HeatonLodge40

Ha nope I’m working on the basis the sun rises in the east and being a cold morning hasn’t yet melted the frost in the west

This from the same point looking west..getting a bit more frosty now..

View looking east ..

Spent the last week adding electrics to and completing the 3 existing frames that weren’t joined to the main layout. Now that they are, it really looks like it’s coming together. There are 12 more frames each 4 ft long which are left to complete the scenic side. With the fiddle yard complete all that will remain then, is the curves at each end and in the middle plus the extension trolleys and backscene.. Here is a view from the far west end

I think we should set up a Stihl saw thread One of the least glamorous tasks on HLJ is going over the frame ends every 6 months and checking rail height alignment between frames. Yep I know the ends should be soldered to a screw/brass strip but it never got done. It’s a project for the future.. Even though the temperature in the basement is always the same a small number of the rail ends do move by half a mm or so. I simply slide a scalpel under the cork supporting the track and pack a rail out if need be. Much easier sorting it with the platform lift as I can raise each frame to eye level

Well there are 4 fiddle yards with 7 roads each so room for 28 trains in total. Probably just have 14 trains of both eras to be honest

Did they have them in 1984?!! To be honest it doesn’t matter as the layout will run at Warley next year in the 1980’s for the first two hours, 1990’s for the next two etc alternating all day..

...whilst the nearby ramshackle Bedford crew bus ticks over

Jack here is about to demolish the redundant relay box..

Here a poor quality pic of the bibs worn by BR track gangs in the 70’s/80’s ..

Great to be back modelling again instead of sweating under those fiddle yards. Today I thought I’d ease myself back in by modifying a few figures I’ve acquired. Model U’ figs are superb imo so with some extra BR hard hats ordered from them too I’ve brought some steam loco crew into the ‘80’s by filing off their caps and replacing them with hard hats. Also had some pewter figs of workmen in a box for years that are similarly of the last century, so they have had the same treatment. The bags and high vis bibs are also awaiting some paint..

Ref static grass I tried literally dozens of combinations to get the washed out winter grass I wanted to replicate. In the end I used two brands mixed in a kitchen mixer. Mini - Natur late fall in 6mm and Noch wild grass in beige (12mm). This is for O gauge - so choose shorter lengths for OO. Best suppliers for Mini-Natur are from them direct in Germany - their website is English and they supply to the U.K. New modellers shop are best for Noch. These two combined give really great results and even if modelling a summer layout I’d still use this combo

Jim the signal box was demolished in 1970 so you’ll have to sit on the bridge parapet Might hold you to that tho!

It wasn’t my idea I think it came from Giles who occasionally posts - an absolutely incredible modeller. But yes it works a treat.. Once again tho excellent work with the trees. One of the reasons I set HL in the winter was I couldn’t seem to get trees with foliage to look like trees. You seem to have cracked it!

Talking of scenery I’m quickly refreshing each of the completed 28 4’ frames. I give them a vac then liberally spray matt varnish over absolutely everything making sure I wipe the tops of the rails. I use spray matt varnish for a lot of things but to refresh scenery it works a treat bringing out colours again, plus everything looks more vibrant.. I use Rustoleum Matt Spray Varnish. This is frame 1 so treated with a bit more runny superglue tipped down the ‘stonework’ to give the damp effect..

There was only one thing I mainly wanted to achieve with this model. That is (rewinding to when I was 12) seeing the high intensity light of say a grid approaching a mile away. That can only be achieved with size and I’ve often just taken a cursory glance down the scenery side as I’m working at one end (almost now at a scale mile but when finished 1.3 miles) and it’s deja vu all over again. It’s like looking back to 1984.

Thanks. If I’m on my own I just plan when it’s finished to spend all day watching 4 trains going by. After a few beers with the model being so large I’ll have forgotten what trains they were anyway. At an exhibition there will be 2 operators per fiddle yard, a relief and probably a signal man

Best trees with foliage I’ve seen yet. Good work

Finally..the fiddle yards are finished thank goodness. I capped them at 100ft (instead of the planned 125ft) so each of the 4 fiddle yards has just three roads (instead of all 7 roads) over 40ft - this length catering for 36 MGR’s & two locos. All the Peco points are driven by cobalt motors wired to a completely separate bus. The main bus’ running down each side of the frames are 4mm cable as I’m planning on using NCE’ 10amp boosters to provide enough power for all the 28 trains the fiddle yards will hold. Each fiddle yard will be in its own ‘power district’ so any shorts will only shut down 1 yard hopefully. Learnt a lot going along so when relocating the yards 30ft further down (to provide room for Phase 2 (Healey Mills) I incorporated the better wiring techniques I picked up back into each frame. Not all easy going and felt like taking a hammer to the cobalts when I thought about 30 had lost their addresses as they ceased working.. Spent two hours working my way through reprogramming all their addresses when I noticed a couple of plugs for the cobalts’s bus in between the frames had come apart! The air turned blue I can tell you. Only thing remaining is to fit the Perspex 6’’ high sides to keep any derailed trains from falling off..

Spring next year Mike is when the PR machine will kick in

Very humbled by these comments and all the support. Thank you. Lets draw a line under this and crack on. Next update in the next week or so.. Simon

Shall we talk about Brexit now?

Nice one Peter .. I learnt to drive in a Capri hence this one here. As it’s a frosty day at Heaton Lodge the windscreen has to look the part. Discovered by dabbing a touch of superglue inside, the fumes do the rest! I’ll be using that technique elsewhere pretty soon (but not in the cottage)!

Well I guess if you stick your head above the parapet you’re bound to get it shot at.. I had some screenshots of some posts on other forums passed on to me over the weekend. Basically taking aim since ‘that guy has pots of cash.. cheque book modeller..anyone can do that if you’ve enough cash blah blah’ he drives a fu**ing Lambo enough said’ (!) Whilst I have had huge support on this forum which is much appreciated (I don’t post in much detail anywhere else)..& I’m not the sort of chap that gives a flying fig over what others say, neither am I the most sociable of people.. It still might still surprise a few people that I must be the only idiot in history to sell his business, refinance his beloved classic Lamborghini & remortgage his house to get this project finished (!) Money in spades I certainly don’t have. I’ve always been uncomfortable with accolades and there’s many a post in this forum ..which because of its positive words, have really given me huge encouragement exactly when I’ve needed it (being on your own in a dungeon for ten hours doesn’t help). So very many thanks again. But as you’ll all know from previous posts I’m sticking my neck on the line (no pun intended) for this project purely because on the run up to Christmas next year it’s going to be stuck in the faces of tens of thousands of the great British public out shopping (not railway modellers) mainly to get new people involved, and also to get me a return on all this. (See posts a few pages back).. Anyway.. As I’ve also said before I’ve an HGV license and if the aforementioned public turn their noses up at what will branded ‘Britain’s Biggest Model Railway’ then you can be sure I’ll be seen in the cab of a Stobart truck somewhere

Thanks Mike the real one has three warning stripes on the girders not four but anyway..!