jonhinds

Many thanks! They’re etches from the 2mm Scale Association shop.

Had some running issues with both the 47 and 31, so as of last month they’ve been sent off to LP Rails. Recently I’ve been a bit bolder about disassembling locos, so perhaps servicing will be something I can tackle myself from here on. I also treated myself to a second 47, because you can never have too many.

Really like how this layout is developing! As for rail built buffer stops, I think there’s a potential market for printed alternatives to the generic Peco offering.

Fantastic layout; so well-observed!

How so?

Thanks chaps. It’s mainly as I want to do very slow speed running over some code 40 track that is a bit temperamental. Wiring is fine, track is regularly cleaned with Track Magic so I suspect there’s issues with the track laying itself. I might also check the back to backs as I understand that can cause issues on turnouts, rail joins etc. Unfortunately the loco in question is away for servicing so I can’t check it just yet, but on its return I’ll do some troubleshooting before hacking anything up!

I’m thinking of adding a stay alive capacitor to a 2008/10 tool Farish 47. However, space is extremely limited so I wondered what options might be that required as little modification to the chassis as possible. I’m looking at a Zimo 6 pin decoder without sound provision.

Yeah, I actually need to glue it down so there is indeed a rather unsightly (temporary) hump. I’ve been faffing around with airbrushing bits of detail on the road surface so haven’t got round to placing it in situ yet. Probably should take pics when everything’s lined up and properly stick in place, but can’t help giving into temptation!

I’ve finally got round to starting the dreaded ballasting. This is DCC Concepts Legacy Ballast 2mm light grey blend. I messed around with chinchilla dust blends but had a disastrous previous attempt where it set into clay and needed to be removed. Turns out I got the ‘wrong’ kind of dust! One product I really wouldn’t recommend is Ballast Magic, which is a blend of powdered glue which is mixed with the ballast and then ‘set’ with the supplied atomiser spray bottle. Despite various ratios of glue to ballast it would not set properly, so I resorted to dampening the ballast with the atomiser then applying diluted ballasting glue directly using a dropper. Much better. Here’s my best guess at the car park markings, based on photos and the helpful info supplied by @kryten65. The road markings are vinyl stickers from Scale Model Scenery. I also added areas of patched road surface and some drainage gutters. A layer of matt varnish was applied to seal everything. Like much of the layout the road surface still needs to be glued flat to the cork/baseboard, so it’s a bit lumpy.

Many thanks! I’m intrigued by the WYPTE cleaning vans. Found some photos of a Yorkshire Rider liveried Land Rover and Bedford road sweeper at the Interchange but assume these were for bus / road maintenance only. I’ll hedge a guess at the allocated spots being yellow lined on both sides. Presumably then the dashed spots were short stay? Either way enough info to go on. Some might say this is the best way to view Bradford City Centre at night. Small, and far away…

I’m trying to work out the parking arrangement based on very limited images of the car park in the mid/late 80s. Colour photos show that the solid bays on the right were yellow lined, possibly indicating that they were allocated for specific vehicles. There are also two double yellow bays further up in the above pic. I’m not sure what the right-hand dashed bays closer to camera indicate, although I suspect it’s limited stay parking. The bays to the left are possibly white lined so standard parking? There also seem to be markings closer to the Red Star building but it’s impossible to make them out. Maybe loading/unloading of vehicles? The parking bays are different nowadays so current photos don’t help.

I love this cameo, and the finescale figures add so much. Looks like the 57 is in good hands with these chaps.

'Tis the season for the rail head treatment train should I decide to go modern image. Maybe one day?

Thanks! With a few minor cosmetic tweaks it could work modern day as the station hasn’t changed that much since sectorisation. Are your TPE units 3D printed? These days it’s mostly Northern 150, 155, 158, 195 and Grand Central 180s at the Interchange.

Ah, they’re actually push-fit so it just takes a bit of easing on. The British Finescale website has a helpful guide to installation (although looks like Wayne’s on holiday at the moment so it’s currently down). I had to pull the rails apart to slot in the joiners as the track is glued down, however a person with more foresight would do the joining before the gluing!

Having just discovered this layout I’m absolutely in awe. I spent a page and a half thinking it was OO before the penny finally dropped!

T’other side of the building. Picked up some 3D printed vehicles from eBay (redandy767) and Osborn’s Models. L-R: Ford Escort Mk3 Cabriolet, Austin Montego, Bedford TK road sweeper. More 3D printed goodies yet to be painted. Luckily my local branch of Boyes is stocked with Vallejo acrylics in every shade under the sun.

Looking good! Code 40 is pretty unforgiving in its tolerances but the results are worth it. Look forward to seeing this layout develop further.

I’ve been selectively retrofitting British Finescale rail joiners where adjoining track is slightly warped out of alignment. One largely does the trick at keeping both sets of rails aligned. Two would be better, but in many cases there wasn’t sufficient clearance to fit without yanking up track. In any case, it still results in smoother running. The process has reminded me that hand-assembled track was probably not the wisest first build. I think the order I would recommend approaching code 40 for railway modelling first-timers would now go as follows: 1. DON’T. Work with code 55 or 80 streamline track for your first layout. 2. Build a section of plain line code 40 rail. Practice, practice, practice basic soldering. 3. Build and wire a turnout. The new-style bullhead kits are easier to work on as you don’t have to manually fit each plastic rail chair. Read relevant threads on British Finescale here and over on the N Gauge Forum. Ask lots of questions. Watch lots of tutorials. 4. Work slowly. Be prepared for your first turnout not to work properly. Or three. 5. Create a simple first layout, perhaps using a single turnout. Use rail joiners for each section and 1mm spacing to account for track expansion. The underlying surface needs to be ruler-flat and track glue should also be applied very thinly. All said, I don’t have any track-building regrets on my layout as the results are great. So maybe ignore me completely.

Thanks! I’ve been delving into your scratch builds and there’s so much inspiration there. I love modelling that really feels ‘on the nose’ to a specific location.

Just a quick run through of the Red Star building’s construction. I was first able to get a measurement of an individual tile on-site, and then counted the tiles on each building face horizontally and vertically from reference photos to get overall dimensions. I then cross-checked these dimensions against an original site plan from a 1977 promotional brochure. Each building face was cut from 30 thou plasticard and then tiles scribed using a Tamiya scriber. This is really where a cutting machine would’ve come in handy, as this took a stupidly long time! The paint is a 4:1 mix of Tamiya wooden deck tan XF78 to deck tan XF55, airbrushed in multiple thin layers to keep the tile detail intact. Some rough edges are visible in closeup but were tidied up later. Windows were cut from label paper with a fresh Swan Morton blade then carefully attached to acetate sheet. The structure was mounted to 1mm cardboard with the inner side painted black to minimise light bleed, then edges mitred 45 degrees with a sanding block. The structure was glued with Roket card glue, then a thin seam of Glue ‘n’ Glaze piped into any visible joins to be painted over later (still to do). The structure isn’t fully glued together at this point, hence any wonkiness. I found a good way to create the effect of a metal vent using A4 metallic stretch paper. The vent lines were simply printed onto the metallic sheet on an inkjet printer. When it catches the light it looks suitably shiny! Hope this wasn’t dull for the casual reader. This was fun (at times) to build and I look forward to completing the final details, along with a dose of weathering. Next up, the station canopy. A Blu Tack test fit of the underlying structure looks pretty good.

Thanks @The Johnster for that very helpful explanation.

Yes, as mentioned the layout is only loosely inspired by Damems, and features a loop and sidings found elsewhere on the real KWVR. I’ll probably name it something along the lines of ‘Littleworth’ so it’s apparent I’m not reproducing the real thing.

Many thanks! That’s my afternoon sorted 😄

Hi Hopefully a quick one. I’m not familiar with Grouping/early BR wagon types so would be grateful for help in identifying the ones pictured in these 70s-80s images: Many thanks!