luke the train spotter

The paints have been out and both 24s are now weathered. I've gone for the standard approach of washes left to dry then removed with a cotton bud followed by dry brushing and powders. I didn't want to create an overly mucky look but capture a well used loco. Here are the 24s pausing by Dalmunach's signal box before continuing with their duties.

The 24 on the left is the older Bachmann tooling, the one on the right is the newer post 2020 tooling. Without annoying the Sulzer purists I think the older one still holds up well compared to the newer variants, especially once the buffer beam detailing pack has been fitted.

Before I left Dalmunach D5149 was captured running push pull with the managers inspection saloon, a rare working on the line, especially on a bank holiday, I suppose that explains the empty goods yard too.

On 05/05/2024 at 13:44, Auchtermore said:

I'm really enjoying the work on your layout, it's great to see more people modelling the GNSR.

 

I really like what you did with the plows, something i will have to do on some of my stock.

I find the ploughs give the locos much more presence. I'm always surprised how many early diesels kept their ploughs throughout the year, especially in the backwater branchlines. David Dunn's 'First Generation Scottish Diesels in Colour' is a fantastic reference. 

With Dalmunach beginning to near scenic completion there's just a few detailing jobs left to do and work on the rolling stock. Whilst the layout is modelled with the end of the line near and passenger traffic pretty sparse, I thought it would not be a proper station without at least one passenger. He is a Modelu figure painted up in a drab 1950s style brown suit, which accidentally camouflages him against the station building. 

I also still need to blend the end of the platform/headshunt in, a job for next week I think. 

My other focus has been detailing the Bachmann 24. I really wanted to model it with snow ploughs but using the ones supplied in the detailing bag meant that the nem pocket was used so no room for my kadees. I overcame this by separating the parts of the plough, removing the centre part and re-attaching the left and right sides with a strip of plasticard. 

This then slots beneath the nem pocket and is attached with a drop of super glue. 

Quite effective and a simple fix. I could then attach as many pipes and details as I could fit without fouling the coupling and cut down the rest and fitted them so there were now gaps in the buffer beam. I think the overall result is a good compromise of detail and no interference with running capabilities. I'm not to sure how plausible this is but I would personally love to see manufacturers using soft flexible plastics or rubber to make their pipes and hoses so you can have fully detailed buffer beams without compromising running quality.

The dark ploughs don't show up particularly well in the photos but give the ends of the locos a bit more presence in real life. As this has been a success I will probably trial the same method with my 20s. The 24 can now be moved into the weathering queue along with some other stock.

And whilst Dalmunach was out I spotted a little ruston which has pottered down from the distillery to shunt a couple of loaded open wagons around the yard.

53 minutes ago, Salop Lad said:

Hi Luke.

 

I’m new to this site and this is my first post,hopefully one of many.I’m planning to build a similar,if slightly larger version of a station on the Speyside Line,early 60s just before closure to passengers ,so this topic really caught my eye.I have already collected a few books on the line and may visit the area at some point.

 

Apart from saying what a wonderful layout this is turning out to be,I wanted to ask whether  the brown and cream paintwork on buildings is similar to Western Region colours of the same period or are the colours different? Pictures seem to be superficially similar but I’d like to get it right.

 

Keep up the great work and I look forward to your progress.

Thank you. I'm not an expert at all when it comes to Western Region but looking at photos I'd suggest that the GNSR colour scheme used on the Speyside line is a slightly more muted and undersaturated. I think the warm white lighting on the layout makes my buildings look on the more yellow side of cream in photos when in reality they're slightly tinted off white. For all the buildings the brown is Vallejo flat earth and the white is Vallejo off white with a tiny amount of Vallejo light sand mixed in. I found this closely matched the contrasting look of the Speyside buildings especially at Ballindalloch, Carron and Knockando, see below. 

However, some of the buildings at Craigellachie have a much warmer hue much similar to the Western Region colours. I imagine that frequency of repainting and small tonal differences between paint tins means that as long as it is close enough it is probably accurate. 

I think the levels of light taken at the different stations probably don't help either but worth knowing that there was variety along the line. 

The beck looks excellent! What resin did you use?

The workshop wall looks fantastic, love the colours and shades going on there.

A couple more of the 20 during yesterday's running session, I think the low angles work really well to make this small space more immersive.

The track weathering with the thinned enamels looks fantastic, might have to steal that technique. 

Catcott Burtle is a very inspirational layout! The level crossing looks great there, lots of potential for some really nice photo angles. 

After a pretty full on week back after Easter some modelling time was definitely required, so a Saturday running session was in order. I'm currently working on a small class 20 project, weathering and converting my current 20s to suit a more Speyside-ish condition. So far D8101 has only had a weathering treatment but may get renumbered at some point. My other 20 will be going into D8032 in 1966 condition as photographed by John Boyes, once a new body arrives from Bachmann spares. 

Anyways, here's D8101 shunting the yard at Dalmunach before heading down the branch with a very short pick up goods. 

23 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

Cropper Street is featured in the new Railway Modeller  (May 2024)

 

A great article, the photos have captured the layout really well. 

On 30/03/2024 at 07:34, Tim Chambers said:

Mornin'! Any chance of some 'photos?

Best wishes, Tim

A couple photos I took at York. There's quite a few videos of the exhibition on YouTube, maybe worth a search to see a few running shots?

'Sputnik' aka the local railbus service pauses at Dalmunach before running back down the branch. I don't suppose anyone has replaced the destination blinds and made their own?

With paper backscenes you want to be really careful applying them, just like you would do a phone screen protector. I find using as little glue as possible (but using a strong glue like wood glue or a high quality pva) and using a credit card or ruler to smooth out the air bubbles as you go. Perhaps sanding back some of the gloss paint on the backscene boards would give the glue a bit more purchase too? Looks good as is currently though.

1 hour ago, SouthernBlue80s said:

That looks really good Luke.

I very much like the trees.

 

(My tip to improve it, would be to make the grass a bit patchier. So for example instead of two big clumps in the forground also add a few smaller ones, as weeds and grass are often a bit random in the way they grow)

I agree! I'm planning on picking up some static grass tufts at York and getting some of the scatter out too.

1 hour ago, TechnicArrow said:

That greenery is superb - it really has brought the place to life! The treeline masks the low-relief station incredibly well, definitely something I will have to try for Watchford.

 

Can I ask where you got the sea foam, and any other tips for making trees? I've never made any before, but I think it's hight time I do!

Thanks! I bought the seafoam from Gaugemaster but my experience with other retailers is that it's all the same stuff really. A box certainly goes a long way, I used about 1/3 the box for all the trees on Dalmunach and plenty of smaller ones for shrubs. The WWS tree spray is fantastic and makes the process super smooth and fast even if it is a bit more expensive than a can of hairspray which some others use. I'd say just go for it and experiment, WWS do some good YouTube videos I've used for reference in the past.

After a couple of pretty hectic days it was definitely time to decompress with some painting. I'd primed the station and goods shed at the weekend so I had a good base for brush painting with vallejo acrylics. The station is a rough colour match to Longmorn, using flat earth for the brown and a flat white/dark sand for the light creamy colour. I'm quite happy with it so far though a few bits could do with neating up a bit.

The goods shed has also had a bit of paint on the roofing slates and interior. Nothing fancy just a couple shades of brown with dark washes all over. 

I love seeing the casks and crates through the open door. Doing this building interior reminds me that the signal box still needs one sorting.

Looking at the layout as a whole I think the station building fits in well and hopefully it won't be too long until I get some greenery on the layout. 

Instead of starting the painting on the station building, I've been working on the goods shed. I started by making a door and basic sliding mechanism out of plasticard superglued in place.

I then started on the roofing slates. These are the same FairPrice models slates used on Dalmunach's station building but instead of laying the slate strips straight onto the roof I laid them onto wide overlapping strips of painters masking tape. The masking tape provides an immediate stick and I add a thin bead of wood glue between the layers, resulting with a strong bond once dried. This creates large strips of slates which can be cut to fit the exact angles/dimensions of the roofing panels. I find this is much more efficient way to roof buildings, especially when one large strip can be cut into multiple pieces for the same roof. 

As the roof was setting off I made a start on the interior. The GNSRA has some great photos of the interior of Cromdale goods shed so inspiration was easy to come by. The wooden frame is a combination of plasticard and match sticks. A quick raid of the bits box and there's enough clutter to suggest a fairly profitable flow of goods. 

Currently none of the details are fixed down so they can be painted separately. I'll grab some photos of shed on the layout the next time it's out. I may take a leaf out of @TechnicArrow's book and chop down a super low relief wagon to the back of the shed, we'll see!

A couple spare hours saw the roofing and guttering adding to the station building bash. Roofing slates are laser cut from FairPrice Models on Ebay and the guttering is a combination of scrap box spares and U shaped plastic strip. Once the roofing slates have all properly dried I'll add some mock led flashing made from paper strips then the paint shop won't be too far away. 

The building isn't quite sitting flush with the platform yet but some rear supports are on the job list so the building won't be tilting back as far just balancing on the platform. 

Modelling time has been pretty limited over the past couple of weeks. I had a very enjoyable couple of days helping operate Hallbankgate and Portland Cement, at Birtley Model Railway Exhibition. Both layouts fun to operate and something beyond my normal modelling scope. Bringing it back to Dalmunach I've made a start on the station building roof. Not a huge project but a satisfying one taking my time to get the angles/corners correct. The piece of tamiya tape just holding a panel down as the glue properly sets off. This approach uses the original laser cut roof supports, cut down with plasticard roofing to save the hassle of glueing together pieces of the original kit. 

I started work on the station building kit today, starting with a dry fit of all the parts to get an idea of where I would cut the model. I was very impressed by how robust the building is, the laser cut parts fit together perfectly and even though I had used no glue the structure was pretty solid. 

I'd say that this kit  captures the look of the prototype pretty well apart from a few areas. The cross braces of 3mm ply that hold the kit together stand out quite a lot and ruin the neat laser cut wooden slats that run along the wall. These are more visible when looking down the building.

This contrasts a lot to the prototype still standing at Longmorn and any of the other GNSR wooden station buildings. 

So something has to be done about that. I started by cutting out the sections where the cross sections are and bracing the inside of the walls with offcuts of the wooden sprue the kit came on. I now have a much smoother finish at the cost of the building being 12mm shorter than the original kit. 

Roughly positioning the building on the layout I think it's quite well proportioned and sits well on the platform. Onwards with the roof and end pieces. 

22 hours ago, Northroader said:

The Pop Up kits are in unpainted ply with laser etched detail, so if you want a stone built station, you can face it with “stone” plastikard glued on, once you’ve smoothed the projecting locating tabs off.
The Glasgow show sounds great, pity it’s too far for me. Tallindalloch is news to me, have you spotted Rosehearty, a GNS based branch in 0 gauge, also it has a P4  version.

 

https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/rosehearty-gnsr-new-aberdour-branch.8035/

Rosehearty was a great layout to see at the show, the caley 439 class stood out to me. A couple years ago I started to convert a Hornby m7 to one, I got to the painting stage and it stalled. I'll have to grab it from my parents house the next time I'm there.