Upbech St Mary, Upbech Drove and Pott Row a journey through 00 and then into EM and 009.

[mullie]

When I decided to rebuild it last year it was always going to have a fenland influence. Although I have never lived on the fens it is an area I love and travelled through a lot when younger. In modelling terms it is very much 'less is more' as creating a sense of space on such a small layout is a real challenge. For instance I scratch built a water tower seen in some earlier posts but took it out as it made the scene look cluttered in my view, the mpd now has just one small hut.

[mullie]

More progress on the coaching stock this week. The interior has been built and painted, the blue is perhaps a little bright.

 

 

The ends and under frame have a basic colour applied

 

 

As this is a budget project I added simple footboards to the bogies in an attempt to disguise their generic nature, made from 20 thou plasticard.

 

 

This shows the whole project, the wash on the roofs has since been redone simply by adding water to bring the acrylics and inks back to life to create a wash.

 

 

Next job is to number the carriages and add glazing, I reckon another two weeks or so to complete.

[mullie]

Unusual view of the mpd.

 

 

More work has been done on the clerestory coaches, some photos soon.

[mullie]

Clerestory coaches nearly finished. Flush glazed with the SE Finecast product secured with Johnsons Klear. Numbers by Model Master

 

 

Interior has had seats and passengers painted and added. Also some additional weight to aid stability.

 

 

This is the brake coach showing the simple footboards added to the bogies

 

 

Better view of the bogie foot board.

 

 

And interior

 

 

Wheels and roofs to be added tonight and coupling between the coaches. Hopefully in service by the end of the week once the bodies have been weathered. Might be a random extra photo at the end of this post, have no idea why- even the full editor didn't seem to get rid of it!

Edited October 26, 2016 by mullie

[Classsix T]

Nice work (Martyn is it?).

Will you go the whole hog and fit dimmed yellow leds in the occupied compartments?

 

The most appealing pics on this thread IMHO are the dusk/twilight ones showing the layout lighting to effect.

 

C6T.

[mullie]

Nice work (Martyn is it?).

Will you go the whole hog and fit dimmed yellow leds in the occupied compartments?

 

The most appealing pics on this thread IMHO are the dusk/twilight ones showing the layout lighting to effect.

 

C6T.

I've moved away from using lighting in the coaches having fitted them in the past. Taken to its logical extent, locos and goods trains would also need working oil lamps which would be very complicated on a layout like this where much of the operating involves re marshalling trains so I have given up with the idea. The Gresley coaches and the M&GN pair are both fitted but disconnected at present. I suspect this would work best on a continuous run?

 

Yes it is Martyn and thanks for your interest, much appreciated.

[Classsix T]

Hi Martyn.

I only ask re: coach lights because I'd feel it a shame that having gone through the effort of populating some compartments, the work might be not noticed. I fully understand it's your choice, but a battery pack in the brake end and micro connection to the other coach (meaning a permanent coupling whilst on the scenic board admittedly) would do away with the need for track pick-up.

 

Like I say, just a suggested idea, still fabulous modelling.

C6T.

Edited October 27, 2016 by Classsix T

[Edwardian]

I consistently admire the consistently weather look you obtain, and you have even applied it to the seating(!), and it works really well!

 

Great coaches.

[john flann]

Martyn, taking your perfectly reasonable conclusion another step, coaches were only lighted when passing through longish tunnels and during hours of darkness

 

Following that do you have  any tunnels and do you wish to operate in the dark?

Edited October 28, 2016 by john flann

[mullie]

The clerestory coaches are now ready for service, whilst they may not be a true representation of real stock that ran in the area they will do for now until I can build something more prototypical. I have also learnt new skills doing them.

 

 

 

The second photo shows how I added NEM boxes to the bogies so I could use a coupling bar from a Hornby coach I believe. The coaches are too narrow for a Keen system which was my first choice.

 

Here are the pair seen together waiting in the loop to form a later service.

 

 

Work on them was as follows:

 

• Make new underframe/gas tank from scrap brass
• add footboards and nem boxes to bogies.
• Add MJT ventilators and gas lamp parts
• Build and paint interior from Ratio parts and plasticard.
• Flush glaze using SE Finecast parts.
• Add passengers once painted.
• Add new wheels- Hornby in this case as they are easily available.
• Respray and weather bodies.

About a months work off and on I think

 

It does however mean the original Thompson coaches have been withdrawn from the line as too modern. They have appeared on every version of this layout and must be close on twenty years old. They are flush glazed, close coupled and weathered. Not sure what I will do with them, probably go back in their boxes until I can find another use for them, I don't tend to dispose of anything, they could even become donors for an experiment in fitting etched sides?

 

 

 

The through train will now be formed of the two Gresley coaches.

 

Why do I keep getting random photos at the end?

Edited October 28, 2016 by mullie

[mullie]

Really should stop playing around with photo editing software but did quite like these.

 

 

 

 

In answer to your question John; as you know I did install carriage lighting and when the layout had a more urban feel I felt it worked as it could be used against subtle lighting effects in the buildings. I can turn the lighting up and down on the layout but rarely do so now. In a place such as Upbech darkness would have been exactly that apart from a few lamps and the fact that most locos are black makes photgraphy more challenging. Maybe one day I will return to it but for the moment I am not pursuing lighting in the rolling stock. There are a few tunnels in East Anglia but not near Upbech.

[Boco_D1]

great work with the coaches, you wouldn't even know there old tri-ang moulds.

[mullie]

The first service arriving having used the new coaching stock, hopefully capturing the late 40s feel:

 

 

Need to sort out the wonky light

 

This is a surprisingly busy station for such a small space. Here we see full beet wagons, empty coal wagons and some vans being exchanged between the mainline and the branch. J15 and J70 in attendance.

 

Edited October 29, 2016 by mullie

[mullie]

Been watching this over the last few nights for inspiration and have found it really fascinating even without any GE iterest:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73wNtbzxNac

Edited November 5, 2016 by mullie

[Edwardian]

Really should stop playing around with photo editing software but did quite like these.

 

DSC_0037_Fotor 2.jpg

 

DSC_0042_Fotor 2.jpg

 

DSC_0045_Fotor_Fotor.jpg

 

In answer to your question John; as you know I did install carriage lighting and when the layout had a more urban feel I felt it worked as it could be used against subtle lighting effects in the buildings. I can turn the lighting up and down on the layout but rarely do so now. In a place such as Upbech darkness would have been exactly that apart from a few lamps and the fact that most locos are black makes photgraphy more challenging. Maybe one day I will return to it but for the moment I am not pursuing lighting in the rolling stock. There are a few tunnels in East Anglia but not near Upbech.

 

Excellent effect; it adds years on them!

[john flann]

Entry cancelled.

Edited November 5, 2016 by john flann

[mullie]

Working on wagons this week, catching up with weathering as quite a number were on the layout as they came out of the box. I used to build nearly all my wagons from kits but in recent years have lacked the time and inclination to do so and with improvements to rtr I've picked all these up either cheap at shows or on Ebay. My research is still fairly elementary but hopefully not too many howlers. Post war wagons were pooled and their condition would appear to be generally awful and many even in the early 50s had been neither renumbered or repainted, some appeared to carry almost no recognisable identification.

 

 

 

 

 

If anything the condition of these wagons is too good, they were weathered with chalks, charcoal and oil pastels.

[mullie]

Quite like the black and white versions too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mullie]

The weathering shop: chalks, black ink, artists acrylics, talcum powder and barbecue ash. I try to use things that are easily available locally and it does make me more creative. All the above went through this process. Other forums are talking about problems with various makes of paint, those that I use seem ok. I also use Tamiya and B&Q  rattle cans but haven't used Games Workshop for a while as it has become more difficult to get, I use Humbrol aerosol matt varnish which has been ok so far. A lot of the materials can be seen in the first photo, all laid out on the dining room table- was too cold in the garage yesterday and the light is better.

 

 

These are current projects

 

 

These are the results, empty beet wagons being removed whilst full coal wagons wait in the loop. All loads are removable. Wagons are a mix of kits and rtr.

 

[mullie]

I wasn't entirely happy with the colour of the clerestory coaches so have applied some weathering using inks and a mix of charcoal, talc and chalks. Over sprayed with matt varnish I then cleaned the windows with the excellent Expo water based paint stripper in an attempt to tone them down and make them look cleaned but a bit dirty.

 

 

 

I also changed the coupling bar for Roco couplers to bring the coaches closer together. With three foot radius curves this is not a problem.

 

 

The foot boards I added and the underframe detail knocked up from scrap brass can be seen. I am quite pleased with these, they will do until I can build something more authentic, likely to be a few years away.

[john flann]

Martyn, you've certainly achieved a "grimy" look-maybe a bit overdone for a rural locality?

[Edwardian]

Martyn, you've certainly achieved a "grimy" look-maybe a bit overdone for a rural locality?

 

Spent much time in the Fens, John?

 

The wind will cover everything with a fine coat of soil/dust within a week!

[mullie]

Found these vintage shots too.

 

 

 

[mullie]

Martyn, you've certainly achieved a "grimy" look-maybe a bit overdone for a rural locality?

John

 

They are not as dirty as you may think. The additional weathering has darkened the colour of the side panels and gathered in the nooks and crannies as pictures including colour ones from the times suggest was common. A lot of the coaching stock used in East Anglia as you know, dated from the early part of the century, was life expired and probably would have been withdrawn had it not been for the war. The loco stock would appear similar, the LNER simply never had the money to replace stock so much of it carried on for as long as possible even to the end of steam. The colours are based on photos I have, it was a very sad time for the railways but one I find truly fascinating to the point where I may consider undertaking some proper research into the period in my chosen locality.

Edited November 19, 2016 by mullie

[john flann]

Thanks Martyn I accept all you say as to decrepitude-which is correct-but even so it looks a bit heavy to me given the fresh clean airs of E Anglia rather than Leeds, for example.