Cowley 47521

I’d love to see a recreation of that photo featuring one of the green mainline registered LSL 47s, but with a brand new Tesla parked next to it...

Agreed. I showed it to a friend at work earlier and he loved it too!

Very clean and tight joints Duncan. I cut my rails using a similar method on my fold down sections but they’re not as close as that.

Happy to help. It does take a bit of nerve to take a knife or a saw to something brand new, but I’d already cut the front coupling off another Dapol 33 so I’d already had a bit of practice. Plus it’s really easy to remove the bogies on these which helps a lot. Good luck if you decide to do it.

I think you might be right. Someone else has suggested this too and from the not very clear photos that I’ve seen it does look like there might be chippings involved.

Thanks Ben. There’s a bit of me that would like to take it to a show but dismantling it and taking it down the stairs at my house gives me the fear! If I manage to build the cabin in the garden this year and move it into that then possibly I would be able to as it’d be a lot easier with level access etc... I have made it in such a way that it breaks down into four sections so yes. Maybe next year I might think about doing it if I can find the courage.

The 33s with the topiary in the background. Love it!

Hi Reddz. I thought the easiest thing to do would be to take a picture of it but I didn’t get home until quite late even though I read this earlier... Now please bear in mind two things, one being that there are people on here that would probably do a far better job than me and zoomed in it looks quite harsh. The second thing being that I don’t usually let wheels get that fluffy and this loco is now booked in for an F (for fluff) exam! On fitting the original ploughs there was quite a major underbite, so I actually held my nerve, removed the bogie and cut the coupling socket right back so that it was level with the front of the bogie frame: I then very carefully cut off the centre section of the ploughs and filed the stretcher bar that holds it all together smooth and painted it black, I also filed the tops (mainly) and the bottoms of the remaining outer plough sections down until they looked about right to my eyes (obviously SR ones were smaller than standard). I made my own pipes out of fine wire because the ones supplied were not only very fiddly but also didn’t give enough clearance so with my own but fitted into the existing holes I was able to direct them slightly forward and then down. I think I did use the Dapol coupling that was supplied though. Hope this helps. Nick

A couple of black and white shots from me: There is a train in this one but you will have to look for it...

Fantastic weathering on those wagons.

A quick question for you clever types - Opposite the platform at Lapford was ‘LAPFORD’ laid out in what looks like white painted stone. Does anyone know what it was made out of? It looks a bit like painted brick as it’s quite neat. But also does anyone know how long it lasted for? You can see it in some photos but not others and I’ve been told today that a chap used to come along and paint them himself once a year. Any thoughts much appreciated.

Thank you for your very kind comments everyone. I just logged in to have a quick glance this morning and it’s really nice to have some feedback like that. This was my first foray into N having always been into 00 and it’s surprised me what can be achieved with a bit of effort and perhaps also that it was the right time in my life to get into it properly (the kids all growing up has given me a lot of extra free time plus my other half is incredibly supportive which helps a lot). There’s also a small group of us down here that all got into it at the same time and we’ve been helping my best friend with showing his N gauge railway (not this last year unfortunately though), so we bounce ideas off each other and push ourselves to improve our skills all the time. And then of course there’s this forum. Although I do a bit of moderating on another railway forum which I love doing, this place has been a real joy to get lost in at times and to marvel at some of the work other people are doing. I only started this as something to practice this scale on originally but it’s turned into something much bigger than I thought it would! I don’t really know what I’ll do when it’s finished because I’ve realised over time that one of the main things I enjoy is making the scenery. I’d originally wanted to do the disused Seaton Junction when it still had some sidings and I may well do something like that one day, but I’ve completely fallen in love with this line and the traffic it had in those days.

The end time... Hello again. I’m really not a fan of corners on railways and seriously debated avoiding them in the scenic section altogether before deciding to have them but minimise the impact as much as possible. The only way I felt I could do this is to find a way for them to blend into the backscene as much as possible and not show all of the curves. So I struggled a bit with this end as I had to somehow make the road disappear as well as it’s quite a prominent feature at this end of the layout. Here’s what I settled on in the end. Trees. Lots of them... And another bridge. Actually two bridges because I’ve sent the river back under the railway to follow the new country lane, although it’s smaller at this end as I’m imagining it joining another river just off scene near the station as it heads north (don’t ask which way all of these rivers should be flowing please). I pretty much copied the other river under rail bridge for this in the absence of any other ideas, although the line is on a curve and the river is at an angle this time. There is actually a (private) lane going over the railway about half a mile south of Lapford with a river bridge just before it which slightly inspired this end. It is different but there’s elements of it in this. Here’s an overview of the new section then where it meets the old (just on the other side of the bridges in the foreground): And a couple of shots from this evening when I cleaned the track and had a bit of a running session. A 33 on the cement heading north: Celebrity 33008 heads towards Exeter on a Saturday loco hauled service: Also heading towards Exeter a DMU set: Looking up the lane towards the A377: A couple of photos of the A377. What I’ve done is carry the road on through the backscene on a curve and try and recreate that ‘tunnel of trees’ thing where you see a road go into a wooded area. I made a handful of trees that stretched across the road from each side and met in the middle, but also a line of trees (cheap ones that I bought) next to the road on the corner so that it hopefully looks like the road disappears into the woods. Like this basically: This is what it looks like as you look up it (should have some road signs next week after realising that I’d hoovered the ones I had left up by mistake): I also carried the scenery on through the new bridges at each end of the layout so that you don’t see bare boards etc. This looking back through the bridge. Overkill? I don’t know! So that’s that little lot. The next job is to get rid of the dust on the original section and fix a few bits that have got broken. Oh and enjoy running some trains obviously. Project Not Quite Eggesford might start seeing a bit of work soon too, although in a way I don’t want to rush it or I’ll run out of things to do... Thanks everyone!

Yes I can’t seem to find an awful lot out about it. I’ve been told by various people I know today that they may have to move out, but then I’ve also been told that it’s all fine and they’re still working away up there. Let’s hope that we’ll see some of the vehicles out at a local bus weekend sometime over the next couple of years.

Thanks Will.

As far as I know his son took it on and was going to continue operating it and doing the odd open day. Colin died about six or seven years ago I think. Hmm. I’ll do a bit of digging and see what I can find out.

Thanks very much for your kind words. Ah Winkleigh airfield. I went there many times to look at Colin Shears amazing collection of old buses and other oddities. I think he even had the old Burgh Island tractor up there on one visit? I remember going up there one weekend with a friend called Karl who I worked with at BRS who’d bought a 1970 AEC Mandator off him, an ex Q8 tanker tractor unit which he eventually restored. Our boss at BRS let us borrow the Foden wrecker for the day to tow it back. Do you know, I think nostalgia is all it’s cracked up to be sometimes...

I’ve just realised that in the second photo my grandmother seems to have made a cameo appearance.

Better do an update time 12/3/2021... It’s all about the corners! Having got everything running properly now and the contours of the scenery in place I painted the new end sections with a base coat, sorted out the road markings on the new bits of road and purchased a load of static grass from eBay before setting about it. Unfortunately the grass was awful and looked nothing like the stuff I’d used before, which caused confusion, muttering and a long trawl through my eBay history to work out what it was I’d used last time before reordering the correct stuff and doing it all over again... I’ll just concentrate on the Barnstaple end this tonight and do the Exeter end tomorrow at some point, but here’s a photo of the Cowley tree production line (I have made soooo many trees this last few weeks and it still takes me ages): And here’s a photo of the turgid green grass which looks a bit like something Peter Purvis made for the Blue Peter railway using dyed green sweepings from a rabbit hutch. I’m not going to name the manufacturer because I think it’s probably good for certain things and it was my mistake anyway: After going over all the grass, letting it dry and adding trees, shrubs, flowers etc it started to look indistinguishable from the original grass which was a big relief. A couple of things that I’ve done over the whole layout is bake a load of earth from the garden before baking it dry in the oven, sieving it to get it as fine as possible and then sprinkling it over the grass as the glue dries. I quite like the texture it gives, plus it means there’s a bit of genuine Devon earth on it my beauties! The other thing is that I trim a lot of the grass down with a beard trimmer. Although I do leave some of it longer. This is an overview of that end once I’d redone the grass and slotted the temporary blue backscene in which I’m going to use for a bit while I decide what I actually want. So you can see the travellers bungalow to the left on the original board and the joins in the board on the farm track. I’ll be hiding them at some point and blending all the joins in a bit more so that they’re hopefully not too noticeable: This is a view from the lane and the river back towards the station. In reality this bridge is probably around a mile from Lapford going towards Barnstaple but I just really like it and the way the river goes under it, so I thought it’d be as good way as any to finish the scene off at this end. I do have to apologise here because I’ve used one of these photos with a filter on in another thread on here but I was quite pleased with the way this little corner came out. I ran the sound fitted 31 through it a couple of nights ago with the flange squeal function going and it made me a bit wistful actually... So that’s this end pretty much done. The other end is quite different and in some ways I’ve found it a bit more challenging really but I’ll explain it tomorrow. Thanks as always for not just reading it but also for being so helpful if I’ve needed advice everyone. Much appreciated. Nick

You’re a star Rich thanks for that. Really like the lower quadrant one and it’s a bit nearer the platform than I’d realised. I’m going to have to use a fair amount of modellers license that end anyway so I might incorporate it. The SR ones are lovely though. Dapol are supposed to be releasing working ones at some point, which aren’t cheap but would be nice to have.

So this Ford Mustang...?

Superb Grahame. An actual photo of the action too! I will name drop you when I go over there next time. Nick

Thank you very much for that. Funnily enough I was up there having a look around Lapford and taking a few measurements of the old Ambrosia warehouse last Friday. I couldn’t work out who was in charge to be honest, but it’s absolutely bonkers up there! I’d like to redo some of what I originally did at some point and they’ve always been really helpful when I’ve asked to have a look around (especially once I’ve shown them a few photos of what I’ve been up to). Would you be able to go into a little more detail about the fire (I’m not sure when or what happened?) possibly Mr G?

I knew you wouldn’t let me down! That site has been very useful when trying to work some of this stuff out I must say. So looking at the diagram of the signalling I can see what everything was meant to do, but am I reading it right that there was a (home?) signal just before the points on the Exeter side of the loop? I’m going to have to lose some of the Barnstaple end of the long loop with the use of modellers license somehow due to a lack of space, so it’s the Exeter end that I’m most interested in trying to get right at the moment. Thanks guys. As for that banner repeater in N? Gawd...

Evening everyone. Hope you’re all doing well? It does feel like there’s some room for optimism in all of this finally doesn’t it? I have been doing stuff to the layout and I’ll try and update this thread in the next couple of days but I was hoping one of you kind people could give me a little bit of advice... I’m trying to work out what the signalling arrangements were in the station area around Eggesford while the box was still in operation. Any advice would be much appreciated! Nick