Bridport Town - Carrying On

[DLT]

At last the work of upgrading Bridport is moving again.  First job is ballast and ground-cover in the new transhipment yard.  Looks a bit on the chaotic side, but is is organised(ish)

 

Ballast is a general mix of lightish grey/brown/beige colours, mostly from Greenscenes, and avoiding the dark grey stuff that turns blue when you glue it.. 

Its easier to darken stuff that's too light, than it is to lighten it if too dark.

The headshunt end is done, but needs darkening down a bit more. 

General grot, weeds, grass etc need adding around the edges, base of buildings and fences; it all looks a bit clean and pristine at the mo.

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by DLT

[Martync]

Certainly will......

[DLT]

More messy stuff, getting the whole of the yard ballasted, and at the moment the contrasts are stark.  Pictures show it just done, with no cleaning up at all.  When its dry and tidied up, weathering will blend it all together a bit more.

I wanted the SG sidings looking like they are top-ballasted with fine ash, and I've used Woodland Scenics "fine cinders" to achieve this.  To conserve the stuff I started with a layer of normal ballast to about half depth, glued in the normal way, and then sprinkled the cinders on top.   The front siding was originally done with ballast and a suitably coloured flock, but this has faded to yellow, so the plan is to top it with more cinders.  

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by DLT

[DLT]

A bit more progress, Ballasting on the SG siding

 

More coal piles being added in the yard, from little offcuts of insulation board (never throw anything away) and ground texture from fine sawdust.  Can't see it very well at the mo as its all the same colour.

[DLT]

Ok, we've moved on a bit.  I've painted the new coal piles with a mixture of PVA glue and black powder paint, and coloured the flock/sawdust ground with various powders.

 

At a show yesterday I picked up a packet of what I thought was dark coloured ballast (could hardly see through the bag)  but on examination it turned out to be fine graded coal.

Very appropriate!

[Nick C]

I'll echo the 'looking forward to seeing this at Alton' comments. It's been way too long since I've been to a show...

[DLT]

Here is the current state of play, with all tools/bags of flock/jars of ballast etc removed, and looking a bit bare.  Weathering and blending needed, but I'm not sure I'll manage is completely.  The old track looks very dark and yellow in comparison, maybe I need to brighten and "grey" it up a bit.  I'm thinking I should leave the contrast, to show it as a length of track that has, literally, just been relayed and ballasted; not something you seen modelled very often.

 

Some lower angle views of the station end, definitely some dirt and darkening needed to create contrast between rough ballast and walkways etc.

 

[DLT]

And here is the yard end; once again looking bare and needing people, goods, general clutter etc.

 

 

And a couple of closer views, I'm really please with the result in this area.

 

 

And finally the coal siding.  As this is a transhipment point, its very unlikely that any coal would be stored here, especially in bunkers provided for the purpose. 

However, it does make an attractive feature, and gives this rather open area a focal point.

 

[PaulRhB]

Bridport Town’s alterations looking great at Alton today and Dave in the hot seat running the layout. Thanks Dave

 

 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Nice to see the layout 'in the flesh' so to speak today. Some very impressive modelling.

[gz3xzf]

Good to see you and the layout yesterday. 😁

Here are a couple of pictures I took: -

[The Stationmaster]

The changes have worked really well and it was a pleasure to see the layout, and Dave of course, at Alton on Saturday.  Fortunately Paul doesn't seem to have been out with his camera when i was there 'behind the scenery' so my operating efforts have escaped the invasion of the pixels!

[DLT]

Many thanks to everyone who visited and said nice things about Bridport over the weekend.  Make it all worthwhile.

Particular thanks to Mike The Stationmaster who did a long operating stint on Saturday, and Netheravon who spend the whole day with us on Sunday, including help with dismantling and loading.

Thanks also to PaulRHB and Bryangz3Xzf for the photos.  

I've been trying to work out how long it has been since I saw some of you guys!

We had a great weekend, and were very well looked after by the Alton team.  So final thanks go to Mark and all the Alton guys for such an excellent and well-organised show.

All the best, Dave.

 

PS  I took a few photos myself, will sort them out later.

Edited February 7, 2023 by DLT

[DLT]

Paul's video reveals why one of my Baldwins started running like a drunken duck, the return-crank has come adrift so the valvegear was flopping all over the place.  Of course this was on the viewing side, where I couldn't see it....

Edited February 7, 2023 by DLT

[Nick C]

It was good to see this, and several other excellent layouts, at Alton. It seemed a bigger show than I remembered too, with the new canteen and demo areas. Unfortunately I managed to end up short of time, so didn't get to properly stop and chat, but the new changes looked really good!

[DLT]

On 06/02/2023 at 12:41, The Stationmaster said:

The changes have worked really well and it was a pleasure to see the layout, and Dave of course, at Alton on Saturday.  Fortunately Paul doesn't seem to have been out with his camera when i was there 'behind the scenery' so my operating efforts have escaped the invasion of the pixels!

Funny you should mention that....

[DLT]

I grabbed a few opportunist closeups with my ancient iPhone, hope they look ok.  They do show up that more needs to be done on the groundwork, grass and weeds in particular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DLT]

We even had some visiting motive power, in the form an NGG16 Garratt, property of Show Manager MarkP.

It looked superb, but did rather dwarf everything else!

 

 

 

 

And here is the last one without my crude Photoshop-ing

 

[Nick C]

Trust Mark to bring along something silly! It's usually Daleks, or Minions...

[DLT]

On 07/02/2023 at 22:06, Nick C said:

Trust Mark to bring along something silly! It's usually Daleks, or Minions...

He did have Thunderbird-One in his display case.

Edited February 9, 2023 by DLT

[DLT]

Inspired by my day at the Taunton SWAG do, I've been doing a bit more of the refurb work to Bridport.

I wanted to break up some of the straightness of the river, as some viewers have thought it was a canal.  I've added some banks and vegetation, and it seems to have the right effect.

 

 

 

 

 

[DLT]

And around the station and back of the GW platform.

 

 

 

 

Bush needs a trim...

As with the river, you can't see all these angles at a show, or at least not close-up, so I think it looks ok.

Part of the refurb is re-doing the grass, as its looking decidedly faded and threadbare in places.

 

[MrWolf]

I do like the muted colours you've used and that clapboard shed is quite something. Replacing the grass will enhance things no end I think.

Edited April 27, 2023 by MrWolf

[jamest]

Agreed, all the pictures look good, but I really like these alternative views from different angles. Really shows up your buildings and subtle tones and weathering.

 

I had missed your updates this year on the sidings and have just had a nice catch up with a coffee.

 

It looks fantastic and I like the way you have blended the new ballasting with the existing sections, and how you blend it with the yard around it. I’m about to start to do this on my layout and this always seems the most difficult thing to get right.

 

all the best,

James

[DLT]

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Replacing the grass will enhance things no end I think.

 

The grass in these photos HAS been replaced!