Elsbridge Tramway Company: Elsbridge Town - NeilHB's layout

[Nearholmer]

One thing you could do to the farmers’ co-op to increase its view-blocking power without making it too bulky would be to add a sign, maybe along the ridge of the roof of the hut, a bit like the hut on RCL’s Crowsnest Tranway.

[NeilHB]

13 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

One thing you could do to the farmers’ co-op to increase its view-blocking power without making it too bulky would be to add a sign, maybe along the ridge of the roof of the hut, a bit like the hut on RCL’s Crowsnest Tranway.

I like that idea a lot - many thanks! 

[NeilHB]

Today has been very productive, with the fascia boards attached permanently, the sky tweaked a bit more, and then the first coat of paint put on the fascia (left over from painting the cornice in the lounge and dining room - waste not want not!):

 

I was going to sort out the new support system for the layout as well, but given the rather soggy weather today, I didn’t fancy cutting timber in the rain, so that will have to wait for a drier day. 

[Annie]

You've made a nice job of painting the sky Neil.

[NeilHB]

Thanks Annie, it was a bit of trial and error and hoping I didn't muck it up too much! I followed the guidance from this page for doing the backscene: https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/Techniques/scenery/how-to-paint-a-backscene

[NeilHB]

Walls! 
 

That looks better now - even if they are just temporarily in place to get a feel for how they look. Resin Dry Stone Wall sections from Skytrex. 

You’ll also note that some structures (water tower, farmers cooperative dock and yard office) have had their first coats of paint, which has helped. 
 

A bunch of suspicious looking characters were spotted earlier lurking on the platform…some would’ve said they’re wastin’ their time! 

 

[NeilHB]

Lots of little baby steps at the moment, but it’s all progress!

 

First coat of cream paint on the goods shed to bring it into the house colours of the tramway:

 

Last night ETCo No.3 ‘Gerda’ returned from being sound fitted:

Now I can line her out and add the steps etc and finish the detailing.

 

It did mean that for the first time all four ETCo locos were together:

Lovely stuff! 

[cornamuse]

Love this; new sky is very effective, and has convinced me to go paler.. the overgrown track is great, too.

 

your trams rock, I love all the varieties 

[harris0169]

47 minutes ago, cornamuse said:

Love this; new sky is very effective, and has convinced me to go paler.. the overgrown track is great, too.

 

your trams rock, I love all the varieties 

Ahhh, you see I like your backscene too and the blue cloudy sky and trees....I was only going through your posts the other day to get an understanding of how you did it.  And Neil's is great too.  I think I just like you arty guys.

 

All the best

 

Andy 

Edited January 13, 2023 by harris0169
Added a bit

[cornamuse]

Weirdly, just ordered about a mile of pale blue cloth to replace it.. it’s too long to paint effectively, without expensive boards and fittings. I’m putting curtains at the front too, so it should look a lot neater and less fussy. I felt the 3d stuff was getting lost 

[harris0169]

1 hour ago, cornamuse said:

Weirdly, just ordered about a mile of pale blue cloth to replace it.. it’s too long to paint effectively, without expensive boards and fittings. I’m putting curtains at the front too, so it should look a lot neater and less fussy. I felt the 3d stuff was getting lost 

That makes perfect sense. I reckon your new plan will work well.

 

All the best. 

 

Andy

[NeilHB]

Yesterday I put my woodworking skills to the test, and sorted out a new framework for the layout to sit on. 
 

It’s a folding ladder style structure of square timber, with pasting table style hinges to enable it to fold in half for ease of transport.

 

Much better than the rather rubbish bits of timber I was using before! They will get recycled into brackets for the lighting units to clip onto on the back of the backscene in due course. 
 

Now ‘Gerda’ is back from sound fitting, I’ve been having great fun running her in and testing out a three train service on the layout. 
 

Here’s a few snaps from earlier of ‘Gerda’ in and around the yard doing some shunting:

 

Taking water after arrival.

Shunting wagons into the back siding.

 

In the farmers cooperate society siding during shunting.

 

Waiting to depart.

 

 

[NeilHB]

Lots of progress today and particularly this evening during model railway group virtual pub meeting.

 

The house and shop have now been assembled and clad with embossed plasticard. I’ve added a bit of pavement around them to bed them in and hide any gaps around them. Painting and windows/doors next. The warehouse has gone as I still wasn’t happy with it. 
 

Lots of filing to clean up the dry stone wall castings, but they’re ready for painting and glueing in place now. 
 

I’ve made a start on cladding the gable end of the train shed. Framing next and then the roof. 

 

I treated myself to a new stables - another Fair Price Models scratch aid and much better than my naff scratchbuilt attempt.  This has been assembled and clad with embossed plasticard, and now needs painting and window/doors adding. I’ve also embedding this one into the yard surface, along with the coal merchants office and the coal staithe. 
 

Still debating whether the coal merchants office is too big for this location, but I think it’ll probably look better once it’s been painted (if I can decide on a colour scheme!). 
 

 

[LMCFTW The Gunzel]

Go for it mate!

 

If you ever need motivation, just look at Risk Astley for however long.

 

Or just something funny on the internet.

[Annie]

Everything very much taking shape and looking good.

[Mike Bellamy]

10 hours ago, NeilHB said:

Lots of progress today and particularly this evening during model railway group virtual pub meeting.

 

Oh dear - for some unexplainable reason, I forgot all about that last night and so I'm a bit late catching up on the latest progress.

 

Not long now until we all get together to meet face to face and to admire the layout (along with many others) - I guess I should start planning for the catering - got lots of bacon and cobs to order!!

.

[NeilHB]

56 minutes ago, Annie said:

Everything very much taking shape and looking good.

Thanks Annie. 

22 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Oh dear - for some unexplainable reason, I forgot all about that last night and so I'm a bit late catching up on the latest progress.

 

Not long now until we all get together to meet face to face and to admire the layout (along with many others) - I guess I should start planning for the catering - got lots of bacon and cobs to order!!

.

We did wonder where you were last night, and figured you were probably making a start on hunting the bacon required 🤣

[Northroader]

Virtual pub meeting???

[NeilHB]

29 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Virtual pub meeting???

Our group used to meet monthly in the pub, however since the pandemic we’ve been zooming twice a month. It’s been great as we can natter and do some modelling at the same time, plus our far flung members in York and Wales can join in regularly rather than only being present once or twice a year. 

[NeilHB]

Alrighty folks, is it time to engage full blown panic mode yet?! T-minus 5 days and 15-hours to go till our Modelling Day on Saturday (have I mentioned that enough yet?!)!

 

Painting of buildings continues at pace:

 

Windows and doors next on the house/shop, and then roof etc. Farmers cooperative is still a bare shell, so that’s going on the cutting mat next! Walls need a coat of paint too. Water towers looking better now I’ve painted the mortar courses. The trees been bedded in too, which is a start. 
 

Ditto with the cattle dock and goods shed, they had their brickwork finalised, and now I can finish painting the rest of them. You’ll note the new yard surface, good fun this afternoon with the DAS clay. At least now the goods shed is bedded into the yard surface nicely. 
 

Coal merchants office has had a coat of paint, and needs the roof sorting now. Need to get a coat of paint or two on the stables as well. 
 

Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday:

Lets see how far I get between now and then…

[NeilHB]

Alrighty folks - the Trent Valley Area Groups 2023 Modelling Day is this Saturday!

 

We've got the following confirmed attendees:

 

Layouts:

Elsbridge Town - 7mm Standard Gauge (Neil Blair)

King Edward Street - O14 (Simon Jones)

Whiteoak Light Railway - O-16.5 (Allen Law)

Wheal Ponder - O-16.5 (Andrew Young)

The Basin - O-16.5 (Dave Marriott/West Midlands Area Group)

Kinver Light Railway demonstration/info - O-24.5 (Kevin Hughes)

Brymston RR - On3 (Paul Martin)

Trengarw Builders Yard - O-16.5 (Alex Bingley)

Black Drake Wharf - 7mm Standard Gauge (Phil Traxson)

 

Trade:

EDM Models

7mmNGA Modelling Goods

422 ModelMaking

Iconic Rail

Port Wynnstay

GLR Model Railways

 

Demo:

Building Association Slate Waggon Kits (Adrian Gray)

Building Construction (David Wright)

7mm Scale Trams (Ian Thompson)

 

We've also got lots of tasty treats lined up for you with cakes a-plenty, so we're very much looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday 28th January, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church Hall, Mickleover, Derby, DE3 9GE. We're open from 10am to 4pm, and its £5 per adult to get in.

 

We may even have a surprise in store for those of you that remember our Henmore Dale Light Railway...

[Adrian Stevenson]

Lez and myself had an enjoyable couple of hours at the show this morning. The smell of the bacon cobs hit you as we walked up the drive. Mike was doing a roaring trade with these and had to go out for more supplies!

I took a few pictures of each layout on show. Like many layouts photographs often don’t do them justice once you get to see them in real life.

Here are a few snaps of Neil’s layout for starters.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Here we see “The Basin”. 

[Adrian Stevenson]

Small section of a US themed layout 

[Adrian Stevenson]

“Black Drake Wharf”