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MARSHFIELD with ELY BRIDGE HIGH LEVEL


retroman
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Thanks for bringing this layout to the fore; just one problem for me - I access this site from work during breaks and they don't allow uploads from picture sites so your pictures come up as boxes with red crosses in them!!

Could I respectfully suggest you use the RMweb picture upload option then we can all see the pics and post comments accordingly?!

Thanks

David

 

Ahh, right. I thought using a hosting site was the preferred option .... it certainly is on my motorbike club forum.

I will have a go posting direct to RMWeb shortly.

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Love the layout, some great detail and some great scenes. I would love to build a layout in my loft.

 

I take it that the travereser is the Walthers one? Is it worth the money, cause I know they cost a bit? Could I also ask what kit the Diesel tanks are, Knightwing maybe?

 

Great work, very inspirational, I love the blue diesels just my era :agree:

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McC, the girder viaduct behind the steelworks is a double span MARKLIN kit, the long viaduct joining it is are series of the Hornby 3 arch model with the arches bricked up .... still a good model IMHO despite its great age!!

 

All of the other bridges are scratch built using various girder bits, etc.

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Love the layout, some great detail and some great scenes. I would love to build a layout in my loft.

 

I take it that the travereser is the Walthers one? Is it worth the money, cause I know they cost a bit? Could I also ask what kit the Diesel tanks are, Knightwing maybe?

 

Great work, very inspirational, I love the blue diesels just my era :agree:

 

Thanks Squeaky

 

The Traverser is Heljan. It cost £139 a couple of years ago. Sounds a lot but its great fun to operate, and the cost was not that much more than the associated pointwork / motors that would have been needed otherwise. It always amazes visitors!!

 

The tanks in the depot are indeed by KNIGHTWING .

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Guest oldlugger

Hello retroman,

 

In response to your post today elsewhere, I've had a good look at your layout, which has been built very nicely. My only observations are that the track looks a bit too uniform in colour and ballasting texture and could perhaps be improved with some subtle upgrading, based on prototype photos. I also think you could work on your vegetation far more, with perhaps areas that are quite overgrown with long and short grasses/weeds, especially around lesser used bits of track. A less cluttered appearance would also be good in terms of fixtures and fittings with less stock on the track, especially when photographed.

 

Cheers

Simon

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Thanks for the deluge of kind comments. It wasn't meant as a marketing ploy...

 

Ho ho, we believe you.

 

Seriously, I've enjoyed your thread and will look in more often now.

 

What I like:

Weathering,

Spaciousness, uncluttered.

The depot, although I quite liked the other one too.

Your choice of locos and eras.

Your scratchbuilding and use of other buildings. That footbridge is lovely. I like the PW scene too.

 

What I thought could be better:

Weathering on the traverser: the base area would be full of muck and certainly NOT white. The rest of it is great though and a definite plus point, interesting. I have been to loas of depots in France that still have them.

The station signs at Marshfield in early photos: their bases are too toy like.

Some of the lights are a bit bright.

The steelworks needs more pipework:http://www.flickr.com/photos/52386003@N04/5173171336/ http://www.flickr.co...N04/5173100044/

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/ and don't forget that any long runs have "omega" loops in them for expansion. Also, steelworks are DIRTY!!!!

 

So not much to DISlike really, just niggles.

 

Overall a great layout and I will look in again when you update. Keep up the good work.

Edited by JeffP
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It's a very nice layout mate, nice blue diesels too. Don't feel bad about the situation before - the volume of stuff here is massive, I rarely have time to look beyond page 2 of layouts. Indeed mine sunk without trace quickly - not helped by the fact I can go weeks without doing much !

 

Keep it up

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I's a good job well done... as you said it may not be a P4 masterclass but it's good fun and it ticks the boxes....you see a lot worse than this at exhibitions and in the model press (but I'm not going there :nono: ).

 

Carry on enjoying what you do... don't worry that no one has seems to have noticed this thread... there is so much posted it's easy to miss something but remember the main thing is that you get something out of your project for yourself :sungum:

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Thanks folks for taking the trouble to comment.

 

I'm genuinely grateful for the constructive observations that have been posted, too .... sometimes a fresh set of eyes is just what is needed.

 

I have noted what Simon and Jeff have mentioned .... updates to follow :yes:

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First go with the RMWeb photo uploader ...

 

My most recent work is this signal gantry .... an extended Dapol kit with replacement KNIGHTWING signal clusters.

 

Aaah that's better!! Cracking 45 Dave; nice and mucky...agree with the post above about the uniform ballast, but then mine ain't much better at the mo'!!

Keep the pics and updates coming...

David

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I too have also only just come across your layout.......lot's of nice detail and at least one Class 50 which can only be a good thing!! I can't offer any criticism as I'm very much, in the learning stage. I really need to learn how to weather my layout!!

 

Keep up the good work

 

Steve

Edited by D86
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Dave

 

Don't worry I always keep up to date with your thread although recently I tend to use the 'like' button rather than post 'me too' posts. I can't remember whether its this or the old rmweb but I think I credited you for the inspiration for my layout, a depot and mainlines rather than large station.

I thought they were created by the same person untill I noticed the user names :O For me personally, Temeraire's layout just edges it, but only because of the era modelled, nothing else. Both layouts are supeb and I've followed both even if I havn't posted

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Guest oldlugger

Hello again retroman,

 

I think you should feel very proud indeed about your layout and it can only get better and better. Another thing that might lift it a bit would be to light up that MAS gantry and add a little track side clutter, but not too much, and I still think some subtle grassing over of parts of the lesser used track would look nice. I forgot to say that I really like the multi level aspect of the layout with that very nice retaining wall.

 

Cheers

Simon

Edited by oldlugger
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How on earth did I miss this? Re others saying could be too cluttered, I disagree as really life if cluttered, and fill of mess. Although I never saw the 1960's and 80's, you've certainly struck gold with the looks. Will be following this thread as the detail is great. Also, I like the fact, that you change it quite often, constantly taking down building, like your adding that Army Camp, always changing.

 

A perfect layout in which only I could dream of having anywhere near, excellent.

 

Robert.

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Thank you very much for the feedback. As MARSHFIELD is fixed in the attic, the only people who get to see it are a handful of visitors - that's why forums such as this are so good, in that work can be shared to a much wider audience. And that's why, I guess, I needed to check that people WERE actually reading my updates!

 

Perception is a strange thing. I look at Ian's wonderful work on EXFORD PARK and wonder how I will ever reach that standard.

 

I've made loads of mistakes on MARSHFIELD: I started with a simple track plan flowing into a fiddle yard, but then fell into the classic trap of getting bored too early and ending up with no fiddle yard, a massive amount of work to do, and a ludicrously complex trackplan. At one stage there must have been about 30 sets of points, all requiring switches and point motors (an aspect of railway modelling I hate!!!). In retrospect I wish I'd stopped before trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ... that being said I am reasonably satisfied with how its looking at the moment, despite taking me about three years longer than I'd planned (the build has been six years in total).

 

MARSHFIELD has several faults .... principally I really regret the fact that it is operationally hamstrung by the lack of a decent fiddle yard. That being said, the experience I've gained has been invaluable ... and this layout will continue to exist/evolve for as long as we live in our current house, so several more years yet. I intend to concentrate on locos and rolling stock improvement in the meantime.

Edited by retroman
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As you seem to have the space with a 14'x11' room, why not explore the possibility of a fiddleyard underneath the layout? You could have it branching out to and have loads of lines to store your locos and stock, and have spare lines to hold current stock. Just a thought to play with.

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As MARSHFIELD is fixed in the attic, the only people who get to see it are a handful of visitors - that's why forums such as this are so good, in that work can be shared to a much wider audience.

 

Perception is a strange thing. I look at Ian's wonderful work on EXFORD PARK and wonder how I will ever reach that standard.

 

Things are the same for me Dave as regards Exford Park being fixed in the loft and if it wasn't for Rmweb no one would get to see it either. Now I get regular visits from 'train friends' as SWMBO puts it, who I wouldn't have met without posting on here! I have also now experienced exhibiting with Kevin's Leaford layout again not something I would have done without this place.

 

As for you wishing to reach 'my standards' blimey that's a large compliment sir, and thank you, but rest assured I think just as highly of your layout as well as many others here and wonder the same things from time to time. At the end of the day if you're happy with what you're creating that's all that matters. I'm sure we've all been through the 'rip it up and try something new' phase before, I know I have, just not this time yet!

 

Anyway enough of my waffle for now but if you are ever up in this neck of the woods give me shout and you'd be more than welcome to be a 'train friend' and see Exford Park up close.

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