David41283

Evening all, I have resprayed a Farish 47 body into rail blue. I am looking for a prototype photo to work from. I have trawled the Internet and class47.co.uk but haven't found what I'm looking for yet. Could anyone point me in the direction of a suitable subject, which meets the following criteria: Br blue livery 4 character headcode blinds still in place TOPs number Original fixed radiator grills. As late a date as possible (mid 70's at a push) I know Bachmann have released 47148 in this condition and I have found photos of this loco in 1975. I don't want to do '148 purely as it's available RTR. There must have been others but I cannot find evidence of them so far! Any suggestions of locos and ideally a point towards a photo would be gratefully received. Thanks David

To be fair, in my experience none of the major british manufacturers readily sell spare parts, those few which claim to do so rarely have any in stock.

Hi Jo, I recall there were loads of little packs of mossy stuff - all pretty cheap, including the "lichen" sold by model railway suppliers, but much cheaper here in a bit of a rougher state. A word of warning - the bits I used were the best bits of the pack, which included a fair bit of mud too! The flower arranging area of Hobbycraft is worth a look - lots of foliage and florists wire which is useful. Sorry I'm a bit vague! David

Just a few pics taken at the Thorncombe exhibition today... The layout performed faultlessly which was great. I added a very quick screen to the fiddle yard to make some effort to hide the next train coming - this was simply a piece of foamboard cut to shape. It was an interesting experience sitting on the operators side of the table for the first time, I have a renewed perspective for the role of the operators now! It sounds anti-social to say, but I have rarely spoken to operators when attending exhibitions in the past, instead just watching the trains - it was weird how uncomfortable this felt as an operator having someone silently watching your every move! It was much nicer when people chatted. Given my own approach it amazed me how I was talking to someone 90% of the time, however this made it really difficult to keep things moving - I discovered I cannot drive trains and chat at the same time, and I became aware that some people moved on as nothing was moving while I was talking to another visitor. Finally there really is a unique sense of nervousness as an enthusiastic 3 year old runs towards your layout! What was interesting was that I found myself using the class 20's more than any other loco while exhibiting.They are nice and short so look the part on a small layout, but the bo-bo arrangement makes them smoother through the points than a shunter. This got me thinking how I could maximise the use of small bo-bo diesels on the layout....... A few scenic tweaks, some pale blue paint and a change of name...... Inverdeen? Class 20, 25, 26 & 27, single coach trains in the Highlands in the early 80's? hmmmm........... not yet maybe.. Cheers David

Cheers Graham I'm looking forward to it. It gives me the excuse to spend most of the next week playing testing.

I thought it was odd that I hadn't updated this thread since July. I had posted photos onto my workbench thread, which I thought had been here. Route Learning at Poldeen sees a variety of traction....

Hi everyone, I am taking Poldeen to it's (and my) first ever exhibition next weekend! I am exhibiting Poldeen at Thorncombe on 7th November. I am really pleased and excited as exhibiting is something I've always fancied doing, but a little apprehensive as I have been invited solely on the basis of the photos in this thread, so I hope the layout lives up to expectations. From what I ahve read Thorncombe is a small show with quite some pedigree, a lot of very good layouts have visited in recent years, so I am in esteemed company! Poldeen is also far from a conventional exhibition layout, with the lack of a backscene or lighting, due to the box design, I hope it showcases something a bit different and shows you can have a very practical home layout, in very little space. This evening, I have had the layout out and given everything a thorough test run. I am pleased to say it ran beautifully and my Farish 08 crept around the layout at a snails pace. This is bound to mean nothing works next Saturday! I have added, checked and adjusted Dapol couplers on various items of stock, and given numerous loco wheels a clean! I also added a few more bits of detail I had been making from scraps of plastic and wire. We now have a milepost on the main line, approaching the station, signifying it is a very long way from Paddington: A gradient marker for the docks branch. (ignore the text - recycling spare transfers!) Non-working buffer stop lights (apparently a strict necessity at the end of any signalled line) And some safety signage at the end of the platform. A stop board at the end of the non-signalled siding. Cheers David

I'd highly recommend the Dapol system - they clip into NEM pockets so no adjustment of stock needed (unless they don't have an NEM pocket of course). They work very well for uncoupling hands-free.

Hi - I stand to be corrected, but I think I may have come up with this idea, which was then adopted by Steve Purves and used in his excellent APA... series of layouts. I actually abandoned it, after posting the idea on RMWeb, before it got off the ground for two reasons, which were A. the trunking required quite a lot of modification before most of my stock would fit. There is a pronounced rib where the two halves of the trunking clip together which needs to be cut off to allow anything to fit and B. there is a good degree of flex in plastic trunking and a good degree of flex (obvs.) in flex track so even using araldite I couldn't get the track to stay stuck down due to the flexing and twisting that naturally occurs and breaks the bond. Perhaps it would work if you fixed it to a length of wood, but this would seem to negate the point of using the trunking in the first place. The best cassettes I have seen in N Gauge are on Polpendra - I think the chap behind that layout is on RMWeb somewhere. Hope that helps. David

Here is my first scratch-built 2mm scale building. It is made from cereal box card and a few off-cuts of mount board. It is covered with scalescenes papers, the drainpipes are plastic rod and the cable runs are 0.33mm handrail wire. Windows are strips of address label on clear plastic packaging. The fire hose and db board are from other scalescenes kit and the roof is a plastic moulding. The steps are made from squares of 1mm mountboard painted with a concrete colour. It is based on the building just off the end of Platform 1 at Westbury, but is a mirror image to suit the location on the layout. It is designed to be a yard office/mess. (unfortunately in this pic the cable run from the db board on the front looks like the edge of a badly placed piece of paper - but it isn't, honest!) It is approx 30mm wide, 100mm long and around 50mm tall. Cheers David

Hi Jo, Apologies if this has been commented upon already, but I couldn't see it in the thread. How did you do all the hard-standing areas around the tracks? Did you use card + scalescenes (or other) printed concrete texture, painted card, painted plasticard or plaster/filler? They look great, and nice and uniform and even. I would imagine card would be easiest, but would be worried about subsequent lifting of the edges? thanks David

On a more pragmatic note, I commented about the addition of a carrying handle a couple of posts ago, today I also tidied up the outside of the box a bit, as the blue has been marked and chipped during construction. The very slim layout in a box! The wiring is now all neatly hiden behind a sheet of hardboard. It really is a layout you can carry under one arm (or in one hand!). Please excuse this photo - my first go at using the timer, with the rest of my family laughing at my efforts! What you get when you open the box! Cheers David

Evening everyone, I have been playing trains today - after some minor housekeeping - a good hoover after adding some more ground cover and a good clean of the tracks, everything has been working well, so I've been using a few items of stock I've been working on in the past few weeks... With three crew in each cab, 47773 is route learning, perhaps in readiness for a railtour? After an overnight possession a rake of autoballasters are stabled in the back siding. The MOD train arrives to run round. Also left after the engineering work - a tatty OBA full of junk! A long way from it's usual patch 73213 has been hired in by NR for the engineering works. The crew of 73213 have their high-vis on ready to uncouple. Class 67 arrives with the MOD train. Engineers wagons in the back siding. MOD vans wait collection from the platform. You'll note mid-way through my taking photos, I propped the lid of the box up to act as a backscene. I don't miss a backscene at all, and I am planning on exhibiting the layout "portrait" rather than "landscape" so people can view from both sides or the end, the lid merely kept out the detritus from the spare room from the photos! More to follow...

The "Like" button seems a little inadequate for these pictures!

I have been weighing up making some substantial changes to Poldeen in the last few weeks. With an exhibition invite in the offing, I was considering converting the layout to a more traditional format with backscene, lighting etc.. I have also been exploring the possibility of constructing a separate fiddle yard or sector plate, but this would have meant cutting holes through the box for the tracks to pass through. I have decided to leave things as they are - it is the "layout in a box" concept which makes this a bit more unique. The only work done recently therefore, has been the fitting of a carrying handle and a bit more static grass on a couple of areas which were looking a bit thin.

I have been working on a timetable for Poldeen, Using realtimetrains.co.uk I have taken the 6 passenger trains a day from the Newquay branch, the three freights a day from the Portishead line and added a daily path for an MOD train and an "open" path for an engineers or Network Rail working. Headcodes are "educated guesses" but I'm sure some are incorrect. I've run the whole thing, and at sensible speeds, with a little dwell time at the platform for passenger trains it takes about an hour to run through. The only real point to work on, is that this makes clear to me that I need some sort of cassette system in order to do anything like this - the amount of taking things on and off the track was incredible! Poldeen WTT.pdf

Evening everyone, I have pretty much finished Poldeen - it's taken 5 months since buying the bundle just after Christmas. In such a small space progress is rapid, even with only a relaxing 30-45mins of tinkering with the layout in the evening after the rest of the family have gone to bed. The pictures aren't nearly as good as the last lot - the lack of layout lighting is most noticable in artificial light. I have spent the last few evenings painting swans, ducks, seagulls and people! I have also added the "Realistic Water" (remarkable stuff!) to the pond. Thanks for all the views and comments. Cheers David

A few more pics which wouldn't fit on the last post... I'm starting to try and write a bit of a timetable/operating sequence to play with. Cheers David

Hi everyone, I've had a bit of a leap in progress since the last update, and today, after a bit of effort everything was running perfectly (even the Farish 08 was able to creep through the points for a bit of slow speed shunting). I've pretty much finished - last things on the list are to: pour some "realistic water" into the pond, add a few (very few) people to the platform and touch up the edges of the box. It's amazing the difference that a bit of natural light and a tripod for the camera make to your pictures. Overview looking towards the bridge Overview looking towards the station. The sheep are the standard Peco, with black bits added with a Sharpie permanent marker! Class 67 waits for the road. I wanted the signals to look like the modernised semaphores that you see on many Cornish branchlines. They are the basic Ratio kits with all the bits grafted to a round plastic rod instead of the supplied post. "Dad, are we going to the beach today?" "Hang on kids, realtimetrains seems to show a light engine move at the station..." Shunting 67 leaves light engine. A typical local train down here at the minute! (although I note there is now only one left in London Midland colours now I've bought one!)

Poldeen progress... The station and platform are in place, and fencing and foliage are appearing. A nice little discovery has been various dried mosses which I found for around £1.50 a bag in the "flower arranging" section of Hobbycraft. Cheers David

Decision made! I have built the small station building, which places Poldeen firmly post 2000!