TechnicArrow

Thank you @john new for the words of wisdom! I'm well aware this is not an optimum position, however it is not going to be long-term by any means. And the whole structure is loose enough I can move it around to deal with any expansion, although how well that works when I start fixing the track down we shall see. I haven't really worked on the extension recently; I need to revisit the run-round loop structure until I have enough faith in it to use it regularly. But in the meantime, I have embarked on a sidequest - the signals! I have three on the layout - the Starter, a disc signal mounted to it acting as a Calling On for shunting purposes, and a separate ground Disc controlling exit from the yard loop. From my reading, I believe this ground disc should in fact be yellow, since it can be passed at Danger to enter the goods shed - but I also read that the GWR "didn't really bother" with yellow ones, so red it shall stay! My first task was to assess what I have. They are all constructed entirely from bits of Ratio kits I have accrued over the years, including the operating mechanisms that go beneath them. The main post has two operating levers, one for the main arm and one for the disc; the ground signal has just the one. Since the disc signals must be operated from the opposite side of the pivot compared to the main arm, the levers are constructed as mirror images; I needed to dismantle one of the existing levers in the base of the Starter to achieve that, and my was that a headache! Since the Starter already exists, I have been focussing on the ground signal. The disc is from the plastic sprue box, and is slightly overscale, but this allows me to make sure it works. It has a variety of holes drilled, using miniscule drills and a pin vice - the central hole for the pivot, the two lens holes (the lower green one being elongated), and the operating wire hole. And a second operating wire hole when I got the first one in the wrong place! The disc is mounted to the bracket from the Ratio kit, with the counterbalance glued in the back. Following some research I mounted the bracket on an offcut of sleeper, carefully aligned with a sleeper from the pointwork. With some dry ballast sprinked around, it certainly looks the part! Right up until I tried to run a train... That ain't gonna pass! To resolve, I had to brush away the ballast, and widen the hole in the baseboard so I could slide the signal over. That's better. I did try to dig a new hole further away from the point blades too, but immediately ran into some supports under the baseboard... gues it's staying where it is! With the mechanics sorted out, I duplicated the disc for the one for the Starter post, and then it was onto painting. Simple enough, a couple coats of white, and then the red applied using the end of a coctail stick for precision. Now they're visible, I put them all in position for a little Sight Lines test - and yes, you can see them all, just about! The Calling On disc only needs to be visible for shunting anway so I'm happy enough. But I don't just want them to operate - oh no. I have more illuminated plans... you may remember back in April I purchased some tiny LEDs, which fit inside ModelU lamps. After deliberating over power requirements, I have realised my main lighting rig has a spare switched 12v supply that I can hijack. A little workbench testing proves the brightness is acceptable, with 3 LEDs in series and a 1K-ohm resistor. The brightness is further lowered by the lenses, as seen on this test arm. I have added lenses to the discs using Glue'N'Glaze, which I bought recently and tested on a few other items and a failed attempt signal first. Next steps include colouring the disc lenses, actually mounting the Calling On disc onto the Starter post, and then fitting the LEDs into the lamps... plenty of fiddly fun for these dark winter nights!

Hello all! Once again, it's been an excessive number of months since I last posted... Where have we been? Mostly, any time that I have for modelling, has been used for modelling, rather than writing about modelling! Which means that although I've been quiet, the layout hasn't been - it now looks like this: If you fancy, why not try a game of spot-the-difference with the last post! Rather than give a blow-by-blow account of the many, many changes over the past 5 months, I'll just highlight the main new things, working from left to right. First up, I finally got around to building a cassette support. This is a wooden beam the length of the cassette, that cantilevers out from beneath the layout, with a t-piece on the end to carry the far end of the cassette. This means they're supported at each end, rather than in the middle - which had a habit of tipping loco-first trains to the floor! It works beautifully - unitl I build longer cassettes... Moving into the layout, we first come under the bridge. Since it was last seen, this got a coat of paint, or two, or several... none of which really worked. If there's one thing I'm terrible at, it's colour - and my attempts at recreating the weathered, reddish sandstone haven't gone well. So I left it at the last attempt, and have yet to revisit it. Any tips would be much welocmed, since it's becoming a bottleneck. Although I have done a little sketching out of how the landscape will look around here. The station has had literally no progress, so we'll skip it for now. Other than the platform gaining some stone sheet, which matches the bridge. And guess what, it hasn't been painted yet either! In front of the platform, though, is the track. This has seen progress - it's been painted a browny rusty colour, and some ballast experiments have been made. The material is a mixture of Woodland Scenics "brown", and some old campfire ash to town it down a bit. I'm trying to achieve a colour that would be approrpiate for both late GWR and BR eras, and this seems to do the trick. Carrying on to the right, we come to the signal box. Which previously didn't exist, and now... does. This is a laser-cut kit from Osborne's Models, and whilst not the easiest kit, is a delightful model. I've improved it with levers (made from coloured paperclips, cut and stripped to reveal the bare metal), and Wills roof tiles. It's topped off with a figure from Modelu leaning out the window. It has yet to have the staircase constructed or fitted, since that will need to be modified to land on the platform - which hasn't been built yet, since it needs to tie to the bridge, which hasn't been painted yet... see that bottleneck! Then there's the Goods Shed. This is the latest item in my Procrastination series. My plan is to entirely scratchbuild, aiming for a hybrid of the Watchet and Dunster/Washford sheds (did you notice the "Watchford" running-in board?). For this, I have obtained some Wills stonework and rooftiles, and a pile of good card, and started forming shapes. However, I just can't decide how long it should be! The main purpose of the shed is as the scenic break/view block for the right-hand end. It also needs to be able to hold a wagon. Since the wills sheets are only 13cm long, this seems a sensible marker for the length, and I was all set to proceed on this basis. HOWEVER... if I half this length to around 9cm, it can still take a wagon, but gives much more open yard space, as well as a less cramped, more countryside feel. BUT it is less effective as a viewblock from the operational end. I've thrown a couple of GIFs in the next post down - what are your thoughts? But wait, there's more... Beyond the end of the layout, lies The Extension. This is a section of embankment, running along the back of my desk. The only progress on this has been the bridge, which again now exists, using the spare wing walls from the main layout bridge and some girders made from cardboard. The track is yet to be fixed, let alone ballasted. There is a backscene, but this is very indicative since it's quite urban - it was just better than looking at a blank wall! But wait, there's more... The embankment dissappears behind my monitor in the corner of the desk. Where it now turns a sharp 90-degree 2nd-radius corner, before popping out again. Where to now? There's no more desk. But I'm a fully-paid member of the Institute of Civil Engineers these days, so what came next perhaps isn't that surprising... In true anachronistic style, a viaduct carries this rural branchline across the urban Alexandra Wharf layout, which is situated on my windowsill. The viaduct itself is supported only on three legs, resting on the radiator - I am merely a tennant in this house, after all, no wall fixtures allowed here! It then turns another 45-degree corner, out to the Bay Window, where a second viaduct sits atop a shelving unit. This is in fact a run-round loop, with a curve point on the corner and a y-point at the far end. (Why, yes that is Eastnate Dairy in front of it, in case you weren't asking). The net result, is that I have transformed my "micro-layout" to a railway that goes halfway around my room! Because when you're an adult, there's no-one to tell you you shouldn't... There are still plans afoot, of course. I have yet to finalise the second viaduct structure, and once it is, I will need to add remote uncoupling and point control - the controller is stuck to the layout, which is a long way away now! But with about 6m of railway, 3m of which is purely running line, I'm quite happy! So there we have it, a long ol' post about a long ol' railway. But if you have any tips about painting stonework, designing goods sheds, or just general confusion , I'm all ears!

You've produced some fantastic detailed modelling, topped with a dramatic backscene, and polished off with unique and tidy presentation. What more could you want? Hats off to you, this is some incredible work!

Here comes another big ol' post... Firstly, a side-project - literally! This has been in the works for some time but has yet to appear on these pages. The layout is permanently set up on it's own shelf unit, next to my desk. Said shelf unit is about 4cm higher than the desk, and the board is about 4cm deep, meaning the track is about 8cm above the desk. And the desk is very long, and quite deep, and isn't really used for work that often anymore. And these embankment photo-planks are all the rage it seems... I think it's obvious where this is going! Some quick cardboard hacking and this was set up: It's not as direct as it first seems, there is a slight taper to take the track from the layout to as close to the wall as I can manage. The base also has to slim down behind the monitor, and rise up and over the base of the desk lamp and the extension cord. So taking all this into account, I assembled this: Multiple layers of corrugated card for the base, thick honeycomb card for the frame, and thin hardboard for the surface, all PVA'd together. And it sits on the desk like so: Then things get interesting. The area over the desk lamp required some more precise formers to get the shape correct. I also decided to incorporate a bridge (dimensions purely based on the bit of card I grabbed to make it out of, and the Outer Home signal for Watchish - because in case it wasn't obvious, this section is fully connected. Next up was forming the ground surface, using my preferred techniqu of papier mache over the card formers. I just find this method easier (and more readily available) than hacking about polystyrene, and also keeps the structure hollow for later access beneath. And perfectly stong and lightweight, I can pick it up with one hand! Finally, today I added a first layer of ground cover. This is fine turf, held in place with watery PVA. I attempted using an old spray bottle, but this didn't work as well as I'd hoped - the glue kept tension, so rather than spraying into droplets, it came out in a single stream! Back to the old ways with a paintbrush. And so finally, what we've all been waiting for - what does it look like with trains on it? Pretty good... Clearly it still needs work - most obviously a backscene of some form, and a proper bridge. But it's getting there. I'm also keen to use this as a test-bed for static grass before using it on the main layout, but probably not for a while yet. Meanwhile, speaking of the main layout, there has been bridge progress here too - the Langley Models bridge arrived this week. It's two sheets of vacuum-formed plastic, giving the bridge arch and wing walls. Here's the pile of bits all cut out - now to carefully prop them all up... ...Like so! The bridge in it's stock form is actually quite tall, so I carefully removed the bottom two courses of stonework to bring it in line. Just in case anyone was wondering, yes this layout is only 22cm deep - not noticeable from the front, but end-on, it shows! Since the kit has no inner walls, I also bought ordered a "rough stone" embossed sheet at the same time, intending to use for other walls around the layout. This turned out to be quite large, intended for both OO and O gauge; whilst it will be perfect for under the bridge, it might not be great for the other buildings. It's also transparent, which made cutting it surprisingly difficult! So out I trekked to Wilko, to buy some grey primer. Probably not the most perfect paint or indeed application of said paint, but it's good enough I can actually see what I'm working with now. And once again, all propped up: Looking much better alread. Especially with a train underneath it! The stonework is exactly what I was after, and it has a slight arch to the roadway too. The thin vacuum-formed components mean it's going to need a rigid frame to be assembled; I need to give more attention to the track ends first though (the "glue, solder and hope" method has unsurprisingly not held very well). The biggest challenge though will be painting it convincingly; I've only ever attempted embossed brickwork before, and even then not with much luck, so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Could well be! The tall backscene means the rails are never in direct sunlight, but it is a south-facing room. The room in general varies quite significantly between day and night, especially at the moment, and I would not be surprised if the windowsill would be exacerbating these variances. Either way, I've only got the one controller and it's currently wired up to Watchish, so I doubt Alexandra Wharf will be seeing moving trains anytime soon unfortunately. Maybe when I get around to buying some two-pin connectors and bits.

Thanks a lot, it's very encouraging to hear! I often enjoy planning layouts when I should be building my current ones, and the best way to plan is always with mock-ups - you get a far better feel for what does and doesn't fit than a computer, and I really enjoy making a well-composed viewing scene. Either you're puzzled that I'm modelling again, or you've missed out a sentence in there somewhere :-p Since I'm here, a quick update that after sitting on it for a couple of weeks, the signal box will definitely be going in the back-right. I may need to shave off the rear wall to allow it to fit, we shall see. But this leaves me with an open gap at the front of the scene, I need something to block the sightline under the bridge and out of the layout. So I stole the small office I built for Alexandra Wharf! I will of course need to build a version in stone, but it provides a neat focal point and plenty of options for small foreground details. As for the bridge itself, I'm looking for something in embossed/relief stone, and ideally a slightly arched top. I think I will use a Langley Models kit unless anyone has any other ideas I may have missed? Finally, whilst various temptations were made along the theme of the new Rapido wagons, I have so far resisted buying yet more stock for a layout that's not complete yet. However, whilst recently at home, I rediscovered a Bachmann SR van but in a LMS light grey livery; I never really liked that bright grey colour on it, so I've brought it back and abused it with a coat of SR dark brown (or as close as I could get withy mix of acrylics). Much better! Now for a touch up coat, and to try and find some decals for it; again, any recommendations greatfully received.

I just popped back to this old thread to do a small update, and realised I've not touched this thread for nearly a year. Oops! I should start this update by winding back to October. When I moved into this house, I immediately spotted that the smaller windowsill in my room had a perfect width and depth... ...and hence the layout has been sat there ever since! But last weekend, I finally thought it was time to make an adjustment. In this windowsill location it's very enclosed; this is fine at the right-hand side, since the siding becomes very narrow, but the low wall and gate at the left-hand end wasn't really making much sense. Therefore, on a recent trip home I retrieved the end warehouse from the original Alexandra Wharf. It was very quickly plonked in place, and immediately makes a massive visual difference! A few modifications were needed to suit it to the current layout - most notably I needed to shift the main doors to fit the track alignment. This meant the original pillars didn't make much sense, so I've added the horizontal girder above the ground floor (made from strips of lasercut card offcuts). I then added a fresh pair of doors from scribed card. The ground floor ended up with a different colour brick, mostly since I didn't have enough of the original colour, but also to add more visual interest to the fairly imposing structure. Modellers licence allows me to reason this warehouse may have been repointed or indeed rebuilt at some point! Then just a few final details - door hinges, warning signs, and a light black wash weathering to tie it in the new material. And just like that, it looks like it was always there! I'm proud of how well the "new" structure blends into the old scene, and it makes a much better backdrop to the overall layout. As can be seen from the following gratuitous black & white photo... That's all - just a quick update with the (re)addition, and to reassure that this layout isn't entirely dead. What the photos don't show is that this layout is effectively a large diorama now rather than an operational railway. Every now and then I think I would like to get it moving again; I really enjoy the shunting puzzle format, the mechanical crane, and of course it is home to the Barclay I purchased especially for it. Unfortunately, neither the layout nor the Barclay have ever ran particularly satisfactorily; the rails accrue an oily dust no other layout is afflicted with, and despite electrofrog points, feeds to all tracks and thorough cleaning, the electrical continuity remains patchy. The final nail in the operational coffin has been Watchesh, which is showing a lot more promise in running quality. But it's still here, and won't be going anywhere soon - so one day I may revive it!

Cheers! Plonking it at that end also gives it better sight lines - away from the bridge, and opposite the crossover. Does slightly block visibility of the already-plonked signal though! I did consider a platform 'box, mostly to stop the platform looking so hemmed in. But I'm too keen on using this kit: https://www.osbornsmodels.com/gwr-aloo040-small-timber-signal-box-11-lever-kit-1-51577-p.asp It seems nicely detailed, a local prototype for the area I'm aiming for, and a bit different to the standard Ratio/Peco kits that crop up repeatedly. I probably could bodge it into a platform-mounted one, but it looks too good to do that to it! Cheers! Absolutely, steal away, that's what this place is for! I've never built it used a cassette system before, so my goal was to keep it as basic as possible. It will still need some fettling, so this may not be the final artefact, but it feels like a solid start.

This is incredible! I already loved this incredibly compact layout when you first shared photos, but with that backscene it is simply stunning. The duality of levels is lovely, with the stream underneath and the mainline above. The fence and gate look excellent, and the whole yard as an air of busyness about it without any rolling stock or figures present. So many lessons to be learnt from this, excellent work!

How true this turned out to be... again! It's not that I'm not doing anything, I just spend more time modelling than writing about said modelling. Since I post so infrequently, maybe I should turn this into one of them blog thingies... Still, since we're here are again, what has been happening? 1. Lever Frame The first area of focus has been continuing the development of the lever frame. Last time I posted, it had been installed and strung up, and shifted the points satisfactorily. The next step was to install microswitches, to change the frog polarity rather than relying on the point blades. I intially planned to fix these adjacent to the points themselves, but the switches of course have their own spring - which would either add to or counteract the main point springs. Instead I opted to install them at the levers, to prevent any additional load to the already-tight strings. To get the switches installed, after much head scratching and upside-down thinking, I realised the simplest (although not necessarily neatest) option was to cut switch-shaped slots in the front board, and secure them from the front. They come with small transverse mounting holes, through which I poked a thick paperclip, which is in turn affixed to the baseboard. Unconventional, but it works! This position neatly aligns the switch tabs with the moving part of the levers, such that when the lever is pulled off, the switch is compressed and the polarity is duly changed. Then it was a case of soldering up the wires. Thanks to the central set of points needing to throw in the opposite direction to the other two, the positive and negative "busses" from the track feed have to cross over betwean each one. Then a wire from the "common" from each switch was run under the board to the relevant point frog. Also of note is that I've painted the levers; using the standard colours of black for points, red for signals, and blue for FPL. OK, there's not actually an FPL here, but since the crossover has two levers and would in reality require an FPL, it seemed like a sensible choice! 2. Casettes The other key area of progress has been the final piece of the infrastructure puzzle - the cassettes. These were intended to be as simple as possible, so I started by buying some lengths of aluminium angle. The cheapest option, especially considering postage, was to buy in 250mm lengths - so that's what I did! 10 to be exact, to give 2x 500mm cassettes for short trains, and 1x 250mm cassette, for loco run-round. These were drilled with a hole at each end, and small screws used to fix them to wood. I built the short onto thin hardboard, but I discovered that for the longer runs the board didn't offer enough rigidity between the sections, so I used thicker (although slightly too narrow) battons instead. An offcut of these battons currently provides support at the "free" end of the cassettes. The final cassettes are fairly cheap, simple and yet so far successful! I've only got one functional train at present, but the 500mm casette perfectly holds the pannier, a wagon and coach; whilst the 250mm one comfortably holds a loco or loco+wagon, and is a lot easier to handle when shifting from one track to the other. Of course, the cassettes are only one half of the puzzle here; they need to connect to the track. The plan was to first transition from the scenic Code 75 to a length of Code 100, and then onto the cassettes. To this end, a while ago I had obtained two 40mm straight tracks. These were cut in half, reinforced with superglue, carefully aligned to the scenic trackwork, and glued straight to the board. Some messy soldering later, and I have an untidy but surprisingly smooth Code 75 to 100 transition. The choice of the 40mm length straights was to provide the sleepers with fishplat cut-outs, which allow me to hook up any trackwork I fancy. From this Code 100 piece, the final connection to the cassettes is just as simple. A pair of screws were driven into the board, with wire connections from the rail ends providing power. The casettes are built such that the aluminum angle protrudes about an inch futher than the wood, meaning the aluminium rests directly on these screws - which provide both vertical alignment (complete with fine-tuning ability) and electrical contact. Horizontal alignment is achieved mostly by eye, with help from a piece of vertical board glued between the rails. It looks absolutely awful, but initial testing seems positive. Not perfect yet, but with some fettling (mostly electrical, I'm still awful at soldering to rails) all should be good! 3. Rolling Stock Now that I have a functional layout, and a method of moving trains on and off it, I no longer had an excuse to not buy more trains... so when at a stand at the GWSR's Steam Gala last weekend I saw a Collett brake coach for £25, I jumped at it. For an older Bachmann model, it's still a fine one! A train on a train! The new purchase at Toddington Forming a small branchline train on the layout I also discovered the box contained a blanking plate, which can be easily plugged into either corridor connection. This meant that by affixing a Modelu tail lamp to said blanking plate, I have a coach with tail lamp that can be easily switched from end to end. No running tail-lamp-first here! 4. Ballast With the infrastructure practically complete, attention can finally turn to the scenics, starting at ground level. I bought this ballast a while ago, so entirely unnecessarily I sprinkled some loose around the rails to see if it's any good. I'm never sure of colours for this; I thought I'd try some brown stuff rather than the oft-seen fresh light grey, but I'm not sure. Thoughts? Oh, and I treated 3705 - the first loco I ever owned, and by far my best runner - to etched cabside plates. Honestly not sure they made that much of a difference, but still! 5. Signal Box FInally for today's post, a conundrum! Ever since conception of the layout at this size, I have been placing the signal box at the front of the layout. In this position it acts as an additional scenic block to the bridge, stopping you from looking under it and out of the world. It also evenly balances the scenic "weight" of the station building at the back and goods shed at the far end, and is the only position it has a comfortable depth since the track was laid with this position in mind. However. Since the purchase of the coach, the running of two-coach trains is very tempting. This places the loco right at the ends of the platform - when heading "up", this is out of sight behind the 'box. So I am contemplating shifting the box to the far side. This would lost the view block but free up an open viewing area at the front, and also enables one to look athrough the windows at the interior rather than at the uninteresting rear wall. However, the kit I am planning to use has the ladder at the left-hand end, is apparently not easily bodgable. A further option would therefore be to move it to the opposite end of the platform. But this "blocks in" the platform, and there is very little depth available at this end. There are pros and cons to each, so I've assembled a collage of different views of each option. Any thoughts are welcome!

Coming in nicely now, clearly a well thought-out layout. I just wish I'd done the sleeper spacing trick on my current layout, bit late now! Your back wall blends in very nicely too. Which probably means you won't like me for suggesting you replace it with a mirror to double the apparent length of your shed... which is a shame, because with the vertical, linear structure ot would be very easy to hide... Considering the walls, I think for the inner walls a whitewashed brickwork or breeze blocks would look best, but you might need to sacrifice some of the smaller, nondescript details to achieve it with paper. Looking forward to the windows, and of course seeing some locos on shed!

I swear I don't intend to only post monthly, but that seems to be the way my world is going right now! Cheers all for your comments. Thanks Jerry! The plan evolved a fair amount, there was about a year's worth of it existing as an idea; the fact I was still interested in it told me it was worth doing! Funny you should say that. The original plan is indeed for basic cassettes, which will also facilitate running-round at the left-hand end of the layout. However, there are now bigger plans, which include running a track along the back of my desk, and possibly around the windowsill... that's one for another time though. Thank you! And I don't blame you for using the Dapol ones - these ones are damned fiddly... Since the last post, I have obtained a bag of small screws, which I used to fix the blocks under the board - far more secure than relying on the glue, although they've been glued as well just to be doubly sure. This means I could properly play with the strings and springs. The first thing I discovered is the springs included with the point kits are very strong - certainly too strong for the plastic levers. I resolved this by pulling apart some pens, and using the much softer springs found within! Ratio spring on the left - pen springs on the right. Installed under the points - the brass rod connects to the tiebar, and the eyelets are used to hook the springs and pass the strings. They're all brought into one central corridor that passes through the pre-cut holes in the SMS baseboards. I had hoped to operate the crossover points from one lever, but even with the softer springs this proved to be impractical so they're on separate levers. I have also refrained from gluing in anything, with the levers and signal base isntead being held in my yet more screws; this means when something inevitably breaks, or I want to rearrange something, it's easy enough to untie and remove the various componenets. The underside of the lever frame is definitely the most chaotic area! The past week's worth of evenings have featured much untieing, fettling and reassembling - but I now have a fully, mechanically functional layout. It does of course look the same as before I started... Ah wait, let's put some scenery back. That's a lot better! And I can confirm it's now a lot more fun to play with operate! The slightly abrupt ending is since although it's *mechanically* complete, it's far from *electrically* complete... there's still a lot of stalling spots! I also have yet to properly wire up the electrofrogs; to my surprise they work at present, but I have ordered some microswitches to ensure there is always electrical contact if the blades don't fully throw. Looking back at the signals, you may notice the additional shunting disc that's appeared on the main starter post. This is because this is in fact the signal I built at home, which believe it or not was my first attempt at building one of these... it's a lot better than my more recent attempt, and has a slightly smaller stance, so I stole it and installed it here! I have also made a foray into lighting. I purchased some "SMD" LEDS, which are *tiny* but still very bright. Currently I'm running them from a pair of batteries, I will need to establish a proper power supply at some point; despite my dad's best efforts to teach me elctronics engineering, I still find resistors confusing! These tiny LEDs fit neatly within ModelU signal lamp bodies, which can then be glued to the signal post... It's the fiddliest job ever, but damn does it look good! But if this is fiddly, I'm dreading the standalone ground disc signal I "need" to make operational... That's all for now, I guess I'll probably be back in another month!

This is a stunning little layout, that ticks all the right boxes - interesting industry, little bridge over a stream, tidy trackwork, and all blended nicely with weathering. The Barclay looks right at home. Well done!

Another month later... I guess you can say I'm regular, just not that frequent! What's up now? Well, the entire layout it seems! The bonus of a microlayout being that you can pick it up and flip it over quite easily... Let's wind back a few days. Until this weekend, my trackwork has been floating around loose. That's because I didn't want to fix it down until I had the point control mechanism in. I've decided to use the Ratio point "remote control" kit for this layout, since I will also be using one or two Ratio signals, and this way I can have one lever frame that controls the lot. The kit is very simple; a brass spindle threads into the point tiebar, and under the board a string connected to the lever pulls the point, and a spring returns it when the string is slackened. Nevertheless I have found very little online about this kit, so was unsure how reliable sturdy it would be. It turns out, the brass spindles thread into the tiebar very securely, with a tight and solid feel. Once these were in, I could glue up the track and plonk it onto the board. Just a little PVA bonded it very quickly to the card underlayer. The two sidings remain unfixed at this stage since their alingment will be dependent on buildings and other sceninc work. You can also see the lever frame taking shape in the corner; I need to take them out and fettle them a bit before they're fixed. Whilst that glue was setting, I started assembling the Starter signal. I've built one of these before, but an older version where the signal arms were preassembled components. Not anymore, in the new kits the lenses come loose, which is right fiddly. But it's in, and it works! Just about. The connecting wire isn't quite right, it jams sometimes, so needs attention. I also plan to fit a shunting disc as a secondary calling-on signal; I've put the base mechanism in, but need to figure out a mounting bracket arrangement. Lifting up the board, we can see the beginnings of how this all links up. Due to the thin board and the tall spindles, I have used small wooden blocks to mount the eyelets to; these also line the strings with the precut holes in the crossbracing. However, half of the blocks didn't glue properly, so it's not quite all in yet! Whilst I had it lifted, I drilled some small holes for track power droppers, and threaded wires along underneat, soldering up as I went. On the surface the wires are just poking up in the air, soldering to the rails is not a job I find easy, so it's one for another day! I will also need to source some microswitches for the elctrofrog points; they came with droppers pre-soldered, and installing switches seems worthwhile since I don't expect the Ratio control kit will apply sufficient pressure to maintain electrical contact through the blades alone. So overall, it's not quite a bird's nest yet, but it's a good start! For now, she's back the right way up. I was hoping to have at least one, if not both of points and power working by the end of this weekend, but the good weather meant I spent more time in the garden instead. Still, there is progress, and much satisfaction!

I did use Electrofrog small Ys for two of the three points on Alexandra Wharf, but never really got good running on that layout. I keep meaning to one day have a proper go at fixing that trackwork... But here, the combination of Electrofrog, streamline radii and 0-6-0 locos is far more satisfying - and it's not even properly fixed up yet!

Given I've not posted in *checks* over a month, you could be forgiven for thinking nowt has been happening. But you'd be wrong - oh so very wrong... 1. Furniture Not the first thing you were probably expecting, but a surprisingly important one. Up until now about 3 weeks ago, this layout had existed entirely on the floor. So a quick trip to Ikea, and my room has a new shelf unit - paid for by the landlord too, how about it! There's even room to park a certain Dairy-themed microlayout! The various boxes on the shelves are, somewhat inevitable, entirely filled with railway-related items... 2. Trackwork The other key two areas sort of happened in parallel, so here we go. When February rolled around, and thus a new month's worth of modelling budget, I finally bought the track. Begone, paper templates! Despite having previously bought two lengths of Code 100 flex, I decided to upgrade to Code 75 - and already I feel it was worth it. Next was cutting the rail to length. By being very carfeul with my trackplan, I have used *precisely* two lengths of flextrack - and with only two cuts per piece, so other than at the pointwork there are no rail joins. I'm quite impressed it worked out so neatly! You can also see I'm experimenting with signals - this one's a mock-up made from LEGO, but it gives you the idea! Finally, in order to bring the rail height to that of Code 100, I have cut and positioned a layer of my favourite material, cereal box card. This will also give a very slight ballast shoulder. The main reason is that at the ends I will be tranisitioning to a short length of Code 100, to give a little more durability before the cassettes (which are yet to exist). 3. Lighting At the same time as the above, as you may have spotted by the photo quality, the layout now sports its own lighting rig. The lighting source is an LED tape product; because I'm indecisive, I chose one that lets you alter the colour temperature. It does this by having two LEDs at each point, one cool white and one warm white, that are contolled by an IR remote. At first I just strung it over the front - surprisingly effective! But not that durable. So a more rigid solution was sought. Luckily, this solution turned up in the post - when the track arrived, it was packaged with a stiff, 1m-long, L-profile carboard beam. So that was immediately put to use! It had to be extended by 10cm, achieved with with card reinforced by an old plastic ruler to prevent sagging. I soon learnt what everyone else probably already knows - that a lighting strip in line with the front of the layout isn't great, since anything at the front is somewhat in shadowl it has to be cantileverd forwards. This was achieved using two lengths of meccano L-beam, which I initially used for a more basic lighting rig for Alexandra Wharf. That layout now has a different lighting set-up, so the beams were free to be used here. The beams and lighting rig are secured to each other and the layout by meccano bolts in various places. But now the rig was forwards, the rear of the layout was getting darker, so I needed a second row. Out came the soldering iron, and some not-too-shoddy joints later, I had a second row lit up. I also took the opportunity to move the control-and-power unit to a more sensible place. The second row is yet to be properly supported, but it works well for now! Not bad, eh? 4. And Finally With all the above in place - furniture, track, and lighting - it was about time some trains started running... Ever since I've had the track cut and joined, I've had it jury-rigged to allow lots of playing testing... and I've thoroughly enjoyed it, so I must be on the right track! What be next? I'm hoping to get the track fixed down by the end of the weekend, so I can make a start on wiring it properly. I should also get the fiddle yard sorted before too long, otherwise things will stagnate. But after that I've also got a whole host of other plans for this layout; how many of them come to fruition remains to be seen!

As soon as you get the platforms in it really starts to take shape! It looks gr at with the coaching stock, especially that 128. Personally, I'd give the wall/bridge at least a 10mm offset, if only to give that bit more depth under the bridge. You could also angle a portion, or maybe a slight gradient, just to break up what is otherwise quite a flat wall. Unless there's going to be buildings in front, in which case it's fine as it is. But if course it's your railway, di what feels best for you!

With the street scene and all that greenery, the layout is really starting to take shape now. It's quite a town you're building up, certainly gives the station a sense of purpose. And, as always, it's very satisfying to watch the trains rumbling round!

Good work with the brickwork - it suits the rest of the station buildings much better. I know I said it earlier, but your weathing and colours work exceptionally to blend together the different elements of the scene. Looking forward to what's next!

I was thinking it looks like a mirror image of what I'm aiming for! I guess for a set of the same input elements, there's only so many truly unique designs for a layout in a given space...

Superb! I'm glad you found the motivation to get this past the finish line, it's a great result. Your groundwork and weathering is excellent, it ties the whole scene together; especially on the Class 29, it disguises the model's rougher heritage very well. I'm looking forward to what ever is next ;-)

Thank you everyone, this is all very informative! I aagree that I don't want to end up with a forest of signals - hence why I was hoping for only the one post! Out of interest - if the loop (and yes, it's more intended to function as a parallel siding rather than a full passing loop) has a post controlling the exit, how would this be disambiguated from controlling the siding into the goods shed? Would it be understood it only applied to the diverging line, and it was the driver's responsibility to know which line the points were set to? I will be looking into the Ground Frame route; any particular recommendations on placing? I presume to ensure the minimum amount of rodding. Would one include the spur siding, or keep that a separate hand lever?

OK, I've done plenty of reading and research, but a few things are still bugging me so I come seeking advice. I have started building a microlayout of a GWR / BR(W) single-track branchline station, "Watchesh". Featuring a single-track line with a goods loop and two sidings, at one point the track layout lent itself to being based on Watchet, and even though this is no longer the case the derivative name has stuck! The reason I'm here is that one of my goals is to incorporate working signals, mostly simply because it imerses you in operating like the real railway. My questions are, perhaps inevitably, on appropriate placement of signals. I have read over many resources online, including the back pages of this very forum, but could never quite find a scenario close to what I've ended up with! Please cast your eyes over the photographic layout plan below, which I have mercilessly scrawled on (ignoring points B and E, I've already realised they're redundant): Given it's a micro-layout, a significant portion is assumed to be off-scene - including the Up end of the goods loop (so as to leave it's length to the viewer's imagination), the Up starter, and the Home in both directions. This means that the only main signals included are the two Down Starters. The running line Starter is fairly obvious, being placed at A (although probably a bit further left from the V of the point). But given the tight spacing I can't fit a second post for the Goods Loop. Q1: How would the exit from the goods loop be controlled - a bracket and doll from A, or a ground signal at either C or D? Q2: If it's a ground signal, how would this be disambiguated from controlling access to the Goods shed line? Q3: Would the yard points would be operated from the 'box, or by hand? I would presume from the 'box, since this allows the goods shed line to be used in lieu of a trap point. In terms of operation, despite being ostensibly a Through station, I will likely use it as a terminus from one end or the other; decoupling and running around trains adds interest. Q4: If I've arrived in the Down direction and wish to run around to leave in the Up, thus using the Down line as a headshunt, should A have a calling-on arm/ground disc/post mounted disc, or would the signalman just clear the Starter? Less related to signalling per se, but since I'm here I might as well ask: Q5: would a pick-up goods be permitted to park wagons in the platform or Down line for shunting, or must it be contained to the goods loop and sidings? Finally, whilst I'm in the planning stage, if you've got any other constructive comments on my track/layout plan I'm all ears. There is reasoning why each element is where it is, but nothing is finalised yet!

I'm not sure if I've commented yet but I'm really enjoying watching this layout develop, partially because who doesn't love a roundyroundy! I agree the covered staircase looks better than an open one, it gives the station a bit more dignity and purpose. Especially if you can merge it into a canopy on the platform to keep passengers dry the whole way to their train. I especially like the blending of kits from a variety of manufacturers and materials - sometimes it can look odd but you've got a marvelous, consistent looking scene. I'd love to see a current overall view when you get a chance!

Totally. My mind never stays long on one project, so I try to "stage" my projects with enough variety that I can switch between them, rather than doing one type of task continuously. For example, I took a break from actually building this new layout to spent three pleasant evening assembling, painting, and finessing a Dapol brake van kit. I hope you can find your motivation again! But this weekend I've been back to the layout - and specifically, the backscene. I decided the corners would be good enough as they are, and so started by brushing a layer of glue over the entire back boards and leaving it for 24hrs to soak in. Whilst I know wallpaper adhesive is cheap and widely used, whilst spending time in my local model shop I came across Deluxe Material's "View Glue" and it's promise of being easy to apply meant I decided to give it a shot. I followed a combination of the instructions on the bottle, and the instructions that came with the Railway Modeller backscene. The latter instructed me to iron out the creases, which I did with what felt like a reasonable amount of success. I then applied a second coat of glue to the board, and to the backscene paper, and brought the two together expecting to have time to slide the paper into my desired place. Mistake No.1: this was not the case! The glue gripped a lot more than I was expecting, and only the finest adjustments proved to be possible. Nevertheless I rolled the sheet into place, smoothed over the corners, and squished the bubbles of glue out to the edges. Mistake No.2: whilst both instructions advocated the use of a damp cloth to press the print home and remove excess glue, this was not harmless to the backscene - some ink was removed, leaving white scars, whilst inexplicably two of the folds have shown up as dark lines. The white scars can be masked as clouds, but the dark streak will be more difficult to hide. Mistake No.3: The most agrevious issue is the tears... luckily one is behind the goods shed, although the one in the sky above it will be a pain. But overall, the backscene is fairly tidy, and I'm pleased that the corners worked reasonably well (don't worry about the wrinkling in the above photo, that's where the stage exit is, and has since been cut away). The overall effect is good and is perfectly fine for the viewing angles and lighting conditions it will mostly be seen in. And once I had a layout with a properly fixed backscene, it was inevitable the trains would come out again... It's still a bit of a papery mess, but points aren't cheap so will have to wait for February's modelling budget. And I think I need to go Code 75, which makes the lengths of Code 100 I bought last weekend a tad redundant! Now, to test that the backscene works, I needed to take some low-level photos... 1472 arriving with a mixed passenger train. This view explains why I've placed the signal box at the front; although I'd prefer to have it the other side to see through the windows, it's essential here as a "natural" viewblock of the stage exit. There's also that annoying line visible in the backscene... The 14xx is sinking at it's rear end since I took the traction tyres off the centre axle and the spring isn't strong enough. But now that Hornby have announced they're doing a fresh run, I hope that means their spares will become available again! Anyway, it's seemingly a busy time at Watchesh, since loking the other way we see there's a Pannier shunting the yard. (I wasn't planning for this layout to be big enough for two locos at once, but apparently it is. Guess I have to work out the wiring to allow isolating tracks now...) The pannier is of course 8763, shunting a van into the goods shed... ...before taking the brake van out to the main line and departing. That's all for now - I've exhausted the "to-do" list given my current materials. So I guess it's back to the planning...