stivesnick

Hi Really interesting idea in fitting the layout into the office space - look forward to seeing updates. Nick

Have been painting the new cottage today. After cleaning and a coat of car primer, I started with a base coat of Green Scene textured paint. The top finish was a cream acrylic. The kit comes with separate 3D printed windows, although other kits may have finer window frames, they are a very good fit and stay in place without being glued. The kit does not include any gutters and down pipes, but will add these tomorrow from plastic section. Nick

No, diesel hauled but class not specified. Not sure what UKrailtours use as standard motive power these days. Nick

UKrailtours have a special train that is intending to use the underpass on Sat 9th October. Kings Cross to York and back via various freight routes. Nick

Having finished the hotel roof, I did a mock up of the hotel on the layout with some temporary trees to judge the effect. To line up the entrance with the stairs up from the road, I had to move the external canopy to the other end of the building, but otherwise it looked OK. The thing that bothered me was the small houses beyond the hotel. They did not look right. Luckily, I saw an article in Model Rail for some new 3D printed buildings from Village Scenecraft and a new cottage was ordered. It has just arrived. Photo showing the two buildings enclosed to show the difference. Oddly the building does not have a backdoor, but this will not matter as it will be located towards the back of the layout, so difficult to see behind it. Hope to paint over the weekend. Nick

Tom The wiring on a layout like this need not be complex. A single feed on the main line on the right hand side of the layout will be enough. This requires the point blades to make good contact to carry the power into the sidings. If you do not intend to turn the sidings into loops, then no insulating sections will be required. How are you going to control the points? If you are using motors and they have auxiliary switches then these can be used to provide greater reliability to feeding the sidings than just relying on the physical contact of the point blades. Let people know how you intend to control the points and I am sure suitable wiring diagrams can be provided. Nick

Hi The revised track plan looks much more like a modern depot - look forward to seeing how this develops. Is the layout N or OO? Nick

The pub looks great. What did you use for the wall render, it is very effective. Just one minor comment, in the close up photo of the end wall, the chimney stonework is very smooth when compared to the walls. It may not be so noticeable at a distance, but something to consider. Hope you find the comments useful. Regards Nick

Funding for the next stage of the design was agreed in March 2021 with an expected programme of 7 months, so we should expect some more details later in the year. The new Mayor was in Fenland last week at a water management event. Better transport links to Fenland were mentioned in his speech , so hopefully that means that the rail scheme is still progressing. In the latest NR consultation on Ely, they say they are only designing for one extra train per hour on top of those already promised - so does not look like they a planning for an half-hourly Wisbech to Cambridge service. Nick

The next stage of the process is to develop the plans for the station based on the consultation responses from a few months back. More details of the station expected in the next few months. Construction not likely to start for a year or so. Nick

One area of railway modelling that has not been mentioned so far are trams. Ideal for the space starved modeller. So how about a new range of models comprising: *Traditional and new types of tram * A range of city buildings * Inset track with nice sharp curves * Some moving road vehicles * A computer control system to allow multiple routes and services to be operated. This may appeal to a new set of modellers, where the main interest is creating the city scene and the control system. Perhaps there may be some appeal in allowing people to create some sort of idealised city of the future with sustainable transport systems. Or how about developing a Moon or Mars Railway system 2100? This could have global appeal so increase potential sales volumes. Nick

The last major structure on the layout is the second hotel. This is based around a Tomytec clip together school kit. The issue was how to disguise it's Japanese style. In the end, I did a simple roof overlay using some Noch embossed card. On the reverse side, the card has a 1mm grid making it easy to mark out and keep square. I have also added some new ridges formed of half-round sections and new rainwater pipes. The kit also comes with various porch elements that have been deployed around the building. Work in progress and finished building photos enclosed below

One of those new fangalled Class 22 diesels has arrived at Porthallow on a freight working. Hoping it will operate a bit smoother than the Dapol 45XX locos. Got lots of work to sort out the Dapol couplers on the wagons, not very reliable to date when compared with operating modern stock on previous layouts. The signals don't appear to be working very well either. Photos enclosed. Nick

A trip to a real model shop yesterday - such excitement! A Ratio water tank was among the purchases. This is joined by a coaling stage, made from some elements of a KS Laser loading platform provides the locomotive facilities at Porthallow. They will be located alongside the run-round loop. I have also built some sheds for the back gardens of the workers cottages. Progress photos enclsoed. Nick

Hi Having seen your American layouts, will watch with interest to see how this one turns out. I am tempted to do a N gauge version, but perhaps not the same effect created in the smaller scale and without sound. Nick

Hi Don't forget that there are no plans to develop another UK test track in South Wales. This will be several loops of track, a high speed one for 125mph running and a slower loop for suburban trains. The actual track plan would be similar to that shown, but no existing station, perhaps a staff halt to allow visitors to board the trains. Nick

Easter Bank Holiday, so whilst there are a few snowflakes falling outside, some time to stay in the warm and build a footbridge that will help disguise the exit track from the layout. The bridge is made from scribed 1mm plastic sheet with assorted bits of plastic section to create the beams and concrete base used to support the bridge. Handrails are from Plastruct. Whilst the paint was drying, I carved out the area on the layout where the concrete foundations would go. The bridge was stuck into position and the ground made up to the bridge deck using some Poundland ready mixed filler. One the the filler had dryed, the ground was painted green and scatter materials added to create the path and surrounding greenery. Obviously the completed bridge is too small to have a bus on it, but a schoolboy with a toy bus perhaps? A final question, would the cliff edge have had fencing in those days? In today's H&S world, there would be a fence to stop people not paying attention whilst looking at their phones from falling over the edge. But in the 1950's were people more sensible? Construction sequence photos enclosed. Nick

Hi good choice of prototype as a basis of a layout. How closely will you be following the real train operation or will it be more freelance in terms of operation? Regards Nick

Some basic scenery work has started on the town section of the layout. My end of the high street comprises 4 buildings which serve to hide the track going off towards to the docks. I have used 1mm card to build up the ground level and form a base to bed the buildings in. The high street iteslf is fine wet and dry paper spayed with a bit of grey to tone down the colour. Pavements from Scale Model Scenery have been added. Many people on this Forum have described ow they have created cobble stones and the time it has staken, I have simply used some Chooch Industries stone setts sheet. 30 seconds, job done!. Out of the town centre, the pavements become tarmac and formed of 1mm card. I have gone for 5 foot wide pavements in town, then down to 4 foot approaching the station and then 3 foot out of town. The pub now have some stone paving around it (Redutex) and beyond the pub I have been playing with the area where the war memorial is going. The memorial itself is from Scale Model Scenery. Not sure I have this right yet, so the area is subject to change. On the station itself, some Ration fenceing has appeared and a station sign, again from Scale Model Scenery. Some Peedie Models dummy lights, which are excelllent 3D printed items Progress photos below: Regards Nick

Hi David Like the mock up of the station building. One question how will the building be supported over the bay platforms? Two possible solutions: A) Remove part of the retaining wall and replace with a new concrete wall. B) Raise the building up a bit so that it extends over the wall and is supported by columns into the bank beyond the wall. Regards Nick

Hi Bas The layout is looking good and the method of controlling the points is very clever. Do tell us more about it. Nick

For N gauge modellers, Atlas produce a range of 60 foot older cars, ideal for local train service. On a previous american layout, I used some Kato japanese coaches with some Great Northern decals. No one appeared to notice and they looked much better on 9-12 inch radius curves. Nick

Hi In the 1990s at lot of station lighting would have been vandalpoof flourescent lights suspended from the soffit. A typical fitting would have been say 1500mm long and around 100-130mm square section. There were some stations that were given the heritage makeover, so lights similar to the ones in the signal box or the fertilizer depot would be fine. Looking at the station building one light every two structural bays and one at the end of the building would be about right. As a general rule, the space to height ratio of most lighting schemes to get even lighting is around 1:1. For flood lights the spacing increases to 2-3:1. Nick

Both track feeds to the inner track need to be at the toe end of the point as the feeds are to the outer track. Track feeds A and B are then should be switched with the point motor to power the frog and the next section of track - hopefuly that will cure the problem. Nick

All Work has started on the scenery around the workers cottages. The cottages are modified Petitie Properties kits. The original kits are low relief, and I intended to mount two kits back to back to create a full building. However, the resulting building was far too shallow effectively just one room deep. So I created a new shell out of plastic sheet and just used the front of the kit. The back of the building is a a blank wall. Walls are covered in Scalescenes stone paper. The rear walls are 1mm card covered in the same paper. Wooden gates to be added. Will need to sort out the rear gardens - not sure if they would have been totally paved or just a path with some flower beds. Any thoughts? Finally sone Woodlands Scenic trees added behind. I will need to sort out what happens behind the cottages as the gap to the backscene reduced to nothing. Photos enclosed Regards Nick