Timmy84

A quick snap of my dining room table this morning (fortunately the other half is at work!)... Work has continued on the frame for the layout. The backscene and scenic breaks are in place and this morning I used a bit of ronseal wood filler in the corners to make it look a little neater. I am now just waiting to do a second coat of the "mizzle" over the filler to finish it off. I have also now painted the front edge in matt black acrylic, a time honoured technique for drawing the eye in to the layout. Once all this is done I will start work on the scenery that will be built up against the backscene. This will include a tower block, low relief industrial building and some scrub/trees. It is very slowly stating to come together but I cannot believe how long you can spend on such a small layout! A little bit of thought has gone in to the name of the layout as well. It has always been in my mind that the "official" location of the layout would be northwest England, justifying the catenary and freight traffic. However Arpley or Crewe it is not so I want to steer away from the WCML. As such Liverpool is my preferred location. All my long distance journeys growing up started at Lime Street and there are lots of interesting locations on the run out towards Runcorn. A little refresher on google maps led me towards a possible location at the east end of Halewood reception sidings. This would fit with my vision of a small loco servicing point with lots of traffic generating industries and yards just off scene. This would justify both EWS and Freightliner traffic in the area. I had all my fingers crossed the Farish might replicate their OO guage STVA car carriers in N this year but it looks like I will be disappointed (not that any new N gauge stuff ever appears anyway!). So movements will include: EWS Class 60s coming off the Fiddlers Ferry MGR circuit to refuel (I have 9 so this was a must!). Containers and cargowaggons emerging from Halewood, Ditton and Garston. Associated Class 37s, 66s, 67s (often used on cargovans) and 86s milling around. Some out berthing of engineering wagons (mainly because I have a lot of these too!). Passing petrochemicals, construction and steel traffic. Maybe even the odd loco used for passenger service popping in for fuel (this only became part of the plan with the announcement of the Farish VT Class 47...) The 08 coming and going. In terms of a name, this is a fictitious location so none of those mentioned above are suitable. I also don't want the letters "TMD" anywhere to be seen. At the moment I am on Speke East Yard or Speke East Sidings. I think this places it as Liverpool but is suitably vague to make it clear it is a made up location. If anyone has any suggestions feel free! I will be mulling it over before committing and changing the topic title. Tim.

Happy new year to anyone still following this tiny epic mission! Some progress made today in terms of building up the scenic "box" around the layout. I have now painted the backscenes a shade called "mizzle" which I thought most appropriate for North West England. I also added some white primer lightly misted to add a bit of texture. I have fixed the main back board in place and the two end boards holding the scenic breaks. The layout is now, after many years starting to take shape, so much so I may need to start thinking up a slightly catchier name for it! Pics to follow soon. Tim.

Spent some time this evening wiring up the yard lights. Apologies for the terrible pic from the iPhone but they are working! Also if anyone knows how to stop this upload tool from rotating portrait pictures I would appreciate the tip! Tim.

It's a busy time of year and as such progress has been quite slow lately. I have been working on the two scenic breaks which has involved quite a bit of construction and painting. This was the rough plan... And this is where I am up to... There is still quite a bit of work to do in terms of weathering and detailing and the scenic breaks will have a big impact on the overall look of the layout. I think I am happy enough with where I have got to though. A pre Christmas arrival is this Graham Farish Class 08. I have never needed a shunt engine on previous layouts but I thought this was a really smart model. I am also a big fan of the old Intercity livery and this seemed like a good excuse to have it on the layout as 08s have a track record of turning up in strange liveries in strange places! Tiny decoder kindly fitted by Digitrains. Tim.

A few more pics from last nights Freightliner takeover starting with "on hire" 66417 resting on the fuel point... 66522 passes through the depot on the way to the yard... Two more 66's arrive on the reception line before dropping down on to the fuel point... Bardon Aggregates branded 66623 arrives with cement empties bound for the yard... Once the cement has cleared 66417 emerges with a container train. I must admit that operating the layout has slowed progress down so I must get on with it! I need a decent bit of time to come up to airbrush the various parts I have been assembling for the bridges at either end which I think will really start to bring things together. Tim.

An overview of the layout tonight where there was a Green takeover. More pics to follow with all ballast in place and the scenic foreground area. Also the odd glimpse of how the scenic breaks are shaping up....

Something slightly different from my last decent set of photos. Will be taking some with the more advanced scenery soon. Tim.

So I have been plodding on with the scenery. All the ballasting is now complete and I have done a bit of weathering on the track as well to try and tone things down. I have also fitted an Ancorton models fence kit along the front edge of the layout to mark the depot boundary and have started to do some of the foliage. Steadily everything is becoming a little less grey! Here are a few quick snaps from the iPhone... Tim.

keep going! so much good stuff going on here!

Thought an electric should make an appearance. Very clean class 86 with some very dirty vans!

I really appreciate all the encouragement and yes, progress has been good lately! Unfortunately I am away for a few weeks now but I am confident enthusiasm will remain on my return. A couple more pics in the meantime, and back to the present day.... 66709 arrives with a long (if you imagine hard enough) container train while another GBRf 66 is serviced in the shed. I like this angle as you get a bit of detail in the foreground. Another different angle, this time showing how much work there still is to do as 66135 pauses on the reception with a set of autoballasters. I think the driver must have wandered off for a brew. Even a layout as small as this is a significant project and the scenic breaks and back area will take a bit of time to come together. Tim.

Thanks Graham. I am not sure about the ballast tones when viewed in real life but the pictures look OK! It has reminded me how much I hate ballasting in N Gauge! I think a bit of weathering and a few weeds will improve it though. Tim.

A quick trip in the time capsule to about 1995 with 37043 and 60054 knocking about "on shed"....

A closer view of the fuel point area featuring 67022 and 66096.

Hi all, I will do a proper update soon but here are a couple of pics to show some of the recent progress. Two EWS Class 66 locomotives rest on the depot showing the newly applied painted detail on the hardstanding. I have also completed some of the ballasting which can be seen here, as 66200 brings two VGA vans on to the Depot whilst 66096 and 67022 stand at the fuel point. I have now ballasted the whole of the lower section and will be trying to get the reception road done this week! Tim.

A quick update and a couple of snaps from the iphone. I had to work nights this week which was very unusual but actually created some modelling time during the day. This allowed me to landscape the foreground area to add a little bit of relief. I added a piece of MDF to the front of the layout with some undulations cut in to it and then carved the polystyrene to roughly match. The whole lot was then covered in woodland scenics plaster cloth (which I found to be quite poor quality and more cloth than plaster) before painting with a basic humbrol enamel and a paint brush. It is a bit rough but the whole area will be covered by scatter materials anyway so it is just a base. Today I have had the airbrush out adding some details to the hardstanding. I have added a red warning area around the inspection pit and I am halfway through an attempt at yellow hatchings! We will see how I get on with phase two tomorrow... Tim.

I like this a lot. A really believable track plan for a modern image layout.

Another little job I have got done is cutting the "tunnel" holes in to the end pieces of my scenic box. I used a technique I found in an old Model Rail magazine where you drill holes close together and then cut the tiny bits left with a Stanley knife. It worked really well and whilst my edges aren't perfect this will all be hidden behind bridge structures eventually.

So a fair bit of progress has been made but not without some setbacks. After wiring and testing the layout I decided to make some improvements. I had wired to run the two fuel point roads off one feed and realised the limitations of this when I changed a point and the sound cut out on my Class 37. After some consideration, mainly due to my dislike for wiring and wanting to avoid too many of my unsightly solder joints I decided to rectify it. This meant pulling some track up to install extra insulated rail joiners as well as wiring the extra feeds. I think it has been worth it though and the whole layout is now live all the time which, after all is one of the main benefits of DCC. When this was done I was able to start on the scenics. The first job was to weather the track which was done using my simple neo for Iwata airbrush. This is a relatively cheap but reliable tool that has served me well for several years. I sprayed light rust on the sides of the rails first before spraying sleeper grime on the sleepers themselves. Both these colours are enamel paints from Railmatch similar to what I use when weathering locos. This was pretty straightforward and went without issue, apart from the mess caused by working on something so big! Following the weathering I intended to turn my attention to the hardstanding. This is a job I had been dreading but I had practiced a technique of building up a platform to the height of the rail with cork underlay and then "skimming" the top with Humbrol model filler to give the correct texture. Trials had gone well so I was ready to crack on! However beforehand I decided to glue down the fuel point so I could bring the hardstanding up to it to properly "plant" it on the layout. When I squeezed my foam tack glue bottle nothing came out so I squeezed a bit harder! Unfortunately it exploded, everywhere. The glue flooded about a quarter of the layout including one of the points. After some initial futile attempts to soak it up it became apparent that the track had to come up quick, so it did. I was left with a bit of a scene of destruction. After calming down I decided to crack on, not knowing the effect the incident would ultimately have on the running of the railway. Following the technique described above I completed two areas of hardstanding. The main one where the shed will sit and a small area by the fuel point. Ready mixed polyfilla was used to fill the bigger gaps between the rails to save on the Humbrol model filler, though the latter is much easier to work with. I used an old wagon bogie to carve out the grooves for the wheels to allow trains to run over the area. Once completed I used a small file to smooth the finish before spraying on a lifecolour acrylic called "worn tarmac". I haven't used many acrylics and I thought I may have mixed it a bit thin but after it had dried I was pleased with the effect. Finally some success. However I could only really celebrate after I had removed all the paint and excess filler from the rails and re-tested the layout. Everything was working until I somehow, whilst cleaning managed to ping the tiny metal pivot out of one set of points, rendering it useless. In years of modelling I have never managed this before. After trying in vain to fix it the track came up again to replace the point (the same one I had flooded with glue so I was convinced it wasn't to be!). Apart from a slightly dodgy solder connection I need to strengthen everything is now running well and it made for a good excuse to get some locos on the layout. Tim.

Finally had some proper time this weekend to make progress. I will do a better up date when I have a bit more time but the long and short of it is it didn't all go smoothly!

The wiring is now done and trains have been running! Very slow progress recently I am afraid due to being busy with other things but hoping to start pulling a few things together over the coming weeks. More updates to follow.

The inspection pit is now also in place, and track laying is complete. One of the nice things about a project this size is that you can progress quickly without rushing (he says about a project started in 2013..!). This actually went quite smoothly, considering that I had to cut in to the sub terrain as well as add some extra plastic to the underside to achieve the correct height. Hopefully trains will be able to run over the pit nice and smoothly. Appearing in the picture is my new RES Class 86, practically the last one available to buy new on the internet it would seem, so it looks like I am committed to catenary on the reception line! This loco will also need some weathering at some point. There are two quite different jobs planned next - wiring it all up to get something moving and practicing some of the techniques I want to use on the track and the hard standing on the test base I have constructed below. I will be approaching both with some trepidation and haven't quite decided which one to tackle first! Watch this space....

We have track! It has all gone pretty much to plan so far and all the sidings have been laid with the exception of the pit road.