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No modelling this week as we're away for a belated summer holiday. Not away from the railways though as this is the view from our bedroom: And yesterday we had a very nice trip to Conwy castle: Marcus.

A 2F is definitely one of the missing pieces for the Kettering and Huntingdon! (I'd like an 8F and a Bagnall 0-6-0 too!) Marcus.

Sitting in University Chemistry department I can't let that stand - you're applying solvent so them so they don't so much melt as dissolve! Marcus

So this means I have an MSE LMS/ex-MR upper quadrant wooden post signal going spare: If anyone wants it let me know. Marcus.

I went to Modelmania in Bristol on Saturday and saw an advert for a talk that might interest you: Barton Hill History Group Presents "BARROW ROAD REMEMBERED: A night of Photos, Memories and Reunions" Presentation by Dave Cheesley to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the closure of Bristol's last steam locomotive depot. At Betheseda, Church Road, Redfield Wednesday 18th November 2015, 7:30pm start Admission

I went ahead and got a Dapol LMS home signal for the Huntingdon end of the station. Installation was straightforward with a sprung centre-off toggle switch mounted on my panel, and a 13 mm spade bit (a 14 mm doesn't exist, but a 13 mm and a bit of persuasion did the trick). So here is my 3F waiting at the signal to enter the station area - need to bury the huge mounting plate and grass up this area of the board - it'll all be trees in this corner once I get around to buying a copy of Gravett. And yes, it's a bit droopy so may need a bit of adjusting somehow. It's not so obvious in the flesh. So I'm happy with it! Works nicely (little noisy) and I will add a bit of weathering and a support wire as seen on Edge Lane Junction. Marcus.

Lovely subtle weathering here Alex, I've so far been afraid to touch my little stable. Marcus.

I'm having a quandry about signals at the moment. Buckden was a Block post but not a staff station, and had few signals. with just 4 (of 8) levers in the box running distant and home signals in each direction. The distants are out of my scenic area, but the homes could be added, one just before the bridge (from the Kettering direction) and the other advanced of the points in the Huntingdon end. There would also have been, I think, point indicators for the goods loop. John Hinson very kindly found and published his numbered diagram here for me: http://www.signalbox.org/diagrams.php?id=865 I'd like to have working signals for both, as eventually I'd like to interlock everything into a lever frame. I did buy an MSE LMS (ex-MR) Upper Quadrant Wooden Post (S4/KM4) but I've not built it as I don't think my soldering skills are up to it, and I think it would be a challenge to motorise. I'm thinking therefore that a couple of Dapol motorised ones would do the trick, as although pricey they'd be straigtforward to install and wire up, and I think they look rather good from what I've seen on here (ie here on Edge Lane Junction: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/88437-edge-lane-junction/?p=1738891) What do people think? Anyone got any experience with the Dapol ones? Marcus.

In case anyone is following this blog and hasn't noticed, I've moved the progress updates on Buckden to a Layout topic here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/103103-buckden-on-the-kettering-and-huntingdon/ As I'm doing lots of minor updates and photos and a topic seemed more appropriate. Thanks for reading the blog though! Marcus.

Raunds looks like a nice spot to model - very handsome station building and a few extra bits compared to Buckden. I'm fantasising about a bigger railway room after our next move and am thinking about Huntingdon East and Cranford. Huntingdon could fit on a curve and Cranford would give some scope to model the iron ore sidings - and have some saddletanks. I do have a horse box - this one from Bachman with TMC weathering: Marcus.

Yeah I should really fix that shed plate!

Oh Yeah! Well here it (I?) is (am?)

That's the one! That's taken from the bridge, as a lot of the pictures are. The annoying thing is the way it is in the room it's really hard to get into a position to take a picture of the layout from that spot. Marcus.

My 3F pulled a long van freight throught the station today:

I'm always intrigued (nosy) about how railways fit into peoples homes, so here are three overview shots of the whole shebang. As you can see the scenic board sits in front of the window (which has annoyingly precluded a back scene but it had to go there really) with a four road fiddle yard at one end, and a two road at the other. The layout lives in my study/spare room, so one yard is behind my desk, the other sits behind the futon. I have a work bench in the other corner. Marcus.

Yes the signal box! I was just getting to that.... Buckden did indeed have the sweetest little box, I believe the smallest form a MR box could take. It is a well travelled little box, having gone to Fleggburgh before making it to where it is currently on the Spa Valley railway. I visited it a couple of years ago: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/11907-buckden-box-site-visit/ And wiggoforgold was kind enough to post some of his pictures from when it was a greenhouse on it's original site: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1362/entry-11926-buckden-station-1978/ My own little version looks like this: I was indeed at Hinchingbrooke, 1994-2001. Marcus

A couple of quick photos from today, I'll add more over the next few days to show what stage the layout is at. First is my J15 passing the goods loop: Second is a completely unprototypical formation sitting in the fiddle yard: Marcus.

I started building Buckden a little over two years ago, and, through house moves, time away and general lethargy I've now got it in reasonable shape. I've been documenting in on my blog, starting here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/11876-%7B?%7D/ So I don't want to repeat too much here, but as I'm now mainly doing small things and want to take and just post photos, I thought a layout topic might be appropriate. Briefly, Buckden was a small station on the Kettering & Huntingdon branch line, originally built by the Midland Railway in 1866 (as Brampton) it transferred to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway upon grouping, and survived until 1959. It was also where I grew up, and and I drove past the derelict station building every day on my way to school. Maddeningly I never actually went there before it was eventually demolished to make way for the expansion of a landfill site. I had a railway in my room as a kid, but an image of two BR Class 2 Mogul's sitting on the track that became that road that I went to school every day in the Middleton Press Branch Lines Around Huntingdon had called to me for a while. Eventually my situation meant that I had the space and opportunity to start something. Marcus.

Thanks Mark! Great shot of 46512 - I keep meaning to get up to Loughborough to see 46521. I've been wondering about a layout thread for a while - and yes, now that a lot of the work is done (and I can cheat and post everything I've done so far) it might be time for one... Marcus.

So over the weekend I finished my new fiddle yard for Buckden. There was a little bit of a gap in the foreground so I got a lineside hut - I've always been fond of these little southern concrete ones and as this isn't "on scene" I didn't mind it being a bit out of place. The absence of humbrol 95 meant resorting to a mix of Humbrol 90 and 64 for the concrete, and then revell 39 for the woodwork. After almost always using Phoenix Precision Humbrol enamels feel so thick, and Revell so thin! Just a shame Phoenix is annoying to get hold of. I've included a few short goods especially for Mark, and then an oddly lit overview of the main boards just because. Next up I'm going to do the same upgrade to the two sidings at the other end. Marcus.

I was on a train back from Prague all Saturday because of work, so took Monday off in lieu and decided to tackle a fiddle yard upgrade. The yard I had was cobbled together from what I had at the time, and was always supposed to be temporary (originally until I completed the loop around the room, but I decided against that - for a line which was end to end it made no sense). It ran poorly, with dead spots, wobbly bits and frequent derailments. So needed doing. After driving all the way to Gas Cupboard in Trowbridge (amazingly on a Monday all the Bristol and nearer model shops are closed) for supplies I got going. The board was reinforced and levelled and then completely new track laid. It's all Peco streamline in the yard, so that I could use short radius electrofrog points, which allows for four roads on a 215 mm board. I adjusted the outside road so that I can fit two peco loco lifts side by side on the outside roads - very handy for turning my locos hands free (also the 2MT is a sod to turn and keep articulated). The loading gauge is pretty tight but everything fits! The curves at the end are two shocking 1st radius setrack pieces which are necessary, and don't actually seem to cause any problems. Without them fitting my boards after the move would have been impossible. I used a couple of transition tracks to go between the track grades at the yard and scenic boards and they work very well. All pinned down it now runs beautifully, and I can run trains at breakneck speed! Happy days. As it's always visible I thought I'd do a full scenic treatment. I was never very happy with the ballasting on the main boards, so tried something new here - it's Woodland Scenics fine light grey ballast, applied with drops of PVA:Water 1:4 with a drop of washing up liquid in too. Then airbrushed with raw umber and black - my gas ran out so there's still some more black to go on. Track sides are painted with Phoenix Precision Track colour [rusty rails] (P977) and then sleepers individually painted precision Track Dirt (P991). The rear two roads are yet to be done. So there we have it. I'm going to plant a few bushes, and I've got some left over point rodding and levers in the spares box - so if there's enough that'll go on too. Here's a final look at my pilot 08 (gasp!) sitting in my nice new dirty looking yard. Marcus.

Thanks both. Yup the wheels are a bit shiny - need to do all of those I think (usual of not noticing until you take the photos). I've seen a lot of the weathered (model) tanks with a sheen from the filler but I've struggled to find photos of the same in the real world so was a little cautious - using it for the axle boxes and springs sounds like a good idea though. Marcus.

I've been doing some light weathering of some of my stock, photos below of some I'm pretty happy with. Generally they've just had dirty light washes with Phoenix Precision Track Dirt (P991), Dirty Black (P981), and Weathered Wood (P990) with a dry brush of Track Colour [Rusty Rails] (P977). Marcus. For this one I applied from the top and then wiped downwards with a cotton bud.

Fantastic shots Dava - my house is just off the top of the first one. I love the way the harbour railway snakes over the entrance locks to Cumberland basin. I don't think anything of that exists on the ground anymore. Marcus.

My namesake was caught, illuminated by light cast from the signal box last night. Presumably pausing before departing Buckden to refresh her head lamps...