Croftview Halt – O Gauge, BR Western Region

[Jonnie]

Croftview Halt

My next O gauge project (click here for my last O gauge layout, Paystow) is a small fictitious GWR halt with a siding somewhere in Devon/Cornwall based on no particular location. 

 

The boards are a Tim Horn scenic set, 8' by 2', the layout is an extension to Paystow and the fiddle yard sits between the two layouts with a further fiddle yard beyond Croftview just so trains can go off scene. Paystow is 12' by 2' so this gives a total scenic section of 20' if displayed together. 

 

As a start I've got the scenic set sorted out, decided on a simple track plan, pinned down the main points to stop everything moving around after drilling holes for motors and then started plonking buildings on and creating a platform/halt. I'm going to try on this layout and introduce a form of river/canal/stream as part of the scenic which isn't something I've tried before so a new area for me to have a go at.

 

As this is an extension to Paystow it'll be DCC and using Cobalt Digital IP motors, NCE PowerCab and the signals/points controlled from a lever frame. 

 

The name Croftview I've chosen as my two rescue Greyhounds came from the kennels of the same name in Kent.

 

Few pics attached showing the small layout so far.

 

This way will be straight off into a fiddle yard, nothing too large though, only enough to take a train off scene and allow another one on scene. The main fiddle yard is the other end of the layout.

The start of a halt, just a piece of wood with 3D printing platform edging stuck to it.

Looking the other way, the signal box was plonked as an idea but in reality it is too big so I'm going to put that on Paystow to change that up a bit and make a ground frame hut which can also control a level crossing sit here instead. The layout will have two signals to protect the points and a level crossing that I'm going to put just after the points near the signal box in the above photo. 

 

A river will be going to the right between the edge of the layout and a roadway which'll run parallel to the track as an access to the little goods shed that'll also be created. 

Edited March 9 by Jonnie

[LBRJ]

The backscene certainly helps set the scene with the mid Cornwall vibe.

[Jonnie]

A little update on my layout. I've wanted to add a river/canal to a layout of mine for ages just never had the motivation to do that. Well I spent yesterday attempting wood work, not perfect but it's given the boards a bit of strength and I'm pleased with outcome. 
 

Today I'm wiring in the track and getting that working before moving on to more detailing. 

The finished river bed. 

Looking from the other end. 

The building underway, it's made out of 9mm ply and strip wood. 

The build underway. I started by cutting along the board with a jigsaw and then fitted some wood to the cut lengths to allow the sides to be mounted to. 

Edited March 12 by Jonnie

[Jonnie]

With the construction of the river/canal basin completed I moved onto getting the track aligned and secured to the boards then wired it all up, a few hours plodding away and modifying Peco Electrofrog Points and soldering on so everywhere has power, the layout is DCC. I tested it with my Lionheart Prairie and all worked fine, the points are controlled via DCC Concepts Cobolt DigitalIP motors via the NCE PowerCab, my other layout Paystow uses this but also has the lever frame set up for more enjoyable operation rather than having to go via the accessories function all the time. 

 

Here's some pics as I've progressed a fair bit in a couple of days. 

Wiring up the Peco points, the plastic is cut here to join the stock rail to the heel of the points.

The Pagoda hut under construction. 

Another of the halt, the water tower in the background was one I picked up off eBay.

These two buildings are from Skytrex, they're great models and Paystow uses them too. They're sprayed with my air brush using GWR Stone Nº. 1 for the building itself and GWR Stone Nº. 3 for the doors. The windows on the waiting room are Halfords white spray paint. 

The roofs of the buildings use Halfords primers, white, grey, black, red, yellow and brown misted on (so sprayed from a distance so they sort of dry midway towards the building to give a rough effect. 

I then moved onto weathering the track with Halfords spray paints, same method as I did for the roofs of the buildings above.

Close up of the weathering.

The point work close up.

After weathering the track was very quickly wiped over with an old piece of balsa wood which took the layer of paint off the top of the rails and left them clean, I use stay alive in all my models but its no excuse for not keeping the track clean. 

With the track down, weathered and in place I went onto the next bit which is the creation of the hardstanding area so I've used DAS modelling clay all along the front here, two bags of it were used, it isn't that thick. It looks a bit rough and ready as a surface as it is intended to be a road way/hard standing so to get the imprint I simply blobbed a brush up and down into the clay whilst it was still soft. I'm putting a video onto my Instagram to show what I mean.

The brush with the remnants of clay on the bristles, it is simply just a dab up and down with it all over and it puts little imprints in the surface which makes it look a bit rough and ready like a road. Once dry the whole of the clay area will be sprayed up with Halfords paints again, the platform area is next to tackle and then I'll ballast the layout. 

Edited March 15 by Jonnie