Rowsley17D

What do you use to cut Wills sheets, Larry? A fine saw for the straight cuts?

Jeff, A fine dining pub in the village of West Witton about 4 miles up the dale from Leyburn. Famed for its fish dishes. Just right for that special occasion (a bit pricey). Never been myself,more of a steak & ale pie man. I used to know the father (Louis Moss of Moss & Campbell furniture shop fame) of the chap who runs it.

To be accurate Jeff, she is the soon to be SWMBO. After eight years of widowhood I was fed up of being on my own in a world of couples. We actually met in the NRM so must be a good sign. She was so pleased with my unfinished layout (do you want to come down to my cellar and see my trains?) that she insisted there must be room for a good-sized layout as well as a music room. Off to view potential properties this weekend, so no modelling.

Jeff, It will be to a village between Leyburn and Bedale so will be slightly nearer work. Also expect to move office to Darlington next year which will save another 30 miles per day. Looking out for a property where SWMBO can have a piano and I can have a layout (not in the same room of course). A decent sized garage, or a loft which can be converted, or one with a garden big enough to have a decent-sized shed. The clear night sky here is quite something although we get light pollution on the horizon from Teesside, Leeds and Tyneside. Once did a basic astronomy course at college.

Jeff, I have a half-built layout in my cellar, LMS, Midland division C 1930s, with many faults, too much track, tight curves, gradients too steep. Anyway, I expect to move early next year, so no point in getting it put right/finished, so concentrating on stock instead. My Hornby Black 5 is the first to be replaced.

Having got home early today I consulted "The Wensleydale Branch" S C Jenkins,Oakwood Press, 1993 and the bay was a goods loading platform which was an extension of the down (westbound) platform. Photographs show horseboxes in this bay so it was probably horses that were loaded from here (many racehorse stables are in the vicinity). There were separate cattle loading pens on the south side of the station behind the coal-drops and near to the main road.

I think there was a cattle loading bay/platform at the end of the passenger platform at the west end of Leyburn station, but that was NE of course. They say there's a prototype for everything.

Hi Jeff, There's nothing like getting out the trackwork and having a play with it. I bet you're missing the start of the new school year - not! Did you get out of the bunker long enough to go to Peter's Spares? Lovely day here in TS17 now the kids are going back.

Larry, Sorry to hijack Jeff's topic but I assume you are mixing code 83 with 75. How are they joined?

Hi Jeff, I'm off to Peter's Spares this lunch time for some spray paint for me Black 5 and a suburban coach I'm building and some transfers to line the loco. One of the chaps in there used to work at Stockon Modeller. That trackwork certainly makes Peco look very heavy. You can draw all the plans you like, it's not until you get some real track down that you can see how things are going be (or not, as the case may be.)

Jeff, Can I suggest you pop down to B&Q (other DIY outlets available) and have a look at the foam underlay stuff that goes under laminate flooring, not the white flimsy stuff but the grey stuff about 3/4mm thick to replace cork? It's far cheaper than cork, easy to cut, glue and has excellent sound deadening qualities. Once track is ballasted and glued I remove the track pins so there is nothing to transmit the sound from the track to the sounding board of the baseboard.

Jeff, I was more referring to the colour of the wet stonework. There seemed to be some scaffolding around the signal box, looks like there're doing some renovation work, or just painting it? Which museum are you going to? Shildon? They do fantastic large baked potatoes.

Jeff, Just got back from Kendal and Garsdalehead viaduct definately looked dark and satanic in all this rain! A smashing job.

Jeff, Nothing in Gateshead. There's Model Zone in the Toon but it's not what I call a real model railway shop although they do have some nice Bachy limited edition stuff from time to time. There's a real shop and a model shop in North Shields but they are a bit far out when I am on a work's visit. Couldn't find an update on the layout section??

Jeff, It's 7.54 and no posts yet. Are you having a late start,cos I am off to lovely Gateshead today? Work. But I do get to go by train.

Jeff, It's the first day of the Ebor race meeting today, the passion plays are are on too. Not a good time to be visiting York by car or are you taking the train? Good luck anyway.

You'll find the Romford/Markits ones huge beside the Shire Scenes ones. Although the Shire ones do not screw up you can couple stock with them. Why not glue/solder the ones you have broken? Exactoscale make working screw couplings in 4mm but you need a magnify glass to put them together and very nimble fingers.

Hope you don't get too carried away in the book shop. I usually come away with Keith Turton's latest PO wagon book. One day I may get round to building some wagons from the series but Bachmann usually beat me to it.

Jeff, it's all plasticard. 40 thou if memory serves me correctly. Being only a small building, about 6" long in old money, with internal walls in the right places and 90 deg corner strengtheners, there was no need to laminate the walls. The brick plinth and chimney are covered with Exactoscale architectural paper left overs which needs weathering. The panels are microstrip. You cannot tell because the flash has flattened things out but the walls are scribed to represent wood planks. The roof is Slaters 4mm scale wood planking to represent zinc sheet. All the windows and doors were scratch built. Jonathan

Jeff a pic of Hulme End station building in plasticard.

Jeff, Can I suggest you pop over to Peters Spares on Riverside Park in 'Boro and take a look at the ID photo back-scenes before you buy? I was thinking of the hills and dales ones for my layout, until events took a turn and it will never be finished now,and thought the production didn't quite look right. They are a vast improvement on the old ones, but to me they looked, well.. washed out. They appear much brighter on the web ads. Just a thought... Jonathan (now back from Nottingham)

As I said Jeff, a visit to Teesside Park will get you all the mounting board and card you need. The stuff that's 1mm and 2mm is what I buy, A1 size. They also have foamboard too which they sometimes have on offer. They even have some rtr stuff and scenic stuff too but expect it's top dollar. I must go.... Jonathan

Trouble is Larry, buying-in stuff costs. I know Jeff has his lump sum to splash around, but it won't last for ever. I would hate to think how much somebody would charge to wire up a layout unless you had a good friend who would do it for return in kind. However, I do agree that re-inventing the wheel can be a waste of time and you are The Master of adaptation. Most of us are not all-rounders but there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had when amiring one's own handiwork. I must get off this forum, it's a good job my boss is in East Anglia and rarely gets up to this part of the world, besides I have a train to catch soon. Jonathan

Jeff, I left Teesside in 1999 so while my handiwork was featured, I was not, at the time, part of the group. The actual buildings had long gone so I had to build them from photos and guesswork. I still have some off-cuts from the architectual papers. The ink used stood proud of the paper and although was self-adhesive, could be repositioned prior to being firmed down. I think they came from Australia, but importation stopped when Exactoscale changed hands a few years ago now, pity it was a good product. Meetings are a drag but I am not often called to them very often and at least I get a train ride. We have BIG changes afoot in our agency so at least it will be in my interests to go. Plenty of breeze about today, it should get rid of those fumes. Jonathan.

It's J72 "Joem" at the moment. It only does a couple of trips per day due to its small coal capacity. The G5 that they are building at Shildon would be ideal for the line as it's ancestors were. My preference is for anything MR/LMS . Getting back to buildings, you seem to be happy enough with plasticard and while embossed brick doesn't look quite right to me the stone is fine. I find it's better to laminate layers rather than use one thick one and you can high on MEK rather than Evostik. I also am happy with card. It's cheap and plentiful locally (the art and craft outlet at Teesside Park). Again laminating is the best way a la Scalescenes. Why not treat yourself to one of their buildings as a tester? Have a look at the Card Structure modeling forum on this site to see what's possible? While not embossed, Scalescene's textures are excellent. I built most of the buildings on the National Trust's Pilmoor layout at Ormesby Hall in card, although the textures are the now unavailable Exactoscale self adhesive brick and slate sheets. I have recently built the station building from Hulme End on the Leek and Manifold in plasticard, when I get home I'll post a pic, but not until tomorrow as work are sending me, by train, to Nottingham for a meeting. Jonathan