A return to Nantford Spinney

[Keith Addenbrooke]

47 minutes ago, AndyB said:

Back in June I posted a sketch of the track plan. Based on feedback in the Layout Design part of the forum I've modified my original idea, taking out a kick-back siding.

 

The result I think, whilst simpler, flows nicer. 

 

I don't think it needs much explanation, nevertheless....

 

A bay platform for an auto train and departure platform for a B set. The main platform will take a 3-coach train. Siding on the RHS for goods. Headshunt for the run-round loop across a level crossing. 

 

 

Now for many this will provide precious little in the way of operational potential. However over the years I've come to realise that I get more enjoyment out of building layouts than playing with them.

 

So, provided the end result is pleasing on the eye abd helped me practixe sone new skills then it'll have done it's job. 

Hi Andy, I think the longer Goods Siding in this version makes more sense - the kickback would only be there if there was a reason, and may well not have been loco shunted in practice anyway (I may be wrong on that point as it came directly off the run-round loop: I don’t know if there were particular rules in that case).

[AndyB]

Meanwhile, further up the line there's a nice pastoral scene to remind us of Spring and Summer on this rather damp November afternoon.....

 

If you're getting a sense of forced perspective then I blame the genetically modified sheep that are a tad over scale - and were found in my "bits n bobs" draw of 4mm stuff.

 

If you're not getting a sense of forced perspective then hopefully Father Ted can help. 

 

 

Next job - a girder bridge over the estuary.

[AndyB]

14 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Hi Andy, I think the longer Goods Siding in this version makes more sense - the kickback would only be there if there was a reason, and may well not have been loco shunted in practice anyway (I may be wrong on that point as it came directly off the run-round loop: I don’t know if there were particular rules in that case).

 

Thanks Keith.  

I guess on the original plan I imagined that the loco would simply propel wagons into the kickback siding; hadn't thought of alternatives such as horse drawn.

 

I'm going to credit the improved design to @DavidCBroad. Thanks David.

 

[AndyB]

Evening all,

So another weekend has flown by, but I've managed to get a couple of small jobs done on the layout.  

 

The first was to get a bridge constructed to span Nantford creek. 

 

 

I wasn't sure if the track crossing a bridge like this would have sleepers or if the rail would be bolted to the bridge "girders".

I've sort of fudged this by hiding the sleepers with boarding both to the side and in the 4 foot, similar to this....https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-track_railway#/media/File%3AThe_train_to_Kyle_of_Lochalsh_-_geograph.org.uk_-_467835.jpg

 

I believe black may also be the correct colour for a bridge in the "GWR territory". But of course I may well be wrong about that. 

 

The second job was to get the final bits of track laid in the station. This included having to replace a turnout 

that had been recycled once too many times and broke. There's still an annoying voltage drop across one turnout blade that is resisting  ('scuse the pun) attempts to rectify through cleaning. This one may also need to be replaced. 

 

Anyhow after a tidy up this is what it looks like....

 

Anyway, thanks for reading. 

Andy

[AndyB]

Afternoon all,

No dramatic progress to report except that I've now got the track down on the station board.

 

This was at times a bit painful as my policy of recycling stuff (some would call it fiscal prudence verging on tight fistness) meant I'd re-used points from previous layouts and these started to become unreliable. So pretty much every point had to be replaced this weekend. 

 

This did result in the head shunt being realigned as I only had a left-handed point available.

 

 

That all said the locos all run smoothly over the track now.

Happy days.

 

With that bit done I progressed to making a platform. I had a red brick Metcalfe kit available but this clashed with the stone-coloured station building.

I'd previously downloaded an Ashlar sheet from ScaleScenes and so  wrapped this onto the platform sides. Then topped off with card which will need painting.  

 

Obviously all this needed testing by systematic running of a variety of rolling stock (aka playing with my trains).

 

 

Anyway, thanks for reading. Andy

Edited November 8, 2020 by AndyB
Typo

[AndyB]

Evening all (again),

I had a bit of extra time on the layout this evening and managed to get a couple of bits progressed. 

 

First of all the platform got a couple of coats of paint and edging stones.

 

 

I understand from my youngest that the station building now has a sponsorship deal!

 

And secondly on the quayside I've started to bring the ground level up to that of the top of the rails.

 

I'm using leftover cardboard strips from the platform kit to fill in the 4 foot. Not a great photo but once it's got a coat of paint it'll look a bit more natural. 

 

[AndyB]

Afternoon all,

Fishing boats don't normally head up Nantford creek.  But on this occassion passengers on a departing local service get a bird's eye view of one of the local fishing fleet moored up.

Have the crew headed for a swift pint in the Nantford Arms?

 

 

An upcoming challenge is to make some additional fishing boats from a Scalescenes download.  Looks fiddly. I may save that one for the Christmas holiday!

 

I've in mind putting a boat yard to the front of the layout, just out of shot on the left of this image, where a number of boats are being repaired or repainted. Could be a nice cameo scene.  

 

Anyway, thanks for reading.  Andy

[AndyB]

I've been giving some thought to what the town scene behind the station might look like. 

 

What would draw so many people to the town that a branch line would have a procession of 2 and 3 coach trains? Apart from a bit of sun and sand....

 

I hit on the idea that a castle might be something that would draw the crowds. Imagine that!  As a youngster your summer holiday starts on a steam train, there'll be time on the beach, AND mum and dad will let you scamper around a ruined castle! 

 

So I downloaded the Scalescenes Folly/Castle and set to. This is a great little kit, and as a beginner to this type of kit it was a great introduction. I also thought it would help me get some skills to tackle those diddy fishing boats that are destined for the harbour.

 

Having built most of the kit I think it would need to sit slightly raised above the board. 

 

At the moment I'm debating whether it is going to be too imposing.

 

Would it be better to scale it down to 80%? 

Or potentially build it in half relief and place it hard-up against the backscene?

Or both?

[Keith Addenbrooke]

58 minutes ago, AndyB said:

.At the moment I'm debating whether it is going to be too imposing.

 

Would it be better to scale it down to 80%? 

Or potentially build it in half relief and place it hard-up against the backscene?

Or both?

Hi Andy, not sure if these are rhetorical questions / musings, but my suggestion would be to take some time and try a few options - give each one a couple of days to see which you like best from the principal viewing angles.  Keith.

[AndyB]

3 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Hi Andy, not sure if these are rhetorical questions / musings, but my suggestion would be to take some time and try a few options - give each one a couple of days to see which you like best from the principal viewing angles.  Keith.

 

Hi Keith.

Not rhetorical - thanks for the advice. 

The layout is in my office - or is that vice versa? - and I've been pondering this in odd moments. 

I think whilst other family members are watching the dancing competition tonight I'll do a mock up to compare and contrast and do as you suggest. 

 

Hope your own layout is coming along OK? Although I know this is a busy time of year for you. 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

3 minutes ago, AndyB said:

 

Hi Keith.

Not rhetorical - thanks for the advice. 

The layout is in my office - or is that vice versa? - and I've been pondering this in odd moments. 

I think whilst other family members are watching the dancing competition tonight I'll do a mock up to compare and contrast and do as you suggest. 

 

Hope your own layout is coming along OK? Although I know this is a busy time of year for you. 

Thanks Andy, I got as far as some baseboards before the darker nights and colder / wetter weather paused the project for the winter, as the outhouse / workshop is now a bit too cold.  This was always expected, so is not a problem.  As you say, I’m now rather busy with other things, (even if it is mainly doing recordings!).

 

The good news for me is the ceiling has been fixed, so no longer leaks, which was the other essential task before any railway-ing could take place.  In a stroke of great good fortune the family decided to redecorate said bedroom once the roof was sorted and just happened to choose a nice sky blue for the walls.  I had kept out of the conversation to avoid any suspicions I was influencing the debate, though I was happy to pay for the paint when they told me what they’d chosen.

 

I’m currently working on my parallel interest in American Model Railroads, which will keep me happy in my spare time for the winter.  Keith.

[stivesnick]

Andy 

 

One of the advantages of the scalescenes kits is that once downloaded you can print off as many time as you like, so can experiment with different options. 

 

Some things to consider. Firstly in future photos, a half releif castle could look odd, unless you paint the rest of it on the backscene. If possible I would go for as deep a castle as possible and yes raise it up on a small hill. Secondly, put yourself in King whoever, that built the castle. Are you are defending against invaders from the sea or inland? This will help decide where you put the main pamparts and the entrace. 

 

Regards 

 

Nick 

[AndyB]

1 hour ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Thanks Andy, I got as far as some baseboards before the darker nights and colder / wetter weather paused the project for the winter, as the outhouse / workshop is now a bit too cold.  This was always expected, so is not a problem.  As you say, I’m now rather busy with other things, (even if it is mainly doing recordings!).

 

The good news for me is the ceiling has been fixed, so no longer leaks, which was the other essential task before any railway-ing could take place.  In a stroke of great good fortune the family decided to redecorate said bedroom once the roof was sorted and just happened to choose a nice sky blue for the walls.  I had kept out of the conversation to avoid any suspicions I was influencing the debate, though I was happy to pay for the paint when they told me what they’d chosen.

 

I’m currently working on my parallel interest in American Model Railroads, which will keep me happy in my spare time for the winter.  Keith.

 

Hi Keith. Never the most inviting prospect to be labouring in an outdoor workshop at this time of year. Ito good that you have other indoor projects to cracking not with.

 

Perhaps in addition to the American railroad you could make a start on buildings for the upcoming GWR layout?

 

Great that the wall colour chosen complements the future layout plans! Very restrained that you didn't try to work some clouds onto the walls.....

[AndyB]

2 hours ago, stivesnick said:

Andy 

 

One of the advantages of the scalescenes kits is that once downloaded you can print off as many time as you like, so can experiment with different options. 

 

Some things to consider. Firstly in future photos, a half releif castle could look odd, unless you paint the rest of it on the backscene. If possible I would go for as deep a castle as possible and yes raise it up on a small hill. Secondly, put yourself in King whoever, that built the castle. Are you are defending against invaders from the sea or inland? This will help decide where you put the main pamparts and the entrace. 

 

Regards 

 

Nick 

 

Hi Nick, 

Certainly the reprinting feature is very handy. There's one bit on my current build where a marker pen went rogue and I need to disguise with a reprint. 

 

I'd certainly also thought to reprint the kit to make walls and a gatehouse, although there's an interesting kit of Stokesay castle gatehouse available online which would be an unusual addition.

 

You're quite right about photographic angles if I blend the castle into the back scene and as Keith mentioned I need to consider the main viewing angles. I think there's a way of doing this....but it's a bit of a one-way journey with the current build. Best not to rush that decision! 

 

In my mind the castle was there to defend the harbour - long since silted up, so at least one turret would need to loom over the creek.  

 

Since my earlier post I took a look at an 80% scale version and it's definitely veering towards "folly" territory rather than castle. 

 

Andy

[AndyB]

Evening all,

So having tested out whether a scaled-down version of the castle would work - it didn't - and feeling that the area taken up by the full-sized model was too much I decided to take the bull by the horns and do a bit of radical surgery. 

 

 

I chose this cut line as where the model meets the back scene will be hidden for many views and add a bit of distance between the castle and track. I'll use that for some castle grounds etc. 

 

 

 

Feel better for that.

Onwards and upwards now.

I'll finish the rest of the kit and press on. 

[AndyB]

Evening all...and Season's Greetings to any of you kind enough to have taken a look at this thread.

 

With 2 weeks off I've time on my hands to do some things to the layout. 

 

One job I had a go at was to ballast the track in the station area. For years I've been using the old formula of PVA, water and a drop of detergent. But a while back I was given a Ballast Magic kit, essentially a dry powder form of PVA which is mixed directly with the ballast (I use gerbil dust), then the ballast/powder mix is put onto the track. Once you're satisfied with the shape simply mist lightly with water. 

 

So far results are good. You don't get the ballast floating away and getting stuck where you didn't intend it to. The down side - if it is one - is that the resulting track doesnt feel quite as toughened as I'm used to. 

 

Today's job was to build one of two home signals needed at the station throat using a Ratio kit I found in my modelling draw. Nice find! I was a bit sceptical about being able to paint the fine detail as needed. But in fact it didn't work out too badly, IMHO.

 

 

 

It's not fixed in place yet,  but I think it's in the right place, based on advise given in another thread.

 

Anyway thanks for reading. Andy

[AndyB]

So just a thought about this signal kit. 

The kit comes with a pin (part 3) that is meant to go through a very small hole in the signal board, post and lever mechanism. This would in theory allow the board to rotate and the signal to be made operational.

 

My guess is that this may work for the OO gauge equivalent kit but there was no way it was going through the tiny hole in the N-gauge kit without causing damage.

 

A workaround is to use a short length of  small gauge wire - I used the stuff I had to hand to to make tree branches. In the end I decided that having the signal operational wasn't for me - all a bit fiddly for me, so I simply glued it in position. 

 

[AndyB]

Well first of all to anyone reading this I hope that this most unusual of Christmases is not proving too disappointing. Although it's not been possible to see some family members I'm counting myself lucky for what I do have.

 

It occured to me that on Boxing Day 2019 I was sat at the dining room table building the girder bridge kit that is shown on page 1, marking the first bit of work on the layout.

 

So I guess this is "Happy 1st birthday to Nantford Spinney"! 

 

In the first year I'd only planned on getting the baseboards built and track laid. So progress has been far more rapid than I imagined would be possible. 

 

Today's kit build was far more modest - the lytch gate. I'll prime and paint this in the next day or so. 

 

 

Thanks for reading. Andy

Edited December 26, 2020 by AndyB

[Darwinian]

Smashing layout you are building here. Only just caught up with this thread  and I’m very much enjoying it. I look forward to seeing it develop in 2021.

Best wishes for the New Year.

 

[AndyB]

22 hours ago, Darwinian said:

Smashing layout you are building here. Only just caught up with this thread  and I’m very much enjoying it. I look forward to seeing it develop in 2021.

Best wishes for the New Year.

 

 

Thank you for your kind comments. Its giving me a lot of pleasure to build and its nice to think others may be following progress. 

2021 will see a lot more building work on the area around the terminus. I'm hoping this will really bring the bare track to life around the station. There's also the small matter of developing the scenic fiddle yard which will further extend the layout byva few feet. 

So lots of exciting things to keep an eye out in the coming months!

Wishing you a happy 2021 and good luck with Cwmhir.

[AndyB]

Today I set about adding headstones to the churchyard. I used a set of n-scenic laser cut headstones, adding a stone colour to them with the flat side of a soft pencil.

 

I decided not to have the obligatory funeral scene, but left one bit of ground "roughed up", yet to settle and grass over following a recent funeral.

 

You may notice names on some of the headstones. Some are family or colleagues who I wanted to remember. But I took the liberty of adding the names of friends I've met through this forum who are, sadly, no longer with us. Hopefully the eclectic mix of rolling stock passing nearby won't disturb their peace too much!  

 

Another small job today was to paint the lytch gate. Not sure why but whilst I was priming this the kit fell to pieces in my hands. So it's currently being rebuilt after scrabbling around on the garage floor looking for the bits. Fingers crossed for second time lucky!

 

 

Anyway, thanks for reading. Andy

[AndyB]

Hi all, 

By way of a change I spent some time today converting a box of seafoam into a copse adjacent to the Fiddle Yard to create a view blocker.

What? No overbridge?

 

 

The effect I went for was to add just sufficient to hide the hole in the back scene but allow glimpses of the train through the trees. 

An additional benefit of dotting trees along the line will be to make the length of trains a little more ambiguous, I think. 

 

 

The rest of the box of seafoam is destined for creating "the Spinney" from which the layout derives its name. More of that later....

[AndyB]

In the top right-hand corner of the layout the line takes a sharp turn. This needs disguising and I want to put the Spinney in that corner to do this. 

 

 

My first attempt hasn't worked particularly well for a couple of reasons. 

 

Even though we tend to model trees underscale the ones I've got here overwhelm the scene and are also too spindly.

The effect I really wanted is for a denser thicket of trees with undergrowth. So I think the answer may be to divide each of these trees, reducing their height, and replanting much closer together. 

 

Not sure how to do undergrowth as yet. 

 

 

[AndyB]

I mentioned that my initial stand of trees wasn't quite what I was looking for. Way too uniform and park like.

 

So today I had a go at scratch building some trees -  something I'd put off till now as it looked too hard to get a realistic effect.

 

I used lengths of florist wire twisted together then teased out into branches. If I'd had some modge podge to fill between the strands of wire I'd have used that. But with lockdown I couldn't think of any local shop that would sell it. So I infilled the trunk with UHU and painted over the top with brown and grey acrylic paints. Once dry I used a layer of UHU on the branches to fix a first layer of dark green clumping foliage, followed by PVA for subsequent layers and finally all fixed in place with hairspray. 

 

 

The stand of trees is starting to look denser now and approaching the look I was going for....

 

 

 

I've yet to master my new phone's camera....there's a bit more variety in the shades of green than the photos suggest.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

On 28/12/2020 at 17:08, AndyB said:

Hi all, 

By way of a change I spent some time today converting a box of seafoam into a copse adjacent to the Fiddle Yard to create a view blocker.

What? No overbridge?

 

 

The effect I went for was to add just sufficient to hide the hole in the back scene but allow glimpses of the train through the trees. 

An additional benefit of dotting trees along the line will be to make the length of trains a little more ambiguous, I think. 

 

 

The rest of the box of seafoam is destined for creating "the Spinney" from which the layout derives its name. More of that later....

Hi Andy, this looks great - looks like a big advantage to modelling in N scale: I’m not sure the “disguise” would be as easy to achieve in a larger scale (where the ‘hole in the wall’ is bigger).