MarshLane

Hi Paul, Had I not had work this morning - that could well have been the plan! However, this was the scene 1:47am this morning .... Apparently it had worked south on an Aberdeen - London service, but was replaced at Newcastle, and Gateshead depot threw it out on a working from Tyneside Central Freight Depot - hence how it appeared at Marsh Lane... The light level had dropped quite a bit tho, so as you can see I had to resort to Black & White ISO800 film - this new colour stuff, just couldn't cope. One day maybe somebody will invent something new that can take pictures without needing film! Rich

Thanks Paul. Hopefully will be even better when its in a layout environment!! Word on the grapevine is that there is a Scottish 47 on shed tonight ... might have to sneak through that fence again Rich

HI Rod, Good progress. Like the flowerbeds on the platform! I assume there is a cup for 'Best station gardens competition winner' in the booking office!!! Like those houses as well, as you say, they capture the area and atmosphere of the originals well, without being a specific copy. Excellent Can't wait to see them in place! Rich

A second update in one evening, god this is getting serious! Well after those pictures of 1420 on shed this afternoon, I decided to pop back down and see what 'current' motive power was knocking around. I was going to visit the foreman's office and ask, but on hearing snoring coming from the other side of the door, took my opportunity! No other staff about!!! This was one was obviously taken with my ultra modern, supa-dupa drone! As i peered round the end of the shed building, through the main doors, Class 20 No. 20095 sat on No.1 road awaiting servicing: Just after taking the above picture, there was a pip of a horn, and I turned around to find a Class 37 rolling towards me. Diving into the shadows, 37042 arrived on shed, the driver shutting the loco down and obviously scarpering off home very quickly. So with nobody about, i ventured down to the other end of the shed as well! Hope you enjoy! Rich EDIT: Corrected image link.

Well I said photos were to follow Spent a bit of time this afternoon making a bit more progressing - with the shed construction now complete, the next job was to wear the floor. An artist's black paint was used, quite heavily watered down, and brush lightly across the grey foam board, before being wiped about with cotton wool and tissue, to create a oily, dirty floor, which seems to have worked in the main - one side left to do. I've also had a trial fitting of the internal lights. My original proposal was to put two lights on each of the five roof beams, but i've decided that would be too much. Instead i'm doing to put two lights (one over each road) on the first, last and centre beams, which will given an even light. The wiring is quite tidy and neat as it is, but is only temporary, and I need to acquire some smaller gauge wire for the lights, as well as some very thin tubing of some sort for the electrics to run through. But definitely coming on! The first locomotive to arrive under its own power (steam?) arrived this afternoon, with GW Autotank 1420 making an appearance, as you can see from the photos below! I was going to sell this, but decided that it looks so at home in this shed, that Im now going to keep it - at least for the time being! For those of a more modern traction bent, keep watching for the next post Hope you all enjoy the pics - thanks to everyone for their comments. The first official visitor to the new shed... Below an initial look at the dirty floor. It looks better in real life than it does in the photos! First trial fitting of the internal shed lights

Hi Simon, Yes there is that angle, but I'm looking to do photos and that so hopefully it will all show up in those!! First movement on shed today, and also the electrician has been in and changed a fuse, so the depot lights now work too!! Photos to follow.... Rich

Thanks Jinty, Yes once the floor has been weathered that's one of the next aims! A friend contrasted the next bit as akin to fitting out a dolls house! She's probably not that wrong lol! Cheers - I'll have a trawl through. I've a couple of ideas for making things, but was starting to wonder where the fine detail could be attained. Thanks Jinty, glad you enjoyed it. The response to that has been quite unbelievable in terms of positive comments and the number of people that have viewed it ... Over 10,000 page views so far!! Didn't expect that! Cheers Rich

Randall, Many thanks for your kind comments. I think they have come out better than I initially thought they would! Rich

Evening all, Well the plan for today was to progress with baseboards for the new layout - but that was totally scuppered due to heavy rain for the majority of the day. The garage being so full of junk and rubbish that really needs clearing out and taking to the local rubbish tip, that woodworking has to be dealt with outside! So it was over to plan B and pull together a variety of final touches on the loco shed building. Those of you who have stuck with me may recall that i'd had a try at spraying the foam board for the flooring. Well the result worked quite well and all of the foam boarding was sprayed on Tues/Wed and left to dry. First task today was to refit it to the base and glue down to the base - its still going to be weathered yet, but I'm leaving that as a task for another day! With the track having been sprayed, and the concrete floor down things were starting to look good. Next up, was some final touches to the internal shed sides, which were completed quickly before thoughts turned to construction of the building - now as you may recall from an earlier photograph i've kind of had it all together once before, but it was with much balancing and good fortune (well perhaps not so much of either as it collapsed shortly after taking the picture!) and without any brickwork attached, so today was to be first time to really see if my thoughts and ideas really had come together or whether it was going to look just one big mess. There is a wooden framework, made out of 10mm square wooden bar to lift the building a little, and around which the concrete floor is laid. To assemble the sides onto the framework, with much help from my father, we've drilled holes, and inserted matchsticks (minus the lightable end!) which would act as vertical supports. The framework base and vertical supports were then coated in 'No Nails' and the first side attached. So far so good. The second side was added in the same way, before the roof trusses were inserted to make sure the sides were vertically correct, before the two ends were glued and added. Its all currently drying and nothing else will be done with it tonight, but I have to say, I am very delighted with how its come out. I've no doubts that many modellers on here could likely have done a better job, but having never scratchbuilt anything before, as a first attempted, I'm very very pleased! Pics below, and comments welcome - just try not to be too harsh and dent my enthusiasm! Wiring is already in place to the rails so I can see that the first loco movement onto Marsh Lane Depot may take place this weekend - subject to structural engineers reports, Health & Safety surveys and the availability of tuppence for the electric meter! There's still much detailing to take place, both internally and externally. The pits are to be added, as are the external doors. Internal wiring to hide the joins in the plastikard brick paper, external drain pipes, together with the roof of course, which i've not started yet. Then there is weathering, and all the bits and bobs that you find inside a depot to add as well, not to mention working roof and pit lights! Once its complete and on the layout, the wooden foundation won't be visible, as that is to be covered. Its been a steady project, I'm probably only 45% of the way there at the moment, but something that I knew wouldn't come together overnight, and i think its given me the enthusiasm to attempt other building creations as well for the new layout, rather than looking at kits or the like. Onwards and upwards as they say! Rich

Wow x 3, then doubled and squared! Steve, hope your really pleased and proud with that - it looks amazing. Hope your photo shoot tomorrow does it justice, just a shame your selling it! If i had space for the fiddle yards either end, to run trains over it, i'd be seriously interested!! Well well done, The second of the two shots you posted this evening really make me look twice. Another inspirational example on rmWeb to give us idiots (thats me!) something to aspire to.... Rich

Hi Steve, Ah fair enough! Thanks for the reply! Rich

Looking forward to discovering more on the UK model! IF any of my photos/video from Telford are of use to you in promoting what your doing Steve, your more than welcome to use them - just pm me if you need a high-res of any images. I've not had any Update emails at all btw - as i've placed an order am I automatically included, or is it a separate signup? Rich

Such perfect model shots that really do make you take a second look at things. Well done! Glad to see you've progressed with the fiddle yards too. Waverley really is an inspiration to me ... I know I've said that before, but it just so good! Rich

Well done. Nice camera work on the video, with a good selection of views keeping the interest there. Might have taken some time to pull everything together, but it works well. Love that you've moved up to the land of the midnight sun just for us to film the overnight trains! Looking good - I keep hoping to drop int Abbotswood when something is heading straight on, but sods law its always taking the branch whenever I'm there Rich

EDJ is looking good- that road bridge is superb. I'm watching with interest trying to work out what i can steal, sorry learn from! The stabling point looks good, very logically laid out. Im slightly puzzled on the top left of the plan tho, as unless there is a Phase 3 board to the left that you haven't told us about ... are the roads going to be long enough to allow you access into and out of the sidings? I appreciate its not drawn to scale, so just asking what may be a stupid question. As for O gauge ... go on .. you know you want to Come and join us on the dark side Costs go up, I admit, but the O gauge scene is just expanding big time at the moment, and I'm sure there are plenty of LMS items around to occupy you If I can help - shout! Rich

Evening all, Well another, albeit brief update. Not sure where I'm finding the time at the moment, but as I'm getting some modelling done, I'm not complaining! A couple of quick photographs of the shed sides/ends, please excuse the lovely 4F night shot on our breadboard! The interior and exterior brickwork has now been glued to the sides, and the black bottom section has come out really well. I thought it might have gone a little glossy, but doesn't seem to have done. Im quite pleased with the way in the internal weathering of the white wall has come out. Part of me says it should have been dirtier, but the other half of me says, no its fine! Having cut out the second layer of foamboard for the shed floor last weekend, these have all been sprayed a concrete grey colour this evening and are now drying. These will go glossy because of the spray, so some work with very fine sandpaper or JIF (can't get use to calling it CIF!) will be needed to dull it off a bit. Either way, it will be weathered with an uneven oily look before its finished anyway. I'm day off Thursday, so hoping that some more progress will be made with the baseboards if its fine, and I might even be able to start fixing the shed into one piece! Fingers crossed! Thanks to those who keep reading these ramblings, I'm always quite amazed at how the number of views jump and the kind comments pass through the 'agree' and 'like' etc buttons, so I'm assuming nobody's finding it boring! I was very honoured with the 'Craftsmanship/Clever' vote - as I'm neither a craftsman nor clever! Quite the opposite in my opinion! But thanks to everyone... hopefully with track laying and scenery work, along with locos running, we're not far away from the good stuff Rich

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what's the best way of removing the wagon numbers on the Heljan 7mm VAA vans so they can acquire Railtec Transfers with individual identities?? Can anyone advise??? Rich

Just a quick update. Spraying the bottom section of each side worked well and I'm pleased with the result. This evening has been spent fixing the inner and outer brickwork to the walls, and if I do say so myself it looks good!! Also taken 40-somethings advice and sprayed a sample bit of foam board with primer. It seems to have worked, hasn't warped and hasn't eaten the foam! So I'll progress that technique to paint the shed flooring. Hoping to have the basic building erected by the end of the weekend and possibly the other two baseboards built as well! Well I can hope! Rich

Hi Rod, All looking good. Sorry to hear about the roof, but let's hope for your sake refelting it solves the problem. That view with the DMUs and the 50 looks superb! Well done, it's coming together very nicely! Rich

Thanks for that. I'll give that a go on a test piece. Rich

Afternoon all, Well finally got a day to spend on progressing the shed forward. After a couple of attempts, I decided to abandon the idea of using DAS clay for the shed floor. I just wasn't happy with how it was coming out, so fell back onto my normal principals of using Foamboard. Its two layers, thick, the bottom layer, basically being just a lifter, with the top layer being the finished floor. Now i've only painted foam board once before and when it dried, it warped very badly - so can any one offer any advice on what paint to use?? Shed floor with the first lever of foam board in place, and the wooden foundations. The remains of the original DAS clay attempt can be seen. The loco arrival/departure end of the building, showing where the pits start and the doorways will be located. On hindsight, I should have either shortened the pits a bit or made the building longer, but given its the first scratch build project i've ever done, i'll quite happily file it under the 'learn from mistakes' folder! As you can see from the attached photos, the floor, and foundations for the shed are now fixed in, the solid lower black panels on the inner walls have been spray painted this afternoon too, so once the shed floor is painted, my next task is to start bringing the various parts together to create the final building. Once that is one, thoughts can turn to detailing and the like. Thoughts have now turned to progressing the layout. I have decided that Im going to build a small O gauge layout, based around a steelworks exchange sidings/internal yard, over two or three 4'x2' boards. Primarily as a way of running locos about and doing model photographs which is something that I really enjoy, but it will also serve as a testbed for a few things on the larger loft layout. Because I'm looking to get the trackwork dealt with as quickly as possible, while keeping the costs down, i'm going to use some Marcway points and Peco metre-length that I already have from a previous layout, but the scenic trackwork on the main loft layout will still be handbuilt. Despite the industrial setting, I'm planning to fully signal the yard (basically because I have a big enjoyment of signalling!) which will also allow my theories for building a small lever frame, and interlocking with block instruments to be tested before being put into play with the loft layout! I spent yesterday building the first baseboard and traverser, which have come out quite well. My plan is to use Draper DIY stands to support the boards, to save having to built legs, remove any wobble and also give an easy way of adjusting the height. The nearest board is the traverser - which is 6' long, where as the baseboards will all be 4' in length. Im thinking of taking a leaf out of the Runswick Bay layout and having one or two of the board finishing on an angle to give a hexagonal approach on one side. The boards were temporarily supported on a workman at one end as you can see! This has now been replaced by two Draper stands! A very quick check to make sure that the existing Marcway track that I had would fit with what I wanted to do! .... if your wondering ... yes it does! The track layout will be very simple five or six points, one being a three way, giving a single track branch at either end, and four sidings, three being through roads. The traverse will give the industrial complex at one end, while a sector plate will provide the main line and beyond at the other - can anyone give any thoughts/images/advice on building a sector plate??? Im thinking I might put another board in front of the traverser with a couple of sidings on, just to give some more operational interest. Hopefully i'll be able to progress a bit now! The aim with all of this is about practising scenery and getting the layout up and running quickly, to allow me to run some locos. There is a Minerva Peckett (with DCC Sound) due to arrive shortly from NG Trains and their Kerr Stuart is on order for Christmas, so they will provide the 1950s/1960s industrial locos, while my existing '08' and extra couple of Dapol '08s' (when they arrive) will provide the 1980s motive power - the theory being that when the steam needed replacing, rather than invest in new diesels, the steelworks contracted out internal movements to British Rail! It also gives the ability to run the odd mainline diesel into the sidings as well! Rich

Hi Rich, Just spent an enjoyable quarter of an hour catching up on your recent progress! Well done. I'd like to say that I've moved forward the same amount, but life and work keep getting in the way! Still some progress has been made on drawings for the new miniature lever frame so things are heading in he right direction! Really like the concept of what your achieving, the line of thought that has gone into the new BLT boards, considering not only the traffic, but why it varies on different days. Great stuff - keep going! Rich

Haha! No that is a problem, but my main layout will be a steel yard, so I'm thinking one way have been transferred for shunting duties!!!! Rich

Just a thought, and I know this debate has been raging - but could it be that 08202 had black radiator surrounds at some point, and the info or pictures that Dapol have been working from show it as such? People are jumping to the conclusion that its an error or lack of research on Dapol's part (and it may be) but it could also be that the example they have chosen was like that. I cant immediately find any images of 08202, but its always quite feasible it was a mispaint on outcropping from the works, or even a depot modification, either of which may not have lasted all that long of course. Just a thought - not looking to fan the flames! Im just really happy that we've got a good, high quality, modern image model for less than £200 that is easily DCC adaptable! Rich

Hi David, I don't think Buzz do a HEA - they do the FNA nukes, and MGR HAA. I think it was the Heljan HEAs that CME was referring to. The list of kits I picked up at the show details: FNA, HAA, MHA, MEA, MFA and IWA (all resin body with white metal under frame), IWA (resin body with white metal bogies) and FFA/FGA white metal body and etch brass under frame. Rich Rich