philiprporter

That sounds like a good one to start with - will see if I can make contact with them - would be great to exhibit close to the prototype! Cheers, Phil.

Thanks for the kind compliment Mike. The grass is a variety of techniques, but common to all areas is brown household emulsion painted over cheapo filler which itself is smoothed over a Styrofoam base. Then a base layer of Woodland Scenics Blended Turf Green blend over all grassed areas. The slopes above and beside the tunnel mouth had copious amounts of static grass added and then some random applications of various scatters and some light brushing of weathering powders to add some additional tonal variety. Other grassed areas were all treated to a roughly equal mix of static grass and scatter over the base layer of WS Blended Turf - the Blended Turf on its own is a little bit too garish for my taste and a little too uniform, so it always needed toning down/breaking up a touch. Cheers, Phil.

Hello Mike - no I haven't seen that? Could you re-send the PM or send to my hotmail address? Its philiprporter@hotmail.com Best wishes, Phil.

Hi Al - I'm not sure I'm afraid as I haven't ever exhibited a model railway so am not quite sure how to go about it - I did promise to display it at the Standedge Tunnel visitors Centre for a weekend or so, but I haven't had a chance to inquire yet - but watch this space and I will post details as and when. I may also try and write an article about the layout for one of the magazines, as I guess that's a potential way to get invited to exhibit? Cheers, Phil.

Thanks so much for the kind comments guys - hopefully this will be 100% finished (or as close to being finished as any layout is!) in the next month or so and then its time to start detailing stock-going to be tricky with my eyesight! Then I hope I can exhibit and start building something a bit more urban - not quite sure what yet, but buildings don't really feature on Standedge Tunnel so this will be an interesting learning curve again. I will also lay the track better (sticking with n-gauge) - lessons learned the hard way with the track laying on this layout will be put into practice! All the best, Phil.

Massive dose of modellers licence here I suspect (BP over the Standedge route) but I couldn't resist getting one of these having procrastinated last time round and missed out. Really love the presentation box and accessories, but I have to confess that I'm a bit of a sucker for that sort of thing!

That's a great idea Ben - I have a friend who has a 3d printer so I will see what he can do!!

Another attempt at stacking - will take some more from a different angle next weekend - for some reason this is the only one that came out OK today.

Thanks for the kind comment - and yes, you are right there are gates/fences over the disused tunnel mouths now, but the layout is loosely set in the late 1970s/early 1980s and during this period there were no gates as far as I can see from images found online - less Health and Safety concerns back then!! I'm not sure when the gates were added, but I have found a photo of a class 158 in 'provincial' livery and the gates are not present - but am not sure when the 158s started working this route - late 1980s/early 1990s? Cheers, Phil

Many thanks for this Ben as its good to know that someone very much more experienced than me has found the same thing The canal tunnel mouth is actually a photo reduced in size and printed out, whereas the retaining wall is weathered plasticard and, unfortunately, the canal tunnel mouth image has faded with time. I used a photo because I couldn't figure a way to curve the stonework and I still cant think of a way? I could easily stick a new photo on, but of course it would still fade over time again. It may be that I can do as you suggest and tone it down - I will give it a go with some weathering powders in the first instance and see how I get on The stonework on the top of the canal tunnel mouth also needs replacing, as its a simple strip of plasticard rather than individual 'stones' and looks a tad crude. I think another reason this area jars so much is that it is right at the front of the layout and therefore needs to be able bear closer scrutiny!! It was also the first part of the layout built (after laying the track), but as you say, going back and improving things is part of the joy of this wonderful hobby I guess thats also why we never really finish a layout!! Best wishes, Phil

Thanks so much for these very kind words. It's taken me so long to get this layout to near-completion, that now I look at the parts that I built at the start and they jar somewhat, as my modelling skills have developed and improved during this 6 year n-gauge journey. The track in particular isn't great - partly because I have no real experience of track laying but mainly because I used foam board (which was hard to keep flat) and because I had to cant the track - however, I couldn't really cant the Peco point, with the result that the track isn't as flat as it should be and the track over the baseboard joint isn't especially smooth either and some locos really 'clunk' and wobble as they pass over - ballast that swelled when wetted also didn't help! Anyway, replacing the track isn't an option, but I may replace the Liddle End canal boat that is emerging from the tunnel - it looks very basic, its badly painted and jars badly to my eye, but 6 years ago I had a philosophy of trying to use as much kit/'ready to plonk' material as possible having no experience of n-gauge modelling and only limited experience of any layout building. The canal tunnel mouth also needs some improvement. Hey ho, its been a great learning experience and once all the last detailing bits are put in place in the next few weeks I can start putting all the buffer beam detailing on the locos and thinking about how to weather the stock-have a go myself or pay someone else to do it!!

Thanks Jeremy! The photo stacking really makes a difference to the realism giving that extra depth of field - I'm going to try a few more this weekend

Been trying to improve my photography skills to get some decent pictures of the layout - this is my first go at photo stacking - its a bit blurry round the loco roof, but I can see this is going to get addictive as its really exciting waiting for the software to do its thing and produce the result!

Absolutely fantastic!

Apologies for the poor photos (once again!) - but I thought rather than just a blank expanse of black wood hiding the entry to the fiddle yard, it would be nice to have a small display to add interest. Sincere thanks to David Hey for allowing me to use his superb photos of the real location.

Thanks so much Brain thats very kind. Yes I would certainly bring it to Yorkshire - one thing I am going to try and do is have it running at the Standedge Tunnel Visitors Centre one weekend if they will allow it - I haven't asked them yet, but the Huddersfield Canal Society were very helpful and interested in the layout when I was in the early days of construction, so hopefully they may support this idea. However, I have no idea how to get invited to formal exhibitions having never done one? I will add it to the exhibition layout database here when its completed, but is it a case of contacting model railway clubs directly to ask if they would consider it at their show? Thanks, Phil.

Thanks so much for the very kind words everyone. It does finally feel like the layout is nearing completion and hopefully I can get it more or less finished in the next few weeks. Then I hope I can fulfil a lifetime ambition and exhibit it somewhere! It will need some longer legs and I need to detail stock and learn about train formations first though!

A few pics of the lighting rig/fascia temporarily in place - sides need adding and the backscene is partially removed behind the tunnel to allow this test fit. View from front, tunnel end and from the back of the layout. May lower it a tad so that the base of the facia is at the same level as the top of the backscene - but this does lose some of the 'open' feeling of the layout which is quite important given the location - hmmmm decisions...

Thanks D600 - the scenic section is 158x64 cm. Overall footprint including fiddle yard is 180x103 cm (see above and page 4). Cheers, Phil

Been building the lighting rig/fascia this weekend. Quite pleased with the way its turned out-its a piece of white guttering, a couple of Halolite strip lights (intended for use beneath kitchen cabinets) and some thin ply supported by strip wood, faced with spray painted plastic sheet.

Thanks very much Brian. Yep thats the beauty of n-gauge!! I wouldn't have touched n-gauge when I first dabbled in model railways and I can't recall which Dapol or Graham Farish release made me think again, but the quality of n-gauge models now is quite superb and my only regret is that my interest in n-gauge has coincided with my eyesight starting to fail! Not cause and effect I hasten to add!

Hi Brian thanks for the kind words. The size was mentioned in an earlier post, but it was fairly well buried!! Here is the relevant section of the post: "... its 180x103 cm overall, and the scenic section is 158x64 cm. From the top of the hill where the road is to the end of the 'steps' on the overflow structure, all is built to scale from maps. Some lengthwise compression has taken place to enable me to get the bridge over the canal in..."

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos and the feint look of the backscene in these shots (its right opposite a window so the morning light reflects on the coating and burns it out a touch in pictures), but I've been planting some foliage and also wanted to show the 'ugly' end of the layout where the trains pass through the backscene. I ummmed and urred a lot about how best to do this, but having seen Graham Hedges use a variation of the 'hole in the backscene' technique on his seminal Stoney Lane Depot, I figured that if it was good enough for Graham, it was good enough for me! A few bits and bobs of detailing left to do and then its time to build the fascia and lighting rig and then learn something about wagons and how they fit together in trains and what goes with what so I can run realistic freight trains - I haven't got a clue, but I have got a box full of them!

Only just come across this thread-wow fantastic and very inspirational - n-gauge AC electrics-it doesn't get any better!!!

Here you go Kev - will post some more once the signals are back in and the scenery a bit more advanced - its a tad bare at present! Cheers, Phil.