Powerhaul 70 Pey

I really like the virtual quarry in the background. Nicely done!

The cutting and vegetation looks brilliant.

Good evening everyone. Here are a few updates of some progress recently. The photo below is the area that was covered in plastercloth in the photos on the last update. In this photo I have added some security fencing to the Tarmac site. Some locals have also done some graffiti on the brick bridge! In the countryside section I have made a start to fill in between the two ballasted tracks (the 4 foot) just cutting brown card to fill in between then scattering with matching gaugemaster grey ballast. Some extra vegetation has also been applied where appropriate and this will continue for some time yet. I still have not got round to pouring realistic water into the river bed yet and need to do it before Autumn otherwise it may struggle to set. Here is a photo of a coal train passing over the river. I have edited this photo to get rid of the clutter in the garage. A little relief has been added to the farm next to the track and I have started to apply vegetation to this area. My Freightliner 70 is running great after I installed a new motor. I quite like this photo as it passes the Freightliner TMD I have made from scratch. Thanks for looking!

1Z25 Jorvik & Scarborough Spa Express. Here is Colas Rails 70811 approaching Lostock Hall station in the Preston area with the 1Z25 Dumfries to Scarborough with West Coast Railway Company 47804 tucked behind for the ride.

Freightliner 70008 on yesterdays 4M63 Felixstowe to Ditton intermodal photographed on approach to Acton Bridge station in Cheshire.

Here is a photo from today when a Colas class 70 finally dropped back on the 6M32 Lindsey to Preston loaded tanks with 70805 doing the honours photographed at Lostock Hall station in the Preston area. On past experience it will probably be back to a 60 tomorrow but hoping for the 70 again.

Here is a link regarding the Colas 70 on the Scarborough spa express https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2018/04/colas-railfreight-class-70-to-haul-scarborough-spa-express-this-june.html Looking forward to that!

Great stuff Jim. I love Barmouth and would love to photograph some kind of loco on Barmouth Bridge rather than just Arriva Trains Wales units as that is all that there has ever been when we have been on holiday down there.

Nice photo. Is the sun in a decent position at Woodlesford station as I have though about driving over one Thursday morning for this working? Cheers

Good stuff Jack. Looking forward to the scenics.

Thanks Mick. Can't wait to see it haul a biomass. Hopefully the trials will be a success and the 70 performs. If successful it will be interesting to see what GBRF do. Would they buy their own 70s or are freightliner willing to part with theirs as half the fleet are parked up doing nothing at Midland road.

Good evening. There hasn't been too much happening on the layout. From the TMD will be a path to a crew mess building and I spied an opportunity to make some barriers using the waste pieces of plastic that comes holding the pieces of security fencing together. Here is a photo below More contours of the land have been formed to create some much needed relief using mdf, chicken wire and plaster cloth. Here is a photo below Last weekend I had a loco failure and as you well know I do like my class 70s both Freightliner and Colas. My Freightliner 70 has been playing up for a while and it finally gave up so I had not option but to strip it down to inspect the motor to find that some contacts had melted together and some plastic had been hot and melted. Despite my best efforts I could not repair it so I rang Bachmann but with it being weekend their service department was not open. I rang my local model shop but they no longer do loco repairs which I can understand. I looked on the internet but could not really see any replacement Bachmann class 70 motors or parts for that matter. On Monday morning I rang Bachmann who had a new motor in stock so for around £25 for the motor and postage and packing it was worth an attempt at a repair as I don't fancy buying another new Freightliner 70 for what would be around £140.00 brand new. I am pleased to say that tonight I have successfully installed the new motor and my Freightliner 70 has done a few laps of the layout with no problem although the new motor does sound slightly noisier that the old one. I did also order a soldering iron off the internet to carry out this repair but this was not required as the new motor came with resistors, capacitors and wiring included that just loops onto the PCB board with plastic clips pushing on making the contact between the two. So I would like to say that my first experience of Bachmanns after sales service was very pleasing as they had the parts in stock at a reasonable price, delivered and received quickly and my favourite loco back up and running hauling trains. I am still waiting for the release of Bachmanns Colas Rail class 70 which I have on pre order with Hattons which will be a great addition to my collection. I have also recently found myself looking at Hornby class 50 locos, although they are not really my era, they have rally grown on me since seeing one or two on mainline duties in the last 6 months and on the East Lancs Railway at Christmas.

Love the class 50. Not my era but having seen a few in the last year at the East Lancs Railway and a couple on the mainline last year they are definitely growing on me.

Great photo Jim look forward to the rest. Thanks for the heads up on this train. Nice to meet you at Warrington Bank Quay.

Thanks Jack. I think I will construct a platform next. I have an idea in my head how to do it as it is going to be similar to Wigan North Western 6 platforms 2 of them bays to hold a 2 car dmu or light engine.

That's great thanks for your feedback.

Hello I have just been looking at some of your photos and admiring your ballast and the cable trenches (if that's the right terminology). How did you make the cable trenches lineside as they look really good. Also is the ballast in the gap between the two railway lines (the 4 foot) raised/piled slightly higher?

Good evening everyone. I now have both main lines ballasted with gaugemaster grey pre-ballasted underlay and I am quite happy with how it looks. The track is pinned down again and after experiencing warped rails last year I have left a small gap between each rail joint after a few people offered advice on how to try and overcome this problem so hopefully when/if the weather warms up later in the year I will not have the same problem again. Below are some photos of the two main lines that are ballasted. I now need to look at some photos I have taken on my photography travels and get an idea how best to fill in "the 4 foot" where the ballast tends to be piled slightly higher if I remember rightly. Countryside section Freight only line leading to/from the yard and TMD TMD I have gone through 4 boxes (total 20 meters) so far of this underlay stuff and is between £20-25 so the remaining track will have to wait a month or two before I continue. At least in this time I can run more trains and more wagons around to check for derailments etc and also whether the rails warp again. I reckon I need two more boxes to complete the tracks.

Looks good Jack. I was wondering how you were getting on with this. I had an experiment with a canal test piece using clear plastic and looked quite good so I will keep my eye out for your reservoir progressing. We moved house and the canal idea went out the window.

Hello Jim. I had our integral garage converted at our old house for a kids playroom and cost around £6000 to take off the garage door and brick it up but putting in a large window as it was at the front of the house. Then studding out the walls, kingspan insulation and plastering all walls. Making a false floor to raise height of garage floor to same height as house floors as you stepped down into garage. Then adding extra sockets and electric heater. Good luck with it all and which ever way it pans out for you look forward to either seeing you build a new layout or seeing this one continue.

Great modern image layout. I am following this one and will keep my eye out for updates.

Last night after some structural work to the baseboards I laid some of the Gaugemaster pre-ballasted underlay. We ran the Pendolino and class 68 around the tracks to test it and the trains are definitely quieter when on the track that has the ballasted underlay underneath. Below are some photos and as you can see it definitely gives the track some height off the baseboard surface. Sorry that the photos are not the best. At around £20 a roll for 5 meters it is going to be an expensive job. Once installed under all tracks I need to fill in between the tracks with some gaugemaster bagged ballast and also ballast to the scenery etc.

Looking great. Nice collection of locos and rolling stock.

Great locos and equally great photographs.

Good evening everyone. A tiny bit more progress on the station area. I have glued down some tarmac sheets now, done some curbs and made a footpath for the bus stop shelter to go on opposite the station. The pavements need gluing down still and I need to add road signs and road markings at some point. I have also painted the bridge a similar blue to the bus stop. I have also placed a tree I have made in a similar place to the tree found at Wigan North Western station. I have loosely placed some shop fronts behind the arches to see what the area looks like. I made these shop fronts ages ago before the house move. I have also had these station accessory packs for ages that I bought for this area that need to be fitted at some point. For Christmas the missus got me a roll of Gaugemaster ballasted underlay to try. As I was in two minds whether to use underlay or just ballast the track straight to the baseboards I am hoping that this stuff will kill two birds with one stone and look half decent. Here are two photos of it below with a piece of spare track placed on top. . . . . It looks quite good I think so I just need to get round to doing it!