mason

Thanks class66 and chris, im happy you both like the layout and with all the positive feedback this layout is getting, and its still not finished, im glad you think iv done hughs plan proud, iv been a great admirer of all his plans and everytime he posts one i wanna build it, and he has a great sense of space and were things go for smaller layouts, then its just a matter of tweeking things to make it your own, thanks hugh for the inspiration. i have learnt alot building this layout, mostly with the dcc side of things and finally learning how to wire lights and point motors, electrics are not my strong point and moving to dcc was a big thing to me, but now iv done i wont look back, in fact all the stock that wont take a chip or cant be converted has gone to my fathers dc shed layout, were i know they will get run and looked after. some picture updates should be on today just got to get me and my crutches upstairs Cheers Neil

Hi mate, the depot chap is a preiser one, you can pick them up single or in packs of 5 or 6, i found ebay to be the best, they are a little pricey compared to the Bachmann ones but the quality shows. as for builders i think preiser again, they have a wide range and i think you could probably get builders tools etc from them and noch I still need to get a few friends for the depot chap yet, just looking over my ebay and he came from mikronmodelrailways on ebay, he has the single figures and his website has the packs. Cheers mate Neil

Hi all , wow so many comments and were to start, and i think a debate about the fire door has started too Hi andrew p, thanks for the great comments, i have to say i love your layout and the scenic work you have done, i liked th track plan purely because its simple and easy to manage. all the buildings i have scratch built myself, and i have to confess i havent used any prototype plans or drawings just a few measurements of brick courses and observations of buildings in my area, the depot building started off as being inspired by peterborough but i kinda went away from that. I cant take credit for the weathering of my locos, there down to Cav ( RBE ) with his great work, although i can take credit for the 33 which was my effort, more 33s are on the books to come too. Hi there jon, thanks for the cmments, the ballast is a mix of javis extra fine light grey chippings, light sand ( which i got from the building site on my estate in a coffee jar ) and some dark green scatter, but just a light sprinkle. i pile it all in a coffee jar and give it a good shake, and try not to do impressions of tom cruise in cocktail, i then sprinkle the ballast in the track, brush it in with a very fine bristled brush, my girlfriend found me a pack of makeup brushes from avon, perfect, different sizes and shapes and all in a little wallet, great for weathering too, anyway then its just the time old pva, water and washing up liquid practice, as its drying i sprinkle a light green scatter ligthly over the ballast and thats it nt rocket science Hi mickey, thanks for the praise, the low relief trees are simply branches from the trees across from my house, PVa glued to the backscene then dark and green flock built up around it, i still think there a little flat so i may bulk them up a little more. thank you all for the positive comments, from my point of view its nice because its a sense of acheivment and makes me feel proud of the work i have done and also how far i have come in my modelling skilld since building pilot road 3 years ago, still lots more to do though. Cheers Neil

yeah i agree the backscenes look fantastic, are you also a landscape painter in between modelling too. Thanks for the info on the greenery, i also tried to replicate a static grass applicator using an old talc bottle ( thanks to my 10mth old sons nappy filling expertise ) this worked pretty well, but the bottle finally gave in 3/4s of the way through, so a more solid bottle is a must, but the ketchup bottle is a good idea, i found i had to make the holes a little bit wide, but i think thats dependent on the grass length your using. Cheers Neil

Hi all, some great modelling and photography combined, i thought i would add something from deeping way Cheers Neil Hi all, some great modelling and photography combined, i thought i would add something from deeping way Cheers Neil sorry about the double post Neil

Hey Cav, cheers for clearing the fire door issue, i didnt actually think about it at the time it was just one of those spur of the moment detail blunders, but like you say, its not noticable unless you know its there Glad you like the detail, cant wait to get the dynamis on here, just got some more decoders delivered today so a few more locos buzzing around and i have been looking at the small details and what i can add, i have already looked at GEM models great range of tooloing like lathes and piller drills which will look cool and i have been weathering some dustbins that should go on tomorrow,and the search for new stock carries on Cheers mate Neil

Hi all, iv done a little work today in front of the offices at the rear of the depot, this has been to lay the brown gravel as in the carpark in front of the offices and some fine grey slate directly behind the depot building, just a bit of foliage and weeds to add around the edges of the building and buffer stops at the rear of the depot. I should have some small dustbins coming tomorrow and some cctv cameras for the office and factory building. I have also been pondering the legs situation, i want to have some trestles made for when the layout goes to exhibitions, the layout is currently on some temporary legs that were made to stand the boards on when we moved house, as good as these have been they wont support the layout in a freestanding role in an exhibition situation, the dilema is what height??? The layout currently stands about 900mm off the floor, but its hard for everyone including kids to see the layout, and after standing with Charlie street last year at mansfield for 2 days which stood at just over 1mtr id like to operate the layout sitting down, or on a stool at least and still be able to reach over the layout, so i was thinking around 750mm from floor to baseboard, can anyone think of any constraints this will cause that iv not considered at all Neil

Great looking layout and some lovely scenery and building work, what materials did you use for the base of the ground cover, some lovely shades of green in there great work Neil

Cheers ragtag, i thought it would bug me now i know its there, but you have eased my mind Cheers Neil

Thanks for the kind comments, i thought i would have got away with the fire door and the way it opens, it was a last minute detail addition, im just glad the detail stood out and it was noticed, i will inform the fire safety officer and get it investigated im glad the lighting has come out well, i think with lights on a layout, you can sometimes go to far and put way to much on and it ends up looking like blackpool illuminations. just noticed ess1uk that your in peterborough, whereabouts as im in deeping st james, think the name may have given it away Cheers Neil

Hi jon and guy, thanks for your great comments Jon- this project seems like its taking ages, but iv just looked back through my archives and i started it in april after the mansfield show, i has come together very quickly, i thought it wouldnt be done till at least december. i know enables me to run different reas, i just wanna get away from running them all at the same time Guy - i didnt think anyone would notice my door the door was a bodge job to be honest, when i was building the carcass from foam board i left i cut out for the door and completly forgot about it till right till the end, i then got a dodgy ragged piece of offcut black plasticard, glued it to the rear of the foam board, stuck a bit of offcut metal wire on it for the exit bar and chucked some signs on it, really glad you like it and it came out well. as for the signs they came from ten commandments ( www.cast-in-stone.co.uk) the code for them on there site is L96 loco depot signs, for £2.50 a pack you get a hell of alot for your money and alsorts of different health n safety and hazard signs, great value. Cheers Neil

thanks srh474, i do have a very varied mix of locos, im trying to nail down an era but finding it hard at the moment, im trying to go for triple grey sectorisation and railfreight but nailing it to a specific year is hard hahahah thanks for the comment cheers neil

hi all, well finally got my laptop up and running, so now down to putting some proper updates and pics on here. ok were was i from my last update, arr yes, the road overbridge, this has given me a head ache to be honest, my original plan was to do a portion of a static tram way line, after a little consultation and ideas from other people i decided against this, purely because of the cost of doing just a small section. So i decided to do a small length of railway, detail it with bushes and relay boxes and trunking and use this to display locos and rolling stock that has been detailed for the layout ( most of the locos being done by myself or RBE of this site ) i think that this has turned out well and looks better than the tram line would have done and can constantly be changed with each piece of rolling stock displayed on it. the other updates to the layout are the lighting to the depot building and an exceptional plaza yard light from kytes lights, this is a fantastic bit of kit that comes ready build and wired and works a treat. also i have nearly finished the factory building on the upper level, adding a light which will illuminate the signage and painting and weathering the outer walls and fiiting the roof which is yet to be traeted to a paint job and weathering. i also had a slight dialema of what to do with the rear right hand corner, i decided to scratch build some offices that spaned the corner but looked a little run down with a little attempt by the owners to modernise it., also i have added to entrance gates one next to the p/way yard and one just to the rear of the depot which accesses the carpark at the front of the layout. there is still a little work to do on the ground cover in front of the depot offices and a lot of small details to, ie depot personal, cars, cctv cameras, a bird and a rabbit as requested by my 8 year old daughter and tools and wire bins, barrels and bins here are a few of the locos and stock that can been seen in and out of Deeping Lane, at the moment i am in the process of chipping and weathering the current batch while in the process of getting new locos, most of the weathering work will be done by RBE of this site, the 47368 is the Heljan unbranded version and is my first attempt at buffer beam detail and actually really researching a loco and numbering it, this still needs the BR silver arrows. Well thats all for now, progress is a little slow at the moment mainly due to me being on crutches for another 5 weeks, and waiting for the postman to deliver some bits. But as always please give your honest opinion about my work so far and please feel free to add any comments Cheers Neil

Hi all, i thought i would add my old layout pilot road, this was probably one of the first box file layouts on the pages of RMWEB and also featured in Model Rail no:143 this was a great project and really got me back into the hobbie without blowing lots of cash and getting great results and was always well recieved at exhibition Here is the link for you to read about the build. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2651-pilot-road/ cheers Neil

hi mate, yeah its going to be static, never thought about a station, which is a great idea, would give an option for lighting the tram and the station and give more viable night shots, plus give some light at that end of the layout which will give it another dimension Cheers Neil

thats fantastic paul thank you very much, plenty of sites to research and plenty of prices to sift through, hopefully get to a decision of what im going to go for. thanks again paul for the tips and help Cheeres Neil

Cheers leon, appriciate the wishes to be honest its doin my head in not being able to do stuff neil

hi all,well unfortunatly im unable to do any work on the layout at the moment im currently on crutches for at least 6 weeks after having mini open surgery and decompression on my left hip. this has left me having to use crutches to move anywhere and with the layou being upstairs its a bit of a mission. there are a few little bits i can do like decals on the Heljan 47 and a few little detail bits to make, but at the moment its hard to sit in one position for more than 5 mins a little work was done at the weekend, the point motors and switchs are finally in and working well, this has been a major plus for me as iv struggleed with them for months and the retaining wall at the rear is now in place and just needs detailing and weathering. The next big thing to do is the overbridge, my plan for that is to do a modern kind of tram way, the kind you get through sheffield etc, i think this would add a little more interest than just your basic road. The problem with this idea is sourcing the parts and trams etc, my knowledge on trams is weak to say the least so if any one acan help that would be great. well bac k to the pain killers and boring tv Cheers Neil

Thanks jamie ill try and get some updated pics on soon, i cant take credit for the 09 and 08, there the fantastic work of my friend Cav ( RBE of this site ) he has done an amazing job on the locos and the rest of my stock will be going to him soon to have the sane treatment. Cheers Neil

hi all, thanks for the great comments Hi mud, i have to admit inspiration for the trees did come from you, it kind of evolved from cutting branches off trees in my street at 2am in the morning, i wasnt sure at first but now iv bulked them up a little more they look pretty good. Hi Cav, the compound area does look pretty good, iv recently added some scrap, sleepers and rail and little bits of of cuts from the scrap box, still a little more to add yet though. Thanks for the comment guy, yeah i think iv cracked on with it quicker than i thought i would, i had originally planned for it to be ready just before the mansfield show next march, but i think at this rate ill be one by july, which is good because then all my money resources can go into stock. A little update on things going on at deeping, lighting has been added to the interior and above the front entrance to the depot, this has added so much more dimension to the layout, and really has highlighted the interior better than i thought, in fact that well that there are bits that need touching up and the details making a little better. next is to tackle the point motors which i have been putting off way to long, i recently brought some of the peco point levers with the console they go in, which will give it a signalbox type operation, hopefully my electrial skills will be upto the job. then im going to tackle the rear right corner next to the tree line, a gate will go next to the hedging to allow access for the compound then im thinking mybe a low relief factory into the corner, i think trees across the whole of that portion will be to much please give your thoughts or suggestions on this please Cheers Neil

cool cheers mate, that would be fun, ill bring the 09 n some other stuff too. Yeah they are out of my era and region, but i could always have a scottish day on the layout, couple of stags heads n scotty dog locos lol ok here is a few picture updates of the work thats gone on over the weekend, mainly the fencing around the compound and greenery and trees and hedges. as always please feel free to comment. Cheers Neil

Cool cheers cav, iv seen a couple of pics of the livery with the large load haul logo which was really faded. I was eyein up a couple railfreight 27s yesterday too, gotta swing that by the missus yet tho, got permission for a day off for demu tho ha ha