Duncan.

Shirebrook Road trips 2023 Hi, I haven't been doing any photogenic jobs on the layout, Just mundane but essential maintenance. The major one has been to increase the capacitance to aid poistive operation of the turnouts. I have also replaced failed components. I only take the layout to a limited number of shows, and next year's diary is now complete. Subject to final confirmation please look out for Shirebrook at the DEMU showcase event at Sutton Coalfield in June and Barnsley in November 2023. I will post again on this thread if there are any changes.... cheers Duncan

Good Evening, This posting is to let you know about our next running day. For those of you new to this thread we offer you the chance to come to our house and operate Shirebrook, we provide drinks and a light lunch. Places are limited so please let me know through PM if you would like to attend. You are welcome to bring along some of your rolling stock if you want. The date will be Sunday December 11th and the layout will be available from 10.30 am. Cheers Duncan

Hi, Well I'm back from Hastings and I visited the quarry at Fairlight. I found an information board about the quarry. I photographed it and attach it here and I collected a handful of the sand. The sandstone is in a range of different hardness and grain size. The sample below is some of the finest and is very soft, the rock can easily be 'crushed' in the palm of your hand. Other layers require the use of a hammer. Cheers Duncan

Hi, The material used inthe cess areas is a quartz sand I collected from a disused quarry at Fairlight near Hastings. It is extreamly fine, I am in fact off to Hastings tomorrow for a few days. After laying i used an airbrush to weather. Cheers

Hi Ian, Sod's law I don't have the originals. Here are some alternatives I hope they will help This is Finescale track, extream left Chinchilla bathing sand, which has been sieved, this being the finest particles, perhaps too small for the main lines but OK for depots, yards etc. Middle are the larger particles from the bathing sand, my preferred, to the right is Dapol finest grade. Here we have NGS kits loaded with the bathing sand as it comes, you can see the variation in particle size. These wagons have been loaded with a sand I collected from Anglesea and below is a close up of the same And finally another wider view of the 'ballasts' on the track Cheers Duncan

Hi, I will try to find out my original photos and repost, it may take a few days as I am busy and I'm away for a week. Cheers Duncan

Hi Simon, I only had a limited time to watch your great model, but having operated the layout at Blackburn show, I didn't feel too cheated. It was a pleasure to have Shirebrook and Dallam together, I think both layouts complimented each other. Cheers Duncan

All credit should really go to the dedicated team of operators who were all magnificent, operating the layout and conversing with the visitors

Hi, You will probably realise reading posts above that we had operating issues at Wigan. I have been replacing various electrical parts on the model, a transformer and cdu's. The new transformer, large square one has been installed in the power box. And here are a couple of shots from the layout while at Wigan I had little time for photos after the burn out, it was a very stressful weekend for me. Cheers Duncan

Hi Lowlander, Thanks for your kind observations. I feel I should point out the HAA cripple is there not for being overloaded but failing to unload cemetery, one set of the discharge doors failed to open! I'm not sure if some very old 7 planks, painted in 'Shirebrook " livery also appeared in the same video. These are Mathieson unpainted wagons and at 1st glance completely out of the timeperiod modelled. I have a back story for these wagons... Once upon a time.... The story goes along the lines that Shirebrook Colliery supplies coal to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley. These wagons have been fitted with vacuum brakes and run to Butterley only. Cheers Duncan

Thanks for all your help Simon. I have obtained replacement high output cdus and a higher rated 100va transformer. I have not yet found a fault as such so the transformer melt down remains a mystery. We had a great weekend on Shirebrook and the public were unaware of the power failure and limited operation we offered. My thanks go to the Shirebrook operating team who worked their socks off to provide a near to normal service as possible. Cheers Duncan

Hi everyone,we have just arrived home from Wigan Show, where Shirebrook was on display next to Dallam. A special thank you must be recorded to Simon fron Dallam who very kindly lent me a transformer after one of ours burnt out during set up which jeopardised the appearance of Shirebrook at the show. Also I have to thank the operating team, Jonathan, Robert, Harry, Norman and Andy for doing a wonderful job under less than perfect circumstances. It was great to meet some of the correspondents that contribute to this thread. Cheers Duncan

Thanks Jamie, We all enjoyed the weekend at Pickering. There were many appreciative comments from the visitors. We had to react quickly when a cdu burnt out just 10 minutes before opening...but I don't think anyone noticed. We purchased a replacement unit from a trader and were soon back to full operation. I like the photoof thelayout taken from a light aircraft by the look of it! Cheers Duncan

Thanks everyone for your kind comments here is a photo of the team, well most of them outside the venue after the show. I should point out that all the bear legs are not visible to the public when we are behind d the layout... and it was very WARM!!

SDRM Pickering Show Here are some photos I managed to get during a busy show. My endeavours were further hampered by the dreaded blue acrid smoke emitting from one of the control panels just minutes before opening on Saturday morning. We found the fault and replaced the defective part and returned to full operation by 10.45!

Scarborough District Railway Modellers Pickering Show. I have to say a special thank you to the members of the club for making the Shirebrook Operating Team very welcome and for running a really friendly model show in the beautiful town of Pickering. We hope the show was a success for the club. Cheers Duncan JRM and the team

It was a pleasure to welcome you to the team thanks for you patience, diligence and comic contributions 😃😛 appreciated by the team and the JRM

I patch sprayed the tankers with matt varnish, much heavier than normal. then sieved talc over the wet varnish. I did this after I had weathered the tankers with the airbrush in the normal way and left to dry for 24 hours. Cheers

Hi, Yes on the heavily weathered wagon it does look a little too white. I will try to tone down a bit, it is a subtle process and easy to go too far the other way. I am pleased with the effect overall on my 9 PCV wagons Cheers

Thanks Mike for your kind remarks. You ask a simple question but I can't give a simple answer. As you can see in this thread above I make some of my own detailling parts. I paint the model using an air brush. The loco has been weathered with an airbrush. All work is carried out carefully, but no more so than working in larger scales a pissed grille for example will look bad in any scale. I work from prototype photos and paint what I see not what I know. Cheers Duncan

So the show is this weekend 20th and 21st Auust 2022, Memorial Hall, Pickering

Shirebrook will be at Scarborough District Railway Modellers Pickering Show . This will be our first outing since Covid. Please come along and have a chat. I have taken summer off from model making , however upon checking the stock to take to the show I came across some unweathered Revolution PCVs, immediate action was required. In addition to my normal air brush weathering techniques I used talcum powder to try to recreate the crusty appearance of the prototypes where cement dust has become wet and built up on the tanks... what do you think about the effect? I worked from prototype photos as usual. Cheers Duncan

Last Weekend we had a running day on Shirebrook. I did intend to film several clips of the layout in operation... however we had such a good session ... I just forgot. I did one and include a link to it here to view on Youtube. Cheers Duncan

Class 45 weathering. Hi everyone, This posting will be the first update from my new phone. What could possibly go wrong! I have weathered the model, some of the glazing needs adjustment, and a final varnish will complete this loco. Cheers Duncan

Hi Nick, When I have fully finished the loco... weathering and varnishing I will reform the grille... less chance then off further damage. Cheers Duncan