luke the train spotter

Hi there, welcome to my page about the development of my oo gauge dcc layout, Ravendale. Construction started about a year and a half ago but limited time and a very low budget (£10 a month) has meant that progress has been slow. I am currently finishing off the layout with the detailing stage, applying back scenes and touching up scenery.

Amazing work! Always find you're work very inspiring. I have a quick question about the people you painted with orange high vis vests, is there a specific type/number (in terms of humbrol/valley/revell) of paint you use? I am looking at painting some people with high vises and wondered if you would be able to recommend anything. Thanks.

That's an interesting track plan to use. Plenty of operational fun with that. Looks good with a bit of stock on too.

Amazing! I have seen that coach on a network rail train before I and I'd love to model it. Great to see someone else modelling it.

Always impressed with your skills and progress and dedicated attention to detail.

My layout I just over 9 inches did and is stable enough so think that 8 inches would just about get away with it. Good looking baseboards.

So I've got a fair amount of progress for you today. Firstly, I have painted the railway cutting rock face with a black acrylic wash and the bridge bad received a coat of that too. This is a pretty instant affect but I will go over it again with another wash in certain areas and acrylics to highlight certain areas.

I've also made the road. The road bed was hot glued down coffee stirrers then a plaster filler, 1mm granite ballast, sieved soil and black paint mix was added. This was left for 24 hours to properly set and dry. After this I made a start on tooling the strip of plasticard that would go between the rails on the level crossing. I used wills wooden planking and it needs a bit more fine tuning and a good paint and weathering but apart from that I am happy with it.

Now my attention has turned to the station building which will be scratch built. I plan to base it around one of the Metcalfe lineside huts in terms of size. It will be a wooden clap board structure (I think) but that will be built at a later date.

My next big job is to build the station platform, re landscape the left hand side then get some ballast down. After that i can get stuck into the more scenic work such as scatter materials and trees.

Sounds good. Just an idea but would it be worth doing a panoramic photo of the interior of the coach then printing it off to scale size before adding all the separately fitted details such as computer screens?

Very true.

That looks great! So much detail goes into your work and that is something I have never seen modelled before.

Looks amazing.

Thanks for bringing that to light! In that case I shall convert the left hand side into a low cutting with a dense woodland on top. Speaking of cuttings...... I have managed to get some more work done on the right hand side cutting with the basic rock work put in. The rock work is sculpted DIY plaster filler that just needs a black wash on top. I have also done a fair bit of work on the bridge. I have scratch built a cardboard shell, covered it in plaster and then carved the bricks on it and made some capping stones. This also awaits a black wash but requites the bricks in the arch carving first. After this I will make the road and the level crossing.

Judging by the amount of network rail stock you've got, saying that you are a big fan is an understatement.

Very impressive. I will have to give those bin bags a go.

So I have cracked on with some scenic work. I have created a rough idea of the landscape with some polystyrene that has been hot glued down to the baseboard. I have also put some chicken wire (left over from a fencing project long ago) which will be the fram work for the paper mache. On the right there will be a railway cutting and a forest / woodland. The strip of cardboard will be a road with a bridge going over the railway. On the opposite side there will be a tunnel. On the left hand side on the outside of the curve there will be the small halt station. Opposite to this will be a small coal/freight yard that will connect to the road. The road will cross the railway by an unnamed crossing. It is quite hard to explain but if you have any questions about the plan (I still do!) then I am happy to answer them.

After this I will give the layout a coat of paper Mache the work on the tunnel and road bridges before I make the road and rock face. I plan to use scatter after this.

Well I certainly look forward to see how this turns out.

Wow! Just looks great!

So the track has been wired up and trains are running. Also, I have weathered and painted the sleepers and rails. Let the landscaping begin now.

Thanks! That ballast looks great so I might try to replicate what your ballast looks like. I got some free time this afternoon so I have glued down the track. Here is a pic of that:

After that is done I can wire it all up and let some trains loose before I paint the track and sleepers.

Sounds interesting. Would it be possible for you to post a picture of your ballast please.

So I have some baseboard progress to report. I broke the pallet up and built the baseboards as I would normally then added the hinge blocks. Flush hinges were then added. Here is a pic of that: I plan to make a youtube video on it in the near future so when that is done I will post a link here. Since the baseboards are pretty much done I can move onto laying some track!!!! :)I'm very excited for this stage because even though I have been modelling for a fair few years I have never had an oval of track to just run trains around. I would really appreciate your advice on ballasting and what looks good with 009 track. Thanks in advance.

Looks good. What yellow paint do you use?

Looks great! A nice and cheap project though.

Wow very impressive. Thanks for sharing as I hadn't seen that before. That must be quite a challenge. I would do something like that but with completed scenery and a slightly different style.

So today I got all the stuff I need for my folding baseboard new for just £11. Now that it is one pound more than my budget but I think I can allow that. So today I bought a sheet of mdf:

Then some flush hinges (I bought two packs of two to be safe):

And finally I picked up 2 simple slide locks that will hold the baseboards and electrics in place:

When I got home I measured the mdf and split it in half length ways then sawed it in two. I did go a bit wonky at one end but I hope that won't make a big difference. Here is a pic of that:

I also broke up that pallet so I now have some free planks of wood. It was a bit labour intensive to remove the 2 1/2 inch nails with a claw hammer but I managed to do it. I plan to get a bit more done by the end of the week if I get any free time. Recently I found a small half used £1 tin of black gloss paint which I think will make the fascia look quite smart. I'm also hoping that it smooths down the rough grain of the pallet planks.