wiggoforgold

This is a grat looking layout Tom, and I'm following progress with keen interest. I'm most interested to see the effect when grass is applied. I'm going to do another instalment of grass application on Upwell Drove soon, so I'm hoping to see what you do first to see if there are any ideas I can try. I'm assuming you have put down a base of the Tremendus earth powder and are going to layer the grass over that. May I ask what you are planning?

Alex

I started work on construction of the Tramway waiting room at Upwell today, Construction will be card, with Scalescenes paper overlays. I've printed off some graph paper, produced a general arrangement drawing using the plan in Peter Paye's book, a couple of good photographs of the building, and a calculator. I've printed off some Scalescenes sheets on matte photographic paper, and sprayed them with matt varnish. No photos of work to date, hopefully there will be something worth a picture in the next few days.

In the meantime, here's a pic of Diddington set up in the redecorated railway room. (Upwell Drove is just out of shot at the RH end.)

 

 

Alex

I've finished the first building, the standard W&U goods office. Next I'm going to do the one I've been looking forward to - the tramway waiting room from Upwell. I've learned a bit from the goods office,  so those ideas will be incorporated in the next build.

 

 

 

Alex

There was a series of articles called "Early Southern Coaches" by Terry Gough in the Railway Modeller in the late 1960's which may be helpful if you can get hold of them.

Alex

Hi Neil

 

You probably saw the discussion a few pages back about the colour of the WIsbech trams.

We came up with this one: https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/RAILWAYS/WISBECH-UPWELL-TRAMWAY/WISBECH-UPWELL-TRAMWAY/i-vxmpxpR

Still not sure if it's green or black. Having discussed the matter, and considered the evidence, I have gone for green. There doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence one way or the other. It appears the trams did end up in green with wasp stripes, but whether this was before or after the end of the W&U is less clear.

I've seen the first two pics you linked to before, but the last one is new to me. D2212 isn't a Wisbech engine though; those were D2201/2, which had a slightly earlier cab with square front windows. D2212 has the later, angular design. A useful link though, and I'm wondering if D2212 might just appear on my version of the tramway

 

Alex

Looks great. How are you doing the platform edges?

Alex

David,

Thanks for the link. There's some inspiring pics there.

I must admit I'm wavering towards the solid backscene with a joint in it. Idon,t really want to use a tree, but I might have to. I'm taking inspiration from boatbuilders who built sectional racing boats with near invisible joints (on the outside). I'm thinking of trying something similar.

Alex

What material are you using for the backdrop and is it permanent/semi permanent?

It's Buckram, dress stiffening material. In the pictures it's as it comes, but I have lightly sprayed the one at Elm Lane matt white. I would be inclined to spray a very pale blue or grey along the top edge as well.

It is removable. It is held to the lighting support at the rear of the layout with drawing pins. The idea is it can be rolled up for transportation, and it does away with a vertical joint in the sky on a two part base board. The down side is it is difficult to get to hang well, and takes a bit of time to set up. You have to be careful where any profiles are placed that would interfere with the way it hangs. I originally used profiles in front of and behind the bottom of the backdrop, but have now done away with the ones at the back, with the result it hangs better. The jury is still out on whether I keep it though, and have a semi-permanent one instead, and accept a joint in the sky.

Alex

I've made a bit more progress on the tramway office. The plinth is done, and I've covered the roof in slates. I've belatedly discovered downloadable free graph paper on the web, which has speeded up the production of slates.

 

 

Alex

Nick, they are home made. I used what I think is called the Pendon method, and a more detailed description appears in Chris Pilton's book "Cottage Modelling for Pendon". A pice of thin card, or paper, is held behind the window aperture, and the frame is then marked out with pencil, and cut out. The glazing bars are thin strips of paper, glued to the back of the frame with PVA. The vertical and horizontal bars overlap, rather than have butt joints, but this is hardly noticeable when painted. Once the bars are installed they are painted, weathered to taste, glazed (I used clear plastic sheet) and installed behind the apertures.

 

I'm now on to cutting strips of slates from paper. Hopefullŷ I'll be done by Sunday.

 

Alex.

Dave, It's Scalescenes, printed on matt photographic paper and sprayed with matt acrylic varnish before cutting out.

Alex

I was just shutting down for the evening, when a rather better shot presented itself, so here it is. An overall view of the yard end of the layout showing progress to date.

 

 

Alex

 

Work has started on the buildings. First up is the tramway office, based on Outwell. Next jobs are the slates on the roof, and the plinth at the bottom of the building. The finished building will be set in to the surrounding yard, hence the white line at the bottom of the sides.

 

 

Alex

There has been some progress at Upwell Drove. I’ve decided to lower the proscenium, and have marked it out, but haven’t cut it yet. I’ve also had some ideas on improving the backdrop. More on this later, suffice to say I’ve decided on a solid backdrop, rather than a roll up cloth one. The downside of the new arrangement is that there will be a vertical join in the sky at the middle of the layout, which I was trying to avoid. Unfortunately I can’t think of any way round this one.

I’ve developed the scenic work at the end of the layout. I’ve built a cattle dock, which currently awaits railings and gates, and lots more grass and weeds, as it is supposed to be out of use and overgrown. I’m also considering a small water tower by the loco head shunt for the trams. I modelled the tower at Wisbech East, but this seemed much too big for the layout, so I cut it in half. So far I’ve done the framing, and placed it on the layout so I can decide whether I like it there or not. I’m going to make the rest of the station buildings (yard office and old tramway waiting room) next, and see how they look together before making a final decision.

The diesel tram D2201 has had some refurbishment. I’ve done a blog entry with more details for those interested, but in the meantime, here’s a picture.

Alex

Great looking layout Tom. I do like the railway in a landscape look, keeping things simple, with the sense of space it gives.

I also like your panniers, and I have been looking at the pics and reading your blog with interest. I've got an idea for a layout set in Cornwall c1960, and I need a pannier. I want one with the early style cab, so I planning to graft a Replica cab on to a more recent Bachmann 8750. The problem is I want a Cornish engine c1960, and I've narrowed it down to 5744 or 7715. However, 5744 only had the chimney liner as when it moved to Cornwall it had a spark arresting chimney that was removed, and 7715 had riveted tanks; decisions decisions....

Alex

Fred is a large fellow isn't he.? Some of his cousins will soon be joining my model railway as guards. Fred's companions rather illustrate my point though, and I was wondering if we could get more like them. I was rather thinking of my stepfather George, who worked on the railway in the 1950's, and was 5'9" and about 9 stone. Rather more typical of his period I'd suggest.

Presumably, the limitation of the Modelu process is it's based on a scan of an actual person, so they are restricted to whoever is available for scanning. I'd offer myself, but I'm not a suitable body type either

Alex

I've had some of the guard figures and am very pleased with them. I'll be buying some more. Can I make a request though? The figures all seem to be of petty healthy, even "well padded" types who rather reflect the present day. Would it be possible to do some figures with slighly smaller body types - a bit less well nourished and showing signs of a more physical lifestyle - to reflect earlier periods?

Alex

Jonty "Daktari" Chambers has got some new tranport. He took it on a test drive out of Diddington. Stopping at Elm Lane, he got out his camera, to be greeted by an old friend. The sentinel "Twywell" was on loan from Juniper Hill, and was being tried out on a train of vans to Upwell Drove.

 

A little while later, Twywell came back, with another old friend

 

 

 

Alex

I like the idea of a bell. I've been looking for a sound chip for an 04 with a bell. No doubt there will be a J70 chip with a bell.Presumably the tramway could be DCC and Diddington remain DC, with the tramway engines being DCC fitted, and the DCC controller being on the tramway.

 

On the subject of the proscenium, I've marked it out for lowering by approx 40mm. The saw will probably reach it later this week.

 

Alex

Mine's a bit different. The layout has a high backscene, which is essentially white. It has self contained lighting. I wanted the room to focus attention on the layout. The layout is "L" shaped. The long wall behind the layout is white. The end walls of the room are pale grey. The remaining long wall of the room is a dark blue grey. The floor is a laminate, almost white. There is a central light and wall lights in the room, but the layout is designed to be viewed with the main lights off,so attention is focused on the layout, not the room.

Alex

Upwell Drove is back home from it's first outing to the Paignton show, and is currently being re-erected next to Diddington. It was a good outing, intended as a bit of a shakedown so I could addrees any shortcominmgs for the future. I learned a bit, met some old friends and made some new ones, so it was a good trip.

 

Ome point I'm pondering on. The distance between the bottom edge of the proscenium and the track on Upwell Drove is quite high. I have made the proscenium the same height as on Diddington. However, Diddington is wider, and I'm thinking the visual effect may be better if I lower the proscenium. The question is then, should I keep them the same height, or lower the proscenium on Upwell Drove (and the Elm Lane section.)?

Alex

Some useful ideas here, which I will remember for the next layout. One thing I did: before laying the track, or anything that crosses the baseboard joints, assemble the boards with a bit f 10 though plastic sandwiched in the joint

Then lay the rails, fix and cut them. Then remove the plastic. This will compensate for the bit of rail lost when the cut is made, and make the joint harder to spot.

Alex

So society continues to change and I retire to my train room refuge where normalcy reigns and all is as Frank Hornby deemed it should be!

 

Brian.

Indeed. But what is "normalcy"? In my train room it's a nationalised railway performing a public service, but I suspect that is not the same everywhere

 

Alex

I'm watching this with interest too. I am having thoughts about a new project that involves inlaid track. There's some inlaid track on Upwell Drove, it's macadam and I have used card which comes up to just below rail height, which will be painted and sprinkled with talc in due course.

Alex

For algae and duckweed I've used fine green scenic scatter, sprinkled on to PVA spread on the surface of the water. Reeds are from bunches of plumbers hemp, glued to the surface of the water. If you haven't already seen it, have a look at. Gordon Gravett's book on Modelling grassland. There's lots of ideas in there.

Alex