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So it's been over 6 months since an update on this big build, but now there's been some work on it. Some of these photo's have appeared on my thread.. With the Peco Bull-head track cut into lengths it was time to make up the base for the shed, I went for a magnetic attachment using 3mm rare earth magnets (I only needed ten sets). With the base plate made it was time for some surgery on the engine shed With this done, it was time to test fit the track & work out where to isolate the track, it was initially planned to be 3 section per track in the shed - however when I put some loco's in, it was very apparent that wouldn't work. After consulting with my Client (and his brother) the issue isolating sections was sorted and instead of three sections it was reduced to two per track in the shed. I had to cut the inspection pits out first prior to laying the track. Once the track was laid, wired up and cut, the inspection pits were added. I also altered the height of the shed entrances (more styrene). Next up was the fun part, cutting up strips of styrene strip and sheet to make up the floor. This was then painted a suitable colour. With the hard part done, I started painting the interior, modifying some Hornby Buffer beams to fit and gluing the roof frames in place (after they'd been painted). The base plate was also collected part way through this by my client (hence why it disappears part way through the photo's below lol). Now next up I should've been installing the lighting - however Amazon let me down on some parts, so in the meantime I got on building up the roof panels. So that's all for this build update. TTFN James

Southbound Freight passes Watford on the Up Slow Line. Harrow & Wealdstone looking south. Passing the Depot at Watford. North end at Watford looking south. Northbound Sleeper service and Freight exit the tunnels at Linslade. Approaching Harrow from the south. Must be the Peak hour, as the Stanmore Branch DMU is formed by a pair of Cravens 105s. The Widnes to North Wembley BOC Tankers head through Harrow on the Up Slow Line. A green liveried 40 plods south at Linslade. North and southbound Cement traffic passing at Harrow. A busy few moments at Harrow. North and southbound Parcels traffic pass on the Fast Lines while a northbound Freightliner passes a 304 heading south on a Birmingham to Euston (via Northampton) service. A Dagenham to Halewood working heads north alongside the canal at Linslade.

...but they will be replaced with something brand new! For those that haven't seen my external blog, or posts on NGRM-online, after having had a huge clear out, I decided that now was the time to start afresh. Don't worry though, Sandy Shores is safe! This relates to the two previous layouts: Calshot (MkII), and Old AGWI Rd. Calshot MkII was (rather obviously) the successor to the MkI version; my first "proper" model railway. Here it is in all its' glory back in 2010 (before I ruined it and the backscene with the 12 day extension build!): Above: The last appearance of the un-extended version of Calshot MkII was at the Brockenhurst Open Day in 2010. As you can see, it looked pretty smart, even if it was in an unfinished state! The extension (nicknamed "Operation: Mirror Image"!), back in April 2011, doubled the size of the layout. It was built in a record 12 days, and to all intents and purposes, certainly looked that way; especially with the lack of a backscene and easily visible fiddle yard. The main reason for the addition was to allow the narrow gauge to be a circular loop, so that I could always have something running whilst I shunted the standard gauge section. It certainly achieved that, but that's about it! I was never happy with it, and as a direct result, both boards were left in the dusty garage for 9 or 10 years. Above: Calshot didn't fare too well from its dusty non-adventure! The track wasn't too bad, but I'll admit I wasn't too careful ripping it up, so all the narrow gauge stuff went in the bin (except the points, I think, although we'll see if they're worth trying to clean up). The only wood I saved was a little of the lattice frame at the back, and ply base itself. The rest was beaten up with a hammer. Structures were mainly in disrepair to begin with, although the hangar and maybe (big maybe!) the castle are salvagable with a lot of remedial work need later on. Somewhen during that time, two further layouts were started; The Old Road (a hugely overambitious standard gauge layout based on my once-local line), and Old AGWI Rd; a layout based on Fawley Oil Refinery, near Calshot funnily enough! The Old Road didn't last long when I noticed that I'd never have the room to put it up (it filled up our entire front garden!), and in fact I still have the boxes of Code 100 flexi track in boxes virtually unused! I also kept most of the buildings (although I doubt they'll get used again, so maybe I need a rethink there, too!). Above: Old AGWI Rd almost had its trackwork completed, with the exception of the standard gauge and fiddle yard. Here we see two of the four boards; the central triangular one (with the large shells of the power house evident), and the workshop area (complete with the aerial ropeway shed and dual gauge loco shed. Old AGWI Rd progressed to the track laying stage, but I decided to take what I thought would be a 6 month break at most doing a diorama to test scenic techniques. We all know now that it turned into Sandy Shores; my proudest achievement in terms of railway modelling! Since then, the layout sat under a bed (so, for 5 years), and upon digging it out last week I noticed a myriad of problems with it. Long story short I decided that this was the time to boldly start afresh. And I'm glad I did, because the more I took apart, but more I noticed some serious problems! This was also true of Calshot, so both layouts were scrapped; most of the components from Old AGWI Rd were saved, but the majority of those on Calshot weren't. It took four days in total, but the time and effort spent being careful with Old AGWI Rd means that I can now reuse virtually all of the track, and most of the woodwork: Above: All the point motors, points, and the vast majority of the track was saved on Old AGWI Rd. Note that I've also kept all the wiring (and sorted it into bundles), every single screw, every electrical connector block... basically anything I thought I could get away with salvaging! That should reduce costs on the next project. Above: The pile of wood from Old AGWI Rd. Not everything was saved, but the vast majority was! So, what now you may ask? Well, of course there "has" to be a replacement for both layouts; especially now that Sandy Shores is finally nearing completion! The question is what? Well. As of yet I have no plans, other than I would like to revisit Calshot a third time; yes, really! What can I say? I'm a sucker for coastal scenes, and it's a really interesting prototype to boot. I'd also like a tiny bit (but not too much) of the oil refinery, so maybe I'll end up with a serious of modular layouts? Time will tell, but I will of course share all my thoughts, musings, and sketches as I come up with ideas. Either way, the design(s) need to be small, easily storable/portable, and unique... ...so watch this space! Of course, if you have any comments, suggestions, or anything for that matter; do post below in the comments!

I have not posted a blog for a while. But I am still modelling. I have finished my cottage. This cottage is called Rose Cottage and it belongs to Miss Harriet Parker, a free-lance journalist and writer. For the magazine of the Middleshire Historical Society Miss Parker wants to describe the cottages of Littleworth. She thought it would be a nice idea to start with the cottage she lives in. Sitting behind her Underwood Noiseless 77 typewriter she starts typing: “I know the cottage is built in around 1900. But there is not much information about the cottage in his papers. The only thing is a letter about adding a shed to the cottage in 1935. This letter was from Frederick Peterson & Son, Builders & Contractors. Mrs. Peterson tells me that Mr. Frederick was a fully accurate man. He archived everything very carefully. Now she stands up and goes to another room. After a while she comes back with an archive map. I can read that it is a map for Littleworth. Mrs. Peterson tell me that the firm had only done a few building projects in Littleworth. One of them was de building of some cottages on Green Lane. As a speculative builders Mr. Frederick Peterson hoped he could sell them to people who could afford buying a cottage. The three cottages there where of a basic design from E. Flint and Son, architects. In the map was page from a notebook on which stood that the cottages could be finished by a personal choice of brick and tiles. Mrs. Peterson gets another paper out of the archive map. This is a drawing of the floorplan of the cottages. I am incredibly pleased to see them and recognize my own cottage in it. Unfortunately, there is no further drawing information. No. 1 Green Lane was sold to Mr Christopher A. Roope, Wine & Spirit Merchant. They have their premises on Dock Road in Northall. We have no information when the cottage is sold to your farther. Suggestions and comments are welcome. Job

I'm completely baffled by the interface of this website these days. Navigation seems like a challenge game. Anyway, here is some progress on the engine shed I'm building for my O.16.5 engine. It's modelled loosely on the shed at Maespoeth on the Corris Railway. Painting the stone blocks is a slow process and it'll take a while before I can move on to building the roof.

Update - Its been a bit of a frustrating 10 days or so for me... Last week our two boys were away on holidays so I took the opportunity to work on their 4mm roundy roundy. I made quite a bit of progress although when they returned this weekend it wasn't long before the screaming, shouting, arguing and fighting started and I nearly went a threw the whole lot on the floor in frustration So, rather than work on finishing the station building and weathering it, I decided to work a little on the motive power for Kyle. Aside from a large logo tractor, the first two locos will be 24113 and 26038. For 24113, using the excellent Farish model, I have filled the front doors flush and fitted front end pipe detail to one end. I now need to fit the headcode discs, renumber and weather it. 24113 was a regular on the line to Kyle. For 26038, it was less straightforward due to all the subtle differences in the class. I know the Dapol version is the earlier type but I have a TPM body in progress for the later version and this will run on a Kato chassis kindly given to me by David Long. For this model I have fitted front end detail pipework, snow ploughs, headcode discs and two headlights for working the Far North lines. I still need to change the steps on the bogies to straight ones and also amend the underfame detail water/fuel tanks. I began the locos this weekend as an antidote to all the 4mm stuff for my kids (as I felt I had wasted a week after the meltdown happened) however after trying to fix all the fiddly front end pipe detail, then losing half of it on the floor...and then losing most of it all again on the floor, I can only appreciate even more how fantastic Ian of Mercig Studios work is. Note to self: I must keep doing the Euromillion so I can commision Ian to produce all my fleet... So, feeling that both my eyesight and patience isn't cut out for this no more...I'm having a bit of a lowpoint again Sorry... Anyhow...here's a shot of the 26 as it stands at present... Hopefully, things will look a bit more this week... EDIT: Typo in 24133 - Should read 24113, which was a Kyle regular (24133 had the headcode box which may the subject of a future build...)

Good evening, Further to the backscene crisis I have been undertaking some experiments. My tinkering with GIMP and Paint was getting me nowhere. Enter, Glen, a good friend from School for over 34 years now (an ex rail enthusiast who still has a light flickering for the hobby I think) who offered his photoshopping skills, as that's one of his skills from his profession, who kindly offered to tweak the backscene. Glen was briefed (from the comments made last entry) to try and keep the clouds strong but to play down the hills and below. Within a couple of hours, 6 subtle options were winging the way back to BCN for trial purposes. Today, I did an A3 test print of each (my A3 colour printed has started to include some evenly spaced lines which is annoying ) I have folded them and attached briefly in place and took a few comparison shots. I have placed the old station building on merely as it has a little more presence then the newer one, but once the backscene is fixed in place I can get back on to the new station building. Obviously at A3 the hills are larger then should be, but I think it gives the feel for them and you can just see the previous backscene in place at the edge by the ramp. What is interesting is that the on screen images looked a lot darker then when printed out. So here goes, a few shots of each modified by Glen and below placed in context. I would be grateful for any comments received and whilst opinions may vary, I will take a decision quite soon as I do not wish the completion of the layout to become a saga...as is often the case... Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4 Option 5 Option 6 In other news, the water has been repainted and I have now applied about 6 separate layers of Humbrol gloss varnish. I think I am happier with the effect and will keep adding the layers and then return back to the wall to dry brush some further detail and tidy up loose edges. That's all folks... EDIT: Further to all the comments below, this morning I test printed option 1 again, but this time on A4 paper. Despite the quality of the print, this gives more sky available and I have placed on the layout after cropping the bottom 50mm off the bottom to give more sky/clouds which results in the loss of the water. This was inevitable as keeping the water compromises the sky etc... I attach the test print in place and I think I will get it reprinted tomorrow actual size (700mm long) at the copyshop, which will result in better quality. I also slid it along the length and tucked in behind the ramp...I think this goes to demonstrate that once the low level shots with rolling stock are undertaken, the backscene may disappear even further...