Huggy

Hurry Up Harry - Sham 69

Good point Steve (pardon the pun...). I've just added it to the very long list of "things still to do". Finished off the coal merchants with the guys at work - I've decided they will be S.Pike and Son by the way - and some sacks laying about and stacked ready for loading. Their Commer Karrier lorry has had a bit of a rub down and RAF transfers removed ready for painting and weathering.

At last I can run a few trains again, having put the two halves of the layout back together, with most of the basic scenic section complete. There is much to do on detailing, the townscape that will sit up on the "hill" in front of the backscene, there are end panels needed so it doesn't look like a railway floating in space. rolling stock to be modified/painted/weathered as fancy takes me - though I have enough items to have a bit of a play - people and things to be painted and given a spot to stand, buildings, a small signal box and a shed to build for the station itself, so it's far from finished. Although, I am getting planning fever for a future project (though God knows where I'll put it) having become fascinated by the many and varied efforts in the Micro and Boxfile layout section of the forum. Being able to loosely place a few figures, vehicles and such just to see how it looks when it's a little less barren has been very satisfying, although most will need some fixing, rethought, or weathering, and it was good to find that after a little bit of judicious filing and cleaning up on a couple of track sections, the extra power feeds I put in have resulted in better running, even on the more cranky items of locomotion that I've acquired in the last couple of years. Here are a few more shots of the story so far. I hope I get a few more looks and comments, it's been a tad disappointing so far I must admit; I'm almost forced to believe I may have built the most boring layout ever! Overall view of Tillingham, with a few signs of life make it look much better. Bit of activity in the goods yard, must think up a short name for the coal merchant. As it's a bit cramped, I bet the driver of the Foden will wish he'd reversed it in the gate! Mr.Palmer the Farmer doing a bit of muck shifting, with his unfeasibly clean Landy in the yard. Class 205 "Thumper" on it's way through. Troubles with power bogie frame constantly falling off temporarily sorted with bluetak...proper repair pending. Sid Short the Signalman wondering when I'm going to get around to building him a proper box. And take the concrete block off his boots. My first loco weathering job was this M7, on it's way with a local passenger service. Hope to sort out a pukka pull/push set one day. As I said, there's lots of detailing and finishing to do, but at least I now have a layout that works, with an empty bench to get on with some of those items, build a small goods shed for my local MRCs new layout - parts obtained from LCut Creative now arrived and assembly begun - and finish a fairly large model RC aeroplane that has been hanging about far too long, before another flying season comes and goes. If that wind ever stops blowing us scatty!

While the "Beast from the East" did it's best to blow our windows in, I was at least able to crack on with getting enough done on the bench to take the scenic half of the Tillingham layout back up to the railway room and nook it up to the non-scenic fiddle yard section. So I now have a semi-complete working layout in a 1200mm square, and can run a few trains, after quite a while with two halves of one! There's lots to do, mostly, but not all, detail stuff, and in due course a "town" section to be built as part of the backscene, but I'm pleased that I have a working station and goods yard, and the adjacent farmyard starting to look their parts, and that after a bit of fettling, I managed to line up the tracks again with the added feeds I put in while it was in the workshop making running rather better. There will be plenty of photos and more info on the layout page http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130692-tillingham/ Here's an overall view of what we have so far, with a few vehicles, people etc placed to see what the general effect is like.

Wishin(g) and Hopin' - Dusty Springfield

Thanks Rex, will give it a try. Been poorly for a few days so missed your post.

Four Seasons in One Day - Crowded House

Shoot the Moon - Norah Jones

Standing in the Shadows of Love - The Four Tops

There Goes my Baby - Marvin Gaye

Has anyone else had a problem reattaching the frame surround to the power bogie on a Class 205 "Thumper" after removing it to check gear lubrication? Mine will not stay put; any derailment knocks it loose, and it's got to the stage where it won't stay on at all. I don't think I broke anything, there just seems to be no positive retention of the dummy frames and gear cover. Anyone had this happen and found a way to reattach it? There's not much to work with!

Band on the Run - Wings

She's Got My Number - Semisonic

Farewell to Annabel - Gordon Lightfoot

DesdeMONA - John's Children

Great stuff Jerry, every time I see one of your micro layouts on here I start looking at odd bits of woods and boxes everywhere I go!

The Wind Cries Mary - J.M.Hendrix

New Kid in Town - Eagles

Great stuff - love the captions

The Worst Band in the World - 10cc "Never seen the van - leave it to the roadies...never met the roadies - leave 'em in the van..."

Egg,Sausage, Chips and Beans - The Lancashire Hotpots. (It's real, honest!)

What size is the drum, and the approximate radius of the track. I've seen flexitrack squeezed down to about 9" radius and work pretty well, this looks even tighter! Anyway, nice scheme, instant baseboard on a plinth!

Progress on the farmyard front before I get stuck in to some fences around the property and alongside the line - I need to do that before fixing the buildings in place, as they'll be in the way otherwise. I've used a mix of grey card, balsa wood, Ratio roofing and the Textures.com downloaded block paper. I've kept the buildings pretty uniform, as the scenario is the farmer acquired this bit of land (from the railway company possibly) in the fairly recent past to build an extra barn, the stable for his daughter's horse and a pig run for their domestic use away from the main farm and house up the road somewhere. The stable, pre-weathering. Modest pony-sized piece which will have the horse and girl stood outside in due course. Pigsty, block built at the same time as the barn. The big post in one corner doesn't have any useful purpose; it was something to hold parts on but I left it on the premise that the farmer had some idea in mind, but never completed it! Quite please with my ramshackle gate, very quickly done as you may guess Bit of rust and general grime on the barn now, using rust and earth powders mixed into Humbrol MattCote. Also gave the main walls a quick spray of matt artists varnish to take a bit of a sheen off. Here's the farmyard building group, roughly in place, the little stable on the left, the pig sty - the farmer doesn't go in for big scale pig rearing, just a few for the home - and the barn, all weathered up without going mad, as they are supposed to be reasonably new structures in the 50s. The muddy yard needs some flatting as it's a bit shiny, then I'll get busy with some rough grass tufts, general debris etc, and put some DeLuxe materials instant water in the puddles and ruts, finally I have a couple of figures to paint, pony and pigs. I got hold of a Field Marshall tractor and a Series 1 Land Rover for the farmer recently, so he's getting tooled up! The old Humber estate would probably get bogged down in the mud, it's just for show purposes. Next step fencing - can't put it off any longer!

Well quite a productive weekend so far, foul and frigid weather out encouraging me to get on with things! The corner farmyard is coming on - few more details in the Tillingham topic on the layout pages - with the buildings basically done, just needing gutters and downpipes for the barn still, then I really must do the fences around it, and those alongside the line. I've kind of been putting that off as I'm sure it will be fiddly in extremis... Got a good deal on a terrace of low-relief houses by Superquick for when the town portion of the layout gets done, which won't be for a while yet, still not decided on the rest of what will go on there, but the main thing now is to get the scenic part and the fiddle yard board back together and make sure everything runs and clears all the bits of infrastructure. Here's the farmyard building group, roughly in place, the little stable on the left, a pig sty - the farmer doesn't go in for big scale pig rearing, just a few for the home - and the barn, all weathered up without going mad, as they are supposed to be reasonably new structures in the 50s. The muddy yard needs some flatting as it's a bit shiny, then I'll get busy with some rough grass tufts, general debris etc, and put some DeLuxe materials instant water in the puddles and ruts, finally I have a couple of figures to paint, pony and pigs. I got hold of a Field Marshall tractor and a Series 1 Land Rover for the farmer recently.

Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon