retroman

Thanks Ian, I will PM you I've done a bit more work on the barracks above BUTE TUNNELS. Its an unashamed space filler for an awkward area that sort of 'evolved'.

Thank you very much for the feedback. As MARSHFIELD is fixed in the attic, the only people who get to see it are a handful of visitors - that's why forums such as this are so good, in that work can be shared to a much wider audience. And that's why, I guess, I needed to check that people WERE actually reading my updates! Perception is a strange thing. I look at Ian's wonderful work on EXFORD PARK and wonder how I will ever reach that standard. I've made loads of mistakes on MARSHFIELD: I started with a simple track plan flowing into a fiddle yard, but then fell into the classic trap of getting bored too early and ending up with no fiddle yard, a massive amount of work to do, and a ludicrously complex trackplan. At one stage there must have been about 30 sets of points, all requiring switches and point motors (an aspect of railway modelling I hate!!!). In retrospect I wish I'd stopped before trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ... that being said I am reasonably satisfied with how its looking at the moment, despite taking me about three years longer than I'd planned (the build has been six years in total). MARSHFIELD has several faults .... principally I really regret the fact that it is operationally hamstrung by the lack of a decent fiddle yard. That being said, the experience I've gained has been invaluable ... and this layout will continue to exist/evolve for as long as we live in our current house, so several more years yet. I intend to concentrate on locos and rolling stock improvement in the meantime.

Thanks folks for taking the trouble to comment. I'm genuinely grateful for the constructive observations that have been posted, too .... sometimes a fresh set of eyes is just what is needed. I have noted what Simon and Jeff have mentioned .... updates to follow

Thanks Squeaky The Traverser is Heljan. It cost £139 a couple of years ago. Sounds a lot but its great fun to operate, and the cost was not that much more than the associated pointwork / motors that would have been needed otherwise. It always amazes visitors!! The tanks in the depot are indeed by KNIGHTWING .

McC, the girder viaduct behind the steelworks is a double span MARKLIN kit, the long viaduct joining it is are series of the Hornby 3 arch model with the arches bricked up .... still a good model IMHO despite its great age!! All of the other bridges are scratch built using various girder bits, etc.

First go with the RMWeb photo uploader ... My most recent work is this signal gantry .... an extended Dapol kit with replacement KNIGHTWING signal clusters.

Ahh, right. I thought using a hosting site was the preferred option .... it certainly is on my motorbike club forum. I will have a go posting direct to RMWeb shortly.

Thanks for the deluge of kind comments. The other thread wasn't a marketing ploy, honestly!!!

Some general pics around the layout.

Thanks Marc. Some recent work, as the layout nears completion: Footbridge now in situ. Station forecourt. Helicopter view of the station area. PW crew at work lifting the bay platform trackwork. A Western is on PW duties. Lineside debris near the depot throat. 37238 growls past .......... Not much left to do now .... having said that ...

I have also put together this small PW cameo. Work is also complete on the low-relief scenery on the upper level. Everything is removable so that I can access a hidden incline from low > high level at the rear.

MARSHFIELD station now has a footbridge. I tried kit bashing with poor results, so in the end I bit the bullet and scratchbuilt one, bespoke for the location. The completed structure, which has to span 4 running lines in order to service the 2 platforms. I have added dummy lights (for now), handrails and a dummy signal with junction indicator: this controls access to the depot. Into the spraying booth. I will update this thread once the completed bridge has been placed in the layout.

With my simplified trackplan I found that I had some rather large open spaces between the running lines, so I've been building extensions onto the embankments. Seen here in my usual green basecoat before all the flock/veg goes on. A view showing new tanks about to be installed at the end of the Fueller. The space to the right will be occupied by admin buildings and a car park full of period cars. General view of the entrance road and fueller, showing the resited power box. I've also been busy building and painting crash barriers from bits of old rail. They make a big visual difference. 15mmm uprights soldered to the yellow/red horizontal barriers.

Work continues. Traverser ... Fuelling point .... The Down Loco Yard.

I have lightly weathered the Traverser, which takes away the rather plastic/'toy' like appearance. Incidentally ....I have become increasingly unhappy running the layout with locos that wouldn't historically have worked side-by-side. Therefore I intend to run two distinct eras .... FLEET 1: late 60s / very early 70s (hydraulics) which will allow the odd BR green/maroon loco to appear.... and FLEET 2: early to mid 1980s (which was 'my' era). This effectively splits my existing fleet in two. I am looking to acquire a display cabinet for the non-active fleet, and will carry out routine maintenance on whichever fleet is out of service at any one time................. if that makes sense.

I have been researching available yard lights and have decided on these rather nice double lights from CR Signals. The unit is beautifully made. I also have another tower on order, whilst the catwalk in the wash bay will be lit by simple double lights from Express Models. I have been experimenting with placement of buildings and the fuel storage tanks and am reasonably happy with how the depot is progressing.

Wonderful work, Leon. I spent a lot of time mooching around Ebbw Jct in my youth and you've got the feel of that area spot-on. You are book-marked, dude!

Thanks Marc. Some recent progress... Loads more space in the revised depot, should make for a very nice viewing gallery for stabled locos.

I have now installed the Traverser, which is is a fab piece of kit. There was one at Newton Abbot depot, a throwback to the days when the depot had its own works. I have now worked out how to programme it properly and had great fun with it. I needed to shim the access roads so that locos move onto the bridge smoothly. I have also installed all the depot roads off the Traverser and connected them to the DCC power bus. An overall view: the access road comes in from the right: the fuelling plant is to the right of the traverser in this shot, with the stabling point to the left. Overall view, showing how less cramped this space is compared with the old depot. There will be two roads accessing the small shed to the right. All of these installations were salvaged from the old depot. The Fueller. Looking towards the depot proper. Right to left will be : loco wash plant, stabling point, two roads into the shed. MARSHFIELD will soon be full of Hydraulics. I want more Westerns, another Hymek and at least 2 Class 22s.

Thanks for the kind comments, as the layout is imprisoned in my attic it's always good to get feedback. I have more-or-less finished the viaduct and its associated corner of the layout. Before .... Now, a week later. This photo shows that some repairs are needed to the section to the left of the fuel tanks. Incidentally, this raised area will shortly be a Territorial Army centre ... I've bought in a selection of Airfix military vehicles from the 1970s (a Saracen, a Scimitar tank, a couple of Bedford 4 Tonne trucks and several Landrovers). This is a nice little project to keep me going when the attic gets too warm to be comfortable. 37238 rumbles past the new structure on the Down Slow.

A few more locos weathered, the Western is now D1058 Western Nobleman. I've spent the past few weeks working on the hitherto neglected side of the layout ....

Dave Much as I adore this fabulous layout, there is a serious omission which I feel you need to address! Good luck modelling the Action Man on the headboard ... !

Hydraulic heaven. I am in the process of renumbering/renaming D1067 as D1058 WESTERN NOBLEMAN.

Thanks for the very kind comments. I'm having a short break from weathering locos for now. Apparentley there are other things going on in the world! I've had some fun photographing the Hymek at work. Here she overtakes 25054 at Bute Tunnel Junction. In Retro's imaginery world the Hydraulics lasted well into the 1980s, which made this photo possible. The Hymek is tripped to Marshfield Goods Yard to collect an oil tanker. The rail-road crane has recently been removed from the old depot site to the yard. The Hymek waits for 37238 to pass light engine before exiting the yard. The next day an ASLEF dispute results in all of this motive power being marooned at Ely Bridge for the day ..... excellent!

One grotty but hellfire Hymek returns to service.