Markmiller2008

Not a great deal happened on the layout apart from some undergrowth around the shed, concrete hand standing for the shed and some polystyrene land form being placed. An order from Rails of some point motors and a DCC Concepts accessory decoder is on back order so until I’ve got those and got the points set up I don’t want to progress much further with ballasting in case of any issues. Mark

Only a small update, the shed has had its roof reinforced to stop it from sagging, extra windows added in the extension as it looked odd without it, guttering and Downpipes added. Ballasting is done on this board, just the infill between the tracks being done currently. Really must get the Backscene done! Mark

Hi all Building has finally been extended just need to sort the sagging roof out somehow. Whilst I’m not going to say too much about it yet, a Custom @JSModels low relief building has been ordered from Jonathan, it won’t be making an appearance until the spring but will look very good for the Backscene and help set the scene. Also set up a couple of cameos with my new internal MOD rolling stock. Mark

Hi all Slowly making progress with the layout, unfortunately not as quick as I’d like thanks to me buying the wrong parts to extend the shed! Whilst I’ve been waiting for the shed bits to arrive I’ve put some ballast down on the front siding using a light grey 2mm Greenscene bag, MOD railways used very light coloured ballast and usually very clean also. Next job I need to tackle is the Backscene, more than likely just plain sky with the exception of the left hand piece as you won’t see the bottom half of it once the low relief buildings are in place. Mark

Slowly making progress, painted the track tonight and mocked up some gates to go against the back scene as if the sidings have been truncated. Rolling stock wise some cheapish eBay wins this week with a MOD 03 and MOD brakevan from the Bachmann miltary set appearing, the TTA and Shock Open being given a wide berth. Mark

Back to the layout and a Wills Industrial unit has started to appear. It’s being placed on the far left board and will dominate this board at the back of the layout. I’m quite happy with how it looks but I need some more panels to make it the full length I need, currently about 15cm too short. Also a MoD internal user VDA has arrived. Mark

Layout Name: MOD Chilton Scale/Gauge: 4MM OO gauge Size: 8ft x 1ft (with extra board insertable if needed) Exhibition layout, or stay-at-home? Initially home but will be exhibitable Type: end-to end Era/region/location: 1986-1991 Southern Region Wilts/Dorset border Earlier this month I sold my lockdown project layout to start another one, lately I’ve been building a lot of VEA and ODA wagons and during my research I got the idea of building a small MOD exchange siding layout. Three Scale Model Scenery laser cut baseboards were purchased and a lot of thinking went into the track plan. Its essentially three sidings with two entry/exits into the fiddle yard, trains will arrive off the BR spur and enter the reception sidings, an MOD loco will then take control and Marshall the stock where it is needed, Chilton has a lot of internal user wagons which can be seen in and about the exchange sidings painted in the smart MOD green. MOD Chilton is placed on the Wilts/Dorset border, the name being derived from Chilmark and Dinton, some people think its because i work for Chiltern! Track work is small radius code 75 points and flexi track with DCC point control to be added for the point motors. It is very much in its infancy and will progress over the winter. Some initial photos below. Mark

That's great, spuds and beetles are hard to get hold of so might be worth the extra cost. Mark

Darn seeing this makes me want one for sure now for my new MOD exchange layout, what is it powered with? Mark

Funny you should mention that, we've had a tentative invite to Basingstoke too with Southgate Park but no contact since. Mark

Hi all does anyone know a source of transfers for Railfreight ODA wagons? Im drawing blanks with the usual people (Fox and Railtec] and have two wagons to letter. it’s the TOPS panels I need and not fancying a DIY one from fox as my patience and experience would ruin them. if anyone can help that would be much appreciated Mark

Peartree Green Dock has now been purchased by a new buyer and will be departing for pastures new on tuesday. Thank you all for your kind words during the build. Mark

Still no offers for the layout, if anyone wants to take this on for a reduced price before I start dismantling it then please let me know. Mark

Cracking Shot of the 86 mate! Looking forward to a catch up on saturday. Mark

We shall be there debuting Southgate Park after its reincarnation from Northolt International. Come say hello and see the monster of a layout in operation. Mark

Just a bump to say the layout is still available for sale. Open to offers on the layout. Mark

Photos of how the layout currently looks. Mark

Hi all With much regret i have decided that Peartree Green Dock is For Sale. It has served the purpose i wanted it for and i think it is time to move it on to someone who may wish to continue it. The layout comes with all buildings, point motors, decoders, lighting etc, however this is no controller included in the sale. I am looking for around £500 for the layout, stock can be included for a further price if you wish. Please contact me if you are interested in buying the layout. Mark

Video from our weekend of running as filmed by Shane. Mark

Another layout set up weekend this weekend, layout went up on friday and yet again more shorts, we think we’ve cracked them now and ran trains for about an hour through platform 1 and the avoider, some more work was required tho to get platforms 2 and 3 operational. A very successful running session on Saturday evening, our electrical gremlins were ironed out very quickly and apart from a couple of fiddle yard issues and operator error (give us a chance as it’s the first time we’ve run it) We had a good four hours running the layout. Incredibly hard with just two people, at exhibitions we will have another two hopefully. Enjoy the pictures

I did see you as we passed! Mark

One quick update for today. With thanks to Rich Papper for supplying some Roger Smith road markings I was able to get the road by the Royal Mail building re-done. Couple of little bits of pavement to sort but thats another job done! Fingers crossed this weekend should see the layout put up in its full entirety and for me and Shane to think what the hell have we done! Mark

We are on the home straight towards getting the layout up and having a trial run of the whole layout on DCC. Tonight I’ve worked on a couple of things one electrical and one scenic. First of all, all board joins are on the process of receiving D connectors for power, these will be attached to the boards and will prevent any issues with items being left at home on exhibition days. Secondly the road by the Royal Mail building on the far left board has seen more attention, has been polyfilla’d to try smooth it more than previously. Originally on Northolt it was wet and dry paper however in keeping with the roadways on the rest of the layout I wanted to make them look more uniform. Mark

I’ve wired up some of the yard lights now which I think look really good. Mark