hoover50008

Joe Thought you may be interested in our latest offering. E

Made a start on the wiring last night so hopefully it will be up and running properly soon. E

Cheers Bob, will look better once I have weathered it to tone it down. E

The PW Department has been busy this weekend renewing the wooden sleepered track on the main with concretes. Also the wooden sleepers on the sidings and points have been given a fresh coat of creosote (grime). Also ordered a class 09 in BR Blue from Grimey Times so looking forward to that one arriving some time this week.

Finally decided to drop the Yard and rename the layout East Wickersham suits the theme better now. E

Hi mate I am hoping to have it ready for the Plymouth show in June if I can keep myself motivated, if not ready then there are a couple of options later in the year which it may be ready for. E

Cheers Bob It starting to take shape now I've got the idea set in my head. E

AS promised some pictures of the modified track layout. The 2EPB is sat where the single platform is going to be and the rear siding where the brake van is situated will now be the head shunt for accessing the dockyard beyond the bridge. The mainline will now come in from the R/H board which will now have a fiddle yard attached. This will be 3rd rail and run only in to the platform and carriage siding. The line to the Dockyard and the line across the top will be non electrified. I have also progressed the top of the rear retaining wall which has turned out quite well. Again it is 5mm foam board covered in Scalescenes red brick printed on self adhesive labels. The other consideration at the moment is to reversing the name and changing to East Wickersham with possibly (Dockyard) after it but the jury is still out on this one at the moment. E

Hi Ian Funny enough I have just removed the 3 way point after discussions on another thread because apparently they weren't very common on the SR in electrified areas. I have modified the trackwork to accommodate this and will post some picture later. To be honest this suits me as I always struggle as well to get them thrown the way I want to go, however i would have used a stud and pencil rather than a switch probably. E

I have been busy plodding on with the retaining wall and this is virtually complete now. The exit bridge to the fiddle yard caused a bit of a headache as it is a bit close to the join in the base board really risking damage if it gets transported. I am reasonably happy with it now although I still need to decide if I will use bricks or plate girders for the top. I am also considering a small urban station where the DMU is sat something akin to Bromley North although this will depend on the ease of getting the 3rd rail under the bridge. Nothing like forward planning!!! E

Have been busy making the retaining wall that runs along the rear of the yard. This was made from mainly 5mm foam board covered in A4 self adhesive labels with elements of the Scalescenes brick retaining wall printed on them. The parapet wall caping and plinths are made from 2mm stiff card covered in the same way. I have yet to tackle the wall on the other side of the layout but will address that when I get the bridge in place. E

Agreed to much chat and people getting in the way, surprising how much you can get done in half an hour here and there at home. E

As the weather was so bad over the weekend I managed to get a bit done on the backscenes. I opted to use scenes from the Townscene range, rather than sticking the whole scene on I decided to cut around the outline of the buildings and stick these directly to the back boards using Tacky Glue. This worked quite well and didn't have any issues with air bubbles etc. As i am hoping to give an urban feel I opted to have tenemant buildings overlooking the yard aka Ranleigh Bridge and to give a bit of depth I have stuck buildings on top of buildings which seems to work reasonably well. To give a flavour of what I am trying to achieve I posed my 2 EPB on the layout. I built the Metcalfe small factory over the Christmas period as I thought the small building suited the requirement for an S&T workshop. I had hoped to use the tall building to hide the entrance to the left hand fiddle yard but I am not convinced it really suits now. Next I will move on to construct the retaining wall that will run around the back of the yard. E

Thanks Andrew, I have a few kits to build as well which I will get around to in the scheme of things. Looking forward to the Dapol 73 and new Heljan 33 should fit in well although I wish Hornby would produce the 09 in BR Blue. E

Hi Folks I thought it was time to share Wickersham East Yard with you. The layout is based in an urban area in the south of England and is basically on 2 levels. The upper level will be a 3rd rail single line with a unit service shuttling back and forth, the lower level will be an engineers/S&T yard as non revenue earning wagons are another of my interests. The lower level will be DCC controlled Inspiration for the layout came from john Long's Bishop Street Yard. The base boards are constructed of 6mm plywood tops on a 2x1 frame. The front of the layout is encased to form a frame. Overall the layout measures 8ftx16". I have now brought the layout home from the railway club so will take some more pictures and update on a regular basis. E

Certainly is Plymouth although it is an unusual shot without the wind and rain. E

Look forward to this one Ray E

Hi Jo Hope you like these, a bit of inspiration. 56087 Laira 01/08/13 Inside the HST shed for coolant. E

Love the shot of the 73's with a Motley collection of Grampus wagons, great modelling inspiration. E

HI SN Any updates on this little beauty please? E

You're welcome Bill, glad you had a good weekend. E

Like the cooler group and cab Jo. Don't forget to paint the group pipework blue, cabs are very topical at the moment as it happens. Look forward to seeing the layout at Plymouth next weekend. E

SN Totally agree large layouts are fine but the smaller ones are definitely more fun and probably more akin to what most people can achieve at home. It is a shame but there seems to be a run on large layouts in certain areas of the modelling press at the moment which is a bit off putting for those with not a lot of room seeking inspiration. Anyway Southport Goods is developing nicely, keep up the good work and posts. E

Gets better and better, thanks for the updates. Out of curiosity where is the backscene from. E

Thanks SN E