Rusper Road - LBSCR Micro Layout

[BlueLightning]

9 hours ago, Matloughe said:

I am leaning towards the platform being longer rather than shorter myself - but am interested to hear others opinions.

 

Definitely longer, the platforms at Hailsham were quite a bit longer than the longest trains actually allowed to run on the line (1200ft down and 1400ft up, the line was restricted to 5 4/6 wheelers)

 

Gary

[Oldddudders]

Short trains on long platforms definitely look better than long trains on short platforms. The latter are an operational nightmare, especially w non-corridor stock!

[Matloughe]

On 11/01/2023 at 08:44, Andrew D said:

I’m really enjoying this build! As the kind of bodger who prioritises operation, aesthetics, and play value over prototypical realism I’d say keep the platform short. The longer version looks a little large for the layout. Just my opinion. As for the signal box… you’re a better man than me! 👍

 

Have I started it - yes! Do I wish I hadn't - yes!
Have I found my patience? - No, not yet!

Only small progress was made last night; the outer shell of the building is glued together - and awaiting the addition of the cosmetic external brickwork and additional details. Sadly I havent got any glazing material for this currently - so either it waits for that or I build it unglazed - like the station shelter has no glazing. I've already made mistakes building this kit so I will plough on even if it just gets used as a 'placeholder' for a different building or a rebuilt building.

 

Aside from the cost of the pdf kit; which was under £5 when I bought it several years ago - the greyboard card was saved from Royal Mail 'unbendable' envelopes the print was a test of the printer at work so cost nothing, and I bought some Bostick glue. So I should probably be a bit more lenient with myself on this one.

Have fun everyone!
Gary

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Matloughe
Added more info.

[uax6]

Stick with the longer platform, it looks better.

 

You are spoiling your Bobby with a walkway, we mainly have to wander about on the ballast you know! Anyway, I'm wondering if your colour choice is right for it. I have a suspicion that they may have been heavily creosoted, so a very dark colour, or, on the other hand they might have been just raw wood, which over time would become (if the stuff outside here is anything to go by) a grey-silver colour.   

 

Andy G

[Matloughe]

I don't know about spoiling the bobby.

I've been having a relaxing evening listening to @BlueLightning's stream and cutting out the windows of the Signalbox - is the kit a faff, yes, yes it is.

Is it an 'advanced' difficulty? - Probably not, its very fiddly and I havent got it right - but equally the instructions don't say to remove the signalbox door apeture from the bodyshell its just a photo of it missing and I didn't pay attention to it so havent done it.
I would probably say its easier to print onto sticker paper as the instructions suggest rather than print onto thin card as I have done here.

As you can see - its together; I'm not happy with it - by missing taking out the door and now progressing beyond that stage is difficult. I think I am going to chalk this up to experience and continue this as a 'placeholder' for now the card has certainly dulled my knife blade which hasn't helped much! I am going to call it here tonight I think. Going forwards I am still waiting for my platform shelter to be delivered and my PO wagon for the layout; that will most likely be the next update as I am going to leave the signalbox here for now and return to it down the line as it were - pun intended!
Its rough; i'm not happy with it. But it's part of the process. I also broke the window frame when cutting the last pane of glass! 😒

Have a good evening all!
Gary

 

 

 

[Matloughe]

Good Morning All!

 

How are you all? Have you had a good time since my last update? I can only apologise for the delay in updates this has been caused by a number of items - firstly I felt rather disheartened about the state of that signalbox kit I built so decided to have some time away - as well as I noticed the board has got an ever so slight bananna curve in it which caused me to pause for thought about it all. So I had a break away from model railways with some of the following activities:

World in Flames Board game, World War 2 on the table for a weekend - the map for this is three feet by four feet with another two A3 sized play aids!

I did also tidy up the garage and for the first time since 2017; the old boards for Devils Dyke have been assembled and bolted together for some work to be done on them. Currently the plan being banded about in my mind is to take it back to bare boards and refurbish them and work on a plan mirror to 'The art of Compromise' on these boards - but that is a medium length plan, you can also see my £5 bargain of a 6'x2'6" laser cut board kit and legs bought on Facebook Marketplace this also has an additional section bolted to it taking it to over 8' in length. This board will either form the basis of an O Gauge BLT or potentially an N Gauge NSE roundy-roundy but that is more long-term planning.

 

As for this layout I have aquired several wagons for the layout:

Top to Bottom Left to Right:
UK Train Sim - the website is closing, and I remembered they had a custom wagon so I had to grab one before it fades forever especially as I don't have one that shape.
SR (exLBSC) Guards Van - this is going to be repainted into LBSC livery with new metal wheels being provided.
Bestwood - this is mentioned in the Sheffield Park freight logs so I had to grab it.
GE Van - this is also in the Sheffield Park freight logs and as its another pre-grouping wagon I had to have it.

At the same time I bought "Bestwood" and the SR Guards van I also bought for £2- an old Hornby R500 Platform Shelter

Its not much of a looker is it... how about after a repaint:

 

Ahh thats better, after an encounter with some specific colours it looks much better in its LB&SCR colour scheme; the camera makes the paint job look messy but at a normal distance it looks fine!

 

Oh yes... I might've bought a new locomotive as well. #umberlicious

Cheerio all!

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Matloughe

[Matloughe]

So I thought this project was dead; the Signalbox kit put me off somewhat and the bannan boards were just the kicker on the icing for me it was put away and left to gather some dust. So today at work I was thinking about the shelf project and considering ripping it up and getting rid of the shelf because I was sick of looking at it. Naturally whilst at work (I mean, should I be working at work?) I remembered I had a smaller set of boards currently housing an N Gauge trackplan also unused - its ironic as this set of boards has had O Gauge then N Gauge and now 00 Gauge on it! Suggestions for any other track gauges I could pop on the board are welcome!
(I have O16.5, 00n3 & 009 sitting around)

Excuse the dining table, but this is the state of play this evening - its always good when coming into the weekend there is some railway modelling on the horizon. Sitting unused & unloved I decided to remove the wiring underneath and then pull the track up and store it away - as an aside, I am not using trackpins again this was a nightmare that resulted in broken pins, sleepers and various scratches on my hands trying to remove it all!

So after a quick five minutes plonking bits down and keeping the idea of the original plan from Budget Model Railways in mind, as well as asking the opinion of my five year old we are now at the place in the picture above - it looks quite good actually. After taking this photo I make some adjustments by removing the platform on the siding, as well as jiggling the position of the track slightly further back from the front to give some more clearance on the platform - after that I have screwed it all down with track screws and tested it and it works well! Not bad for boards 80cm by 20cm!

The fiddlestick is perfectly able to accept the longest train possible on the layout, at 40cm long and 10cm wide. It has a small quarter straight that gets used as a 'bridge' piece and power is supplied by croc clips as you can see here. Overall the plan is somewhat more compressed having come from a board that was 120cm long and 25cm wide but it doesn't look too bad.

Leaning over the platform and looking back towards my platform shelter (that I am still a little bit proud of) I wanted to test that the run-round loop headshunt is capable of accepting an E4 which it just about is possible to do so. Points are manual operated and I haven't sorted anything with couplers as of yet - as I've said before this is primarily a 'play thing' and a testbed for practicing techniques rather than going for 100% authenticity - but items bought for this project will end up of later ones as well.

With some tweaking I thin it will look fairly good, it does still have some of the atmosphere I caught previously. So on that last picture I will bid you all adieu for now more work to be done in future as well as some new arrivals to be shown.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Kind Regards,
Gary

[BlueLightning]

Fantastic! Good to see this project coming back to life!!

 

Gary

[Matloughe]

2 hours ago, BlueLightning said:

Fantastic! Good to see this project coming back to life!!

 

Gary

Thanks,

I thought it was dead too; but I have a renewed interest and plan in hand. I've also received a package from Oak Hill Works today which looks great!

 

Kind Regards,

Gary

[BlueLightning]

21 minutes ago, Matloughe said:

I've also received a package from Oak Hill Works today which looks great!

 

Fantastic! Glad it has arrived OK, let me know if there are any issues with parts. You'll be able to make some progress on the layout now 😉

 

Gary

[Rich_F]

On 04/03/2023 at 00:47, Matloughe said:

So I thought this project was dead; the Signalbox kit put me off somewhat and the bannan boards were just the kicker on the icing for me it was put away and left to gather some dust. So today at work I was thinking about the shelf project and considering ripping it up and getting rid of the shelf because I was sick of looking at it. Naturally whilst at work (I mean, should I be working at work?) I remembered I had a smaller set of boards currently housing an N Gauge trackplan also unused - its ironic as this set of boards has had O Gauge then N Gauge and now 00 Gauge on it! Suggestions for any other track gauges I could pop on the board are welcome!
(I have O16.5, 00n3 & 009 sitting around)

Excuse the dining table, but this is the state of play this evening - its always good when coming into the weekend there is some railway modelling on the horizon. Sitting unused & unloved I decided to remove the wiring underneath and then pull the track up and store it away - as an aside, I am not using trackpins again this was a nightmare that resulted in broken pins, sleepers and various scratches on my hands trying to remove it all!

So after a quick five minutes plonking bits down and keeping the idea of the original plan from Budget Model Railways in mind, as well as asking the opinion of my five year old we are now at the place in the picture above - it looks quite good actually. After taking this photo I make some adjustments by removing the platform on the siding, as well as jiggling the position of the track slightly further back from the front to give some more clearance on the platform - after that I have screwed it all down with track screws and tested it and it works well! Not bad for boards 80cm by 20cm!

The fiddlestick is perfectly able to accept the longest train possible on the layout, at 40cm long and 10cm wide. It has a small quarter straight that gets used as a 'bridge' piece and power is supplied by croc clips as you can see here. Overall the plan is somewhat more compressed having come from a board that was 120cm long and 25cm wide but it doesn't look too bad.

Leaning over the platform and looking back towards my platform shelter (that I am still a little bit proud of) I wanted to test that the run-round loop headshunt is capable of accepting an E4 which it just about is possible to do so. Points are manual operated and I haven't sorted anything with couplers as of yet - as I've said before this is primarily a 'play thing' and a testbed for practicing techniques rather than going for 100% authenticity - but items bought for this project will end up of later ones as well.

With some tweaking I thin it will look fairly good, it does still have some of the atmosphere I caught previously. So on that last picture I will bid you all adieu for now more work to be done in future as well as some new arrivals to be shown.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Kind Regards,
Gary

 

Looks like someone else has the bug of buying small shelves & experimenting with track plans/gauges! 

 

There's something fun about trying to fit a layout into a tiny space & make it realistic 🙂 

[Matloughe]

22 hours ago, Weeny Works said:

 

Looks like someone else has the bug of buying small shelves & experimenting with track plans/gauges! 

 

There's something fun about trying to fit a layout into a tiny space & make it realistic 🙂 

I do try, the problem is I am somewhat 'indecisive' when it comes to scales & gauges.

I've tried the main ones, N, 00 & O. As well as 009, O9, O16.5 (which I have a loco and couple of wagons sitting on this board currently testing clearances) I am also very drawn to producing a 00n3 Isle of Man layout inspired by @Mike Buttell's work on his Peel Station Layout.

I've seen that the ebay seller who made these boards now does one that is similar to this one but 10cm larger in depth as a single module opposed to the two I have here for what I consider to be a reasonable price; and I am considering buying another one or two to have these smaller excursions for want of a better word to better develop skills & have a small practical project to work on.

O16.5 Stock towering over the 00 behind; there is no plan to change for this layout but I wanted to get a feel for if you could produce a larger narrow gauge layout in a similar footprint. The Kerr Stuart Tattoo is a Bingley Works Print on a Hornby Smokey Joe chassis, and the wagon behind is a print from T&S Models (I think) on eBay.

 

This however is probably going to be my next locomotive I want to work on in 00, my latest aquisition a Wills LB&SCR E5. It certainly is a little, preloved but already came in an interesting shade of Improved Engine Green - its on a Hornby R1 Chassis which after a little prodding sparked, groaned and eased into life with the lovely motor smell. But it wont negotiate the Hornby Settrack points so I will need to investigate more.

Kind Regards,
Gary

 

 

[Mike Buttell]

Thanks for the mention Gary.

My Peel layout took its inspiration in turn from the one built by Barry Lane and featured in Railway Modeller in the 1980’s 

[Matloughe]

40 minutes ago, Mike Buttell said:

Thanks for the mention Gary.

My Peel layout took its inspiration in turn from the one built by Barry Lane and featured in Railway Modeller in the 1980’s 

I think I've seen that layout in RM, it's funny as I am sitting here building a Branchlines H wagon (my first).

I always look forwards to the next news post from Peel.

Kind Regards,

Gary

[Matloughe]

Good Evening All,

Welcome back to the Budget Brighton BLT... (sandwiches anyone...?)
Fridays seem to be the de-facto modelling evening, everyone is asleep in the house and I can potter with quiet music on and a drink of my choice.

So today I am focusing on this area, to the left of the cream coloured van - I felt that this area needed something freight related - but there are only 23mm from the backscene to the left-hand edge of the sleepers of the siding its not much. So I went shopping on my online marketplace of choice, you know the one - I am not going to say it aloud but thats the one! Whilst browsing on there I have found something suitable and it arrived this morning ready to be built this evening.
Also while I was on there, I popped a silly bid on a Guards Brake Van, specifically a Hornby R.019 and surprisingly I won!

I'm sure you can understand why I bought it, its a fairly good representation of an LBSC 20t Brake Van which was classified as SR Diagram 1576. There is actually a photo of van 43 on page 46 of the book 'Illustrated History of Southern Wagons volume 2' It is a little late for my timescale being built in September 1922. I tend to keep my operations somewhere between 1901-1911 but its not a strict rule - provided I run like things together. Its in good condition, runs well and I think looks great!
I ordered an Ultra Low Relief Warehouse and platform kit from "In the Green Wood" and I also ordered a small carriage walk-way platfrom from 'Torri Laser' so this evening in about an hours worth of work we now have this:

It looks great already! And the mismatched platform doesnt look too bad - there are several more acessories to be fitted to the warehouse.

 

It does look quite effective for a quick place down, there is also a good amount of work still to be done. Once the glue has set I will need to apply paint before as well as getting some sort of photo behind the window openings. The platform is quite narrow - but I don't think it detracts from anything. I quite like it, its just the right height and I measured it from the wall to the front of the goods platform we're looking at a 21mm width - go me and go those two suppliers for getting everything spot on! Watch this space more things will be on their way. I also have a Wills SS29 Ground Level Signal Box to build - I am tempted to paint it in LBSCR colours prior to building. I have also been speaking to 5&9 Models to get a Stroudley Water Crane and a whitemetal Open D Wagon kit to build.
Getting there slowly, I am thinking of a medium height brick wall along the end of the platform from front to back adjusting the position of the platform and warehouse leftwards to take account of the depth of the wall being added - and some red painted sleepers fixed at the correct heights for buffer stops possibly with an oil lamp on the top. Maybe I need a lamp hut as well thinking of it. Its not impossible, at Devils Dyke there were no buffer stops but to be fair the track terminated at the foot of a 30/40' hill rather than a brickwall.

Stay Safe, have fun & keep modelling.
Kind Regards,
Gary

[Matloughe]

Good Evening All!

I hope everyone is doing well; I have been enjoying some modelling time. My youngest had an accident at school today and cut her head open so after she was tucked up in bed this evening I decided to do some model bits & bobs so I could hear her if she called out for me. So this evening I had two/three goals in mind.
Firstly to paint this:

As a replacement for the failed card one I tried making earlier in the thread; I havent given up on it but I wanted something to get on the board ASAP. You can also see my brand new cutting mat getting its outing - this was a present for valentines day and is A3 size and brilliant!

Secondly, the warehouse and platform I purchased I have done some more work on:

It doesn't look like it, but the platform has had its uprights and cross members painted black - I was going for a dark cresosote/oily look to the wood and because I have only done a single coat I am very pleased with the uprights - it'll look great once I've ballasted. The steps and surface of the platform have been given a coat of Umber and I will look at adding a darker wash to tone everything down. The warehouse was a bit of a pain - the back has been painted - because its laser cut wood it absolutely stank of burned wood. I also decided to paint the window frames white and using the last of the black paint I had squeezed out for the canopy of over the door - which is in a nice forest green colour. I opted for green as due to the time period I have selected I imagine Green & Red are the easiest two pigments of paint to make - and the station buildings and signal cabin have red colours.

I decided to paint the signal cabin with a first coat off of the sprue before gluing the building together:

This is a 'first fix' of paint, I will go back and touch it up later on once the glue has cured off properly. Using the same colour scheme as previously with the platform shelter - this is its best side currently. I still need to paint and fix the lever frame and sort out the window frames/roof/barge boards etc. The close-up camera shot high-lights more issues than is easily seen with the naked eye.

I will leave you with an idea of what the future projects after the warehouse and signal cabin will be:

My first order from 5&9 Models has arrived and I am certainly looking forwards to detailing the platform with a Stroudley Water Crane and the Open D will be my first Whitemetal wagon kit I've built.

Have a great evening all!
Kind Regards,
Gary

Edited March 14, 2023 by Matloughe

[Jerry1975]

Your layout is looking great, I like the warehouse kit.

 

Jerry. 

[Matloughe]

On 15/03/2023 at 06:29, Jerry1975 said:

Your layout is looking great, I like the warehouse kit.

 

Jerry. 

Thank you for your kind words Jerry, the Ultra-Low Relief Warehouse came from 'Inthegreenwood' from their ebay store. It came with a full normal width platform as well - but that wouldn't fit in the space I have available so its still in the box. There are some more corbels of bricks to put on to 'finish' the ends of the model off and I need to make up or find a nice red brick colour to paint on and it'll look much better.

The warehouse doesn't have a purpose as of yet - its just somewhere that accepts and dispatches goods for the layout. Its probably also the main employer for the area as well which is why the railway was built. Once I've figured out what business it trades in then I can sort out some more specialised freight stock - my partner wasn't keen on "W.C. Boggs & Son - Lavatorial Engineers" despite the hilarious laugh I got from my daughter when I explained the terms "W/C, Bog & Lavatorial" her little five year old brain twigged that I had basically said 'Toilet' three times in one sign. 😁

Much laughter ensued from her, and from us because it was infectious almost!
No real news, I have given the signal cabin a second coat of red to tidy it up a bit and I have painted the levers to go inside (one red, one blue and two black) I am assuming for the starter, facing point lock, facing point and headshunt crossover. That'll do for me!!

[Matloughe]

Hello Everyone,

Welcome back to the Budget BLT. (I could just eat a Bacon buttie right now)

 

I have been tinkering with the micro layout, trying to figure out what I need to purchase to complete the layout to a good standard I had the opportunity to finish off the signal cabin bar touching up some paint and I have clad the platforms in their top card to produce a smooth edge.

I am tempted to buy the correct wraps for these platforms from Scale Model scenery as the printouts I have been working with just aren't looking right currently - also SMS does a nice platform fence kit which might make an appearance.

On Friday some glorious sunshine produce a lovely dappled light over one of my bargain Hornby Terriers. I am tempted to collect each of the different colour schemes and then collect more Brighton coloured ones!

 

Please enjoy the following photos; work is progressing slowly but surely I cannot wait until the ballast is down and it starts looking more like a railway.

 

Have a good weekend everyone and I look forwards to seeing your far better progresses than mine currently.

 

Kind Regards,

Gary

 

[BlueLightning]

4 hours ago, Matloughe said:

On Friday some glorious sunshine produce a lovely dappled light over one of my bargain Hornby Terriers. I am tempted to collect each of the different colour schemes and then collect more Brighton coloured ones!

 

[Matloughe]

Good Evening all,

Welcome back, its half-term here and I managed to kick off today with some time at the table where I grabbed some time to take a couple of photos and more importantly I managed to do some modelling!

So we kick today off with the 'other' bargain Hornby Terrier I purchased. K&ESR "Rolvenden" sitting it what has become the customary position waiting to take the local back out towards Three Bridges - perhaps she has been borrowed for a proving run after being sold by the LBSCR - who knows.
The sunlight shining in encouraged me to tidy the table somewhat and I decided to move the position of the micro - something I realise is a strength of the micro to be able to get nice photos its much easier to shift an 80cm x 20cm set of boards than a 8' x 4' table!!!
So spinning the layout around to take advantage of the dappled sunlight coming in through the window (a rarity sometimes in Devon) I grabbed some shots of the normall unseen 'blank' end of the layout:

A 'passenger-eye view' of the station as #40 'Brighton' arrives back from Three Bridges with the 'local' the locomotive has been hastily borrowed as its facing the wrong way around and will not easily be able to take on coal at the coaling stage.

From a slightly more elevated view from an adjoining property it can be seen that #40 has pushed back her coaches and is pulling forwards to the headshunt to run-round. The Improved Engine Green livery looks glorious in this image. Meanwhile behind the previous freight service for the Cooper workshop is in position and awaiting unloading.

And then we move onto the only bit of modelling currently undertaken - I wish I had done it sooner as it would have made the previous two photos much better to look at:

I painted the Cooper's Workshop, using a blend of Brown & Red paints from The Works to produce the brick colour. I added blue and a drop of black to the brick colour for the brick arches and ventilators in an attempt to produce blue engineers bricks and a metallic looking ventilator (which has been coated with PVA to add a small amount of sheen). The sliding warehouse door has had a second coat of green and the door has been picked out in the remnants of the engineers brick blue for a small amount of contrast.
The small coaling stage was also painted in the leftovers of the paint - but will be heavily weathered with some dark washes and coal to tone it down.
I just need something to go behind the big windows to disguise the inside and the warehouse is near completion.

Thank you all for the time you've taken to read this; all comments and constructive suggestions are welcome. I'm planning a trip to a local model emporium with the view to getting some ballast material and a couple of other scenic items.

Kind Regards,
Gary

[Jerry1975]

Hi Gary.

 

I'm really liking this build, you're warehouse is looking good, I think you've done very well in a small space and it has enough operational interest to keep you amused. 

 

Looking forward to your next update. 

 

Jerry.

[Matloughe]

4 hours ago, Jerry1975 said:

Hi Gary.

 

I'm really liking this build, you're warehouse is looking good, I think you've done very well in a small space and it has enough operational interest to keep you amused. 

 

Looking forward to your next update. 

 

Jerry.

Thanks for your kind words Jerry.

 

I have often felt a little lost when I have done a project before; I have to say only having 1,600cm² of space overall has caused me to focus much more on the small picture.

 

Going forwards, I have my eye on a Bachmann Scenecraft Withyham small signal cabin (44-182) but it's the Green & Cream version so it would need a repaint - I'm just not sure if it would be too big for the space available where the small cabin I have currently is.

 

I am looking at a starting signal for the layout, I have an idea to 'bash' a signal from a Ratio GWR home signal and attempt to make it operational... Or I could attempt the MSE signal kit - but I'm not convinced of my skills to build an MSE kit to be honest.

 

On the other board which hasn't had any scenery done to it, I am thinking of making a hillside and putting a footbridge crossing the line to be the scenic break. Naturally I just need to sort out any buildings beforehand to make sure I have enough space for contours.

A brick wall will be behind the buffer stops at the platform end - I have some N Scenics laser cut walking which might be good as I thought it over scale for N, and some station fencing is needed - Scale Model scenery have what I am looking for.

 

So lots of little bits, small projects to amuse myself with. I've also got a makeover for my red Stroudley coaches planned with some new paint on the sides and a textured and painted roof to improve their looks... If I can figure out how to remove the glazing from the bodysides!

 

Some wagons are in the pipeline and of course the overhaul of my eBay acquisitions!

 

Kind Regards,

Gary

[BlueLightning]

1 minute ago, Matloughe said:

Going forwards, I have my eye on a Bachmann Scenecraft Withyham small signal cabin (44-182) but it's the Green & Cream version so it would need a repaint - I'm just not sure if it would be too big for the space available where the small cabin I have currently is.

 

That's the box I have for Oak Hill 2, it's about 40mm x 40mm, with the steps sticking out an extra 10mm-ish those measurements are taken from memory, I could measure it properly later if you want.

 

6 minutes ago, Matloughe said:

I am looking at a starting signal for the layout, I have an idea to 'bash' a signal from a Ratio GWR home signal and attempt to make it operational... Or I could attempt the MSE signal kit - but I'm not convinced of my skills to build an MSE kit to be honest.

 

How much of a rush are you in? I (and others) are working on something for the Oak Hill Works range.

 

Gary

[Matloughe]

On 05/04/2023 at 11:38, BlueLightning said:

 

That's the box I have for Oak Hill 2, it's about 40mm x 40mm, with the steps sticking out an extra 10mm-ish those measurements are taken from memory, I could measure it properly later if you want.

 

 

How much of a rush are you in? I (and others) are working on something for the Oak Hill Works range.

 

Gary

I'm quite tempted by the Signalbox; its not the Saxby Farmer design I like but I can appriciate its origin. I'd just have to repaint it from Green & Cream to the proper colour scheme. Even if I didn't use it now - it could stay in stock for later use.
For signalling I am not in a rush no; I am debating using either a GW or LNWR lower quadrant signal kit - possibly either with replacement LBSCR arms or with some skillful painting to try and obscure the true outline of the signal arms. But no, no rush. Speaking of Oak Hill Works - a certain Open A has had some paintwork applied today:

The paintwork is still a little wet - but it does look good. The next item on my list is HMRS Transfers!

 

This weekend has been fun, some modelling mojo ensued as I visited a local exhibition - managed to grab the LSWR Wagon book for my collection for the princely sum of £2! One area I have managed to get lookling like in my minds eye is the very end wall of the layout:

 

Due to the limited space at the headshunt I always invisaged a brick wall at the end of the station and the idea of a sleeper being the actual buffer stop came to my mind. The wall is corregated card, coated with brick paper from Model Brick Yard scalled to 4mm, and adjusted as needed. The cardboard was cut to be a scale 12' high - encased with brick paper and pritt stick while that was drying I cut two plastick sleepers from a shortened piece of Hornby Settrack, I cut off the webbing and the fixtures for the rail to be held in place and coated the sleeper with Buffer Beam red and when that was dry I stuck the sleepers to marks I made on the brick paper for buffer height and voila!
I'm not fussed the paintwork isn't perfect; I'm not expecting it to be - I am going to get a lamp for the buffer stop for the platform road at least.

Also nice to see the Marsh Umber out on display.
Stay Safe Everyone!
Kind Regards,

Gary