PeterH

I wish I could say the same, all the bits are very nice but well, in bits…

My Hardwicke arrived…

The continuation of the scenery under the bridge really has achieved its desired effect, looking exceptional!

I’m impatient for some GCR coaches to run with these and the 11F - we can but dream! 

My first short video of trains running on my layout. and 8K and 9J passing through the station.

And working on smoke effect as well.

The Waiting/Tea Room has now been wired and plonked in place. Just four lights (yes, very Picard!) left to fit to the station area, three lampposts and the signal box. I’ll get them done once I’ve done the grass on the embankment (and the foreground looking at it!).

I’ve been getting on and have added some people to the station. Starting to earn some revenue for the GCR!

Next I think I’ll try and make the lighting wiring more permanent. I also need to realign the point motor under the bridge as it hasn’t been throwing very well. Other than that it’s getting on with the embankment (now looking less white and more earthy brown).

I’ve finally succumbed, just looks too good! I could do with a few more blue/grey MK1s to make up a nice 70s railtour. I’ve got 4472 and 1000 which I believe it did a few railtours double-heading with. They’d look good together. I think the first job though when it arrives is to paint that white cab roof black!

I’ve been working on a few more odd jobs recently, in particular the running in/station name board. This was 3D printed. The photo naturally shows up all the faults so a little bit more work on them to smarten them up required. I’ve also been working on extending the embankment.

It does look effective! I am still fettling with it, I’ve replaced the power source so I need to wire all the buildings to that. At the moment I’ve just wired in the stairway and it is a little bright! With the rest of the station lights on the same circuit it should bring the level back to normal.

Recently my attention has been with the road/bridge section. The Bachmann bridge buildings being made up of three parts can look a little disjointed so I’ve polyfilled, sanded and painted them to tie it together. A few more neatening up and scenery tweaks required and I need to sort out something with the backscene as the road currently crashes into a hill!

Let there be light! Just finished lighting up the stairwell, canopy and booking office lights. I’m pretty happy with them except the dimmer switches I bought were useless. 

I think I’m going to extend the embankment by the backscene before fitting the waiting room and lampposts. I don’t want to damage them while doing messy modelling.

Well a bit more has been done since the last update, the embankment on the back scene side has now been completed, I’ll add a few more details in time. Today was tackling the wiring for the canopy lights - what an ordeal! Probably one of the nastiest soldering jobs I’ve done, cramped conditions and that enamelled wire doesn’t take to solder well even with flux! Excuse the mass of wires in the pictures below, the lot was jury rigged for testing.

Another little job you can see in the bottom photo was the varnishing of the B1. I think it looks better, no longer a mono-toned black.

Thank goodness, the rest of the year won’t be as expensive as I had feared!

I converted mine from a previously named ‘Alberta’. I was lucky to find a random double chimney in a box of bits at home so thought ‘why not’!

So the back scene had gone up and the embankment started, I’ll be painting that brown and adding earth scatter to that tonight and will do static grass, fencing and other greenery tomorrow.

Hi folks, 

It has been a while since my last update. I’ve been getting on with a few jobs - track laying, track rust, ballasting, wiring etc. Today I started on a little scenery on the right hand side of the bridge as you can see below.

Tomorrow I’ll try and fit the backscene which I think will really make a difference, I’ll also do a little more detailing on the scenery and perhaps start the embankment on the other side.

Does anyone know if there is an ETHEL specific DCC sound chip available or looming? I am aware some Class 25 sound chips have an ETHEL mode but it seems a waste when you’ll only use that one function!

Here is the Locomotion one running up the club test track tonight. Lovely engine, looks superb running with a decent sized train.

I had No.737 running at the club test track tonight, stunning looking loco! Actually quite grateful for the traction tyres as it would have struggled around the tight inclined bend otherwise. 

My initial thought is that there is a lot of rolling resistance, it definitely needs adjustment in order for my kettles to manage it with a 10 coach train. 

ETHEL 3 had arrived, it’ll go great with my 80s railtour collection - just need some DCC sound for it!

ETHEL 3 has landed! I can now annoy my 4mm railway enthusiasts with my low rumblings on a railtour! Great service from Sawyer Models.

Beautiful! Certainly looking forward to its arrival, I’ve a nice rake of 6x Birdcages to go behind it!

I’ve started work in the area of the Great Central station ‘Heronsgate’. A busy day or two doing platform sides, surfaces, coping and paving slabs. Quite happy with the results. Certainly a fair bit of tidying up required and it is a way off a stage I’m happy with but certainly going in the right direction. 
Excuse the wire wrapped around the stairway chimney, I’ve added lighting to the stairs and lamps but haven’t got around to drilling holes through the platform or connecting them to a power source yet.

I’ll be back working on the electrics and track laying, hoping to get that completed this weekend. I’m praying the point motors I’ve installed all work, electrical bits are not my strong point!