MarshLane

Hi Dave, Thanks for the comments. I must admit this last 12 months I've felt like getting more adventurous with the model railway. I've had a OO gauge one since being little, but it's always been RTR models and simple card building kits with newspaper and wallpaper paste paint green for hills! While my move to O gauge a few years back was because OO just no longer held that realism for me, it was still based around RTR locos and wagons and Marcway/Peco track. The past 12 months I've thought I fancy having a go at making a shed building, hence the scratchbuilt, laser cut shed building that got my Marsh Lane Depot thread underway, then I attempted point work, now the plastic and etched brass kits! Really does go to show that it's always worth trying something once! Have to say I've really enjoyed it all too, and being able to share it with others on rmWeb, as well as getting advice on different things has been great. So couldn't agree with your sentiment more! Thanks for the support! Rich

Hi John, I'll go with unfitted in that case I think. Seems to be a good starter for kitbuilding, just wish the detail on the underside was explained a bit better! Thanks for the background on the weathering, thats useful, something I've not attempted yet. Hi Martyn, Thanks of the advice, thats a great tip! To be honest, I don't think its twisted, its more the internal door I haven't got spot on, and I think its resting on the inside cabin roof (which is deeper on the roof section than the veranda's) so it needs a little rub with some sandpaper, which should sort it. It doesn't matter which end you get flat, the other is always sat proud - and looks to be because of the same reason. But if that doesn't work, ill give the soup tin a try! Yes, I need to get hold of some Milliput, thanks for the reminder, thats great. Rich

Forgot to mention on last night's update, the ES1 NER electric loco kit should arrive shortly from Judith Edge Kits, and I've ordered the motor, gearbox and chain drive from Branchlines this morning, so the next instalment in my adventures with kits is on the horizon - although I think this Slaters box van will get built first! Rich

Hi John, Yes I'd agree with that comment entirely! The brake rigging took some sorting out for me too! Im thinking this one may be through piped, but I'm working on the basis that its a former NE van that at some point in the past - the reasons for which appear to have been lost in the midst of time! - has transferred to the NCB for use on the Arksey Colliery Railway, much of which runs unbraked! Well thats my back story anyway! I like the way you've built and painted your van. Its the same as always, two people approach these things from different viewpoints and different aspects or ways of construction come to light. I'm going to do another one or two of these, so will be including a couple of your ways of building along the way! Nice weathered outcome for you tho. Hi Simon, Thanks for that - and for the health warning! - I do need to get a bottle of their Brass Black - do you know where its obtainable from? Rich

Hi Ron, Just thought I'd enquire as to what's happening with your model? Any progress? Rich

Hate to say this Andy, but I think I prefer the LNER/LMS style region to blue diesels!!! (For reference, I've retreated into the bomb shelter out of the way of anything that can be thrown at me hehe ) Nice pictures tho, and looks like your having fun experimenting with the layout? Great to see .. looking forward to seeing more ... 12 down, 87 to go Rich

No, there is at least one bodyshell in Italy for the Devon diesel version - Railway Herald did a full round up of all the current construction and which sets are where a couple of weeks back, might have been last week, I'll have to check, but there was a picture of the first green bodyshell in the Italy factory. Lets hope they do a better job with these than they did with those high speed units for Belgium/Netherlands that got rejected and sent back! EDIT: Oops, sorry got interrupted by a phone call while I was typing that and I see Ron beat me to the reply! Sorry for the duplication.

Hi Rod, Sorry to hear your've not been well, but pleased to see the new tablets are having a positive effect. That signal box looks superb - really enhances the layout and adds to the brilliant quality you've already achieved. Well done mate. Rich

Well no work on the track today. A combination of rain and work 'stopped play' as they say! However I have had an enjoyable two or three hours tonight doing a bit more on my NE Brake Van kit. If you've been following on the Marsh Lane thread over on the 7mm Modelling part (have a wander back to this post in November!) then you'll know that having never built a plastic kit before I acquired a Parkside Dundas NE 20-ton brake van kit, in order to 'have a go'! Its been slow progress, my fault entirely, and tonight has been the first work done on it this year, but its coming together well. This will appear with NCB markings for Arksey. Still some detailing work to do, the roof needs attention to sit properly, and of course it needs painting (and the couplings/hooks blackening) but its coming together nicely! If you want to see any more pics of it, I've documented the build on the Marsh Lane thread (tonights work can be seen here). For reference, the Marsh Lane thread will stay as a 'workbench' style thread documenting builds and detailing etc, keeping this Arksey thread specifically for the layout and shots of the rolling stock operating. EDIT: Forgot to mention Michael Edge, tells me my etched brass kit of ES1 is ready for dispatch, as soon as Royal Mail decide to deliver the cheque, so here goes with another first - never soldered anything other than power connections before, so another adventure approaches! Rich

Evening all, Well, for those following the Arksey thread (see signature) over on the Layout Topics section, will know that the baseboards for Arksey have come together well and the trackwork is now going down. Can I at this point, say thanks to all of those who offered thoughts and advice on my first track making attempts last year, this is coming together a little easier because of it - thank you. I'd hoped to get a bit more work done on the first of two points today, but work and rain prevented that. Instead I've had a couple of hours tonight and almost finished the NE brake van that I started a few months back. Just needs a little bit of detailing (roof ventilators, one set of footsteps and handrails adding) before painting, although I think the painting will take place before the handrails are fixed in for obvious reasons! Like the trackwork, this is the first plastic kit I've built, and I've been quite excited by how its all come out. Also have some work to do to make the roof sit flat, its up slightly at one end. This will probably gain bauxite livery, but with NCB markings to work on Arksey. Next up is another Slaters plastic kit - this time a 12-ton box van, that is likely to become a plate layers van for Arksey. Oh, and I've realised I should have 'blackened' the hook and chain before fitting, so they are going to have to come off again to allow that to happen! Anyone any suggestions on the best paints, or the best way to paint these kits? Rich PS - Just one more as I'm so pleased with it This is where it stands at the moment...

Cheers guys! Coming slowly. Not had much time today as I was at work this afternoon. Did get half an hour to move the NE brake van kit on this morning, that's not far off being finished now. Also, thanks to a kind offer, I've acquired a Fowler 0-4-0 at an advantageous price to turn into the centre cab version. Conversation with Paul Chetter about DCC sound and speakers will be needed there! Also realised I didn't have enough rail chairs to finish board 2, so put an order into C&L. Hope I might get and hour or so to finish the point work off before work tomorrow! He says hopefully! Rich

Thanks Chris, I remember reading about that now on his Denton Brook thread - worked well as I recall. I'll drop him a line. Thanks Andi ... in between work ... lets hope! Rich

Hi Barnaby, I think its partly the fact that you get so far through a project and then think, if I could wipe the board clean and start again, I could do that bit better, that bit I wouldn't do like that again, etc.. etc.. etc.. I also find that things develop and issues or 'inclusions' that you hadn't thought about come to mind. For me, I generally work on the premise that if I'm having doubts after a few weeks, why am I having doubts, what don't I like - and then, are those doubts going to niggle away continuously! If they are, are stop it, sit back and consider where to go next. But like Simon said, everyone is different. For me, I'm now quite happy and convinced with my 'BIG' project, but a move of house, likely sooner rather than later, but sometime this year, means I can't progress, hence why I've started my little portable layout of Arksey. It gives me something to do, try out new things, small so its easily achievable and yet everything that I learn through doing it will used to build the 'BIG' project. So for me its a bit of a stop gap rather than a change of mind. But loco wise, etc like Simon, everything will get built into the bigger project in time. I think if your new layout is looking remarkably similar to the old one, id be tempted to step back, take a fresh view, and say a) why is it the same? Is it just the track-layout or what your proposing to do with it, and b) if its the same, what am I going to do on the new one, that I can't on the old - which one is the better and which one is worth continuing with? Just my tuppence input! Rich

Thanks Paul/Andy, much appreciated. Also thanks to the silent majority for taking an interesting and reading the updates - quite amazed that we're almost at 1,000 views in a week! An early finish at lunchtime today, has given me the ability to spend an afternoon relaxing with the layout boards, and spurred on by last nights progress of seeing locos actually on the boards, I set to with Board 1 (which is the left hand of the two) and laid the second layer of cork. Now some may query, why use two layers, rather than just the one? Well although the layout is flat, in terms of the track level, I wanted to create some undulations in the ground cover, hopefully. The cork I'm using is 6mm thick floor tiles, so the sleepers will be 12mm above the baseboard level. Some of the base level cork (which covers the entire board) will get cut away once I'm doing the scenery, which should help with giving depth and the like to puddles/grass. I've not been too neat or careful with the second layer, as it will get covered by ballast and will not ever be seen, and with its purpose being purely functional, there are some rough edges! Over this, the cut out Templot plan was then relaid. The 2nd layer cork is just very loosely pinned with OO gauge track tacks to the bottom layer so there is some breathing space. Next the P-Way crew turned up, and it looks like they brought half a forest with them, but judging by the speed the sleepers went down, they left the kettle back at base!! Working on the premise the sooner they got it done, the sooner they got back for a brew, they have cracked on quite well!! The sleepers are all C&L, those nearest the lens on the left hand road, do need trimming in a couple of places just to tidy things up, but they are the self-cut sleepers for the depot/main line point. If your comparing back to the original track plan, the left hand road is the dead-end workshop headshunt, the middle road is the main line, and the right hand line is just a siding, accessible only from the sector plate. Next the track crew turned up, and remarkably the first rail on the headshunt, along with the main rail on the point went down quite quickly. Im going to work on getting the point laid totally this weekend, hopefully. The 'vee' has been filed down this afternoon, just got the blades to do. ] Excuse the two right hand loose rails, just fixed with blu-tac to make sure they don't fall off the board! From the above angle, I'm quite pleased I cannot even see the rail join with my eye when I look along the length! But as you can see, it is there and all rail-joinered up too! So progress has this week, been a lot quicker than I imagined it would be. Hopefully I can get the point finished this weekend, and the other rail in on the headshunt, and we might just have had the first movement by Monday! This board as the majority of the track on it. Board 2 (the right hand one) is just one point, the main line and the workshop line, part of which is going to be copper clad trackwork as it will be covered by cobbles. Yet to work out the best way of doing cobbles, although if I can find a way of stamping the DAS clay is looking possible. Hope your all enjoying the read - any questions or comments please shout! Rich

Just one more for the night - on the right will be a grass banking, with a road bridge hiding the exit from this end of the layout. Rich

Evening all, Managed to spend a rather enjoyable couple of hours working on the two boards. Both now have the first layer of cork covering on them, and I've loosely placed the cut out Templot plans on top, really just to allow me to think about the planned scenery and how its going to work (or not!). I know cork is one of those 'personal preference' items, but it does seem to have kept the noise down on my 13' long test plank. Im going this one sightly different in that its going to have two layers of cork on it. One is a general all over covering, the other will just be under the track to raise it up slightly, and allow the ballast shoulder to be provided without excessive amounts of ballast. My line of thinking is that in places, I can also cut away the base cork lever and create graduations in the ground level. So, a few pictures to show progress this evening - ARRRGH getting in a right mess with these tonight! These were just taken on the iPhone, not the DSLR so nothing special! Cork layer going down. I've glued this with PVA just round the outer edges to hold it in place. This is Board 1 - the left hand of the two, showing the depot headshunt (left) the headshunt for the unseen yard (right) and main line (centre) Followed by a couple of views giving some idea what the photo opportunities will be: Then I moved onto Board 2 - the 08 is stood in what will be the workshop building, the wagons on the main line. The exits have got to be cut in the ends yet, but I decided to wait until the track plan was down to make sure these came in the right place! All in all - quite happy with the progress. I've just used a couple of locos that were at on my test layout at this point, but its shown the operational interest to me, and allowed me to give through to where the scenic sections and ground signals will go. Rich

Thanks for the kind comments Andy, appreciate the support. Rich

Evening all, My best of intentions for the day seemed to go somewhat awry! A combination of a heavy rain shower that 'stopped play' mid-way through the afternoon, and a forgotten doctors check-up that I ended up rushing out to, means that one way or another my day off has vanished! Did get an hour to work on the baseboards however, and both 'scenic' ends have now been fitted. The full length backscene has been fitted by then gluing the back scene and frame with 'no-nails', then bolting it to the base framework to give a very firm backdrop. For the ends though, I wanted to ensure that should I wish to extend the layout in the future, I could do and needed a way that would allow the ends to be removed, but still be firm in the short term. Using 'no-nails' was therefore a big no-no! Instead, the ends are bolted to the base frame in the same way as previously, but then I've run some aluminium angle up the join between the end and back, to bring the two together, and give further strength. The Lightbox is still to be added along the front but at least progress is being made, and Im at a stage where I can now go an spend an hour or two progressing the trackbed Just conscious I want to get this right - so any thoughts/opinions are always welcome. Todays work so far.... Hope people are finding this interesting, although I acknowledge that trackwork and trains provides more interesting reading and viewing! Only pics of one board, but the other one is identical. Rich

Hi Andy, Like what your doing with the two OO Gauge layouts, have you decided that OO gauge is more your cup of tea than O .. or is Beale Street just on the backburner with having your local club layout to exercise the loco wheels Hope we're still going to see your talents in the bigger scale. Rich

Just after i'd posted and shut the computer down last night, it occurred to me, that some people may like the Templot file, either to adapt for their own use or to see what ive done (or should that be the mess i've made?) So the templot file is attached, feel free to view, copy, alter etc.. and a screenshot of the layout, showing the outline of the two 3ft x 18 inch boards is shown below. Rich Arksey Colliery Railway - Micro - v3.box

Hi Ian, Nice progress on the layout - well done with the invite to Doncaster next year Rich

Looks like the database had a blip! Did you reply with a previous quote Paul? Rich

Hi Brian, Interesting background - I've been seriously thinking about getting one of those WWS static grass applicators - they seem one of the best around. More food for thought! Rich

Hi David, Nice to see the layout working Well done. Rich

Well something of a stressful day at work today, but home and relaxing now! I've spent half an hour 'tweaking' couple of minor issues related to clearance and the like on the track plan, I've also shoved the timbers as Martin suggested and am now happy with those - and as I type this, there are several sheets of A3 paper sat alongside me that now need sticking together to be put on the board and allow the trackwork to be built. Im day off Thursday (YAY!) so hopefully some progress will be made with the layout trackwork. As I've previously commented, there is still work to be done on the boards themselves in relation to the ends and light boxes, but might leave that till the weekend, and actually do some modelling. In the meantime, to provide some interest, a shot of my Minerva Peckett, which will form one of the locos for the new layout - hopefully to be joined by one of the big Minerva tanks in the not too distant future. These Pecketts are delightful and the audio quality from Paul Chetter is superb. Obviously, this has yet to be weathered. Points will be worked by servos, mounted below the boards. These will be mounted in my own design of servo mounts, which are laser-cut MDF. Rich