SouthernMafia's Projects & Portland - a 'what might have been' NSE layout in Dorset

[SouthernMafia]

The extension is coming on well too though I would be tempted to extend the track to give you a longer platform and run round.

 

I have given this some thought and similarly thought about extending the track, however 3 main reasons for not doing so:

 

1 - the platform can currently take a loco plus 6 coaches, however the fiddle yard can only take take loco plus 5 coaches. So a fair bit of alteration would be required to run a 7 coach train on the layout.

2 - i don't want to fill every spare gap with track - there is already a lot of track and it would be nice to actually have some scenery, although that does actually mean building it !

3 - i cant be bothered to wire any track to the new board  

 

I am thinking about extending the middle siding slightly onto perhaps a small loading dock of some description, but that would be the only road to be extended if I choose to do so.

[eldavo]

Just because the platform is a tad longer doesn't mean you have to pack every bit of it with coaches you know!

 

Wire up that board. You know you want to. Goowon!

 

Cheers

Dave

 

Edited for autonincorrect

Edited February 2, 2017 by eldavo

[P.C.M]

I have given this some thought and similarly thought about extending the track, however 3 main reasons for not doing so:

 

1 - the platform can currently take a loco plus 6 coaches, however the fiddle yard can only take take loco plus 5 coaches. So a fair bit of alteration would be required to run a 7 coach train on the layout.

2 - i don't want to fill every spare gap with track - there is already a lot of track and it would be nice to actually have some scenery, although that does actually mean building it !

3 - i cant be bothered to wire any track to the new board  

 

I am thinking about extending the middle siding slightly onto perhaps a small loading dock of some description, but that would be the only road to be extended if I choose to do so.

No worries Rich,

I didn't think about fiddleyard size. As you say you can have too much track. 

 

Nice class 37 fleet by the way. Here 's a few from back in the day.

 

Cheers Peter.

[SouthernMafia]

Cheers Peter, just finished modifying this beast to accept a larger V4 speaker in the fuel tanks, and have detailed up the ends with my usual coupling bar and the Bachmann bits. Just needs a good weathering now along with the rest of my fleet!

 

 

Could definitely do with a Reggie Rail 37/4 though...

 

Following on from last week's post some progress has been made on the new board:

 

 

As you can see the plan is to create a parcels bay akin to Penzance. Ground works have begun for addition of a new platform area which also doubles up as a bay for the locos accessing the depot - means the driver can walk along a platform rather than the ground when changing ends.

 

Behind the Mk1 BG will be the station forecourt, and to the left runs a road perpendicular to the board, which runs up a small incline to a roundabout, serving the station and high street. Inspiration (or even a carbon copy) drawn from Swanage.

Edited February 3, 2017 by SouthernMafia

[SWT442]

Layout and stock coming along great Rich! The Reggie Rail MK2's and 37's do go very well together, makes me want to model the early 90's again!

 

I'm sure the Connex livery will come out fine, your respray work is certainly very good!

 

Andy.

[SouthernMafia]

A small bit of progress this morning...the Red Star Parcels bay is coming along.

 

 

Platform surface awaits

[SouthernMafia]

 

3mm foam board platform surface added. Next challenge will be painting it and getting the textures looking good. Any tips on this gratefully received. (I'm rubbish at this, it just looks uniform)

[Jwnewall]

I am loving the design, however is hard to pinpoint where the station is located due to the original station being close to the main road. Could you help a bit, just nagging at me to find out

[SouthernMafia]

It's not really located anywhere since its fictional, but I suppose the nearest bit it is modelled on is the old station, adjacent to the main road on the right as you have highlighted above.

[Jwnewall]

Not trying to control, but this is how I invision your layout from the way you designed it. I do like it!

 

Edited March 2, 2017 by Jwnewall

[rob D2]

A small bit of progress this morning...the Red Star Parcels bay is coming along.

20170228_125424-1305x734.jpg

20170228_125359-1305x734.jpg

20170228_125412-734x1305.jpg

Platform surface awaits

 

Is that 18mm strip wood as platform edges ? I think we make ours in similar fashion !

[SouthernMafia]

I think it's 19mm, and is slightly angled with a wider base (all I could find in B&Q, annoyingly for the main platform I think I used 18mm but can't remember where I got it from!!)

[DLT]

Great project, I've only just come accross it.

Cheers, Dave.

[SouthernMafia]

Past few days progress. Focus turns next to final design and construction of the station building to see how much space it eats into the forecourt area, before further work can carry on on this board. Some low relief buildings will also start to be constructed for the town scene (see plan on next post)

 

 

Some touching up work to do on the original platform where I removed the platform ramp.

Edited March 10, 2017 by SouthernMafia

[SouthernMafia]

The sort of plan and inspiration:

 

(Southampton Central)

[SouthernMafia]

Been playing about with a mock up of the station building:

 

 

Relatively happy with its size and location, although the middle bit may get extended by about 10mm or so, and it may get a smidge taller as well

The bit on the right (front facing) is shorter by 20mm than the bit on the left, unlike the real thing which I can assume was the same length. Subsequently there are only 2 windows instead of 3.

A reminder of what the real thing looks looked like:

 

 

The gap between the back of the platform and the backscene will be filled in a bit to accomodate another building of some sorts, and also allow access to the platform when the building is shut.

Edited March 18, 2017 by SouthernMafia

[SouthernMafia]

Also (nearly) finished today is a Mk2F RFB, converted from a Hornby Mk2E. 

 

 

Despite comments I think Hornby have done a good job of these, and for the money I paid are very good value, the printing is crisp and with a bit of underframe weathering they look good. As the RFB isn't modelled, an FO was suitable bodged to produce one. The Hornby paint job was protected as much as possible, and I have only had to spray the executive dark grey, white and yellow. 

I'm not a fine modeller so there's probably a vent or a rivet in the wrong place, but it looks like an RFB to me. Just the interior to sort next and then I'll take a couple of decent snaps of it with my DSLR rather than the camera phone.

I've also renumbered the rest of my fleet of Mk2Es so there's no number duplication

[SouthernMafia]

Couple of bits, firstly the Mk2F RFB is now complete under the initial scope (ie make it look like an RFB) I may still work on it further, particularly looking at the roof which is often heavily faded/weathered. Also the '1' on the full window side are in the wrong place and are too small but haven't got round to changing these to the correct size/location. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with it.

 

 

I've also been dabbling in signal gantry construction. This is the Up Loop Starter, which is near enough structurally complete, just needs a ladder, painting and signal (3 aspect with subsidiary position light and small stencil indicators)

 

[d winpenny]

Looking good

 

David

[Revolution Mike B]

That gantry looks top notch!

[SWT442]

All looking very good indeed Rich! The coach is top notch!

 

Andy.

[tjf4375]

Loving that signal gantry!

[Wigan Wallgate OO Gauge]

Wow! Truly stunning work here

[SouthernMafia]

With Winchester club's Redbridge layout nearing its debut exhibition date, all work has generally been focused towards that. However, a nice bit of work that fits into both layouts is the signalling. I have been building the gantry for both Portland and Redbridge at the same time, although the Redbridge one is not quite finished to show fully. There are a few custom signals but most are Roger Murray heads we had from our old layout. I'm not a fan of the over-scale shrouds, but they do look good and they weren't cheap, so we may as well use them.

 

I wanted to build my own position light signals, but couldn't get the shape right using brass, and it was very fiddly. 3D printing came to the rescue, and thanks to eldavo for printing these.These are the initial SketchUp CADs which Dave tweaked slightly so the printer could print them correctly:

 

 

This is what was printed:

 

 

After a bit of filing and priming into grey some micro LEDs were added. Minuscule things, I have very good eyesight and I could barely see them!

 

 

Installed on the gantry:

 

 

The single lens fixed red signal is scratch built from brass. This is the gantry that sits on Redbridge causeway, protecting the junction in the Up direction that crosses over towards Romsey. The fixed red signal allows a call on into the yard reversibly on the Down line, or onto the GPL on the Down line on platform 2. There is a stencil indicator, but not sure I'll build it, and certainly won't get it to work! It doesn't see use often, generally it will be a freight running wrong line from Totton into the yard. There was a test train recently that did it as well.

 

Generally pretty pleased with how it's turned out, and it was a good proof of concept for Portland as I will need 4 Position Lights and 2 Ground Position Lights. Once this gantry is complete I'll post it in the Redbridge thread as we have quite a bit to update.

 

 

[eldavo]

Surprised you managed to achieve that with the print from my cheapo printer. Bit of light bleed but encouraging. I really need to invest in a resin printer.

 

Cheers

Dave