Mike T

It was Edge Hill not Speke. Also the Western at Ditton/Widnes and the Warship at Winsford :-)

Hi Phil What layouts this? It's excellent!!! Regards Mike

Hi Gary Just back from a weeks holiday in Scotland walking the dogs. Imagine my pleasure when I noticed on the map that our walk to the abandoned settlement at Smirisary would mean we would pass through Glenuig. We stopped at the station and whilst my wife pottered about in the craft shop that has now taken over part of the main building I wandered on to the platform just in time to watch a 156 from Fort William arrive. The signals have all gone but the box still survives and appears well maintained as a bothy, control now being affected by ground frames and RETB from Banavie centre. The siding to the distillery has long been lifted but I noticed that the one along the harbour appeared to have been in use. Talking to the driver of the unit he informed me DBS had recently trialled loading timber here and a class 57 "Thunderbird" had been used similar to the trials a while back from Crianlarich. All in all an interesting day. Or did I take too much of the Moidart in the nearby Glenuig Inn....? ;-) Regards Mike

Hi Guys To start us off another thread from the old RMweb. If you scan through the early 70's issues of the much missed Model Railways magazine you will happen across an occasional series of articles entitled "Bazzing around". In these, the author aided by his trusty K9 sidekick, used one or two images of a single location and went on to pick out various details and cameo scenes using a series of thumbnail sketches. The idea being to draw the readers attention to often missed details. In the DEMU house magazine Update, issue #25, fellow WFRM member Tony Sissons introduced the idea of Enhancing Factor or EF. Those little easy to add details that can lift a layout way above norm for a minimum of effort. Taking a lead from the above we have decided to Ef around ourselves when out and about presenting our images and ideas here for the use of all. Mike ??? posted on Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:40 am Station Nameboards. The distinctive station signage used in the Merseyrail area is easy to produce on a home PC using even simple graphics packages such as mspaint. The best match for the Rail Alphabet font is swis721MdBT which is available on the internet and from some font librarys. Franklin Gothic Medium is similar and comes standard with most PC's so may be an easier option. The important thing is to be consistent on all signs. Logo's are often available on company websites or can be simply drawn along with the arrow and other graphics. Print out on white decal paper or photo quality paper and seal with spray varnish. The yellow bands on the posts are part of the Merseyrail corporate image. The station buildings at Rainhill are LNWR in origin and still sport the original cast iron canopy brackets. Plenty of EF in this image! The ever present palisade fence (Knightwing in 4mm) but painted black rather than plain galvanised as is the norm; Yellow 50mm diameter pipe hoop bike racks (bend up from brass wire); Station signage and poster boards (crank up the graphics package again); The yellow box on the wall is a Help Point approx 685mm x 330mm x 150mm (plasticard); Modern style station seats are problematic at the moment but watch this space; Note the platform has been refaced with concrete blocks in recent years and fitted with cable trays. Mike __________________________________________ ??? posted on Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:28 pm Close up of platform cabling arrangements. As has been noted in the previous image, Admiralty Tray is fitted the full platform length. This can be simply modelled using styrene or brass strip of an appropriate size with simplified brackets but if you really must have that see through profile what about using etched walkways intended for detailing tank wagons? Remember you're not using it for the intended purpose so just because it says 2mm scale on the pack doesn't mean a 4 miller can't use it for something else! Note the cables laid on the ballast dive into the wall behind those on the tray and are obviously older. These can be modelled using various gauges of soft copper wire - try http://www.wires.co.uk for a range of black enamelled copper craft wire starting at 0.1mm which can save a tedious paint job. Lead wire is also excellent for this and is marketed by Plus Models (suppliers of military not railway models) in sizes from 0.2mm-1mm in 0.1mm increments - try http://www.netmerchants.co.uk. Alternatively a limited range of sizes can be sourced from fishing tackle stores as the lead is used to add weight to flys and lures. Not sure what the yellow patch and the letter A denote but they certainly add EF! There is a whole series of these along the platform length. comment re fonts There are links to Rail Alphabet fonts here: http://www.rmweb.co....t=rail+alphabet, see Andy's post, second one down. ??? posted on Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:58 am Work in progress! When we visited Rainhill the Signal Box was about to be abolished, the signalling renewed and control transferred to Huyton. Note the rat's nest of cables at the foot of the signal and the weathering/growth on the sandstone walls and famous skew bridge. ??? posted on Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:10 am Close up of the signalling and telecomms apparatus cases. A group of cases such as this is known as a Location or Loc for short (pronounced lowk). Modellers tend to call them battery cupboards or relay boxes. The particular examples here are an anti vandal type manufactured by Techno Rail and are quite boxy in appearance - try http://www.technorail.co.uk for info. This type isn't available in model form but they would be a relatively simple scratchbuild from styrene strip using Evergreen or Plastruct strip. Having said that you wouldn't want to fully populate your layout that way! Step forward an enterprising manufacturer. The labels on the end nearest the running line details the location name and the equipment controlled there from. These could be custom made using white decal paper or alternatively a representation could be cut from say wagon data panels; the high voltage warning flash can be added from a rolling stock decal; handrails are 50mm diameter pipe key and clamp type (bend up from brass wire). Mike