St. Mungo's mk 3

[37Oban]

The crash removed my earlier photos, but I'm undecided whether to reinstall them as things have moved on since then.  thinking about it, the only ones I will do are those concerning the boards and track plan as nothing has changed there and maybe a couple of wagons.

 

I also forgot to mention something else yesterday.  The secondary reason for using wood is cost.  Compared to plastic wood is cheap, which is in keeping with my modelling ethos.  1 metre of wood strip, depending on the dimensions, costs less than 40p!  Sheet wood, depending on the dimensions, can cost less than £4 per metre, which makes it a very cost effective medium to work in.  If you make a bit of a mess when wagon building, which sometimes happens to me, and scrap the body you've only lost a few pence worth of materials.  It's another reason I'm prepared to try coach building in the future.

 

Roja

[37Oban]

Well, 

after a visit to a local inn for a hazelnut latte followed cy a double black cherry gin with raspberry and rhubarb tonic my brain has come up with another good idea!

 

Seeing as how St Mungos' is becoming a multi-era and place layout, why not go a little further?  Apart from the stock all it needs is to change of a couple of buildings and signals plus removeable third rail and ohle in the yard!  As I'm really tempted by ES1 it got me thinking about those lovely Southern emus and distinctive electric locos!  

 

One small layout, 5 eras/regions!  I think it may start to get a bit expensive, although, apart from the CR stock, some of the passenger stock, and most of the wagons, will have multiple use!

 

Roja

[37Oban]

Hi,

 

I've decided to only replace the photos of the base boards.  Not much has changed since the track was laid, apart from straightening a noticeable kink in one siding, and more foam board has been added to increase the depth of the boards so I can add a rotating fiddle yard in the spring.  

 

 

 

Roja

[TT100 Diesels]

Hi 37Oban, any progress to report or pictures to show?

 

I like your multi era and multi use ideas. And kudos for going EM.

 

Whatever, good luck with whatever you decide yo do with it next.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[37Oban]

Hi,

 

well, it's been awhile since I've posted on here!

 

St Mungo's is still on the go, although packed away waiting for a house move.  I thought I was being clever, having packed a lot of my stuff, but these things have a way of not working quite as expexted!  Such is life!

 

However, I just cannot do nothing!  I've recently bought the Scalescenes canal wharf boxfile kit, which is being modified to connect to my Poppy Hill distillery boxfile.  As I model in EM a bit of work is needed, so I've built and added a short 'Y' turnout to increase play, I mean, operational value!  Although St Mungo's is dcc (sorry, Clive!) these are just dc as there will only be one engine in steam on them.  To this end I bought a Hornby 'Pug' tank loco in Caledonian blue, used a wheel puller to alter the back to backs and, viola!, it runs like dream, down to a slow crawl.  The loco is going to be repainted black, a more appropriate livery.  I may even build a tender for it.  We shall see!

 

I've also been busy designing a roundy roundy layout for a future build.  When my partner was a wee girl her family used to take her to Withernsea from Hull for holidays.  The line closed 1964 but she still remembers it fondly.  Cue some research, the result being a station based on Keyingham.  Almost a perfect station for our needs.  Small yard with coal drops, platforms on a curve, seperate road siding and an interesting signal box and level crossing.   I've built a small diorama of the box and crossing to test it's viability, and it was a success, so, when we get chance, it's future project!  So far it's designed to fit in an 8' x 8', 10' x 8', 12' x 8' and 14' x 8' spaces, anything longer or wide would be a benefit, but it works well as an 8' x 8'.  

 

So that's my excuse for, er, aquiring, more items of rolling stock and building kits!  Latest buy is a Dapol N2 from Rails.  A non-runner, I look fowards to sorting it out, keep me out of mischief for a while, and at £29 a bit of a bargain!  Then there's the turnouts for Kayingham (my partner is called Kay and I've added a headshunt to the trackplan which the Keyingham didn't have, so the name change was obvious.) for which I've started building, then there's a couple of loco kits, some coaches, a few wagons...  I think I need some more storage boxes!

 

When I have a moment or two I'll post some photo's of what I'm up to.  If I remember!

 

Roja

 

 

[37Oban]

Well, I'm still here, still weaiting for the move, but I haven' idle.  At least, not all the time!

 

St Mungo's is still packed away, but I have a feeling that it will soon see the light of day so I can detail and weather the track after checking the electrics.

 

I have a Scalescenes canal wharf boxfile to complete.  This is to EM gauge so it can be attached to my distillery boxfile.  I've converted a cheap Hornby CR pug to EM and repainted it black.  It needs numbering and weathering.  I'm going to build a tender that was attached to some of these loco's so that I can place a dcc chip, and possibly a speaker, inside it.  Shapeways have several variants on their site, regarding size and coupling options, but the postage charge made my eyes water and my heart skip a beat!  Scratchbuild it is then!

 

Awaiting converion to EM, and some other bits and details, is a Southern Pride 2EPB unit.  This will form part of the stock for when I run St Mungo's as a Tyneside terminus.  One day I'd like an ES1 locomotive, and a couple more emu's.

 

Currently I'm at the stage of adding transfers to a K4 I've cobbled together.  This is a modified Hornby B17 boiler added to a Bachmann K3 chassis with the Bachmann cab.  This currently in OO.  One day it will get modified, but I've also got a small roundy roundy layout, Whitfield, just so that my partner and I can watch something going around in the limited space we have, and the K4 will run on this.  I need to finish the wiring on this then the scenics can start!

 

A future project is for a V4 locomotive.  I already have a V3, which is for Whitfield, but I love the V4 so I just have to have one!  To help with this project I have a Silhouette cutter coming this week.  It has now got to the stage where cutting straight lines by my usual methods is becoming a bit more hit and miss so a cutter will get a lot of use with future wagon and coach projects.  The model will be built from various thickness of plasticard with brass bearings and parts from other loco bodies from the scrapbox.  Frames for the loco and tender, as well as the tender body have already been drawn up.  I know a lot of you will hold your hands up in horror at the thought of using plastic for the chassis, but, even with a lot of added weight I'm not expecting to break any haulage records!  After all, St Mungo's is only 4'6" long without the fiddleyard so no 10 coach trains here!

 

My roundtoit pile has grown steadily.  Mainly buildings but also locomotive, rolling stock and signals.    Oh, I'm also planning on making a start on building some turnouts for a future layout, Kayingham.

 

And if that wasn't enough, after a bit of thought, late last night, because of the nature of St Mungo's, and the way it can be used for a variety of eras and regions, and after making a couple of posts on Gopher's Dewchurch, I realised that, by only making a few small changes, I could, in theory, run any region between the years 1890 to 2000, maybe more!

 

I think I'm really in need of some help!  Know any good, cheap psychiatrists?😅

 

Roja

[Philou]

Good luck in your endeavours! Do stay focussed though - it's all too easy to waylaid - how do I know this?

 

If you're pining for the ES1 - get it especially as your first thoughts (IIRC and maybe in the original post), was that wires were heading towards Queens Park(?). I like the slightly quirky or one-offs and I saw the ES1 on sale at the Locomotion shop in York - had not been in glossy I would have bought there and then!

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[37Oban]

Hi Philip,

 

I have a bit of a butterfly personality when it comes to modelling!  I keep it under control for sometime then it escapes and madness follows!

 

I've always like the ES1 since seeing picture of one in the Observer Book of Locomotives way back in the early 60's!   I shall get one sooner or later!

 

The Cathcart Circle had the wires put up in the early 60's for the Blue Trains.  Dmu's rarely visited so it's only natural that my branch should have wires too.  I'm currently figuring out a way I can add the third rail in a way that it's fairly easy to add/remove when needed.  However, in my Universe St Mungo's has a direct link, via a circuituos route, to Glasgow Central that is not electrified so I have an excuse to run cl100, 101 and 107 dmu's plus a 120 on the scenic Land Cruise that used to run.  

 

The advantage of a small layout, such as St Mungo's,  is that the way the station is portrayed - the building is low relief and mostly hidden by the platform canopies and the signal box off scene - is that it's easy to change companies and eras, especially with what few vehicles and figures will be on it.  It wasn't designed with this in mind but it's a happy accident!   After posting on Dewchurch yesterday there is a possibility, just a possibility, that Southern and Great Western stock may be making an appearance too!

 

I have an appointment with a shrink on Friday!😁

 

Roja

[BoD]

Good to see that you are still modelling and haven’t lost the mojo whilst things are ‘packed away’.

 

I too get the (very) occasional urge to start a new small box file/diorama/shunting type layout but knowing that I still have much to do on the main layout, I manage to resist the urge.  Or at least I have so far.  
 

Let me know if your shrink is any good.

[37Oban]

Hi,

 

just a wee bit of proof I've done a few things recently!

 

This is a Hornby CR pug repainted from it's blue livery to a more workaday BR livery and converted to EM.  It need a small tender, which is the next project.

 

Next is a K4.  This is a modified Hornby B17 body attached to a Bachmann K3 chassis and cab with new steam pipes.  It needs hand rails fitting, for which I was going to use the existing holes, even though I know they're in the wrong position, but now I'm beginning to have second thoughts about moving it to the correct position.

 

 

They both need some more work.  More weathering, expecially their motion, crews added and new couplings.  Paints are acrylic and the transfers a mix of Railtec and Fox.  I'll convert the K4 to EM at a later date but for now it'll run on Whitfield, once I complete the wiring.

 

I know the weathering looks a bit blotchy, but there's a good reason for this, as I tell myself!  As a change from all the layouts that feature fine weather, and the occassional frosty/snowy ones, St Mungo's is going to be set in a heavy rain storm.  This means researching the appearance of trains, and in particular steam locomotives, and how rain changes this.  I had to make a choice, trains in motion or stationary, as this changes how they look, and I choose stationary as St Mungo's is a terminus.  So boilers are relatively dry but other parts, such as the top of the footplate, are wet.  All good fun!  And not forgetting the rolling stock and infrastructure!  Plenty of scope for puddles!

 

Onwards and upwards!

 

Roja

 

Edited February 6 by 37Oban
Removed 2nd name

[37Oban]

Modellers Law strikes again!  I've just opened my download copy of Railway Modeller and guess what's in it?  Gresley K4 described! 😂

 

Roja

[37Oban]

Well, that's an interesting article!  I may have research further the use of a K1 chassis with some A4 parts!  That's going to be sometime in the future, though, and, as ever, dependant on funds!  Still....

 

Roja