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steamfinale

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  1. steamfinale
    I note that the thread under "smaller suppliers" has been closed. I wanted to add a comment having just received a set of Scot nameplates and some wagon transfers. I'd had these on order for 4 months but having read comments on RM web re problems at the supplier end, was willing to be patient. I eventually rang and spoke to someone who said that they would have dispatched the order immediately following receipt as these were stock items! As I hadn't received them, they sent replacement items straight away so on balance I have no complaint.
     
    46141 will now become 46143 and a few more 'blue spots' will be added to my rake of fish vans.   
  2. steamfinale

    A few trees ....

    By steamfinale,


    trees
    Attached a few pics of the trees that have sprouted at Blackford & Hinton replacing the more toy-like specimens previously in situ.
     
    My latest lockdown project was to commit to learning how to make a half-decent tree. After watching a few tutorials on you-tube, I took the plunge and bought some reels of florists' wire and some Woodland Scenics liquid rubber. Twisting the wire to shape is not easy on the hands but wearing some cheap latex gloves was a great help. Foliage was made from lichen, picked up in the woodland where i occasionally walk my dog, dried and glued in place with pva. Cheap hairspray from Poundland and a sprinkling of flock/scatter provided the finishing touch although the railway room smelled a bit odd for a few days ....
     
    The heavily weathered Hornby B1 in the picture is a recent acquisition from TMC and it's on a pigeon special 3V10 returning to the north-east and comprised of Thompson & Gresley full brakes. Headcode is simply made from a bit of black card with lettering cut out of the newspaper. The Hornby Black 5 was weathered by Steve at Grimy times in Warrington.
     
    Structures are a mix of Superquick, Metcalfe and scratch-built. The "Goods Depot" is, I think, a Pola kit that I've had for about 30 years. Signal gantry is made up from Ratio parts with a bit of added detailing. Lineside fencing is made from matchsticks and guitar string although the latter is really too springy - lesson learned.
     

     

     

  3. steamfinale

    B&H Update

    By steamfinale,

    So, self-isolating is what railway modellers are good at most of the time although the spring weather means that the garden has taken priority for a few days. That said, a photo session in the railway room was long overdue so I thought I'd share some of the progress that's been made on "Blackford & Hinton" over the winter months....
     

     
    Here, the trainspotters are in place perched on the fence watching an 04 heading an up cement block working while Neasden's Stanier tank 42437 heads north with a local. They've just copped 45543 coming on shed for servicing and turning having worked a special from the north and handed the train over to a Woodford/Blackford V2 for the journey south... 
     
    The Hornby tank is a very recent pre-owned acquisition. I was in Warrington recently for a car service and used the courtesy car to seek out Culcheth Models as I'd seen their ad in the mags - well worth a visit, by the way (I have no connection). However, the loco was initially a disaster when I got home and placed it on the tracks. The trailing bogie derailed at the slightest excuse dragging the rest of the loco with it. I actually don't think the loco had ever been previously run as the packet of extra bits, couplings included, had never been opened.  As an aside, the other major problem was that the supplied couplings protruded so far from from the loco that the scale distance between buffers to the next vehicle was about 6 feet! So, what to do .....
     
    I thought about adding lead to the bogie but then had a brainwave. I recalled that Mainline locos (4-6-0s) had a coil spring above the leading bogie and decided to cannibalise a redundant chassis and re-use the spring. Hey Presto! Stanier tankie is now transformed into a superb runner and has already put in a lot of scale miles on the layout that is roughly two-thirds of a scale mile for one circuit. To my surprise and satisfaction, the pony truck is quite happy without modification.
     
    As regards the couplings, I cut down a spare coupling (Airfix? - don't know) from the spares box and super-glued it to the trailing bogie such that it protruded just beyond the buffers. However, I had to use just use the bar and remove the hook as the bogie otherwise wouldn't accomodate it - not a problem as most of my locos have the hook removed to make uncoupling that much easier anyway. This was a trick I learned in the late 70s when i was a member of Hull MRS before work took me down south. 
     
    I don't know whether the bogie problem is well known with this model and I'm just late to the party but would be interested to know others' experiences.
     
     

     
    This pic shows the addition to the layout of the shed exit signal, knocked together from spare bits of Ratio LMS signal kits. The little cabin is obviously a proprietary kit that was already built and that had been lying around in the spares box and looking for a home. The Hornby 72xx is a lovely runner and after the end of steam in the Welsh valleys, some were displaced to Oxford and Banbury and worked over to Woodford Halse on occasion. It's had a coat of Humbrol matt varnish to take the sheen off the plastic but would benefit from a bit of heavy weathering.
     
    The corner filler of terraced housing is a mix of Superquick and Metcalfe kits but the line of low relief terrace backs on the far side were scratch-built by me around 40 years ago and have withstood more than a few house moves - usually wrapped in cotton wool and secured in my car ....
     
    All of the signals on the layout have had a hole drilled into the base and a piece of plastic rod inserted and glued. This enables the signals to be located into holes drilled into the base board but to be removed when required for track cleaning, etc. 
     
    More to follow .... 
     
     
     
  4. steamfinale
    Most of the main line(s) have been ballasted over the Easter period using Geoscenics 00 gauge ballast that looks about right to my eye. It's been glued with the standard watery mix of PVA into which I'd stirred some grey paint mix to tone down the appearance. The remaining ground has been textured with ordinary sand and painted dark grey. Further work will be done to add patches of grass/weeds etc.
     
    The WD and the Black 5 have recently been weathered by "Grimy Times" and look great! Also note chevron on distant signal arm now correct - a fine pointed felt tip did the job!   
     

     
    Barrow crossings made from balsa were installed at each end of the platforms before ballasting....
     

     

     
    Chimneys made from wooden dowelling have recently been added to all buildings and this has made a huge difference in appearance 
     

     
    Finally, a view looking down the length of the station area with the WD taking the Marylebone line with a loaded coal train.
  5. steamfinale

    Signals ...

    By steamfinale,

    It's been a long cold dark winter since I last posted but here goes for anyone interested.......
     
    The basic concept for this imaginary layout is the re-location of Culworth junction on the ex-GC to a more urban and more northerly location. Thus, locos and trains are those that might have rubbed shoulders at Woodford Halse or thereabouts but with the odd bit of modeller's licence.
     
    That said, attached are a couple of pics showing newly installed signals at the "south" end of the layout where the lines supposedly to Banbury and Marylebone diverge. The larger gantry "controlling" access to the down main line and loops from the Banbury direction has been modified from one built for a previous layout. The smaller gantry (to the left) with three home starter signals "controls" the three up loops on the Marylebone side and has just been constructed from a cut-down Ratio Pratt truss gantry populated with Ratio LMS signals. All signals are non-working and I freely admit my modelling skills are not up to anything else! The B1 has charge of the York-Bournemouth (Southern stock) whilst the Patriot has no business being there but may be on a football supporters' special ....
     
    The other picture shows the development of the small goods yard at the "north" end of the station where a bit of track realignment has allowed for the addition of coal staithes (balsa wood, recovered from a previous layout) and a protective fence made primarily from balsa.
     
    Current work in progress is ballasting the main line(s) but it's slow going .... 



  6. steamfinale

    Control Panels

    By steamfinale,

    Being snowed in over the weekend provided an excuse to progress the loco shed control panel as at least some of it could be undertaken on the kitchen table! It's been attached to the layout this afternoon and now awaits completion of the wiring. The panel is simply a piece of thin plywood. I drew the track layout with a felt-tip and then drilled/cut the holes for the switches, the controller and the screws that will be wired to the point motors. It was then given a couple of coats of white emulsion and the track-plan re-drawn once dry. It's attached to the baseboard with a couple of hinges such that it can rotate through 180 degrees in order to make soldering on the underside relatively easy.
    The controller is a Gaugemaster UDF twin-track that saw service on a previous layout. One controller will handle the power to the tracks whilst the other will be dedicated to the Locomotech turntable motor. Section switches have in the main been acquired over the years from car breakers and back-street junk shops! Flicking the switches to set the road I find very satisfying....
     

     
    For completeness, this is the main control panel. Controllers are a Gaugemaster Series U (with inertia option) and an ECM Compspeed (with inertia) and both are a pleasure to use giving very fine control. The panel shows that the main lines diverge at the "up" end of the station. These are re-united at the other end of the storage loops before the main line re-appears under the scenic break behind the loco shed.
  7. steamfinale
    Having more or less finished the baseboards, the first fun part was seeing whether the track plan would translate from paper into reality. To some extent, the plan was constrained by the wish to re-cycle buildings/structures recovered from earlier layouts and future blog instalments will expand upon this.
     
    The attached pics show some of the first attempts and the gradual evolution. All track is Peco code 100 with electrofrog medium radius points. The main station building (low relief) can be seen as well as the loco depot location and the goods yard. I'll cover these in more detail as the saga evolves! Most points will have peco motors buried underneath but some (and a few old H&M motors) in the storage loops will have to be surface mounted to avoid cutting into timber bracing unnecessarily.
     
    Not for the squeamish but I notice that one of the pics has a bloody tissue on display, the result of trying to cut left-handed with a Stanley knife. This stopped play, not least as I couldn't grip a squash racquet for a week afterwards.
     
    The presflos (with DIY weathering) that appear in some of the pics are mainly Dapol kits assembled to while away the time as the house sale/purchase proceeded at a snail's pace in 2016. Axle boxes were carefully drilled out to accomodate Romford shouldered bearings and ensure smooth running.
     

  8. steamfinale

    Introduction

    By steamfinale,

    I've taken the plunge and decided to share my modelling efforts with the wider world ....
    "Blackford & Hinton" has been under construction for about 12 months since a house move enforced demolition of its predecessor. The basic premise is that it's somewhere on the former GC between Brackley and Leicester giving an excuse to run ex-GW, LMS and LNE locos side by side. So, Woodford Halse but a much more urban setting ... The available space is a generous 19' by 16' providing for a continuous run of double track with a diverging junction at one end (one line to Marylebone, the other to Banbury??). There are 18 storage loops "off-stage". The main circuits are now fully operational but still being de-bugged. Current energy is being devoted to constructing the loco depot.
    More to follow along with pictures ....
  9. steamfinale
    The current project is to configure the loco-shed area. The pics show the progression of the back-drop with the embankment and boundary fence now in place. The turntable (Peco with a few bits added from the Dapol kit and the well walls lined with brick-paper) has recently been sunk into the baseboard and motorised using the excellent "Locomotech" kit.
     
    Advice from the following link http://www.goldcoastmodelrailwayclub.com/motorising-a-peco-turntable.html has been invaluable.
     
    With the well suitably braced (my usual amateur bodge job) the table now turns smoothly. I have no connection to the manufacturer. I built the kit 25 years ago and had tried to make it work with a meccano device from, I think, Frizinghall Models but to no good effect. However, having reinforced the well, I suspect the meccano motor would now do the trick just as well.
     
    The coal stage is a Metcalfe kit with a bit of added detailing while the ramps are scratch-built. The ramps have had to be modified to fit the new location as the pics show.
     
    The loco-shed is scratch-built and again is about 25 years old and in need of a bit of tlc having been boxed up for a long time. It's basically a plywood box covered in mounting card and brick-paper. The smoke vents are strip-wood, each with 4 truncated dress-maker's pins shoved in and supporting a plasticard cowl made by moulding the card round a broom handle in boiling water - it does work.
     
    So, the next step is track-laying and wiring. The idea is that the shed area will be a separate section with its own controller and cdu to operate the points but with the shed throat being a shared section with the main layout inner circuit. This pic gives an idea of where it's heading. ...
     

     
    Finally, I am wondering whether to sink ash-pits here and there and whether others have managed to do this without resort to the Peco off-the shelf version....
  10. steamfinale

    Bridging the gap

    By steamfinale,

    This shows the "removable" bridge section at the early stage before electrical multi-plug connectors were wired in and before then cutting through the rails thereby enabling the section to be completely removed, if necessary, to access the radiator. As stated previously, the track-bed is made from thin ply suitably braced to enable the Metcalfe bridge to sit comfortably underneath.
     

     
    Looking in the other direction, the signal gantry "controls" the up lines station throat. It's made from a Ratio gantry and LMS signals with a bit of added detail, principally the safety rail around the gantry platform that I think makes a huge difference to the appearance. This is constructed from Slater's plastic rod of various thicknesses (thin-nesses.. .?).
     

     
    Finally, a view of the installed road under-ridge and a Superquick pub recovered from a previous layout. The road etc. base is simply thin ply supported on scraps of wood. The completion of the embankment etc. currently plays second fiddle to the push to lay track in the loco-shed area as time permits.
     
    Having eventually cut through the rails at each end of the removable section and despite the planning and care taken, a lot of packing and aligning was nevertheless then necessary to ensure a smooth transition for trains. With hindsight, a lot more bracing of the thin plywood surface would have been a good idea..... As an extra precaution, each rail is connected across the gap by a rail-joiner/fishplate to ensure the best possible alignment. Should it be necessary to remove the bridge section in the future, these can be slid back with a set of needle-nose pliers. The joiners are not required for electrical continuity.
  11. steamfinale
    Well, track-laying in the loco shed area has been completed today and it's divided into suitable sections to enable maximum loco storage - I've never got into DCC so it's strictly analogue. The layout incorporates a double and a single slip and a 3-way point for no better reason than that these were spare having been used on previous layouts. I'm not happy with the appearance of the 4 buffer stops on the turntable over-runs so these will have to be replaced with a few piles of sleepers or some such.
     
    The next steps are to cut the holes for peco point motors, make a control panel from thin ply suitably braced and make a start on the wiring. A CDU will activate the point motors using the conventional stud and probe method.
     
    To make the pics a bit more interesting, I've included a few locos that were awaiting their next turns and the down "South Yorkshireman" is passing in charge of a B1. The V2 on the turntable is a first generation Bachmann model still going strong. The J94 on shed pilot duty is a Dapol model that hadn't been out of the box for at least 15 years but ran smoothly and without hesitation when first put back on the track.
  12. steamfinale
    ... and it's a rat's nest but it works! The shed throat is also wired into a switch on the station control panel using good old analogue "cab control" allowing the smooth transfer of locos between controllers as required.
     
    Attached a couple of pics of the completed depot pending scenic work as time permits. It must be a Sunday as it looks pretty full .... There's even a visiting "Castle" on shed.
     


     
    One of the locos is an old Ks kit (Johnson 2F). Back in the 70s, buoyed by my success in building a Wills J39 on a Hornby 0-6-0 chassis, I attempted this one. The body and tender weren't a problem but the chassis defeated me - no way could I get it to run. The conventional wisdom at the Hull MRC (that I was a member of in those days) was that Ks chassis were rubbish - period. So, the loco was tucked away for 20 years or so but it put me off kit-building... Then, I came across a guy at an exhibition in Swindon who was promoting a kit-building etc. service. The short story is that he built a chassis using Romford wheels and motor and it's trundled round a succession of layouts ever since! I've lost his business card but my recollection is that he was Dave Walker from Coventry neck-of-the-woods. (It's the only bit of model building I've not done myself if you discount ready-to-run items.)
  13. steamfinale
    It's been a cold few months so limited work done in the railway room/man cave. That said, I decided to attempt to model a canal scene as I regularly walk the dog along the nearest towpath.
    The pics show work in progress but with the canal now in situ. It's a piece of thin ply mounted on bits of scrap wood, painted a dirty green and with several coats of gloss varnish added. The lock gate is knocked together from scraps of balsa reinforced with a few ordinary pins cut to size and a few other scraps from the "bits" box that no modeller should ever be without. The bridge is obviously a Metcalfe kit adapted to the location (purchased on a very enjoyable first visit to "Grimy Times" in Warrington a few weeks ago with this in mind); the width of the arch dictated the canal/towpath dimensions!
     


     
    Lots of detailing still to do to embed the canal-side house and pub as well as the inescapable messy bit of hacking the polystyrene landscape formers to shape and covering with plaster etc.
     
    To complete the scene for the camera, there's a Bachman Hall on an up express comprised mainly of old (40-yr old at least) Hornby Thompson stock. These started life as teak-finish coaches, resprayed a suitable maroon (Halfords spray can - Damask Red, an old BL colour; I had a mini once that matched!) and lined and lettered. Bogies have been replaced and flexible paper corridor connections added. All this was back in the day when I was first modelling on a "shoe-string"' but they still look good to my eye!
  14. steamfinale
    Attached pics show a bit more progress on the road/canal scene. Buildings have now been bedded into the landscape and bits of detail added - chimney pots will be added to the buildings in due course but it's not a current priority!
    The landscape is a base of polystyrene covered in a plaster mix with plenty of PVA incorporated and then painted dirty brown/green. A Javis Scenics static grass mat has been carved up today and glued down as the basis for further landscaping. Fencing and shrubbery should help disguise the gaps at either end of the removable section ...
     

     
    A 72XX has charge of a down tanker train whilst a Grange has been looped with the up milk empties.
  15. steamfinale

    Scenic Progress

    By steamfinale,

    After the long hot summer, the railway room finally cooled to a bearable temperature. Indeed, the main lines imitated the real thing by distorting despite what I'd regarded as adequate expansion gaps ... So scenic work on and adjacent to the removable section has finally been resumed.
     
    The base of plaster-covered polystyrene was first of all covered with a static grass mat cut to shape and this has provided the base for further embellishment using good old flock powders, lichen and yet more static grass. It's beginning to look reasonable to my eye but there's still scope for further improvement. The large trees shown in the photos were cobbled together from stalks of heather sprayed with mounting adhesive and enhanced with bits of lichen and flock powder. Each tree is made of several sprigs bound together with thin wire (from a picture-hanging kit) and with the "trunk" then covered with fire cement.
    The lineside fencing is made from matchsticks drilled to take redundant guitar strings. Once planted in the ground, a bit of Colron wood dye is used to stain the wood a dirty brown colour.
     
    As usual, the camera is a harsh judge and picks out the imperfections, not least the gaps at each end of the removable section. In reality, the gaps are barely noticeable and anyway, the trains draw the eye!
     



  16. steamfinale
    A couple of pics showing another corner of the layout, in this case typical terraced housing a stone's throw from the loco shed (like where i lived as a kid and caught the railway virus).
     
    The housing is a mix of Superquick, Metcalfe and some scratch-built from card some 40 years ago and still going strong (the house-backs to the right-hand side). A few chimney pots wouldn't go amiss and it's on the to-do list (has been for 40 years). The backscene is obviously from Townscene.
     
    One of the pics shows a dead siding in the foreground. This is the shed entrance (yet to be modelled but where I may need some help in due course ...). The shed outline has been designed and Peco turntable installed but .... work to do and the next major task.

  17. steamfinale

    Goods Yard

    By steamfinale,

    The goods yard, such as it is, fills a corner at the down end of the station. The main goods depot is a continental kit (Pola? - can't remember!) essentially cut in half to supply a low-relief back-drop. The platform is simply made from mounting card. The other factory buildings have been bodged together from scratch-built plasticard structures originally designed and built for an earlier layout in the 80s. A bit of Townscene backdrop completes the scene.
     
    The purpose of the layout is to run trains, not necessarily shunt sidings, so a functioning goods yard was never a priority....
     
    A Castle waits to take over a north-bound express from a County while a Neasden L1 has arrived with a stopper and a 28xx waits for the road with an iron ore train for the Midlands.
  18. steamfinale

    Building the station

    By steamfinale,

    Much appreciate the comment re my last blog entry - sound advice and thankyou! I have a metre-long steel straight edge that has proved invaluable when track-laying and it's also handy for slicing up card to make straight platforms.The attached pics show the evolution of the station area and i think the tracks are just about straight enough....
     
    At the early stage, I was anxious to get the platform clearances correct. My island platform buildings are obviously 'Superquick' so that dictates platform width. The passenger footbridge (in 2 sections) was made for a terminus station on a previous layout and effectively dictates a 3/2-road configuration (this is the third layout it's been used on). It's built from scratch using as a base a pair of 'plastruct' girders with a slice of plasticard as an internal, hidden spacer. The glazed portion on top is made from CD jewel cases (these respond to plastic solvent really well) with micro-strip overlay for the glazing bars. The roofs are simply plasticard painted to look a bit like felt covering.The supporting stair-cases are fabricated from mounting card and brick paper with scraps of Airfix stairs at the lower ends. Platforms are built up from mounting card with the edging stones scribed using a very hard pencil. The white line along the platform edge is achieved by scribing the surface a few mm from the edge with the back of a Stanley knife blade such that when carefully painted, the paint runs into the groove, but no further, giving a clean edge. The main building is built almost entirely from mounting card and brick paper and has undergone a few modifications over the years as it's been adapted to successive layouts, although storage during house moves has taken a bit of a toll (the camera is hyper-critical).
     
    One of the pics shows the rough form of the over-bridge that now forms the scenic break between the station and the storage loops. This is made up of plywood sides and base founded on wooden blocks bodged to achieve the optimum height. The bridge girders are scratch-built from differing thicknesses of plasticard whilst the bridge abutments are made using a suitable thickness of strip-wood, easily picked up at DIY shops. The side-walls are topped with balsa cut to look like capping stones. - more of this perhaps later.
     
    Finally, two pics showing the 'London end' of the station as it currently is with a bit of action. One shows a Crosti 9F taking the "London" branch with a loaded coal train whilst "County of Montgomery" runs in from the "Banbury" line with the Swansea-York. The other shows a Hall (Hornby Railroad, but a lovely model) on the Grimsby Fish passing another Hall (Bachmann) on a parcels working. "Hinton South" box controlling the junction is from a card kit.
     
    P.S. I started this blog having been a visitor to the site for a long time and having learned a lot from anonymously reading the contributions of others. The last time i belonged to a model railway group was when i lived in Hull in the late 70s, just starting out with my first 'proper' layout (all of 7'6" by 5'), and i learned a huge amount from the guys at HMRS. Since then, it's been a solo effort and with one exception, all DIY and trial and error (often the latter). I'll come back to the exception in time ....
  19. steamfinale
    The basic timber framework follows the method set out by John Aherne (of Madder Valley fame) in his book "Miniature Landscape Modelling, originally published c.1950 - see photo. The surface is half-inch chipboard. I've used this method for 40 years and it's relatively easy as no carpentry skills are required The exception is a removable section at one end where in order to accomodate a Metcalfe bridge, I used thin ply for the track bed - less than ideal but it works - see picture. This section has been wired with multi-pin connectors at each end and can, if required, be removed to enable access to a radiator behind. It's located using the time-honoured method of door hinges with removable pins, one at each end. All surfaces were given a coat of neutral grey paint before track-laying commenced. The completed baseboards are free-standing and do not touch the room wall at any point.
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