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I hadn't seen that clip, thanks Blue - quite fascinating!

Thanks Blue - reading what you said about the up south sidings, I remembered my Video 125 DVD which has a driver's eye view of a Hastings to Charing Cross train. It was filmed in 1988, and you can see some disused Hastings DMUs parked in these sidings. I managed to get a few screenshots from the Sevenoaks portion of the DVD, they're not terribly good quality but I thought they were quite interesting in showing the track layout and appearance of the station at the time!

Hi folks - thanks loads for all the positive feedback on the foliage etc. Having jumped in headfirst I'm quite encouraged by the results so far, but looking at it with fresh eyes today I couldn't help noticing that it was missing the taller weeds and plants, things like nettles, brambles and ferns. I've come up against a bit of a mental block here and can't seem to find any decent products for replicating these - wondered if anyone might be able to point me in the right direction? There seem to be a lot of allotment type plants, but not many weeds! Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated These pics I illustrate the sort of effect I'm aiming for:

That's interesting, I was trying to get my head around how the track layout has changed in this area - the up and down mains seem to be placed quite far apart as well.

Hi James, thanks for the kind comments. The uprights are just bits of 1x2mm microstrip painted in a sleeper grime colour.

These pics are really helpful, particularly in terms of the larger bushes and trees that still need to go in, and the lineside detail - thanks loads Paul!

That's good to know, thanks Blue

Howdy peeps! Been concentrating a bit more on the tunnel end, it's going fairly well so thought I'd post a couple of pics. Comments, questions and feedback most welcome as always General view looking southbound. The hill above the tunnel is missing and also still no 3rd rail here (on the to do list) Side view from the northbound side. The wooden fence is styrene strip painted with acrylic. There will be tall trees planted on this embankment so a lot of this will be hidden towards the back. Networker approaching the tunnel enroute to Tunbridge Wells. How it's moving anywhere without the 3rd rail is a mystery. Driver's eye view looking northbound and approaching the tunnel mouth - the blue is the colour of the wall, which will be hidden by the trees that are still to be planted!

This is looking great! You've probably said before but I was wondering what you had planned for the platform end beyond the current baseboard? - EDIT sorry, I should have read your post properly, sorry!

Really atmospheric - can just imagine hurrying down towards the station in the cold of a late winter evening, hoping to catch the last stopping service back to London!

Heh he thanks James, really appreciate that! Best of luck with your layout!

Cheers Eddie, that's very kind of you

Cheers guys! James - the embankment covering was first a coating of plaster over papier mache, and then a coat of Dulux 'Cookie Dough' emulsion on top of that. After that had dried, I applied a very dark brown wash to bring out the contours, and then finally the brown scatter material which in this case is Javis Scatter No. 32 (Dark brown). Then the green stuff goes on top of that - glad you think it's looking ok! Mike - the cabinets are the Wills Lineside kits (sets 1 and 2). They're quite cheap and nice and easy to put together!

Thanks mate! It's just a very light grey really - I mixed it specially so can't give you a code or anything but start with white and keep adding drops of black until you hit the right shade!

No worries, that went straight over my head didn't it! (the joke I mean, not the rock)

Ah I see!

Technically the ballast probably is slightly over scale, yes. When planning the layout I did consider using n gauge ballast, but personally I find to my eye that it is a little too 'gritty' and slightly under-scale. Somewhere between oo and n ballast is probably the sweet spot, but when weighing up I went with the Woodland scenics medium blend, which I'm quite happy with. All of the track will be receiving some sleeper grime weathering at some point, which I'm hoping will help to tone down the contrast of the granules and blend it all together a bit. I'm not aiming for 100% realism here - this is my first major layout project so I'm learning as I go with a lot of this stuff but generally if something looks good to my eye, it doesn't keep me awake at night if it's technically incorrect! I know that will have the obsessive rivet counters up in arms! Thanks for the feedback

Good grief, good job no one was working there when that came down! That's a useful pic as well as it shows a bit of the embankment on the opposite side. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks Lyddrail! Love the pics, thanks for posting those - this is an area that I've had great difficulty getting photos of - obvsiously as I don't work on the railways I've had to take videos/pictures from the train window as it goes past, but on several occasions as is absolutely typical, another train has ended up being in the way and I've wasted a whole journey! If you had any more pictures of this area I'd be really grateful as they may help to fill in some gaps!

Hi folks - sorry another quick update but work has been progressing on the down embankment between the station and tunnel entrance. Finally got round to adding a bit of greenery today at ground level, and I was quite pleased with the result. It seemed to make the world of difference! I've still got some static grasses and other bits and bobs to add, but it's looking a bit more interesting than before. The next stage is to add the trees themselves, for which I'm slowly stockpiling lots of seafoam and foliage material. Comments and suggestions more than welcome as always. Ivy and weeds growing around the cabinet alcove. The cable trunking is missing here, I ran out of it but wanted to make a start on the greenery anyway! It will be added later A row of relay cabinets. The track in the foreground is the down 'gusset' siding - still awaiting the third rail! Grass and weeds growing around the point motor heater transformers and relay cabinets.

Ah I see you've got the new Dapol 68, looks great!

Very nice loco, I do love the Class 57s!

Ah yes I know what you mean - it's a shame to put in all that detail and then close it off behind a wall! One thing you could do is have a removable section to allow viewing, so then you've got the best of both worlds?

This is looking excellent, I love all the detail you're including in the station concourse - really captures the atmosphere of a modern terminus!

This is really helpful, thanks very much for taking the trouble to explain in such detail. I absolutely agree with you on working from photographs, especially with scenics and weathering. You've done a superb job here, possibly the most realistic railway scenery work I've seen so far.