Heinz57

Thanks chaps. I'm looking forward to getting this project going. I'm really spending time reasearching into this project, looking at existing layouts and real cement works to get some good ideas to make a solid track plan. I will set the layout in the early 90s and use a mixture of Railfreight and BR Blue locos. However I am going to make it in such a way that I can operate it current scene, or pretty much any time frame after 1980 if I want to. Heinz

This is my newest layout project Peak Cement Just recently I've been thinking its time for a new project. Some of you will be familiar with my other layout project, Elveden Road, a modern day servicing depot specialising in HST stock. I intend building both layouts simultaniously, so this new layout is by no means the end of Elveden Road! So, my new layout! When deciding on my new layout as every modeler does I went through the motion of thinking of many ideas. I thought about a DRS depot, I thought about building a new and imroved version of my old layout 'Arena Parkway'. But in the end I decided I wanted to do a freight based layout. For a while I did toy with the idea of a steel works, and came up with a plan I liked. But eventualy I decided on doing a cement works, I have wanted to do one for years so I suppose it makes sense to actually do it! And so, 'Peak Cement' was born. This layout will be a departure from my usual current scene layouts, and instead I will be setting it in the early 90s. The stock will be a mixture of the various Railfreight liveries seen in the early 90s as well as some locos still in the classic 'BR Blue' livery. I will be able to run the layout current scene if I want to with very minimal changes. I am still very much in the early stages of reasearch and planning but the layout will be DCC sound, and measure 13ftx2ft. So why 'Peak Cement?'. Well, I decided I wanted to name the layout after its location, so I trawled Google Earth looking for a location I liked, following only one rule - That I won't set the layout in Leisctershire or Northamptonshire as Elveden Road is set here. I did at first look at somewhere around Sherwood Forest but quickly decided on the Peak District. Specificly to the eastern edge near Chesterfield. Such features included on the layout will be the delivery of stone from the Buxton area and the departure of cement either bagged in box vans or bulk in PCA tanks. I will also include the arrival of coal for the furnace and removal of the spent fly ash. I'm still working on a plan for the layout. I've taken some insperation from two great cement work layouts 'Westbury Cement' and of course the fantastic 'Cement Quay'. I will post my plan on here when I've finished it. That's all for now and I hope you like my new layout! Cheers, Heinz

17/05/2017 - Back Online! Once agaim I start with the traditional apolloogy for the quiet time over the past few months - Sorry! My last post detailed the quiet time and lack of modeling that I did over winter, so I won't go into detail again. Last week I set the layout up for the first time since it went out to Burton show, its still in good condition and nothing needs repairing so thats good! I haven't connected it up and ran it yet though. Burton didn't bring any technical issues so hopefuly after a quick clean of the tracks and it will run fine. I must do that soon! So as the last update said I did bring the lathe board inside over winter to do (not much) work on it. I mostly did work around the entrance area to the yard. I have built the security hut, from the Knightwing kit and detailed the inside, greenery was added and signs made. The Wabtec sign actualy lights up inside, but I haven't got a pic of this I'm afraid, I'm not happy with it though so I might get rid of it. I'm also thinking of adding a truck stopped here, with hazzard lights flashing and the driver talking to the security guards. I have started on this but not finished it, I'm still undecided on this idea, so I'd like to hear your thoughts on it? I have also added another parking area, I will be adding the shunters mess along side this. It's actualy at this point where work stopped for the winter! After having a few months quiet time I then moved onto the shed building. At first I carried on with the version in my last update, but then I scrapped it and started again! The main structure is completed, note how I have decided to miss out windows on the wall. I will instead add the windows in the roof. The cladding is painted and weatherd The brick work is painted and weatherd and details added around the doors. This is the current state of the shed, the next job is to paint the doors. Then I'll be addding interior details amd lights. There's a long way to go but it's getting there! Not a lot of work has been done since my last update, but at least there has been some progress on the layout. It shouldn't take as long to do the next update as it did to do this one! Cheers, Heinz

Absolutley stunning work! The detail is fantastic, keep up the good work!

Still Here! Just a quick one to appologise to the regular viewers for the lack of updates on here recently. Unfortunatly work on the layout hasn't progressed anywhere near emough to warrant an update. In my last post I mentioned about the success of Burton Show. This great day gave me some motivation to work on the layout, or so I thought. Upon arrival home from the show I put the layout and all its gear in the garage intending to 'ort it out later' well that later never came and five months down the line I still have a box of stuff waiting to be unpacked from the show. The layout has not yet been set up since the show. Because it was too cold in the garage to do any work on the layout over winter I did bring the 'lathe board' inside the house and intended to finish working on this board, I didn't get much done on it and ended up packing the board away in the garage again and it has remaind there since. I have done a little bit more work on the shed, I have restarted the shed twice since I last posted on here! The project is progressing very slowly and I am remembering to take a few photos as I go along. I hope to complete this project soon, set the layout back up and get another update on here as soon as I can, motivation permiting! Until then please accept my appologies for the lack of posts on here and I do hope to keep your interest in viewing my project! Heinz

I drive a 2012 Ford Fiesta 1.8 Diesel Econetic. Yesterday evening I drove from my home in Ilkeston, just outside Nottingham to Yaxley, Peterborough. The route took me A52 to Grantham then A1. I set off with a full tank of fuel with the range calculator telling me the full tank will last me 320 miles. I arrived at Yaxley with the needle STILL on full with the computer telling me 405 miles of fuel. I'll admit I don't know the exact MPG I had during the trip, but I'll have to guess around 55mpg. This was with setting off at 4.30pm so hitting the A52 at peak time. Strangley the return journy (which was about 10.30 depature) seemed to use a lot more fuel. I departed with the needle on the fuel guage just touching the full mark and arrived home dead on 3/4 of a tank remaining.

Its looking good mate, keep it up! Don't think id have the patience to convert the bogies on my Mk3s though. I've got at least 60!

Just caught up with this thread. The layout is looking fantastic mate, keep it up!

Thanks chaps, glad you like it! My current project is the main shed, I'm going to spend a bit of time working on that and when its done I'll post an update focusing on it.

09/11/2016 - Still Here! I usually start every update with an apology in the delay in updating. This one's no different, sorry about the delay in this update! 3 months, wow! The layout has come on significantly since that post. In this entry I'm going to run through everything that's happened with Elveden Road over the past couple of months. In the last update I talked about a rather successful testing session which confirmed all the points and uncoupling magnets were in working order, since that the first thing I did was have a few more test sessions to check its reliability. After I was happy with it I started work on the scenery... The first job to be completed was the hard standing and road areas. On the last version of Elveden Road I only had the hard standing 'raised' which meant I had to create a sort of slope to bring it down to the road level. This looked ok, but not quite right. In version two I have decided to have it all on the same level, rail height. To do the hard standing Simon suggested using a method Andy York posted in BRM using cork tiles painted up with spray paint to create the effect of concrete. There's two ways of doing this, you can use the 'matt' side of the tiles to create a worn effect or (as I've done) use the glossy 'sunny' side to create a more smooth and fresher finish. The tracks were filled in with foam sheet and the pavements created using 1.5mm plasticard. I was able to blend the recycled lathe area in nicely. When its painted up you can hardly tell (as you will see later) The CET track is ready. The whole lot was then painted up, first using a brown suede effect paint (from Hobby Craft) to create the texture and then the surface painted using a mix of grey and white primer and matt black spray from Halfords... See what I mean about how I managed to blend in the recycled lathe pit? It looks quite good, you can hardly tell its thicker than the road height and been bodged into place! After this I ballasted the whole lot, I did it in several sittings over a couple of weeks. After it was completed the track was cleaned and everything tested. A few problems arose but these were due to glue in the contacts and loose ballast blocking the blades. These problems were rectified and the points worked fine after. I also doubled up all the under track magnets to create reliable uncoupling. Completed ballasting and also pictured is the 'plant' building that housed electrical switch gear for the yard, fuelling area and signals. You will notice that I have also painted the sky back scene into a darker colour. This is in line with a new idea change which is to set the layout at night. I figured that a depot like this wouldn't actually see much action during the day as all the stock would be out on the mainline, this wouldn't make an interesting layout! Most of the action would take place at night when the stock isn't being used, so hence the change in setting. I have also made the small 'back fitting shop' or 'small shed at the back', this is based loosely on the large DMU shed at Neville Hill in Leeds, it merges quite well into the (un-pictured) back scene building based very loosely on the works building at Wabtec in Doncaster. The works building was scrapped and re attempted a couple of times and is very much unfinished. I will talk about this more in a later update. Note the recycled details from version one of the layout placed on top of the shed for safe keeping. The main shed has been started, it is a re design of the one used on version one, noticeably the three tracks and individual shutter door for each track. Inspiration comes from the newish shed at Derby Etches Park and the architectural idea is a similar style to my lathe building. The shed is also very much unfinished, I'll talk more about it in a later update. The fuel point is pretty much finished. I have scratch built the canopy and used the fuelling equipment from the familiar Knightwing kit. All it needs is pumps for unloading fuel being delivered by tanks. The car park area The footbridge was knocked together over a couple of evenings. It is pictured here unpainted, it was painted in a random colour ready for the layouts outing at Burton. It still needs lighting added and then after I will paint it in its proper colour. ********************** Burton Show On the 6th November Elveden Road made its debut show appearance at the Midland RailEx at Burton. It was the first showing of the refurbished Elveden Road and last date on the 'Salt N Vinegar' tour started in November last year by version one of the layout! Although it was a mad rush to get the layout into a showable state, it was very much worth it. The day was fantastic! It was a very enjoyable show and the hospitality was great, a big thank you to the organisers! Most importantly I'm very pleased to say that the layout ran really well all day, it ran better than Elveden Road ever has and proves that the rebuild and all the expense, blood, sweat and tears that came with it was very much worth it! A couple of miner problems with the 08's getting stuck on the points but this was put down to dirty track and loose ballast, nothing that can't be fixed! ********************** So there's still a long way to go with the layout and there's a lot of work to do, but it's coming on. Although the past half year or so haven't been the most enjoyable with the layout, what with the wiring issues, possible scrapping and then re birth of the project and the mad rush to get the layout ready for the show, the strong performance at the show has given me more motivation to work on the layout and I'm looking forward to progressing it further. The next projects that need to be done is the completion of the shed and addition of flood lighting and details in the yard. Most importantly though I need to sort out the minor issues that arose at Burton, so I'll be sorting that next. Sorry about the very long update for thank you for taking the time to read it. Hopefully I won't be as long posting the next one - I've said that before! Heinz

Thanks Karl, glad you like it! The track plan was designed on AnyRail version 5. A lisence for the full version of the programe costs around £38. There is a trial version you can download, however that limits you to 50 pieces. Heinz

Thanks chaps! The track plan has changed slightly from Version 1. We quickly learned of a few desig floors in the plan. Here are both plans for comparison. The top one is track plan version 5, as it was just before I scrapped for the rebuild. The bottom is version 6.5, which is the re-build plan, or as it is now... The plan is essentialy the same. Although you'll notice I have reduced the tracks in the main shed down to three, it was too compact having four and meant I couldn't get any details in the building between the tracks. I've shortend what is the CET discharge track (or the long track beside the main shed), I have shotend the two sidings near the lathe shed to make the lathe fit better. I have also done away with the long shed at the back and added a second run around loop. Although there has been some reductions in tracks and changes to the scenery I have actualy increased the coach capacity the layout can hold and I could now (if I wanted to) have 40 Mk3 coaches on the layout at one time! Take a look at post #57 where I go into a little more detail... Cheers, Heinz

05/08/2016 - Okay Just One More Go! Thanks for your kind comments chaps. Andy, sorry to hear you had running issues that day too. Hopefuly your running issues weren't as bad as mine! So, since my last update I had a week or so to calm down and re-think things. I will be honest and say the layout WAS cancelled and due for scrapping. However, luckily I didn't. Both Simon and Shaun talked me onto keeping the layout and carying on, so thanks for that chaps! So yeah, I carried! Over the next few weeks I spent time working on the wiring and fixing many of the technical issues that arose. I replaced a lot of points and swore many times! However after much cursing, blood, sweat and tears I managed to get the layout working! I had a few shorts and quite a few dead frogs. Ultimatly I had to convert all of my points back to using the traditional method of relying on the point blade for electrical coontact rather than the frog. Luckily I managed to do this without having to take the points up! Initial test runs were done with a class 20 The control panel. This is designed in the same way as Version 1s panel and is roughly the same size. The differance being each board is fed indervidualy, rather than into one board and using cross board connectors. This makes fault finding much easier. After I had everything working I got the coaches out and a few more locos and had a proper test session... I did have a disaster though. It turns out i'd fitted the electromagnets in the wong place! They were fitted too far in towards the shed. Therefore the couplngs wouldn't have sat in the correct place on the magnets. The coupling should sit over the centre of the magnet. I had no choice but to re-fit them, which involved having to bodge up the hole in the board. That was fun and games! I'm continuing with testing and these week I hope to be able to begin scenic work. I'll post again soon with more progress! Heinz

23/06/2016 - I Guess That's That HI all, Sorry about the quiet time on here recently. I haven't really had much worthy of an update. This past month or so I have been trying to wire the layout and get it to a working condition. Unfortunatly once again nothing has gone to plan. As you might be aware the point frogs were converted for extra electrical reliability, this I'm afraid proved to be a wrong desision and has caused more issues than good. With many points having dead spots and shorts (swapping feed wires around didn't solve the shorts). To add insult to injury I've had to replace no less than four points where trimming down the point motor rod has damaged the point beyond repair by either snapping the tie bar or tearing the spring out. I then noticed last week during another attempet at trouble shooting that the double slip had started to play up a bit. Although it was still working that would have needed replacing before any scenic work would have commenced, to play it safe. Over the past month I came close to scrapping the layout no less than three times, but I decided to persavere and carry on. Today was 'desision day' on the layout, I planned a trouble shooting session to try and eradicate the problems once and for all. If the session went to plan then I would carry on with the layout. If not then the project would probably be cancelled. Unfortunatly todays session did not go to plan not all the problems have been resolved and two more points are now in need of replacement. consequently the future of Elveden Road is very much in doubt. I am now weighing up the options of what to do next. However it is looking more and more like the layout will be scrapped. I can't keep throwing money at it to solve it and besides, even if it could be fixed I've got no interest in building it now due to the amount of problems its been having. I will appologise to the followers about this news, but I'm sure you can appreciate my reasoning behined my decision. Heinz

Thanks, I'm looking forward to giving it a go. I've got a set of Virgin HST power cars I'm itching to try it on!

Absolutley fantasic work as usual James! Really like the weathering on the 47! Can I just ask, you mention about usign white paint to fade the livery. How did you do this, is the wash painted on then rubbed off to leave the effect or is it applied with a dry brush? Did you have to thin the mix at all?

10/05/2016 - How Hard Can it Be? Hi all, Sorry about the lack of action on here recently. Its taken much longer than I wanted to get the layout to its current stage. Infact, I wanted to be much further on with the project than I am now. It seems that everything I tried to do had some sort of problem or delay I needed to over come! The first thing I did was construct the baseboards, I started these at the begining of Feburary. Infact, I was creating the alignment plates for each board the day before version one had its last show appearance at the Ilkeston Woodside Model Railway Show in Trowel. Board construction was the first project not to got to plan, After purchasing the wood, and coming to build the boards a few days later I discovered that the 2 and 3/4 inch fame work I'd bought was 2 and 3/4 inch ish. Therefore nothing was actualy the same thickness (the differance was up to 2mm in places) so would have caused problems with the boards. Using that framework would mean I'd have shot myself in the foot before I'd even started. I did check the wood when I purchased it. But theres just a few things that standing in the woodyards shed on a cold Feburary morning won't show. Due to work and other commitments meant it was another week before I could actualy do anything about it. So that's a week I'd lost before I'd even started! Anyway, eventualy the boards did get built. Simon came around one Monday and between us we got all three boards and started on fold in legs in only a few hours. It was another week before I could come back to the layout and finish the legs. Nether the less, the boards were finaly started after an 'on and off' building period of about three weeks. I used 9mm ply for the tops, 2 and 3/4 planned timber for the frames and 2inch square timber for the fold in legs. When the boards were finaly completed, I bolted them together laid them out on the bench and found them all to be SPOT on, all perfectly level with perfectly flush board joins. Result! The track work was then started (see my last post for the new plan). This was another job that seemed to take forever. There was no real reason for it taking so long. It just seemed to take longer than I wanted. It actualy took a good month to finish the tracks (compared to version one which had its track laid over the space of one week). Below are a few photos of track laying in progress and finaly finished. Note that as I laid the track I also added dropper wires to each section as I worked through it and solderd each copper clad board join as I got to them. There's no real reason for this, I just find it easier to add them as I go then laying all the tracks then trying to solder 40 odd sets of dropper wires in one go. The lathe pit was re-cycled off version one. Its too good to scrap and rebuild. I also saved the lathe shed (the main sheds were scrapped) There's not really much else to talk about in this update. Tomorrow I'm building the 'procenium' or 'lighting gantry' for the layout. Its something that I never got around to doing with version 1, but I want to include it on this one. Its not really important but I want to build it now and get it out of the way. Then I will start work on the wiring. I'll wire the bus up first and check it all works then move on to the points and work my way through it giving it a thorough test as I go. Hopefuly I won't be as long getting that done! Heinz

I've got two Midland Mainline teal sets, two Midland Mainline blue sets, two East Midlands Trains sets, Arriva Cross Country and East Coast. I also have a set of Virgin power cars but no coaches The new also Virgin East Coast set is on my wants list when it comes out!

Rotten fried tomatos

I'm a bit of an HST nut myself, I've got 8 full sets! Will be watching this project with interest!

09/03/2016 - The End of an Era? Just over a week ago Elveden Road attended its latest exhibition appearance on the 'Salt N Vinager Tour'. The Ilkeston Woodside 2016 show at Trowel, as this is my clubs own show I was very excited about exhibiting Elveden Road here. Unfortunatly, the day didn't go to plan. All day the layout was plauged with reliability issues, the boards are now worse than ever with stock becoming uncoupled all the time, the uncoupling magnets themselves not performing right with stock not uncoupling (quite ironic after the board issue), I was also having issue with a point leading to the main shed shorting randomly. Those are the main issues, there were a few other bits and peices causing problems not worthy of mention. By the end of the day I was left exhausted with Elveden Road, the layout ran quie possibly the worse its ever ran. I felt almost embaressed standing behined the layout saying 'this is mine' whilst pushing somthing along a dead spot or chasing a coach that uncoupled itself. Enough is enough. Dismantling of Elveden Road began last Monday ****************************************************** Onwards and Sideways! This is by no means the end of Elveden Road! After the Doncaster weekend I began to review the future of Elveden Road. I decided I didn't want to lose the layout after the great weekend made me find my love for the layout. But I couldn't go on with all these issues, something had to be done. I realised that most of the current issues with the layout are all down to the boards themselves, therefore I decided that the best course of action would be to rebuild Elveden Road. The initial idea was to rebuild the layout whilst still keeping the existing one on standby, and not taking a 'hammer' to it until the new had progressed enough. The rather shocking performance the layout gave at Trowel threw a rather large spanner at this idea and I didn't want to take it out again. I decided just to press straight on with the rebuild. The new Elveden Road will be essentialy the same as the first one. However whilst building the layout I have learnt a few things. So with some help from Simon we have made a few changes to the plan. It became apparent not long after the first exhibition the layout attended that having four roads into the shed doesn't really work, its too cramped, so we've cut that down to three. The track spacing has also been played about with here and there, and the cleaning/discharge track has been shortend but is still long enough for what I need it for. The other biggest change is at the back of the layout, the large shed I have at the moment causes issues when stuff gets stranded in there, plus it doesn't work having a train acting as the backscene break, therefore this has gone and will be replaced with a smaller building. Across the backscene will be a low releif shed in a similar style to that at Wabtec in Doncaster. I have also added an extra cross over so now all of the tracks are linked together giving more operational interest, more space for shunting and now actualy two tracks to drop off/pick up rakes of coaches. Simon also suggested that the road bridge created a 'block' against the lathre area of the layout and drew viewers away from that end, therefore this has gone and has been replaced with a footbridge linking the new low releif 'Wabtecey' shed with the car park area. Again in a similar style to the footbridge at Doncaster Wabtec stretching over the station. Here is what we've come up with... The 'M's show the location of the magnets. They will all be under track style ones, doubled up for extra reliability. Note the use of Electro Magnets (EM) at the main shed and lathe building. Progress of Elveden Road Mk2 can be followed on this same thread. Heinz

Said Angela Lansbury

17/02/2016 - Don't Stop me Now! I start this update on quite a sad note. In my last update I mentioned about the disappointing performance the layout gave at its last outing, unfortunately, this rather shocking performance came as the final straw. I grew fed up with the layout and I just didn't want to do anything else with it. If it wasn't for the booked exhibitions I have this month (Doncaster last weekend and Trowel in a week’s time) I can honestly say I would have dismantled the layout over Christmas. It is these bookings that gave me a bit of motivation to do something. Although I still wasn't happy and considered retiring the layout after Trowel. Anyway so the point motor project did get completed in the run up to Christmas (thanks to Shaun here for giving me a hand to make sure it was completed). The layout was tested thoroughly and all the electrics worked fine. I don't have any photos as there isn't really anything to photo, just a load of point motors screwed to a baseboard! I terms of scenery, I haven’t touched anything. As previously mentioned I had lost all motivation and couldn't be bothered to do anything. **************************************************************************** Doncaster So last weekend British Festival of Railway Modelling 2016 at Doncaster, and well what can I say? What a FANTASTIC weekend it was! The show itself was great, and although I didn't get to see many layouts I liked what I did see and the hospitality for exhibitors was very good. Thanks to Sam and the rest of the team at Warners/BRM for putting it all together and of course inviting Elveden Road along. The layout was as always exhibited on behalf of the Ilkeston Woodside Model Railway Club, therefore joining me over the weekend were fellow club members including Shaun (on Saturday) and Simon (on Sunday). I'm very happy to say that the layout performed GREAT over the two days, Saturday the layout ran almost bang on all day (the best its ever ran actually), Sunday was still really good but didn’t run quite as good as it was the day before with a few hiccups developing over the day. But I'm just going to put this down to the layout being a bit 'tired' so I'm not going to cry too much over this. The layout got quite a bit of interest over the weekend from the audience and a few exhibition requests. During the Saturday I was still in two minds over the layout and was going to continue with my original plan of scrapping it after Trowel, but by the end of Sunday due to how well the layout ran and the positive responses it received my mind is made. The layout will be staying for the foreseeable future! Below are a few photos of the layout in action, taken late on Saturday afternoon.... East Midlands Trains power car no 43048 is shunted away from the wheel lathe whilst in the background EMT HST set led by power car 43055 rests before before returning to the mainline tomorrow. EMT 08951 fuels up before its next shunting duty Quite an interesting shunting move here from Shaun! Two East Midlands Trains 08s moving in tandem together! The same power car we saw earlier is fueled up before being mated back with 43055 and the rest of the set to return to the mainline tomorrow. A visiting Arriva Trains Wales set led by 67003 receives light maintinence. It will return to wales later on in the week. Finaly 08951 heads to the shed to collect some serviced coaches. These will be assempled into a short train led by DBS 60007 (seen in the background) and hauled back up to Leeds where they will be reunited with the rest of the set. So those of you that saw the layout at Doncaster, I do hope you enjoyed it and of course thanks for your interest in and praises of the layout! Elveden Roads next outing is at the Ilkeston Woodside Model Railway show at Trowel on Sunday 28th Feb 2016. The show opens at 10 and there will be many great layouts on show including Shaun's stunning model of Ripley station and the debut show for Simon's fantastic model of Annesley Woodhouse, an imaginary station on the Robin Hood Line. Hope to see you there! Heinz

20/11/2015 - For Crying Out Loud! HI all, Once again its been a while since I last updated, but thats because I spent quite possibly every spare minute I had working on the layout. I'm pleased to say it looks differant to the last update! Last weekend I exhibited the layout at the Weston on Trent Model Railway show which we will talk about later. But first lets have a look at what I've been up to since I last updated... Firstly details have been completed on the fuel point. On the last update you will notice that they were just empty shells, empty concrete and bare canopies. Adding just these few details really bought the area to life. I also have finaly completed the proper fuel tanks, a job which sadly has been hanging over me since I started the layout last year. All thats left to do around here is a brick wall around the tanks and the fuel point area, I will also build a small brick pump house. Next the bridge is 100% completed, all the vehicles have been stuck down, grantry completed and all lighting wired up. I have wired a plug connector to the lighting to alow me to easily connect and disconect it. The lathe pit is almost finished. This was kindly finished for me by both Simon who painted the ground and Shaun who made the lathe machinery (from scratch) for me. Also final details have been added around the yard... ************************************************************************************* Weston On Trent As mentioned previously last weekend was the Weston on Trent Model Railway Show, which was the first stop on Elveden Road's 'Salt N Vinager' tour. It was the first ever time I've visited the show and I was impressed, it was a great show. I'd like to thank Andyram and his team for their hospitality that day. Unfortuatly, it was not a great day for Elveden Road. For most of the day I'm sad to say the layout refused to work properly. Most of the problems were down to the frog switches on the seep point motors, these stopped functioning correctly resulting in no power across the points. The first two points to go wrong was the entry to the run around from the fiddle yard and the entry to the main yard area from the head shunt. These are the most important points (they would be wouldn't they?) then after this several other points followed suit. I think by the end of the day I had five points not working. Also, some of the kadees were not uncoupling properly, but I think this is the kadees sticking a bit down to the coaching stock not being used in a year. The seep point motors have caused me many issues and headaches right from the start. Weston was the final straw, I have decided to rip out all of the point motors and replace the lot with the Peco ones, which should rectify the issues. I have already started this project and Shaun has offered to help. We have already done half of the motors between us and at this rate it shouldn't be too long before they are all done. I want to then give the layout a really good test run, under show conditions. So that is nearly a whole day of continuous running to ensure it is working 100% by its next outing which is Doncaster next Feburary. There are a few other scenic projects I need to finish too before that show, but for now my priority is the electrics. Cheers, Heinz

27/10/15 - 'Several Shades of Grey' Hi Guys, Firstly let me apologize to the regular viewers about the lack of updates on here. I have been quity busy with stuff both to do with and not to do with the layout which prevented me from finding enough time to post an update. Anyhoo, onto the progress... Firstly all the paving was completed. The pavement is simple 1.5mm plasticard cut to shape and stuck down using 'No More Nails'. This includes the access walkway from the main yard to the lathe area. Note that the pavement is slightly different this time around, by the fact that it actually carries on all the way from the car park to the hard standing outside the depots at the other end. Note that this photo was taken prior to the painting being completed, at this stage only the base coat on the pavements and road had been completed. I also spent quite a bit of time away from the layout itself completing the lathe shed. Here is the main structure completed being tested on the layout. The windows are all masked up ready for painting. Quite possibly the biggest step was finishing the ballasting. This is a task I hate by all accounts so imagine my joy when it was finally completed. I suppose it is a little ironic someone who dislikes ballasting so much deciding to take the lot up and re ballast the layout? But it had to be done, some of you may remember me talking about how much the ballasting was crumbling before. So many patching jobs and trying to touch up the weathering had completely ruined the effect plus the addition of a new board meant it just had to be done. After this the hard standing was painted, a big shout out to Shaun here for completing this for me. Shaun created some great effects using an interesting mix of greys, greens and whatever other colors he could lay his hands on to create a realistic and weathered looking finish. The second photo shows the fuel point area all painted up and awaiting details to be stuck back down. Note the choice in a slightly different shade to the hard standing here The lathe area was completed using a different shade again. After this I then masked off what would be the inside of the shed and painted this up. Simon then completed the second coat. Note how we only chose to give the floor a second coat, the pit was left as it is because we think it gives it an almost weathered and dirty look. The shed has also been painted up. I went for a slightly off white color for the metal cladding and the block work inside, this is as per the lathe shed at Etches Park which I took a bit of inspiration from. I then toned it down by dry brushing a bit of Pheonix Paints 'Roof Dirt' here and there. The fascias and doors were done in a dark blue to go with the office building. Interior lighting was also added. Next up a bit of progress has been made on the bridge. I had to repaint all the sides to match up with the supports on the layout which had been previously repainted. Then because too much paint seeped under I had to repaint the road again. After this because the masking tape is a load of rubbish the sides has to be done AGAIN! After I'd finished messing around with the paint I then wired and fitted street lights. Because the bridge is removable I also constructed this little wooden crate to keep it in. I didn't have one of these previously but because I never got around to finishing it last time around it didn't matter so much. But now it is, it does. The bridge fits in nicely and I use a bit of bubble wrap to protect the bridge. This photo shows the freshly painted bridge with lights fitted awaiting sign gantry and road markings sat inside the new crate. With just under three weeks to go now until the show date work on the layout is motoring ahead and even more progress has been done on the layout since these photos were taken. Such jobs include fitting of the ground signals, details to the fuel point and full completion of the road bridge. Some of the other jobs I plan to do this week are fit armco barrier and finish the car park area, plus others. I plan to get another update out before the show so please do keep an eye out to see the completion of the above jobs and many many more. Cheers, Heinz