Brian D Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Trackwork is now fully complete in terms of electrical control and ballasting - lots of weathering to be done and still debating whether to paint the rails (they have only had a spray of sleeper grime) but all of that boring stuff can wait because I want to fill in some of the scenic gaps, the largest of which is the twin viaduct area. This is the plan... ...or rather a photo of it, upside down but the right way up as you view it from the operating well. On the left hand side, a road emeges from under the main line and via a level crossing slopes down hill and crosses the river (which flows under the centre span of both viaducts) on a masonry bridge before it two disappears under the end span of the viaducts. So I have been making cards profiles of the roads and river bed to help me plan the missing land form necessary. Here is a very dodgy panarama showing these profiles in place... ...and a more conventional end on shot which also has a coal hopper train arriving on the main line. This is pretty much the effect that I want so I can make a start on the land form. Regards, Brian. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Excellent mate, I love the way the Road comes out from under the Line, then the Level Crossing, then over the River, and then back under the Viaducts. BUT. And here's a radical thought, how about a ''T'' junction coming towards you or to the right between the River Bridge and the Viaducts to the right? An extra scenic feature. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Excellent mate, I love the way the Road comes out from under the Line, then the Level Crossing, then over the River, and then back under the Viaducts. BUT. And here's a radical thought, how about a ''T'' junction coming towards you or to the right between the River Bridge and the Viaducts to the right? An extra scenic feature. Thanks for your kind words Andy and also for your suggestion. If you mean the bend in the road just in front of the bus in the panarama pic, I was thinking of putting a garage on that bend. Some years ago I dowloaded one of these... http://scalescenes.com/product/t017-garage/ ...and I was thinking of using that as a feature but if it doesn't fit certainly your T junction option is a good idea. Regards, Brian. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toftwood Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Trackwork is now fully complete in terms of electrical control and ballasting - lots of weathering to be done and still debating whether to paint the rails (they have only had a spray of sleeper grime) but all of that boring stuff can wait because I want to fill in some of the scenic gaps, the largest of which is the twin viaduct area. This is the plan... 20170823_175826rev.jpg ...or rather a photo of it, upside down but the right way up as you view it from the operating well. On the left hand side, a road emeges from under the main line and via a level crossing slopes down hill and crosses the river (which flows under the centre span of both viaducts) on a masonry bridge before it two disappears under the end span of the viaducts. So I have been making cards profiles of the roads and river bed to help me plan the missing land form necessary. Here is a very dodgy panarama showing these profiles in place... 20170824_Panorama1.jpg ...and a more conventional end on shot which also has a coal hopper train arriving on the main line. 20170824_163904.jpg This is pretty much the effect that I want so I can make a start on the land form. Regards, Brian. As you all probably well know, on the colliery systems, where a road crossed the tracks it was more than likely an ungated crossing with either a small cabin with a 'Bobby' stopping traffic with flags or the fireman jumping down and guarding the crossing when in use. So rather than have the 'usual gates maybe that would be a dare I say more authentic scenario?? maybe a servo operated "popup' Bobby as the train approaches?? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 As you all probably well know, on the colliery systems, where a road crossed the tracks it was more than likely an ungated crossing with either a small cabin with a 'Bobby' stopping traffic with flags or the fireman jumping down and guarding the crossing when in use. So rather than have the 'usual gates maybe that would be a dare I say more authentic scenario?? maybe a servo operated "popup' Bobby as the train approaches?? Thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking in terms of traffic light control for the road vehicles, as a photo in one of my reference books of Shotton Colliery - a simple two aspect light on (I assume) a black and white striped pole. Regards, Brian. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 I have decided to progress the valley scenics in the area of the two viaducts by making a start on the river bed. Some time ago I bought some of this... ...so the cardboard template was used to form a hard board river bed. This was edged with 10 mm high strips of mounting board to form the river banks or edges thus... ...before adding a layer of modroc... ...and placing it back on the layout to dry out. I still haven't decided what colour or colours to paint the river bed. In recent days me and Mrs D have enjoyed some walks along the River Chelmer and photos taken, see below, are somewhat inconclusive... ...because of the reflections, blue for the sky and green for the trees. Tricky. My wife is telling me to use a brown shade which I might opt for. I'll probably head to Hobbycraft and have a look at the Tamiya glass jar acrylics - looking at the paint through the bottom of the glass jar should give me an idea of what the final effect will be once the E-Z Water granules have been melted and poured over the painted river bed. Regards, Brian. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Tales from the River Bank Bed - Part 2 I finally decided to paint the river bed with a blend of brown and grey acrylic paint, more grey than brown. This gave a pleasing muddy colour. In addition, a visit to the (tidal Thames) riverbank yielded some actual river bed sand which was duly dried out in the oven and some was scattered over a layer of PVA glue. This was the result. You will note that the ends have been dammed up with card. This was left to dry overnight and then, with trepidation, the E-Z Water was placed in an old pan (curtesy of Mrs D) and the heat applied. After about 10 minutes, all of the granules had melted although there did seem an aweful lot of bubbles so the heat was turned down and much stirring carried out with a spare piece of dowl. Then, with even more trepidation, the whole lot was poured into the river bed which had already been placed on the flatest surface (checked with a long spirit level) I could find - the kitchen work top. This was the result. There was a small amount of overflow at one end but nothing too serious or incorrectable. Having cooled down over a period of 30 minutes or so, the overflows were snapped off and the river bed relocated to the shed. I think the water effect is quite acceptable - see close ups below. The river banks have obviously yet to be added - I'll have to work my way slowly from the back of the layout incorporating the valley bottom and sides as I go and riverside vegetation but I am well pleased with the appearance of the river bed, despite one or two areas where tiny bubbles are just visible. Regards, Brian. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 (edited) Excellent work Brian, that'll look really effective mate, well done. Edited September 2, 2017 by Andrew P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AireValley1962 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 The reflections when you get the riverbanks done will look like business, methinks. Nicely done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toftwood Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 (edited) A nice grungy North Easterly dead stream! A few pram carcasses, bike frames and other assorted dross to accessorise methinks. Nice one! Pete As an edit: a thought occurred, is it too late to cut out of the base a slot and sink the river lower into the baseboard?? Edited September 4, 2017 by Toftwood 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 A nice grungy North Easterly dead stream! A few pram carcasses, bike frames and other assorted dross to accessorise methinks. Nice one! Pete As an edit: a thought occurred, is it too late to cut out of the base a slot and sink the river lower into the baseboard?? Sorry to take so long replying - I haven't posted for a whole month, progress has been slow due to holidays and family stuff. Thanks for your comments though. Unfortunately, because of the way I've made the viaduct carcasses, I can't sink the river any lower. Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 Progress continues albeit slowly. We were away for the first two weeks of September and also this last weekend but some scenic work (basic ground cover) has been done in the area between the two viaducts but there is still a lot to do - see below. Meanwhile, the colliery has taken delivery of one of them new fangled diesel shunters. I've seen the new Golden Valley Hobbies "Janus" loco reviewed in the magazines and was sorely tempted. Then I noticed that Hattons were knocking out some of the Hornby Sentinels for £40 - bargain. So I duly ordered one with outside cranks, bright blue but that will be weathered or repainted in due course. Well, it is a cracking little loco and handles the hoppers superbly. Such a smooth and slow runner - strongly recommended and a gift at £40. Here it is shunting the hoppers. Bright yellow buffers as well! Regards, Brian. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted October 3, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 3, 2017 Bright yellow buffers as well!But not for long bashing those hoppers up & down.Paul. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 But not for long bashing those hoppers up & down. Paul. Ah yes, a bit pristine at the moment and will be attended to in due course. BTW, I don't ever recall seeing buffers painted yellow before. Thanks for your interest. Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toftwood Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Sorry to take so long replying - I haven't posted for a whole month, progress has been slow due to holidays and family stuff. Thanks for your comments though. Unfortunately, because of the way I've made the viaduct carcasses, I can't sink the river any lower. Regards, Brian. Hi Brian, Thought Holidays may have got in the way....kept checking in and no new posts.... ha ha ha. I see that you have attended to the river, probably looked stark and stuck out because there was nothing else around. There is a cracking book which I have called "Industrial Railways in Northumberland and County Durham in the Latter Days of Steam" BookLaw Pubs, Malcolm Castledine. Some really good colliery and coking plant pics lots of detail and locos. Anyway nice to see you back. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Hi Brian, Thought Holidays may have got in the way....kept checking in and no new posts.... ha ha ha. I see that you have attended to the river, probably looked stark and stuck out because there was nothing else around. There is a cracking book which I have called "Industrial Railways in Northumberland and County Durham in the Latter Days of Steam" BookLaw Pubs, Malcolm Castledine. Some really good colliery and coking plant pics lots of detail and locos. Anyway nice to see you back. Thanks again for your interest Toftwood and the book recommendation. Yes I know the book well, it's in my collection. I picked it up at an emporium called "The Book Warehouse" in Waterloo before I retired (half) priced at £9.99. Full of inspiration as you say, the only draw back is all the photos therein, except the cover, are monochrome but as they are in the main pictures of pits etc there probably wasn't much colour to photograph Thanks again for your support. Regards, Brian. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Today has been a grandchild free day - me and Mrs D look after various grand children two or more days a week - so I have made a fair amount of progress on the road bridge over the river. The build is based on a Scalescenes kit - http://scalescenes.com/product/r011-arched-bridge/ This is the mock up I made a few months back... ...and here are a few pics of the build so far. Hopefully I'll get it finished in the next day or two but more grandchild minding tomorrow may slow things a touch. Regards, Brian. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Very neat job Brian, It will fit in a treat mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 While my grandson was having a nap earler, I managed to substantially complete the road bridge. Here it is at start of play today... ...requiring parapets and coping stones to complete which were duly added. It needs the road surface to be painted on but in the meantime here it is posed in position on the layout. There is still a lot of scenic work to do here to set this bridge and the metal viaduct behind into the landscape. Regards, Brian. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 12, 2017 Author Share Posted October 12, 2017 Well, an attack of the electrical gremlins has had a somewhat demotivational effect on me and general scenic progress so yesterday I decided to grasp the nettle and sort them gremlins out once and for all!! Basically, four point motors had been playing up, the first failure occuring some months ago followed by three more fairly recently. Two Seep PM1s were only throwing in one direction and two more had packed up all together. Having researched elsewhere on RMWeb, I discovered that one or two other members had had similar failures which turned out to be the coil wires becoming severed at the point of attachment to the PCB. So I removed both point motors which were only firing one way to check with the circuit tester/multimeter and lo and behold I was suffering the same type of failure. A quick blob of solder on each PM1 solved that particular pair's problem. The other pair of points which had failed form a cross over near the colliery branch. Having checked the coils, there was electrical continuity on both coils on each point so not the same problem as the other pair then! Hmm! Grr! Anyway, having replaced the single switch controlling the crossover without any improvement I then spent quite a while checking the wiring from the panel to the points and eventually found a lack of feed voltage to the switch in the panel - hurrah, problem identified and then again another small soldering job to sort it. I'm a relatively happy chappie now that all the points are responding to the switches on the panel. However, another problem has been bugging me and that is the way the main station retaining wall, platform sides and station building utilising Scalescenes ashlar texture sheets printed on photo paper have gone from stone colour to bright pink over time (the photo paper was some cheap stuff bought on the web and I think it is still "developing"). So, again, I'm going to grasp another nettle and sort it. I tried a sample panel of over painting with acrylic stone colour paint but I don't think that cuts the mustard so to speak so I will replace all of these textures with normal plain paper prints which will require a degree of rebuilding. Prior to this decision making there was definitely a sense of doom lingering but now the points have been sorted and the decision has been made to sort out the dodgy ashlar I'm back up and running again and feeling much more positive. Regards, Brian. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danstercivicman Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Niceness!!! You could have some industrial contamination into the river Or that just might be the effect of living in the W.Mids 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnauthorisedCinnamon Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Its always pretty soul destroying when you just want to have a running session and the electrics are playing up So glad you sorted it 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Not a huge amount of progress this week due to family stuff going on. Also, a major hunt for my micro drills slowed things up - I wanted to experiment drilling tiny holes in the bottom of Springfield head lamps so that they would be an easy fit on locos. I thought they were with my pin chuck drill, turned out I had stored them with my mini drill. Anyway, I did manage to drill first a 0.5mm hole (too small) then widened it out to 0.7mm in one headlamp, loosing the light jewel in the process but hey ho. This was duly fitted to the K1 for a stopping passenger train. So here is the D49 Westmorland and maroon Gresleys arriving on a stopping service, passing the loco depot where the K1 waits... ...to back down on its train... ...and depart. The second photo of this batch shows the trial stone colour paint on the retaining wall which I have rejected. All will be replaced with new printed textures in due course. Regards, Brian. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted November 1, 2017 Author Share Posted November 1, 2017 Not a huge amount of progress to report because we were away last week in Cornwall. While we were there we took the opportunity to have a trip on the Bodmin and Wensford Railway. This was the loco on our train. It is a rather odd line in that it is Y shaped starting at Bodmin General so you have to take two return trips, one to Boscarne Junction (now why is that name familiar Andy P if you are watching ) and one to Bodmin Parkway where you can connect with the main line (see below) if you want to see all of it. A handsome footbridge I thought. Anyway, back to the layout. As I have mentioned previously, my retaining walls have turned pink (photo paper still developing I think) - see below. So, they had to go. I have printed the Scalescenes' texture directly on to thin card (230 gsm) which will be used where the wall curves vertically and a start has been made in demolishing the old pink panels... ...and replacing them with the new ashlar textures. This is proving a lot easier than I feared so hopefully will only take a few (part-time) days to remedy. Regards, Brian. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 Hi Brian, Walls look a lot better mate, and as for Boscarne / Pencarne Junction, your spot on. hahah. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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