Class 74

You can see a lot of ground signals in bigger stations in the USA, so I tried to create something looking like that with coffee steers, plastic parts from a pipe kit and cardboard. Here the gallery for the REA area The loading bay First step for the overbridge The buildings are not glued at this state, but it will give you an idea of how it should look. More pix in the next days! Cheers and stay clean! Simon

The left fiddle yard A complete overview (the class 37 is just helping testing the tracks) Angus is watching! British icons!!! (No class 37 was harmed) The view in the other side with my chaos in the background! Spraying the tracks Creating the side backgrounds The I laid the platform basic before ballasting the tracks Looks good with ballast. The building was for the US-version of my Kilmister layout, no problem to reuse it.

The complete size is 420 x 45 x 30 cm. The scenic boards are 80 x 45 cm each. Left FY is 100 x 45 cm, right 160 x 45 cm. Here I glued the background Soldering, something I really don't like... First tracks on the first part of the right fiddle yard The ramp for the REA/Freight house

Hi modellers This time you can see my progress on my US-layout. It is either in Illinois between Matton and Terre Haute, a Union Station were the NYC/PC and Illinois Central meet. Or it is Albany's Union Station with PC and Delaware and Hudson trains. Of course there is also everything possible in early Amtrak times. I reused a lot of my old buildings from the Kilmister layout, walls and other stuff, bought nothing new, just the tracks and wood for the baseboards. Let's see some pictures now! Sorry for the bad quality, but here you can see that I built the boards like a box Track laying begins!

Uuuuh, that is pure gold!!!! Thanx mate, very useful. Impressive how the passenger network was in those days, you could travel from NY to Mexico City... awesome! Cheers Simon

Hehe, love that "sinking"-sign in the Video, pretty cool! (too late too late...)

Hmmm... just saw something nice last week; look at 12:25!!! It's not LBSCR but LSWR. Beside it is in general a special looking train, a steam loco movement in the USA (!!!) What the hell is THAT little beautiful thing doing there...? As I said, look at 12:25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdGo7kDlrP0

Holy, you crazy brits... Other maniacs just try to SAFE a loco, and you guys BUILD them from new! Just great, and an awesome donation by Bachmann. Of course I bought one of those beautiful Southern Atlantics, such a lovely model. Cheerio Simon

Hey Luke That looks pretty cool! I like the arrangement of the background, gives a lot of depth. Cheers Simon

That's the Illinois Central part of the CN. They now have tracks to New Orleans!

Hi Joseph There are some more pix of the whole thing... the whole island is full of industries. Check it out on Google, or here: http://railpictures.net/showphotos.php?location=President's Island Location is Memphis, Presidents Island.

That looks fantastic Paul, hmmm... I think that J70 would be a nice addition for my South Docks. Simon

Wow, that looks pretty cool!!! Amazing layout, really like that. Cheers Simon

Hi Steve The most are Preiser figures.

Haha, yeah, there are a lot of birds now, but I think a streamlined mallard would look definitely out of place!

Hey guys Here are some more pix, this time also with diesel power! I think I have cats somewhere, just found one with no head... sorry mate! First time with full lights The woodland lights were a good choice so far And now a little bit of diesel Here are my newly weathered wagons. A close-up from the "water" Then I added some more life... here's Ozzy, and he's flying high again! Here you can see how it's fixed. Because the light comes from the right you can't see the little plastic strip. So long my friends, hope you like it! Cheers Simon

I thought the same about the height. But it gives the opportunity for a nice frame, with a good light = perfect! Looking good so far Simon

Hey Guys Look at this picture, isn't these the perfect prototype for a small US-layout? http://railpictures.net/photo/688070/ Regards Simon

Nice job Stu! Keep going Cheerio Simon

Now that's a pretty cool layout! Regards Simon

Ok ok, here we go... Some basic nature added Ladders and a Woodland street lamp Surprise, this little one is running very good! Some fresh painted stuff mainly from Kibri. Here some load from Artitec. Bushes from Heki A lot of loads for the open wagons and the quay. The E4 is a little troublemaker. Still have to make some adjustements for better running. Another Southern beauty Added some little stones and tall grass. That's it for today! Cheers Simon

Thank you all!!! Yesterday I made the first test runs... Diesels (Cl. 33 and 37) run excellent, but some steamers are not happy... The two tracks in the front are a bit lower than the track in the back. This little bump cause some trouble with an E4 and the Black Motors. Have to fix that! And some adjustements for the fiddle yard are necessairy as well... but overall I'm really happy as it turned out, will get some working men figures and some bushes for the back along with other details this week. Will post some pix later this week! Cheers Simon

Another Micro Man! I have ideas for hundreds of layouts, always hard to pick the right one. I was always interested in harbours, there are not that much in Switzerland... thats why I picked that theme for my new micro. BTW my cat LOVED my background. It dried on the floor and when he came home he immediately took place on it! After a short meal he came back and sat down again... I removed the background the next morning and he was looking for it when I came home in the evening. It was hillarious, he really was looking everywhere left and right, he looked at me like "there was something there yesterday, where is that? I liked that dude, put it back or I give you a face lifting!!!" Cheerio Simon

Yep, I have! https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/141651-south-docks/

Hi guys A long time since I made a new layout. This time it is a micro layout made out of a wooden beer box of 51.5 cm x 26 cm. It's mainly made for Southern steam, but can also be used in modern times. It's not finished yet, but in the next 14 days I think. Still have to paint the water shiny, and some details still missing. I tried a lot of new technics, some worked , some not soooo well... Ok, here we go with some pix! The Beer Box! The first plan. The second, more realistic... Shaping the docks with hardfoam. Painting the water I like to work with cardboard, you can even work at night. No noise, less dust and trash and this planks look even better than wood. And no costs! Screws for a removable background At least there is some wood... Covering the upper level First try with the bridge The glued & painted tracks with the ballast. You can see the inlay that I made of tracks, I just turned them around. I removed them already, you will see later why... A little platform for the goods The final painting for the visible tracks. Some weathering will follow! Front of the warehouse on the right end Warehouse for the back, this will include a light inside. I tried out the new Woodland system, it's pretty cool! There are six lights on the layout. And here comes the desaster... I wanted to cover the whole front of the docks with that mixture. It is like wood dust mixed with water. After it dried it is like extremly light wood. I also ordered a role with a cobblestone relief from shapeways. But as you can see, mmmmh... you really have to push it, otherwise it is barely visible. Probably works better with a different mixture... Go on with the building... Then I found out that I have not ONE Southern or grouping freight wagon... so I ordered this 8 from different companies plus a brake van. Some more are already ordered! Some green around the tracks Finishing the bridge with NOCH cobblestones. NOCH is my favorite for walls and floors. After the removing of the inner tracks. They came off in one piece, yeah, so I put it aside. You never know for what its worth... A nice fence from Auhagen Floor weatherd, some more details and of course the background And the fiddle yard! As you can see, I really like to work on the floor. More will follow!!! Cheers mates Simon