Chinahand

Hi Jules, Only recently joined RMweb and have just spent a most enjoyable half hour reading your GWR build thread. I must compliment you on a most impressive layout which captures the 'air' of a sleepy GWR Branch Terminus to perfection. I will be following your further progress with great interest as I am just starting to build a 'U' shaped N Gauge GWR layout which will feature a branch terminus on one side. See my blog for further details.

One thing you will have to make sure of with these larger designs is that you will need access all round as you certainly won't be able to reach all the way across from one side. I did a 6ft x 3ft 6in design for a friend some time ago which might be of interest. The basic idea is to have the station platforms 'Off-scene' with the station building and town at high level above the tracks. The local DMU terminus, however, is at the same level as the track and is reached by stairs. The idea was to have a 'dropped' section of the board at the right hand side with a viaduct crossing a canal or river.

I would suggest that, after completing the first colour, you use some Tamiya masking tape to set the straight line and then apply the Maskol. After removing the masking tape you can, if necessary, clean up the line with a scalpel and then paint right up to (and over) the Maskol. When everything is completely dry the Maskol can be easily removed witth warm water. I know what you mean about apartment living as I have to do all of my messy work out on the balcony. I would suggest, however, that you apply an undercoat of Halfords Grey Primer spray to your models before doing the final livery.

Hi Simon, I don't have a topic at the moment but I have started a blog on the building of my new N Gauge layout and have now included a link to it below my signature. Maybe I should have started it as a Topic instead of a Blog but, being new here, I wasn't sure of what the protocols are. The paint job on the wagon has come out really well for a hand brushed finish. Have you tried using Maskol masking fluid for the line between two colours ?? It overcomes the problem of free-hand painting a straight line.

Nice work on the hardstanding Stephen. I bit of weathering on it to make it a bit more grubby would really complete the look. I suggest you use some weathering powders rather than paint though as you can control it better just by pushing it around with a brush and rubbing it in with a finger tip. Keep up the good work.

Hi Stephen, Relatively new to RMweb so have only just found your thread and spent a good half hour reading through it all. What a superb project it is turning out to be and I will be watching it for further progress. Just out of interest where did you get your sky background from ??. They look like photo reproductions.

Hi Barry, Being a relative newcomer to RMweb I have only today come across your thread and have just spent a very happy half hour or so reading through it. Although I know little about American railways it is very clear that you know your subject and I can appreciate the dedication and skill that have gone into your layout to date. There are lots of wonderful details, both in the buildings/scenic aspects of the layout, and in the detailing of locos and rolling stock. I'm just venturing into N Gauge myself, having previously modelled in 00, but if I can produce results half as good those you have achieved, I will be well pleased. My congratulations on some excellent work and I will now enjoy following your further progress.

Hi there MrSimon. I only recently joined RMweb and have just found your thread. What a superb little layout you have with some really first class N Scale modelling. I love some of the the 'out of the box' thinking that has been employed, particularly the 'half car' low relief workshop. I shall now look forward to seeing your updates, and will be hoping to steal some ideas for my own layout.

Hi Penian, As I said, I model N Gauge and I buy them from N Brass The MBD coupling also seems to have been discussed here earlier Old RMWeb Link I'm not sure if they are available in 00 scale but the above N'Brass link has contact details so give them a call.

I realise that this thread is targetted at 00 modellers but I believe some of my N Gauge experiences are relevant. I tried seveeral of the couplers that have been mentioned when looking for a way to get rid of the horrendous Rapido couplers that we are blessed with in N Gauge. Having made up samples of Spratt & Winkle, B&Bs and DGs I felt that they were either very tricky to build and set up or were not 100% reliable. Spratt & Winkles rely on having a piece of wire glued across the buffers which, IMHO, does not look good. They are also very prone to buffer lock. On the face of it when I first opened the kit for the B&B couplers I thought I had found the perfect solution. It was only when I tried assembling them that I found it very difficult to do so without distorting one or more of the parts due to the way the loop and catch are attached to the base etch. The DGs are quite easy to assemble but there is an inherant weakness in the design of the catch which simply wedges into a slot in the base etch. If it's too tight it doesn't always drop over the loop to allow shunting without actually coupling and if it's loose enough to drop back over the loop there is a tendency for it to come out all together. Hmmmm. I then discovered MBD couplers which have completely solved all of those problems. Both the loop and the catch are mechanically pivoted from the base etch and they are quick and easy to assemble. They hold wagons away from each other by enough distance to minimise the risk of buffer lock on anything other than the tightest of radii.When blackened up they become almost invisible.

Thanks for your kind words guys. The Main Line Terminus is loosely based on Oxford but the MPD and Freight Sidings are entirely freelance. The Branch Line Terminus is based on Kingswear with a revised loco shed and the addition of a goods siding to the Grain Merchants. This will provide a raison d'etre for traffic between the Much Binding Grain Merchant and the Brewery at Chipping in addition to the normal GWR Milk, Sheep and Cattle ttraffic. I might also try to fit a Maltsery in next to the Grain Merchants.

Hi Steve and thank you also for your kind words. As regards Much Binding I must admit the old Flanders and Swan song did come to mind at the time but the real background to the naming of the branch line station was more to do with the expletives (BLINDING) used when building the baseboards. Chipping is nothing more than an obtuse reference to it being a DCC layout. As for the Model of the Model, I really enjoyed building it though making up some of the Scalescenes kits at 1:730 scale did test the eyesight at times. The little overbridge has 27 parts to it and is only 1cm x 1cm x 7mm. Talk about micro engineering.

Well it's been at the planning stage for more years than I care to think about but, having now settled in China and completed my domestic duties (shelves & pictures to put up etc.) I've finally made a start. The layout is N Gauge and runs around 3 sides of my Railway Room/Study with an overall size of 3.0m x 3.5m. It will, hopefully, depict my memories of post WWII steam operations, being set in 1946; though this might extend a little to the time of nationalisation so that I can run some BR liveried trains as well as GWR. The design is completely freelance though it does contain elements of some actual locations. It combines a good length (about 20 metres) of twin track continuous running on a folded dog-bone plus two terminus stations; one main line terminus (Chipping) and one branch line terminus (Much Binding). I've always liked end-to-end terminus layouts for the operational interest they provide but, still being a kid at heart, I do love to sit back sometimes and just watch the trains go by. With this plan I can do both. Those of you who have read my 'About Me' entry will know that before moving to China I was living and working in Dubai though the plan was to retire at the end of 2009. In the 2 years before retirement I set out to gather together everything I would need to build and operate my model railway and this was accomplished by means of a combination of internet buying and hand carrying the more delicate items when visiting the UK on leave. However, I became frustrated at not being able to get started on the build so I decided to build a 1/5th scale 'Model of the Model' so to speak. The chosen material for the model was artists board as it almost exactly corresponded with the scale thickness of the 12mm ply the boards would eventually be constructed from. Here's a shot of the low level boards with the track bed in position. The plan was that the two ends of the dog bone would be hidden beneath the two terminus stations but that changed slightly. More on that later. "> Then came the upper level boards which would be home to the terminus stations. "> Having modelled the basic track plan the next task was to model the topography. This had actually been the purpose of the model in the first place as, although I had the landscape mentally visualised I needed to see it in the flesh to be sure that it was both achievable and realistic. Using the tried and tested medium of papier mache onto formers I started with the corner of the layout between Much Binding station and the long (1.5m) 19 arch viaduct that crosses the canal and valley. First the formers were cut and shaped from more of the artists card and crumpled up tissues were packed into the spaces between the formers to give better shape to the papier mache. This was the resulting area. "> You will note that, at this stage, I planned to have a level crossing carrying the road over the railway lines just after the station throat. It became apparent, however, that this simply would not work visually as the rise of the ground after the track would just not look right. And so the level crossing became a road overbridge. This sort of change was exactly why I was building the model so it was definitely a result as far as I was concerned. Having made that decision, the papier mache was appliied and, just to add a touch of realism, some fine green scatter was added. Here's that same area when completed. The road overbridge is again a scaled dow Scalescenes kit. "> The bridge, in conjunction with the railway cutting now provides the necessary scenic break between Much Binding and the viaduct. The same techniques were used to landscape the Chipping side of the layout and the result was this. The retaining wall is the Scalesces kit suitably scaled down to match the model. The rock face was made with modelling clay and painted. Having mentioned the viaduct I should, perhaps, explain that its' inclusion had always been my intention based on my mental image of what I wanted to achieve i.e. a valley area containing a canal with the main line carried over it by a steel girder type of bridge and with the branch line at the back of the board crossing the valley at a much higher level by means of a viaduct. The model of the viaduct is again a Scalescenes kit which I reduced to 1/5th N Scale. That's a scale of approximately 1/730th. Anyway, here's how it turned out. "> I think that's enough about my 'Model of the Model' but I hope you will appreciate that I gave me the necessary confidence that my mental concept of the topography would actually work. Time was, however, still dragging so I decided that, although the layout will be principally DCC with locos controlled by my ESU ECoS, points would be controlled in the more traditional 'mimic panel' method so I started putting together my control panel for operating the 46 points contained in the layout. I had already decided to use Seep PM1 point motors which would be controlled via MASTERswitches (Produced by DCC Concepts) which considerably simplified the wiring and provided connectionns for frog polarity change and for bi-colour LED indicators on the control panel. This is the larger of my 2 control panels during construction and testing. "> Having entitled this Blog entry as 'And so it Starts' I suppose I should now actually show how it did start. First a shot of my Railway Room/Study. To support the layout (and to provide additional storage in our apartment) I employed a local Chinese joiner to build some cupboards around the 3 sids of the room that the layout would sit on. This was the result. "> So now we get to the actual start of construction. As you may have gathered, my wife and I live in an apartment and, being on the 7th floor, I can't just pop outside to build my baseboards in the shed/workshop or some other such space. The balcony has therefore become my workshop and here are some shots of the baseboards under construction. As you can see, working room is tight. "> All of my boards are constructed of 12mm plywood with formers at 250mm centres and joined together with halving joints. They are not designed to be portable and are pretty much bomb proof. The track bed is 6mm plywood with gradients supported on 12mm plywood risers. As a few final photos for this particular part of my blog here are some of the boards in position on the Chipping side of the layout. First is the hidden loop which you may notice has become somewhat larger than originally planned. This came about when I discovered a 'pinch point' between the hidden loop and the visible gradient in front of the upper board. "> Now with the upper board in position. The twin track main line seen in the foreground rises at a gradient of 1 in 58 to meet the twin track spur from Chipping Station. "> And finally a shot looking down the length of the Chipping Terminus with my Winrail track templates in place. I've even started painting the backscene for this area which will basically be a dirty industrial sky. "> And that's about where I'm up to at the moment though there are a few things happening 'off layout' but more of that in the next episode. Any and all constructive comments or suggestions are welcomed.

Hi Steve, Having just recently discovered RMweb I only came across your thread today and have spent the last 2 hours absolutely absorbed by it. I too model the GWR in the post WWII, pre-Nationalisation era though in my case it is in standard N Gauge using Peco Code 55 track. I have also built my baseboards in a similar open grid system to yours though, as the layout will never leave home, I've used 12mm ply for the gridwork and 6mm ply for the trackbed. I plan to start a thread of my own shortly but my humble efforts are as nothing compared to yours. The amount of research you have done is almost beyond belief and the baseboard joinery is some of the best I have ever seen. Add to that the fact that you're building the trackwork yourself to 2mm Finescale standard and you have my total respect and admiration. It all adds up to a layout that will be something really special and I look forward to following your thread as it developes. Keep up the good work.

Hi Robin, As near as I can tell the All Over Brown livery was introduced in 1908 and lasted until 1912 1922 when the original Chocolate and Cream came back into favour. Have a look at THIS web site which I have found to be very useful for just this sort of information. EDITED :- My apologies for the typo error. 1912 should have read 1922 and I have now corrected this.