Mark Alfa

I was contemplating buying a model car and weathering it to give it an abandoned look but I was worried I would make a right mess of it so instead I cut a piece of foam into a car shape and layered a piece of Kleenex tissue over the top of it and dabbed it with a watercolour mix to hopefully look like a tarpaulin and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Also completed the back part of the depot so I have one piece of the back scene in place.

Thank you Phil. Ballasting is almost complete and now I’m just waiting for it to set so I made a bit of progress on the town scene.

A bit slow progress as I’m waiting for some ballast to arrive but I did have these depot lights come today which are made by CR Signals. Very happy with how they look.

Thank you Clive. I really appreciated the help you gave me. A quick video of 09012 in action.

Thanks for the comments guys . Much appreciated! Nothing much has happened since the weekend so tonight I decided to have a look at my Hornby Class 09 which I was having running troubles with. It only seemed to burst into life with the controller at about 75% power. I had my suspicions that a DCC chip had been fitted as there was some sort of chip in the box. It was a purchase off EBay but had no mention of DCC being fitted in the advert so I assumed it was still DCC ready. So I carefully removed the body to find a chip had been installed. So I removed the chip and inserted the one loose in the box as I’m building a DC layout and now it works perfectly

Entrance to the depot is now complete

Now that the wiring is near enough all in place its not looking so neat now haha. I’ve purchased some of the Scale Model Scenery security fencing and made up a bit of scenery to fill in the space behind the fuelling stage. I really cannot recommend Scale Model Sceneries item enough.

Thanks mate. It's very easy to use as the strips are laser cut so you can just snap them out of the MDF sheet and glue the printed sheets on top. Made a start on the town scene today area focusing on the pavement layout using the Metcalfe self adhesive paving slab set.

Thank you Lez. Yes it is the Scale Scenes kits.

While I’m waiting for the ballast to set I started on the lighting for the maintenance shed

So all the track is now set in place and all wired up the ballasting can now begin

Thanks mate. Still a long way to go but not far off completing the track electrics. Got the switch panel all sorted so just need to attach it to the baseboard and add wires for the points and isolated sections.

Since its too wet to be outside to get some soldering done I thought I'd concentrate on planning the hard standing section for the fuelling point and maintenance shed using the Scale Model Scenery kits.

First of all I have to say a big thank you to Clive Mortimore for popping round yesterday for giving me guidance regarding the wiring as that is all new to me. I've been wanting to build something for a while so I made up a few plans on Anyrail but before deciding on this one. The layout will be based around the late 1980's early 1990's So far I have two point motors in place and I'm in the process of gluing the track down on the refuelling line hence the brick.

Recently purchased a TTA in store from TMC with the deluxe weathering added so here is a few pics of it. I can’t comment on the value or standard but to me the deluxe finish looks spot on.

Thank you for the reply guys, very much appreciated! The isolated fishplates will be positioned on the V section of all six points. The plan will be to wire up the track and make sure all of it works properly before the track track is fixed in place.

Just after some advise please. I am in the stages of building a 5' x 2' modern TMD. I have my final track plan as below. I will going DC rather than DCC. On the second picture I have the drop wires marked in red (+) and black (-) with the green marks as isolated fishplates as I will be using electrofrog points. Electrics are not really my forte so could anyone confirm I have the drop wires in the right place, if not could anyone suggest where to put them? Thanks in advance Mark

I went on a photographic charter at the end of March with D123 as the main subject at the Great Central Railway. Class 45 'Peak' D123 by Mark Cullen, on Flickr Class 45 'Peak' D123 by Mark Cullen, on Flickr Class 45 'Peak' D123 by Mark Cullen, on Flickr

08850 on shunting duties at Pickering back in September Class 08 08850, NYMR, Pickering by Mark Cullen, on Flickr Class 08 08850, NYMR, Pickering by Mark Cullen, on Flickr

08850 at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Class 08 08850 NYMR Pickering 15/03/16 by Mark Cullen, on Flickr

37264 at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Class 37 37264 NYMR Grosmont 15/03/16 by Mark Cullen, on Flickr