andyram

I'll certainly look out for you if I make the Syston Show. I remember seeing your "Summat Colliery" in the Hornby magazine, and at one of the Derby, Mickleover shows in recent years. I quite liked it and watched it for quite a while. Will certainly say hi!

Like the idea of such a cover. It could be something to consider for the Easter holiday perhaps. In the mean time I had better stick to running the cheaper "Railroad" models on the line. A shame, as I have some nice models just waiting to run, including a Bachmann SDJR 7F, ex GCR 04 and "Sir Lamiel" amongst others!

It has been sometime since my last entry on Skaleby, and things have rather ground to a halt, hit the buffers or any other phrase you can think of which means tools have been well and truely downed! Other things have rather taken over. Our first child, Amber, was born on the morning of the 13th December 2011. Therefore I have had rather more urgent priorities of late such as feeding, nappy changing, sleep and finding enough time for work as well. At times like this I rather wish the myth that teachers only work from 9am - 3.30pm was true! There has been no scenic progress on Skaleby to report. But rather like many others at the end of 2011, it has been a good time to reflect on the progress so far. It was only in April 2011 that the baseboards were installed in the spare bedroom so progress has been quite rapid. The track layout was finalised and track around the station area was pinned down. I have since built three embankments, added scenery to one of these and started the scenics around the rear of the main station building. I have started the scenery around the small engine shed and laid out track for the fiddle yard. I do now have one area where I can photograph trains and the scenery looks finished (see photos in the earlier posts). Not bad for just a few weeks work, spread over the last 8 months! Of course I have managed to run trains. Even in the last few weeks I have stolen a few minutes to keep trains running. It does help that the layout shares the spare room with the family's house rabbit, who just happens to need his exercise each day. As supervising the rabbit comes down to me, I do manage to sneak a few train movements each day whilst also catching up with work on my laptop. Who says men can't multi-task!!! The down side of this room sharing arrangement is that the rabbit fur seems to have a nasty habit of flying up and settling in all areas of the layout. I seem to be forever tackling the cleaning of stock with small tweasers and a paint brush! At present it is keeping the trains running and the trusty SDJR "Jinty" has made many return trips with the Standard 3 82020 substituting when the Jinty is "in the works" for de-furring!!!! With half term approaching I have received "permission" from the transport minister (aka the wife!!) to resume scenic work. At present I am not quite sure what I am going to do next as there are so many half finished areas. At present my mind is drifting towards working on the rear of the rear platform with the idea of working on the scenery from the back of the layout to the front. I will need some stone walled sections in order to do this though as I know that at Goathland dry stone walls stand at the rear of this platform. I do not have any yet so I will have to keep my eyes open over the next few weeks. I do have a busy few weeks of shows to visit. This weekend sees the new Derby "trains only" swapmeet which has moved from West Bridgford. Much better for me!! Who wants to go over to Nottingham (except to see the Rams pick up three points with only ten men!!). Then I have Stafford Model Railway show before half term. With the Leicester show at Syston also falling around half term I have three chances to get what I need. Mind you the last two events will probably also serve to re-ignite my dreams of building a layout for displaying at a show - Skaleby is strictly a home only layout!! I think that dream may have to remain on hold for a few more years...unless those 6 lotto balls drop for me of course!! I will post pictures and updates as and when!

With preparation for the impending birth of our first child, I have had precious little modelling time. But I did find some time to work on the small engine shed area. The track was laid on a cork base rather than on the Gaugemaster foam ballast as before. I want to hand ballast this area with a darker tone of scatter material to represent the ash, coal and general shed area dirt. I used rolled up newspaper, covered in a layer of plaster bandage to create some small contours to the ground in order to seperate the area from the main running line. I have purchased a small coaling stage to stand outside the engine shed. My 0-4-0 Hornby collector club loco has been posed in this area for the first of today's pictures. This weekend I have been using the layout to test a couple of locos ahead of selling them on EBay. The railway has been quite busy. Here a Bachmann J72, number 69022 passes the signal box with a van train. One of the favourite locos in my collection is the Bachmann Standard 3 tank. Here it stands in Skaleby station with a three coach train of Eastern Region mark one's. This shot shows the progress made in the station area so far.

A fantastic looking layout already. I'm already green with envy at the size of it!!

me neither!

Sounds like the show was a good one. Lots of good layouts from Hornby magazine that I feel disappointed that I have missed it. Not seen Bolsover or Hettle yet!

I always said it would happen! Half term holiday over, back to work, and the progress on Skaleby has slowed to an almost standstill. There has simply been too much paperwork to catch up during the evenings and with the birth of our first child also immenent, my weekends have been taken up with decorating! I have, at least, managed to sneak out to the occasional model railway show. I visited the recent Burton Rail Fayre which took place at Burton Albion Fc's "Pirelli Stadium". Quite a nice morning out, even if the room was a little cramped. I did manage to purchase a couple of items for the layout. Firstly I acquired a set of Noch tunnel portals. One of these has been placed in-situ to represent the entrance to the fiddle yard. This will allow me to build up the scenic area around this location. I have plans for a second cottage which will be located above the "hidden siding". Before I consider purchasing the cottage however, I need to check that it will fit! Therefore, building up this area is one of the next items on the jobs to do list. The location of the tunnel opening can be seen in this picture. The second purchase from Burton was a little bit of a disaster! I purchased a Bachmann model of Ivatt class 4 number 43160. Unfortunately my memory seems to be fading. I have this model already. Doh!!!! I have tested the engine on the layout (see picture below) and have placed it on EBay! Perhaps I should keep a record of my collection! You live and learn I suppose. And so the progress has come to a standstill. I have managed to run some trains though. The trusty Railroad SDJR "Jinty" has operated each day with a couple of surburban coaches. I have usually managed to sneak in to run the train out to the fiddle yard before I leave for work, and return it in the evening. It may be simple, but it keeps me happy!

I like the B12 too. I have many models steam locos, but not a B12 yet. Isn't the Anglian set the one featuring a blue B12?? I always wondered if this was authentic.

My half term break has allowed me to make more progress with the scenics and also to run some trains. In my earlier post I outlined how I had built the embankments and cuttings around the road over bridge at the "Pickering end" of the station scene. Beyond the road bridge the line is due to enter a further short cutting before entering the fiddle yard through a tunnel. The embankments for the cutting at the rear of the layout will hide a hidden siding which will add extra storage space to the fiddle yard. It is this area that I have turned my attention to. Starting the hidden sidings and tunnel cutting. The top of this embankment will feature one or two country cottages, one of which is the Skaledale "Yew Tree" cottage as I feel it fits in with the Yorkshire Moors element of the layout. I started by gluing down further polysterene blocks to act as a base, ensuring the blocks are large enough to fit the cottage on top. The hidden siding track was then laid up to the polysterene. In time this siding will be hidden underneath the cutting so strips of foam board were cut and glued either side of the siding. Eventually a "roof" will be built above these foamboard sides to fully enclose the siding, and the cutting detail will be added on top. The progress so far can be seen in these photographs: In this picture you can see the siding, complete with foam board sides. You may be able to see the location of Yew Tree Cottage too. The second picture gives an overview of the fiddle yard area. The coal drop scenic break can be seen at the front of the picture. In front of this will be the main engine shed scene. You will see how limited the fiddle yard space is hence the need for the hidden siding! Running trains Half term has also allowed me to spend some time running trains. My Hornby Railroad Jinty, pictured in an earlier entry has taken a bit of a break this week. Train services have been worked by a Hornby A1x "Terrier" numbered 32636 and an ex Great Western Auto Coach giving things a branch line feel. I have included a picture of the combination, taken in front of the previously completed Darnholm embankment.

I was very pleased with how many people read my first blog entry yesterday. A big thanks to those people who commented. For the member who wanted more pics I am happy to oblige. Yesterday I described how I had started building my layout, based loosely on the preserved station at Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors. One of the first scenic areas I have completed is the embankment which carries the footpath towards the location of Darnholm. Here are a couple of pictures of the completed the structure. This first picture gives an overview of the embankment, complete with trees and footpath. As you can see, some of the stone scatter material wasn't stuck down well enough onto the footpath and it has started to come off revealing the grey paint underneath (see bottom of the picture). I will have to repair this at a later date. This second picture gives a low level view of the embankment and footpath taken from the bottom of the enbankment. More developments Being a teacher the progress with Skaleby seems to go in "fits and starts". During term time the workload often prevents me from doing any scenic work, although I do find time to run the occasional train. But during the holidays things seem to move much quicker. The baseboards were only completed back in March. The track layout was experimented with during the Easter period before it was finally pinned down during the June half term. The "Darnholm embankment" was completed during the summer break along with the bases for the station buildings. As this week is my half term things are moving forward once again. I have turned my attention to the "Pickering" end of the layout where trains will leave the station under a road over bridge. The bridge has been placed "in-situ" and the embankments for the associated cutting has now been started. As before I built up the area using the polysterene blocks from Skaledale buildings. These were glued down before screwed up newspaper was added on top to create a basic shape ( as seen in this picture). I once again cut out strips of cardboard and stuck this on top of the newspaper to provide a firm base for the road. The whole structure was then covered with plaster bandage. I also added a cardboard base to the top of the enbankment for the pub which will stand here and overlook the station. I have placed the pub in the correct position for this shot. The building is the Skaledale "Mason's Arms". This whole area has now been left to dry. You may notice that on one side of the bridge the embankment has a "recess built in" (where the paintbrush is on an earlier shot!). This will house the signal box and a lamp hut. For those of you who know Goathland station you will realise that this is the wrong side. At the real location a water tower sits here. Sadly, space prevented me from placing the signal box in its true position on the near side of the line. Had I tried to put it there I would have had a very short platform or no goods yard, and both were important to me. Also I do not like the ground level signal box at Goathland, nor its associated Hornby model. I have therefore used major artistic license and moved the signal box location, and changed the style of the box too. The box I will use is actually Bachmann's model of Highley signal box from the Severn Valley Railway. Ok, ok I know it is not right for the area, but like I said previously...it is my layout so I will choose what I like! Besides as Skaleby is on a fictional preserved line I could easily invent a story to suggest that the original North Eastern box has been demolished!!! Anyway I like the Bachmann model and had to use it somewhere! I have placed the Bachmann box in its location for this shot which was taken of a Hornby West Country (Clovelly) whilst on test prior to be placed on EBay. Not sure why I bought this model. I think I had some spare cash and my local model shop was having a sale! Anyway moving on! With the bridge cuttings drying what is next?? I still have a few half term days left and I am sure there will be a bit of modelling time to be found amongst the decorating of the baby's room! So what are my plans? My next projects will be: * Permenantly pinning down the track in the fiddle yard. * Build a hidden storage siding to expand storage space in the fiddle yard. * Paint the cuttings in brown base paint. * Begin to add scenery to the rear of the far platform. Oh and I still need to connect up the track to the main engine shed scene and add scenery around the single road shed too. Watch this space!

I have only been a member of RM Web for a few days, but I thought that I would get started with a blog about the construction of my first solo model railway. I have had no previous modelling experience other than helping my dad build his, never finished, layout when I was a child. This is definitely going to be a learning process. Today I thought I would introduce my layout and hopefully I'll get round to adding some photos of my efforts in due course. My layout, named Skaleby (a combination of Skaledale and Hornby as I will be mainly using off the shelf products) is a shelf layout measuring some 12 feet in length. It incorporates a small, two platform station, with a small goods yard and coal merchants area as well as a single road locomotive shed. The station is loosely based on Goathland on the preserved North Yorkshire Moors Railway, with some serious pieces of artistic license. My station is not a through station, but a terminus on a severed branch line. For those that know Goathland, the Grosmont end of the line is the severed end with all departures heading in the Pickering direction. Once the train passes under the road over bridge all links to Goathland end there. The line is planned to pass through a short cutting before entering the fiddle yard via a tunnel. One line will deviate off onto a wider section of baseboard in front of the fiddle yard. Here a larger locomotive shed has been planned which will incorporate the Hornby Coal Drop structure as a scenic break between shed and fiddle yard. I hope that makes things clear to everyone. As I am a steam enthusiast, it is steam that will be the focus of my layout. At 36, I am too young to remember steam working on the national network and so my interest has come from the preservation era. Therefore my layout will be that of a preserved line. This allows me to run a wide variety of locomotives in whichever livery I desire. My collection is very mixed although the majority of engines carry B.R livery. I do not favour any particular area. I have examples of locos from all Big Four groups. So far The track into the station has been laid onto the Gaugemaster pre ballested underlay. All platforms have been checked and placed and the scenery has been built up to allow the buildings to be placed onto the layout. I used cut off polysterene pieces from Skaledale boxes, glued down and covered with plaster bandage to act as a base. My biggest success so far has been the construction of the large embankment at the back of the baseboard to the left of the station platform. If anyone knows Goathland, this is the embankment which includes the steep footpath to Darnholm. I built this up using more polysterene blocks, with screwed up newspaper added to create a rough shape. I then cut thin pieces of card and glued these down to provide a flat base for the footpath before everything was covered in plaster bandage. After drying I painted the whole structure with brown poster paint and covered it with dark green scatter from the Woodland Scenics range. When this was dry I added tufts of hanging basket liner to create the look of rough grass, and then used clumps of Woodland Scenics dark folaige to represent plants. These then had assorted colours added to the top to create the look of flowers. Some trees from the Skale Scenics range have been added which completes a scene that I am very pleased with. I used Metcalfe stone sheets to build the retaining wall at the front. I am quite pleased with the result so far. It provides a back drop to the one picture I do have. It shows my Hornby Railroad Jinty standing in front of the embankment and retaining wall. This cheap engine is perfect for test running to avoid spoiling my more expensive models.