CazRail

Today I finally received my order from Hattons which I ordered on Friday. It contained woodland scenics shakers which contain fine turf, coarse turf & bushes. This is what I've come up with... I'm quite happy. I'll seal it all in then have a tidy up.

Just a little photo post to keep the thread rolling... Colas has taken over the tanks...

Today I decided to experiment with creating water effects for the lake using clear silicone sealant. Here's the results... I know it's difficult to see as the stuff is clear, but it would be the same with any product. Of course the colour isn't right, I only used it in an attempt to make the effect more visible on camera. I will see tomorrow how they turn out after work.

A little progress today. I filled the gaps in the point where the line leaves dry land using filler, so that will be painted brown tomorrow. I've painted all other white areas on the layout brown also... I've also put some grass mat on the corner board. .. I've also made new wing fences for the bridge out of plastic strip... These will need painting and gluing into position. That's all for today, been called into work tonight in Stockport...

State of play yesterday evening... Back of the layout built up, profiled and a section of static grass mat glued along the top which will represent fields. A quick photo of 66200 on the Octel tanks. Any questions or comments welcome Thanks

Cheers Neil mate. I'm hoping one day to take it to shows.

​you're spot on, Matt, it'll be getting a shade of something more dull before any 'water' goes on it. Speaking of water, I'm going to experiment using pound shop epoxy resin. I've seen some war-gaming tutorials on YouTube showing different methods of creating water, apparently its do-able. If not successful, I thing ill have to do what I can with Woodland Scenics' realistic water. We'll see, few weeks away yet.

Did some head-scratching this afternoon, and looked at some more photos of the real place. I then decided to add another layer of polystyrene sheet at the rear edge of the layout to form a gradual bank. I will use an electric sander to form the landscape. Two rolls of static grass mats arrived yesterday, so I decided also to see how the 6mm one would look on the banks of the lake/lineside. I'm not too sure how it looks yet, need to decide. In these two photos above you can see the added layer of polystyrene. Here's the section of static grass mat I've put down. I'm not convinced yet, it needs work. Of course along the bottom edge I need to add reeds and long grass as there often is at the edge of a lake, Maybe I'll be better off making it overgrown... So I decided to have a little photo-shoot with some trains on the line... 67024 leads a charter up the branch to Amlwch. 66200 tails... Finally, an Arriva 153 makes it's way to Bangor after crossing the charter in loop at Llangwyllog. Any comments/questions welcome, thanks for looking by.

Yes! From the Long Marston rail live thing

I am sure I'm not alone when I say I often think about how the line would be had it remained open. Nowadays, I'm pretty sure the service would be either 150 or 153 units. So here's a 150 on an Amlwch-bound service. Something else I wonder, how would the Amlwch tanks look these days had it not been stopped in 1993, and if the plant stayed open after 2003...

!I've recently been working on my latest project, which is a section of the Amlwch branch which skirts, and crosses Llyn Cefni, a reservoir to the north of Llangefni. I wanted this layout to be as simple as possible, so I decided a simple track layout was needed. I came to a quick conclusion that you can't get any simpler than a single track. I feel the bit of line I'm representing is interesting as it cuts through a lake on an embankment, which I feel isn't a thing that's modelled too often. I think this alone provides plenty if interest. This is my prospective of this but if line. Nothing is to scale of even accurate. It'll be run as a multi-era layout, anything from Ivatt 2s and Derby Lightweights to modern 66s and 150s Where I aim to recreate: Where I'm up to now: An ATW class 153 looks quite at home trundling up and down the branch. Thanks for looking, any comments welcomed.

Looks brilliant! Seeing you've used grass mats for some of your green areas, which is what I'm doing for my own layout of the Amlwch branch.

Very interesting topic! Will be great to watch this develop along with the real thing!

Brilliant layout, read the article in Rail Express and was really impressed!

Just seen this thread, where have I been?! Brilliant work, following avidly

Reveived mine today, and I'm really impressed! Not letting the livery error on it bother me, so have to say superb work, Dapol!

I should be receiving my 68002 today, and very much looking forward to it. The livery issue won't bother me too much but as many have already said, I'm sure Dapol will rectify it in due course. Might splash out on a Chiltern one soon...

Has anyone noticed the huge misprint in the DRS examples? The green swoosh on one side is over to one end of the loco...

It's good to see them getting used. Todays trains left nearer to time. Crossing keeper at PG flagged it through again.

Was on the worksite today, the train that went in today with 66848 and 66850 will go back loaded later on today. Can't see why it'll be late today as the job is practically done. So they used Gaerwen's crossover road to go from the down to the up. Rare for that to get used nowadays!

Great stuff! I was videoing your train at Llanfairpwll LC, I gave you a wave from the down side. Great to see some Colas down the coast.

This is exactly my method, works very well and means you're less likely to need to re-shuffle every time you buy a new loco, e.g. a class 66 and you've already filled your quota of 66s on your list

Don't know if anyone has suggested this, but they should offer the Class 91 and Mk4 DVT in a set like the HST powercars if/when they re-tool them.

In work, I'm currently involved in clearing vegetation from structures, working out of Llandudno Junction depot. I cover North Wales coast route and all branches including the GLA (Amlwch line) and Trawsfynnydd line (which is part of LJT1) This week we're de-vegging bridge 16, which crosses the main road in Llangefni on a yellow lattice bridge. Many of the bridges on the line have fallen into a state of dis-repair, with the majority of bridges with timber decking having had them removed and the bridge fenced off with high security palisade fencing. Of course working on the railway locally I havent heard anything about the line's re-opening.