Balloon_726

This one is a bit of a late update as i'm extremely busy and have a cold at the mo! So feeling less them wonderful! Anyhow's October 20th 2018 Thornton Gate will be as the Shrewsbury Model Railway Show https://www.chantillygrey.com/shrewsbury-model-railway-show.html This is a truly local show for us, the venue being less the a mile from home and nextdoor to the building were I used to rent a studio and build alot of Thornton Gate back in 2012! We've had a far bit to do since the last outing. One of the jobs has been to yet again patch the road area in the yard between the two baseboards as it constantly gets knocked in transit. I didn't have the right paint but found something 'in the ball park' so lightly worked in a patch coat which i think will work ok. Over on my new workbench (Ive now moved house) Balloon 726 is having some attention. Basically the DCC decoder in this one has been a nightmare and no matter what CV settings I do it has largely been underivable, hence the being stabled up for most of its operating life. The plan is to swap out the decoder with one recovered from a chassis used in our original balloon fleet. The only snag is both have to be hard wired in so its a case of unpicking all the and re soldering... fun times! Really like this low level shot of Balloons 702 and 726 stabled on centre road. Both crews taking a lunch break before both cars make return journeys to Blackpool. Terminating and 'turning' operations is not something we've done enough of during exhibitions if i'm honest. We generally end up just going around in circles with set cars running on the up and down lines all day. Something to think about! Back to the work bench and I've decided to weather down the new rolling stock. If its one thing we do well on Thornton Gate is grimy and dilapidated which a far few of the Balloons were getting back in 2007-8 when it looked like the lot were for the scrap man! Balloon 704 is a new favourite, the 3 tone livery works well. Here like the others i've treated to a layer of dirt which helps to tone down the colour a bit and aids in lifting details. It does get me how little real life weathering is done to tram models most ive seen being pristine all the time which they just weren't. So there we are for now. Shrewsbury show is our last for 2018 so hope to see you maybe?

Totally Models Exhibition, Rigby Road Depot, Blackpool, 2018 Show Report Hello all, June saw Thornton Gate make another trip to the fantastic Totally Models Exhibition held inside the famous tram sheds in central Blackpool. As with last year, a truly enjoyable show, very well organised and a nice mix and real and model tramway rolling stock exhibiting side by side! We were placed in the second hall once again more or less in the same spot as last year, However we had a visitor in wit us! Above: The view from my operating passion behind the layout showing EE Balloon class No. 711 stabled in the hall for the duration of the show, which was nice! Above: 711 had been roped into being an active exhibit with a scale model tramway running not only around it be also strait though the centre passenger saloon and out the other side! Above: And this is how new trams are made ....... :-P A active demo of what was proposed with 711 showing the larger scale which I think is G or Gauge 1 (not sure) compared to a stock HO Corgi model. Our N gauge balloons would have looked rather dwarfed! On with the models! Same running stock as with Ludlow here Centenary 641 heads up a Fleetwood bound service. Some problems for 726 which is still not running correctly, even after having its DCC CV's tweaked. So although not failed 726 was 'parked up' early on day one on centre line for the duration. Here Balloon 702 works a down Stargate service from Fleetwood. Above: Due to the nature of exhibiting in a active depot, dirt was a bit of an issue with wheels and track needing constant cleaning. Here after many hours of running 702 is shunted into the yard area to allow other services to pass. The tram later moved back to the fiddle yard for attention. The end of day one saw Balloon 717 run a exhibitors special from the depot to Fleetwood and back. As with last year we used with service to get back to our hotel having come down on a normal service tram that morning. Day 2 Day two and i got a change to take a few photos outside. Here Balloon 715 was in use on a special service ferrying exhibition visitors between the tram depot and tower station/tram stop. Several tramcars ran this special service on both days taking passengers off the promenade mainline and down the branch line to the depot. A photo of myself as I dont normally get pictured in my own reports.... We'll finish with Balloon 704 traversing the little used for siding of Thornton Gate yard. The main reason for this was England were playing Panama in the World Cup that Sunday so the show had all but gone dead. As we had to be with our stands I decided to take 704 and play around a bit, in this case seeing how far down the far line it would get before stalling or derailing. I think the results are impressive.... nearly in the static grass! Ok so there we are. Still really pleased how well the new 3D print rolling stock has come on and worked out. Thanks to all that came and said hello, and thanks to Blackpool Transport for another brilliant show. We have work to do mainly with Rolling stock etc, And we're due out again for one more planned show for 2018 and this one is a lot closer to home! More details to follow.....

Hello all, this is rather a late call, as I've been busy with life.... (you know how it is) Just to say Thornton Gate will be a this weekends 'Totally Models' exhibition at Blackpool (Sat 23rd & Sun 24th June) inside the famous Rigby Road tram sheds. A fantastic opportunity to have a look around, ride real trams and vintage buses Im told the model show takes up 3 halls this year Deatils www.blackpoolheritage.com/httours/event/totally-models/ Hope to see you there!

Ludlow Race Course Exhibition 2018 Show Report May 5th saw Thornton Gate back out on show at Ludlow. As many of you know its been a bit of a rush to get the new 3D printed Balloon and Centenary fleets having retired the previous generation at the end of last year. Above: Not sure about the staff! We setup on the morning of the one day event, which went ok. We were able to unload and setup in the hall quickly and with out issue. Above: The main exhibition hall. Credit to Craven Arms MRS for putting on what was a really good well organised show. We were well looked after with free flowing tea and even fed at lunch time (which don't always happen) So opening for service with Standard 147, New Centenary 642 and Old Brush 636 on respective up and down line services. To be honest I was expecting problems with the new stock. Again as mentioned before, they were not 'dialed in' with the new Lais DCC decoders being rather 'flighty' on acceleration, so all needed some CV value adjustments before our next outing. Above: All three new 3D print balloons also went into service with green and cream no 702 with bush no 622 702 here again with fellow class mate new build Balloon no 704 And finally a new version of Balloon car No 726 sporting its distinctive 'Coast Guard' livery, this car being a direct replacement for the first gen 726 built back in 2012 and retired and broken up at the end of last year.... Above: All was not wasted as the chassis out of old 726 (which regular readers might remember was rechassised with Japanese Tomix TM-03 motor units a few years back) along with its DCC decoder was modified and reused for the new build 3D print Centenary car no 642. For this to work the chassis was cut into two and lengthened so that the back to back of the bogies was correct for the new body shell. The old Centenary class trams relied on Bachmann PCC chassises which where at best an utter pain meaning constant unreliability and blown DCC decoders. So its hoped that these new Japanese chassied Centenaries will fair a bit better, and for its first run 642 performed well and was used all day! Above: No breakdowns! All tram cars performed well, nothing failed which was amazing! So cars only terminated when the show started to quiet down hecne not requiring so many in service. Out of these that did terminate, Balloon 726 (coast guard) was sidelined first due its erratic DCC control making it a little bit of a pain to drive well though out the day. So overall very good show and very good start to the year! Still work to be done as mentioned. The next big project will be to remove and replace the Brush Cars! Which I do have the CAD for but still needs some work before it'll get though a 3D printer without looking like a ball of plastic spaghetti Finally i'll just say I and thanks to all of you from the forums that said Hi and came out to show! Really nice to meet and chat with you all.

Thornton Gate for Ludlow Exhibition May 5th 2018 Hello one and all, we're back! Having missed our planned season opener at Preston, called off due to the snow. Its been a bit of a battle to find the time to get Thornton Gate ready for our next and now first outing of 2018 which is: Ludlow (Shropshire) Race Course Exhibition Saturday May 5th 2018 http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/events/16682-CravenArmsandDistrictModelRailwayCircleLudlowRacecourseModelRailwayExhibition So a nice localish one for us... So the big news of 2018 is we're bringing the first of our 3D printed tram rolling stock online, and so pulled our Balloon and Centenary car fleets at the end of last year. Admittedly its been a long and drawn out process to get the new Balloons and Centenary cars ready for service... Anyways.... Above: The first tramcar to turn a wheel on Thornton Gate in 2018 was ... Mothballed Mk1 Balloon 701, it along with 'Fatdoor' 713 have been retained as 'backup cars' incase of failure or issue with the new Mk2 gen Balloon cars. Also i don't have a new works car as yet (what this space!) So 701 did the honers of testing the track and taking the 6 month old dirt layer off the rail heads! Above: Broken rail in the fiddle yard! Its been a while since we've had track issues with the layout, must be the best part of 5 years now. But whist testing it was noticed that a rail on the gap between the boards on the fiddle yard had broken, this being just one of those things when karting a layout around as much as we do with Thornton Gate. Above: So the fix.. Removed the whole broken section, found a piece of spare scrap track and cut to size, then had to desolder and reattach a power feed to the new rail, making sure the rail lined up and was flush. Rather a pain to do but a necessary repair. Above: Whist in the mood for fixing things, we'd lost a section of fence on the front of the layout again between were the boards meet. Luckily I had the missing section so just a case of gluing it back in. On the work bench... It really is all change as a number of chassis get swapped and changed around. As most of the fleet had upgraded Japanese chassis the plan has been to try and reuse as much as possible along with DCC decoders. Here now withdrawn Balloon 710 gives its chassis to Bush car no 636, the latter was fitted with a newer and much thiner Tomix TMTR-01 unit which was needed for the new 3D printed Balloons Above: its not all used or reclaimed, most of our new rolling stock will be using new chassises. As you can see we've been stockpiling! Ok so now for the exciting part.... although not finished and with only a week before the show, I know im pushing it a bit, so hope for a productive weekend! Here are the first of the new fleet! Above: A return to green and cream for new car 3D printed mk2 Balloon no 702 sporting custom 3d printed bogie frames or 'trucks' as well as printed under cages and bumpers replacing the card used for all previous balloons (we'll just ignore the fact its held together with blue tack in this shot) The tram out on test ran under its own power for the first time as well! Still lots to do glazing, transfers, hand rails , weathering, more testing... you get the idea! Next and yet to run under its own power and sitting on a set of blue test bogies is Balloon 704 sporting the undercoat of what will be an all over ad livery for a 2004 dance show. Again much more work needed, in-fact after reviewing this photo the tram was rubbed down and adjusted to fix a flaw with the lower centre door area. Centenary class have been the bain of our lives. The original two did nothing but break down. So really looking forward to the replacement, which really is an improvement brand new Centenary 642 in the beginnings of its plain yellow livery ran under its own power for the first time as well. Our Centenarys will use DCC decoders and chassis recovered from withdrawn Mk1 balloons. The Tomix TM-03 chassis used has been cut in two and rewired so that the bogie spacings are correct as it proved impossible to find a modern chassis with the correct spacings, hence why we kept the older ones running with there Bachmann US PCC trolley chassises for so long.... never again! Above: The race is on! A view of new Balloon 702 and Centenary 648 in Thornton Gate station. Really pleased how these are turning out, but a lot of work still to do! And many more updates on the way this year! So do come and say hi if your coming to the Ludlow Show, and I'll post again soon(ish)

Hello all, its been awhile once again and i'll be doing a full update real soon but..... We were due to be taking the layout to this weekends Preston show, I received an email this morning stating the show has been cancelled due to the weather. This has been confirmed on the shows website: http://www.prestonanddistrictmrs.org.uk/exhibition/ I will just stress i'm not associated with the club in anyway and was just booked as an exhibitor. So very much a case of don't shoot the messenger! In a way im glad as with the southern burst of snow hitting on the Friday it looked quite bad for Shropshire so would have been questionable if we'd got north :-/

Time for an update.... OK first off... A very Merry Christmas 2017 to all our readers / followers / fans and supporters! Its been fantastic to get out with the layout this year! We've had a really wonderful time meeting and chatting with some many of you, so thank you! I hope you can forgive the reuse of an Xmas scene from our Thornton Gate layout created a few years back. It is one of my favourites and well we've been a bit busy of late to do a new one.... Because.....we have an announcement... After over 12 months of planning, research and building a new team around me, I've decided the time is right to enter the growing 3D print market, the tech has gotten better and cheaper but the demands and requirements of the public and exhibition managers has lead to the conclusion that our current rolling stock is past its best. So Above is the CAD for a new more actuate Balloon Class tram car, this was done by a CAD engineer (to save time) with my guidance and input. Above: and this is the first of the 'final run' cast/prints for the new tram car. I should point out the resin shell needs a little more cleaning up and the blue 3D print plastic parts (designed by myself) are just 'tacked on' in this photo, it will also have a smoother appearance once the main shell has been primed etc, but I hope it give a good idea of what the end model will look like. One thing I really like is the custom printed parts freats, as you can see the new model will have alot be detail and depth then the ones they replace The bogie or 'truck' frames are a new addition, custom designed and printed to fit the Tomix chassis we'll be using. To date we've never done custom frames before but I think new models for the post 2017 era demand it... So there we go, I'm really happy to have got here, its taken a long time and a lot of hard work by the team so I cant take all the credit! Personally looking forward to the challenge of building a new and better fleet! Also this announcement helps explain why we did a Balloon line up at the end of our last public outing this year (2017), well we knew this was the last show for our current balloon cars, so it was a bit of a send off to a fleet thats been with us since 2012! Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!

I will be honest with you... try bending a section of flexi track into a tight curve, the sort that you think there is no way anything is getting around that! you get the idea... With Thornton Gate we have curves running twin track into the fiddle yards in under 2 ft! so 1.75ft and we could have gone tighter!

Hi Sorry for the late reply For the Typhoo conversion I used a KATO 11-105 'Shorty Chassis'

Cheers Stewart, thanks very much! I do indeed remember the photos you kindly sent me about 5 years ago now, which I have print outs of and have used and shown people now and again! Yes I know what you mean about photography, I guess I have learned to live with a lot of the issues with TG, but many still bug me, hence the upgrades other the years as technology but also my own skills have gotten better! Hence we'll keep going and improving, its very easy to take all the kind words and comments and think "yes this is fine, it'll do" and never move on or progress, so in a way I'm my own worse critic! Well thats when Anna (my partner) doesn't just decide to rip something up because she had enough of it or, and I quote: "It looks sh**!" Don't remember doing any Warner shows so might have been the Tramway Festival in Manchester or the NEC maybe? You really should come and say Hi the next time! Anyway thank you for your continued support over the last few year!

Ellesmere Model Railway Exhibition 2017 - Show Report The weekend of the 12th & 13th of August 2017 marked the final exhibition outing for Thornton Gate this year. The two day event held in the North Shropshire town of Ellesmere is relatively local to us, and with its mere, lakes and inland water ways is about as coastal as landlocked Shropshire is going to get! Anyway... The show its self was very well attended with a mix of local trade and layouts, some are the more normal ones seen on the local 'circuit', but for us it was nice to see some old faces and people I knew, It being a few years since the last time the layout attended a local event. This was the scene and our setup in the main hall, the event taking place in the town hall / local council building. Before the event, most of the rolling stock got the once over and quick clean. I was however keen to see what was wrong with Centenary class No 641 AKA 'Kit Kat tram' which readers may remember 'let go' in the first 2 minutes of the opening of the Blackpool Exhibition. As well documented on this thread, our Centenarys have been a constant source of breakdowns with split gears and blown decoders. Sister car no 624 (should be 642) was broken up to allow the more popular 641 to keep running... However on inspection this time it was found that yet again the DCC decoder and gone pop! And I am loathed to spend anymore money on a replacement! so as a short term fix and to get the tram back into service, Using fuse wire, I bridged the decoder pins hence making a makeshift 'blacking plate' this basically made the chassis DC again. As most DCC control units can support one DC loco 641 was run using this mode. The only downside is the motor makes a noise all the time and its not good for it in the long run. However it got the car back into service and to be honest im past the point of caring if the motor burns out! Above: So ever popular with the kids! Kit Kat tram No 641 returned to service and run both days for most of the time! However due to the chassis, I'm looking at retiring 641 and this may be its last public show. As for everything else.... Above: A scene ... off scene! Bush car no 636 and Jubilee 761 wait just out of public view on the 'up' fiddle yard line. A bit of news from the end of day 1... We won something! Above: Okey so we might not have 'won' won but we got runner up from the Ellesmere model railway clubs 'best in show' members vote... which was nice and i'll take! As i'm never going to win against a GWR branch line ..... (that'll upset someone!) Above: Operations on day 2 (Sunday) saw the 'Fat Door' Balloon class cars out in the form of white 713 and purple 711. We were hoping to use sister purple car no 719 but it had developed a rather major fault and was found to be 'out of gauge' for the layout and had to be withdrawn. Still the remaining 'Fat Doors' carrierd on and both 713 and 711 can be seen at Thornton Gate station on 'up Fleetwood' workings. After about 2pm on the Sunday the show got a bit quiet, this was to be expected as is the case at local shows, sometimes this down time is welcome in the weekend... To aid the passing of this time I took Balloon 701 our p'way car on a shunting trip in Thornton Gate yard sidings, an operation I rarely carry out. Above: Completing its shunting move no. 701 with the rail car trailer stabled on the far line of the yard. So as the final hour approached and the service on the layout cut to a bare minimum we decided to shunt some cars for a final end of year photo. A bit of a tradition here on Thornton Gate. Above: For this years photo the serviceable Balloon cars were stabled on centre road for the photo, from left to right : no's 713, 711, 710, 726, 701 (with reel trailer which had not been detached after its shunting work!) With the line up complete and a crew getting ready for the photo, we called an end to another successful season with Thornton Gate and also a fitting tribute to the Balloon cars, our largest fleet of tram, for the hours and good running these cars have done over the past 6 years. I would once again like to thank Anna and Sam for there continued hard work and aid in keeping the layout and its rolling stock going! Also a huge thanks to all of you that have come to visit us at shows, stopped for a chat for have posted comments on here or send me messages. We all really hope you enjoy the layout as much as we do! Photos from the show taken by the club themselves can be viewed here: http://ellesmere-modelrailwayclub.weebly.com/ellesmere-12th--13th-august-exhibition.html And we'll be back in the new year! But do check back for updates as the work never stops!

Mini Update - End of July 2017 Hi all, just wanted to to a quick update on Thornton Gates next and final outing of 2017 which will be: Please note: This is Ellesmere (North Shropshire) and NOT Ellesmere Port! More info can be found on the Ellesmere MRC website http://ellesmere-modelrailwayclub.weebly.com/ellesmere-12th--13th-august-exhibition.html For us it'll be nice to do a 'local' show again the first (excluding the SVR event) since November 2013! Its also nice to end our 2017 season whist its still summer and before winter sets in... In other news ....... Work has continued on new updates for next year (2018) My brother and fellow team member Sam and been working on some new road and plant vehicles, which he's scratch building. To be honest i knew nothing about these until he showed me the other day! Still very much a work in progress, but once done we hope to replace some of the earlier items on the layout, but not until we come off season! Anyway hope to see you for final outing this year. Dates for 2018 will be announced once confirmed. Im now taking bookings for 2019 - 2020 season(s) So do drop me a message if your interested in Thornton Gate for your show/exhibition. All we'll keep you updated on the overall Thornton Gate project over the coming winter.

Hi, my N gauge tramway layout Thornton Gate, has been running DCC since 2012, I was one of the early adopters (in tramway circles), However as time as gone on others have switched over to the system. Is it the norm? Hard to say, maybe not yet as I still know of a large number of exhibition projects that use traditional DC methods. The recent Totally Models show at Rigby Road depot (which I exhibited at) I think only had 2 or 3 DCC layouts (including my own) in a show with 25+ layouts. So its hard to draw a conclusion. DCC has huge operational advantages, especially for trams where flexible line of sight running is required.

Totally Models 2017 At Rigby Road Depot - Blackpool June 24-25th 2017 Show Report.. Well .. were to begin with this one..... what can I say...... What a show! I warn you this is going to be a long report at best... The Totally Models exhibition held at Blackpool Transports Bus and Tram sheds in Blackpool was really good, and thats an understatement! FRIDAY Above We'll start with a few pics taken the Friday evening in the drizzle that has replace the summer heatwave of June. Having arrived in Blackpool and setup Thornton Gate, i took the opportunity to visit the real location of Thornton Gate once again to snap a few pics of how the side is and any changes etc... The contractors left a few buildings in the yard from the 2012 rebuild, however most now appears to be the remains of supplies etc. It is worth pointing out that currently (at time of writing) Thornton Gate yard is still the active p'way depot for the tramway even if it currently has no sidings on the site itself. Above: A view looking towards Blackpool over the centre line loop sections and old station of Thornton Gate Above: And a view the other way showing the summer undergrowth beginning to take ahold around the retained buildings of the old station. SATURDAY Above: Saturday started with the view from our B&B in Fleetwood. We chose to stay up the northern end of the tram system as its a bit quieter then the hustle of Blackpool itsself. For the first day of the show we chose to leave the car in Fleetwood and took the modern Flexity class tram from Fleetwood Ferry station to Manchester Square, before with toolboxes in hand walking over to Rigby Road with an hour before doors opened to the public at 10am. Above: The setup its self was something special, the exhibition taking up two halls or should that be workshops of the Rigby Road depot these being the ones behind the main shed buildings adjacent to the bus yard. Our position for the exhibition mean we had to setup over the top of one of the tram roads, with the rails seen here underneath the layout. As these tracks were connected to the rest of the tramway, it did mean that technically we have exhibited literally on top of the Blackpool tramway! To some models.... And Centenary 641 AKA "Kitkat Tram'. On the first morning as i was prepping the stock 641 moved all of 1cm before failing once again! Now on its 3rd PPC chassis the fault, which i think was with the DCC decoder was not fixable, so 641 spent the whole weekend on show but dumped out of the way on the centre loop, Its future up for debate! As things got into a bit of a rhythm, all was woking well, Here Bush car 622 and standard 147 wait at the station on Fleetwood bound services. Above: As with normal practice for us, Balloon 701 stayed on the yard sidings with P'way trailers in tow. Above: Im not a bus person.. Sorry! But thought it was worth showing what was also in the hall we were in... its a BUS! (thats all i know) Above: And the view just outside the depot on the main Bus yard at Rigby Road, showing a number of Buses including some heritage units that along with the classic tram cars provided rides and tours for the visiting public. Above: With the show closing at 5PM (with an extra hour for staff to look around) we packed up and made our way to the depot fan to wait for a special taxi service back to Fleetwood! But first Balloon class 723 needed to come on shed and clear the single access line to and from the depot. Above: The reason? Well our ride back to the hotel was waiting for us, in the form of sister Balloon Class no 717, booked to do a exhibitors special Rigby Road to Fleetwood Ferry working, a perfect way for us to end day 1 and hitch a free ride back to Fleetwood! SUNDAY After a good first day, day 2 (Sunday) bought us some visitors.... Above: Shortly before we opened to the public Thornton Gate yard played host to a wonderful model of diesel Pway car No 754 with matching trailer. A wonderful model and big thanks to John Marfleet for lending it for this photo. Readers of this thread might remember John's version of Balloon 701 visiting Thornton Gate a few years ago.... Below: Operations for day two were sorted in the normal way.... Above: With 641 dumped on view as failed, the decision was taken to swap a few cars around. Taking 641 and Balloon 710 out of service and replacing with Fatdoors now 711 and 719 seen here waiting to go out front, on the hidden fiddle yard siding around the back of the layout with standard 147 stabled behind. With things up and running and the show open, we welcomed our second guest! Above: Young Jack, son of fellow exhibitor John Docherty, joined both Anna and myself for a short while. Above: After a brief run though, Jack took control out inner line services, picking up what can be a complicated layout to operate in no time at all! Which left me rather redundant! As the day went on, trams cars in full flow on an intensive service Balloons 719, 726 pass failed 641 and stabled class mate 713 P'way Balloon 701 made it out of the yard on day 2 and is seen here Blackpool bound at Thornton Gate station. Above: Failed 641 is later joined by Jubilee class no 761 on a short working, waiting to be turned back to Blackpool We'll end this section with a view from the main hall, adjacent to where we were based, just showing how busy it got! So with less then an hour left of the final day of the show, there was one last treat for us exhibitors..... Staff at Blackpool Transport took us for a tour of the rest of Rigby Road depot! As you can see here we're all standing in a boat car undergoing work in the fitting shop. The other side of the shed Brush car no 612 was undergoing work even as we visited! Above: This was a find! As my username (at time of writing) is Balloon_726 it was a joy to find and photograph the real Balloon 726! Still sporting its blue Coastguard livery, the car has spent a few years in open storage before being brought back to Rigby Road depot. 726 last ran in 2011 I think??? Above: Ever wondered what the very back of Rigby Road's main tram shed looked like? Heres your answer! Stored Millennium Class and some what broken Balloons to be found! Above: I also found Balloon 703 painted up as Sunderland car no 101, again readers of this thread will remember when i photographed it in the shed at Beamish a few years ago. As with many others 703 has been out of use for some time with a broken tire. And... welcome to the end of the post! Glad you could make it! I just want to say a huge thanks to those that made this possible.. What a show! I have it on good authority that Totally Models (might be called something else) will return next year bigger and even better (if thats even possible?) Thornton Gates season rolls on ... I'll be updating about that shortly... As ever thanks for reading and bye for now!

Its been a hot one! infact June 21st 2017 was the hottest day in the UK since 1976 .... apparently... Anyway it has been nothing but an utter pain trying to work on the layout over the past five days in the 30+ C temperatures, but we had to with this weekends model show and open weekend at Blackpool Transport's Rigby Road Tram depot. This is the first event at Rigby Road for some years, so its a real privilege to be able to take Thornton Gate inside the depot for the weekend. Above: With the show on the horizon the decision was taken (not by me i might add!) to replace the card 'Blackpool' fencing with something a little more 3D, so with only two weeks to go at this point Anna (My girlfriend) took it upon herself to rip out all the card fencing from the layout, some of which has been on the layout for over five years now. Above: The replacement was some custom resin cast panels which Anna had build the master for out of plastic strip and I had made the moulds and tooling for rather a lot of cast resin duplicates! The process of cleaning and then painting these panels took in all three days, and was a large undertaking. Above: Here Anna is just applying a final light weather coat to the newly install panels, which really do look for part! Above: Some areas like the station were a bit tricky to say the least, and some white paper was used to protect the 'wooden' fence behind from a splatter of Humbrol matt 64! We've also been static grassing the layout to aid the overall scenics and to try and add some depth, this along with the new fences worked well and allowed for some test 'sunset' moody photos.... Above: Long withdrawn Balloon class no 708 made a brief return to Thonton Gate, now weathered down for this shot of it dumped awaiting onward movement at the rear of the yard. Above: Work crews still installing new fence panels for the tramway lineside in the streets of north Cleveleys. Above: And finely sunset at Thornton Gate station. Back to the upgrades and the coming 'Totally Models' Blackpool Show.... Normally with Thornton Gate we like shows that give us barriers, however in this case it was unknown if we were going to get any for the weekend, in which case we have to use plexiglass shields, which I for one hate using as it gives a rather obstructed view of the layout and a 'gold fish bowl' effect. But this children and even some adults completely unable to not touch things, its a necessary safeguard. So for this show we've fitted new shields, still in there protective wrappers in this shot. And finally we'll end with Balloons 701 and 713 out on test yesterday (21st June) ahead of the layout being crated up ready for transport to Blackpool for this weekends event. We hope you can make it, well worth a visit this one, with all the other things going on in support of the model show, doors open from 10am on Saturday 24th June 2017! And as ever thanks for your continued support and viewing of this thread.

Repairs done, Layout glued back together! .... Thornton Gate did its first public outing of 2017! The Severn Valley Railways April Open House Weekend was the first event of 2017 for us... .. With the rather splendid back scene of a Midland diagram WD 8F locomotive undercover inside the museum at Highly. Above: As mentioned in my last post, The layout has had some 'life extending' improvements for 2017 including new lower side panels and baseboard repairs. So now looking very smart! Behind the scenes, the fiddle yard got some attention + repaint, as did the new backscene areas. The speakers that provide the sound effects for the layout have been rewired and moved to the top of the boards, so the volume can be turned down a bit! Cosmetically, we're halfway though the updates for this year. The new yard road plaster work had improved the look of the yard a lot in my opinion. As seen here p'way 701 seen stabled on the yard as per normal. Above: Balloon 726 at Thronton Gate station. Operationally, we've had to do a bit of patch job to get things working as some cars had failed since running over a year ago, mainly with DCC decoders that might have burnt out after Settle last year. Brush car no. 622 (blown DCC chip) and "kitkat' Centenary tram 641 (split gear) were in need of repair as we wanted them for the show. As mentioned 641 a real pain to keep running is such a crowd pleaser, but had now gone though its second chassis! In the end it was easier to do a strait chassis swap with two lesser used cars so Jubilee 762 gave up its chassis to Brush 622 and Centenary 624 (642) give its Bachmann PPC unit to 641 rendering both 762 and 624 as spare parts body shells only. And with that sorted it we were ready for two days of intensive running! Jubilee 761 and Brush car 636 on north bound Fleetwood service Above: All was going well on day one then ... Jubilee 761 which was one of the first cars I ever built and the most reliable of the fleet broke down....for the first time ever at a show! Unable to fix it on the day the car was dumped on the centre road for the remainder of the day. Above: As things quieted down by about 4PM other cars joined 761 on centre line to be stabled until the end of the day, here Balloons 710 and 'Fat door' 713 are seen being no longer required for the remaining hour or so. Day 2.... So onto day 2 and 701 with trailers started the day at around 10:30am, the layout being left in the unheated shed all night had led to condensation build up on the rail head so 701 did some laps to clean up the rails and test for any bad spots and dirt etc.... As we were so near home for this show I had been able overnight to get Jubilee 761 back up and running for day 2, as it happened it was the only failure of the show, with all other cars performing the gruelling hours of continued running very well! Overall the layout was once again very well received by the public with a few invites to future shows across the country... 2018 season looks to be building all ready! So we'll end with day 2 last hour centre line stables with Balloons 726, 711 and standard 147 parked up for the final time at this show. We've still got things to do, updates, repairs etc, are next outing for 2017 will be announced shortly its next month (June 2017).... more info to follow in a bit But for now thanks for reading!

Its time for another update.... and..... We're doing a spot of house keeping as in some much needed repairs and upgrades to the very fabric of the layout. First up, Anna has been replacing the side panels, as I felt the originals were now to large and heavy, and i really wanted to bring the overall height and top banner down a bit. The end result, Both these new end boards which are simple pine frames skinned with hardboard will be painted matt black both sides to give a more minimal and less distracting appearance. The end 'shelf' panels are also going to be replace and so taking a hammer to the layout, the current set have been knocked out, ready for new smarter ones to be installed. The back scene has also had some attention, mainly were the two boards meet, as this area had an awful gap between the boards and had become shabby and knocked about, hence the need to cut back both boards and recut new sections. These new sections have / will be doubled up for strength and when finished should give a nice neat join line.... well thats the plan! Scenically, I've not done to much at the moment, but have removed most of the vans from the yard area and sanded down the roadway which was always a bit bumpy, the plan will be to give this a new reskim of plaster and general tidy up. We're also hoping to say goodbye to the current 1970's transit vans with more modern replacements. So there we are for the moment, March 2017 is going to be a busy month while we get these updates in place. I'm hoping to do some more scenic work such as static grassing and replacing of fencing etc but we'll see how time goes. We are next due out at the Severn Valley Railway open weekend on April 8th and 9th 2017, we'll be in the Engine House Museum at Highley, Shropshire.

Hi We're at The Seven Valley Railway Open weekend April 8th / 9th https://www.facebook.com/events/1196748540398378/ Then Totally Models Blackpool Transport June 24th / 25th https://www.facebook.com/events/1467831189916497/ I'll PM you about exhibitions, Many thanks

Remember that show report from March last year (2016).... No? Well thats because i've only just gotten around to writing it! So sorry about that! Settle was the only outing for Thornton Gate during 2016, this was manly due to us needing a bit of a break from the project and myself unfortunately having a few health issues... But still... Above: The show as held in March at the local Primary School in Settle which is a really lovely town. This being the first time Anna and myself had visited. After setup we spent the lighter evening on the platform of Settle station hoping to see something interesting using the famous Settle to Carlisle route, as it happend all we did see were Ex BR 1989 build Northern Rail Class 158 DMU's (We get the same type of trains at home).... never mind! To the show! Above: Another school, another sports hall! This one was not to bad, the show had a mix of local layouts and a slot car racing track display by the local scout group which gave a nice local mix. Thornton Gate was the guest layout invited by the organiser and we were all to happy to participate! Above: So by now are normal setup and ready for the one day event, the layout of cource had been service and clean prior to attending but never hurts to do a re-clean before operations start for the day. Jubilee Car 762 and a flying Balloon no 713 opened operations And later joined by the single deckers no 624 (incorrectly numbered yellow centenary class) and Metro coastlines Brush car 636, seen in the station area with pink metro coastlines Balloon car no 710. Above: As always acting works car Balloon Class no. 701 stayed stable with its trailer wagons in the yard for most of the day, and as its winter still (well early spring) sports its snow plough once again. Were would we be with out Tram Car failures? KitKat Centenary no 741 and 'Tiger' livery Brush car no. 622 letting the side down again! As of Jan 2017 both are still awaiting attention, but like all the other times stock has let go during a show they'll be back! Yes so overall i nice weekend away, Thornton Gate was we'll received and after almost a years rest we're looking forward to the upcoming 2017 exhibition season, where we have some big changes and upgrades to do! Details will be posted in the coming month or so, we'll be at some really cool venues this year, many being one off special shows! I always love exhibiting in the wired and odd places! More to and will follow....!

Hello all, this is just a very quick update! Sorry it been a bit of a while... I am still alive, I've been very busy with everything else going on in life! Just to say thanks very much for the contacts and messages of concern about the quietness of this thread during 2016. I can assure you all is fine with Anna, myself and Thornton Gate! I am yet to post about the Settle show we did at the start of the year, which has been our only outing this year, I will get around to posting that! And I have a dozen new ideas and mini projects still to do. But sometimes your just not in the mood, which has been the case for this year. Still... Onwards and upwards Tom :-)

Spring time! Nearly with all the snow around! We've been busy though February and into March getting Thornton Gate ready for its one and only (As it stands) exhibition booking for 2016, which is the Scout Rail event being held next Saturday 12th March 2016 at Settle Primary School, Settle. As another welcome trip back north! Since our last exhibition last year we've had a few things to fix, the art of 'sticking it back together' is something both Anna and myself are getting quite good at! The layouts outer boards had taken a far knock during transit so were in need of some TLC. Hence I sanded the affected areas down and then patch painted. The results looking much better. It is imported to do jobs like this to keep the layout looking clean, and presentable and that includes the out side frame not just the contents of the baseboards! Now if you read a post or two back you might remember we had a accident at the end of last year, were my partner Anna managed to crash a Balloon class tram into one of the overhead catenary poles, snapping the pole and bringing down a section of the overhead... Well priority number one for her was to fix it! As the pole had snapped at the base, it was first thought we'd have to build a totally new pole, however using a section of plastic dowl, glued inside the hollow pole, Anna was able to re-glue the pole back into position, which should buy us a bit more time before a total replacement would be due. Above: Bush car no 636 dose the honers and tests the gauge clearance of the repaired pole and reinstalled overhead. Above: With ploughs still fitted Balloon 701 was also used to test the electrics and point work, out of season we tend not to do any real running on the layout, this mainly to preserve running hours of the fleet for exhibitions as well as reducing ware and tear. However after the layout has been out of use for a number of months, we normally do a full stock service and test running session, just to pick up any issue as well as it give the whole layout a clean and tidy up. This also includes testing areas of track not normally used that much as the the very far siding of Thornton Gate yard, which 701 successfully managed to do a spot of shunting with the p'way sleeper wagon seen here stabled at the very end deep in the yard. So were back and ready to go, the layout has now been packed up ready for this coming weekend, we hope to see you maybe? I'm also looking for future exhibitions, so if you have an event and would like us to consider bringing Thornton Gate, please feel free to send me a private message and i'll get back to you :-)

Hello and.... Yes its another year done once again! Decided to go with a more frosty winter scene with Balloon 701 out with its snowplough once more. So 3 months disappear and no update, well.... I have been busy with other projects I have had to but all modelling to one side, the situation not improving much in the run up to Christmas. However despite this new projects and upgrades are underway and we're hoping to get a lot done in January. First up yet another new Balloon car this time in the form of 723. Above: This is one of my photos of the real 723 taken in late September at Blackpool's Rigby Road Bus and Tram depot whist we were exhibiting in nearby Fleetwood. Above: Never one to be happy with anything I do, despite the warm and positive feedback i've received over the years, I'm never one to get complacent, Hence I want a better Balloon class model! So to try and better capture the modernised look and feel of 723, one of my raw resin balloon shells was totally stripped and gutted of all window frames and detail. The shell was then resanded with the roof profile dramatically reduced, with filler used to help reenforce the resin in ares were it was getting a bit thin! Above: where we are now, 723 (Sitting on a Bachmann Brill trolly chassis for now) has had new window frames cut from sheet plastic, these have then been sanded paper thin, also of note are some new upgrade parts including proper centre side doors with depth and detail! Instead of just being a recessed panel with a transfer overlay. Also a brand new casted diamond centre head code box. The unit alone took over 12 hours to sculpt out of clay before making a mould for resin casting, however it looks much better and more in line with the prototype, so hopefully all the other balloons in my fleet will have these new parts fitted during 2016. Still a lot of work to do on 723 but should be ready come exhibition outings next year and beyond! And finally another project for 2016... You'll never guess what these might morph into.....! Anyway thats it for 2015, So wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from all of us here at Team Thornton Gate!

Mark, nice chatting to you as well! We always have something on the work bench! A boat is not as out as you might think... An N gauge OMO dose exist as a one of scratch build done by someone else on another forum, I have a prototype kit done by ELTS for the EE single deck rail coach that used my Balloon car as its base. The EE single decks were used for the conversion to OMO's, so thats not out the question either.

Fleetwood Model Railway Exhibition 2015 Okay thanks for waiting for this Part 2 update... I had a retro computer show (My other hobby) the weekend just gone with 2 BBC Micro computers out at exhibition, (incase anyone is interested...) hence the delay in getting this written up! Fleetwood marked the 2nd and final show of our 2015 season. We've really enjoyed the warm reception of the North West and people! And despite being build and based in the west midlands, it really felt the layout was home on the Fylde coast. Little did we know our season would end in a bit of a bang ... or should that be crash! Arriving Friday evening, setup was a little chaotic, as it was a new venue this year some slight space issues had arisen, poor exhibition manager was a little stressed. being something of a veteran now, we did our best to help solve the issue and did have to move around the hall a bit, which is part and parcel of exhibiting... Above: Anyway set up and ready to go! Above: The show opened a little on the quite side on both days leading to the decision is stable some of the tram cars on the centre loop on static display until the crowds had gathered justifying a more intense service. This takes the strain off the trams and gives the operators a bit of a rest. Its normally reserved for the end of a day not the start! Above: On Fleetwood duty... Fatdoor 713 which for the first time was not joined by sisters 711 and 719 as both cars had failed somehow between the end for Leyland show and start of this one??? This meant 713 along with normal balloons 710 and 726 had to do a full two days as the fatdoors are normally set to the same CV decoder address, hence one car comes off and another with the same DCC number goes on.. 713 is fast becoming a favourite of mine, maybe because of its heavy rebuild from a standard shell or the fact its younger then some of the others and hence has done less running hours... Above: Moving on to everyones favourite! Centenary no.641 'having a break' in Thornton Gate yard. The reason for this was to keep the loop clear for 701 and its p'way trailers then were running at this time and also due to the continued up and down reliably of this tram, it was best to keep in on show 'The kids just love it!' but out of the way. Sister 624 (642) was yet again not used and stayed in the stock box as did Jubilee 762. Above: After 641 had left the yard and resumed service and with things getting quite again, I decided to have a bit of fun and chance my luck by shunting 701 and its train down the far line of the yard. Like the real Thornton Gate, the rear line was not that reliable and rarely used. However to my amazement with out stalling our derailing it made it clean over the rear point and rolled down the far line, after being stabled for a bit 701 even managed to drag its self off the sidings once more. Above: So its the final hour on day 2, with things winding down, I've gone for a last look around when im called back by a guilty looking Anna... why? Above: The late staying visitors to the exhibition were in for a treat as disaster struck Thornton Gate!! 713 now on Blackpool bound return workings, (driven by Anna) some how took out one of the catenary poles brining down the overhead and blocking the down line! Above: So with less then 15 minutes to go, the down line was blocked, rolling stocked back up and we were down to single line running on the up line, minus part of the overhead! Now in reality the whole system would have shut down, but we managed to keep something moving whist we waited for a quite moment to untangle the mess and start packing up! I think that'll go down in the history of notable accidents! So we're done for another year! Im pleased to announce 2016 is shaping up nicely and even 2017 is in the works! As ever we have a lot of work to do, starting with repairs! However even in the last few days work has started on new updates, from rolling stock though to operations, ready to bring something new for next year. As ever I will keep you all informed what we get up to this winter!

Thornton Gate end of season review 2015 Leyland & Fleetwood model railway exhibitions. Its been awhile since I last updated this thread, a mixture of other commitments and getting ready for a very short but solid 2015 exhibition season. Leyland MRC exhibition August 8th & 9th 2015 Our first outing in August saw us setting up in the council offices in Leyland for what was a very good and well planned exhibition. Above 2X: The quite before the storm.. well maybe! Exhibition setup and ready to go! Above: It was our normal 'A fleet' tram cars that started day one. 701 back on P'way duties or stabled in the yard and both Brush cars back out and working after preseason repair. Above: The queue for the front... Behind the scenes always seems to be a point of fascination to the public, and as seen a number of the outer loop 'up line' cars waiting to run round to the front. Above: On day two we decided to switch things around a little, so Balloons 726 and 710 were swapped for purple fat door twins, balloons 711 and 719. These joined all white fatdoor 713 and were the final cars used in the last hour of the Leyland exhibition, seen here posing for photos on the centre line. All in all a good show no major problems, no tram car failures although, Jubilee 762 and Centenary 642 were again not used and stayed in the stock box the entire time. According to the exhibition management numbers were down on last year which seems a shame considering how good the event was! Moving on.... Now we did at end of August attend at the 'vicars garden party' again as a solo side show, as this was very much like last year it really didn't seem worth posting much here, other then to say it was a good opportunity to make a few running repairs, such as the roof of the station house building which along with the chimney had come loose during transit! PART 2 Fleetwood will follow shortly.....