Dock Green

[Guest Isambarduk]

“worthwhile I think”

 

Agreed.  Pride in ‘little’ things like this is what leads to such excellence in the modelling of the larger items.

 

David

[chaz]

Finishes it off nicely.

 

I think so too. Unfortunately once I have cut the strips to discard the bits with the slots in they are not long enough to do a baseboard in one piece, so a join is necessary. But the join is hardly noticeable.

 

Chaz

[81A Oldoak]

Up bright and early Chaz. The edging is very neat.

 

I was hauled by a GWR 42xx on the Bodmin and Wenford yesterday. Most of the line is 1 in 40, which made for some spectular sounds and sights. It has inspired me to crack on with my JLTRT 52xx, which has been grinding through the erecting shop for over three years.

[chaz]

Up bright and early Chaz. The edging is very neat.

 

I was hauled by a GWR 42xx on the Bodmin and Wenford yesterday. Most of the line is 1 in 40, which made for some spectular sounds and sights. It has inspired me to crack on with my JLTRT 52xx, which has been grinding through the erecting shop for over three years.

 

Thanks for the comment Chris.

 

I will forgive you this once, mentioning a Swindon machine on this thread .

 

On a serious note, why not start a topic of your own and post some snaps of your 2-8-0T?   Doesn't matter how many bits it's in - I'm sure the build will be of interest.

 

Chaz

[sb67]

I've just found this layout and I must say what a fantastic piece of modelling it is. The realism and detail is stunning. Can you tell me what shows it is at in the near future as I'd love to see it in the flesh.

Steve

[3 link]

Thanks for the comment Chris.

 

I will forgive you this once, mentioning a Swindon machine on this thread .

 

On a serious note, why not start a topic of your own and post some snaps of your 2-8-0T?   Doesn't matter how many bits it's in - I'm sure the build will be of interest.

 

Chaz

 

Yeah come on Chris, these old water carts are one of my favourites. Here's a piccy of my 42xx for starters.

 

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

 

Sorry for the hijack Chaz, especially being a GWR theme.

[asa]

Thats a really fine loco Martyn,well done.

[81A Oldoak]

Yeah come on Chris, these old water carts are one of my favourites. Here's a piccy of my 42xx for starters.

 

P1060216-1.JPG

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

 

Sorry for the hijack Chaz, especially being a GWR theme.

I'll start a new thread when I get back from Cornwall. I know how Chaz feels about anything that is not out of the East.

[chaz]

I've just found this layout and I must say what a fantastic piece of modelling it is. The realism and detail is stunning. Can you tell me what shows it is at in the near future as I'd love to see it in the flesh.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve. Your comments are much appreciated, I do hope you are not disappointed when you "see it in the flesh". At the moment the only definite invitation I have is for the Warley Exhibition at the NEC in November.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

I'll start a new thread when I get back from Cornwall. I know how Chaz feels about anything that is not out of the East.

 

I'm not interested exclusively in the products of Doncaster works! However when I started railway modelling it was difficult to escape the Swindon bias and the magazines and shows were dominated by GWR branch lines. I couldn't see them as that fascinating and I welcome recent trends which have a far wider scope. One of my regrets with my own modelling is that, having decided to model in 7mm, Pacifics, rakes of Pullman coaches, 9Fs with 40+ 16 tonners in tow etc etc are out.

 

Chaz

Edited April 3, 2013 by chaz

[Donw]

Not always Chaz garden layouts can offer that prospect.

Don

[chaz]

Not always Chaz garden layouts can offer that prospect.

Don

 

Hmm. I think the Head Gardener (SWMBO) might have something to say about that. And anyway our tiny pocket handkerchief wouldn't offer me much more space than is required to erect Dock Green. So, no, nice dream but that's how it must remain.

 

Chaz

Edited April 4, 2013 by chaz

[greenglade]

I had also considered the Garden, even got SWMBO's ( as Chaz rightly states, the Head Gardener) agreement when I suggested she could be in charge of all of the gardening needed around the track, that naturally needs to fit in scale wise. Problem is we've not sure if we will be in this house for much longer, mind you we've been saying this for years. The garden as it is would certainly make for an interesting project, it's about 90'( +10' patio) long and 20' wide although it has a number of features that would need working around, a large Koi pond being one of them, plus the different levels. It does also have two large workshops taking up some of this space at the bottom, one of which 20'x10' could be used for an indoor section of the layout, again this would have to wait for my eldest son to move his gear out, he himself has already left the nest. I also have my eye on the loft which is currently my youngest sons bedroom, he's due to move out in a few months time, I could make a layout up there, iirc the space is about 16'x12', so I do have a few options.... if only I didn't want to move out of suburbia....decisions, decisions....

 

Pete

[chaz]

I  also have my eye on the loft which is currently my youngest sons bedroom, he's due to move out in a few months time, I could make a layout up there, iirc the space is about 16'x12', so I do have a few options.... if only I didn't want to move out of suburbia....decisions, decisions....

 

Pete

 

Pete,

 

my home layout, of which Dock Green is a portable exhibition version, fits in a space 14' x 10' in the roof and has plenty of scope. I don't really fancy the garden. An acquaintance of mine had a railway in a shed in the garden - too cold in winter and too hot in summer. There were about two or three months of the year when it was comfortable to work in. And after last year's summer it's difficult to contemplate a truly outdoor layout. That 16' x 12' in your loft sounds your most attractive option to me. Dock Green would fit in that space nicely!

 

Chaz

Edited April 4, 2013 by chaz

[greenglade]

Hi Chaz

 

Your probably right although I've always wanted to have enough room for a rake of Gresley teaks behind one of his A1 pacific's, my preferred era being late 20's to early 30's, like you I'm an eastern man.. I have a lovely Finney A1 awaiting the time when I can get on with my 0 gauge ambitions, being undecided on a house move has complicated things a little. I've had so many interests over the years ( like most i guess) that I'm finally getting clear of most and returning to my first interest, that being model railways which all started due to my late grandfather who was most certainly a LNER man.

Gone is all R/C hobbies.. boats,cars and aircraft, war-gaming has also stopped' well as far as on tables is concerned, I'm still involved on the computer side (online) but than I have a contract that pays me in this area so that will stay. This leaves my main interests of today, live steam comes first and now my return to model railways, although this time around it will be 0 gauge in preference to my old scale of 00.

Once I get my smaller live steam loco ( in my avatar) ready for this years season I'll be able to spend a little time on the railway which I have to admit I'm looking forward too.. seeing you guys with your own layout constructions certainly gives me a lot of incentive to get going, I love your 'dock green' oh and I must get on with that auto coupling system that I promised......

 

Pete

[marc smith]

Thanks Steve. Your comments are much appreciated, I do hope you are not disappointed when you "see it in the flesh". At the moment the only definite invitation I have is for the Warley Exhibition at the NEC in November.

 

Chaz

 

I'll have to get along to Warley then!

Looking good Chaz

That edging has made a nice neat job

 

Better not start looking at household items such as blinds, to use in my modelling

SWMBO might have something to say

 

Marc

[chaz]

I'll have to get along to Warley then!

Looking good Chaz

That edging has made a nice neat job

 

 

Marc

 

Yes Marc, I do want to tidy up the presentation of the layout and may well fill the screw holes and paint the front panels below the trim. However I don't see me doing the sort of job on the layout that has been done on the superb model of Liverpool Lime Street.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

More boring stuff today. I took board DE down (it's very nearly finished!) and put up BC linked to CD. First job to do on BC which I tackled today was to paint the ballast to lose the desert effect and get a convincing ash ballast look.

 

 

I removed the retaining walls and the bridge piers to give access from both sides. I used artists' acrylics, mixing black, white and Vandyke brown to get a suitable brownish dark grey. Using acrylic gave me the lucky advantage that it would not cling very well to the chairs which had been painted a pinkish rust colour. These are toned down, losing the ghastly pinkish tone, but still looking rusty.

 

 

The colour has dried a bit too patchy (some colour variations are acceptable) and too light and I will give it another coat, as I did on the other two baseboards. I haven't worked right up to the end of the baseboard as stopping and starting at the join almost inevitably emphasises it.

 

Chaz

Edited April 4, 2013 by chaz

[Donw]

When I lived in Gloucestershire I joined Glosgog and was able to enjoy the garden layouts of friends which gave the chance to enjoy long trains. My own layout was a shunting plank. My intentions on a garden layout involve 16mm live steam I just need to stop moving.

Actually for a layout like Dock Green where the scenics feature highly an indoor setting is needed. You could build an indoor section in a shed with a loop in the garden to allow longer trains. But a decent space indoors where you could run a train through some well modelled scenery would be nice.

 

Don

[chaz]

......for a layout like Dock Green where the scenics feature highly an indoor setting is needed. You could build an indoor section in a shed with a loop in the garden to allow longer trains. But a decent space indoors where you could run a train through some well modelled scenery would be nice.

 

Don

 

Well no, Don. If I did put a shed large enough for Dock Green in the garden there wouldn't be much garden left.

 

Dock Green was conceived as a self-contained exhibition layout; there was never any intention to extend it. I agree with you that a decent indoor space would be nice but my terrace house has no such room so my layouts will always involve severe compromises. In fact, as I think I have said before, the only room in the house large enough to set up the complete layout is the kitchen, so this can only be done very occasionally for testing or operator training.

 

When it is finished, which I hope will happen some time in June, it will have to be stored away until the first exhibition. 

 

The only option if I wanted to run longer trains would be to switch scales to 4mm or smaller - personally I prefer the compromises I have made - I am committed to O gauge.

 

Chaz

Edited April 5, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

Yet more fencing…

A couple of additional sections of corrugated iron fencing  being painted.

 

 

The larger section shows the sequence. The right hand end shows the basic rust colour (Railmatch light rust). After this had dried the centre has had some dark rust and black dry-brushed on. The left hand end has had more paint and a waft of talc.

 

The next photo shows why the corrugated fence is needed. I couldn’t see a convincing way of getting the post and wire railway fence across the baseboard join. So I decided to leave a gap in the wires and hide this with a larger section of panel fence which would bridge the join.

 

 

The three posts are a snug fit in their holes, waiting for the fence to be erected.

 

Next I added the horizontal rails using ally clips to hold them whilst the superglue hardened.

 

 

The posts and rails in place. The centre post does not go into a hole, it just rests on the ground.

 

 

Here’s the completed fence in place.

 

 

The fence borders a strange little plot; I imagine that it’s the narrow end of a larger triangular area. Not sure what I will put into this space - probably more weeds and brambles and maybe some scrap.

 

I just have to remember to unplug the fence section before I pull the two baseboard sections apart….

 

[hartleymartin]

That is a very neat way of partially disguising a join in the baseboard!

[chaz]

That is a very neat way of partially disguising a join in the baseboard!

 

Thanks. I also had half an eye on the "attractive qualities" (?) of rusty corrugated iron. The section to the left of the panel fence will only have the post and wire railway-owned fence. The (very) thin strip of land in front of it, which is on the very edge of the baseboard, will get weeds, small bushes and some static grass. WTS.

 

Chaz

Edited April 8, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

 

A couple of ex-LMS wagons pose behind the post and wire fence. It must be late summer as the grass and weeds have grown high, even in the smoky air of Dock Green yard.

The brake van was buit from a Parkside Dundas kit and is typically grimy. The fitted open (which must have had a fairly recent repaint) is a 13T dropside Medfit. It's my only scratchbuilt wagon with a body from styrene sheet and solebars and headstocks from brass channel. The brakes, axleboxes and springs etc are ABS white-metal castings.

LMS wagons outnumbered the stock of each of the other Big Four so (IMHO) on any layout depicting 1923 onwards should have plenty of them. I know that some modellers prefer to have mostly SR or GWR or even LNER goods stock to match their railway's geography (Rule One applies, of course) but it's not realistic.

 

 

Close up of the two wagons. The door controller on the Medfit was the trickiest part of the build and was soldered up from several very small pieces of brass. This fitting was essential on the prototype to prevent the heavy side smashing itself or the brake gear as it swung down. I thought I had made a really good job of adding this wagon's running number but as usual the camera shows up the imperfection.

 

Chaz

Edited April 8, 2013 by chaz

[Guest Isambarduk]

_{"the camera shows up the imperfection"}

 

_{Just like it does on the real thing!  Nothing to worry about, I'd say.  In fact, I'd rather say that it was intentionally realistic.}

 

_David