JCL

I know what you mean, it's been many a day since I've even had time to comment, let alone actually get something done. The dark days of autumn are looming, so I'll be lighting the fire, filling the teapot and getting started again

Me too. You can see that Mr. Westerhamstation used a whole load of great techniques in the making of the station named after his family. I think that not only will reading about the creation of the new station from the very start be entertaining, I've a feeling we will learn a thing or two! cheers Jason

All I know is they clogged up the line for ages! There was a right song and dance about it.

And a couple more

Overcrowding on the K&WVR.

Hi Matt, that's interesting information. I don't have the being in problem as I run a B&B, but as you say, it would be more expensive, so I'll go with your recommendation next time. One for Canadians in particular, I've been told that if you get the parcel marked as "toy trains" instead of model trans you are much less likely to be charged duty. In a completely non-scientific situation, I've recently had both descriptions on two models and the toy trains package was duty free.

It was a while ago, but I think I signed for mine when it got here. I can't remember if Canada post or Purolator brought it the final stretch.

Ah, double post, sorry. Here's the boards in place. Some touch-ups needed to the road, and a small wall will go in to the left on the outside of the curve. The white area bottom left is where a post will go.

So I've had a chance to paint the crossing boards and the stage is set for the gates. I took the ideas on the site in the previous post, stuck the plasticard down with double-sided tape and scribed the planks. Then I rubbed the card up and down with 120 grit sandpaper to get rid of the shininess, before gouging at it with 40 grit sandpaper. A good workout for the thumbs I can tell you! Finally I went over the grooves between the planks again to make sure you could still see them and that the ink would get in there later. So the end product can be seen in the picture below. After the distressing, I sprayed the card with white acrylic spray before painting it with burnt sienna acrylics. Finally a wash of black India ink brought darkened the whole lot off. (Sorry about the photo, the tripod was packed away). I think the end result is slightly too red, so for the actual crossing I mixed burnt sienna in with a bit of raw umber (or bronze yellow) to produce a colour reminiscent of cow manure (really, it does!) This photo shows a bit of detail in the one above. So all I have to do now is give them a wash with the india ink, spray then with Testors "Dullcote" to take off the sheen and glue them down. As I have something the right size, the crossing gate posts will be made of wood. They'll then be painted white and then weathered. The difficult bit will be attaching the rods to the posts and then the rods to the gates. Oh, and making sure that when I glue them down I get it right and that the wheels will actually go over them! Sorry about the edits, posting while tired isn't clever.

So, a quick update. I've decided to keep the work on the crossing gates here, and only do a quick technique update on the old skool thread. I'm currently working on the wood inserts between the track and under the gates on the level crossing end of the station. I did start with real wood, but there didn't seem to be enough texture there (I realise that's ironic as I'm using card and brick paper elsewhere!) so I'm using styrene sheet. I've found a great website here: http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/aging_wood that shows how to wood grain styrene sheet and then age it, so I'm going to have a go at that. Getting the sheet cut correctly between the rails is proving to be difficult, but I'll get there. In the meantime, for anyone that's interested in excursions, Skegness, Nottingham, Sheffield, seaside trains etc, the August copy of Railways illustrated has a long article about loco hauled trains to Skegness in 1984

This is great! Hopefully it'll be easy for Bachmann to produce a more northern variant

Thanks everyone, though I don't think I'd want to put it too close to yours Lee!

That's it then. I'll look around for a H stove pipe but essentially this one is finished. I'm hanging on for measurements of the railings either side of the waiting room, so I'll get on with the level crossing next. Recently changed to lifting barriers, the current level crossing has been there since the line was doubled, although the gates have changed from time to time. Sometimes there were two sections on each gate, sometimes three, and sometimes a mixture of the two. I'll be making the gates using the laminated card process that I wrote about in the "Old Skool 3D printing" thread here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70173-old-skool-3-d-printing-ish/ Here's a photo from that thread to give you an idea of a two section gate. I'll update the topic above while making the gates and then show them in place on this layout thread. So if you'd all like to gather your coats, I'll see you there!

I'm very excited about..........guttering! I seriously need to get out and see a bit of the world. I've amended the method I used on the signal box. If you've seen that thread you may remember that I borrowed an idea to use a jig used by BRealistic here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69987-a-wr-engine-shed-tips-for-painting-please-making-louvres-ridge-tiles-and-guttering/?p=996866 . The jig was then used with aluminium foil to create the shape of the guttering. I wasn't happy with this as, even though I used heavy duty foil, the guttering was too frail. In BRealistic's photos, the lower side is on the left So, my new method is as follows: Wet a strip of paper about 1.5cm wide and as long as the jig (to make it more malleable) Dab the card dry on a clean tea towel Lay it over the jig, and push a thick ruler up to the lower side (the outside edge of the gutter Use the thick ruler to hold the card against the rod in the middle and pull a thin ruler down to the upper side Do the same on the other side Finally use your finger nail to really get a sharp crease on each side Use a craft knife to cut down the lower side to form the edge of the gutter Cut about 0.5cm away from the upper side to form the tab that is glued under the tiled roof Sorry about the blur, but hopefully this will show that the thicker ruler on the right is holding the card against the metal rod while the thin ruler is dragged towards me. If you keep it all tight you will end up with a pretty convincing piece of guttering that will stand up to more knocks than the foil! If you use coloured card (I used the same colour as my doors), you don't even have to paint it! maybe a little bit of ink along the inside to look like gunk. And now in nasty zoom-o-vision! I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. Drainpipes tomorrow and window sills. The latter will be scale 4x4 lumber painted blue.

I remember that this was for sale a few months ago.

Thanks everyone! I've just been for a few nights in a cabin in the woods ("A Cabin in the Woods" movie is not a great brochure for this type of holiday - don't go in the cellar!) and I'm raring to crack on. Hi Ian - Princeton - you're only a 19 hour drive away! We've had guests to the B&B drive from St Paul in the past. All that flatness must have been like driving around Skeg On the Mablethorpe idea, there's some good information about the station in the "GNR Engine Sheds vol 2" book if you're still thinking about it, and I know someone else of this parish was thinking about Mablethorpe in 00 last year ( http://mablethorpe00.blogspot.ca/ ). You know, I wonder how many Lincolnshire layouts there are knocking around. Anyway, I'll definitely be putting sills below the windows as well. I don't have a colour photo of the waiting room from the '60s so I think I'll be using the cream or blue from the signal box windows (see page 8 for a photo). The blueish colour I'm taking from this photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwf2009/5537864768/in/photolist-9rn1g3-9W86V1-8Q9bys/ although, looking again at the door behind the signal box I'm starting to think I should have gone greenish... Does anyone have any thoughts?

The good news is that yesterday I found some old teracotta coloured guttering in the bottom of a cardboard box, so I'll use that for the guttering and the Iain Robinson method for the drainpipes, which I think I prefer. I've no idea how old the stuff is, but the box definitely came over on the boat from England.

Just the details to do now - guttering, stove-pipe and finials. The finials will be the same as those on the signal box, so another chance for me to get the Dremel out . I didn't glue the new doors in, so they can slide in and out. I suppose technically if the layout goes back or forward in time I could change the colour of the doors simply by sliding in some new ones! There will be cast iron rails on both sides of the waiting room to stop passengers from falling backwards onto the tracks! I'm not sure whether I'm going to have a go at 3D printing them (just to give it a go) or use the Dremel stand and drill rail holes in the posts using a jig - decisions, decisions. This one shows the sense of space that I'm trying to keep with this layout. If you've followed this thread, you'll know that Wainfleet is in an area of the world that is absolutely flat, so you can see for miles. One of the by-products of this is that there is a sense of space that is emphasised by the huge skies that you get in the area (something I miss in the Rockies!). Once the scenery has been blended in it'll look a lot more cohesive.

I think I can help you out there Empress in Fernie, BC for Fernie's 100th birthday in 2004.

I might just do that, thanks

Thanks Lee, I'm just thinking about he best way of doing guttering. I don't really want to do rolled aluminium foil again as it's a bit too fragile and easily crushed!

Two from Fort Steel just down the road from me: This one starred in Shanghai Noon, and would you believe is pulling a Mk1 coach? Sorry about the quality, I horribly over-exposed them... And I think this was used in the coal mine in Kimberley. I believe it ran on compressed air.

I came across this feller last summer in my neighbour's garden . His mum was out of shot just to the right - believe me I knew exactly where she was!