bazzer42

Looking good. I prefer your new ballast. You can now spend an age picking bits of your sleepers. I find it's one of the jobs that you can keep coming back to but time well spent. If I do larger areas of static grass I always multi layer. You can experiment with colours and lengths. The WWS videos are quick tutorials, he does some interesting work by scrubbing his fingers around laid but not dry grass. If you search war world scenics the videos are still there. I found them useful.

Bit of work on the end hut and now 90% wired just waiting for a switched battery pack for the signal. Had to show off my new toy. I always envisaged the 121 being Berkshire somewhere but may be too pretty not to run to Burnham or Merthyr

I wished my sleepers looked like that! My Legacy ballast came from Hereford Models at the Lydney show in September. Originally picked up,one tub but on their recommendation swapped a bag of granite chips for a second one. They do a range of colours. Glad I have a stock as I've only used half a tub so far.....enough to see me out as my nan would say...

I've used legacy 2mm ballast and ballast bond glue. J found the glue to be more "controllable " with a drop of alcohol added to dilute further. Once you master the flow of the glue it worked really well. I found that being patient with the spreading of the ballast and careful use of a fine brush to clear sleepers was beneficial.

Not a lot to show for 3 weeks since the last post. Ballast has gone down with Legacy 2mm grey. Not my favourite job but ballast bond glue worked well once the dropper is mastered. I've tried to close off the platform with a hut from a butchered Peco station kit. Thebay has provided a satlink wagon to add some colour.

I've used piano wire in tubes for peco points on a previous layout. Measuring some here looks about 1mm diameter. These were straight runs from point to edge of board I.e. virtually 90° to baseboard., a bit of leeway with that but not much.

Love that picture, that RTC 24(?) Is placed to give me train spotters moral dilemma. I know the number but can't see it, can I underline it. Please keep the pictures coming!

Thanks Keith, I haven't totally given up on Brean. Part of the test bed for this layout was to see whether pre cut MDF would work as a baseboard in conjunction with a styrodur base. It has worked well so at some point I would like to frame Brean in a similar style and add a fixed fiddleyard. Both Brean and my China clay layout were built on a slab of styrodur so I hope they can be salvaged.

Replacement signal wired and working, lost time was used to make a Pwllheli style hut and some Peco buffer stops. Is it desperate to cut the end legs off a buffer stop to save a half inch?

Track finally laid and wired up to the trusty gaugemaster. A few painful and costly lessons on the way. Code 75 fishplates need opening up with a section of bullhead before connecting track. If you attempt this by tapping the bullhead into a point and then use brute force to remove it you will take half the vee out of the point.... if you show your neighbour your new fancy led starter signal by tapping wires in semi darkness you will eventually tap the wrong side of the resistor and blow an led. I have invested in some peco switches (as well as a new point and signal) as one of their control boxes will hold sufficient switches for this layout. I had to trim the side of the platform to allow a 121 to enter the bay side. The fiddleyard is a compromise to my initial plans but happier to trade that off for the ability to use both platform faces for two car dmus. Slowly but surely....

Well, that's the only time this side will be viewed as we are ready to lay track and it's not yet September....

You've filled that board nicely, that curve between the buildings looks right.

Thanks Mr Arrow, everything is running off a 9v battery and I'm hoping it will also work the colour light signal. The canopy was from a layout 25 years ago and still had small bulbs in it, LEDs have come on since then!

Lights connected to canopy and platform and feeling pleased although wiring was a pig. Top tip -column lights have sleeving on the bottom for a reason, some fine soldering needed to repair that! A couple of lights to the station building still to be added.

A little progress with a removable platform nearly finished so that I can actually pin track down. The gap next to platform end will be filled with a half relief brick building of some description. I need to wire some micro LEDs into the canopy. Plenty of brutes, benches etc still to be added to the platform but pleased how it's turning out.

I use code 75 and mix it with peco bullhead. It is as easy code 100 but I have found rough handling of 75 points can cause the chairs to break on the lead in. Just something I have noticed, it hasn't put me off and I am using the same combination on my latest build. I may even use code 100 in the fiddle yard using peco converter tracks. PS like the revised design

I think Aberayron is a magical site. The small signal box at the end of the platform and the mish mash station cry out to be modelled. I have bought wills kits to bash into a tribute at some point, as long as the passage of time slows down for me!

If slow but steady wins then I should be a champion. Since the last post I have finalised a track layout with basically a Y point for the platform and the goods kick back being operated as a separate fiddle yard, so a two point layout. I've decided to complete the platform before final track laying. Peco edges with plasticard brick facing. The tops are plain plasticard with some misting of paint to give some texture , a final brushing of weathering powder awaits (as does joining the plasticard strips!). I like the end on building look of Pwhelli and think that could look right behind the goods line. The canopy comes from a previous layout of 25 years ago. I have just ordered a platform colour starter as I have found my one experience with a Dapol semaphore to be less than satisfactory..... I have two lovely platform lights from model railway scenes on Thebay. I didn't plan on having them to light up but they do look good so may order some LEDs for the canopy. Track laid by September??

If I was to rename the thread it would be Merthyr on Sea, Berkshire to excuse a GW150 rail car! I'm not sure where the track plan is going. I'm not really an operator so if this little more than a diorama (with some movement) do I need any points other than the kick back to the warehouse? In my mind there are three sidings: Bay platform - parcels / stabling civil's Main platform DMU (s) Goods kick back - factory/warehouse I had thought that being able to interchange between bay and goods sidings would be handy hence the crossing template. I assume a double slip might look more acceptable? Any suggestions gratefully considered. I'm going to retest the double slip idea...

A couple evenings work on the patio in the shade and we have a dividing wall between the railway and the rest of the world. The terraced houses were a buy from the bay and quite pleased until the Townscene sheets arrived yesterday. They really are lovely and allow a combination of shops near the station petering out to housing. The wife preferred the Townscene and she is a fair judge (and speaks her mind!!).

Congratulations on the job, comes in threes! Eldest got a new job Friday and relocated the youngest for his new job on Monday. Enjoying the thread but a hit hot for lofts today?

Painting all finished. The foam base is, as Lucilla Teatime would say, as tight as turd in a trumpet. Not going to need much glue to keep it in place. Some backscenes on order but the weekend will be lost relocating the youngest to West Wales.

That turned out well. With some gorilla glue and quick action clamps I've managed to frame the baseboard with no screws at all. A coat of blackboard paint is drying as I type. A coat of backscene blue should dry quickly tomorrow looking at the forecast.