, of course, is because of the placement of the coal depot at the front end of the siding rather than the more customary back end.

 

However, I suggest that.if you had a trailing or facing siding to serve the coal depot the unloading of the wagons could carry on unimpaired other than when the coal siding itself was being shunted. More prototypical, I think you will find.

 

Nothing wrong with shunting out coal wagons and putting them back - quite often had to be done at smaller stations where there wasn't enough siding space to create a separate one for the coal merchants. And of course it could happen in large coal yards with dead end sidings because it seemed to be inevitable that the first wagons to be emptied were those on the blocks so everything else had to be shunted to one side to get them out - not much fun as sometimes 20 or 30 wagons had to be shunted clear just to get at one!

The shunting itself didn't take long - a matter of a few minutes - but getting everybody clear and making sure wagon doors were properly secured could be time consuming although at a small station that was quite easily arranged in advance.

 

Generally siding areas dedicated to coal handling would be kept clear of everything else to minimise the dust and mess although at my local station coal and goods tended to get a bit mixed up on the long back siding but coal was generally kept away from the blocks end near the good shed. Here no coal went to ground usually being loaded direct to delivery vehicles but even so part emptied wagons had to be shunted out to get at or berth other vehicles.

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Thank you both. It is obviously a compromise when you have limited space and I'm not averse to anyone making comments or suggestions of this nature. I am not likely to take up your suggestion this time John as I was very keen to get as spacious a feel as I could in the small space that I have. An extra siding would take some of this away I feel and at this time I also have no appetite to start ripping up scenery and laying more track.

 

I was well aware when I designed Much Murkle that the siting of the coal yard was probably not the best place along the siding, but if it was at the end of the siding then other goods traffic unloaded where the coal yard is now would have to exit the yard through the coal yard, not too desireable either I think. It also helps give a little more interest to the shunting being sited where it is.

 

Also I have plenty of other things to be getting on with, not least the fascia and lighting rig. More of which soon...

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Having completed the cassettes and played trains for a while, my thoughts have now turned to improving Much Murkle's presentation in the hope that I might one day get that elusive first exhibition invite. Truth is that I have spent more time when visiting exhibitions this year looking at the presentation of layouts more than the layouts themselves.

 

I have always intended that MM would have a deep fascia to the front and side with integral lighting but I have been struggling with the design of a cantilevered structure to support it. It wasn't until I saw Moor Street at Railex earlier this year who's fascia and lighting was supported by spur shelving that a solution came to mind. I had the good fortune recently that my wifes employer were getting of some spur shelving and there was just enough for what I needed and I got it FREE, result !!

 

I've made a start, six upright slots are bolted to the baseboards, inset 70mm from the end of each board. The biggest problem was getting them aligned so that the slots were completely level in relation to each other. Lucky I have a laser level then :imsohappy:

 

Two of the uprights

902633572_Fascia001small.jpg.7625f197ee22a6b0b01b231546ec3e8e.jpg

 

Bolted to the baseboard, they are surprisingly strong.

1539293653_Fascia002small.jpg.1d08f7182877882a3122e3a364a38511.jpg

 

The brackets which slot in. I drilled two holes through the side of the first bracket and then used this as a jig clamped to the others to ensure that the holes were all in the same position.

411121829_Fascia003small.jpg.5d398269e4f31cd59ebe83f8b619e65b.jpg

 

I had a number of hardboard strips cut to exactly 100mm wide, left by some roofers when they laid the flat roof on my garage extension last year. I knew they would come in handy some day. I cut them into 600mm lengths and again using the first clamp as a jig drilled holes so that I could bolt one strip to each side of the bracket. The top back corner was cut off to ensure it didn't foul the upright when removing it. The photo shows the bracket temporarily in place.

127434544_Fascia004small.jpg.b5d5537b46eb50b3a35c4c67c2bd0991.jpg

 

Hardboard is quite flexible on its own so needs to be braced. The brackets are 12mm wide so I sourced some 12mm thick softwood to provide the "meat in the sandwich" which provides all the stiffness needed. Strips glued into position on one side. The short strip on the end will provide the fixing for the slot on fascia and needs to be absolutely square and flush with the end of both hardboard strips.

898646316_Fascia005small.jpg.aeb6226a5e73b41274cbdbfb7f4e3477.jpg

 

A number of glued brackets weighted until thoroughly dry.

522913699_Fascia006small.jpg.7bf0d9a8ba62f1c7ab3b7c38066b994a.jpg

 

and finally (for now) a completed bracket ready for the next stage.

223894133_Fascia007small.jpg.cbabd59841aa79c2f8e750408276ba62.jpg

 

More to come soon ....

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Bit more progress with the fascia to report. Each bracket now has a 100mm deep strip of 6mm ply glued and screwed to the ends. The short end of each strip is set to be directly over the line of the baseboard ends.

1917807925_Fascia008small.jpg.1005b1adcb835cdcb70508386e39a402.jpg

 

The first pair in place.

1447309261_Fascia009small.jpg.53d43a30e1d9d974b47d41525b44741c.jpg

 

The fascia board itself is another strip of 6mm ply, cut 1220mm long and 250mm wide. A short, approx 300mm long x 50mm strip of 6mm ply is glued 10mm below what will be the top edge of the fascia and when dry two further pieces of 6mm ply are glued to this strip at each end so that they correspond with the projections on the bracket.

804760854_Fascia010small.jpg.7396b01b1904a9c85b3f65a9f40f5611.jpg

 

A close up of one end.

944011266_Fascia011small.jpg.83234367f3fcfe4fc5d7e838d3ced122.jpg

 

Confused?? All will become clear in the next photo. The fascia simply drops over the brackets holding itself in place.

1540528644_Fascia013small.jpg.030e2069a5a8fb6edfcd8ff030c712f0.jpg

 

...and from the front.

1187200434_Fascia012small.jpg.5c2e4ae1eeea96defcd346d0b2e25ae4.jpg

 

The second fascia can be seen ready for fitting to the left of the layout, but before I can finish things off I need to make the extension to the fiddle yard board.

 

That's all for now folks.

Edited by nickwood
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Did you mention what type of lighting you would be using?

 

I favour LEDs (I use these on my layout) - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/16FT-5M-12V-Flexible-300-LED-5050-SMD-Strip-Light-White-Car-Light-7-/200790213077?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ec00781d5#ht_3694wt_1141

 

Blindingly bright - don't operate this layout from the back with these lights!

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