Devonbelle

Cab roof now on the 2044 loco; and bogies sprayed black earlier today - I think it makes a massive difference. Range of other jobs this morning too; I’ve fitted one of the buildings with more guttering - I use U channel rodding from umbrellas - secured with Superglue. Additionally I’ve been weathering the road models last night - just simple stuff; dry-brushing using acrylic paints. This afternoon will see the all important testing of the layout and the 2044 loco. All the best Paul

Ah Paul; In my world they are the names of wonderful 2foot gauge Peckett locomotives at Southam cement works! ;o)

Up early this morning working on the loco. Cutting window frames for the cab. Roof will go on today. Then a coat of spray on the bogies tonight. Please do come and say hello on Saturday if you come to what looks to be an excellent Larkrail show in Bath.

Up early this morning, sick with excitement for Saturday! The cake, tea and sandwiches sound great for the day. Just burning the midnight (lamp) oil - substantially completing my Scratchbuilt 0 gauge Croatian railways General Motors diesel loco which will appear Saturday. At times I’ve questioned myself why not do a BR diesel layout with some lovely Dapol and Heljan products - but no, I’ll make things hard for myself ! It won’t be weathered in time for Sat, but I’ll happily share experience building the thing. Right away driver. Until Saturday. Paul

Thanks very much Bob. I’ll miss seeing you. Perhaps Winchester Continental o gauge show this year? Worked further on loco today - fixing bogies on and completing the side frames. Cab roof is made and will go on tomorrow after I’ve fitted cab window frames and glazing. The bogie side frames - to ape General Motors frames are actually Heljan class 37 bogie side frames with the equalising beams removed. A count up today reveals the loco (all plastic card body) is 184 pieces. Post show I will do the loco lettering and numbering. Couple of pictures from today. Including the side on one which replicates the ‘see through’ element at the front for the air in-stakes.

Just putting final touches to my o gauge Scratchbuilt Croatian class 2044 diesel - with my plan to operate at Larkrail Show this coming Saturday. To recap I built the loco from plastic card working from plans people on RM Web kindly provided to me - thanks again. Working yesterday and today on the multitude of handrails. I’m guessing it could be the only o gauge 2044 class loco; unless someone knows differently

Work today on scratch-built Croatian semaphore signals which exist on the Split to Knin line. Worked from photos. Posts are meat skewers. Arms are plasticard. Arms are mounted with track pins and posts drilled - I plan to have fully functioning eventually.

On with final work on the layout ready for Larkrail Saturday 23rd July. Some shorts of progress attached. Over the next week doing some weathering on the buildings - just to tone down roofs etc. plus drainpipes.

Well the layout is back out again on display. The Larkrail 2022 show, on Saturday 23rd July will see the layout make its second appearance - much work has ensued recently - small detailing work and my scratchbuilt HS 2044 is due to make its working debut at the show. The station building was further detailed last week (see picture) and this week the low relief buildings are being detailed.

Well the layout has made its public debut at the excellent Winchester O gauge continental show today. Few gremlins but nothing that spoilt the day; more learning parts. Thanks for the comments from people about the layout and scratch building efforts with the HZ 2044 loco; which is on the home straight to completion. Few pictures of the layout below

Final work underway on my layout ready for the Winchester O gauge continental show this coming Saturday (23rd October). Apologies for the lack of posts. Selection of photos over the last few months below. Most recently is the work on the Sinobus; respraying into HZ silver from DB maroon - which is an exercise in extreme masking!

I was at Peterborough Nene Valley Saturday and grabbed a quick coffee at Railworld and saw 804. Glad it still exists.

Ballasting now complete and smaller details starting to go in. Incredibly useful is a Poundland small umbrella (other umbrellas are available!). The channel sections on the umbrella will be used for guttering in the buildings. Some of the small rods from the umbrella are excellent for point rodding!

Really interesting thread. I’ve had a soft spot for 48 and 88 DS Rustons for many years; always being very taken with the immaculate red 88 DS at Hilsea gasworks in the early 1980s. I’ve just purchased and part built the excellent Bowater Models gauge 1 88DS loco kit. The kit is in laser cut resin sheet. Was a joy to build. Efforts so far are in the attached photos. I plan to finish the motorised chassis (whole lot purchased from Bowater models giving change from 140 pounds). Usual disclaimer applies; I’m not linked to Bowaters Models - just a delighted customer. https://shop.bowatersmodels.co.uk/collections/motive-power/products/1-32-scale-ruston-88ds Further detailing of my loco; beyond what’s in the kit; to occur - Notably hand rail fitment. The prototype pictures posted on here are an absolute blessing - much appreciated Paul

Track has seen an overall spray of Matt brown and rails painted with a rust shade of Tamiya acrylic paint. The attached picture shows the full length of the scenic section: Fiddle yards to go in both ends. Despite the compact size I have another four buildings to scratchbuild. As I create multiple cameos. Track is PECO flat bottom and both points have PECO micro switches wired in; for reliability. After some minor tamping (well track realignment) the ballasting will begin. Points will be controlled by my favourite approach - wire in tube.

I’ve cracked on with building work for the layout these past few days and this morning given the German rail bus a run. Jugoslavian Railways acquired from Germany these machines and they subsequently ended up with Croatian and Serbian Railways. A repaint into Silver and Blue is set to occur. Efforts focused on the building at right in the picture. Converted to use as a bar. All buildings in shot are scratchbuilt using A3 foam board with laser cut window frames acquired at an o gauge guild event in Winchester in 2018. All of the buildings require guttering and down pipes, plus chimneys and weathering.

Cracking on with the layout today. Notably Work on the river - Perspex box section (from a PECO box for roof tiles cut up and inserted to the river Channel then painted with PVA glue. Several more layers of PVA to come; once first layer has ‘gone off’. Plus I am on with the next building - the old waterworks/mill which now serves as a bar; opposite the station building. Finally (and at the start of today. I spray painted the station platform - it’s MDF. Initially spray painted Halfords grey primer. Then 10mm edges masked off for the length of the platform. Unmasked surface then sprayed dually with white and grey primer. I’m pleased with the effect. all the best Paul

Cracking on with scenery. Electro static grass applied yesterday. Then some work on the river today and the next building. Few photos of progress and a map to follow this weekend to show the layout. all the best Paul

So my O gauge layout is firming up. I settled on top left hand corner of Serbia. Before Christmas I built the station building using foam board; then over Christmas started the low relief buildings. I’ve imagined a branch line close to the border with Croatia. I did hours of research on the internet looking at buildings in Serbia to get the look right and the colours of the buildings before I started construction. The baseboard is 6 foot long; almost like a guitar shape - wide at one end. Track is PECO flat bottom and laid before Christmas - I’ll post a track /layout diagram this week - mind it’s only two sets of points; giving a single track running line and two sidings. Rolling stock wise; I have my scratchbuilt Croatian Co-Co diesel which is nearly finished. Plus a German ‘sinobus’ railcar - a Lenz model. Jugoslavian Railways purchased the rail buses second hand from DB. Then at the collapse of Yugoslavia the rail buses were divided among the former constituent parts of the JZ rail business - including Croatia and Serbia. The model unit will need a respray from German colours to blue/silver of Serbian railways. Plus a few diesel shunters on hand. The Croatian station building - I built in 2017/18 - see earlier in this thread will appear on a layout at some stage in the future. More photos will follow. Stay safe. Paul

Some photos to follow in next few days - but first a wider update. The project has morphed into wider Balkan railways project - so is now set in the top left hand corner of Serbia - meaning an excuse to run Croatian; Serbian and Hungarian rolling stock; as there is a confluence of borders. My scratch built Croatian railways 2044 class diesel had stalled the past 8 weeks as I’ve pressed on with the baseboard; track laying and scratchbuilding town and railway buildings. Having track down will drive me to finish the loco. The original baseboards - two 4 foot boards hinged to one another were so heavy they were scrapped (well recycled). I plan to exhibit the layout but original boards so heavy. So watch this space! I’ll amend the title of the thread too. Stay safe and well. Paul

About your point on overlap of steam and diesel Barnaby hope the following helps Southern Region steam ended Summer 67 Western Region steam end of 1965 - but odd overlaps - Bath Bournemouth steam (on S&D) until March 1966 Midland Region August 1968 Eastern Region 1966 (I think) Preservedbristishsteamlocomotives.com has a table by loco class and by year Hope that helps. Paul

Thanks so much Russell. I do love the NZ EMDs. Some more progress to come on the loco - it’s my first scratchbuilt diesel. Split a great base for the area and the night sleeper from Split is still hauled by an EMD; with a mix of day and night coaches and a car carrier wagon. Heaven is the 2153 Split Zagreb with a 2044 class loco; powering up the steep gradient from Split and a glass of dark beer; with the carriage window open!

Bogie side frames are all cut and I’ve started the layering to build up the thickness. If I was really clever I’d make a resin cast. As it was I made a paper template - took a few attempts until I was happy - then started cutting the plastic. Will work on over the weekend and post further progress. Paul

You are very welcome Guy. I worked for the railway (still do); and had a real interest in wagon types. The 1980s saw large scale use of PGA 4 wheel hopper wagons for aggregate including ex salt carrying PGAs. The early to mid 80s started seeing (new) bogie stone hoppers appearing at both Whatley and Merehead. In the 1988 shot of Pride of Whtley youll see a bogie hopper (TOPS code PHA?) which carried Tarmac related aggrgate. Paul

2nd VGA nearly finished; had a run out today with the other VGA wagon I built plus an OCA wagon I built some ten years ago from a Mendip Models kit. Cracking on this pm with the Vanwide; working on its brake gear.