Gresby - N Gauge Great Central (MS&LR 90s-2000s)

[BernardTPM]

Excellent work, Simon!

Regarding road markings, I did once measure out a whole load of them for someone who wanted to do some rub-down transfers and things like bus-stops and the zig-zags for crossings do take a lot of space. In many cases it's best to compress it slightly, unless you have a really large or long road. With the zig-zags there are some location in real life where they are shorter than usual, so there's often some kind of precedent to follow.

[grahame]

I'm very impressed with the speed of your modelling.

 

With regards to centre white lines I think you'll find that the length of the dashes vary depending on road circumstance. They seem to increase in length with increasing danger/hazards such as at bends and where drivers should take more care. Check out a copy of the highway code - rule 127 in particular.

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070306

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_070563.pdf

 

G.

[MrSimon]

Hi,

Thank you for your replies and the links to Direct Gov (I'd forgotten all the highway code was online!) I'm going to scratch a bit more off the centre lines off but not too much because I still want it to be a hazard line - theres a bus stop, short stay parking, station entrance and a staggered junction. I've never noticed before but on the directgov PDF and on google maps around Newark the length of the white line for the standard centre line is the same length as the length of gap on the hazard warning line, and viceversa...

I've had a few weeks spare so I thought I'd cram as much modelling in as possible - I'm not normally this fast at modelling

I've still not started the cable box or the weathering but the fire hydrant thing is drying and I finished off half of the bridge pier by the station entrance.


Just needs a spot of varnish on the sign and some weathering on the sign (I'll weather when I do the rest of the side) I seem to have nailed my colours to the mast and gone for a Central Trains managed station, at the northern end of the Robin Hood line - but not on the actual line, on the sheffield to Lincoln bit so the line branding might be wrong...

Must start weathering!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

I sat, I looked, I weathered... I messed up. Booo weathering, yay clean clean world! If only I'd modelled somewhere clean...

I quite like weathering rolling stock - especially other peoples rolling stock - but I've discovered that my mind freezes when confronted with a piece of scenery and I apply weathering powder like royal icing. I had to repaint one of the bridge piers and start again, but it looks ok now; but I won't be sure until I see it in the cold light of day!

In other news I scraped away a bit more of the white lines and I think they look about right now. I also nipped down to Newark Castle and took some photos of the notice boards and printed them out (8mm high) to go with the route maps I found online to make up the boards outside the station:


This isn't the side I weathered too much. I've still not been able to get the camera to focus on the hydrant, and the cable box is drying, but I'll get photo's of them both tomorrow when I am ready to install the pavements. Tomorro's going to be a busy day for me!

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Ladies and Gentlemen today is bridge fitting day.

It'll either be a quick job where everything fits first time or it will take forever with things needing cutting and filing and painting...


The obligatory before shot


The bits to fit. I've got some people to go under the bridge, but they'll be stuck to the pavement just before its glued down and will be one of the last things to do.

Time for breakfast then its go go go.

Lots to do

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

[First hour]

Not really an hours work but a lot of progress all the same:


I added some card bracing to the back of the station entrance which should hopefully stop it bowing inwards.


I layed some strips of card to help form the cant in the road and I unscrewed the trackbed, it raises high enough to hopefully fit the bridges under... hopefully.

Lots to do

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

[second hour]

Its been a bit longer than an hour but it seemed best to wait until things were glued and drying before posting...


First up, I test fit the road, marked its absolute final position and then glued it. You can sort of see the cant, but its N gauge so it doesn't need to be massive!


I didn't get any pictures of wrestling the bridge pieces into place, it went better than I thought it would but was definately a one way trip! Here is the street as soon as it had been fitted, I wasn't sure if the bottom was sticking out or the top was being pushed in. On furthur investigation I found that the girder on the rear bridge was 1mm too long.

 
There was some damage to the side with the fat lady, but they can be easily fixed and weathered away


All works were overseen by the works forman.


Pushing the station entrance so it stood straight.


Repaired side, I've got some posters to go over the line - and a spot of paint! 1mm was taken off the side girder here.

Everythings drying at the moment, the next job is double checking that stock is still able to cross the bridge, finish the cable box and finish off the under bridge parts of the pavements so they can be fitted later.

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

[Third hour]


The works foreman took a nap while I double checked the clearances, I then cemented the bridge sides away from the track to ensure they don't warp back over to foul passing trains.


I test fit the pavement to check where I wanted things like the hydrant, cable box, bus stop and people.

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

[Fourth hour]

Well the line is back open for traffic and now the pavements are furnished and installed. Apart from the bus stop sign post and a tiny bit of touching up the sides of the billboards its done! Wooo!


Two Bachman people... she has to stand still to send a text and he wants to get back to the car - the eternal dilemma haha!


A Manchester Airport service wais to depart Gresby, on street level the pavement outside the station door is finished, the blond lady is watching a brawl outside the pub accroos the road (to be constructed). I've also put down the last bit of the road surface.


The station entrance from the front of the layout.


The bus stop (awaiting post) with two people waiting for the bus. Note cable box and fire hydrant.


The bus stop again. A spot of weathering and touching up are needed but this section of the street is just about done.

I might have a rest this afternoon...

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

Here are a few more pictures of this mornings work - everytime I see pictures I see things I need to fix - like a cross on the pavement between someones legs I think the next packages of work will be the platform edging and booking hall/steps, ballasting and detailing the trackbed, finish off the house, back garden and yard, I'm not sure which to do first...


The fire hydrant!

Two gauging runs over the bridges. When I last test fit the bridge sides class 66s hit the parapet thing, I've not done anything to them but now they miss by about 5mm... spooky! For some reason the bridge side looks like its leaning back - I'm going to have to check to see if its some sort of fisheye effect on the camera or if it is actually leaning.

Leammington tomorrow!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[Southernboy]

That really looks convincing: A multitude of well observed details nicely reproduced - you've certainly given me some inspiration (and put my pace of work to shame!)

 

Thanks for the 'step-by-step' pictures and commentary. It can be interesting and helpful to see the work process in detail.

[ECML180]

Some fantastic progress there! I wish I could build that well and that quick!

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Simon

 

Great work. Please keep the pictures coming!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[MrSimon]

Hi,

 

Thank you for your comments, its been a bit of a crazy day getting it all fitted! I'm not really a fast modeller - I've been working on the viaduct walls on and off since March and it all sort of came together in the last two weeks. My main problem is prevarication; I'll put off difficult jobs for as long as possible. I couldn't really put off the bridge for much longer because it was starting to hold up other work, like the platform and trackbed

 

There'll be plenty more to keep me busy with over the next few weeks, the layout is 7ft by 12inches and I have finished a 3 inch strip (excluding the trackbed above) and now I'm going to have to do the rest to the same standard! I'll definately keep the pictures coming

 

Thanks again

 

Simon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

Leammington was good yesterday, show in the morning and a mooch round town in the afternoon. The leyland national on the Bachmann stand looked just the ticket for the layout, even if I have to repaint it into a local livery... and I'm going to have to find a home for a rake of the JPAs they had on show!

I came out relatively unscathed trade-stand wise, I bought two cars from Japan Model Railways (and I wish I'd bought a truck too) relay cabinets from N Brass (which I reckon I can model with the doors open) and two shades of brick red paint. Who knows, maybe one day I'll exhibit there...?

My Dad bought a pack of the Tomix scharfenberg (spelt wrong I think) couplings that fit a normal coupling box - a whole pack and he's only got one 158 and won't be buying more - so it seemed right and proper that I fit them to my 158s too!


My Japanese is a little rusty so I used the pictures to guess how they went together. I'm assuming no glue is needed!


Here are the couplings fitted to my Transpennine set, I'm not sure why dad bought grey ones so they'll need a spot of black/mucky paint on them - but they look loads better than the rapidos.


The main reason for fitting them rather than just normal dummy scharfenburgs was that the Tomix ones couple to the couplings used by Dapol on the 156 and 153 (and hopefully the 142 too) they leave a bit of a gap between the units, and one day I might investigate mounting the coupling a bit closer into the coupling box, but I'm not too worried about it. One thing I did find out was due to the way the close coupler works on the Dapol unit and the absence of a close coupler on a Bachmann unit, the inside wheel on the Bachnamm bogie derails on some tight curves (I tested on some of Dads tight unitrack as an extreme) I think its because there is no 'pivot' in the Bachmann System and the Dapol being body mounted and pivotted required non matching stock to throw furthur than it ordinarily would... if that makes sense? [i could produce a set of better explaining pictures if anyones interested]


One thing I've thought of doing for a while was the front valance modification to the 158. It does look loads better, however it doesn't seem to work too well with the coupling still in situ - even a Tomix one - so I'm not sure whether to detach the coupling box and body mount it (in which case I'm not sure how that will affect the performance of the couplings) or file it a bit on the back so everything works well and try it on a gentler radius of track. I'm not going to convert any other units just yet, I'll decide what to do when I've made an extension to the layout and know what the minimum radius curves the units will have to traverse.

Seems odd not writing about scenery! I'm off to repaint one of my Japanese cars now, I'm not sure if that particular shade of Japanesey yellow would go down well in north Nottinghamshire!

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Evenin' all!

I gave one of the N-Brass relay cabinets a go:

Its come out alright, I must admit I'm not a big fan of folding brass, especially as my favourite brass folding pliers are in storage, but I think these cabinets are just the ticket.

I never did paint that car...

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

I didn't get much done yesterday, I seem to be flagging after last weeks push to get the bridge done

My next little project will be sorting out the trackbed around the station throat, I want to get it ready for ballasting before I have to pack everything away. I've been painting bits ready to be stuck down (maybe today or tomorrow)


Relay cabinets (I think these need a second coat and maybe a spot of weathering and some signage)


Dummy point motors (I'm going to have to find some pictures of these online and see what detail they should have)


AWS ramps - 88p bargain from Grantham show! I'm not entirely sure where these should go, it says 12" from the signal but I don't know how this would apply to signals at the end of terminating platforms

I got a bit of non-trackbed work done too, I painted the Tomix couplings on the 158s and ended up picking out the whole underframes in a sort of dirty paint:

It doesn't show too well here, but it looks quite good and i think just needs a waft of weathering powders to finish (Then comes weathering the bodysides and roofs but I'll save that for a rainy day)


The light red brick paint didn't work too well, its a bit too red and makes the house look like my old studnet house in Preston which isn't the look I'm aiming for! I'm going to have a go at mixing a slightly orangybrowner colour and applying it differently... I'll tidy up around the windows when the walls are painted.

So much to do!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[grahame]

Whose are the dummy point motors - they look good?

 

A word of advise about the AWS ramps; ensure they are fittted as low as possible as the dropper on rapido couplers can catch on them if they droop just a little.

 

G.

[MrSimon]

Hi Graham and Carl,

Thank you for your comments; I'll certainly look into TPWS for the platforms rather than ATP... if I end up sticking with ATP I'll certainly make sure everything clears them before sticking them down (although I probably won't stick either down until I've ballasted)

The dummy point motors are just the Peco SL-347 dummy point motors - I'd had a few suggestions of which to get and then saw these on the wall in Total N gauge in Hucknall.


Here they are waiting to be glued down, I've also glued the relay cabinets down and the under-the-track-orange-cable-pipes are drying. It all needs a good weather and some weeds!

Today I decided to cancel the repaint of the Yellow Tomytec car after seeing two in Newark Morrisons, but I did paint the rear number plate yellow... then I stuck it down where the rear number plate will probably never be seen!
 

I'm not sure how many different cars I've posed in this spot, but now I've got a car of my own I couldn't really park it anywhere else! I think at the moment its still my favourite viewpoint on the layout.

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[Southernboy]

Every picture a winner! I particularly like all the work your doing around the points prior to ballasting.

 

I can see the fire hydrant better in that last photo, it's really neat. I guess that's a home-made job?

[The_Cuckoo]

Nice steady progress (unlike my own project) the updates are excellent, please keep them coming.

 

 

[grahame]

The dummy point motors are just the Peco SL-347 dummy point motors - I'd had a few suggestions of which to get and then saw these on the wall in Total N gauge in Hucknall.

 

Cheers, they certainly look better than the cast white metal ones I used.

 

G.

[MrSimon]

hi,

Thanks for your comments

The hydrant is indeed home made, its a short strip of Evergreen Scale Models stripstyrene number 124 0.5x2.0mm strip cut and filed to shape, painted with Humbrol 154. I left about 2mm extra on the thin bit so I could plant it into the pavement... I didn't think I'd ever get a picture of it in focus!

I did a tiny bit of work on it this morning, I got the little blocks of plasticard to hold the pointmotors level painted grey - but I didn't take a photo of it. I've been spending the day doing birthdayish things at the Crich Tramway Museum and when I got back I found that my dad had bought me this:


They use it for railtours in the week right?

I'll maybe do some more tonight!

Lots to do

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon

[Southernboy]

Happy Birthday Simon! Hope you had a good day at Crich.

 

I used to help out there when I was a young teen. Must go back and visit one day.

[MrSimon]

Hehe Thankyou!

It was a good afternoon out, I'd not been for about five years... they even had one of my favourite trams in service:


I'd never been on it before, it was a pity non of my other favourites were being used but you can't have everything!

I got a bit of work on the layout done yesterday and this morning:


The first two business units underneath the arches! I need to get them finished pretty quickly because they won't be easily accessable when I've got the house finished.

Simon

Edited August 31, 2017 by MrSimon