JZ

A trial to get a rough idea of where things go. The bay will now go on the far side of the station and have no loco release. Trains will be terminated in the main platform and be shunted unless it is a push/pull or DMU. The shops behind will just have a wide path in front. This will become a row of houses as it get further away from the town centre. The far polyblock will be at road level and be an area for dropping off/parking. The near block will be the position of a footbridge. The goods yard will be at the front of the layout, which will make it easier for the use of 3-link couplings. While deciding on the revised trackplan I decided to get some proper modelling done. Ratio covered footbridge. A little more painting to do. Yes the smoke pans are supposed to be to one side. Always wanted a covered footbridge and this one is probably the best of the kits short of turning to brass. I have the Knightwing kit, but I think it looks a little GWR and is also not designed for platform mounting. Now that Fred's Llandaff South is finished I can finally get back to Somercombe. The station building has be 'anglicised'. Chimneys added and a door set in the end at road level. Retaining wall has been made using Ratio kits. The retaining wall nearest the camera is only resting in place and held by the weight of the car.It will be more upright when finished.. This will be the main entrance to the station. Looking up the other way. The road bridge is made from the Will's vari-girder. The row of shops will extend along the top, gradually becoming smaller premises and finishing in a row of terraced houses. No road access along here, just a footpath. The retaining wall will be topped by spear fencing. Looking under the bridge into the station. Main entrance.

So, back to laying track. Ballasting being one of those jobs you love or hate, and I hate it. I want it to be quick, easy and to look good. So I thought I'd try a short test piece. I cut the cork to width, slapped on some PVA, lightly pinned track down, then left it for ten minutes and turned it over to remove the excess ballast. Not bad, I thought. Now, how would I turn the shed upside down. So a quick trip to Argos to get a rechargable vacuum cleaner. Tonight I started with the curve that will enter the station. Pressed down the ballast, left it for the ten minutes and then vacuumed away. Not perfect and will require a bit of touching up, but much easier than laying the track first, then dry ballasting and going over with an eye dropper. I decided now would be as good a time as any to paint the platform edges. I wanted a well worn and faded look to it, so I used Tamiya flat white, fairly well thinned and dry brushed. Quite happy with the result. So over the weekend I will fit a crossover between the platform ends. Progress a bit slower now as hand built pointwork is new to me. I need to get hold of some more tortoises, as I just have the one at the moment. Still looking for a suitable bridge to cross at the far end of the station. I don't know what I really want here, but if I see it, I will get it.

I am in the process of copying over my Somercombe thread. I will be editing post on the way so things may seem a bit fra g me nt ed. But bear with me, I havn't gone and pulled it up and started again.

Before any track laying takes place, I want to see that all I want will fit. The last thing I want is a cramped feel to it. If it means losing a siding, so be it. Tonight I did some test placings of buildings in the station and yard to get a feel of what I am trying to achieve. The line through the goods shed will have an end loading dock close to the station building. Coal staithes will be in the shed in the background of the first shot. The bay platform, with the 121 in it, will have a loco release big enough for a 4MT tank or Q1 only. Fairly happy with this, so Friday I will perhaps get some more track laying done. The base board here is 36" wide, just about the maximum to comfortably work across.

All fully insulated now. Baseboard height will be level with the bottom of the windows. I will be putting 38x38mm timber around the walls at that level to support the cross beams and also the power. The layout will for the most part be 24" wide, easy enough to reach over and leaving me a good sized piece of free space for other projects in the middle. Not sure about a duck-under or lift out by the door, but most likely it will be a lift out section to allow better access. Scenic side of the layout will be away from the windows which are on the north side of shed. Tapings not too straight, is it. :oops: :oops: Since my last post I have been on earlies, which means I can't get much done in the evenings until the power is connected. All the sockets, 10, are in now, as is the lighting. All circuits have been checked by my neighbour, a qualified electrician. All that's left now is to connect it up to the house supply. But that can wait for a bit. Next week is lates, so I can spend 3-4 hours out there before work. The first boards are up. The fiddle yard, station and other areas where the railway is going to be in a cutting, are on flat top boards using 9mm ply. This will be covered with cork tiles, And yes I do know where I can get enough. I will be using open frame for the areas with embankments and maybe a viaduct. I wish to include a canal with possibly a lock. Here's a few progress shots. Placed a few building around to get the feel of what I am trying to achieve. The shops will be on a slope with a bridge over the end of the station in the gap, with just a fence on this side of the roadway. The station approach will come from in front of the lefthand building. I'll go away and draw up a plan of what it will look like.Since my last post I have been on earlies, which means I can't get much done in the evenings until the power is connected. All the sockets, 10, are in now, as is the lighting. All circuits have been checked by my neighbour, a qualified electrician. All that's left now is to connect it up to the house supply. But that can wait for a bit. Next week is lates, so I can spend 3-4 hours out there before work. The first boards are up. The fiddle yard, station and other areas where the railway is going to be in a cutting, are on flat top boards using 9mm ply. This will be covered with cork tiles, And yes I do know where I can get enough. I will be using open frame for the areas with embankments and maybe a viaduct. I wish to include a canal with possibly a lock. Here's a few progress shots.

At last . The shed is up. Next thing is to get it secure and cozy. I'll be fitting laminated glass in the windows. The side door will be fixed and panelled over, as will one of the double doors at the front. The other will be rebuilt, you could call it my Bulleid door :roll: :roll: , with 9mm plywood inside the planking, replace the batons and insulate it. Security locks will also be fitted and an alarm. Outwardly I want it still to look like a shed, so as not to attract attention. I was fortunate with the weather last weekend, nice bright sunshine whilst putting it up. Clear weather again on Monday enabled me to treat the outside. The basic shed had double doors at one end and a single door on the side. The side door and one of the end doors have been fixed in place and panelled over, leaving the larger of the two end ones for access. Work continues inside.I have laid in the power cable, and will get all the wiring done and checked before connecting, it also gives me an excuse to get out of there when night falls. Insulation is ordinary loft insuation behing plywood panels. Focus have a BOGOF on these rolls at the moment. The ceiling has thermal wrap, a bit like heavy duty bubble wrap but silver. I have used this in the loft before and cannot recommend it enough. Focus also have a 3 for 2 on this. I will also be using this on the floor under the boards. Also put up extra roof braces as I felt that one on a 20' length was insufficient, also handy for putting the lighting on. Progress so far. Work continues apace. Today I put the flooring down. Loft storage panels. Under this went a layer of the foam used under laminate flooring and a layer of Thermal Wrap (the stuff like heavy duty silver bubble wrap). Not cheap, but it claims to be equivilent to 50mm of foam insulation. I have used it before in my loft and found it very effective, I also have it on the ceiling of the shed. Focus have been doing a 3 for 2 on this stuff at ?‚??24.99 a roll. When I went back for some for the floor they only had 3 rolls left with the labels missing, so I was only charged ?‚??14.99 a roll and still got the 3 for 2. Bargain Still have to finish lining the back wall and then I will think about putting the power in. Question is, do I put the sockets high level, or under the baseboard height :?: Today's task. Guttering. Probably one of the most important things, and one I probably should have done at the beginning. Most rain will hit the roof, so you don't want it dripping down and being blown against the side of the shed and possibly pool underneath. Anyway, it's done now and another ?‚??72 spent. Talking of costs, it must be remembered that the shed itself can be less than half of the total cost if going down this route for your railway room. Obviously a smaller shed will work out less, but not neccassarily proportionally. Costs so far:- Concrete base - ?‚??286 Shed - ?‚??994 Gutters - ?‚??72 Insulation - ?‚??155 Panelling - ?‚??149 Floor - ?‚??86 Alarm - ?‚??40 Lock - ?‚??37 Light and power ?‚??100 - I was lucky in having another shed within 4' of this one and was able to extend the power from it. But you may need a qualified electrician. Security glass - ?‚??94 Extra timber for doors and extra roof joists - ?‚??75 - actually bought far too much, but will use that on baseboards. Screws and nails - ?‚??10 Wood treatment - ?‚??12 Other bits and bobs - ?‚??50 And last, but not least, my helpers. ?‚??170 That all comes to ?‚??2268. My budget was ?‚??2500. But was to include the cost of the framework to support the railway. So I still have?‚??232 left for that. Maybe they should put me in charge of the Olympics

Finally I am getting somewhere. But where :?: Well had to get the holidays out of the way. Then had to wait until my help had a week off and the days he was available had to tie in with my rest days. So, last week we dug out the base and yesterday poured the concrete. We had to barrow it around the back as unfortunately the developers who put up my terrace didn't have the foresight to make the access wide enough for a concrete mixer. But I suppose they didn't have many back in 1904. Anyway, it took an hour to get 3cubic metres (about 6?‚??-7 tons)of the stuff shifted. 24 hours later and my arms are still stiff. But at least it won't need to be done again. The shed is ordered and should be here at the tail end of next week. Other things happening. Got my DCC controller last week. I was so impressed with my son's Roco multiMAUS, that I went for one myself. After scouring ebay for weeks without luck I spotted Rails selling an unused Roco starter set. Class BR112 loco, 3 carriages. And of course, the multiMAUS. Ended up paying ?‚??188.02 including postage. It says on the box "lots of fun at a low price". Gaugemaster are currently selling this set at a price of 'only' ?‚??344. Obviously some peoples idea of low price is different to mine. :what Quite impressed with the quality I must say. Superb running,seperately working cab lights on function 1 & 2, 3 gives half speed for shunting and 4 switches off preset acceleration and braking. The carriages have DCC lighting and one has tail lights as well. One bugbear though. The flanges, particularly on the coaches, seem quite large compared to what we expect on British models today and certainly larger than on my Lilliput SVT137. On other fronts. I have been thinning my loco stud. I still have far too many, but I am unlikely to be buying any more........apart from a 4MT or 2, a T9, a Schools and a Super D. Oh plus a Clayton, a class 22 and possibly a couple of DMUs and a teddy bear. And I now have 30 decoder fitted, one behind my schedule of fitting one a week since I took the decision to go DCC. More pictures next week when the shed is up.

Today I made a start on clearing some ground for a base for the shed that will eventually house Somercombe. Had to buy a chainsaw to get some old shrubs and a couple of trees out. Being green by nature, I have replaced these with 6 trees in another part of the garden(and I only went to Focus to get some epoxy). Ok, it looks a bit like a building site, but it's a start. Once the site is cleared, I will beforming a low wall around the area with concrete blocks before filling with concrete. The shed will measure 20'x10', which, allowing for the framing and outer skin, should give me around 19'4"x9'4". Somercombe will be set in South Somerset in the period 1960-66. Southern mainline, roundy-roundy, small country station with branch platform, this will enable me to get a bit of S&D on it.. The branch will leave the station and climb around the shed to a small terminus about 12" to 15" above the main layout. Things I would like to include are a coalmine(maybe that stretches the Somerset coalfield a bit) and a smallish MPD, though this would be next to a fiddleyard in it's own sort of diorama.