Mike the Train

What a delightful idea. The Elsenham & Thaxted line has some interesting little halts. Looking forward to watching progress.

Could almost be the River Thames! Shades of Angerstein Wharf. Opportunities for green, blue, privatisaton diesels and appropriate tanks.

A stunning micro - terrific atmosphere. Simple but highly effective. Well done you!

Buffer Stops At the Worthing show (last weekend in September - put it in your 2019 diary!) several people asked about the origins of the buffer stops on Foxwell Lane. One is straightforward Peco with the lamp cut off the beam, one Peco with a replacement buffer beam fashioned from SMP bullhead rail and the other two scratchbuilt from plastic card and strip. Dimensions for the latter were scaled up (guesstimated!) from photos found on the net. Sides are 30thou, beam 40thou plastic card, the pieces being so small they came from my box of offcuts accumulated over time. The strapping is 0.5x1.5mm Plastruct styrene strip and all stuck together using Plastic Weld. Once cleaned up and painted the stops can be stuck onto the rails with UHU, Bostick or similar. Ingredients & tools Starting the build Almost there Primed ready for painting The work is fiddly rather than difficult, the end result something different, suited to the modern scene. For those wanting a more accurate representation, there are some nifty etched kits available.

I'm a serial layout builder, preferring relatively small shunting type layouts which can fit easily into my car. Foxwell Lane is my 6th exhibition layout, the previous 5 having been sold on to create space and cash for the next project. Details of previous efforts, plus my larger 'home' layout are on my website: https://mikestrains.weebly.com/ When the Loftus Road crew were at DEMU in 2017 I bought a ready made 5' x 1' box from Tim Horne. At the time he didn't produce a sector plate board, so fellow Worthing MRC member Mark Butcher built one for me. Presentation is at eye level using the usual steel trestles (bargain from Lidl at £14.99 a pop), having been impressed by several 'high' layouts seen at various exhibitions. Whilst this is great height for adults, and kids can use a step-up, it's not so great for those in wheelchairs. I'll have to source a periscope, which I've seen used elsewhere on eye-level layouts. In OO, using Peco code 75 in a mix of bullhead, flat bottom concrete and wooden trackwork, the theme is a Network Rail depot. DCC controlled (Gaugemaster) with most locos sound fitted. Points switched by Cobalt motors. The backscene was assembled from downloadable kits plus pictures found on the internet, and adapted to suit. Progress was painfully slow, but the layout had a couple of public outings in August 2018 (at Sevenoaks and at South Downs Light Railway), which acted as 'shakedown sessions' to ensure everything worked. It ran faultlessly over the two exhibitions. Long may that last! Foxwell Lane will be at the Worthing show on 29/30 September 2018. If you are there, please do come and say hello.

Buddleia has started sprouting down at the coalyard. Fine beading wire twisted together then painted with acrylic mixed with a little PVA, When dry, stems painted with PVA then covered with scatter. Secured with hairspray then the tips coloured with purple paint.

Just checked on the sack scales. The kit is indeed by Dart Castings -L120, current price £4.20. Thanks for the kind comments. Mike

It is a whitemetal kit, but I can't recall it's origins, sorry. Might be Dart Castings.

Must be climate change ....... a couple of saplings have suddenly sprouted. Business is brisk, as the stack of ready bagged coal sacks has gone!

A little more scenic treatment, including an attempt at creating a mossy look to the yard surface ....... needs more work on that, with a different approach. I used a green mix of acrylic, stippled on. A slightly brighter mix for it to show up better, maybe.

Hello Fellow RMWebbers, I have been a watcher of RMWeb and admirer of the excellent modelling to be found here for quite a while, but it was the Cakebox Challenge that encouraged me to sign up. My effort is 'Down by the Coalyard': http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/129295-down-by-the-coalyard/ It was when the kids left home that I got back in to railway modelling in a serious way, back in 2000, and have built a succession of small exhibition layouts, which luckily I've sold on once I needed the space to move on to the next project. There is also a permanent layout in my train room, based loosely on Bude in Cornwall. My layout CV can be found here: https://mikestrains.weebly.com/ Foldham has just been sold, and I'm in the unfamiliar situation of being without an exhibition layout for the first time in many years....but not for long! I'll be posting progress on the new project 'Foxwell' under Layout Topics in due course. I'm a member of Worthing Model Railway Club, and the Loftus Road team. Mike

WHO TORCHED THE COALMAN'S HUT? "Jus' cos the line's half shut an' that Beeching fella reckons the rest wants shutting within a twelvemonth, there's no call for folk to burn down the poor ole coalman's office is there? Mind, I wouldn't put it past him to 'ave lit the match 'isself. Damn sure them coal sacks 'ave got lighter since 'e took over from 'is ole man....." But business as usual Down by the Coalyard.

A bit more progress on the Coalyard: Yard surface coated with fine sand. Painted with grey emulsion then dry-brushed with Railmatch weathered black. Base coat of scatter, as an 'undercoat' for the static grass. Looks like the MDF has warped slightly - should have sealed it better!

Track ballasted, DAS clay rolled out (just like pastry!) and stuck down with a coat of PVA. Foundation excavated for the coalman's hut. Once dry, painting will start using emulsion tester pots / acrylics. Wasn't happy with the way the wagon body turned out with the black ink wash, so tried a different approach...still needs tweaking, plus adding transfers.

The wagons look brilliant - thank you for the inspiration. Mike

Away over Christmas, so the project stalled, although I was able to source a missing ingredient - DAS clay for the yard surface. The scrap box provided parts for the representation of the goods shed - bits from an old Airfix engine shed, Wills slate sheet, Ratio gutters and doors from a Scalescenes kit issued free with Hornby magazine. Track painted and weathered, ready to be glued down and ballasted.

Many thanks. Slowly getting to grips with how it works!

Trying to work out how to add to a thread, other than by using the 'reply to this topic' button.

The Lima coal wagon has had a door cut out and is now in the paintshop....to give it that worn, unpainted wood look. So far its had a blast of Wilko grey primer, followed by a wash of black ink. The chassis has lost its giant couplings, and will gain plastic coupling hooks from an old kit. The steamroller wheels have gone, replaced by spoked wheels from yet another old plastic kit. Hoping to get to a Hobbycraft store on our travels between Christmas & New Year, to acquire some air drying clay and the all important cake box. My thinking at the moment is to adapt the box so as to create a 'theatre' scene that you look in to.

There are some terrific 'cakes' being produced, so time for me to have a go. The initial inspiration is a colour photo spotted in Rail Express Modeller of May 2015, showing the local coal merchant at Currie unloading a coal wagon into sacks on the back of his truck. A monochrome version of the same photo appeared in the letters page of Railway Modeller of April 2016. My list of ingredients so far includes: Scrap of MDF trimmed to size Ancient length of SMP track (35 years old!) Equally ancient Lima 7-plank coal wagon, Oddments from an old Airfix engine shed Peco coal sacks Harburn Hamlets stack of coal sacks Flat bed truck The coalman's hut Coalman and his dog. All recycled from previous layouts.