MarshLane

Thanks Don. That's another option! I got some Sleeper Dye from C&L which I'll try and see how it looks. But I'll try yours and Jinty's ideas for the yard sidings. Cheers Rich

Hi Simon, Cheers. I've been reading through the Newton shed thread, and follow Steve Fay's Ranelagh Bridge thread, but didn't know about the Cardiff Canton one - will have to go and find that! I've been searching through most of the shed threads looking for ideas, and ways of doing things. Much of this is new to me, although I've been involved with model railways for over 30 years, nothing has progressed beyond a bit of scenery and peco track! So Marsh Lane is already far further that anything else i've done! Thanks for the tips, i seem to spend my spare time on Flickr and rmWeb these days looking for realism shots! Rich

Hi Jinty, Thanks for that, Yes, looking at yours, I'm of the same opinion. Do you spray/paint/weather your sleepers and rails before or after building the track? On my test board that the loco shots were done on earlier in the thread, I masked off the edges and centre of the sleepers along the edge of the chairs, then spray painted the rails a rust colour, overall i think it worked, but I'm working if there's a better or more effective way? Good point about the shed sleeper colours - that i need to look into. I like the colour of your sleepers tho, can see them being like that in some little used siding or the like Rich

Hi Jinty and Don, Thanks for the replies and encouragement! Interesting you mention about the chairs on the uphill sections, would never have thought of that happening! Jinty you mentioned staining the sleepers. My plan is to coat the lot in sleeper grime, let it dry and then mask off the ends and middle of the sleepers and respect with general rust. This is what I did on the test track although the that was using Peco track. Do you think the sleepers should still be stained? I suppose thinking about it, if they were stained they wouldn't need spraying with sleeper grime? Or perhaps just lightly in different places to help the weathered look? Rich

Well progress has been made today, although not without its mistakes! I'd decided it was easily time the some track was laid and having read so many threads on here about track building I was itching to have a go! Having got the template printed out from Templot, i laid the sleepers out on top holding them in position with some double-sided sticky tape. I pondered for a while how to secure the rail along the side of the pit, as obviously sleepers cannot be laid across the open space. In the end, I decided to lay them longitudinal for the pit length, especially as the floor of the shed will cover them up once the shed is finished. Then came the realisation of my first mistake, although not before having thought to myself that this rail seems remarkably flexible, thin and small. It was then I realised that i'd ordered all 7mm items from C&L except the track, which was 4mm Thanks to Pete at C&L for being understanding, we've resolved the situation - which was entirely my fault! So with no more track laying to be done before Tuesday when the new rail arrives, i sat and pondered some more, then realised that I could use the rail from Peco metre-length, and remove all the sleepers, so that was done. Chairs cut from the sprue and threaded onto the rail. Now this was mistake no.2 because it wasn't until after i'd got them glued, that I realised some keys faced left and others faced right Again, its a learning curve and I know i'll make mistakes, but I should have been referring to the email from Martin Wynne with all its comments and suggestions, so thats a big one to remember for next time. Then I did a stupid thing, the rail that was going on the left side, i glued on the right and vice versa. Didn't realise this one until I was gluing the penultimate sleeper! Drat it (or words to that effect) were muttered. So third mistake to remember for next time is that the keys go on the outside of the rails and not the inside. Thankfully all appears to work ok with when a wagon runs over. Will try a loco tomorrow, but i think i'll get away with it. So mistakes made, lessons learnt, probably partly because of too much enthusiasm on my part, or not enough care taken ... but either way, Marsh Lane now has its first track laid. I've built my first bit of track and I'm quite happy that it just actually works!! Its not the complicated requirements of pointwork, but its still something I thought for many years was way beyond my knowledge or skill level. Just goes to show, anyone can do anything if they try ... and have the good advisers of rmWeb The 0-MF gauges from Debs on here, are superb and I cannot recommend them highly enough. So thats the first line done. I'm going to wait until next week before I do the track for the second and see how it looks with the right rail, keys in the right way, and also on the right side of the rail. Nothing is actually stuck to the shed floor yet (and there's still electrical connections to solder etc..) so if I'm really not happy i'll do away with the first one and rebuild it. In my mind though, I'm asking the question ... when the track is painted, weathered, and the shed floor is in, will anyone actually notice? Rich

Hi Chris, Looking at the pics on your website, before those above, it looks absolutely superb! Can't wait to see a fully decorated example. The work that goes into these things is unbelievable. Well done. I've ordered one, but if I decided on another can I ask you to amend the existing form or do you need a second one submitting? Roll on Christmas!! (Not wishing away the summer however!) Rich

Thanks Jinty Looking forward to getting it finished and moving onto the layout proper! I decided to start with it, thinking I'd get distracted by trackwork, scenery and running trains if I did the boards first! I'll have a look at Intentio's sleepers. I've used all C&L for the first time with C&L and Exactoscale chairs. Rich

Chris, Sorry if I'm being impatient, just wondered if you'd managed to extract the Kerr Stuart from the modelling guys in HMRC? Rich

Hi Steve, Well done on the promotion - look forward to seeing the website develop, and yet another one to hopefully give the model railway bug too! Hope all goes well. Rich

Mike, Many thanks for that. Lovely little shed Could see that might fit one of the new Minerva Kerr Stuart's just nicely No Rich, keep mind on subject hehe! Shed Update No progress on the shed today, well except spray painting the pit steps black! But thanks to the help of a good mate, we've managed to get all of my British OO gauge sorted out for going to auction or eBay, that will release a reasonable amount of funds for O gauge modelling! Now just got to get a whole host of American HO listed on to eBay and sold, and hopefully the loco fleet, wagon fleet and layout in general will benefit! The other good news, is a packet of DAS clay dropped through the door this morning, while Mr Courier delivered a rather large packet from C&L this afternoon, so tomorrow with the exception of an hour in the morning, and a couple of hours around teatime, should be a shed construction day all day - hopefully with track being laid on the base. Now to learn about track laying and how to model DAS clay into these paviours! Oh the experimental spraying of plastikard black worked well - although I need some better masking tape, think mine was cheap stuff from somewhere. But we've moved forward a couple of mm! Cheers Rich

That pair looks superb Rod! Well done on the videos! Rich

Hi Rod, I know you've got your trough idea sorted out, but came across this while wandering around rmWeb last night - the idea with the handles I thought might be useful to you, especially for the lightweight, shorter cassettes.... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18845-cassette-based-fiddle-yard/?p=184502 Edit: Also this is a good way (in my view) of linking cassettes together - i.e. loco and train Rich

Hi Rod, Do you know, i took photos of the layout on Saturday, but never thought to look at the hidden sections!!! Would quite happily have taken some for you had I realised! Sorry! Rich

Hi Steve, I'd echo the comments. Its looking good, can't wait to see the completed pictures. I hear on the grapevine one of these might get transferred for trials in the NE, meaning it would work on my layout fine!!! Well done on keeping to push for the best you can do. Thats what makes LLC stand out. Rich

Hi Jonathan, Love the layout - i'd missed this thread and a friend pointed it out - spent a happy hour reading it last night! You have done a superb job, its very inspirational, and the locos look great. Now watching with interest! They are superb - would love one, but the funds don't stretch at the moment! Watched the 9F on the Finescale Brass stand at the recent Gauge O Guild exhibition at Doncaster pottering up and down a short track for several minutes. The DCC sound on those locos really is perfect. I've heard DCC audio on steam many times and not been impressed in the slightest - but that 9F really showed what can be done. They are better than superb! Rich

Thanks Steve, That's really useful and helpful. You've pushed me a bit closer towards having a go! Rich

Hi Lee, I've seen Steve Fay's piece on Ranleigh Bridge and Severn Tunnel that's he's doing ... And following both with interest! But not seen that link ... Having said that I'll go and read with interest, looks good ... But don't think it's Steve's project! Mind you, next to a large logo 37, you really can't be a grimy work stained WD or 8F can you!!! Cheers mate Rich

Same here Andy. I love the B&R video series, if you've never seen any, look them up on the web - there's over 120 volumes covering all the country and they are a fascinating insight into the past! The Telerail Modern Memories series is good for the 1970s/1980s too!! Not much progress tonight. Another set of Pit Steps built, so one pair is now complete. Hoping to do the other pair tomorrow then I can start putting the pits together properly. Done a test black paint on some scrap Plastikard tonight to see how the paint works and also if the masking tape I've got can give a clean edge!! Oh and masked the shed doors off ready for painting black. I got some warning yellow from the GOG Doncaster event so once the black has dried that will be the next task. Nothing worth doing any pics of tonight, but hopefully next few days should get interesting! Got the track delivery from C&L tomorrow so Marsh Lane should hopefully gain its first hand made track shortly! Another learning curve approaches Rich

Thanks Peter - i'll take a look. The layout looks good ... although I'm not sure what the GW driver would think about being drafted into to test LMS lines! You might have increased the 'GWR' is best idea among the crew there!!! Cheers Rich

Hi John, Thanks. Fascinating story - I love hearing these tales from the shed yard! Hope you enjoyed your drive of the Bulleid. Perhaps Marsh Lane will have an 'enthusiastic' shed foreman in the front office Depot bashes were something I rarely did as a youngster, not really sure why. I do remember asking to go round Frodingham Depot one day in the late 1980s, I would have been 10 or 11, and the foreman in a very gruff voice said "well as you came and asked so politely son ok, stay out the shed ... And be gone in 20 minutes!" I could have stayed for hours lol! Didn't tho. Remember that day like it was yesterday! Rich

Hi, I've been following this thread in the background for ages, and I have to say, the quality of your modelling and the layout, not to mention the realism in the photographs is totally superb! As somebody born in the late 1970s, I started travelling extensively once I got to college, around 1996, so have always been use to 1 hour Peterborough- London journey's on the Intercity service. But can anyone enlighten me as to how this 07.25 local took over three hours! I can imagine WDs on long coal trains passing it! I'm assuming it must have run via March and Cambridge to take that length of time? Even every stop 'up' the ECML from Peterborough to London surely couldn't have added more than an hour to the journey at most? Love the layout tho - superb. Rich

Thanks Steve Its that first step! Jumping in and wrecking something. With being O gauge and the higher cost of things, i don't want to wreck anything! Do you airbrush yours? If so, do you mind if i ask what you use? Rich

Hi Paul, Thanks mate. That helps and as you said, matches John's thoughts. If only we had digital camera's in the 1950s and 1960s! I'll go with white for the main wall, and black for the bottom four foot of it I think. I'm thinking about dry brushing some charcoal about on the White to represent smoke and grime? Rich

Hi John, Thanks for that, that matches the picture from Bradford Hammerton St Shed that I found. Regards Richard

Thanks Andy, I'll have to have a look at that, I've been thinking about how the track should look outside my new shed, and you might just have solved the problem for me!! Rich