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  1. wombatofludham

    Layout photos

    By wombatofludham,

    If you managed to stay with the introduction to the layout, here are some photos of the overall work in progress currently underway.

     

     
    The "Town Tunnel" showing the Old Courthouse Square, which largely survived the blitz of March 1941 which destroyed the rest of the town.  A mix of RTP buildings from Hornby, Bachmann and SD Mouldings together with a kit built American IHC "Colonial Courthouse" bought s/h off TatBay
     

     
    "Phoenix Square" rebuilt in the 1960s on land flattened by a heavy blitz in 1941.  DHSS building and shopping parade with flats over.  Mix of German Kibri, Vollmer and Faller 1960s kits, nominally HO but typical of 1960s German building kits, closer to TT.  However, kept together, their underscale appearance is disguised.
     

     
    1960s housing estate, a mix of Vau-Pe, Faller and Jouef-Lima kits. all nominally HO.  The typical Chav's "estate boozer" in the foreground is a Vau-Pe/Pola Quick kit that has variously been a school or a post office, but to me looked like the typical 1960s estate boozer sadly now being knocked down or changed into convenience stores and in the process losing a lot of quite nice 1960s décor.  The outdoor benches are 3d prints.  The 9 storey block, "Euneda House" named after the Saxon princess who founded Wednesford, is a modified Faller kit, and the two smaller blocks, "Cylencyn Court" (pronounced Kullenkin although the local yam-yams always refer to it as "silenceincourt") and "Crowne Court" are Jouef-Lima kits.  The one is without a back for now as I intend to use it to design an insert for the block so I can internally illuminate it, printed on the 3d printer 
     

     
    New Civic Square and the amazing self levitating AC Electrics factory behind.  On the left, Shaw Taylor House is home to Wednesford's House of Plod, and is a Kibri kitbash involving their 1970s "Postamt Badenweiler" as a reception/public area and their 1970s "Hochaus" with a 3d printed roof.  The name sign is a 3d print, as is the large Staffs police emblem, which uses a badge bought off Tatbay for the emblem.  Next door is the new Law Courts building, built in anticipation of the change from the assize courts to the new Crown Courts that Dr Beeching (yes, that Dr Beeching) headed up a commission advising on.  Wednesford was never due to be a Tier 1 Crown Court but did become a Tier 2 court.  It's a Vollmer "New Ulm" kit with a 3d printed planter and name, and a 3d printed entrance canopy.  The "Brenda's Badge" royal coat of arms is something I bought off Tatbay for a few quid mounted on a suitably marble-esque offcut of plastic.  All courts are Royal Palaces which is why they have the full lion and unicorn badge, as opposed to other Government buildings of the Crown Estate, such as post offices or DHSS offices which post war would have had the Royal "EIIR" cypher, or prior to that, the Cypher of George VI.
     

     
    The lower level station entrance.  The station is split level, and when the station was rebuilt a new vehicular access was provided on the site of the old goods shed which was destroyed in 1941, as the upper level access was off a narrow road that was planned to become one-way and largely bus only.  The station building is a combination of the Pola/Playcraft "Bletchley" BR station, a very nice, little known model of a BR London Midland "Mod-X" design station typical of the designs used on some Styal Line rebuilds, and similar in style to the buildings at Hemel Hempstead, Runcorn, Congleton and the like.  The new public entrance on the left is a 3d print I designed to the same dimensions but with a raised "clerestory" and feature roof to give a bit more presence.  The station nameboard is a 3d print, as is the water tower on the station and the stainless steel totem in the front which will be in the middle of a planted roundabout when I start the landscaping.  On the left, the public entrance to the Wednesford Borough Council Civic Centre, a combination of two Vollmer 1970s station buildings and a Kibri 1970s office block.

     
    Market Street Conservation Area and the reason why Wednesford Tunnel couldn't be opened up to allow twin overhead line installation.  A mix of RTP buildings from Hornby (the shop, and their "Merchant Bank" which will become the George Hotel), SD Mouldings plaster cast Tudor buildings, a Hornby "Bramble Cottage" his hidden behind the two plaster castings, and a low relief "Moriah-Carey" chapel in the corner fronts onto Nanny Goat Passage which runs off into the garden.  I'll be paving the space with MDF cobblestone sheets to give a suitably Conservation Area look.  The market stalls are of course Bachmann.
     

     
    Overview showing how the railway will be tucked behind the buildings.  The amazing self levitating factory is of course destined to be sat on top of a retaining wall!  It's a 3d printed ultra-low relief gable end which will house the AC Electrics Factory, which was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1941 blitz.  Their phone number will resonate with fans of locos with coathangers on the roof - Wednesford 81-85-86.  Next to AC electrics will be the flat roofed confectionery factory New Penrhyn Works, home of Aunty Edna's Minty Koffs.  Any similarity with Uncle Joe's minty balls is purely intentional.

    the building next to the courthouse is the Central Library, and is a kit bought off the Chinese eBay looky-liky AliExpress.  It was a right mare to put together and ended up a mix of original kit parts and 3d additions.  The modern sculpture in the foreground is "Circular Arguments" by renowned jewellery artist Patricia Butcher, famous for her ear-rings.  Fronting as it does the entrance to the Borough Council chamber and Courts complex, "Circular Arguments" seemed an apt title.  In reality, a pair of 99p cheap Chinese ear-rings from Tatbay in a 3d printed planter with some clumping keeping the iece in place.

     
    Staircase and lift tower down from the upper level entrance of the station.  Upper entrance is another Pola/Playcraft "Bletchley" station, unmodified apart from painting, whilst the staircase is a kit of parts 3d printed from my own design based on those at Tamworth, and the lift tower is likewise a 3d print.  The stylish but useless roof is a roof from another, badly damaged Pola station I bought for spares off tatbay.
     

     
    Station St, congested with time travelling Midlands buses.  The white cleaner's store on the left is a lift tower module I designed for a previous plan but which is now surplus, the public bogs are Bachmann, the "Citibank" is an American RTP building although there are identical European kit versions available from Faller-Hobby and MKD, in fact I used the Faller "Komputercentrum" kit as the base for the Val-U supermarket on Kings Oak.  The horrible paper signs will be replaced by nice 3d printed versions when it will be rebranded the "AST bank".  "AST" in our fictional scenario stands for Allied Savings Trust, but in reality  Ast is also Welsh for "Bitch" and the "Bank of Bitch" is an in-joke with a friend.  The bus shelters are 3d prints of the ubiquitous but so far never modelled Abacus cantilever bus shelter.  It doesn't have glazing, so is fully accurate.  The panel at the end will have bus top information, but helps to keep it propped up!

     
    St Florians Church and the ruins of St Florian's chapel, the only structure left standing after the firestorm which raged through the low town in 1941 as the incendiaries caught hold of the mix of Tudor, Georgian and Victorian mixed uses of workshops, offices, houses and shops.  After the war it was decided to keep the old St Flo's ruins next to it's modern replacement.  The ruined chapel is a Scottish ruined kirk made out of resin bought off eBay, the church is of course the Faller 1970s kit but with the Godlight roof replaced by something less cheesy and more British, the office block is a Vau-Pe kit and the shops are part of the Faller Hotel Stadt-Prag kit,

     
    The simple track plan.  On the right a bi-di platform road and on the left, a single six car bay platform, with an island platform in between.  To the right of the main platform track there will be a 25-35mm batten onto which will be placed a retaining wall, I'm thinking rather than a 3d print I'll buy plaster castings off an eBay site as I think it'll be broadly similar in cost.  The building in the corner is "Wentec", Wednesford Technical College.  It began life as a kitbashed Faller 1960s Hochhaus" kit which someone had turned into a low relief background building.  The kit is seriously underscale for HO let alone OO, but I bought it on spec and after some modification, painting and adding 3d printed bits, looks passable as a background building and fills the corner nicely.  The trendy fascia panels, a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Art and Graphic Design are 3d prints.
     

     
    The congested Station Road.
  2. wombatofludham

    More video.

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Funny thing, model railways.

    Some enjoy the hobby by building and hand knitting their own stock or buildings. At the other extreme, some enjoy a "roundy roundy" train set on a board with some sidings and scenery. Those who enjoy exhibiting will adopt a more "theatrical" style with well made scenery, and a non-scenic back stage so that it looks like you are trainspotting and instead of the train going on to Glasgow or wherever, it's just run round the corner onto a plywood plank. Having done some exhibitions and being involved in the "Dolgellau" retired exhibition layout I tend towards the theatrical.
     
    The growth of social media and YouChoob has created another branch of the hobby: the videographer. It's a bit like an exhibition, but without the hassle of getting up early and spending hours building up the layout for the show followed by a couple of hours to dismantle it. Some of you may have seen a series of videos called "Pendeford Yard Today" filmed on Simon Barnes' former layout, which we - as I was involved in their editing and "presentation" - turned into a fictional television station "Bescot Television" mainly to scratch my itch as a fan of old TV presentation and logos and have a bit of fun. Some model enthusiasts take model railways to religious levels of devotion. Neither Simon nor I share that view and we set out to have a laugh. The day some techie called Simon took his rabbit with him to work, which promptly started chewing through the cables causing the morning God Slot with Cannon Ball to go badly wrong caused some puzzlement (actually based on a real life event...) and although Simon has now retired Pendeford Sidings and is building a new project, the closure of "Bescot Television" has left an opportunity for "Wednesford Television" to fill the void for risque ads selling cheap sherry called Cock Marling, named after an actual village in Sussex, or their cider made in the Cock Inn, and their delicious cider infused apple tarts called the Cock Inn Cider Tart.
     
    My sense of humour is never going to be called subtle.
     
    Anyway, I always intended to do the odd film of the layout for the Choob which is why I spent some time on creating the scenery. However, having now had one successful and two less successful days filming, I think I might be enjoying the videography as much as the layout. There's something therapeutic about getting a train to run around the circuit three or four times whilst I move the camera around doing arty shots. It's like trainspotting, but with a video camera. Unfortunately the past two days filming have been thwarted by technical problems. My camera is a cheap job and has a pish microphone, so I bought an external job which is brilliant. Except when I forget to switch it on, as happened two days ago. I ended up with 60 minutes of silent movie, and seeing as I have spent a fortune on equipping a lot of my stock with sound, I do rather want to showcase the sound effects. So yesterday, I remembered to switch on the microphone.
     
    But didn't notice the battery had died.
     
    So another 40 minutes of silent movie.   Eventually I got the footage you see above, although I forgot to switch off noise reduction which meant the recordings were quiet.  Fortunately post production by "Teledu Mawddach" was able to save the day.
     
    One thing that has crossed my mind is the fiddle yard, which I rebuilt over the winter, was set up to allow me to run trains to a timetable sequence. However, as I now seem to enjoy the layout as a film set rather than a train set, I'm beginning to think I might need to simplify the fiddle yard, to make it more reliable, allow longer trains and allow me to swap stock more easily. It's sort of working for now but I think I might bite the bullet and just redo the fiddle yard (easily done as it doesn't have the track fully ballasted) with no more than three sidings which will allow them to be longer, have fewer reverse curves and pointwork and permit trains to run round in the circle several times whilst being filmed from different angles.
     
    I'm beginning to think the layout is the equivalent of the Forth Bridge or Birmingham City Centre and will never be finished.


    Wednesford Trainspot May 1988
  4. wombatofludham

    Details and Figures

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Following on from weathering the track, today in the shed was focussed on finishing the little details and installing figures to bring things to life.


    It's 1988 and WMT have started painting their Fleetlines in doom grey.  One of them has pulled up outside In Cod We Trust and the driver is leaning against the post box having an animated discussion with an off duty colleague, whilst the passengers wait in the sunshine on the bench.  The chippy manageress has stepped outside and is chatting with a customer whilst two women from the Poplars estate have a gossip in front of the W-Anchor.



    Round at the bus station, a number of litter bins have been installed although as the service is so frequent there are fewer people around than you would expect.  A middle aged couple look into the window of Len Langlands to decide whether Swedish furniture is their taste or stick with ghastly Chintz.  In front of the Stevenson's Metrorust Tom and Jerry have made it from Wombourne but are now rowing over whether the funny yellow bus will take their Twirly passes.  Over by the war memorial Jan and Dirk the Dutch bus drivers have been joined by colleagues, all of whom are blissfully unaware pint sized Blakey is on the prowl.



    Looks like two of WMPTE's development officers are watching from in front of the station, as I doubt any bus spotters would rock up in a suit and tie.


     
    A fight is about to break out between a one armed man in the grey mac and the bloke in the shiny leather coat as to who flagged the taxi first.  Good job I bought two then.  Meanwhile two railwaymen ignore the commotion.



    Over on the Fagg End estate the houses have now gained gates and the two neighbours have a chat over the wall.
     

     
    Congestion on Euneda Highway, probably caused by the lack of directional signage.  It's still at the printers.  (Bus on a bridge alert by the way...)
     


    Over in Tudor Row Michael Portillo (left) makes his way to Bistro Tango, the Danish-Spanish fusion eatery to see if anything tickles his palette, one of the solicitors employed by Hickman Barnes and Roberts has just left the half-timbered offices and Miss Brett, daughter of Mrs Brett who runs the Tudor Court branch of Bretts Fabrics, is chatting to a sales rep having locked up for the evening.  Looks like the signalman on duty down in the box cycled here as his Mini isn't parked in front of the gate leading to the vertiginous steps down to the box in the cutting.



    It's all about to kick off outside the pub as a bloke dances with the pub bike blissfully unaware that his formidable wife is standing behind him about to knock seven kinds of organic compost out of him and the brass.  Meanwhile the barman has sneaked out and is leaning against the wall ready for round 1.



    In the Swan Centre, someone is about to enter my niece's art and craft shop whilst next door an excited sci-fi modeller has bought something from my brother which he is eagerly clutching.  John Travolta's grandad and consort are dressed up for an early evening cabaret dinner and disco dance at the Knight Inn.  The swan sculpture is back and now resides in the carrot pond.



    Further down the manager of the Val U convenience store chats to one of the market stallholders whilst a group of noisy shoppers have a cup of tea at the Blue Tit Cafe's outdoor seating area (a picnic bench...)
     


    In front of the court Jack the Lad greets his girlfriend after he got off with a fine in the Magistrates Court for affray, whilst now ex-Councillor Wright-Burke is interviewed by Wednesford Television's "Wednesford Calendar" chief reporter about his conviction for "Treating" under election law, following the In Cod We Trust chips for votes scandal in the last Council election.
     

     
    Away from the judicial circus Mrs Brett chats to two of her regular customers from Wednesford's ethnic communities in the Queen's Court shopping parade.



    In the lower part of town three detectives discuss who to fit up next outside Shaw Taylor House.  The hot hatch seems to be a popular plain clothes car in the secure car park.  Good job it's secure as those Escort XR3i locks were a doddle to open with a coathanger.



    Outside the library the car park is a bit more busy than last time.



    In the park Car Park there's quite a few cars.  Must be a nice day and evening.



    At least the visitors enjoying the evening sun and impromptu concert can keep the park tidy now litter bins have been installed.

    Day off tomorrow, then stringing the remaining catenary before actually playing trains!


    Nearly forgot...the condemned houses which will be demolished to make way for Fagg End phase 2 have encouraged a pop-up horizontal leisure consultancy and we see four of Wednesford's top horizontal night time leisure consultants pitching for trade from a grubby individual in a Skoda.
  5. wombatofludham

    Nearly there.

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Having undertaken a number of test runs, I have finally been able to do ballasting and weathering.  I decided to mix wallpaper paste powder in with a 50-50 mix of black and grey fine ballast as I had heard it is less likely to set like concrete and given the way I keep rebuilding the damn layout when my "butterfly mind" settles on a better plan, I figured anything that means future track changes won't require the aid of a mechanical stripper must be worth a try.  I have to say it was worth it.  Laying the ballast, then giving it a soak with warm water (with a drop of washing up liquid) was no different to the usual laying ballast and soaking in PVA or Ballast bond, but it did dry much more quickly than previous PVA ballast and withstood being weathered with a brush and paint pigment, so I was quite happy.



    Signals have now been added.  These were passed on to me by Simon Barnes when he rebuilt his layout, and whilst they are working signals unfortunately I managed to damage the fine wires leading to the signal so won't be functional on Wednesford.  In any case the way the track threads through the buildings you'd be hard pressed to see them.  The track plan has the left hand line as the "up", uni-directional, and the right hand line as a bi-directional line allowing branch traffic to run through.  The idea is there are a set of crossovers at the other end of the station.  So the "up" signal has a theatre indicator to show which platform is being offered, whilst the bi-directional signal will only allow traffic into Platform 1, with a calling on head to allow the branch shuttle to come into the platform to offer same platform connections with the Birmingham local.  Of course the station is in reality the fiddle yard!

    The signal for the bi-directional line.  Fortunately I had accidentally widened the six foot when laying the track allowing room for it!


     

     

     

     

     
    The ballast after weathering with neat poster paint pigment.  I've tried to get a dusty impression with a leave of dirt which is a compromise between the filthy ballast of the 1960s and 70s, with the slightly cleaner ballast of the 80s and 90s.  I might have a look again tomorrow to see if I need to add some more darker pigment as there was a lot of oily gunk which contaminated ballast during this period, but on the whole I'm quite happy with it.


     
    I've rejigged the new Library.  Councillor Caddy Olwyn, the chair of the Council's Disability Access Working Group parked her blue death trap Invacar next to the ramp into the Civic Centre, and is seen having a chat with another mobility impaired councillor.  The entrance lobby to the library has been turned through 90 degrees and has lost the steps up to the "plaza".  The two librarians have parked their 2CVs next to each other.  The Wednesford in Bloom Ninjas have gone mad with the floral displays.  Finally, Pat Butcher's wall art has been moved to the facade (in reality two Chinese ear-rings from the Bay of Tat, the gold hangers from which were glued together to make the W-Anchor on the Poplars estate).



    Shaw Taylor House has been relocated and redesigned, and now has a security gate.  In reality it's unlikely such security measures would have been in place until the 1990s but I look after my thin blue line.  Staffs Constabulary have taken delivery of a new Austin Princess but the Prinny is being held up.  I suspect the Securicor gate guard is watching Wednesford Wednesday's FA Charity Soup Tureen final from Wembley, the team having gone up to the stadium in a special charter train.
     

     
    Briefcase Encounter.  Two of the support staff from the Member's building in the Civic have a "tryst" in full view of the park car park.  I suspect the bloke has took his inspiration to try it on with the woman from the advert hoarding over their heads for Cock Inn Cider.
  6. wombatofludham

    More Progress

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Past couple of days have seen me doing a major tidy up in the shed, mainly to stop me breaking my neck tripping over various boxes and other bits of wood, but also some track cleaning and some more scenic work.  I used some "mud" texture paint to coat areas which will end up looking like neglected wasteland, which dried to a pleasant coffee colour, ideal for the slightly sandy soils I wanted to simulate.  It needs a bit of weathering, which I'll do with paint pigment, and a bit of spare ballast scattering over it when I have tested and ballasted the track, but it looks good so far.  Also, I spent a slightly frustrating evening wiring up three Rapido WMPTE standard Fleetline buses with plugs and sockets so they can share a 4.5v battery pack I found whilst tidying up (I have a habit of buying stuff, putting it down, then burying it under crud, wondering what the hell I have done with it).  The idea was the Fleetline would park up next to the Poplars estate as the last boozer cruiser back to Dudley when I get round to lighting up the estate and streets, as the wires could conveniently disappear under the elevated scenic board.  However, it looks like I might be able to put one in the bus station with minimal wiring intrusion so I suspect I might be buying three more...



    Wednesford by Night.  I intend to add interior lighting to buildings, and suitable street lighting, but the effect of the illuminated Fleetline is effective.  The light setting in the shed is mid blue at about ten-twenty percent which gives a good early morning effect.  No doubt the bus to Dudley will move once the driver has finished his smoke break in front of the parked Midland red D9.





    At one time the Black Country was full of scenes like this - barely sanitary housing with a workshop or scrapyard in the grounds.  As I had two half depth house fronts spare I thought I would see how they looked together.  The scene is inspired by a yard which used to be located in Bentley Mill Lane, Darlaston, which eventually passed to my great uncle, just as the Black Country Development Corporation, with their hands in Maggie's handbag splashing her cash, decided to CPO the land for the Showcase Cinema and chain restaurants.  My uncle and cousins kept me in auction sourced cars until I started work after graduation, so doing this is a bit of a nostalgia trip.



    Civil engineers, look away now.  How the Euneda Highway still stands no one knows.  The area under the flyover has somehow managed to become overgrown with brambles and weeds, despite being virtually in darkness all the time.



    Euneda Highway has now been paved on one side and the other has been treated to the kind of salt tolerant, semi-wild planting that became the signature of the old West Midlands County Council on highway andstation schemes.  Pavement needs painting and weathering, and I still need to do the signs for the gantry.



    Parks and Rec's trusty VW pick-up chugs down the dirt track to the park keeper's shed.  Again, the mud needs weathering and some spare ballast adding, once I've done the track ballasting.  Looks like the Wednesford in Bloom Ninjas have been out and about judging by the stuff in the back of the pick up.
     


    The parkie's shed and parking space, hidden behind the civilian war memorial.



    The Ninjas have arrived but instead of unloading, they've dashed into the shed for a brew and a Players No.6.



  7. wombatofludham
    With RMWeb having been off air for some time, I've been able to progress work on the layout further.  Further testing revealed a noticeable voltage drop which caused some trains to crawl around the curve, then shoot off like a scalded cat as soon as line voltage was reached, which was cured by an additional bus feed at the other end of the fiddle yard (it seems that the dodgy track laying and joint gaps in the fiddle yard were the cause) but having now tested the track with a range of locos and coaches (leading to the mass withdrawal of the Oxford Mk3 rake which even with Hunt magnetic couplings still couldn't cope with being propelled due to their flimsy, broken coupling cams) I am now installing OHLE masts and telecoms troughing prior to ballast.  As BR used to say, "we're getting there".

    So, some more video this time.  When complete I will be doing running videos just for a laugh.  Anyone who has tuned into the "Pendeford Yard" series on YouTube will know they were done in the style of a small ITV television company called "Bescot Television".  The non-railway stuff was all my doing, being a child of the 60s who grew up with a sad obsession with spotting rare ITV company logos (Channel TV for example only popped up when Harry Secombe rolled up to sing hymns on a Sunday, or for the annual Battle of the Flowers programme, having zero network presence otherwise.  Grampian was another rarity you hardly ever saw in the ATV region) before ITV went all corporate, so "Bescot Television" became a bit of a tribute to ultra-local regional TV of the 70s and 80s.  Well, with "Bescot Television" having closed down and it's replacement, "Television Leek" not having started regular broadcasting, I suspect "Wednesford Television" and their five minute Sunday afternoon "Wednesford Trainspot" feature may well be taking over the "Bescot Television" slot for silliness and corny jokes.  You are hereby warned.

    Second day of testing

    Second day of testing, with a typical 1988 range of units.  It was during this I found T305, ex "King's Oak", couldn't drag itself along despite my track being level.  I think the issue was the use of a Hornby Class 121 chassis under the motor car to allow for DCC sound.  I've decided, reluctantly, to retire it and replace it with a Kernow-Bachmann version, which was fortunate as my Midline bubble car, the Dapol 121 and a half, then developed the curse of the Dapol gimcrack drive shafts.  So the Hornby 121 chassis was hacked and now sits under the Bubble.

    The T305 tale

    T305

    Finally testing a new second hand purchase, a Class 25.

    Third day of testing
  8. wombatofludham
    Today I needed to sort out the pointwork in the fiddle yard that my brand new, and very expensive Class 47 diesel took a dislike to. Fortunately I had some spare points, and one happy consequence of the rejigged fiddle yard is I do now have a loop long enough to take a full length 7 car HST, or 8 Mk2s without fouling the other loops. However, nothing ever quite goes to plan as whilst I now have pointwork the 47 can cope with, I found the equally pricey Bachmann Mk2F coaches seem to have a problem negotiating curves. I suspect the screws holding on the bogies are a bit stiff, so tomorrow I'll slacken them slightly which should do the trick, I hope.
     
    But, here, exclusively from Teledu Mawddach, is a train making noise whilst moving. The disco lighting in the coaches is down to the track needing another scrub and not a special feature for clubbers going to Manchester.
     
     
  9. wombatofludham

    Gwneud y pethau bychan

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Our Patron Saint, David, would almost certainly have been a railway modeller.  Why?  He exhorted his followers to "Gwneud y pethau bychan" or do the little things.  It's odd how little things can transform a model, so as the wind is still too much for comfortable shed work, I've been doing little things.



    Little things like adding parapets and Armco to Euneda Highway.  The parapets are some moulded wood trip I filched from a friend who no longer needed it, painted with Posca paint pens in matt grey.  The Armco is Noch-Gaugemaster.  I'd made the 3d printed plates, used previously as an experiment in road making on the 3d printer, with a slot behind the kerb, partly to delineate the kerbline but also to provide a slot for pedestrian guard rail.  The Armco just slots in nicely with an interference fit.

    Pylons for the road signs are some surplus OHLE masts sent to me by Simon Barnes when he changed his plans.  I will print direction signage onto some inkjet compatible plastic sheet in due course, and add some landscaping to the wide verges as well.  The nipple pink road and verges is now weathered with black poster paint powder, and is close to the pinky concrete used on the M54.  The base colour is crackle texture paint, allegedly "caramel" but if that's caramel, it's been in the shop a long time and gone off.



    I had a rethink about the 3d printed self-designed entrance block to the station, and have now got two entrances, one off the bus station as previously, but one off the edge of the board fronting probably a drop off point if it wasn't where I stand to drive the trains and the exit from the layout to the fiddle yard.  I think it looks better with two entrances, and once I add some people and interior lights (I 3d printed some interior elements to simulate a ticket office and entrance to a corridor leading to the platforms) should be worth the effort.


    Bollards.  Little elements that just add a simple detail usually overlooked.



    The Totem Pole has now had some shrubbery added from Tajima.  More bollards to stop the taxi drivers parking on the kerb.

    I originally planned to use 5cm wide paving strips for the second bus stand, but a new supply of 2.5cm paving has allowed me to create a more spacious manoeuvring area.  I've reused some ped guard rail to stop bus passengers from falling under a Leyland National.

    So apart from some more benches, some road markings and of course people, that should be it until I decide to install lighting.
  10. wombatofludham
    One of the features of the layout which has been there in all versions is the raised area hiding the curve back to the fiddle yard. Originally it was because I would need a very tight curve at that end and as I'm not a fan of "trainset" curves, I thought it would be good to hide it under a "town square" as in real life many towns are lumpy. Think Birmingham New Street or Walsall where the station entrance is higher (although in the case of Walsall the Rugeley annexe is at street level), and the idea of a station opening out onto a town square took hold - it also gave me an extra two square feet of scenic area, so a win win all round.
     
    Although the new plan has done away with the main line station I've kept the raised section as it neatly tricks you into thinking the train is approaching the main station, which conveniently is the other side of the shed wall, the only clue being the station entrance buildings on one side of the square. The addition of the scenic mantlepiece behind the tracks which are now more centrally located, also means I have been able to thin out some of the buildings in the square which has allowed me to build a small bus station in front of the station. Forget that old model railway cliche of "the bus on the bridge", 
    go XXL and do a bus station on a tunnel. Buses on bridges are for wimps.

     
    Old Town Hall Square is now purely bus, taxi and station access. The idea is the old town hall, which also doubled up as the courthouse, was originally, before the war, the centre of a massive traffic blackspot, with two narrow parallel roads, Station Street and Queen Street, with the area now the bus station being the old market place. After the war, the building of the Euneda Highway inner relief road enabled the Council to replan the area, and in particular provide space for the new Courthouse and some extra retail, whilst a new "out of town" bus station was planned for the old market which was moved to the Swan Centre. It anticipated the closure of some rail lines and needing to provide good interchange for the rail replacement buses.



    Take no notice of the patchwork paving in the outer stand, I'm waiting on a new delivery of paving modules to finish it. Each stand can take two buses, depending on length, and there's a layover next to the Old Town Hall. Bus shelters are my own design based on the David Mellor Abacus design, and 3d printed.  Note the 3d printed stainless steel BR totem makes a return, and Jan the bus driver is lighting up a Harry Wragg, whilst Dirk, his conductor, has a moan about the impending switch to One Man buses which will see the D9 they've abandoned withdrawn.

    Jan and Dirk? They're model Dutch bus crew figures from Artitec, the Dutch scenic modelling company!


     
    The War Memorial (military, not the civilian one in the park) is now on a bed of traditional cobbles in front of the Old Town Hall. The Wednesford in Bloom Ninjas have been at it again. Once I have finished the paving I will weather the colours down a bit.



    The new court, and the taxi rank in front of the station. Some dozy Doris in a 2CV has pulled up in the Taxi Rank instead of using the short stay car park to the right of the new Courthouse.  Note the green GPO telephone cabinets, a cheap 3d printed set from Tatbay.  I'll be adding more landscaping around the BR totem, and when the new paving arrives, bollards.


     
    Station entrance, again awaiting new pavement sections. The two single story sections are 1960s Pola/Jouef models of the Mod-X style stations BR designed for the electrification scheme, to which I added the slightly higher section, designed to match the dimensions of the grid design of the kits, and then 3d printed, along with the station sign and the slightly arty roof.

    once the weather calms down I can finish off the remaining technical work such as ballasting and electrical feeds.
  11. wombatofludham

    The Scenic Mantlepiece

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Continued relatively quiet and mild weather has allowed me to move at pace with the scenic "modules" on the shelf which will now run behind the track.  I bought a number of A4 sized 3mm deep plastic sheet offcuts from Tatbay which have rigidity and the weather resistance needed for the shed, so I have broken down the developments along the back into A4 sized lengths, roughly.  Unfortunately the "mantlepiece" isn't quite A4 width, so I've had to wield the Dremel to the boards to cut them down a bit, but the principle works and by breaking it down into bite-sized chunks, it means when it gets dark, I can bring in a module to work on indoors.


     
    St Florian's Church.  As the "mantlepiece" is lower than the Old Courthouse Square scenic board which conceals the curve back into the fiddle yard, by about 15-20mm, I made a sandstone rock outcrop from some pasty polystyrene, painted matt terracotta, then with copious amounts of neat terracotta and charcoal neat paint pigment brushed on.  I still need to add some grass tufts and of course finish the service bay/car park for the church and bank.



    The relocated Swan Centre.  Grey concrete paviours with a darker slate contrast band have been made using cheap Chinese plasticard, painted with Posca paint pens and weathered with neat black poster paint pigment.  The market stalls are the Bachmann tin jobs, the shops are Auhagen with the crinkly concrete roof replaced with the flat one, and the Bank of Bitch is the IHC "Citybank" but which is now available from Gaugemaster in various forms.  It has also appeared in Faller, MKD and other model ranges.  Nice sturdy nondescript 60s building which benefits from painting rather than leaving as a self coloured plastic job.



    The Faller "Hotel Stadt-Prag" nearly HO scale shops make a useful shopping precinct and their dubious scale doesn't look out of place so long as you don't put OO scale people, telephone boxes or other buildings next to them.  From left to right, Alice's Arts and Crafts is named after my niece who loves drawing and model making, Shaun's Models after my brother (her dad) who is a sci-fi modeller, Stars News after the newsagent where I had my first Saturday job, the Knight Inn reception which leads up to the Knight Inn cabaret nightspot, where Wednesford's groovy aspirational young things go to watch racist and sexist "comedians" over a bottle of Blue Nun and a soup in a basket, next door is Olivia's Hair and Beauty Salon, after another relative who likes doing make-up, Claire's Fashions is named after my cousin, there's a post office, and finally the Blue Tit Cafe, with take out service downstairs and sit in service upstairs, an in joke with a friend.  You can always have a bit of fun with shop names.



    New Government Buildings.  The office blocks are slightly under HO scale, but complement each other nicely.  The tower block is by Vau-Pe and the pitched roof building is the well known Vollmer product of the 70s.  A pair of cheap ear-rings are the Town Artist, Pat Butcher's "Ladders of Success" which is a bit ironic for the local Dole and Tax Offices.  The EiiR cypher is mounted on a piece of genuine Arthog slate (I have a slate based rockery in the front garden with a large Red Dragon menacing anyone coming to the door, the slate being sourced from the local quarry and under the garden) with landscaping around it.

    The multi storey car park, the well known Vollmer kit but which I bought ages ago s/h off Tatbay and which conveniently has self-disassembled during storage.  The lift/stair tower I designed and printed, and is partially clad with Chinese paviour plasticard.

    The approach road marks the boundary of the town's first Conservation Area, comprising the Bachmann-Model Centre Inn based on one in Goathland, but which I've painted the honey stone in terracotta red to simulate brick, and weathered.   Next to that, at right angles, is the Meeting Rooms, a Hornby "St Michael's" school which had been the Francis Webb Primary school before, and next door to that is the Hornby half-depth chapel.  Non-conformism was widespread in the West MIdlands and there are many chapels around the area.  The Moriah Chapel was built by the Carey family whose "Aunty Edna's Minty Koffs" spread a peppermint smell across Wednesford West, so the chapel is the Moriah-Carey chapel, and is still in use.

    Carey Road is now blocked off alongside Tudor Row, and BR have put in a picket gate which will lead to a staircase to track level, allowing the signalman and any other authorised personnel to get to track level
  12. wombatofludham
    Given the weather forecast was way out today and I managed to get to the shed without losing the door in a hoolie, I decided to add some recently bought children and mummies to the park, as well as finishing off the council house adjacent to Euneda Highway.



    The park with the lighting set to "summer dusk" (orange tint with 50% light level) as the plastic citizens of Wednesford cool off in the park as the sun sets.  The phone camera doesn't show the effect very well but with the Mk1 eyeball it is effective.  As I am slowly adding coin cell operated, magnetic reed-switch controlled lighting to my unlit fleet (the intention is to have at least one "inter-city" rake and one DMU with internal lighting for each of the 1968, 1975, 1988 and 1993 timetables, although the last two are already provided for with a Bachmann DCC Mk2f rake and an Oxford Mk3 rake which I added track operated internal lights to) having adjustable lighting levels and colour on the layout will add to the ambience.  The coin-cell reed lights cost about a tenner from China, although the base module is only about four seating bays long, but you can add extension lights so, for about £12 overall you can add lighting, externally controlled, to anything.  So far I've added lights to a Bachmann Mk2a BSO, a Replica Mk1 FO and a Hornby Mk2e where modifying the coach to get rid of the visible panty line chassis fault was more complicated than adding the lights.



    Bedtime?  What bedtime?  We don't have to go to school tomorrow...

    Three boys have a debate about playing kickball on the grass, two girls try to become the first kids in space on the see-saw, a crowd of kids are on the roundabout wondering who will get them going, two mums stand gassing oblivious to the peril their little daaahlings are in on the slide where an almighty pile up is about to happen as two girls hurtle down in close succession, whilst little Johnny stands perilously waving to his mum who is blithely ignoring him.

    A mix of Preiser and Woodland Scenics figures



    Boy on scooter aims for two people talking to some of the new patrons of the kiosk, which is doing a roaring trade in jubblies, ice cream, Kia Ora and crisps, so much so they've added two new 3d printed picnic benches to the area.



    The Fagg End estate.  The house is from Peedie models, a half-depth concrete rendered modern semi of a type commonplace on 1960s estates.  I plan to design and print a "lightbox" front room to allow the house to have lit front rooms without causing any light spill, and also intend to add street lights.  The walls are from PK models.  I will be adding suitable figures in due course.  Under the shadow of the Euneda Highway flyover is a path linking the rest of Fagg End to the subway under the road which emerges presently next to the prefabs but will eventually link to phase 2 of the estate.  A street lamp will light the area eventually.

    The Peedie models house is a cracking model, very well detailed and sturdy, and a fraction of the price of half depth buildings produced by the larger manufacturers, and was made and painted to order in a very quick time, especially as it came down from Orkney!



    As the sun sinks lower into the pollution of the West Midlands the old Tudor Court gets bathed in a fiery glow.
  13. wombatofludham
    Having used the last of my 3mm plastic offcut sheets under the Moriah-Carey chapel and the ex Market Tavern, and with a new batch on delivery, I didn't expect to be able to complete the "Tudor Court" collection of half timbered buildings until it came.  However, having had a furtle through the stuff in my spare room I discovered an unopened pack of art boards from when I used to go to the village art group.  I used to buy them in bulk, daub some local scenes, or nice trains on them and at the annual art group exhibition and sale, usually offload a few.  Not particularly lucrative but it's nice when someone likes your work enough to part with moolah for it, and it also raised funds for the art group.  Anyway when I checked their dimensions they were 20cm by 30cm, exactly the space needed to fill the corner.  And, as art boards are made to accept water colour, I figured it should be shed proof, unlike normal cardboard or certain foam or fibreboards.  So, thanks to my previous bulk purchase of art boards I was able to finish off the Tudor Courtyard.

    The Tudor Courtyard is a small enclave of half-timbered buildings which survived the blitz and after the war, became the core of the new "conservation area".  As tends to be the way with these pockets of attractive buildings, the half timbered cottages have become office space for solicitors and accountants, with one becoming a trendy "Bistro" (in other words one of the buildings is designed to take interior lighting whilst the other two are solid plaster).  It is blocked off from Carey St by paving so is a pedestrian zone.  It backs onto the row of 19th Century terraced housing and the two remaining prefabs which are due to be demolished to make way for the Fagg End estate, phase 2.  The conservation area will be separated from the encroaching late 60s Council semis by an area of open space and planting, avoiding an unfortunate clash of 1960s concrete and 1360s wood and stone.



    View down Carey Street to the Tudor Court.  The half-timbered cottage in front is an SD Mouldings plaster cast model bought for a previous plan, and repainted terracotta to simulate clay brick or sandstone rather than "Cotswold" rusty limestone.  To the right of the cottage, now a solicitors office, is the Georgian low relief Bachmann accountant's office.



    Slightly wider angle view showing a Hornby Skaledale cottage on the left, which hides another SD Mouldings plaster cottage.  All have been repainted into a more West Midlands appropriate terracotta brown-red.

    The Tudor buildings will be separated from the now disused, soon to be redeveloped terrace on the left by a narrow street.  The "Skaledale" cottage in the foreground will be turned through 90 degrees to show the half-timbered gable facade to the front, and will be called the "Bistro Tango".  The gap in the retaining wall will be filled when the steps down to the track are delivered and installed, and the backscene will be replaced.  Still to complete, more people and working street and interior lights as appropriate.

    Why "Bistro Tango"?  A sort of soundy-liky tribute to Denmark's best ever Eurovision entry of course. (Jerusalem 1979, Tommy Seebach "Disco Tango")

     
  14. wombatofludham
    As the weather has been quiet again, and with the help of a small fan heater, work on the layout is progressing nicely. Despite My Herpes having lost track of a roll of instant lawn for the layout, I found I had sufficient to finish off the park area so I decided to do the park, after having weathered down the roads on the Poplars estate with neat black powder paint. Really, I should have ballasted the track and installed the OHLE before doing the park, but apart from a couple of trees, everything is fairly low so shouldn't impede progress, and I needed to scratch the itch of doing some scenic modelling.
     
    Entrance to the park, showing toilet block and cafe, with room for a couple more picnic benches.  The two loos are 3d printed (they were lift tower modules I designed for previous plans hence the large buttons!) and the cafe/kiosk is an indeterminate origin German waiting room, all mounted under a surplus 3d printed roof.  In spite of multiple plan changes, I'm a bit of a Womble and never throw anything away.
     


    View over the kid's playground and formal promenade with the informal kickball wicket and dog loo behind. The views of the railway have led to the park becoming known as Trainspotter Park.  The fencing is from Torri Laser in Mochdre, the walls are resin printed by PK Models in Stafford (who also did the retaining walls and the terraced housing in the background) and the kid's playground items are from eBay and Woodland Scenics.

    The signalbox is the Wills ARP box, with a Hornby Skaledale staircase and an Anyscale Models resin "warehouse" as the relay room,  I need to have a think about the positioning as I will need to put a safe staircase down to the box from the top of the retaining wall.  Unless the signaller can absail down the wall...


     
    The relocated Market Buttercross, is now a performance space, with a man and a guitar amusing the oldies.  The Buttercross is the Hornby Skaledale model which is nice.  Walls are again from PK models on eBay, the benches I designed and 3d printed, trees from the Model Tree Company and flowers and greenery from World War Models, Tajima and others.  The two oldiewonks having a kip in the deckchairs are surplus "resting actors" from the outside film shoot at Crossroads King's Oak...
     

     
    Dog loo/informal kickball area/trainspotting zone.
     

     
    The Civilian War Memorial, commemorating the six adults (left) and four children (right) who died in WW2, by means of Cypresses planted in 3d printed planter-benches, with the "Squashed Budgie" (actually a Phoenix) and obelisk "dedicated to all victims of war" at the end. The bare plywood on the left will be the vehicular access to the park-keepers shed. I'm undecided just yet whether it should be asphalt or bare earth.  The obelisk, planters and low planter box on the right were all home made via various 3d printers.  I've managed to wear out the famous Aldi-Balco printer, a replacement Geeetech and am now on a small, not especially brilliant one for any last minute small details.  Not sure if I will buy another large, high quality printer just yet until I know what I'm doing on the second layout, but I've really got the 3d printing bug, notwithstanding the purchase of the Aldi printer being an impulse buy after seeing talk about them on this forum.  To me, it's the 21st century version of scratchbuilding, but with different skills.  With traditional scratchbuilding, you have to have the precision of a brain surgeon wielding a scalpel on plasticard, and be able to follow a drawing.  With 3d printing, you have to know the printer's capability, and design and draw the item so you can maximise the efficiency of the print, in effect thinking through how to "productionise" your design.  Different skills, but skills nonetheless.  3d printing isn't an easy cop out traditionalists might think.
  15. wombatofludham

    The Poplars Estate

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    Another short work session in the shed today as I've had a bit of gippy gut but long enough to do a bit of scenic work on the Poplars estate board, mainly sticking down the paving I recycled, some landscaping and making a start on painting the emery cloth roads. Now you might think why the hell paint the emery cloth, which is pretty black, with a grey asphalt colour only to then add black paint pigment when dry? Well the answer is the emery cloth is too uniform black, and roads tend to, just like Visage, "Fade to Grey" before oil, tyre detritus and crap in the rainfall adds streaks of darker patches, so painting the emery cloth with a uniform road grey, then just working in some dusty paint pigment should make the road surface more realistic - plus the paint does help conceal some of the joints in the emery cloth, although not the humungous six scale inch step in the car park which with hindsight I need to add some plasticard to in order to reduce the suspension threatening step.


     
    I've rejigged the housing estate, removing one of the "Court" low rise flats and relocating ex-Councillor Wright-Burke's "In Cod we Trust" chippy into the centre of the quadrangle. You will recall Wright-Burke was convicted of the "Chips for Votes" scandal and disbarred from office, Whether the residents of "Crowne Court" and "Euneda House" are happy with the smell of Wright-Burke's Emporium of Lard permanently invading their flats is another thing.
     

     
    It hasn't been raining, it's fresh paint. I've kept the pedestrian areas in naked emery cloth to simulate high quality asphalt, as opposed to the crud the Borough Engineer sticks down on the roads.



     
    The two blocks of flats with shops under (Kibri 1970s kits) enclose a green space and "The Poplars" pub (Piko Post Office kit from 1960s). There's a drunken stooshie going on outside the rub-a-dub. There's the step in the car-park which would destroy anything trying to park there. There's traffic calming and traffic harming.  I'll add some plasticard to reduce the difference in height.

    Still to add: weathering, streetlights (working) and interior building lights, so they are not stuck down yet.


     
    How the Poplars estate hides the fiddle yards, ably demonstrated by my glamourous assistant, the Centro 3 car Sprinter lash-up I created...



    ...and an all-trailer Limby Class 101. Two sidings directly under the board, and one just behind, give two-train operation on the "branch".  The Class 101 comprises Hornby bodies fitted to a trailer chassis from an intermediate TS and the non-motorised "motor" chassis, to be hauled by a Bachmann 105 as a typical East Anglia to the Midlands DMU set of the 1980s.



    Another two car trailer set for 1968 and 1975.  The two trailer cars from a Bachmann 3 car Class 108 were purchased from Tatbay, and a spare Hornby 101 body fitted to the "dummy" motor chassis to create a hybrid 101-108 unit, which will be towed either by a parcels unit or another unit for Cambrian line services.



    Two higher level shots showing access to the fiddle yard.  The scenic board with the "Poplars" estate only occupies the central third of the length of the fiddle yard, allowing easy access to points and for loco changes.  At the other end, the low retaining wall and factories allow access to the pointwork and for loco changes, whilst allowing some additional scenic treatment, important for me as the shed is relatively small (just under 12ft x 8ft) and giving up a large amount of the available space for non-scenic storage didn't sit easily with me.  I think this solution is a good compromise between ease of access to the fiddle yards and creating a sense of place.
  16. wombatofludham

    The Rebuild Continues

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    With the weather being nice and quiet, today I made a start on making the new higher level scenic shelf onto which some of the previous scenery is being moved and expanded. Moving the tracks to the centreline of the baseboard has given me some room behind, which I decided should be a brick retained higher level area to create the impression of the approaches to New Street or Walsall from the Rugeley direction, creating an urban backdrop which should highlight the trains nicely. Originally I was going to fix a batten across the shed wall and using some tongue and groove planks fixed to the 9mm ply offcuts I was using, fix the "L" shaped wooden former to it creating a stable support for the scenery. However, experiments with the large amount of polystyrene which wends its way to Fairbourne from Cornwall when I order my pasties by post has allowed me to adopt a simpler, but just as stable solution where two trimmed pieces of polystyrene, double height, provide the support under the shelf, with the T&G affixed to the front of the 9mm ply. This has the advantage of not having a plank of ply standing above the retaining wall sections, and creating a break of level where it abuts the Town Square, creating some visual interest. 


     
    The revised St Flo's. I originally intended to have the bombed out ruin at the back and the new church at the front, but the height difference between the Station/Courthouse Square on the right and the lower level on the left led me to swap it round, so the access to the new church is off a car park behind the Bank. The white snowdrift on the right is going to be painted up as a sandstone outcrop with rough grass and hedges applied to it to create a natural rock feature. St Flo's ruins have been enlarged by the addition of a large ruined tower. Trees landscaping and half-depth trees will be added to disguise the join and a replacement backscene is probably going to be needed.  the retaining wall is an eBay purchase from Stafford.



    The bank just fits onto the shelf, whilst the old Swan Centre and Station shops make up a shopping precinct.  The plywood will be treated to some nice Chinese block paving plasticard (another Tatbay purchase) and the tongue and groove will be painted and given some vegetation and boundary treatment to hide it.



    The precinct will include the town market, whilst on the left, on the next plank, a multi-storey and the dole offices will fill the width. The public loos will be attached to the multi-storey, as many were during the 1960s.  The vegetation on the roof won't be there when finished!
     


     
    The rebuild has included a flyover to disguise the entrance to the fiddle yard.  On the left, a Peedie models Council House on the Fagg End estate.  Fagg End phase 1 was developed on the "Radburn" principle of footways to the front whilst vehicular traffic went to the rear of the houses and occupied the site of old 19th Century slums and post-war "Prefabs" built as emergency housing.  The inner relief road is a one-way gyratory called "Euneda Highway" after the Saxon princess whose dowry lands were the site of the first "Wodin's Ford" settlement.  It's painted in texture paint, a "caramel" that is more nipple pink but a good facsimile of the colour of the M54, but will look less like nipple pink once weathered.  I've still to add signage, lights, parapet walls and the like.  On the right, the last few Prefabs remain, whilst the 19th Century terrace has recently been compulsory purchased ready for the redevelopment bulldozers to move in to start Fagg End phase 2.  In this one section you can see how redevelopment and highway planning dominated the 1960s right through to the 80s when I was studying Town Planning at Birmingham Poly.

    The road is a set of road sections I 3d printed a while back, glued to a strip of batten and supported at one end by polystyrene  insulation from my regular Cornish pasty order, and a tatbay sourced bridge support at the other.

    So, once I've assembled the remaining back scenery supports, I can return to the track, adding ballast, and completing the scenics .
  17. wombatofludham
    You may be wondering why things have been quiet at Wednesford.  Or not.  The reason for the long radio silence is I've decided on yet another rebuild. 

    Having already rebuilt the main layout after the original plan of an island platform immediately posed problems with track cleaning, threading a rubber between platform structures and the OHLE, I then rebuilt it to have a single platform at the back.  Trouble is this introduced a nasty reverse curve under the raised scenic board, which has caused some awkward derailments and poor running, which has annoyed me.  So, this summer I took time out to have a think, helped by me spending six weeks helping a friend move house (my Swedish State Barge, the Saab 9-5 Estate, having a carrying capacity not far short of a small van and loads of canny little cubby holes to pack smaller items into) and decided that rather than persevere with iffy running, I'd completely rejig the layout, do away with the mainline station, radically alter the branch and basically go back to Square 1.

    So, I'm now engaged on Wednesford v3.0, which will be the final one.

    The new plan is based on a section of plain line approaching Wednesford Station, the entrance to which is at the back of the old square.  It's inspired - if that is the correct term - by the approaches to New Street, or Walsall from the Rugeley direction with a retaining wall, which will now be moved forward by nearly 9 inches to allow a street of buildings to be modelled behind the track.  This has been made possible by me permanently fixing the drawbridge which allowed access to the shed but which was difficult to stop the track from causing derailments, into a "duck under", which means I no longer need to hit the joint with a straight length.  In effect, I can introduce a curve over the old joint which allows me to shift the track closer to the middle of the board.  After the curve, the branch will diverge at a single lead junction, meaning that trains coming off the branch will approach the main "station" on a section of bi-directional line.  The attached sketch plan gives some idea of where I am going.

     
    Personally I enjoy running trains, the variety of trains is more appealing than shunting for me.  The junction and bi-directional running will give an operational interest.  More to the point, adjusting the fiddle yard will allow bi directional access and running to a timetable, should give about 30-40 minutes running before needing to change locos or stock.  The revision of the branch will provide low relief scenery which will allow me to access the fiddle yard easily whilst the scenery will hide it at normal viewing height.

    At the moment having taken a couple of weeks to remove the old track, ballast and cork, new cork mat is being laid before track laying.  This time I will make absolutely sure the track is perfect before ballasting and installing the OHLE.  I've learned the hard way.

    However, whilst waiting for the cork mat glue to dry I had a go at seeing how the raised area over the two three car branch loops will work.  I recycled one of the scenic boards, reused the shelf brackets I used to support the previous branch backdrop as supports, used some plastic bottle tops as cups to stop accidental knocks and it all works fine, plenty of space to reach under without taking the board off, ease of leaning over to reach the main fiddle yard behind if necessary, whilst increasing the area for scenic modelling compared to the traditional fiddle yard.



    The raised section is meant to be a "decked over" railway cutting adjacent to a former engine shed which occupied a cramped site just off the branch at a lower level.  In our fictional scenario, the shed was destroyed in the Blitz, and being a small and awkward site was never re-opened, the land being made over for industrial development.  The old staff halt was extended slightly - and cheaply - pending a decision on the future of the branch, and an awkward pedestrian only access via a subway was provided.  In the 1960s it was felt the bus would replace all local rail services, so keeping the station and providing proper access to it was very much an afterthought.  So, the "booking office" is a Portakabin (which did happen at some Midlands stations) and the platform an easily dismantled wooden structure.  The retaining wall into which the subway dives is polystyrene insulation from my regular order of Cornish Pasties by post.  It will be painted a suitably grim grey when I come to finally fix the scenery in place following track laying, this was just a trial to check track geometry, accessibility and general feel.
     

     
    The high rise estate fits nicely onto the board.  Unfortunately the glue used in it's previous life proved difficult to disguise with paint, and whilst the road surface is probably correct for modern Black Country roads, as I will be covering the years 1968, 1975, 1988 and 1993, when roads generally were reasonably looked after, I will be resurfacing them with emery paper.



    The idea isn't to fully disguise the main fiddle yard, just to distract the eye.  To that end the old engine shed is literally two industrial units (Hornby Skaledale) and some retaining walls which provides an effective visual block without compromising access to the main fiddle yard beyond.  I'm pleased with how this section is turning out and how it will allow me access to the fiddle yard and have a meaningful scenic treatment as well.
     

     
    It might seem a bit of a waste to now be on the third iteration of Wednesford (or fourth if you include the various rebuilds of "Wombourne" but for me it's about getting reliable operation, capable of accepting all the new models being released soon which will require good track alignment, and taking my time to get it right.  Given I'm recycling and recovering a lot of scenic items, buildings and even wood, apart from some track which didn't survive being ripped from blast proof ballast, this new build will not be as expensive or as wasteful as first thought.

    Greta, you can cut the frown, this is model railway recycling 101.
  18. wombatofludham

    Facebook shocker

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    I know Facebook is about as popular round here as a Garry Glitter-Rolf Harris comeback tour, but it has just reminded me of this little item I posted a while back:

    "Question for the sparkies out there: I am right in thinking you can't use eco-lighting with dimmer switches? Only I've got this mad idea for the new model railway shed of having three dimmer-controlled lights, orange at each end of the shed and a daylight bulb in the middle, to "mix" to create sunrise to sunset lighting "ambience" and I just wondered..."

    Thing is "a while back" was eleven years ago.  Eleven.  And I'm only just finishing it off.  That's almost as long as it has taken to extend Midland Metro, or for Bachmann to deliver some of their backlog.  As for the lighting, the advancement of Chinese LED technology allowed me to use colour changing and dimmable floodlighting to simulate the dawn to dusk experience, so some good came from the delay.
  19. wombatofludham

    Weathering, take 2

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    You wait months and two blog entries come together...

    Having experimented successfully yesterday with neat paint pigment powder as a trackbed weathering medium, today I turned my attention back to the rolling stock, to test a possible source of significantly cheaper pigment: Ladies eyeshadow.

     
    Yes ladies, your eyeshadow will now be under threat from the modeller in your life.

    My brother, an expert sci-fi modeller, suggested this hack, so I bought a pack of 6 Goth-like shades (white to charcoal grey) for £2.85 from Tatbay, and a 12 pack of "neutrals" from the same supplier who charged me £3.35 including a multibuy discount. That's £6.20 for 18 colours. Compare that to £8 plus £1.75 postage for three, smaller pigments made for modellers, and you can see why I was interested in trying these face warpaint shades.
     
    They are perfect. The pigment is finer, and doesn't like brushing on so much as modelling pigments, but because, apparently, ladies like to blend their warpaint, they are great for adding subtle tone changes, but also are easily blended with the Mk1 finger as well as the sponge applicators, ideal as train bodies tend not to be as smooth as skin and can rip the make up applicators. They also respond well to application by cotton bud.
     
    i tried them on three different train bodies: a scrap Lima 87 with their less than perfect paintwork, a Bachmann 150 with modern paint and printing, and a repainted Hornby 86 using brush applied commercially available paint, and separately applied transfers, in order to see if there were any reactions or odd behaviours when interacting with the different paint jobs. Given the Lima was the worst, the Bachmann the best and the Hornby in the middle, I figured it was a reasonably scientific experiment. All coped well with the pigments and none suffered any untoward behaviour.
     
    It was clear though that the finer pigment in the warpaint needed fixing. Again, I wanted to conduct an experiment. For the Tamiya model pigments I've been using a clear modelling lacquer, semi matt, which has been good, but costs £6 for 85g, but as I have some Daler-Rowney Pastel fixative, which is £12-14 for a 400g can. I thought I would try it on the eyeshadow to see if it causes problems or attacks the plastic. Again, the experiment worked, no obvious reactions either from the eye paint or the plastic. So, all in all, a useful day's experimentation.

    However, gents, if you want to try eyeshadow as a weathering medium I strongly suggest you buy your own, or be prepared to wear your happy sacks as ear-rings if you borrow the other half's makeup bag.
     


    The two make up packs sourced from Tatbay, showing the subtle shading possibilities and the finer grained pigment.  You get 18 shades for just over six sheets, compared to eight for three Tamiya weathering master shades - and the amount per tint is probably three times what you get in the "proper" model pack.
     
    Experiment 1: Bachmann.  Using the sponge applicator and cotton buds you can get some good streaking effects. 



    Experiment 2.  Italian pish.  Difficult to see here due to the lighting and the extremely matt base paint but the Italian paint job took the pigment well.  I was concerned, given Lima's 1970s reputation for non-sticking paint that would strip if you blew on it, the pigment might react, but it didn't.  Fortunately, I have only a few Lima bodies to weather, all of the much better later fully painted variety, but the fact the old "show it the paint brush and that'll do" unvarnished paint coped is encouraging.
     

     
    Experiment 3 - Hornby/modeller repaint.  These images are post spraying with the fixative.  Surprisingly it didn't dilute the pigment too much, when I used to do paintings in pastel, spraying with the fixative was always horrendous as your carefully composed artwork would have some of the vibrancy sucked out of it.  The fixative worked better than expected, and really seals in the face paint.  That dirt ain't going nowhere in a hurry.  Probably because I used the chassis under a Class 81...
  20. wombatofludham

    Weathering

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    It's been a bit quiet on the blog, but not on Wednesford.  I've turned my attention to weathering,  I had a go at weathering some rolling stock with Tamiya weathering pigments, which my brother had pointed me in the direction of.  I've really enjoyed weathering using these powders, although my brother has pointed out that ladies face paint is a similar pigment but can be bought at a fraction of the price.  It seems that rust, road dirt, toilet effluvia and brake block dust are this year's eye shadow on trend shades, although I don't suppose they have that name in the world of cosmetics.  Also, Goths and the like seem to have cornered the market in oil soot and coal dust eyeliner, so I decided to buy a couple of packs of two dozen suitable eyeshades for less than the cost of one pack of modelling pigment.  I'll try them out on a variety of scrap bodies to see how they work, and will report back.  The other idea I had was for weathering the track ballast.  I had used a mix of black, brown and grey to simulate old weathered ballast but it still didn't look right to me.  So, I thought I'd try an experiment with the powdered paint pigments you buy for children, a black and a "brown", which I figured I could brush on, but because I'm not handling the track, leave neat without fixing, which is a requirement for rolling stock to stop the pigment powder wearing off or smudging.

    Having received the two pots of powder paint pigment, ordered in 200g pots from the Bay of Tat from a seller called "Mr Chips", I found the black is actually more charcoal, whilst the "brown" was actually almost a red sandstone colour, and I suspect they are natural pigments. I tried the "brown" neat but it looked more like a sand spill so I mixed one part black with two parts brown and got the shade I wanted. I applied the pigment neat, using a combination of brushes including old toothbrushes which really got into the ballast and spread the pigment nicely.  Overall, I can recommend paint pigment as a track ballast weathering medium, it's cheap, easy to use and if you gradually build up combinations or mixes of pigments can give a really good, dusty dirty effect.


    The "brown" pigment.  More a sandy colour
     

     
    The black, which is slightly more charcoal.  Both are very natural shades which is perfect for use neat.  Some poster paints can be very artificial.
     

     
    One part black to two parts "brown" gave a nice brake block - toilet effluvia dust effect
     


    A trial patch of the brown "neat".  A bit too red for brake block weathering



    A quick brush of the black along the centre of the tracks, using an old toothbrush, gives a nice dusty effect



    A heavier application of the black on approach to the station where you would expect more oil dropping, and it also helps give a neglected feel to the platform road.


     
    The mixed brown and black brushed over the trackbed on the curve.  I think I could do with adding another layer of black over the top 
     



    the station approach with the mixed brown and black added to the outside ballast shoulders.

    Over the next few days I'll add the pigment powder to the main line trackbeds.

  21. wombatofludham
    A relatively calm day before the storm has allowed me to further refine the layout.  For some time the drawbridge giving me access to the shed without having to learn to limbo was causing me issues with track, and current reliability, so I bit the bullet (I do like chomping down on ordnance it seems...) and screwed it down.  The height of the layout - sort of nipple height - means I don't have to bend too much to get in and I thought it a reasonable sacrifice for better running.  The drawbridge had caused me problems when setting out the fiddle yard, as I tried to avoid any pointwork where the drawbridge joins the baseboard, so fixing it down meant I could revisit the fiddle yard and the Wombourne branch.  So, a lot of experimentation and re-appraisal based on my emerging timetable plans meant I have now ended up with two "inter-city" loops roughly equivalent to a 2+8 HST length, or loco and 9 mk1-2 stock, a turnback siding 4 cars long for the EMU to Birmingham/Walsall which will connect every half hour with the Wombourne bubble, two more short loops capable of each accommodating two 2 car DMUs or one 6 car, and two loops which feed onto the freight avoiding line for two decent length steel or van trains.  All told it should allow me to set up about half an hour's worth of activity, before taking a pause, removing the Wombourne backscenes, and setting up new stock for the next half hour sequence.  The Wombourne backscenes are removable to allow me access to the fiddle yard, and setting up a flight of trains will avoid the need to constantly add and remove stock, whilst allowing a wide variety of typical formations you would have seen had the line really existed.  More importantly, I've been able to ease curves so hopefully Heljan 86s will get round without throwing themselves onto the cork.

    One happy side effect of this replanning (did I mention I'm a retired Town Planner?  You'd think I could plan the layout better than I have, but no, I couldn't plan a drunken in a brewery) is Wombourne has grown again, without sacrificing Sam the Mechanic's tin shed, or the Engineers compound.  The Wombourne branch now spans pretty much the length of the fiddle yard side of the shed which at least makes a feature of what otherwise would be a dead area.  So, once the new ballast has dried, the glue cured and the weather has calmed down I will be able to launch some train services, although I will need to clean some of the track which has got tarnished over the winter.  Hopefully the next blog entry might be something including moving pictures!



    The Wombourne branch curves in past the derelict ex-Railway cottages to run behind the old goods yard.  Sam the Mechanic's tin shed has been turned to face the front of the layout, and a pedestrian foot crossing put in to give me an excuse to blow the horn.

    I play trains.  Deal with it or bite me.


     
    Semi dereliction is the aim and a crudely painted "Keep Clear" on the doors shows a level of "couldn't give a f"""ery" typical of this on the margin type locations and businesses.



    Mrs Miggins has moved, but is still doing ten rounds with the Wombourne Flasher.



    Slightly reduced engineer's yard but still enough room to park a few vans and trucks and have a pile of resignalling items ready to load up for use somewhere.

    The Flasher's footpath now turns into the backscene via a stile.  Some little scroate has turned the finger post.  The "Save Our Trains Barbara!" graffiti, dating from 1967 and aimed at Barbara Castle, is still there, having become a bit of a local landmark and mysteriously repainted every so often.

    I need to paint the rails, having forgot to do it before laying.  Another cracking piece of planning.



    The Wombourne branch has had at various times a Park Royal Railbus, Gloucester single units and Class 153 "Scuds".  In 1986 two early morning through services to Birmingham were introduced, using over-night stabled DMUs in marginal time, and in 1993, whilst for most of the day you still needed to change at Wednesford into a Birmingham all shacks, the morning through services had been handed over to Class 150s from the Tyseley "Centro" pool, a two car 150 just squeezing into the platform (a 156 would have one door off the platform so were banned).  Here we see the usual shuttle fare in 1993, unusually in a slightly grubby state given it hasn't long been outshopped as a single car unit.



    The Wombourne Pullman departs past a number of bravely parked commuter cars using the remains of the old goods yard throat as parking.  Given the air of decay and the unstaffed station, probably not the most secure of locations but a half hourly shuttle with the train laying over in the station actually affords a high degree of passive supervision.



    Welcome to Wombourne: Cell Block H.  "The Freak" will be round to sell the tickets, any cheek and you will be bent over for a rectal gloving"



    Old Ma Miggins is still slugging it out with the Flasher who is seemingly oblivious to the passage of the Scud.



    Clearances are a bit tight.  Looks like the gate might need repairing.
  22. wombatofludham

    The Summer of '66

    By wombatofludham,


    Blog
    The prolonged nice spell has enabled me to progress some bits and bobs on the layout, but the main works have been an extra heavy clean, stock sorting and a rethink on the backscene, to make it easier to remove for access to the fiddle yard behind.  However, I've also been doing some work on the stock.

    Today, I repaired and converted a DC Kits AL1 in 1966-7 livery, which I had bought many moons ago and which was fitted with a Black Beetle, to which I fitted a DCC converted Hornby 86 chassis.  It's actually a pretty good fit once you shorten it slightly at each end and cut back the chassis side walls slightly, and although it struggles to pull any lengthy trains, it has given me a possible way forward for a couple more DC kits bodies which still have their Black Beetle bogies, especially as I do still have quite a few Hornby 86s which have become redundant.

    So today's photos are a trip back to the Summer of 1966.  I'm three years old, my late mother is three months pregnant, and despite New Street north tunnels not being energised, some electric trains are running via Wednesford.  Being 3, I have zero interest in some football thing going on in the country, to be honest 55 years later, I still have no interest in the game.



    E3017 stands at Wednesford with a Manchester-Stoke-Birmingham semi fast.



    E3017 hauls a rake comprising mainly ex-LMS or LNER coaches on this semi-fast.  An ex LMS TK is behind an ex-LMS BG



    Porthole CK and Mk1 SO



    Ex-LNER Buffet, no doubt robbed from the Harwich boat train.  Another ex-LMS Stanier design, a BTK brings up the rear.



    Ex LMS TK coupled to a Mk1 CK in the new blue-grey livery.




  23. wombatofludham
    Helped by calm and relatively mild weather I've been catching up on the rebuild and have now moved onto the revised Wombourne.  I also discovered a few more pieces of the Kibri office block I managed to demolish before it could be used on the Civic, so have been able to stretch the Aunty Edna's confectionary admin offices and development labs.
     


    A quick post out by the Model Tree Company from where I bought the half depth trees has meant I can finalise the backdrop.  In reality, no-one should plant trees that close to a building but they do help conceal gaps, and help deceive the eye into thinking there is more building there than is the case, so I think I'll turn a Nelson* to this.

    * Nelson was blind in one eye...
     

     
    More low relief trees and some strategically placed adverts help disguise awkward joins and deceive the eye over the backscene.



    Wombourne, take 2.  I've tidied up the fencing to the "temporary" station and put back Tom and Jerry who are still arguing over whether they have time to get to the nearest pub before the last train back to Wednesford before the Twirly's pass afternoon peak curfew.



    On the right is the disused level crossing with the gates permanently shut.  The station sign was deliberately vandalised to look like it had been, well, vandalised or hit by a truck.  I will paint it.  Behind the picket fence is a length of track left in situ and overgrown when the level crossing and station were closed and the new halt erected on the trackbed of the access to the goods yard.  Following a couple of unscheduled attempts to reopen the old station by the Wombourne Pullman, a second hand hydraulic buffer stop, and a sleeper built box of rubble, topped by a floral display by the Wombourne in Bloom Ninjas, should hopefully stop anything trying to do so again.



    Where Wombourne station was on Version 1.0 is now a scenic diorama, based on the reuse of the old goods yard by the engineers and a car repair workshop.  A mix of crackle medium, earth acrylic paint, fine brown ballast and bits of the old ballast which couldn't be scraped off, plus grass tufts and leaf mulch flock, give a nice muddy and neglected appearance.



    Behind the engineer's compound is Flasher's Alley.  I've ordered a Noch flasher and granny with umbrella in attack mode for this unsavoury location.



    The car repair workshop reusing a railway store.  The model is an Anyscale resin tin shed, painted and weathered using Posca paint pens.  Anyscale do some nice resin bits and bobs and is worth a look, very quick and friendly service too.



    Junk yard adjacent the workshop with scrap tyres and rusted oil drums.  There's also going to be a stash of gas bottles when I've finished painting them.  



    Remains of a stop block in the engineer's yard, still to be painted and distressed.



    Local P-Way gang have come back.  I've still to add weeds and grass tufts to the muddy base, but it needs 48 hours to dry out.


     
    "New" Wombourne showing the overall layout.  This is in effect a fiddle yard siding with scenery.  Between the backscene and the new fenceline put in when the station was erected on the trackbed of the goods yard siding you can just make out some track still in situ (needs painting) and the stop block in front of the disused signal box, which also needs weathering.  This would have been the shunting loco siding between jobs now becoming a mix of old ballast, old track and weeds.  Again, grass and weeds will be added once dry.



    The Wombourne Pullman dives into the jungle hiding the gap in the backscene, under the dodgy concrete footbridge leading to Flasher's Alley.  The fence line in the foreground shows the way the old siding fed into the goods yard behind.  Again, Model Tree Company half and full depth trees trick they eye into ignoring the fact the train has just vanished behind a life size backdrop poster.

    Day off tomorrow whilst the ballast and paint dries, then back to adding grass and weeds to the Wombourne area and the space between the tracks in Wednesford.
  24. wombatofludham
    Looking at photos of the layout can sometimes give you a different perspective and show things that just don't quite work.

    Way back when I started "Wednesford" and had a working Aldi 3d printer, I designed some gable ends in an industrial corrugated concrete or metal style, which were intended to look like a factory wall on top of the retaining wall. They printed out to a scale 43 ft high and 44 feet wide, so were an impressive "ultra low relief" factory gable, about 1 cm deep. They printed out crisply and looked good. However, I've since put up a backscene behind the ULR factory gables and unfortunately, the design showed a flaw. When I designed the "Aunty Edna's" factory ULR plates, I made them flat roofed and slightly lower. That worked well, even with older factory images behind, because the eye was "tricked" by the flat roof into ignoring the lack of perspective, it reads as a low, modern factory in front of older, bigger factories behind, not as a series of flat plaques. Unfortunately, the pitched roof of AC Electrics looked bizarre and drew attention to the lack of depth, as they were always being viewed obliquely. So, today I decided to bite on the ordnance, and using a remnant of a German HO scale office block originally intended to become part of the Civic Centre, that is until I cack-handedly broke it trying to take it apart, I've redone the backscene, removing AC Electrics, which hopefully may be finding a new life down on the South Coast, and with some strategically placed advert hoardings and low relief trees to hide awkward joins and gaps, refashioned the factory. I intend to use some more half depth trees to hide the ends of the building, which will further trick the eye into thinking there is a full building there, just hidden by a tree, but so far, I think the decision works.



    New "office block" rescued from a dead Kibri kit. Another half-depth tree will go on the right, currently en-route in the post, which will help disguise the flat nature of the building.  Not entirely sure why a flat roof building looks more convincing as an ultra-low relief scene than a pitched roof gable, but it does.  It will be further convincing once the low relief trees I've ordered are in place.
     


    Long view.  The lack of a pitched gable works better.


     
    The other end of the factory, where another tree will help disguise the lack of depth.
     


    Having raised all the scenic boards bar St Florian's Church, it now sits in a slight "bowl" which works quite well
     


    View across the Swan Centre and the tracks to the back garden of the Prefabs and the playing fields beyond.  An ID Backscenes sticky back plastic backscene.



    Raising the board has meant the Bachmann concrete footbridge no longer fits, so until I work out an alternative, the inhabitants of Euneda House will have to go elsewhere for their chips.  However, on the plus side, I've now got a proper turning hammerhead and decent fencing in place.  Two surplus advert hoardings have neatly disguised where I managed to damage the backscene!



    The recycling bins have now been relocated down Hooker's Alley, alongside the Swan Centre car park.
     


    Removing the AC Electrics factory has allowed me to put a bit more greenery in behind the retaining wall, and put back some of the advert hoardings.  New Government Buildings has now gained "Ladders of Hope", an abstract bas relief by renowned ear-ring artist Pat Butcher, symbolising the hope and aspirations of those using the building to access the labour exchange/Jobcentre.  With AC Electrics now having gone, it's a bit of a hollow hope.

  25. wombatofludham
    ...as BR were fond of saying at one point.  Wednesford and Wombourne v2.0 is now in the final stages of completion, with ballast laid at Wednesford, and some overdue tidying up of some dodgy modelling.  Longer term I intend to install street and building lighting and passive provision has been made by raising the scenic boards by about a centimetre.  Today was the first chance I had to see all the boards in place alongside the station (I still have a little work to do on the Swan Centre scenic module) and it's surprising just what raising the level of the "land" a scale two and half feet has done to the overall perspective.  The station seems to be even more hemmed in by the town, which was pretty much the effect I was aiming for.


     
    Ballast laid and tidied.  Still to do, filling the gap between Aunty Edna's and the retaining wall with hedge and scrub.  Also, some selected weed growth in the extra-large six foot, although not too much as up until the mid 90s the railway wasn't too bad at keeping the weeds down.


     
    Looks like the local vandals have thrown some platform signs onto the roof
     


    View towards the tunnel under the old part of town.  Intercity preaching to the converted who are already on the train.  The idea is the station was severely rationalised in the mid 1960s, so the platform buffet and concrete canopies are all concentrated at one end of the station, there's a single lift tower and open sided stairwell, it's all a bit grim and reflects the fact Wednesford very nearly lost it's station and train service.


     
    The "first class" end of the platform.  When planned for rebuild, the intention was to have only a token Inter-city service with an EMU shuttle to Birmingham being the main service provision, so no facilities were originally provided at the London end of the platform.  Eventually, as service levels increased, and complaints along with it, two blue brick and concrete waiting rooms were built along with gents and ladies loos.  Premium ticket holders still have to dodge Postman Pratt and his yellow tug with BRUTEs rattling behind.



    The recycling bins are not in their final place.  Quite apart from the lack of respect sticking a recycling centre in front of the entrance to St Flo's, it neatly highlights the perils of using 1960's continental HO scale buildings which, it turns out, aren't quite HO.  HO is of course about 12% smaller than 4mm scale, so you do have to be careful putting buildings next to each other, but Faller and Vollmer in the 1960s made some kits to an even smaller scale, somewhere closer to 1:90.  I've carefully grouped buildings of roughly the same scale, and tried to avoid using 4mm scale scenic objects or people close to them, but in this case, a brain-fart meant I put the bins here instead of next to the multi-storey car park!

    The police/Government buildings scenic module has been raised and rests on the knob-pins in order to allow me to add lighting in the future, but St Flo's remains at baseboard level.  It was built on a redundant corner shelf which was slightly deeper than the ply scenery module bases, so I'm tempted to leave St Flo's in the dark and keep the base at the current level, with a nice, scale step down into the churchyard from the footpath.  This angle also shows the ruins of the old chapel more clearly.
     
    It's still the summer of Love in the peace garden.
     

     
    Some spare concrete trunking has allowed me to tidy up the Councillor's car park at the Civic.  Must be full council day judging by the number of cars in there.


     
    The former low level station entrance and forecourt has now been rebuilt to include the Bank of Bitch, and the old post office access now repurposed as a very tight public short stay.  I need to move the man in the BR boil in the bag anorak, who is still waiting for a lift back to Bescot despite the station having vanished behind him, and the two tiny Japanese tourists need to be relocated to outside the main entrance waiting for a taxi to take them to Crossroads.
     
    This area was the old goods yard, hence the retaining wall, but was destroyed and never rebuilt in the War.  After the war the British Railways Board teamed up with Wednesford Borough Council to redevelop the land, which helped financially to keep the station.



    When BRB decided not only to keep the station, but to electrify the line, the old, narrow Station Approach was rebuilt, the road widened and linked to the new inner relief road. This allowed Market Place and Market Street to be pedestrianised, and the station was built alongside the site of the upper level goods offices which were demolished to widen the road, whilst in their place a small parade of single storey shops was built.  The crass concrete planked portal of the tunnel contrasts markedly with the retaining wall of the old goods yard.
     

     
    "Drone" shot of the full length of the layout, showing how the station is tucked away behind the town.  Not how most modellers choose to create their models, but personally I quite like the idea you are sat in a 20 storey block, the other side of the inner relief road, gazing down on the station wedged in between the new Civic quarter, the old Market Square, and the industrial zone beyond, whilst Aunty Edna's factory wafts the smell of peppermint over the town (apparently it is possible to get peppermint oil for home diffusers, so in addition to Bluetooth speakers for ambient sound, I will probably have the scent of Minty-Koffs wafting across the layout!)
     


    And finally...Anna Logue is still grilling Councillor Wright-Burke over his "Cod for Votes" scandal, where as owner of the "In Cod we Trust" chain of chippies, he provided free chips to his voters in the local election, in contravention of electoral legislation.  She's now been joined by the cameraman, Mark Coney, to film the interview for "Wednesford Today" at 6.30pm.

    Oh yes, and there's a new canopy roof on the Courts building, a 3d print recycled off the old lower level entrance.
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