Gresby - N Gauge Great Central (MS&LR 90s-2000s)

[Les1952]

Just a couple of Trevor's recent buildings.

 

 

This is Malmesbury Station, made in 2014-5 for Chris Burch as "occupational therapy" once Trevor knew he had terminal cancer.  Sadly Chris predeceased Trevor, particularly sad as he had agreed to officiate at Trevor's funeral.  Malmesbury is now being exhibited in Chris's memory by Syston Model Railway Club.

 

 

 

This is Croft Spa, Trevor's final set of buildings, done for my new layout (the thread for which should finally open once Hawthorn Dene comes back from Leamington in 2 weeks time.  Both of these are done from drawings and photographs of the prototype.

 

Trevor's layout Stamford East (on which Mr Simon could spend an hour just shunting the same set of wagons around the station before reassembling the same train to go back down the line....) was also modelled from photographs and plans, with measurements where the building still stands.  This layout is now owned and exhibited by Robin Fox of Manchester MRS.

 

 

 

 Not brilliant photos but perhaps this view of Back Stanley Street from the Rise Park thread might give an idea of Trevor's attention to detail.

 

 

Les

Edited February 20, 2017 by Les1952

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

Just a quick post, not much scenery work has been going on (i've been concentrating on stock for the last few weeks) I've finished the roof on the second side of the street

 

I just have the back yards and the garage/workshop to finish off and that'll be another foot of scenery I can fit.  At Leamington show last week I picked up one of the Severn Models chimney pots, which I will fit to post sides of the street, just to see how they look...

 

Lots to do!

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

Plenty of bits done over the last few modelling sessions - I've pretty much finished the little street

 

Firstly, I gave the Severn Models chimney pots a try.  They're exactly what I've been looking for.  Here they are unpainted.

 

And painted.  The only problem I had was that I used white putty to fit them and it has melted some bits of the chimney stacks - it might be like when you don't drill a hole in the bottom of a van kit and the roof goes wobbly, so I might have to drill all the way through one of the pots on the next building I use them on.

 

I also finished the back yards on the second terrace.  I need to paint the back wall but the rest is done.

 

 

You won't see these views again, the station viaduct will be in the way!

 

This is the view from the top.  I need to fit a capping ridge along the top of each roof and build a wall to seal off the bit that goes next to the back-scene.

 

The street from the end of the layout.  I have to finish the Hodkin garage and it's back yard and then I'll have nearly a foot of scenery I can fit next time I'm working on the layout.  Shame it's only 3 inches wide...

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

I've decided that the small street is finished!  I ended up having to completely repaint the roofs where I added a tin foil top to it.  It looks pretty much the same colour though, but now without the gaps between the roof sections...

 

This is my favourite view of the street, because it shows life without showing any people, animals or plants.  As I mentioned before, the street will only be viewable from the top and the ends, so savour this view, it won't be seen again once it's fitted.  The street will be wrapped up so it can go back to be fitted - it might come out again so I can check it against the buildings on either side, but not often.  (I've put a bit of matt varnish on that shiny bit since I took this)

 

I've started another new bit anyway...  

 

It's the bit that goes along the back of the layout, on the other side of the mainline from the fuel siding.  It's 3'9 of nothing.

 

The eagle eyed of you will notice a card template saying 'goods shed'.  I found drawings for the Great Central goods shed at Harrow Road online; lucky for me they just reused the plans for Gresby goods shed when they built the London Extension... 

 

Between the new railway fence and the mainline there is the line of one of the sidings from the goods yard.  The track is pretty much lifted now and the left is being left to rot.  The bits of rail and the chairs still look shiny because the paint hasn't completely dried yet.  I painted them on Sunday but they're still tacky on Tuesday night.  I'm not sure there's any cure for that other than patience... and I hate having to be patient!

 

Once I've got this new bit finished I'll be able to call board 3 finished - but I've got a goods shed to build first...

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

Here we are in the middle of May, exactly five years after I first exhibited Gresby as a work in progress - and it's still not finished...

 

Today I did a lot of finishing off on one strip of layout, but not the whole section:

 

The railway side of the fence is pretty much done, except for some tufts of grass/small trees growing.  I've got most of the bits I need for the other side of the fence, but not really done anything with it yet.

 

I swapped out my chunky old white metal road cone for a skinnier one from a Farish detailing set, and stuck down a network rail man to hold the gate open.

 

Cable reels and workers facilities in place, and some weeds growing up the sleeper pile.  The owner of the yard behind the network rail fence has added his own ramshackle fence behind, to try and keep people out (If I was him I would have made it higher)

 

A few months back someone got through the fence.  A hi-tech solution was found to block the hole...

 

I've pretty much finished drawing out the old goods shed, and I've got most of the bits I need for the bits on either side of the goods shed, I just need to sit down and make it.  I need some more fence so I can move on to the next section of old trackbed, which is also stopping me from doing more of the ground work in the old goods yard.  

 

I've also still got that problem with the still tacky paint.  It's been 20 days now and still not totally dry - should I try some spray varnish or do you think that will make it worse?

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[George Hudson]

fumariophobia?

 

:-)

[Freight Connection]

Great update as always Simon, really nice pics. A few gentle passes with a heat gun / hair dryer may help encourage it to go off, but three weeks does sound excessive.

 

Regards - Stephen

[MrSimon]

*Googles fumariophobia...*  

 

Great update as always Simon, really nice pics. A few gentle passes with a heat gun / hair dryer may help encourage it to go off, but three weeks does sound excessive.

 

Regards - Stephen

 

Thanks Stephen,

 

I'll give the hairdryer a go - I've never known it still be tacky for so long, and it's only Humbrol!

 

Today I made the skeleton of the goods shed and put on the base layer of the bricks.

 

I've just got to work out exactly where the windows are/how big and I can get cracking with with the side.

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon 

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[Boco_D1]

Can't be that bad with the paint Simon, I once painted some Hornby cows, it must have been something to do with the rubbery plastic they where made from because a year later they where still tacky!

[MrSimon]

A year!?!?! If my rails take that long the layout will never be finished!!

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

After a bit of work while it was raining this weekend, the goods shed is looking more Great Central.

 

 

It still needs some details adding, the walls painting and the roof building, but it should be finished pretty quickly... 

 

One end has been bricked up, I assume whoever has that half of the building uses the front door.  The other end has a roller-shutter, and new window frames (because I couldn't find ether Great Central window frames, and as I only wanted 2 it seemed a massive pain to get them etched)

 

I also decided to try a 3D printed building kit.  I picked up this cabin off eBay - it's pretty good:

 

It was quick to build too.

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

I thought my last update was much more recently than it actually was... I've been pretty busy, which has included nightly banishments to my desk while revision happens elsewhere in the flat!

 

Work has continued on the bit I was working on before, the strip of board between the mainline and the backscene.  I ballasted and added weeds etc to the rest of the bit in front of the fence (and bought more fence so I could finish it off) and turned my attention to the world behind the fence.

 

Here we are with the ballasted and weedy areas roughed out in acrylic.  

 

Ballast and the start of some weeds added.

 

Here's a bit of ancient history, this is one of the first vehicles I ever had.  I'm not sure if it was on y first layout when I got it (aged 7) but it didn't take long to arrive.  It's been either on layouts (loose) or rattling around in old biscuit tins ever since, and now it's the first vehicle parked up in the old yard.

 

This part of the old goods yard is based on a real place that I always stare at when I go passed on the train.  On the Eastbourne > Hastings line just after the depot before you get to St Leonards is a yard by the railway that is always full of ice-cream vans.  At one end they're a bit smarter and parked up ready to go out on their rounds, at the other end they're a parked more haphazardly and they're a bit shabbier.  Something about the yard says 'Gresby' to me.

 

I think we all remember my fondness for cutting up Oxford Dicasts.   This time none have been cut in half, but I did open out a bonnet and take the wheels off another.  I don't think any are going to be fully scrapped, that would be a bit of a sad sight, don't you think?

 

Here's the first end of the yard nearly completed.  The one with the bonnet up will go in the gap once I've finished painting it.  I'm not 100% about the tree - I can't tell if it looks like too mature a tree for it's height, it's almost as if it's a smaller scale model of a much bigger tree, if that makes sense.   I'm going to leave it where it is to see if it grows on me (or to see if I can forget why I'm unsure about it, which might be the same thing)

 

 

The newer model ice-cream vans are Oxfords straight out the box (with the roof matt varnished, and the sides satin varnished), the blue one got a lot of weathering as it is the yard 'christmas tree' taken from a competitor during the Gresby ice-cream war.  The older vans are also Oxfords but have all had the blue repainted red.

 

I know it's one of the madder bits of scenery I've made but the real thing seemed such an interesting thing to model I just thought 'why not?'.  Gresby's pretty close to Sherwood Forest so all the day-trippers will have to get their ice creams from somewhere

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

There's been a lot of painting of ice-cream vans recently, but apart from sticking the last one down they're finished.

Lineside it needs more work, but I think this will happen on the layout, when I've patched the hole in the fence.

 

 

The vans closer to the cabin are the ones that go out more often...


The owner is doing a bit of work on his new trailer.

There's a missing section of fence that will be fitted when the strip of scenery is stuck down. The next job is the finish painting the good shed and fit the roof. Then carry on down the rest of the old yard. The strip's only 3" wide, but that's the final quarter of the board mostly completed.

Scarily, the end is in sight!

Simon

Edited July 4, 2017 by MrSimon

[BernardTPM]

The old Bedford CA ice cream vans often used to have the bonnet propped open in Summer as the engine keeps the refrigeration system going but, of course, yu don't have the normal flow of air across the radiator when used in one place (rather than roving).

[MrSimon]

Hi Bernard,

 

I didn't realise they did that, although having had a search round google looking to see where the bonnet hatch was the front grill doesn't look like it would be much use parked up.  Maybe if Oxford bring it out in O the bonnet hatch will open 

 

I finished repainting the van, and painted a tiny bit of detail inside the bonnet.  It just needs fitting in to the yard.

 

 

Hello everybody!

 

I've also been doing some more work on the goods shed:

 

It's a bit bright orange but i can tone that down.  The next job is to tile the roof and finish the paintwork before its weathered and stuck down into the yard.  

 

 

So today I logged on and noticed that Photobucket - who I store all my pictures on and link them to on here - has decided that they no longer let their users do this (I've only been doing this with them since 2010 when this thread started).  When I clicked to see about upgrading to allow the links Photobucket said it would cost me $399 for a year, which I'd rather spend on trains.   On this post I'm having a go at adding pictures the RM Web uploader way...

 

A quick scroll up and down this page will show that the thread is more or less blank... but I've got a plan, assuming that I can download the pictures off photobucket over the next few weeks I'm going to upload the pictures onto RM web and more-or-less plug them back in to the topic thread.  As I go I'll edit the posts slightly but will keep the meaning etc (so any likes etc are still what they were originally for) but it'll take some time to return the pictures .

 

The Gresby thread (and my workbench thread) will return again full of pictures of my stuff

 

Lots to do!

 

Simon

 

Edited July 2, 2017 by MrSimon

[BernardTPM]

Hi Simon,

Yes, I've gone through to find as many posts as I can and have replaced them with pictures directly uploaded into my posts. Mind you, it has shown up how poor the search facitilty if for finding posts! In the end I was looking at 'left over' pictures and trying to find them by typing in what i hoped might be relevant words to pick up on them; it's particualrly annoying that three letter searches (like HST, GWR, AWS, VEP, LMS, CCT) don't work.

With the CA, the bonnet opening is actually quite small, but the whole front panel does come off for servicing.

[MrSimon]

Well done getting them slotted in so quickly Bernard! I'm going to have to limit myself to loading pictures back in to this topic, my workbench thread, and my O gauge tram (I WILL finish it one day...) but there's over 1500 pictures to slot in.

 

Fun times!

Simon

[BernardTPM]

I know what you mean, Simon. I had 1,880 photos posted using Photobucket, though only a very small proportion here (less than 100). Most are on ngrm-online so I'm doing a feweach day on old threads there. Here I was able to upload the pics direct; the greatest difficulty was locating the 'bucked-up' pictures (I'm still not 100% sure I've found them all, but I can't find any with the search facilty).

[MrSimon]

Admittedly I got bored and stopped for a few weeks most of the way through - but I've only just finished putting all (most of) the pictures back on here.  I've got to start sticking them back in the workbench thread, but it's very dull...

 

Before Christmas I'd like to get the following done:

1. Finish painting the goods shed and make the rest of the old goods yard and the other bits behind I've been working on
2. Build the shopping centre that goes behind the station
3. Finish the chicken coup/tram holiday cottage
4. Finish Hodkins workshop

Its a tall order and I'm doubtful I'll get it all done, but I'd like to try...

 

Simon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody!

 

Nothing done on anything in the list above, but these came from Shapeways yesterday:

 

FUD is incredibly difficult to photograph, it's as if it's made from light!  I'm not starting on the car transporter just yet, but I've already cleaned up, primed, and started to paint the bufferstop:

 

The lines are really faint, I'll give them a quick rub down with some wet-n-dry before the next coat of red.  The slight dent in the buffer beam is from cutting away something in the middle that looked like it was designed to be hit with multiple unites rather than normal buffered stock.

 

Still loads to do!

 

Simon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody,

 

It seems like ages since I last updated this, or did any actual work on bits for the layout, but I've been doing bits and bobs.

 

Firstly, I finished painting the buffer stop.  I think.  I'm not sure about whether I should paint the bits that grip the track yellow or leave them as they are.

 

 

I'll give it a wave over with some dirt and then pack it up with the rest of the stuff to fix on to the layout.

 

Last weekend we took a trip over to the other side of London, obviously dropped in at 4D and bought some trees.

 

Two were quite big trees.  This one is planted by the Network Rail access gate and means this bit of board is almost complete (almost)

 

I also fitted the final ice-cream van in the space I'd left for it...

 

Finally today I beat up an old container:

 

I was going to fit it where it's meant to go and then I realised I need to cut the front off to make it fit.  Makes a change!

 

I've been staring at the trees I bought and I think I can replicate something a little similar for the tram/cottage from a few pages back.

 

Lots to do!

Simon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody,

 

Some bits of scenery done this weekend.  Last week I fitted the last of the fencing that goes behind the mainline:

 

This is the small section that goes on the end board.  I've got a buffer stop to make to go here, and it needs weeds and trees etc. fitting, and eveything that goes behind the fence!

 

The trackbed next to the plot on the other side of the goods shed.  I also spend quite a lot of time working on the details.  

 

Last week I cut the end off that container so it would fit, I also found some skips with lids on eBay.  Here's a Modelscene skip and a Faller skip being painted, and a load of pallet kits.  

 

The pallets took forever.

 

Here's how far I am along with them now, they're painted on the inside and glued together and now I just need to paint the outside and put them into piles.  I was pretty sure these bits of scenery would be finished before Christmas, but now I'm less certain...

 

Best get moving then haha

 

Simon

[MrSimon]

Hello everybody,

 

A few bits done this afternoon:

 

The pallet pile is basically finished, I just need to matt varnish the sides and work out the best place to stick them down.

 

This needs beating up a bit and then it can go with the pallets.

 

I had a slight change of mind earlier and decided the factory(/or whatever it is) using this end of the goods shed needed a loading door, so I cut one out.  The breeze blocks took ages to cut away.

 

Finally tonight, I started something new:

 

Can you tell what it is yet?

 

Simon

[millerhillboy]

Pallets looking good simon, caught my eye as I've been looking for pallets for some wagon loads. Can you tell me who makes the pallet kits please?

[MrSimon]

Thanks MHB, I'm please with how they've turned out. I got the pallets off eBay, they're printed (in two halves) by a chap in Lincoln selling them as redimprailways on eBay. I also got the cabin kit further up this page from him.

Cheers

Simon

Edited October 8, 2017 by MrSimon