bmthtrains - David

Thanks all - the Bear is good at ballasting... David

Well there we go - its the end of my free time this week, so this is just about done. The ground scatter needs hoovering off tomorrow morning, and there's still one building to clad in card, but apart from that, this is complete. 4 days and almost entirely left-over modelling material, the track is unpainted, the ballast rough, details light, it follows very little thought or planning, but it was fun! I'll post some pics on Sunday with some stock movements, but this has been really enjoyable. A simple 4 day, low cost project that's also given me an instant test track for new stock, rather than setting up Ring Road. Don't be too harsh on the quality of modelling, remember this was a bit of fun built in 4 days! David

Decided to tackle the ballast today - doing a really rough job on it, very thinly applied, not painted the rails yet, and going for a really basic look to it (this is a week of fun, and to me, all that track detail isn't fun!) I've also finished the backscene and the car park scene, and buit the bridge. There isn't much more to do now - once the ballast is dry tomorrow, I can hoover this off, do all the remaining ground texture work, stick on the other buildings, then tackle the steps up to the station building. As I've said before, this is really just a few days of fun using up whatever is in my bits box - I am rather surprised how much is in there to be honest! Other than 2 points, a bag of scenic scatter and the backscene sheet, everything else is just reused. There is no planning here, its a case of 'rummage, aha!, that looks good there!' David

What ever happened to the N gauge ones? These were announced alongside the OO ones, but then vanished, and now Bachmann have done them. David

I was tempted to name this layout "Left Over Street" given that almost all of it is made up of left overs from both Ring Road and Westbrook (the eagle eyed will spot more than a few items from Westbrook on this!), but settled on Jubilee Street. Now the model is never going to win any awards, but its actually really fun just to plonk things on without any planning! An afternoon's work has brought the layout to this stage - the platform is done, as is much of the backscene - just the big space on the right to fill now. I've made a rough start on the pedestrian bridge, and put down the road surfaces. The complex bit to do tomorrow is the station building and the steps down. Then I really must think about ballasting David

Thanks guys! I'm off work this week, so will probably get a fair bit done (though really not in a ballasting mood, so might avoid the trackwork until absolutely vital). David

With the weekend at hand and nothing much to do, I decided to rip up my aborted Weymouth 'plank' layout, simplified the track plan and came up with a 5 feet long micro layout. There is still a lot of the Weymouth idea in this, but its a simple island platform station with a hidden run off, just enough to shunt some DMUs about. A couple of sidings in the front will add to the fun, and there's plenty of room for a decent station car park and road scene. All the building shapes are just mock ups for the moment, and I'm not sure how far I will take this, or how detailed it will become - its just nice to do something with all the leftover track I had from Ring Road! This is a general shot, there will be a low embankment at the back, with probably scalescenes half-relief terraced houses behind the station. The off-scene cut will be hidden by a long pedestrian footbridge with ramps at the end to get down to the road. On the embankment will be a sports centre/swimming pool, so the bridge is a route over the tracks to that part of town Mock up station very heavily based on Weymouth! In front of the tracks will be the station car park and the road running along the length of the board. There's room for some nice PW stuff here too, so possibly some portakabins etc David

Sounds a fascinating set of projects. I love Japanese stock, so that would usually take my interest, but I have to say the 19th C layout is something I've always thought about too, so will be watching with interest! David

Thanks Jo! The 92 is really stunning. Dapol will have their work cut out to match that! David

Thanks, layout is all documented in the rest of my blog David

Still awaiting the OHLE droppers to finish the layout, but there's been an explosion of new rolling stock this month, so here are some photo updates. Here's the lovely Farish 150. I painted the snowploughs as this was rather an odd omission not to have them pre-painted. I think this wins points over the Dapol 156 for me just down to the beautiful underframe detailing. Farish DB class 66 hauling a rake of NGS cartics. Eventually this will become a full 8 car set, although I am going to be testing my weathering skills on this! My converted Grand Central HST with the 150 in the background. Another view of the HST A busy moment on the viaduct - Dapol 156, Farish 150 and CJM 92 all passing! And not mine, but an update on my dad's layout, which is almost complete! David

I've worked up a quick concept sketch for the proposed new layout (see entry below) to get a feel of the similarities/differences to Ring Road. Very heavily influenced by Coventry, my aim with this layout would be to keep the overall style and architectural/urban elements of Ring Road, but arrange them in a different way, with the layout in a slight cutting, roads going over the top, and the station adding operational interest. Still a year or so off even starting this dedicated exhibition layout, but this gives me a better idea of what to aim for. David

My once in a lifetime treat arrived today, 92002 H G Wells. I cannot sufficiently describe how good this model is, it really is by far the most astonishing loco. Details include drivers and fully painted control desks! These pictures speak for themselves - and remember, this is N gauge! David

Well I turned the layout around so I could work on the wiring, and suddenly NONE of the tracks would wor That said, once I'd prodded all the connections it all worked perfectly again - the mysterious 'crossing' of wires completely gone. I have no idea what causes this, but dreading turning it around to set it up properly tomorrow now! David

Ring Road went up today so I can run in some of my new stock, and inexplicably, the wiring has 'swapped' again. Now this does seem completely impossible, but the only thing I can think of is that somewhere in the terminal block there is a short, which was fooling me into swapping the wires over, and now the short has been resolved, the wires are now in need of swapping back! A short history: 4 power feeds from the 4 track controller head into a terminal block on board one. From this terminal block, feeds go to the tracks on board one, and to connector plugs that meet connectors from board two that lead directly to the tracks on that side. A few months ago, mysteriously, the controllers seemed to have swapped, so that the up slow line on board 2 was being controlled by the up fast line on board 1, and vice versa. An investigation found no possible cause, so for a last resort, i simply swapped the feeds to the two tracks on board 1, and it worked! Now, the controllers have reversed again! The power feeds and all connectors are colour coded male-female connections so there is no possibility of connecting the wrong one up... I have a week off later this month, and given its a simple wiring configuration, I think I am going to bite the bullet and rewire from scratch, as I cannot fathom any possible cause for this bizzare wiring behaviour! David

Looking good! Nice to see how its progressing. The Chiltern 168 looks especially 'in place' coming out from under the bridge. David

After a quick bit of livery experimentation this morning, a couple of hours of work this afternoon has resulted in this - a GC HST rake! The HSTs were old Farish Virgin ones (they were never getting run as the prototype is obsolete), and the donor coaches are from my stalled 442 Wessex project. I decided to do a 4 coach train as my 'full length' expresses are 6 coaches (plus loco and DVT), and to get the GC rake feeling correctly 'short', 4 seemed a good length. The HST locos had their undersides sawn off and a simple buffer beam added (this needs detailing later), and were then stripped down and sprayed matt black. The coaches had their roofs sprayed, and their sides are entirely vinyl overlays I designed on the PC. The locos have had logos and numbers added as vinyls as well, and all that is missing is the OHLE warning line on the locos (need to locate my Fox transfers sheet for that), and some touching up on the ends of the coaches where the under colour shows around the corners. I never really liked this livery, but as I had the HST floating about, and without Dapol's forthcoming (and rather soon if rumour is to be believed?) Pendolino, I am short on long distance trains, so the GC set seemed a good idea to try! David

There will be a tram on there somewhere for sure

Still more details to add to Ring Road, but given its already had more exhibition invites than it would probably stand up to, I'm in the very early planning stages of a dedicated exhibition layout. Don't get too excited at this point, this is a long way off fruition (2011 I am aiming for), but here's a sneak peek of what will eventually become the 'public companion' to Ring Road (which will do 3 or 4 shows at the most then remain my 'home' layout only)...

Not much has been rolling off the work bench lately (a good thing as they would crash to the floor), but here's a couple of items underway - my 158 Saltire livery, and my lovely NGS kit Cartic-4 (complete with cars inside!) David

Well, looking back at my 1600 posts on the 'old' RMweb, there wasn't actualy much I wanted to transfer - not saying nothing I wrote was of any importance, but its only the more recent bits relating to Ring Road that I want to continue. I've had a go at uploading the gallery, and started collecting a few bits here. This is a different way of using the forum, but I'm liking this blog idea! For those new to the layout, here is an outline: Ring Road depicts a busy four-track section of the recently upgraded WCML as it passes through the outskirts of a major Midlands town. Very much a ???watching trains go by??™ layout, Ring Road was built to showcase the latest developments in N gauge rolling stock quality and took six months to construct. The railway crosses the layout on an embankment, threading its way past roads and buildings as it heads towards the fictitious town centre to the north. From the left hand end, the lines emerge close to the front of the layout, passing the huge Ikea (its car park filling up with early morning bargain hunters!) before vaulting over the titular ring road dual-carriageway on a long bridge. Both in front and behind the railway, large modern buildings dominate the layout ??“ the BP petrol station, a Mini showroom, Sainsbury??™s supermarket and a major apartment complex just a few of the eleven buildings modelled. With a busy shopping centre nearby, the layout also features a modern tram system running along the road network in its own dedicated tram and bus lane. Ring road is simple to operate, with the ability to stack up to twelve trains for timetabled operation, but the layout generally operates with a ???watching trains go by??™ philosophy with a mix of ready-to-run and scratchbuilt stock giving an accurate contemporary feel ??“ Virgin class 87s, Silverlink 321s, Voyagers, National Express 91s and more provide the passenger services, with classes 60, 66, 67, 90 and 92 hauling long freights. The layout is 10 feet by 2 feet 6 inches in size, DC operation, and is designed for easy storage at home in a cupboard. Ring Road was never intended to ???go on tour??™, and was built as a portable ???home??™ layout. As it is not built to withstand regular transportation, Ring Road will only be making a very limited number of outings, however I am now planning a dedicated, purpose-built exhibition layout that should be ready in 2011. For more information and images, and to follow the development of my next layout, go to www.n-gauge.org I'm going to add 'new' photos of projects or 'news' to the blog, while slowly increase the size of the gallery sections. Here's a few vids too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKPO3iMbhKw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LniENEU13s David