9C85

I used the track weathering as my first dabble with airbrushing. Not as critical as painting rolling stock.

Yes! Thanks so much. I was convinced that it couldn't have been that soon into my marriage - we're still together though--, so there were obviously more unacceptable magazines to purchase at the time. Just off over to Ebay to have a trip over memory hump. Thanks again Stu

Thanks a lot. I will take a look. PS nice username I have that in my car CD player right now

I don't pretend to be an expert but I happened to take this photo last night because I liked the look of it. It's a grimy yard layout so maybe a bit uniform for some people's liking. IIRC the painting sequence was as follows: 1. Spray the running lines with a coat of Railmatch Sleeper Grime from a rattle can ( mask off the internal faces of the point blades first). 2 Ballast the track 3 Go down the outer edge of each rail on a line approximately on the edge of the sleepers with Sleeper Grime again, but from an airbrush, with varying levels of application. 4 With the airbrush again, apply a trail of Railmatch Roof Dirt down the centre of each track, again in varying doses. 5 Add more Roof Dirt, Black and Oil Colours around pointwork and where locos stand (mine is a diesel layout so no coal or ash deposits remain) 6 When dry, give the tops of the rails a good clean, avoiding check rails if possible. As I mentioned above, not everyone's preferred approach, and it could go a lot further, but I did my 15ft x 1.5ft visible area in about 4 evenings and it made such a difference to the atmosphere of the layout. EDIT: I should add that I found out about both using the rattle can pre-ballasting and the airbrush post-ballasting on YouTube. The latter was found on the Everard Junction channel.

It's a long shot, but I am searching for a layout plan which was a 'Layout of the month' in Railway Modeller some time in the late 1990s, possibly early noughties. It was a large OO layout, and was a modern image medium size marshalling yard with the main scenic section running diagonally across the layout and inclines leading up from and down to the storage sidings which I think were on the 'opposite ' diagonal, making a figure 8 layout. IIRC It had something like 3 reception sidings leading to a five road yard, and possibly on to three departure roads. It may even have a hump yard, but not sure. Thanks in advance for any help given.

I mistakenly tried budgeting by using code 100 for 3 lengths of 5ft fiddle yard while having code 75 points connected to it. I used the transition tracks but found that the links on two of the pieces went open circuit when I tried soldering dropper to them (possibly overkill). I would stick to one code if I were to do it again.

It's even better than I remember. It backs out, pulls in to another platform, backs out again, then work its way around the triangle to propel its stock back into the station.

I have seen a YouTube video of a more or less identical scenario at Southport with a 37 and Regional Railways Mk2s. I can't quite remember if it traverses 3 sides of a 'triangle' outside the station, or runs round in the sidings.

Did anyone else see this? I know it's a lovely looking thing and has all the bells and whistles (horns?), but come on...

It took me a while to realise that there are two helixes ( helices?) - one going down and one going up. The aspect of a layout project that I am probably most comfortable with is building the baseboards. I will include a helix IF I ever decide to start a new project.

I've just found this thread. I have to say I have looked at these photos for a good 10 minutes and I still can't work out what's going on... it's like something by Escher Looking forward to catching up and following this.

That looks like an enjoyable layout. I have a soft spot for blue 33s having spent 2 years in the late 80s travelling between Cardiff and Portsmouth every weekend on the '89'. I keep looking to get one for my layout. I have seen a few things on RMWeb this week that have got me planning my next layout - not that I am anywhere near finishing my current one. Your layout has tempted me to go late 80s era and to include provision for continuous running - and the super-elevated track works a treat. Keep up the excellent work .

Further to my post above, I have just found the following website: http://www.swanseadocks.co.uk/docksnewsite/railwaysignal.html

I have only ever seen a few photos of the Swansea docks railway . I too was amazed that it had this much infrastructure at a time when I could (should) have witnessed it in person. The track layout and signalling is screaming out to be modelled . I love the multiple crossovers and I believe there was a dual-direction signal somewhere in the system? Having said that, would need a crazily big, crazily shaped baseboard

I was just about to follow this one too. Good luck with your new project.

Nice stonework

This is what I have come up with. To be honest, when I printed it out, it was a bit like the Spinal Tap 'Stonehenge' moment - I think I have designed it to be printed on A3 paper but now I am working from home I only have access to an A4 printer, which is unreliable at the best of times. It was printed over two sheets of A4 Landscape paper and I cut them out and matched up the buildings to give the finished article. I wedged an old peco point packet behind it to take a test photo. In a reversal of the usual outcome, the photo looks a lot better than the view to the naked eye - judicious cropping.

Thanks. I think I am at the 'less is more' stage and I should tidy up the two new blocks on the left and perhaps just have something low running across the front of the image eg trees, the backs of terraced houses etc. I will probably have the top of a 'real' retaining wall in front of it in any case.

Latest progress on the decoupage backscene... slight change of plan I did a bit of reading and was reminded of my O level Art (I got a grade U) and the principle of vanishing points. I have played with the tower blocks on the right and removed the flat cityscape background as it was the wrong perspective. I have found another tower block this evening , duplicated it, shrunk it and desaturated it a bit and plonked both of them on the left hand side. I will tidy them up tomorrow. Not sure how this is going to end up but it is a learning exercise which has cost nothing but a bit of time thus far

Thanks. Hadn't thought of the shadows but I eventually plan to install a lighting pelmet, similar to proper exhibition layouts. Ideally I will use dimmable LEDs and combine that with yard tower floodlights to have night time running (which is after all when 'papers and parcels trains were most active). I am probably going to have the layers spaced only about 5 to 10mm apart - see how it looks. Cheers

I have started to play around in Photoshop with a few images. The 'base/background' layer is cropped from one of those iconic photos of Red Bank in its heyday . The middle and foreground layers so far are just images of anything that I think might fit in (just a couple of tower blocks thus far). I am playing around with the scale and colour/saturation settings, trying to lighten the 'further away' layers. It will probably look OK as a single flat artwork but I am tempted to print out each layer and mount it onto card to create a 3D "découpage" type thingy. Very rough work in progress attached...

This is really interesting to me as I have just been sent a batch of Dornaplas levers by a fellow RMWebber. I have a couple of questions relating to my shunting yard layout: 1) Are the levers always installed on the same side of the point? ie on the 'straight' track side of a standard point? 2) I have read that if a point is controlled by a signal, then it won't have a lever. I am assuming that if this is true, the point will have a point motor? I am going to have a few ground signals on my layout controlling access to and from the main line and fuelling point- should I have no levers, but dummy point motors, on these points? BTW the layout is set in the early 1980s Thanks in advance.

Just had an unplanned, but very productive, hour in the garage. I got my new axles from Peter's Spares and replaced the ones on my two CCTs and my newest GUV (pictured). I also replaced the Kadees on my Newspapers BG conversion ( also pictured) with the longer shanked version. Now it couples and uncouples a lot better. On the subject of Kadees, I reckon if someone went into business providing ready-assembled No 5 units, they would make a fortune. No matter how much I try, I always end up wrecking something (usually the brass spring) and so I have to order another packet and get an uneven number of components to work with. I have tried using Hornby NEM pockets and NEM Kadees but the plastic from which the pockets are manufactured doesn't seem to glue very well to coach floors or plasticard with either polystyrene cement or super glue.

I was sure that I had seen Wibdenshaw on the circuit many years ago, but a bit of googling makes me think that it was Holmeworth. Either way, both layouts are absolutely inspiring and capture their location and era perfectly. It is very rarely that you see a layout and think 'this is exactly the sort of thing that I want', but the layouts of Kier Hardy seem to do that, for me at least. Enjoy the project. Stu

A Class 25 waits for the ground signal under the bridge to clear and let it off the fuel point road.