Speech End

[ParkeNd]

14 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

I like your way of creating the contours. Am very tempted to try it myself on the two boards where I haven't done any scenic work yet.

And your rate of progress makes me look like a sloth/sluggard/asleep. I am finding it rather hard to get motivated at the moment, and also have all sorts of unfinished projects, some 20 years old, which I have decided I MUST finish.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan. To be honest the bad weather has been my friend - apart from last weekend when the garden won. The ballasting and rail side painting was a case of forcing myself to do one foot a day. The contoured ground is built up on paper patterns pressed into the edge of the ballast (and cut along the pimples), then transferred to Daler Board, and hollow pyramids built up from thin balsa, and a "lid" put over the point once I'd cleared it. It's probably my Logistics background - I need to develop a system to follow. And thanks for the encouraging comments.

[ParkeNd]

Authentic Smokey Fuels building is now substantially finished and is doing its job covering a Cobalt SS Controller and its wiring - and completely blocking the light from its three LEDs. A pile of coal and coal in bags will eventually hide the points motor. The lean-to end of the building is the office for a secondhand tyre reseller who will have a pile of old tyres outside to keep dashing out to when pushing sales - he is a local man Mr James Ropey who had to take down the advertising board with his tyre companies name because it put customers off. 

[ParkeNd]

That’s the sanding of the undulating ground balsa terraces done. And the garage swept up. 

[ParkeNd]

One more Cobalt SS Controller and point motor hidden by an embankment under construction. It’s removable so I can get at the gubbins under it and it will be extended next towards the signal box, getting wider and dropping progressively to platform height. The signal box will lift up onto that level. I have the grass now to start putting that on the undulating ground with underbrush threaded through it - not literally but on the surface. 

[ParkeNd]

Colour is finally starting to come to Speech End, and the Cobalt SS Controller covering embankment continues to march towards the station. Although it has to be roughed up with underbrush (which I have ready) Gaugemaster Summer Grass Matting has been added around the stone building in the middle of the layout. It’s easy to work with although it’s worth noting that the new backing (compared with older issues) shrinks when the Wills Scenery Glue dries - so joins need a slight overlap. The embankment work continues towards the station, gradually losing height towards the platforms. The next section (when the current balsa famine ends, will lift the signal box 18mm, blend it in, and run behind the station to become a little car park. 

[ParkeNd]

Starting to look like nature has got involved. 

[ParkeNd]

The final finger of balsa emulating undulating ground has been grassed with short grass and will get less undergrowth today than the other bits due to its proximity to platforms. I want to move onto the area extended under the signal box and on behind the station building but have run into what appears to be a national balsa bundle stockout. After much internet searching I’ve come up with some that should really finish up in something sophisticated and beautifully engineered that flies with radio control rather than holding up railway scenery above the baseboard. Also Gaugemaster Gravel Matting arriving today for ground areas that looked fine dry brushed onto sanded Plastikard in N Gauge but I think warrant more texture in OO. Thinking about trees too - there were nearly 200 on my N Gauge Parkend and this is Forest of Dean territory too. Won’t perhaps get behind the broadleaved margins but need to understand scale in OO - want to avoid that standard rose look sometimes seen from “bargain bag of 25 trees”. Anticipating trees between 80mm and 150mm from The Model Tree Shop but don’t know where to pitch it because can’t see them physically at a show at the moment. Will send for about 3 at maybe 80/100/120mm to get an idea. Another photo or two soon. 

[corneliuslundie]

I had the same issue with trees. A full grown oak or lime can be 18 inches high in 4 mm, just not practical. 

I got my supply of millinery wire to make trees from 

https://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/model-trees

after my local flower shop ran out, as I wanted trees with no leaves, But a lot of work for a few trees and I am not very happy with them even now - though better than the bottle brush variety some people seem to think look like real trees,.

Jonathan

Edited March 23, 2021 by corneliuslundie

[ParkeNd]

Some photos from a few minutes ago. There is some abandoned engineering “might need it one day metalwork” in the long grass at the end of this new finger of ground - to preserve that feeling for passengers at Norchard watching for a train to arrive from Lydney Junction. 

[Derails Models]

On 23/03/2021 at 16:05, ParkeNd said:

Some photos from a few minutes ago. There is some abandoned engineering “might need it one day metalwork” in the long grass at the end of this new finger of ground - to preserve that feeling for passengers at Norchard watching for a train to arrive from Lydney Junction. 

 

Haha! I like it, very good  

 

However it's all change on that part of the Norchard site right now - a small team of us has been doing a lot of work in just that area south of platform 3 over the last month to clear up as much as we can from that area and I'm pleased to say that when you are able to get back to the high-level with your camera you should be able to notice a pleasant difference to that part of the site -  and specifically that photo opportunity.... 

 

Here's a drone shot that was taken a few weeks ago, we've still got some work around the ground frame to complete (a lot of that has been moved since this shot was taken) but you can see how much our amazing volunteers managed to get moved over the few working days we held:

Photo courtesy of T. McLennan

 

Sorry for the off topic, but I thought that might interest you 

 

 

[ParkeNd]

20 hours ago, Derails Models said:

 

Haha! I like it, very good  

 

However it's all change on that part of the Norchard site right now - a small team of us has been doing a lot of work in just that area south of platform 3 over the last month to clear up as much as we can from that area and I'm pleased to say that when you are able to get back to the high-level with your camera you should be able to notice a pleasant difference to that part of the site -  and specifically that photo opportunity.... 

 

Here's a drone shot that was taken a few weeks ago, we've still got some work around the ground frame to complete (a lot of that has been moved since this shot was taken) but you can see how much our amazing volunteers managed to get moved over the few working days we held:

Photo courtesy of T. McLennan

 

Sorry for the off topic, but I thought that might interest you 

 

 

That’s exceptionally good new Dan and sure to be welcomed by every passenger boarding at Norchard when lockdown ends. Although travel from home to “UK destinations outside Wales” is still only a maybe for a few more weeks, I will celebrate the volunteers achievement when photographing the grassing and vegetation when more work is done over the next few days on the developing layout embankment  by including a Derails weathered shunter and wagon undertaking clear up work at that location.  Thanks for the comment and the news. 

[ParkeNd]

Not ready for the photo for Dan but more done today. Have undercoated the stonework on more of the embankment and tried out Gaugemaster Gravel Matting. The matting is pretty convincing especially if you don’t try to use it like wallpaper. I used squiggles of Wills Scenery and prodded the matting down with the end of a 3/16” stick which did avoid the wallpaper look - it has a strong surface texture too. Best trimmed to fit dry. I cut it to “fit plus a bit” and stuck it down a bit, trimmed, more glue, stick a bit more down ...... and repeat. I’ve included a photo of one of the embankment modules. Bearing in mind that these bits aren’t kits, the amount of figuring out how to do it, how to make it fit and progress to the next stage, how to make it and for it to be strong, is very high for such a small as yet unadorned bit of layout. Next steps are dry brushing stonework and grass and vegetation for the embankment, adding sparse vegetation and sprouting long grass to the new gravel, and continuing on to the corner behind the station. 

[brianusa]

Looks good.  Nice to see this corner of the FoD back again.   Though if I were in the building at the end of the sidings, I would hope that buffers were forthcoming in case of sloppy shunting!

     Brian.

[ParkeNd]

33 minutes ago, brianusa said:

Looks good.  Nice to see this corner of the FoD back again.   Though if I were in the building at the end of the sidings, I would hope that buffers were forthcoming in case of sloppy shunting!

     Brian.

Hi Brian. There’s another 18 months work yet even if I don’t extend along the parallel wall - started June 2019. I will use conventional buffers on the goods sidings, wood flap with buffers screwed in by station, and a hinged flap at the end of what at the moment is a fiddle yard. The hinge lets me drop the flap to use my railer/rerailer. It’s going to be super detailed- not minimal/scrap/start a new one. 

[ParkeNd]

Not ready yet for the Derails cleanup gang photos yet - want to add at least some vegetation to the embankment first. But the “groundwork” for the station car park (bringing it up 15mm level with the station building) and for the land the signal box stands on. The signal box has to be level but the ground around it has to slope from the embankment to the car park, and from the side of the signal box to the track. The signal box “ground” module is not as simple as it looks. There’s more vegetation growing through the gravel behind platform 2. 

[ParkeNd]

I ran a check last night with the Dapol GWR Railcar to make sure the front edge of the embankment coming out of the curve doesn’t foul. Short answer - it doesn’t. Long answer - I blew the Hattons 21 pin decoder fitted at purchase. Running was jerky so I cleaned the track and picked out the odd grain of ballast glued to the inside of a rail or two. Then, crossing a point, the Cobalt SS indicator lights started flashing. One decoder I had moved had to have the positive and negative frog control wires reversed - and the solution proved by a secondhand Dapol Class 42 with a Bachmann decoder already fitted and programmed on my Prog Track. But the Railcar was completely unresponsive. Reprogramming failed - and reading back the decoder programming showed no Address to be read. Removed and refitted chip - no improvement. So have sent for a 21 pin Dapol chip - fingers crossed. 

[ParkeNd]

I've started to surface the car park behind the station building, adding gravel, a small raised undulating edge at it's, and long grass. When the post arrives I can start work on a grounded carriage volunteers accommodating unit to go beside and behind the signal box. But most of the work has been on the embankment. So hear are the promised photos of a Derails professionally weathered Hornby Sentinel Shunter "Graham" and two three plank wagons doing a cleanup operation. Bachmann Branch-Lines Class 42 Warship diesel "Zenith" has muscled into the action on the mainline - this was very hard to find in the same livery as "Onslaught" from the 2018 Diesel Gala. It's slim and short, runs beautifully on DCC and is a great match on a small OO layout.

[ParkeNd]

After two days of railway inactivity centred around my 74th birthday it’s time to get constructing again on Speech End. Just a reminder, the track layout is C J Freezer’s Minories with one crossover removed which was both unnecessary in this application and was an electrical complication I couldn’t solve. So not unlike the real DFR’s mineral loop passenger and goods operations are separate but appear to come from the same “over yonder”. My Postie has brought me BrianUSA’s buffers, a grounded van kit for a volunteers accommodation coach, a pricier DCC decoder chip to replace the blown one in the Dapol GWR Railcar, and a pre-owned one plank wagon to continue Dan’s cleanup after legacy “maintenance” crimes from the past. A point in passing - the Dapol GWR Railcar brake and hub detail cannot stand even the handling to position the bogies on the track - two less than 0.5mm plastic attachment points simply snap off. Hopefully the soon to arrive Heljan competitor will be more robust. In the meantime glue and railer/rerailer to the rescue. The railcar, a bubblecar, and my two car DMU are going to be staple runners on this small layout - anyone know of a model of Iris the Railcar?  Time too to experiment with trees and a fence in the car park. 

[ParkeNd]

DCC decoder replaced successfully in GWR Railcar. It’s strangely satisfying, if a little scary at first, taking little screwdrivers to £150 worth of loco and holding your breath whilst connecting 1cm sq of pcb onto 21 pins. It worked ....... second time. You have to push harder than feels safe. So that’s two locos running and two “Routes” programmed from fiddle yard to two different platforms. Now to set about the Class 03 (which has a DCC socket. ........ not brave enough yet for a harness chip let alone a soldering iron job. Grounded carriage progressing from a kit - all painting so far. Also choosing which 120 cm trees to send for to try in corner of car park. 

[ParkeNd]

Grounded carriage finished to all intents and I’ve decided that it will be used to raise funds by selling ice cream and fizzy drinks, postcards etc plus secondhand railway books - which folk can see from A boards outside. I have loads of parts left over since this is typical Ratio daftness in thinking we will be excited to build OO gauge tables out of four parts, chairs out of three parts etc. Fitting 16 ventilators in the roof provided no more detail than just moulding 16 dimples into the main roof component. Nor have I turned it into a slum by boarding up windows etc. I am fitting buffers though despite only 2 being provided - one of which I lost when separating it from the spruce - it shot off like a bullet and I can’t find it. I’ve sent for a packet of replace Hornby oval buffers from eBay. Photos soon when I’ve added it to the layout. 

[ParkeNd]

The grounded carriage is finished other than for an entry walkway with handrail and planted on rudimentary groundwork. Fences, signs, and other details to be added later. 

[ParkeNd]

With all this hot weather I have to confess no more layout work has been done since the last post. I've regularly run the two locos on the track and operated the points and have been delighted they have stayed stable - everything works. However, I am now starting to accelerate the fitting of DCC decoders to the stock of 21 locos - of which only 5 have chips fitted. Right now I've sent off for 3 more of which 2  fit locos more suited to light goods operation on a rural layout so the middle section of the layout serving the goods shed can be used. Rightly or wrongly I'm trying to avoid low priced "shops own brands" having had one such chip fitted at the same time as the loco was purchased new played up and then failed - it's much more expensive branded replacement has worked peerlessly from the word Go. The Peckett W4, Sentinel, and Class 121 Bubblecar will be the recipients of the chips. It's already quite obvious than short trains work best on a small layout - no 9Fs or anything with a tender pulling more than two coaches.

[ParkeNd]

It rained today and the three DCC decoders had arrived so I set to and fitted them. The Dapol 121/122 GWR Railcar ran first time with its Dapol 21 pin 6 function decoder - and it runs beautifully in both directions at any speeds, forward and in reverse. A welcome addition to the layout. Next I decided to fit the Hornby 4 pin motor only decoder for Pecketts and Sentinels to the professionally weathered Hornby Sentinel .................................. 4 hours later I switched to the Peckett which runs like a dream with either of the Hornby 4 pin decoders - it's beautifully engineered and made and has really surprised me with it's performance.  Back then to the Sentinel. The Sentinel just will not run no matter what and thus I have had to conclude that after 4 hours of trying it's Dead on Arrival. Not sure what to do with it really but it may just suffer the same fate as many Heritage Railway Sentinels and finish up on a corner of the layout on a length of rusty rail, decaying with long grass growing through it. 

Edited June 25, 2021 by ParkeNd
Phot added

[ParkeNd]

My railway modelling season has just started courtesy of this wet weekend and fuel shortages. Right now I’m installing the ground in the proximity of the goods shed with stone chip sheet and scrub foliage. Then I shall move to the car park behind the station building installing fencing and some trees - I’ve sent for 4 trees from Steven Bird at The Model Tree Shop, 2 at 130cm tall and 2 at 100cm tall hoping these will be a good compromise between excessive expense and looking like standard rose bushes. There will be a lot of trees on the layout before I finish. Sooner or later I shall start painting and assembling the footbridge- a kit I’m afraid. Photos soon. 

[corneliuslundie]

Great to hear from you. I realised recently that your previous post had been in June and was hoping you were OK.

I made my trees from materials obtained from Model Scenery Supplies of Norfolk. They supply wire armatures in various sizes plus the stuff for leaves etc. But my trees had to be smaller than they should have been to stay below the backscene. A 140 ft tall tree in 4 mm is over a foot high. A bit more manageable in 2 mm, but trees will be even more of a challenge on our club's 7 mm layout.

Jonathan