Physicsman

I wondered where you'd disappeared to..... I enjoyed building the signal box. Just doing a bit more embankment work to try and get myself into the mood to finish the station building. No excuses for not doing that, it's probably 80% complete from my 2018 efforts. J.

Cheers, Andy. I'd have preferred to have another couple of cm to work with (wouldn't we all? ), but I had to give myself enough space to create some kind of rear bank so I could build a continuous wall. As you know yourself, there is never QUITE enough available space! That's an interesting idea, Peter, and a few weathered sleepers fitted along the edge of the cobbles might be an interesting feature.

No forgiveness required, Andy. You've spotted what I regard as the main weakness in the goods area I've created. I had about 4 inches more width on the board used in KL2, so there was plenty of space to the unloading area at the side of the shed, between the shed and the sidings. However, I've had to compromise here - in order to keep the rear siding with an embankment and walling behind it. So the unloading area is down to about a scale 10 feet, far from ideal. A compromise, I'm afraid. Pic below. The shed is just plonked in position. The cobbles and edges need some further work - to fill gaps, grime ballast etc.

At risk of boring the pants off you with pics of the signal box, here's the 'box and shed in the context of a sunny day at Gill Head. The weather isn't often this clement, so until the sun melts the snow on the opposite embankment there'll be no more views like this.... It's ok, it'll only be a week or so, subject to the local waller getting his ar5e in gear amid the browning ground and growing grass....

I almost clicked on the "Agree" button but thought you might be offended!

This is a good point and one which was touched upon, very tongue-in-cheek in the KL2 thread. People may have noticed (!!!) my liking for what might be called, in model railway terms, "over engineering". We can't stop personal sagging with age (!), but we can hopefully minimise problems on our layouts. So my wooden support structures have tended to be on the heavy side.... Which comes back to your point, Andy. The L girder tables on the last layout HAD to be fairly strong to support the Fell, which came in at around 200kg+ A lot of plaster on that. The wags predicted, amusingly, that there'd be a plaster of Paris shortage in the North of England and that the South coast would be safe from rising sea levels because of the tilt induced by "that nutter in the Durham area"! Good stuff! Seriously, though, my excesses have always been built at ground level in converted garages on solid concrete (plus girder insulation) floors. A Fell equivalent in a properly converted loft would probably be ok as equivalent, say, to having a 3 piece suite with occupants up there. Not a good idea for improperly-joisted railway areas. The main problem comes down to any localised pressure put onto the ceiling. The Fell, though very heavy, was spread out over an area of about 6 square metres, so the pressure wasn't too bad. Accumulated weight due to plaster, wood and the occupants themselves on a skimpy joisting system could be disastrous. For comparison with your situation, taking a square metre as roughly 10 square feet, we get the pressure under the Fell at about 4kg per sq. foot. By comparison, the pressure under a 12 stone (about 70kg) man, standing normally on 2 feet is about 100kg per sq. foot. So you should be ok, but don't quote me to the insurance company! Which begs the question. How often DO we hear of issues in lofts caused by over-loading due to model railways? It must happen, but perhaps when it does, the modellers are too embarrassed to publicise it. I've already drawn-up the plans for my new "plank" layout. These are also over-engineered, but at least the structure will be sat on the normal floor! Jeff.

Yes Andy, I think that's probably the reason. Just odd that, given all the prototypes, they chose to add-in rear rails. I'll see what I can find out. If course, if the rear rails were a problem, they can easily be removed. I won't do that for the moment.

David, while embankment work is ongoing, here's a couple of signal-box-themed pics "sans neige"... More updates when available.

Hi Peter. You make an interesting point and I'm surprised I hadn't spotted that as I've studied so many photos of Midland 'boxes that it should have been obvious. I don't think it detracts from the model, but I may ask Julie at YM on which prototype their kit is based.

I'll endeavour to take a similar pic in about a week's time when the "snow" may have melted. Hopefully, by then, I'll have the new sections of embankment (about 120cm long) covered in grass with a wall on top. I'll also try to remove the yellow "glue pots", visible in the distance, that slightly impair the view! I've got a little plastered today, but feel none the worse for it... Jeff

Long time since I've been plastered, in the "pleasant" sense.... Just had another 5kg of the powder stuff delivered today. Now, how about a FELL on the side of the "shunting plank"?!! Jeff

Just a few pics showing nothing specific, though the start of the embankment adjacent to the lie-by (at right) is evident. Plaster and walling for the next few days. By next week I may be in the mood to play with the station building.

Evening Jonathan. Glad you like the pics. The signal box colour and track layout - especially the turnout/slip combination - does tend to mark it as "Midland". I also love looking along a stretch of line with the perspective kicking in. A whole set of different-type pics, in keeping with what I'm seeing being chucked out on a lot of threads on this forum, will mark the start of the Ais Gill plank thread, when that starts. No building or effort required whatsoever, aside from pressing the button on the camera. The response should be interesting. Coming to an S&C thread near you in a month or so.

I've been in the Bunker and intended to do some work on the station building I started in 2018 (see KL2 thread, around page 210). However, I think I've used-up my "scratchbuild mojo" for the minute, so a few other jobs have been done. My old friend, the DAS walling will re-surface later this week when I build a bit more embankment on the operating well side of the goods yard. I'll post some pics when something's been done. The box has been sat in its home location - some gravel will need to be added, but it's quite happy there for the moment, as is. It DOES look FAR too clean, so that's something else to be sorted. A couple of pics below. Jeff

Haha....it was only a "kit" - a very good one, mind, though by the time I'd finished with it it had a fair number of "Jeff modifications". I've spoken to Julie at York Modelmaking about the finial, gutter and stove pipe issues - though I must emphasise these are NOT a big deal. I mean, c'mon, the kit is superb so adding a few touches of your own isn't a problem. The finials are an issue they can't address (and at around £2 for 5 from Wizard Models, who cares?) Julie asked me about the pipe and gutter though (just Plastruct), so maybe they'll be added-in into future kits. I don't have shares in the company (!!), and I'd like my purchases to be as cheap as possible, but this is a quality product, so pleased to come across it!

Thanks for the positive comments. It takes a lot of time to build structures for a layout, but I wouldn't like to do it any other way. It doesn't make for exciting viewing on this thread - you may have weeks to wait for the next "completion". Whatever it is. Probably the station building. I suppose (trying to produce) quality takes time, so there you are. If I have one person to thank for weaning me of the "quick fix" mentality it's Jason, and I hope he'll resume some modelling in the near future. Keep tuning in! Jeff

The Railmatch was an easy choice. The "cream" was a matter of looking around to see what I had. Fortunately, I've a decent stock of fairly "neutral" emulsions from previous jobs in the house and that Dulux colour looked pretty close. It's not "exact", but from a distance it gives the right impression. J.

I think that may be because it's (relatively) recently been restored, and maybe it gets a bit more TLC than your average box. Or maybe it's because there's not a great deal of traffic at its location? I'll have to weather my box, in keeping with the goods yard, methinks. J.

Jonathan, that's the disadvantage of trying to chuck out all the info in one burst, rather than gradually. But I'm not going to be posting very often these days (maybe I should try to increase my "posting count"??!! ) so my senile old mind is gonna forget stuff I meant to write.... Yep, the box will receive the Ratio signal box kit, complete with levers, desk and anglepoise lamp. I may have to put someone in it - I'll pretend it's Mark (mark axlecounter) who has moved up from the Blea Moor box. Btw, I have a suggestion to make to you - will PM you shortly. Jeff

Ok, here are some pics of the just-about-completed box. The restored Settle box is shown at the bottom.

I'll try and provide useful information for those that are interested. For those that are not, go to the next post which is entirely photos. As you mentioned to me a couple of months back, Jonathan, the kit is devoid of finials, guttering and stove pipe. I've added these in - finials from Wizard Models, guttering using Plastruct (as per the shed) and a bit of 2mm Plastruct rod for the stove pipe. I haven't changed the underlying structure of the roof, but the tiling and ridges are mine. The self-adhesive-backed tiles with the kit ARE effective, and I initially did the roof with these. However, I decided to "do it my way" using my ruled-paper method. You are correct about the mastic-joining of the original boxes. I would have done the same ("ridge tile" sheet is included in the kit), but looking through a large number of images of S&C boxes I came across a number showing the restored version of the old Settle Junction box, and this used ridge tiles. I like ridge tiles as they are a contrasting detail to the general roof tiling - so I added them in. An image of the restored Settle box is in the next post. Cheers, Ade. The box really should receive some weathering as it looks far too clean at the moment to sit in my goods yard. I'm not going to overdo this - I think a light coating of grot onto the "cream" paint fascias and a bit of lichen/moss on parts of the roof will be enough. I used Railmatch Midland Red enamel on the box and Dulux "Soft Stone" emulsion for the cream bits. The cream doesn't fully match the standard Midland "cream", but it's good enough for me and I'll argue the original colour changed over time! What do I think of the York Modelmaking kit? It was a pleasure to build and the instructions are clear and detailed. The laser cut parts go together very well. I know I've added my own variations on the roof, but that doesn't detract from the product. I'm no longer happy with off the shelf product, so building this, and adding-in my own input was good fun. I couldn't have scratch-built a box to this standard, so it has saved me some effort here. As for the cost, well - if you want it, you have to pay for it. I'll be buying another one for the "Ais Gill" project, which is recommendation in itself. And yes, I know it's not the same as the one that used to be at AG (now at Butterley), but then I'm only going for a representation, not a copy. To answer Andy's question from further up the page, there will be a new thread for the Ais Gill plank and I'll say a lot more once that starts. Suffice to say, the plank is just a way to let me run some of my old 00 gauge locos. Rather than just a plain length of track, I may as well "go to town" on it, so it will be fully scenic. I'm already accumulating data and imagery. More in the spring when I order in the wood and ply. If anyone has further comments or questions about the signal box, PLEASE ask! Always happy to divulge details of what I've done. Jeff

Not quite finished, but here's a pic for you to look at. I'll put a few more pics up, along with comments about the kit and the build, in a day or so. Jeff

Andy, until your post on Gill Head I had no idea there was any "fate" to be had for Bute Road - until you probably sold it off, completed, for someone's 2021 Christmas present. Given all the videos you've made and the state of the layout, along with your increasing collection of Colas and other current 00 traction, I can't see you changing scale. Well, not until 2023. Which leaves me with my guess for Friday's big reveal..... Dee has granted permission to knock-through from the POD, so Bute Road will become at least 50% bigger. Unless I'm totally missing the point and you are building-in cream-cake and sticky bun (my spell-checker turned that into "bum", for some reason!) facilities for all the entertaining you are doing? Jeff

I've not looked around on here much recently, Andy, so I'm not aware that Bute Road's fate is in the balance. If you want to give me a heads up, send me a PM. It probably isn't worth £70 more - although I think the Ratio kits are nearly £30 nowadays. However, I also have a part-made Ratio kit and I much prefer the new one. I could have scratch-built one, but there's so much to do, so I've had to compromise on my time. J.

Very true, Jonathan. But it's model railways, so cost doesn't really come in to it! Besides, the boards are going to be a mere 3'3" x 2 ' each, so framing them with 8" x 6" , in my usual style, shouldn't require more than a modest fraction of the local forest. Seriously, I've priced-up my 12mm birch ply and the wood for the "L girders" and cross pieces shouldn't be too bad.