Midnight-Freight

Time for a bit of an update methinks. When time is short in supply and you're only able to spend a few minutes here and there it doesn't feel like much progress is being made but looking at my last update it's surprising how much has changed. All my efforts have been concentrated on the left hand board where the maintenance shed is. I've made the small fenced compound behind the shed as well as finishing the fencing around the shed itself. Some basic ground cover has been added which will be added to with more greenery. The track by the side of the rails will lead to another small compound containing some sort of equipment. I've also added a 2 aspect signal which will probably just be controlled with a 2 way switch rather than having dcc control as it's more for effect than operational purposes and will mostly be showing red. On the backscene behind the Freightliner 66 I'm in the early stages of creating a very low relief office block which will be based on the Scalescenes T007 download. Any thoughts or comments welcome.

Really interesting reading through this. I've lived near Huntingdon for the last 13 years so not long enough to have known any of the old lines but I can picture where they would have been based on the landmarks.

Looking really good. +1 on the follow list.

At the other end I've also almost finished the hard standing area where the service shed will be. I decided against using the filler method as previously as I found it difficult to achieve a finish I was happy with and found I couldn't get trains to run perfectly after all the sanding and painting. So this time I built up the area using match sticks of which I had a big bag full. On top of this two layers of thin card were used to give a flat surface. The concrete 'slabs' were then made using cereal box card doubled up with weathered concrete sheets downloaded from scalescenes.com which I then gave a couple of coats of Halfords matt lacquer. The fence is the Wills SSM316 kit which has been primed and given a couple of coats of galv silver spray. It's just temporarily placed to give a feel for how the area will look. The small enclosed area behind the main service shed area will probably be a slightly overgrown storage compound with a container and various items of detailing added.

Time for a bit of an update... What with work, family time, managing my son's football team and training for a marathon it's not left a lot of time for modelling but I have made a fair bit of progress. I've done most of the ballasting with just a few bits to finish off before another dose of track and ballast weathering can commence. I've used Woodland Scenics brown in a roughly 50/50 mix of 00 and N gauge. One of the advantages of modelling a yard area is that it doesn't need to be perfectly neat, and in fact looks more realistic if it isn't. I've also added in a few more patches of ground cover using Woodland Scenics fine turf earth.

Just be aware that if it is a Bachmann loco you may not be able to get the body to fit on properly if using a 21 to 8 pin converter along with the tts chip. That's what I found at least with the tts 67 chip. With a bit more faffing about it may have been possible but I just fitted it back into my 8 pin model.

Looking good. Will now follow.

To my eyes at least on the real 66740 there is no yellow panel as such, it just looks a continuation of the orange which I would say matches the model almost exactly. To me it's the yellow panel on the from of the model which looks odd. As for the headlight on the real one that looks a completely different orange altogether. I'm only using the two pics above for comparison, I haven't examined any other pics.

It's slow but steady progress at the moment but I've made a start on the concrete hardstanding area around the servicing shed. I've also dusted some weathering pigments over the rail sides and sleepers which has given a nice effect. Just need to seal it all in and I'll make a start on ballasting in some areas. I also picked up a Dapol Freightliner HIA wagon. What a cracking model for just over £20. I realised it's also the first bit of stock I've bought new since I was a kid. Looking forward to getting a few more of these.

Groundwork continues with most of the concrete trunking in place, painted and weathered as well as the obligatory orange pipes beneath the tracks which still need toning down a bit. I've started adding in basic ground cover which is just sieved postcrete sprinkled on pva, wetted and allowed to dry and then washed over with various brown and black mixes. I've also sorted out a couple of track work niggles which only affected my class 08 so everything is running smoothly. More groundwork to be done and then I won't be far off starting to ballast.

I've weathered my track (rail sides and sleepers) using cheap acrylic paints I already had and achieved a finish I am now happy with. I didn't prime the plastic sleepers first and have noticed on a couple of test pieces when I soak the ballast with a diluted pva mix it's lifting the paint off of the sleepers. I guess this was maybe inevitable but I didn't think about it at the time. Obviously I don't want this to happen or to have to re-paint now so I was thinking of giving the track a coat of something like Humbrol matt varnish before I ballast. Is this the best way to go or are there any other suggestions to make sure I don't lose what I've already done?

This is something I need to do with my EWS 08 if I can find the time and courage to give it a go. The faded maroon makes a huge difference.

The track is all now laid and wired up so the only sensible option was to get some trains out and do some 'testing'. As anyone will tell you this is one of the most important and time consuming parts of building a layout. All seems ok apart from a couple of places where my class 08 stalled but nothing major. The Freightliner 66 is a recent acquisition, bought at a good price as it wasn't running properly. I think I've sorted it although it needs a decoder, which can wait. I've started weathering up the concrete sleeper track with various grey and brown washes and a bit of burnt umber dry brushed on. I think it looks ok but not quite there yet. It's difficult to tell without any ballast, which is next on the list once I've settled on the ratio of 00 and N gauge that I want to use. I also bough some dark rust colour weathering powder which I've been practising with to give the rail sides a slightly better look. Early signs are quite promising on my piece of test track although the difference is very subtle and almost unnoticeable. Took a few pics while everything was out. I really need a better camera, or just start taking pictures in better light.

Thanks, it does make a big difference. I would never have thought to do it myself, it was layouts like Everard Junction and Oak Road that inspired me. I'm sure it would be ok. I don't have any proper curves but it's glued down with pva and was weighted down for 24 hours to allow the glue to dry and it's pretty solid. Thanks Joe

Final couple of pieces of track have been laid. Just waiting for the glue to dry then the rail sides can be painted, cosmetic sleepers added and droppers wired up to the bus wire and that brings everything to the same stage. Whilst waiting I fixed the peco dummy point motors in place on extended sleepers. After much searching I'm pretty sure I got them in the right place!

Yeah I realise that. Either way once finally fitted and concreted over it would be a major pain to replace so I took the easier route for wiring.

I've been working on the inspection pits for the last few days to enable me to finish laying the track. First up they were given a quick coat of grey primer and an initial dark wash to weather them up a bit. I'll add a bit more weathering in the form of brown and black washes soon. After watching DaveClass47 of Dean Park Station's video on You Tube of how he fitted lighting to his inspection pits I initially started following his method, as far as ordering the same 1.5mm axion led's and drilling 1.6mm holes in the sides of the pits. However I decided to put them opposite each other rather than alternating as he has. This is where I started to go off in a slightly different direction. I had already decided to wire them up in series as frankly once finally fitted if anything then went wrong whether they were wired in series or parallel would be the least of my concerns! I knew I had some phosphor bronze strips left over from when I added extra pick-ups to my Bachmann 66 so I cut some lengths and glued them to the sides of the pits in between the holes for the led's. I then positioned the led's in their holes and held them in place with a small amount of glue. Once this was dry I carefully soldered the legs of the led's to the bronze strips. The next step was to solder red (+) and black (-) leads to the legs at either end, along with a resistor on the positive side. Once this was done I tested all was working ok using a 9v battery before using some insulation tape to protect everything. I'm really pleased with the effect. The light bleed wasn't as bad as it appears in the pic and has been dealt with so now these can be put in place and I can lay the last couple of pieces of track.

I personally have ruled out the Hornby altogether based on what I have seen and heard about them. Not that it has changed my mind but I have seen some forthcoming releases in some of the more interesting liveries at a reasonable proposed price. I would still rather opt for a secondhand Bachmann one though. I only own one of the older Bachmann releases and whilst I can't comment on the other differences between the old and newer models adding additional pick-ups is fairly straight forward and cheap to do. I too am keeping a close eye on secondhand prices in the hope they drop to a more reasonable level although I do wonder if many people will have the same idea and thus the demand for secondhand ones increases and prices stay roughly the same. Hopefully Bachmann will do the honourable thing and drop the price of their own model and all three manufacturers models will become available both new and secondhand at suitable prices.

I've been plugging away doing bits and pieces when I have time. The rail sides on boards 2 and 3 have been painted with a mix of burnt umber and burnt sienna with a hint of black and the wooden sleeper points using just burnt umber. Next up to weather up the concrete sleepers once I'm happy with the effect. I've tidied up the wiring a little and hopefully Postman Pat (probably not his/her real name) will deliver a package today enabling me to finish wiring the last few points. I've also got the led's, resistors and wire to wire up the inspection pits which once done means I can finish laying the track on board 1, which in turn means I can start properly 'testing' the layout with trains. Happy modelling

Seeing as I've taken a lot of inspiration (read that as copied ideas) from this layout I know where my vote will be going.

One thing that's now holding me up a bit is trying to decide whether to add in another point and small siding as per the pic. Initially this was going to be a 2 road tmd but I think using it as a general light maintenance shed for any loco or wagon makes more sense. Hence my idea of adding a small third siding behind the shed where a few wagons could be stored and shunted about. That being said I don't want to overdo the track and quite like the simplicity of 2 roads. Any thoughts...?

I've also been spending a lot of time thinking about ballast and track weathering. I know how I want it to look but whether I can transfer that on to the layout remains to be seen... After trying a few options the closest I've found so far is Woodland Scenics mixed brown in 00 gauge. Normally it's considered to be over scale but I think the widened sleeper spacing makes it look ok. Once it's glued down I'll experiment further with track painting and weathering the ballast as well as trying to achieve a more realistic weathered appearance to the concrete sleepers.

With a lack of materials to do much else I've made a start on the flyover that will hide the end of the third board. It's loosely based on one near me where the A14 crosses a local road. Made using some leftover 9mm ply the basic shape is looking ok. It needs a bit of neatening up and then I need to start experimenting with how to get a similar concrete finish to the one it's based on No pics but at the other end I have made a start on cutting the holes for the inspection pits in the maintenance shed. I need to decide on the lighting arrangements here before I can go much further.