Richard Mawer

We haven't given up! A lot of time has gone into planning how everything will fit and work. All the track on the scenic boards (phase 1) is laid and I am just about to start wiring up. Loco No. 2 is taking shape. Work continues on coaching and freight stock. Michael is getting to grips with Kadees! Sound files have been recorded and edited Purchasing has continued at a pace with all the parts for the 6 locos and a number of wagon kits, buildings, electronics and all manner of stuff bought. More photos to follow. We also have an invitation to an exhibition next year, so we need to keep up the pace.

After a couple of months lack of access to the railway room due to kitchen and utility room works, the wait was over. I had a session on the controls last night. Soooo good! Now to arrange some visits and get modelling again!

MEANWHILE, IN THE PAINT SHOP......... All the goods stock so far made has been painted. There are plenty more being built. I recently bought 2 Fleischmann narrow gauge coaches. They were dark green and emblazoned with German words and Eagles. Today they were stripped and painted into S&B maroon. This is the start of a second passenger rake. Some more salt weathering of the last 3 tippers is in progress. They’ll get the top coat of grey in the morning and then the salt will be washed off in the evening so the rust shows through where the salt was. Cheers, Rich

RAKING IT IN...... The passenger rake is complete except couplings and passengers. Now do we add lights?

MEANWHILE, IN THE LOCO WORKS...... The camera is a bit cruel. Its my first attempt, but I can see lots of room for improvement. I still have to test her again on the program track and if all ok then paint out the clear block part under the lamps. Next time I’ll set the lamps lower. She also needs the handrails and toolbox straps painting black, handrails added to the tanks, name and numbers adding. The crew also needs to be painted and added, as well as couplings and coal in the bunker. BUT its a milestone for me. Getting the chip, lights and speaker in, was fun too!!!!!!!

MEANWHILE, IN THE WAGON AND CARRIAGE WORKS...... Michael has been busy making the first coach.

RUSTY TIPPERS AND MARKING OUT STONETHWAITE WHARF One of the features of the Wharf will be the stone tipper fed by ....... Tippers! As well as some Hudson Rugga tipper kits we have some larger tippers. They are actually HO, but suit the scale. However three were bright red and green and one had a logo, so I though it was time to try out some weathering using the salt chip method. For those who don’t know, you paint the wagons in rust, let it dry, spray with hairspray, sprinkle on copious sea salt crystals, let it dry, paint top coat, let it dry, rub and wash off the salt and hey presto - rusty wagons. I forgot to remove the buffers beforehand, so thats still to be done, and the Kadees fitted. Meanwhile, in a different garage in the village Dave has been hard at work on the Stonethwaite Wharf scenic boards. They have been marked out and the holes for servos, frogs, uncouplers and canal have been drilled and cut. The points have modified in the normal way so that the switch rails are permanently electrically connected to the stock rails. The over-centre springs have been removed as well, ready for servo operation. Next step is track laying.

No.1 I’ve spent a pleasant week building my first ever loco. Its a Smallbrook Studios Clio with a Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. In addition I have shoehorned a DCC sound chip, speaker, headlamps and firebox. I’ve just painted her and am waiting for the mini LEDs to arrive so I can glue the cab on and finish her.

Are you living out there full time?

Hi. We won’t be ready for 2020, but pencil us in for 2021 if you want. We’d be delighted.

STONETHWAITE BASEBOARDS The baseboards for the wharf have been made. Track has arrived and stock is arriving almost daily. Soooo many kits. Next step is laying out the track, marking up and then drilling and cutting the holes for points etc.

Hi, thats excellent news and very kind of you to offer. I think we will be there in about a year. When is your show?

SIDE PROJECT Buckingham West is nowhere near finished - but still very enjoyable to operate - which is what it was primarily about, but even so, with a group of regular operators, we have decided to do something rather different. We are building an exhibition layout. Not only that, but we are doing it in 7mm scale. Not only that, but we are doing it in Narrow Gauge (0-16.5) and not only that, but we are doing it with DCC sound fitted locos. All rather different really!!! Its early days but things are moving ahead at a fairly rapid rate. Construction and procurement are well advanced. I won't mix up the threads, so we have started a new topic called THE STONETHWIATE AND BAINRIGG RAILWAY. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/147455-the-stonethwaite-and-bainrigg-railway/&tab=comments#comment-3667670 We'd love to have any of you who so kindly follow and advise me on Buckingham West, to take a look (not much there yet!) and give the normal RMWEB support and advice. We might even get to see some of you at exhibitions (if we get invited!). More on Buckingham West soon as well. Cheers Rich

As a side project to my main layout: Buckingham West, a group of us have decided to build an 0-16.5 (7mm scale) narrow gauge exhibition layout. Whilst each to his own (Rule 1 applies) we see many layouts of this scale and gauge which are very small roundy-roundy layouts with tight curves and do not represent either prototypes or even fictional lines with a purpose. We aim to create a scenic layout, run at prototypical speeds, but with a fictional location etc. There are some 0-16.5 layouts like this and there are many great 009 layouts out there. Its a project for us to enjoy ourselves and to use and learn techniques and systems we have not used before. None of us have made an exhibition layout before, but I have been a member of the High Wycombe club (HWDMRS) and have learned much from the great chaps there. We are using DCC with sound and will have many operating features on the layout to keep the public entertained - but this is not going to be a toy. The narrative behind the model is a narrow gauge line in Yorkshire linking a stone quarry with a canal wharf on the edge of a large northern town. The line prospered (I did say fiction!) and a passenger service and general goods service came about. It is set in the 1930's As a first stage we are building the wharf scene and a fiddle yard, which we hope to have up and running and suitable for exhibiting in just over a year. Woodwork and procuring is well underway. The scenic area is 7'6" x 1'8". Once this is done, we will build additional modules with the aim of producing a flexible modular layout that can be erected in a number of different configurations to suit Exhibition Manager's requirements. It will be able to be erected in a straight line or an L or even a U shape and could extend towards 30' in length. The end game is ambitious, hence doing it in stages. We will post updates and photos as soon as there is something to see. Rich

MORE LIGHTS? Using a current detector from Blocksignalling.com I have added an LED to the Evenley controller which is used for controlling trains out of Banbury, round Charlton Junction and up to Evenley. These trains traverse the circuit at Charlton for 15 or so minutes before being offered up to Evenley. In the meantime, it is easy to forget that the controller is in use. This LED should help to remind operators. The controller LED lights up as soon as the controller is turned up irrespective of whether there is actually a train running or not. The current detector only lights when a train is running. Using the 2nd output from this detector, another unit on the Buckingham West controller that controls non-stop trains out of Banbury and a further unit on the Down controller at Charlton I have added a flashing Red LED on the Charlton Panel. This flashes when there is a train moving in opposing directions on the double tracks at Charlton. It serves to warn the operator that signalling one of those trains to go Up to Evenley or Down to Banbury (both of which entail one train crossing the other line) has the risk of a collision. Again, hopefully quite useful to operators! I've tidied up the panel labels as well. I've just realised that I took the photo before actually fitting the LED in the hole!

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER....... The base scenery is starting to take shape. I am using Readygrass Spring Grass. It’s a vinyl backed grass mat which is fairly stiff by comparison to many grass mats, but you can mould it using heat from a heat gun or hairdryer. The white former along the edge is 4mm plastic board left over from the backscenes. There is scrunched up paper, plastic packing and polystyrene blocks under the matting to create many of the basic shapes. I have carved the polystyrene using a heated wire cutter - brilliant bit of kit! But I have only stuck the edges of the mat down. This allows the majority to be sculpted a bit with heat. Some the shapes around this corner were tricky. I cut it roughly to size, then cut the correct curve for one edge - usually the track side, and stick it using Evostick contact adhesive. Then lay it over the formers (applying heat if needed) and stick it to the edging. Finally excess is trimmed off. This is not intended to be the finished article. Its a base for adding static grass, bushes, trees, telephone poles etc. But it does change the feel of the layout no end.

Good to hear from you Tony. We must make reciprocal visits! As you know, I use 2 beats in exactly the same way. Rich

Hello again, Yes you are right in real life, with the correction from Paul, and also that i. 1930’s GWR box B did not acknowledge ‘Train out of Section’ apparently. However, on Buckingham West there are a few minor alterations. The line between Aand B is severed electrically midway. So there is no separately wired Block sction between stations. I should have thought more at the start. So the electrical break is after the advanced starter and before the home. Currently Station A is it under A’s control until the Advanced starter is pulled off, when B becomes connected. The proposal is that Station A will be under A’s control until the Advanced Starter is pulled off. Then no one is in control. When B’s Block Instrument is set to Train on Line, B controller is connected to Station A. So: 1) Signalman at the station the train is currently at (Station A) rings station B to ask if the line is clear. 2) Signalman B replies 'Line Clear', sets the block instrument accordingly and pulls off Home signal. 3) Signalman A clears the Advanced Starter and Signalman A rings 'Train Entering Section' 5) Signalman B acknowledges and sets TOL. 6) Signalman B drives the train 7) When the train leaves the section and arrives at Station B, Signalman B rings 'Train out of section' 8) Signalman A puts Advanced Starter back ‘on’/ in the frame. 9) Signalman B returns the instrument to Normal. I hope that helps the understanding. Rich

Good to hear from you again John. You seem to be making good progress on Cornwall. Any more video? Anyway, thanks for your comments. I had thought about that. Very protypical of course. There are problems though. 1) if the Instrument was set at Normal the Sending box could still pull off the lever, but the signal would show danger. I’m not sure the sending box would actually notice the arm. True the sender would lose power, but that would happen in the current design. 2) The LC and TOL settings would both have to allow the signal to show clear, but to peg the Instrument from one setting to the other would pass through Normal so very briefly the signal would twitch. 3) its an added complication that probably doesn’t affect operation too much. I am struggling to find a purpose for the LC setting, apart from reminding the operators that they have offered and accepted a train. In itself that can be useful on this layout. At planned both operators need to have taken positive action to drive a train. The Instrument needs to show TOL and the Advanced Starter needs to clear. Cheers Rich

Hi It was the early Tyler principle I was working to. It just adds a visual aspect to the passing of a train from one operator to the next.

Hi Neal Good to hear from you - even from Spain! Yes loads to do scenery-wise!

Hi RM Web is great. Such a pool of knowledge. Thanks for this, I’ll delve further.

Thanks guys

Who makes these? Thanks

Hi Ray The way I have designed it, only the destination can “replace”. But It would be easy to change so either could “replace”. For me though, it changes the track power to the destination when a token is “removed” so I don’t want to remove if shunting up the single line. Yes I know its wrong but I can live with that. I think the circuit could also be altered so the sender can “replace” only with the other end pressing “release” at the same time. I should add that I am fitting an override switch to remove the need to press Release and Remove at the same time for 1 man operation: can’t be in 2 places at once! Rich