Boco_D1

That will teach me for not reading things properly, I expressed interest in the non-Dcc assuming the other was just Dcc chipped (not sound). Will I have the opportunity to opt in for the sound option later on? Or should I reregister my interest?

Got round to taking a few photos of the scenics I've placed the trees although they need attaching to the layout and I need to go over the turf scenics, just to fix up some of the bald patches. Next stage will be the central siding by adding a concrete apron.

I've been doing a spot more on the layout, the scenics continue I've been applying more grass and have begun something I've wanted to have a go at for some time and that's having a go at making some tress. I looked into the subject and found some useful videos on you tube. My first attempt was using garden wire and modelling clay, the tree was too thick and more to OO scale so I've saved that one for another day. My second attempt was using speaker wire. I cut three strands of wire at 12cm lengths and stripped the wire down, I then twisted the wire around a cocktail stick leaving a fan the bottom for roots and then started twisting branches as I worked my way up. I then coated the tree in a mixture of polyfiller, pva, play sand and brown acrylic paint and left to dry. The method is messy but did dry quite rapid although it was a rather hot day when I did it. Trees in there various stages. To give a more natural look I broke the cocktail sticks in a couple places and bent the trees into a more organic shape. The trees are to be set in Autumn so I've tried two different methods to add the foliage. The first is early and late autumn blend flock mixed together and added to olive green clump foliage I put the them in a bowl added a genourous amount of senior cement and scattered onto the branches. The second tree I covered in yellow and red linchin cut into small pieces and glued onto the branches, I left the glue to dry and then brushed over some brown paint to tone down the linchin. I then coated the linchin in glue and dipped the tree in a mixture of late and early autumn flock. I was pleased with the first method but the second seems far more effective and more realistic, ill try and get round to putting some more layout pics with the trees in place.

It's about 1M by 73cm or slightly bigger than 3ft by 2ft. I may look at making it a bit longer in the future as the loops don't hold much stock.

Nice videos, now I may have missed this bit but how do you retrieve any derailed stock from underneath the station?

This has come along nicely and it's starting to get difficult to tell its only 4ft by 2ft it looks deseptivley bigger.

As is typical with my layoutsI start something and then for some reason it has to stop, this was the case with Githley http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/108002-githley-on-the-buckingham-loop-line-wcml-meets-wr-1989-onwards/ which was put on hold due to a housemove, and now the move is complete the layout might see the light of day in the new year once I fix the garage up, decorate the house, build the extension, fit the new kitchen, replace the bathroom... Not wanting to be without a layout to run something on (and knowing that the larger project may have to wait) I decided to put together a small layout which was entertaining, useful to run trains in and good practise for scenery. I played around with a few ideas and what spare track I had lying around, which includes alot of 4th radius curves from a helix I had once built. This in turn determined the width of the layout, to cut a long story of searching short I eventually came across the original track plan for Bredon in an old edition of Peco track plans and decided an adaption of what the layout would look like once steam had gone could be interesting. The plan tries to remain as faithful to the original as I could get it with the track I had spare, the main difference is that the goods siding and shed had been demolished and replaced with a rail served siding, I am yet to decide if the layout will still be a Bredon or that of a different name but it will be set somewhere in Cornwall or Devon and the siding will be used to serve a cider warehouse or China clay dries. I've been working on the layout build on and off since May it is build on 2x1 batons, 5mm ply to a size of 1metre by 73cm. Track is Peco code 80 with a few sections of code 55 it's a real advantage that the two can be used together. The secnery is build up using foam board for the main bulk and then newspaper and plaster cloth to finish. The road and station platform is polyfiller with play sand mixed into various shades of grey to give a tired worn out road the council have no interest in repairing. In contrast the road down to the siding is nice and smooth to give the appearance of a fresh new road surface. I want to get an Autumn feel for the layout so will play around with different shades of flock to get the effect. The fiddle yard is a simple affair and does require a lot of handling to run a service. The playsand is slightly too course for n gauge but still gives a decent effect The embankment is a mixture of flock and basket liner very finally trimmed. And finally the local service calls at the station.

Finally had the chance to capture my Farish 150 on a layout

Just when thought I my wallet was safe!

I like the idea of having to dig the point motor out especially if the repaint colour is not a match to the original gives the impression of a organic living layout.

Glad I can help and I look forward to the bashing to see how they turn out. I might finish mine one day.

Thanks Ed, I think I still have the conversion photos so I can put a new topic together, rather than hijack Mullie's thread. I'll have to dig them out.

Took a while to get around to but finally put together some comparison shots As mentioned the Bachmann Toby is somewhat over scale (and the Hornby one is even bigger!) I can't remember who made the kit but it's not silver fox, and on the end is the Ertl model. As you can see the Ertl model is not far off scale size. But more importantly Henrietia here are some comparison photos, as I said to me it's seems a little over scale. The size of the coach to me suits the larger tram but looks a bit too big with the kit model It is a generic model but does the job for a six wheeler, this a before and after of the 'Emily coach' And finally, although quite not finished this is a ratio 4 wheel coach on a Hornby 6 wheel van chassis. Hope these photos help.

The ratio four wheelers sit nicely on the Hornby six wheel refrigerated van chassis, I'll get some photos together and post later.

Yeah it was a good spot, I emailed the shop to say I'd seen it and asked if they still had any in stock. I know the one your referring too it is indeed a tempting purchase.

In regards the Henreitia coach I got one for the same purpose to convert into W&U coach but compared to my J70 it seemed a bit over scale, the Bachmann Toby is also slightly larger than the J70 kits which would explain why the coach is bigger. Interestingly the old Ertl Toby toys are almost the correct size. The Thomas and Friends Emily coaches are not too bad to convert into generic 6 wheel coaches, I cut the Clerestory off the roof filled in the hole and painted teak, I can dig out a photo if your interested (can also measure Henreitia or show comparison photos as its now my daughters). I think the Thomas old red coaches that Bachmann are brining out could be quite useful to convert too. Jimmy

I've certainly seen photos of westerns on stone trains on the line and rats doing workings to the old Bedford power station. I have also wondered what the line would be like if it never closed, certainly these days freightliner's working between Ipswich and Southampton and other connecting terminals such as Bristol. There are a fair few freights that pass through Bedford during the night that head for Acton/Theale/Westbury that come onto the western region via Acton wells and Acton that would benefit from the route being open. In the past parts of the line that have been open have seen: Class 59 (ARC stone trainspotters wolverton on the Oxford to Bletchley section) Class 56 (stone trains) Class 58 (Forders bin liner) Class 47 (Forders bin liner) Class 45 (Forders bin liner) Class 60 (peak forest to Bletchley stone train) Class 66 Class 37 (Forders bin liner) Class 121 Class 117 Class 33 (railtour) Class 150 Class 31 (remember the top and tailed set that worked the line in the early 00s) HST (one certainly worked along the Bletchley to Oxford section just before closure) So plenty of choice.

Yeovil could work quite nicely, I had a real struggle trying to find a NSE bubble car, I managed to source one from trains 4 u after clocking the model on the shop floor on one of the BRM DVDs Jimmy

The layout certainly has the feel of Acton, Old Oak and the north London lines, so how about a name along those lines? Acton Common or Oak Wells or something like that. I think a NSE bubble car is going to be needed.

I have already ordered one unit, and trying to raise funds for another, but with the KFA wagons as well, trying to raise funds for all these is bit of a challenge, especially as I'd like a rake of KFA's so that I can model a bin liner train. So I will order more as and when funds permit but with both models on the same early bird deadline it does make things difficult (I appreciate I can still order after the deadline) On that note can I add extra units to my original order as funds permit so I'm not paying £8.00 postage each time?

Thanks Graham, it came a lot better than I expected as my last attempt at a repaint was bit of a dogs dinner.

It's been a while since I updated the layout, that's because I had taken it apart and began a larger rebuild around the shed. The boards are 90 per cent complete but as of now the build has been put on hold as I prepare what has been built for a house move. Meaning Githley will be upgraded from a 10x8 shed to a 19x8 garage (providing all goes well with the move of course). So while the layout build is on hold it has allowed me some time to work on some other aspects of the layout, one of which is my Great Western Trains Merlin livery HST, for the Githley to Paddington morning peak, Reading to Stowe Castle return Lunchtime service and the Paddington to Towcester evening peak. I've always really liked this livery, along with 'fag packet' although I never had the opportunity to see either. So I decided on the next best thing and repaint a Dapol model, as I suspect I could be waiting a very long for such a livery release. The HST was picked up for a bargain £110, as Githley originally was intended for seven car HST I picked up some more coaches to make such a set, the two first class and three second class where the livery error MK 3s Dapol put on sale for a tenner every so often, this allowed me to save the two intercity branded coaches for another HST set. I completed the set with a buffet that was on sale for £15 and the TGS. I began by taking apart the coaches and power cars ready for stripping, removing all the glazing. The power cars where quite fiddly and I did end up breaking a couple of side windows on the cab! The livery error Coaches where easy to disassemble but the TGS and buffet where a bit more tricky as Dapol have changed the glazing style. Once all the parts where off I stripped the paint off the shells with some easy strip and then washed any residue off, leaving overnight to dry. The power cars where in swallow livery and as per prototype the guards windows where plated over by the time they received the new livery, I put a bit of plastikard behind the opening and then filled the Windows in with some model filler. The models then received a primer coat of humbrol primer. I then gave a top coat of Phoenix paints first great western silver white and left the paint to cure for a few days. The paint was applied by airbrush, the airbrush in question was the one you see in lidl every now and again and for a job like this it's not too bad. My only complaint is after a while the rubber hose gets warm and does have a habit of popping of the compressor. Next I masked the models up ready for the coat of green, again Phoenix paints, again I used the airbrush and it is most certainly better than a paintbrush as paint bleed was very minimal. Again the paint was left to cure for a few days until I got down to the fiddley part of painting the yellow warning panel and additional green stripes along with the black roof on the power cars and the required first class yellow stripes on the coaches. The orange cantrail stripe on the power cars was delicately painted. I tried masking and painting it onto the coaches but the line came out too heavy, I restored to running an orange alchol marker along the very edge of the coach top which came out a lot better. I then added the transfers which I obtained from fox transfers for about a tenner, there is enough in the pack to make a full length set of two power cars with any number choice and eight coaches again with any number choice. The not quite finished article, the train is almost complete although the White strip on the power cars below the roof is two wide and needs correcting, I also need to find some new hand rails as the previous ones managed to hide themselves in the carpet! The coaches have passengers but will need soldering back up if I'm to fit light bars. I also intend to weather which should hide a few discrepancies on the model. That's all for now, once this is sorted I shall go back to my class 165 which needs some attention to correct its livery and there's plenty of stock to weather.

The effort in regards to the platform paving stone has really paid off, I look forward to seeing them painted and weathered. Will there be a few cracked ones with weeds growing though the gaps?

This really is starting to look superb now. Will be interesting to see how you get on with your Dapol hybrid signal.