BurscoughCurves

Thanks for the advice Gilbert, I know what my next loco purchase will be. More ballasting and painting of rail sides- very tedious!! I've used a base of chocolate brown as opposed to rust red... I'll upload some photos when there is something more to show! Pete

I'm thinking about a Bachmann L&Y radial tank engine. Too obvious? I do like the look of those quirky looking engines!

I guess because my era is early-mid 1950's it wouldn't have to be a former LNWR engine?

Very kind of you to say Dennis, thank you. There is so much knowledge on this site to draw from, it comes to a point where I just have to give it a go! Thanks also Gilbert; 2094 is a cracker! Does your stock require must fettling regrading kadee coupling height? Any thoughts on a suitable station pilot anyone? Cheers, Pete

Hi Andy, I have to find a stretch of road for a bus somewhere! My plan is to have the rear of low relief factory and business buildings above the retaining wall and over the exit tunnel a street with a row of terraces perhaps. The fairburn is from the wonderful Tetleys Mills weathered by Dave Shakespeare. All I have done with it is converted it to dcc and add kadees, it is and will be my favourite loco! Cheers, Pete

Thanks for the post Jason. Bacup is a great source of inspiration, and your experimentation has paid off very well. I have one major issue with your modelling; you make it look too bl**dy easy! I have just bought an Olfa cutter so will be playing around with cutting and bending of plasticard as soon as I get time, so if you see me camping in your thread you'll know why! Thanks again, Pete

Hi everyone, Just a few photos and a quick update of some recent progress. I have fitted the wire-in-tube controls for the main (none MPD) point controls. For the double and single slips I have used rotary switches for route selection. This simple relationship works okay, I like having to reference a diagram to select the route. I have tried to keep the radii as large as possible for wires: Half of the panel is complete, the slots on the left are for the MPD. I'll add annotations and point numbers eventually. I have started ballasting and have done one siding... and i'm sick of it!! After reading through Jason T's Bacup thread, which reads like a 'how to build a model railway the proper way!' I decided to follow his example and paint dilute copydex between and outside of the sleepers. I have only done 2 layers of Carrs ash ballast (ash for the sidings & MPD) about a meter in length and it's taken a bl**dy age! Although it is tedious, I don't want to cover the sleepers in dilute PVA after painting them. The rail sides in the carriage siding have been painted but it is very subtle, although I don't want them to look too rusty; I appreciate that everyone has seen ballasted track a thousand times but it's fairly new to me! I need to have a tidy up of the sleeper tops, don't judge me too harshly! I have also been thinking about the more intricate areas of the stonework and have had a play around with making a mold to imprint DAS using some Slaters 7mm stone sheet and silicone molding putty. I'm hoping to make the retaining wall 'uprights' using this method. It seems quite promising. I painted the first test piece and the piece of plasticard used to make it and I think they will blend together ok. Humbrol mid-stone followed by weathered black and dark weathering powders finished off the test pieces; My plan is to fix the plasticard sheet in place and blend the DAS areas before they harden. I will then paint the lot with fingers crossed! Thanks for your time, Pete

Thanks William, really appreciate your encouragement. I'll give the water cover a coat of paint and a dose of weathering powder and see how it looks... P

Hi Folks, I hate it when work gets in the way of modelling, but i'm afraid that's definitely whats been happening recently! Instead of forging ahead with scenic work I made the decision to run the area already laid as much as possible to iron out any issues. This has meant that the retaining wall has taken a back seat, apart from a rough hardboard template; The station area is going to have an access bridge to the off-scene goods area. I'm hoping this will help to break up the layout and mean I can include a few road vehicles! Again, I have plonked some off-cuts in place to see how it looks; A very rough view below but it starts to point towards the look i'm after; One thing I was disappointed with was the difference in close coupling between Bachmann mk1's and ex LMS porthole stock- there is a huge gap between the latter coaches. Has anyone rectified this at all? The terminus end; So to enable ease of running I started on the main point control panel, and wired in the frogs of the station area and goods headshunt. I need to add in route setting controls for the single and double slips. I have ordered some double pole rotary switches to do this, hopefully they will arrive tomorrow. The wire-in-tubes will be added next. I have recently enjoyed 'slimming down' the hand rails on resin signal box and coaling stage, and started to detail them. I am about to add lighting to both also. The ratio signal box interior kit has added a nice touch of detail; Can anyone tell me when water tanks were covered, and whether it was found on LNWR structures? For some reason I decided to cover mine, I had a pile of coffee stirrers I 'acquired' and thought I'd see how it looked. Any thoughts so far? Thanks, Pete

So I have managed to cover everything in sight with RailMatch 'sleeper grime' paint; thankfully I covered my stock! Just need to clean the rail tops, but the plastic shine has disappeared from the sleepers. I have started to mock up the retaining wall which i'm looking forward to getting stuck into. I love the look of the 7mm Slaters dressed stone on Tetleys Mills and Eastwood Town. They are both excellent and have set the bar very high! Speaking of Tetleys Mills; the carriage cleaning staff have a mess hut courtesy of this iconic layout: Finally found some resistors so managed to illuminate the shed: On with that retaining wall...

Hi folks, Slow going on the layout unfortunately, but i'm really enjoying the whole project. I have just finished a pair of dummy trap points on the carriage sidings, they were a little fiddly- I should have built them on my bench before I laid the track; I've been running more stock around the station area, changing the point polarity manually for now which is a bit of a pain. The area laid works really well so far; i'm really happy with the kadee uncoupler magnets which add so much operational interest and i'm getting more used to my NCE Powercab. DCC has changed the hobby so much for the better in my eyes. The station throat with some slaters plastikard temporarily in place to start to give an impression of the retaining walls; Someone is taking a dip in the coaling stage water tank, camera in hand; Both the signal box and coaling stage are Bachmann items; they will be painted and weathered for now and probably replaced for scratch-built items at some point in the future. I will definitely be replacing the steps and handrails on both; they look massively over-sized. The area of the fiddle yard which is acting as the goods yard is complete, including the fiddle yard point control; The point frame isn't the prettiest but works okay! The fiddle yard is starting to fill with appropriate stock (note the silhouette of the Hornby A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley that started the obsession on my 7th birthday!); I seem to have misplaced my collection of resistors, I was going to re-illuminate the shed but I could only find one appropriate value and so could only light the office area; None of the detail above will actually be seen as the shed is orientated in a different direction than originally intended but never mind! My first venture into 3D printing resulted in the smoke chute chimneys; Cheers for the post Scott, hope to get a start on some scenic work soon. Pete

Hi Folks, The going is slow unfortunately but I have made some progress. Before I forget- can you change the title of my layout topic at this stage? So a little more track has been laid, and I can start to see the station area coming together. I have placed some stock on scene... I couldn't resist a preview! Not all of the track has been stuck down, the goods head-shunt has yet to have its sleeper webs cut, but I just wanted it in place to visualise the spacing. The latest acquisition to my fleet is a Bachmann Jubilee 'Falklands Islands' which I ran-in in DC and then installed the 21 pin decoder. I'll have to have a play with it's CV's as it accelerates like a rocket! Another project will be to convert a wonderful Derby lightweight DMU kit built by Dave Shakespeare to DCC, and add the roof detail which looking back through Dave's posts is something he was going to do eventually. I am pleased to give it a home on my layout; My next task is to drill the slots for the Kadee uncoupler magnets near the end of the terminating platforms and fix down the rest of the station trackwork. I'll then solder the droppers to the BUS rail and then start thinking about the main point-level frame. I'll hopefully be able to start test running soon... fingers crossed! Happy modelling everyone.

Laid down the first section of scenic track today. I exchanged the double slip for a single and added the extra point-work; Spacing the sleepers out on the straight track is straight forward (excuse the pun!) but it is a little more tricky on curves. Thankfully most of the scenic area is straight. I think it's worth persevering though. The upper track below has been fixed in place with copydex; So I think I've made a decision; the name is looking like 'Halifax Powell Street' AKA Halifax North-Western.

Lovely modelling William great stuff. Pete

Thanks for all the comments gents, it's a great way to learn. Chimer- speak now or forever hold your peace! Seriously though thanks. Russ- that's a great offer which I'll no doubt take you up on. I must admit I have some research to do as I've never been to Halifax. I will try to get a flavour of the town but it will still be ficticious (the layout will be predominantly in a cutting). Off to hattons after work tomorrow :-)

Great, I'm back on track then! I fortunately only placed the double slip temporarily in position so I will change it; I love living 10 minutes from Hattons! Unfortunately my railway room is only 3m x 2m so I'm a little limited on the pointwork-to-platform length ratio. I think, with close coupling, I can just fit a tender loco and 6 mkI's although this means having the buffers pretty much to the end wall. I think i'll model closed gates and doors at the entrance/exits to the platforms and have some form of canopies to mask the sudden station end! I would go the Midland route in Halifax but I have some concerns; my shed is a typical LNWR northlight design (so wouldn't appear in a Midland area?) and I would like to run a mix of former LMS and LNER stock... I was thinking of a fictitious LNWR extension from Huddersfield to Halifax on a similar route to the A629- and found a few appropriate street names (Halifax Powell Street?) but it wouldn't answer my GN influence. Running rites from the Dewsbury direction? I couldn't steal Bradford North Western... ;-)

What do you make of this as an alteration to the station throat; Any more prototypical? It is a good compromise as I don't lose too much platform.

Hmm you have me worried now. I thought I was using a minories theme with access to all platforms on both arrival and departure and I am reluctant to shorten the longest platform by any more. I'll have to have a play in Scarm tomorrow night I think...

I feel like naming my layout is akin to naming a child!! (I don't have any children!). Some great links there thanks Russ (4630). There are a few favorites but I want to study the Midland route and 'lost railways of West Yorkshire' site before deciding. A fair comment Gilbert, i'm sure in a layout or two's time when I've improved my skills and have more room I'll go the prototypical route. I'd love to model Southport Chapel Street in the 1930's with its mix of steam and electric traction and the MPD which I have very fond memories of from the 'Steamport' railway museum. Pete; sorry I wasn't very clear. There are 2 approach tracks which are the same as the directions that you have labelled- nearest the top is the departure and below is the arrivals. They merge just off scene; As for some minor progress this evening; I have cut a slot in the baseboard for a kadee uncoupler magnet which opens the couplings nicely. This one is located where the dummy catch point will be ahead of the carriage sidings. This will enable me to 'delay uncouple' and shunt coaches into the sidings; I also added droppers to the first bit of scenic track and started to space the sleepers with my high tech custom tool (!); I have only done the two very short lengths which will protrude from the tunnel mouth but I think it does help. Custom tool; And finally a curious onlooker peers in; Thanks for the input people, it's a great help.

Hi people, thanks so much for all the input I should have a short list of name later today for your approval! The upper of the 3 tracks that enter the fiddle yard is the departure line, the middle is for arrivals and the lower is to the off scene goods yard. I realise that I have limited operational scope because both the arrival and departure merge under the scenic break but as I will be the sole operator and it gives access to all storage sidings I will live with it. I struggled to fit a more complicated point layout in the limited space. The pillars in the engine shed are 2 diameters of plastic tubing. I inetended on turning small tapered columns on a lathe in work and managed to make 1 but I couldn't hold the machine up to do the rest so had to compromise!! Such a shame when work gets in the way of modelling! Pete

Thanks for all the comments people, I really appreciate it. There is so much skill on display on this site, it's very inspiring and intimidating!! I really like Bramley- I could invent an alternative history and justify naming it something along the lines of 'Bramley Parr Street'...? Clecklewyke- I absolutely adore your work. The atmosphere and feel of Clecklewyke is exactly what I am aiming for and if I can achieve a fraction of what you have I'll be happy. Sticking with JB Priestley; how about something using 'Gretley'? Does it sound West Riding? Pete

Hi folks, So I've finally made a start on my layout located in a spare room (I have a very understanding partner!) and i'm quite pleased with my progress so far. This is my first real layout after returning to the hobby since being a young teenager. I decided on a theme, and built an engine shed as a starting project before moving into my recently purchased house: The layout is a secondary mainline urban terminus in a fictitious West Riding location, think Bradford area with LNWR and GNR origins, set during the mid 1950's. The layout is OO gauge, and the trackplan is as follows; There are three passenger platform faces, and a parcels platform (the shortest, which will be without a catch point) and also acts as a headshunt for an off-scene goods yard. There are two sidings for coaching stock at the top of the plan. The back-drop of the layout will be the backs of commercial buildings and factories above quite large retaining walls; the station and MPD located in a cutting. I can't decide on a name! Haigmoor, Bramley, Crossley, Garsford, Garsfield, Drewton, Horton... Which sounds most appropriately West Riding?! Help please! As for the actual build; I decided on making 'T' sections out of 2" x 1" timber, pinned and glued for strength and rigidity, and 9mm ply for the tops; I'm certainly no joiner but it is all level and a little over-engineered so it won't collapse! I have covered the entire baseboard with 3mm cork as i am using wire-in-tube in conjunction with SPDT switches for polarity changing on pointwork. The trackwork and points are all Peco code 75, but I will be spacing the sleepers out as I think it really does improve the overall look. I'm not quite ready to build track and point-work yet. I have installed the point control in the small fiddle yard area and tested it, and it thankfully works well. The layout is DCC, something which I had read an awful lot about but until very recently had not used. I purchased a NCE Powercab and have one loco with a decoder to play with, a lovely Fairburn tank from the late and great Dave Shakespeare. The area works well as I have just connected the track droppers and frogs and finally got something running! I located the fiddle yard switches into a small plate which I milled out and screwed into a cutout in the fiddle yard baseboard; Fiddle yard early on: Fiddle yard points: Another topic I had read a great deal about and have recently experimented with is the use of Kadee couplers. I will never use tension locks again! It is a common theme but why can't Hornby or Bachmann get their NEM pockets consistent!? I will be spending some time re-adjusting stock coupling heights; The Bachmann MkI's seem to require quite a bit of filing and fettling to 'free-up' the close couple mechanism- anyone had much joy with this? The NEM pocket also seems to sag, it seems a shame as they are such a quality product. Is this the case with the majority of UK manufacturers? Underside of the fiddleyard pannel; Messy already... I'm really pleased to have made a start, and just hope I can find the time outside of work and life to crack on!

Hi folks, Thought I'd add a little more detail of the inspection pits I have installed in my shed, after a kind comment from Jack Kerr (aka Jock67B). My original intention was to create my own pits but I liked the look of the chairs on the Peco kit version and I wouldn't have to worry about the depth being correct! I also don't like the look of the cut down sleepers on some layouts I have seen. I didn't want the concrete side-wall look so ended up lining them with Slaters brick plasticard after assembling 4 off of the Peco kit. Because of the plasticard thickness I had to create my own end steps; I copied the Peco ones supplied in the kit but I think the step height is too small. I can live with them though. Next I painted the side-walls a blue Engineering brick colour after reading about typical LMS inspection pits from a website (can't remember which one sorry...!). Next I started to weather the floors. I wanted to show some puddles and lots of dirt held within them as that's how they appear in most of the images I have found. I tried painting gloss black paint on the underside of some transparent plastic packaging and when dried cut out some puddle shapes and glued them onto the floor of the pits. I didn't want to go too over the top but think they look ok when the light is right. I plan to make more, larger puddles using a similar method but on glass for the area outside the office. I plan to have a 'recent downpour' look to my future layout! I'm afraid the photos haven't captured the look very well but hopefully you can see what I'm trying to achieve. I have also found two images of the illumination tests in the office building. I drilled three 3mm holes into the ceiling of the office building, one for each room. I then glued 3mm LED's into the holes and hard wired them together using their bent legs. There are several leads which run to this circuit, and for a red LED behind the fireplace, which run down the back of the building into the baseboard underneath the office chimney. The leads for the main shed circuits are sandwiched between the outer and inner back wall at one end, and within the columns at the front of the shed. I hope to get some fully illuminated images soon, whilst I test all of the lighting before sealing everything in!! Thanks for reading again, please advise me on my roof dilemma from my second blog!! Cheers, Pete

Hi Gents, Thanks for the comments. I'll put a quick blog together to show some more images of the inspection pits Jack, your plans sound exciting. I would have loved to seen the real working environment of the things I love to see and create in miniature. I think the closest I have seen would be the memories I have going to 'Steam Port' in Southport; the old Derby Road MPD. The place was a dream! I'm certain HSE would have a nightmare with the place today, I wish it was still with us and wish I remember it better (I was pretty young at the time)! AndyPaul have a look at the next blog if you can, I have illuminated the office building as well. I hope to get some more illuminated images soon, I love the atmosphere that a little lighting can create. Thanks guys, Pete

So I've finally got around to updating my blog, I'm slowly getting there. I debated about the size of board I was going to mount the shed to, and decided to keep it small so it could be adapted to the future layout easily. I wanted the office interior to be detailed and spent a fair bit of time doing so. I was pleased with some of the results, and less so with others but soon realised that none of it can be seen once the roof is on! A glimpse of the inside: A general view of the main office: I printed some 1950's posters and notice boards. Note the Leeds United FA Cup poster in the corridor just visible from the outside (oh if only they knew what the future would hold!), and the British Railway posters hung up with a human hair. I think I had started to go crazy at this point! Each room is lit with a 3mm LED in the ceiling and there is also a red LED behind the fireplace. I will get some illuminated photos for the next blog. I decided not to use the Wills drain pipes and went for copper tube with wire wrapped around twice and soldered for brackets. I think this was the correct choice. I also made a chimney for the office and cut a section out of the roof to mount it. After looking at various images (the book 'Great Northern Engine Sheds' has been very useful) I wanted to recreate a brick shed floor with a slight camber. For this I used some 3mm foam board and rolled the edges. I then glued some slaters brick sheet to it and attached it between the inspection pits. It is very rough as I'm going to coat it in dirt and hide a lot of it: As the forecourt area is fairly short I cut down lengths of PECO code 75 track and removed the sleepers from about half of the lengths and threaded it into the inspection pit chairs. I painted the rail sides with a mix of humbrol 'leather' and matt black. I want to make the whole area look bedded in ash and dirt so have just started to build up the area between the rails with mounting card, and have just started experimenting in coating the surface in DAS clay: I have stippled (is that a word?!) the surface with a stiff brush and will decide on which texture looks best when it dries. I am really unsure about how to make the main shed roof. I have plenty of Wills slate sheet (which I have used on the office roof) but don't want an obvious join down the middle of the building. I think i'll try laying my own slates with some quality drawing paper (as per the excellent Sandside's Bacup) but wish I'd done this on the office roof aghh! I wonder if I could get away with overlaying paper slates onto the existing roof? Or perhaps it might not look as bad as I am imagining after weathering, please advise!! Anyways, enough for now, thanks for reading!