The Kelsby Light Railway; or, Red's Hopeful Layout

[F-UnitMad]

I know I suggested it, so "I would say that wouldn't I?", but I do think swapping the goods yard & engine sheds over has worked really well.

[Edwardian]

And here they are, as Kelsby continues to rise from my imagination like some kind of bizarre backwater phoenix and manifest itself into our world in a way that may not be real but is, in the Pratchettian meaning, Real.

DSC_0044.JPG

 

Excellent.  A part, a big part, of me wishes I'd done that, instead of agonising over not very good hand-built point-work.  I'd be playing trains long since had I done so!

 

Well done, Red, it's all come together very well and you must be (should be) very pleased.

 

The way everything fans out is quite convincing.  Generally real rural stations were not aligned as if they'd been built on shelves, but fanned out across fields, and you have captured a sense of that.

[RedGemAlchemist]

WOW!

 

That is looking great Red! I can't wait to see some ground cover going down and the layout expanding!

 

Gary

A ‘pop up’ light railway!

 

I think this is a cracking way to go at things - get a railway running, and acquire skills in the process.

I know I suggested it, so "I would say that wouldn't I?", but I do think swapping the goods yard & engine sheds over has worked really well.

Thanks guys! Glad to see you all like it. Really makes me feel good about myself!

 

 

Excellent. A part, a big part, of me wishes I'd done that, instead of agonising over not very good hand-built point-work. I'd be playing trains long since had I done so!

 

Well done, Red, it's all come together very well and you must be (should be) very pleased.

 

The way everything fans out is quite convincing. Generally real rural stations were not aligned as if they'd been built on shelves, but fanned out across fields, and you have captured a sense of that.

Just buy pre-made points, it's not worth the stress, mate. I've said that more than once.

 

And thanks, that was the idea. Thanks as always for your support James.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Not sure where to put this, so it goes here. My latest purchase.

Inspired by visits to my older brother in Ely and particularly its docks, I decided to purchase this scratchbuilt houseboat, similar to the sort that is always docked there. This will sit at Hewe Dock as a nice little scenic piece.

[RedGemAlchemist]

And another little scenery update. Been a while. Anyway, the crossing cottage now has a garden. Not much else has moved as I've been very busy with various things. Also because I've been planning out how to build the Hewe Embankment and on raising the level of the board to allow the river to look realistic.

Slow and steady and all that jazz.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Sorry for my absence, been having to fight off a black dog from my door all week.

I've not been totally idle while I've been absent though. Completed Kelsby Station anyone?

The yard is finished with just a simple layer of sawdust and PVA painted with diluted woodstain, and a hedge, a road and two grass verges in the top corner.

[RedGemAlchemist]

In Flanders' fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders' fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe;

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high,

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders' Fields.

Edited November 11, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[sem34090]

Very nice job on Kelsby my friend! It looks gorgeous. 'Scuse my potential ignorance, but I'm rather taken with that goods shed - from whence did it come?

[RedGemAlchemist]

Very nice job on Kelsby my friend! It looks gorgeous. 'Scuse my potential ignorance, but I'm rather taken with that goods shed - from whence did it come?

Thank you! And it's fine, the goods shed is a repainted Skaledale one with an Ancorton cattle dock glued to one end.

Edited November 11, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[RedGemAlchemist]

Sorry for disappearing for a while, I've been extremely busy. I'm not really working on much at the moment so have Kelsby Station's Christmas tree.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Here's to next year, guys.

Edited December 24, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[Corbs]

A bit late to the party but Kelsby is looking great!

 

PS. hope to have your package sent out in the next few days.

[RedGemAlchemist]

A bit late to the party but Kelsby is looking great!

 

PS. hope to have your package sent out in the next few days.

Thanks Corbs. For both. I look forward to it.

[RedGemAlchemist]

...I'll be spending the next week with my brother and his other half in Ely, with plans to go up to London and maybe Peterborough. Be good for me to get out of my normal humdrum routine. I will try and report periodically with any purchases I make.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Well, after spending a lovely week hanging out with my brother (and catching a look at these two old beauties, 37407 and 37403 while at Norwich Station today):

 

I return to my workbench with these goodies.

 

 

 

Bus shelters and platform staff for Kelsby

And Kelsby Church... Or what will eventually be Kelsby church once I work out how I'm doing this.

[RedGemAlchemist]

A heads up and an update.

The Kelsby Light Railway layout is going on hold for a while for a very big reason.

 

We may be moving house. If we do move to where we want to I'd have a garage to build the KLR in that's something like 20'x10'. So I don't want to build any more on the boards than I have so I don't lock myself into the design I currently have. Kelsby itself though stays as is.

Further updates when I know exactly.

Thank you for your time. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by RedGemAlchemist

[Sandhole]

Thanks to this new website not updating my followed topics and various life things, I haven't followed this thread for a while.

The move is massive news, I hope everything goes the way you want it to.

I await news with interest.

                                           chris.

[RedGemAlchemist]

I return and it's finally time for an update! Apologies for being gone so long, I've been really busy.

That's because the move is officially going ahead. This means that KLR V1 is officially dead and the KLR is on hold. However once set up with the new bigger boards in the new garage, KLR V2 can begin! Kelsby itself though will just be moved wholesale and popped into the new layout exactly as it is as I love how it's turned out and don't want to have to redo it.

Future updates when they're available. In the meantime, have my latest purchases: a small unknown make waiting room, four more wagons (a box van, a match truck for the red crane, a green open and another much needed brake van) and a copy of the Peco Guide to 00 Gauge Railway Modelling.

[RedGemAlchemist]

Kelsby V2 update.

Your first look at the new home of the KLR.

I did accurate measurement FIRST this time. 10' across, 16' 8" long. Way more space than I have currently, and enough room to easily transplant the finished Kelsby section of V1 in wholesale and all have room to build around it.

[Nearholmer]

Assuming that you can loose the current contents, that is a seriously good space.

 

Is there a door besides the "up and over"? I ask, because it is a bit of a PITA to weather-seal those doors, even to a basic "keep the draft out" level, while retaining their function as a door.

 

And mice. There is nowhere that a field mouse likes better for its winter quarters than a garage, they will squeeze through the tiniest gap, and are astonishingly destructive little blighters. One friend found his TT layout effectively trashed after one 'over-wintering' by mice.

 

EDIT: Hold on.... it's got an up and over at each end ...... brick one end up, and put an ordinary single domestic door in, if you can. Then create a studding wall inside he other, something that can be removed if/when you sell-up and move.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Nearholmer

[RedGemAlchemist]

30 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

...brick one end up, and put an ordinary single domestic door in, if you can. Then create a studding wall inside he other, something that can be removed if/when you sell-up and move.

That's the plan. Well, we're keeping the doors there as it's too much of a hassle to remove them both, and merely bricking over them and putting a door in place of that window on the right.

 

32 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

And mice. There is nowhere that a field mouse likes better for its winter quarters than a garage, they will squeeze through the tiniest gap, and are astonishingly destructive little blighters. One friend found his TT layout effectively trashed after one 'over-wintering' by mice.

Thanks for the heads-up. I love mice, they're adorable little critters, but not in my layout.

[Northroader]

One line I had was built in modular boxes made of plywood, which I stored in the garage. I found later one of the more sheltered sections was packed full of hazelnuts. I don’t envy you trips to the council tip with all that lot.

[RedGemAlchemist]

22 minutes ago, Northroader said:

One line I had was built in modular boxes made of plywood, which I stored in the garage. I found later one of the more sheltered sections was packed full of hazelnuts. I don’t envy you trips to the council tip with all that lot.

...is it usual for you to have squirrels in your garage?

[sem34090]

"I see your layout has been hazelnutted again, Mr Orthrhoder"

 

"Yes, the squirrels are a real pest this year, Mr Alchemist"

 

He had answered correctly, just as Missenden had instructed. And with that the slightly nut-odured and mildly furry compound was removed from the pocket of the man from Washbourne and placed into that of his opposite counterpart from RAF Mildenhall, who would convey it to Kelsby...

Edited May 1, 2019 by sem34090

[Northroader]

Mice like nuts, too. I felt really bad about tooling off with his stock for winter.