wireman

Away from Poly Fibre and other messy things. T9 fresh from a weathering session. Regards Brian. ( wireman )

Hi Imsforever, thanks for reply, sorry for delay in answering. First picture is a small piece of Poly fibre torn from the packet, second is the fibre rolled into bush shape. Then it's a simple matter of gluing the bush where required. We use PVA. probably best to let this dry first, then spray bush with either hairspray, matt varnish, photo fix or a diluted PVA, we use a 60/40 water/PVA sprayed on using a fine spray. Then carefully dribble on your chosen colour and depth of foliage. Leave to dry, then if happy at that stage, a light spray of matt varnish, hairspray will hold every in place. Its worth looking on Youtube re. Poly Fibre where I'm sure you'll find much more expert advice than mine. Hope this has helped. Regards. Brian. ( wireman ). PS. Some hair sprays remain tacky for a very long time.

There seems to be no bounds in Nicks new found prowess in scenic work. Will we ever get near the scatter box again. The first picture shows the ballasting in the sidings, a little more colour here and there plus a few weeds etc around the tracks will finish this area. The next pic. is of a Warship picking up freight bound for Wimhill. My first site of a Warship was at Dawlish Warren in Devon, it must have been around 1960. I would have been 13 or 14 and I have had a soft spot for them ever since. I can't actually remember anything else about our holiday there, although, somewhere, I,m sure I have a photo of the small camper van that dad had hired for the trip. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

The van body is beginning to be overgrown as intended. The conversion to the GaugeMaster prodigy 2 system is not yet complete as Nick is waiting for a couple of units to come into stock at our local model shop. Meanwhile, one of the old ZTC units has been connected to a short length of track alongside the spray booth. This is to enable the wheels to be turned during the weathering process . I will post a picture of this once weathering gets under way. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

Steady progress on the scenic side. Over the years, a varied selection of stuff has been built up ready for this moment, but although a selection of static grasses has been purchased to supplement this stock ( static stuff not included in this picture, ) I could not rule out another visit to the shops. This was the first use of Poly Fibre to create bushes etc. and will use this again, possibly to refresh odd areas created few years back. Regards Brian. ( wireman )

I did this bank on Wednesday, it looks a bit flat, need to do something on this weeks visit to break it up a little. Nick has the headshunt coming along nicely though. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

This week, a start was made along the headshunt and yard area using static and scatter materials. Lotsto do here and I've just received these pics.from Nicks phone. Obviously the shock from the grass applicator was to much for a couple of people on the adjacent platforms.

Quite a lot of progress this week, but not really very much in the way of pictures. Firstly, ballasting the head shunt and re-ballasting along the part of the main line which had been displaced by the addition of the new point. The sidings have gained buffer stops, plus some of the basket liner used to form the base of he scenery has had a light coat of colour using aerosol cans. Various scatter and statics are on hand for next phase. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

Thank you for kind comments Lez.Z. My first idea was to mount the switches in the roof of a van body, in fact it was an old brake van, but it did not look right, so this was my second idea. Thanks once again . Regards Brian.

Thanks to Scott for the excellent pictures of Wimhill. I think he ought to be appointed as Colebornes official photographer, voluntary and unpaid of course. Yesterday saw the completion of the wiring for the yard, this took a little longer than my estimated need of track possesion for one and a half hours, it did actually take three hours but all sorted and working. Scott is still mumbling something about diesel stabling , may be on his next visit he could bring a couple of his loco's over and leave them rumbling away in the sidings for half an hour or so. Next, ballasting , painting, grass , buffer stops etc. Once again, great pictures Scott. Regards Brian. ( wireman )

A reminder of what it's all about, a Grange at Wimhill. I think Nicks caption was, Grange shunting at Wimhill. Secondly, received this evening, the entrance into the yard. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

The grounded van body has had a little weathering and has been fitted to the edge of the board. Obviously, a bit of trimming here is required, but with a bit of scatter and static grass it should blend in well. It's worrying that in each picture that drill is still lurking in the background. Just to the left of the van body, looking from this side, Nick has cut into the embankment so that a road / lane can enter at this point. Regards Brian ( wireman ).

I mentioned in my post a couple of weeks back about the lack of space under the board where we needed to work. This is the afore mentioned area, the drawer runners either side are not the most comfortable things to lean on. Hopefully all finished under here and once everything is tested the drawers can be replaced. The next picture shows more scenery being added. You can't have to much PVA I always say. In this case the container is being used to hold things in place whilst the glue dries. Holes for the point motors have been drilled, so all ready to go. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

Used for everything on Coleborne Junction. Out of the container for most things, 50/50 water dilution, plus couple of drops of washing up liquid, for ballasting, 40/60 for fixing scatter and static grass. A slightly weaker solution to enable spraying on to existing static to enable another layer to be added. Always decant into a smaller container for use, in the picture, the container is being used to hold pieces of foam whilst the glue dries. Regards Brian.

This picture was intended to be with the previous one posted yesterday but I was distracted by the talk of diesel stabling points. Diesel stabling ??/!! Actually, I would quite like one of those Hitachi go fast things, Hornby have one in Yellow submarine colours. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

The proposed yard point switches, fitted in to a grounded van body. This has been wired and a small wooden block glued into each end to enable screw fixing to the base board. Reagrds Brian. ( wireman ).

Whilst waiting for the points to be wired, Nick has started forming and fitting the embankment between the main lines and the yard. Initially, using insulation material to form the structure, then covering with garden basket liner to form a key for the final scatter or static grasses etc. This next picture is from the buffer stop end, taken from the main line. Then from the entry end. Hopefully, this weeks visit will result in having all the wiring completed. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

The proposed yard trackwork. Regards Brian. (wireman ).

Track laying this week, starting with the turn out from the main line. I wired a point motor and Peco switch in the new workshop, first time this has been used as intended I think, whilst Nick drilled suitable holes in the baseboard. Fitting though, took considerably longer than anticipated owing to the confined space available under the board in this area. Directly beneath this area are the stock drawers and having removed all of the drawers the space available meant lying under with no room to turn, so aligning everything was very difficult. Wiring from the main bus to the frog, then from the motor to the switch panel was a nightmare. All done and still time for cups of tea. The next picture shows the point in place, anyone of a nervous disposition should not look to the right where it appears Nick is holding a rather large drill towards one of the switch panels. As it happens , this drill was not large enough anyway. Any suggestion that things like this may not be a good idea are always met with the expression, " It'll be alright mate ". Luckily they normally are. More to follow.

This week, formers and legs have been fitted to enable the new base board to be fitted permanently. Line side clearance and track lifting for the exit from the slow line into the yard and room to create a head shunt has been started. The main lines from Coleborne station, after the junction, run level into the engine shed, but start to climb away to the left for lines to Wimhill and the main lines start a steady downward gradient. The goods yard keeps level with the station and engine shed and this picture highlights the main lines down gradient. My pictures are not in the correct order, but the general idea is there. Regards Brian. (wireman)

Having completed the workshop / weathering shed, attention has now turned back to the layout. Over the last couple of years, the extension at Wimhill has increased the operational possibilities hugely and occasionally the idea of a small goods yard at Coleborne have been suggested, plus the ageing ZTC control units have become a little troublesome and outdated and there seems little hope of any progress from Taunton Controls re-upgrades etc. The decision has been made by Nick to change completely to the Gaugemaster Prodigy 2 system and obtaining all the required bits is now in hand. Back to the goods yard. Space is obviously at a premium, but without the shelf unit required for one of the ZTC units, it was decided that a small extension could be fitted. this is difficult to describe but hopfully the pictures will make things clear. A small amount of cutting and sawing soon cleared a suitable area. Anyone who has seen my own layout will know my destructive skills with a stanley knife and I was able to lend my expertise here, plus a useful ability with Henry vacuum cleaner. Nicks, more usefull wood working skills produced the new board. The track plan has yet to be finalised, although the point of entry to the yard is obviously already chosen. More to follow. Regards. Brian. ( wireman ).

The message received with these pictures was, : Right. Ready for work. : What an excellent use of lock down time. Hopefully there will more pics. of Nicks handy work on locos and stock in the coming months. A small work bench has been kept in the railway room for small repairs, wheel cleaning, tea making etc. Looking forward to my visit this week. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

I was quite keen on black sparkly. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

On the home straight. Excellent progress being made. If I knew Nick could do this standard of woodwork, I may have saved a great deal of money on my new kitchen. Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

Progress update. Base units partly fitted. The unit on the right will be drawers. All looking fantastic. Unfortunately it may be a while yet before my next visit to Coleborne to see all this progress. Ragards Brian. ( wireman )