Jules

Thanks for the kind words - most of the time it is very sleepy!!

Thanks - the fire irons do make a difference. I have also added them to my small prairie (on the tank top). They have also benefited from etched brass cabside plates, which look nice when the light catches them!

A bit more progress.... I have added a PW hut just before the bridge that forms the scenic break, as shown below. It is a Wills kit, takes all of 5 minutes to make! Painted matt black with a grey roof, then the roof was weathered with black paint and the sides with 'roof grim', although it is quite subtle. I have also painted the goods yard area in a shade of grey, which improves the look a bit. The photos make the track look a bit like a roller coaster, but my track laying isn't quite that bad! I have added a bit of fencing to the vehicle unloading area, and temporarily placed some walling against the backscene - I am not quite sure how to treat the area in the corner by the station building - should have done a bit more planning... Finally, a couple of shots trying to be arty farty!

Excellent - another GW BLT Looks like it should be fun to operate - looking forward to seeing it develop.

Hi IKB They are both Airfix coaches. The unmodified one was part of a set I picked up when Airfix went bust : a BR black 61xx, the GW B coach and an LMS non-corridor coach, plus oval of track and controller for £14! (if I remember correctly). The other one (modified) is branded as Mainline, but is from a year or two after.

Thanks - I'm quite pleased with it, it certainly looks better than the 'from the box' one. Painting the interior seems to give it more 'depth' for want of a better description.

Not strictly work on the layout, but work on things that run on the layout... I decided that my B set was in need of some painting of the interia to improve it, so this morning I took one of the coaches apart and painted the inside. I used natural wood for the partitions and coach side, dark earth for the floor and blue/dep red for the seats. I added a bit of frame dirt and roof dirt on the outside to attempt to make it look a bit more used - I think the roof needs a bit more attention! Anyway, here are a couple of pics to show the out of the box coach, and the 'improved' version.

I've been wondering what to do with the corner of my layout at the edge on the board in the space shown in the pic below. I thought perhaps some sort of building, but I am not sure what type. Anyway, while sorting through a pile of 'stuff', I came across one of those freebie printed buildings you occasionally get in magazines - this one was from Model Trains in 1982!!! So, having a spare few hours, I thought I would knock it together to see what it looked like in the space - so here it is. It isn't complete, but gives some idea what was intended by the magazine some 28 years ago. I think it is probably a bit big for a sleepy branch line terminus, but it will fill the space for now. (I should have taken a pic in its 'flat pack' mode, but forgot)

Yep! That's exactly what I meant

Fantastic Oozes atmosphere - if the pics were b&w, you could think they were from the '50s

Thanks for the info and sources. At 25ft I think I might have to give it a miss for a few years or so

Righto. Some more minor progress on my GW BLT. I've added a water crane and fire devil (great name!), built from the Ratio kit. The reddy/orange mess in the goods yard sidings is to bring the ground level almost to the top of the rails - need to obtain a 'correct' shade of grey to paint the whole yard rather than the black/dark grey that it currently is. The other pics are just using up bandwidth to give some idea of whats going on! The last one shows the complete layout and fiddle yard with my rather tight cassettes. The pannier tank is an old Mainline example from about 1982 (I think) Always used to be a poor runner, stored for best part of 25 years, but now runs a treat with my KPC feedback controller.

I've often thought that Buckfastleigh in its original form would make a great layout - although it might take up a far amount of room (in 00 at least). Mind you, I need to finish my other layout before thinking about the next.....

What a great find - a real shame they lost the Ashburton terminus, and Buckfastleigh has changed a bit as well.

Hi The paint for the pagoda, railings etc are from Phoenix Precision paints : P22 GWR Stone No. 3 (Dark Stone) P21 GWR Stone No. 1 (Light Stone) All brush painted straight from the tin. I'm not sure if it should be thinned a bit as it is quite thick, but it seems to work ok.

It's one of the options under consideration

Thanks for the kind words chaps I'm not quite happy with the shade of grey for the platform yet, and the goods yard (cunningly hidden in the photos!) is just a black painted wilderness at the moment. I'm also not convinced that I will stick with the cassettes I am using for the fiddle yard, they are too narrow to make changing stock easy and they are a bit cumbersome to manoeuvre, so I am mulling over some options. Don't expect a rapid solution! I'm hoping that now the nights are dark I might get a bit more done.....

Some minor progress has been made, a few posters added to the building and railings, some lamps and benches. Not much I know! The backscene has also been added to part of the um... backscene! It's not quite big enough so I need to get a few more sections to complete it. I really should have done a bit more planning and put this in place before doing the rest of the layout, but hey, every days a school day! Hope the pics interest someone.....

A bit more progress, the station building is almost complete, just needs a few more posters/advertising jobbies to complete the look, as well as signs for the waiting rooms, tickets etc. Anyone know where I can source them? Also done is the platform fencing and name board (Dart Castings supports, Coopercraft board and letters). The fence needs some advertising adding, the platform needs benches and people - it all looks a bit bare at the moment! Anyway here are a couple of snaps - the building is just plonked on at the moment, the photos really show the need for seating it properly. Hope they are of interest to someone.....

Some progress on the station building.... The interior is as finished as it is going to be... I should have added lighting as now the roof and canopy are on you cannot really see the inside anyway! Still to add the chimneys and notice boards etc - but it's slowly getting there. The pic makes the canopy look like it slopes rather a lot towards the rear - it does slightly but not as much as suggested!

Thanks for the comments chaps. I shall probably do a couple of exteria mods as well - probably a flat canopy, and anything else easy to make it slightly more individual. Might take a bit of time tho.....

Rescuing this topic from the depths of of the forum.... I haven't done a lot on the layout in the previous couple of months, been operating it a fair amount but no actual progress on the layout...until now! I have started constructing the Ratio GW station kit (Castle Cary I believe) but as I wanted to model it with the doors open, I thought I would hack together a bit of an interior. I have to say that I used no prototype drawings or photos for this - just vague memories of buildings on preserved railways......so Pendon standard it most certainly isn't!! Not sure how much will actually be seen once the door frames, doors (open) roof etc are on, but at least it stops it being an empty shell. The booking office The ladies waiting room Overall view Gratuitous shot of the small praire waiting to pass under Frog Lane Cheers J

another couple from today - one arrives, one departs......

Bonus at Westerleigh! Taken today, Teenage Spirt arrived at about 12:15, while Ribblehead Viaduct was still there. I believe there were problems in the Ashchurch area which led to this. 60071 was smoking a bit - the driver said it felt a bit off - hope he made it back ok

A bit of progress - some green stuff has started growing, and a line of fence posts await their wire on the cutting leading to the Frog Lane bridge. Apart from that, my 20+ year old Mike's Models (I think ) yard crane now sits on top of its plinth, and I think that's it! I said progress would be slow..Some pictures to illustrate the goings on: