James Hilton Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Unlike the growing trend of blog deserters I really like the format (am I generation Y rather than generation X?) and get on with it. I find it familiar, controllable and it tells a nice story unlike a thread where the first post could be weeks, months old you always see the new content. Anyway I do realise that a lot of you may well as a result pass my blogs by so I've created a thread here to guide you all over... VISIT THE PAXTON ROAD BLOG HERE Well the old stuff is still live and available on the old forum, CLICKY CLICKY, but I thought to start off the blog it would be good to recap a little, so here we are - the history and development of a small scenic shunting plank... Paxton Road started life back in September 2007, my return to modelling spurred on by the arrival of my first child and a realisation that the track day car project was a non-starter! I should explain that Paxton Road is actually a childhood memory adaptation - and I'm not a Spurs fan! With the realisation that I didn't have much space I shopped around for minimum space ideas - and a 6'x1' grew to 7' x 18" plus! I used brown wrapping paper and cardboard models plus some old track to work out if it would work and spent an enjoyable evening pushing stock around on the floor! You may notice the distinct lack of a layout fiddleyard - at either end - the layout was originally conceived as a shunting plank to fit in with the rules of the 2007 challenge. The size increased but the fiddleyards were never added to the design. The layout can be operated by anything from an 08/09 up to a Class 58 and still be 'shuntable'. The initial scribblings were based on a industrial estate railway - similar to Trafford Park, with the excuses of van traffic and short trains in a gritty location. However things quickly headed Southern with my new found love of the Heljan Class 33. Research showed MOD workings also used short trains with small vans - perfect for a space starved modeller - so the layout concept was set as a small MOD establishment receiving explosives and general merchandise in largely van traffic but potentially the odd open. Paxton Road had just been 'somewhere in the Southern region' until I was browsing a book on the Didcot Newbury and Southampton railway. I read about Worthy Down, just north of Winchester and it's part in WW2. I summised it's importance continued after the war and when the rest of the line was abandoned the chord built during the war for access from the GWR to the Southern, just north of Winchester, remained open as far as Sutton Scotney - although abandoned any further north than Worthy Down. Paxton Road is the ficticious name of the road that crosses the line on an overbridge (the centre of the layout). The baseboards were built using some foam insulation board after reading about in Pugsley's 2007 challenge layout thread. This proved lightweight and fairly stiff, but does have drawbacks - being hard to fit wiring and point motors. This foamboard was framed with 9mm plywood - cheap stuff from a DIY place - I'd use decent marine ply next time. Underside was strengthened, and the sides cut deeper than the foam board to allow wiring to be tucked out of harms way. Trackwork is Peco Code 75 (with short radius electrofrog points - another thing I'd not do next time - definitely worth medium or large radius if you can afford the space) which was laid on some grey foam I had from work - about 4mm deep deep this would give a realistic height for the road bed above the surrounding landscape and give a nice ballast shoulder - something missing on a lot of layouts which does impact the realism in my opinion. I really wanted to do a good job on the scenics of this one - and although I'd inherited a large quantity of Woodscenics scatter I was drawn to static grass - which I'd see in Model Railway Journal and on layouts like Cement Quay and Chittle. Not wanting to splash out on a static applicator I took the plunge and ordered some ready made 'grass mat' and 'static grass tufts' from International Models (Silflor is the brand) - which led me to the Noch puffer bottle at a later date. Which brings us bang up to date with my last update on the old RMWeb. A major milestone - 2 years on and first half, all 3' of it, is 'about' finished! It's been an interesting two years. In the same time I've churned out a fair number of models on my workbench, some of which have been moved on and others still prized possesions. I do enjoy the layout and scenics, but I find myself split between that and modifying ready to run stock and weathering - so one day I'll get there with Paxton Road - and probably with too much stock! Thanks for reading! I hope you'll visit again to see how we go from here on this, my new layout blog! VISIT THE PAXTON ROAD BLOG HERE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chivers Finelines Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Paxton Rd is on my list of layouts I like to check up on, I love the overall look of it, the detail and the real feel you get when you look at it. I've just looked at your blog of Paxton Rd and I Love the picture of the weathered Railfrieght VAA, very real looking. Keep up the good work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 Paxton Rd is on my list of layouts I like to check up on, I love the overall look of it, the detail and the real feel you get when you look at it. I've just looked at your blog of Paxton Rd and I Love the picture of the weathered Railfrieght VAA, very real looking. Keep up the good work. Thanks Matt. I plan on doing another photo shoot in a week or so... there are a few things on the workbench that should be finished and the start of some more scenic work that would benefit from some decent photography. Might need to bring the layout in out of the garage though - it's far too cold to work on out there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitbull1845 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 James, Paxton Road is a quality layout and as Matt said it does have that real life feel about it, especially with the history you have created to go with it. There is something to be said for the smaller layout, I have been thinking about reducing mine in size, it just seems so much more managable. By the way, I'm with you when it comes to the garage comment, I wan't to go out to mine but its just too cold. I can't bring mine into the house. Cheers Scott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Flynn Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 hi looking good keep up the good work. Hugh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Update posted in my blog - check it out here... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/7/entry-2727-cold-crisp-mornings-on-paxton-road/ Teaser pic: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted February 11, 2010 Author Share Posted February 11, 2010 Another celebrity visits Paxton Road... check out the photos on my blog... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/7/entry-2758-another-celebrity-today/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 If you stroll over to my workbench you can check out the real workhorses of Paxton Road... my trio of Bachmann 08/09s... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/10/entry-2804-a-gathering-of-gronks/ I'll get some pics of these on the layout when I've a bit of progress to show with the warehouse area and track work detailing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted March 4, 2010 Author Share Posted March 4, 2010 I've been busy with cosmetic fish plates... take a look at my blogs... 1) Detail shots and description: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/10-paxton-roads-workbench/ 2) Flight of fancy: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/7-paxton-road/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 I know not everyone keeps an eye on the blogs so a day later for your benefit I've made some progress on Paxton Road all thanks to a visit to DEMU. Ballast, warehouse, grass... it's coming together. Check out the post here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/7/entry-3889-progress-and-lots-of-it/ and some teaser snaps! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 The track and ballast looks really good James. Great work on the warehouse, I can just imagine the 37 idling away outside! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 I've been tinkering in Photoshop - results on my blogger blog: http://paxton-road.blogspot.com/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 I've started work on the warehouse fence - and before installation will weather and vegetate (is that a word!) the yard area - but a quick snap to show WIP and other projects is on my Workbench blog... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/10/entry-4453-what-a-lot-of-hot-air/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
0O00 Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Nice work as always James. Is that a bit of Banksy art on the overbridge pillar? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Hi James, Pics as promised. Cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 Thanks Peter! Alex - the 'graffiti' on the bridge pillar is actually copied from street art I snapped in Melbourne on my honeymoon back in 2005! But yeah it's definitely got the same feel to it which is why I chose it! It's just white paint roughly to shape and then used black pen when it was dry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
0O00 Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 Thanks Peter! Alex - the 'graffiti' on the bridge pillar is actually copied from street art I snapped in Melbourne on my honeymoon back in 2005! But yeah it's definitely got the same feel to it which is why I chose it! It's just white paint roughly to shape and then used black pen when it was dry Looks very good - I guess the Aussie equivalent graffitti artist must be called Brucey! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Hilton Posted August 25, 2010 Author Share Posted August 25, 2010 I've bought some DCC decoders for my EWS and Mainline Bachmann 37s as the Dynamis is now semi-permanently wired up to Paxton Road As a result 37013 has ended up back on my workbench (blog entry link below) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/10/entry-4552-hello-details-my-old-friend/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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