Toftwood

Re: the removal of loads from Trucks as suggested above by placing a small piece of metal under the load, you can source an extending tool (!) with a magnetic end from the car industry, used for retrieving dropped bolts etc from inaccessible areas of engine bays and so on.

Hi Brian, I have seen people use fish tank gravel of suitable shades as 'Iron Ore' loads?? If you fancy something different in the Motive Power department, I recently found out that there were a number of Ex LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T shedded at various depots in the North East, One of the two preserved Locos (Lakeside & Haverthwaite Rly) 42073 was in collision with V2 60968 at Newcastle Central on 19 April 1955. Both Locos were derailed. I have just bought a second hand one from Ebay.

Hello again, The long hot summer (shed temps!) other things that have taken my time away, operating Thetford & District MRS Exhibition layout 'Fen Lane' at several shows with two more to come has meant not very much time spent at Cullerbay. However after running in a couple of Locos that had spent time at the bottom of the storage box, I set too and spent today, or at least a good couple of hours working on the layout. Here I have trimmed the running board on the lifting flap to fit. Had to do some work with a surform to bring everything level. The running surface is now temporarily screwed to the Lifting section. A quick laying of track to see how it would look The hinge end of the lifting section. the track on the right will be where the two exchange sidings for the adjacent colliery. the lowered section will be a road with under bridge, the intention being to have a seedy Pub and maybe a large half relief Industrial building either side of the road. The bus is there to check clearances. Slowly slowly but beginning to look like a layout! Pete

I have two Hornby B1's having got rid of a Bachmann split chassis one which kept shedding the rear axle. Both Hornby Locos are superb runners. Nice to see you back Brian !

Until the cat digs it up to Cr@p in the bed :-)

Thanks Jim, its fantastic the effects you have achieved. Pete

Hi, Fantastic atmosphere, what method do you use to get the dirty drab buildings? its really authentic looking. Pete

Good afternoon on this fine and sunny Sunday afternoon, of which we seem to be having quite a few lately! Well Cullerbay has seen further work carried out as I can work in and out of the shed. I have continued to work on the lifting bridge across the doorway. In my previous ramblings I indicated that I might just leave it as a lift in/out. I did however recently invite one of our longer standing club members (Thetford and District MRS) over to the house for his advice. With his advice ringing in my ears I continued on. One of his suggestions was to add some end stiffening which can be seen here. At the other end of the bridge it need some fettling sand the under support replacing with something more substantial. Also I have fitted an sheet of ply under the hinge end which give it rigidity and provides a base for scenic work at a later date. In the last photo, I have rough cut the board for the intermediate station, and as can be seen will need some trimming. Its great to see some progress, can start to see the outline taking shape, which in turn gives impetus to continue on. Continuing to enjoy! Pete.

Hello again, Its been a lovely day here in Suffolk, so I have managed to spend bit of time creating more sawdust. Basically what I have done today is put together the bridging piece which goes across the door. It was quite difficult trying to work out the gradients but I think I have it sorted. Slow progress I know but Rome wasn't built in a day I may have to rebuild it as it has twisted slightly in the making. It was supposed to be hinged at the right, lower end but I may just have it as a lift out section. Regards Pete

I have had mine running for a while on our large club layout yesterday. It runs fine at medium speeds very smooth etc. But slow it it down and it gets to a certain power level and then stops, same as starting, you have to give it some welly then it shoots off. Annoying to say the least. The chip is a standard Hattons which I normally use without bother. Maybe some of the guru's on here may suggest a solution?? Pete P.S. As for weathering, there was a good article in this months Railway Modeller re: weathering 16t minerals, along with an article on using enamels to weather plus a Peco show you how pamphlet which went into a bit more detail.

Hi Brian, I see you using the D49 in previous post. I sold my old Hornby D49 and replaced it with a New Railroad version. How well does your run?? I ask because mine does not run well at all. I gave it a running in session then chipped it but it still will not run smoothly. Its annoying me greatly as I wish to use it on our club layout (Fen Lane, Thetford & District MRS) during the open day this coming weekend. No point if not a smooth runner. Pete

Hi Ian, Not a problem glad to help. I hope to iild a similar one myself in the future for my effort, Cullerbay. Pete P.S Feel free to pass on to anyone else who may need a look.

Hi are these of any use to you, Hexham taken a few years ago....

Hi, yeah....I have to work with the room I have (don't we all) and I could not have fitted in a reasonable fiddle yard. To be honest I shied away from different levels as I did not want to be scrabbling around underneath with hidden sidings. I know a lot of people do just felt the gradients would have been too steep. Yet here I am with a multi layer plan which is quite complex especially of one who has not 'completed' a layout yet, but I am enjoying the challenge when I can get into the shed of working out where the gradient start etc. With this plan the gradients are not severe, a rise of 1.5"over 6 to 8ft is not excessive??? We shall see. Regards Pete

Progress is halted at the moment as I prepare Thetford and District MRS layout 'Fen Lane' for its first show of the year at Poringland, Norfolk, next weekend.

I love the rusty effect on the Tyne Dock Engineering building. Travelling to School and back from Tynemouth to Newcastle, often taking the riverside branch along the shipyards the effect you have is very authentic. Great stuff!

I have just come across this thread and yet again Paul, it look like you are puling something fabulous out of the bag. I was so impressed by Felton Lane. I have skimmed through due to time constraints but will read through at a more leisurely pace when I can. Great stuff! Pete.

I must learn how to post photo's properly! Pete

Good Afternoon all, We had a lovely +6 deg C and some sun today here in Suffolk, even though the breeze was a bit brisk so I was able to get stuck in to more sawdust making. I dragged out my old jigsaw (that had been consigned to the back of the garage because I could not cut a straight line with it) to cut out the trackbed under the main station. This included the curve down to the reverse curve and the start of the climb to the secondary station. I am using a pair of Hornby 4th radius curves as a minimum radius template I had time to cut out and attach the rear height blocks for the upper station. As can be seen a temporary placing of track shows somewhat how thing will be later. Moving to the smaller station area, I have fixed the cross pieces to the correct height now. Have to wait a couple of weeks now for a free weekend. Jobs to do next I think will be to build the hatchway in front of the door. Regards Pete

Just a note, maybe you could lose the orange table cloth whilst photographing....it plays hell with the colour balance. The building kind of gets lost in the overall orangeness! The building work is great by the way and am following avidly. Pete

Hi again, and so to an update on work recently carried out on Cullerbay. With the other half working this weekend and the weather set fair to allow outside working (converting wood into sawdust) I have been able to crack on abit with some benchwork. Friday with a bit of help I managed to cut down a sheet of 9mm ply into a more manageable size to gauge how much then needs to be trimmed off with the jigsaw (when I can drag it out of the depths of the garage) This sits to the left of the door under the main station of Cullerbay. Thats for another day. Today I have been cutting timber into blocks to raise the trackbed under the secondary station to 3" above base height. Tedious but necessary. The width of the baseboard here is 2'6", I have mounted the blocks as can be seen intending to join opposite blocks with a 1" square crosspiece. Do you think this will be strong enough to carry the weight or should I add more blocks down the centre as at the top end of these photos? As I said at the beginning of this post this will be a slow build as other things get in the way, but little spurts like this weekend certainly keep the spirits up. Regards Pete

Or parts of Hadrians Wall with a milecastle?? :-)

I must have a search for that United single decker, my parents (now just my Father) live in Hexham.

The Bus looks good in place, is the single decker 'Northern' as well? Have to get some rope on that truck load...lol

Brian, You may be interested that Hattons have EFE Sunderland District Leyland Atlanteans on Bargain offer @ £9.50 each. Pete