TWild996

Thanks very much - I hope you enjoy reading about the layout as it comes back to life.

Having been off uni with a chest infection (my first, and hopefully last), I've had time to make some progress on the layout over the past few days. Mostly this has just involved scraping off and laying down new grass and trees, but I have also been working on a replacement for one of the two goods platforms. It's essentially a plasticard box, tapered along one side, with stone sheeting placed along the edges. To give it a bit of weight/strength, and to try and simulate the texture of cement, the stone sides were made about 5mm proud of the frame underneath, and plaster was poured in and flattened. Other than painting, this is now complete. I've also been experimenting with how best to get a good slate roofing effect on one of the line-side huts, which can just be glimpsed at the top of one of the photos. I'm not satisfied with any of the results that I've achieved so far, and any advice on this subject would be welcome. That's all for now - hopefully it's been of some interest - and I may not get much done for the next week or so, as I catch up with the work I missed.

Hullo and welcome to Lulworth Cove! When I first saw Lulworth Cove, an EM gauge layout set around the turn of the last century (1912, to be precise, however I will be taking it back to 1904), at the beginning of last year, I was immediately taken with it. Sure, it was showing it's more than three decades of service in places, but overall it was still a well-designed and elegant layout. When, later in 2014, it's owner and builder floated the idea that I might take it over and restore it, and eventually return it to the exhibition circuit, I agreed enthusiastically, and the last in a succession of unfinished OO layouts which my father and I had been working on for the past few years was taken apart. For the first few months of my ownership, work progressed slowly, interrupted by my going on an overseas trip at the end of my gap-year, and starting university barely a week after my return home. It is now, however, beginning to move at far more rapid pace, which I am aiming to record here. The Layout Lulworth Cove was constructed in the early 1980s, and is a U-shaped end-to-end layout, measuring about five metres long by 4 metres wide, and with a baseboard width of no more than 60 centimetres. I features a local through station as well as a larger terminus which has a small MPD and goods yard. The fiddle yard is a five road traverser, which is long enough to fit a train of five 57' coaches and a large 4-4-0, or the equivalent thereof. Lulworth Cove is a real place, on the Dorset coast, however, it was never connected to a railway. The fictional LSWR line provides a connection to an equally fictional ferry service to the Channel Islands and Brittany. All of the locomotives (totalling around 20) which the builder of Lulworth Cove employed on the layout were scratch built, as was much of the rolling stock. Four of these locomotives (A T9, an A1x in LSWR livery, an L11 and S&DJR 4-4-0 no. 17) and trains to match have been loaned indefinitely to me until I can build sufficient stock of my own. State of Play Currently, the layout is in operable condition and the handmade track is undamaged. The scenery, on the other hand, has seen better days; currently I am going through and replacing the ground cover and trees on the two terminus baseboards. There is also significant scenery damage from transport, age and insects. The buildings are all beautifully made, but like the rest of the layout, need a spring cleaning and a new coat of paint. Some of the rolling stock I have been given also requires cosmetic repair work. The two goods platforms and the coaling stage all need replacement, being wooden structures which have not stood the test of time quite so well as the trackwork and electrics. Of the two goods platforms, there is a replacement for one currently under construction. This will represent a stone structure instead of wooden, and is being made from plasticard. The ground cover on the more scenic baseboards requires total replacement, my father and I are still in the process of deciding what the best way to do this would be (we're leaning towards simply painting over most of the grass and covering it up). All of the rocky hills will have to be cut out and replaced as well. The trees, which would have been one of the layout's weaknesses even in it's heyday will also all need replacement, a process which has started. There are also many small jobs which need doing. Plans Other than the restoration of the scenic elements of the layout, there is obviously the necessity of constructing new locomotives and rolling stock. As previously stated, the original period of the layout was 1912, however, I am planning on backdating it to 1904 (this will not be difficult). I am also going to re-orient it from the S&D/LSW to GW/LSW. The first new locomotive to be introduced will be a Martin Finney City Class kit which has been waiting in the wings for some time now, and which I hope will be pulling a train of corridor clerestories within the year. I am also considering GW/SE&CR/LSW, as contrived as any explanation of how this came about would have to be, the charms of Harry Wainwright's designs are difficult to ignore... Anyway, if you have read this far, I hope you enjoy watching the (re)development of Lulworth Cove as much as I am enjoying doing it and I will welcome any suggestions, queries or comments. Also, I will upload an album of photos in the next day or two.