Thunderforge

Track looks a little better once ballasted, with Sainsbury’s fine grain clumping cat litter! Should look even better with some black dirt drizzled over it and some static grass too.

The ‘backstop’ end, if I may use such a dangerous phrase. The pencil scribble is to lubricate the traverser with graphite.

After... I’m not 100% sold, but I’ll stick it down and add some ballast and see if it’s any better. It’ll be ‘offstage’ anyway.

Testing a track painting technique I saw on an American YouTube channel; paint the sleepers a bright cream (£1 tester pot of masonry paint!) and the rails red (Mournfang Brown acrylic), then wash with a mix of alcohol and black weathering powder. Or in this case the easel sweepings of a chalk pastel artist!! Before...

The Macaroni Express is waiting in the traverser for the glue to dry... Now to make a cup of tea... where’s the kettle?

I’ve been pretty settled on using the ‘two points’ track plan from Market Maldon, but I knew that fifty quid for a set was too much to spend, and coupled to that I didn’t feel confident enough to scratch my own, I’ve decided to go for a double track traverser running into three ‘scenic’ tracks (platform line, goods line and parcels line). There’s a loco release on the far side of the traverser. Hopefully this will allow me to play ‘inglenooks’ when I want and have more realistic moments. And I never realised how hot flexi track gets when you’re sawing it! Ouch!

Baseboard is a thick chunk of insulation material surrounded with hardboard and topped with thick grey-board. I work at a print company on an industrial estate, so lots of access to scrap materials!

I’ve been scratchbuilding some O-gauge rolling stock and decided to put together an ultra low budget micro layout for it. Inspired by folks like Jim Reid and it’s the first O-gauge layout I’ve ever started. Wish me luck...! A bit of background first; my rolling stock has a ‘Game of Thrones’ theme, using names and places from that world. Mostly because I like little jokes (ie Godswoods are sacred forests, so I have a Godswood Timber Co. wagon!) When the iron horse invaded Westeros, it was an invader welcomed, mostly, with open arms. The first private line extended eastward from Lannisport, eventually reaching the capital, King’s Landing. This was laid by the Great Westeros Railway company, and paved the way for other companies to extend their own lines thereafter. To the north of King’s Landing lay broad vistas of bleak, cold highlands and moorland, inhabited by strange folk with stranger accents. The one of the most influential companies, the Landing, North Westeros Railway, laid metals from the capital all the way up to the furthest reach of the kingdom, the Wall itself. All northern traffic is bottlenecked through Moat Caitlin, a junction from which main lines fan out to White Harbour in the east, Winterfell Road and to the Bear Island ferry in the west. On this line runs a tiny and insignificant branch which terminates at a station signposted ‘Deepwood Motte’. The station is a mile or so away from the Motte itself, but serves the Glover family and the villages nearby. There are occasional passenger services from Winterfell and the Bear Island ferry. Goods outgoing are mainly wool and textiles for the south, cattle and beer for the northern towns, troops for the war; goods inbound include wines from the Reach, salted fish from White Harbour, skins and furs from House of Bolton, farm machinery and the all important mail. There is a fledgling tourism industry for the affluent; whilst you are visiting the north please take a trip to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea; during the summer much of the beach is free of ice! However, all is not as it seems on the Westeros railways as competition between transport companies is rife, with rolling stock intentionally misdirected, rerouted or stolen, and similar from the feuding shareholders and passengers. This means that the contents of any wagon may not be what the paperwork says it is... (I’m looking at you Frey & Sons Wedding Hire Ltd!) Pictures of work in progress imminent...

It would work if you used four right hand points and no curved tracks, I would draw what I mean but my children are on the computer at the moment! The trouble is that it would look rather clinical, having a few extra curves might not be best practice but it does make a layout look better (in my opinion!)

Suggest ‘Yetterby Naymd’ as the sign on the platform?

That looks like a back to back inglenook! If you have two locos you could shunt one end, then once you’ve arranged everything spin it round and shunt the other end. If you used dcc and two controllers you could cause chaos as to people try using the same line to play together!!

Half way down this page is Malden Market Hill, using two points, it explains some manoeuvres, I’m going to base my layout on it (one day!) http://www.carendt.com/small-layout-scrapbook/page-59a-march-2007/

Jason, yes you can bend plasticard if you warm it up, either with a hair dryer, hot water or something. But be prepared to waste a few sheets getting the hang of it!

You probably have enough room to put wheels and a motor inside one of the horses and have it pull a carriage! They are very quirky animals, so yes it would be hard to scale them; overall height? head size? width? I’d say they shouldn’t be taller than an engine, but then, it’s entirely up to you! :-) I’d love to see the layout which went with such creatures!

Thanks Nearholmer, yes it’s surprising how it seems to be easier to work in paper/card/wood than metal or plastic. Plasticard is fun though. Jim Read is the big inspiration for my 7mm foray. Anyway, part two, now that I’ve cooked tea! The buffer beams are greyboard, that glunky stuff is gorilla glue. I didn’t realise it bubbled up until too late, at least it’s hidden. Sawed a groove. And voila! -slightly to one side it is! Also needs slightly smaller chains! I’ll post another pic once I’ve finished painting it.

Having given up on aluminium, and given up on plastic, I’ve been making wagons out of card. I’d fettled some couplings from brass and snapped the blasted things trying to put a bend in them. After much swearing I put everything away for a while, then this morning I dug out the aluminium angle section... Several hours/fingers later... Here’s the ‘freelance’ light brake van it’s going on; It was supposed to have one of those lookout side things, but after a few attempts I decided that the guard can brave the weather and look out of the balcony instead! There is a lack of windows. Edit: will finish this post shortly!

Romulus and Remus is (are?) a great idea, it would be interesting to see how it looks in action. Manhandling and horse shunting are an important part of some yards, and hard to model on a layout. Does it look weird that wagons start moving of their own accord? I see there are a few figures dotted around, I suppose that helps with immersion. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Hmm, I never thought of that before; now I’ll think of it every time I see it! Just like swords that go ‘shing!’ in films.

Cool! How did you make the sides for the Inspection Carriage? Are they brass or plasticard or... something else? That 08 looks great too. And don’t lose that twenty you left on the side!

@Simond Good point... I’ve got some ‘blue stuff’ used for making wargame duplicate parts, I might have a go using that. It’s a pretty rough method but would work for rusty wheels littering the yard. I’ll have a go and see what happens. @JiLo It would certainly put a lot of extra weight on a wagon. I’ll weigh a set when I try moulding it tomorrow :-)

Does anyone know of a maker of wagon wheel loads? If I wanted a train of flatbeds, loaded with wheels for a wagon works, I thought someone would make a casting perhaps? I’ve googled it but found nothing! Could there be a tiny gap in the market?! I think buying Slaters/Peco ones could make it a bit pricey. Edit: oh, and I’m not sure if this is posted in the right place, apologies if not!

Can I ask what class this loco is? Is it a kit or r-t-r?

That looks great!

There’s a cheat for manhole covers, cut a rectangle or circle of pallet strapping! This stuff:

A couple of car tyres? Or a spare fence panel? A cat climbing up to catch a bird? A little electric exchange box? A shovel in a little pile of sand? A few cardboard boxes and blankets with a tramp asleep in them?