Wayne 37901

Afternoon Rob. I must have missed what happened, but I'm glad to read that your hoof is on the mend. I don't remember us talking about it at the shop. Some good stuff here as usual. I'm making steady progress on the NCB project so will update that before Christmas. Take it easy. Wayne

Slow progress being made, but last night saw the base of the crossing go in and some basic ground added. I think the road and crossing might be a tad wide but I'll leave it for now and can trim down if required. Oddly I haven't found myself in the usual trap of being undecided at the track stage when I attempt to build a layout, I'm keeping in mind the less is more goal. Apologies for the photo being sideways, it displays the right way on my phone. I might have to crop them next time. Back soon.

Good afternoon all. There's some great stuff being posted in here. I'm enjoying reading through the contributions, especially from @br2975 and @NHY 581 as they can remember this era whereas I was born quite a few years after the steam colliery railways had all finished. I'm a little surprised at how much interest this seems to have on here as it's nothing more than a through shunting layout really. It's an adventure for me as I've never modelled steam before, I'm strictly a late 1980s to mid 90s diesel modeller usually. Anyway, enough of my waffle. A small milestone was achieved this afternoon with the last bit of track painted with a base coat for later weathering. I laid the loco shed road last night but had to wait till today to paint it. I'm thinking of adding a crossing to provide vehicle access into the landsale yard, two reasons being that I can have some period road vehicles such as trucks and local delivery wagons and it'll also break up the areas of open ground. For now I've marked it in with black marker, opinions on this would be appreciated. I've seen that the builder of Blacker Lane has done similar so that's where I pinched the idea. 😁 Thoughts are now looking towards some groundworks and the shell of the loco shed. Still no name for this yet, but it'll have address this as more progress is made. Back soon. Wayne

@br2975 Thanks for the photos Brian, very useful. I don't have the room to put an underground pit and storage bins in so my landsale yard won't be served by hoppers, but hopper wagons will work along the main running line to/from the exchange yard (off scene). As for getting a mini you done for the layout, who knows but I'd also need a mini @NHY 581 then as thanks for your contributions. 😅

Afternoon all, A quick end of week update. First of all thanks to my good friends Andrew and Rob @NHY 581 for sending links to an excellent book that landed Saturday. If anyone is into industrial steam and doesn't own a copy then I'd thoroughly recommend it, I loved looking through every photo and even though it's black and white every photograph was full of atmosphere. Track laying has also commenced with the 'mainline' being put in yesterday evening so things seem to be ticking over nicely and thoughts are moving towards a name for the layout. I have a couple of possibilities in mind but I don't want anything that ties it to a specific area, the layout takes inspiration from a couple of sites and isn't meant to be an exact copy. Back soon. Wayne

Hi Rich, Your son is building a layout now? Crikey, it hasn't been THAT long since we last chatted at the show has it, how old is he now? Wayne

Another two 16 tonners join the fleet today, that now makes the first complete train for the layout and also allows me to determine lengths for the fiddle yards as the current thinking is that a loco + 4 is sufficient given the short length of the layout. Of course these will all be weathered in due course but the main priority is to get the track down and wired complete with fiddle yards... I do use the term ''yards'' loosely as they'll be more like fiddle sticks but using cassettes. Cheers, Wayne

Morning, There will either be a backscene or plain painted back boards, I haven't decided yet. It will depend if any backscenes are available that look 'valleys-ish'. The surround will be added after most of the scenery is done, a lesson I learned from Rob when he was giving me a scenic tutorial. The focus at the moment is getting the track down and wired. Cheers, Wayne

Hi Rich, Good to see that Oxford Road is still going. I won't be able to make Thornbury due to work and a family commitment but I hope you have a good show. Cheers, Wayne (we've chatted at previous shows)

Hiya Rob, Excellent photos, I really like what you've done with this. I like the area of water at the front, water is something I'd like to have a go at doing one day on a layout and it would be something like a drainage ditch with an outlet from a culvert or something like that. My favourite out of those has to be the rust effect on the length of rail used as a sign post, that looks spot on and is just the sort of decrepitude I'd like to try and create on my NCB scheme. Wayne

Thanks for the kind words Rob. I see what the poster is saying, but as you say the landsale yard at Brynlliw and most of the area around it was fairly flat apart from what looks like in one photo a shallow bank near the running lines and I'm hoping to create this about half way along the board. I'm certainly not looking to create a depot style layout and most NCB sheds weren't very big affairs anyway, I've decided that my shed will be a single track version of the one that was at Talywain where again the ground was mostly flat. I have been looking at lots of photos and even a dvd that has been leant to me and there's plenty of scope for adding a little scenery, rough dirty ground and debris etc. The area of blank space near the landsale yard will have a couple of trucks parked in it and some coal storage bays. As I'm working in a 4' x 18'' footprint it doesn't lend itself to look at creating a lovely valleys scene with sloping hills, and as scenery is one of my 'weak points' I don't think I'd have the skill to do it. In my mind I can see how I want the whole thing to look and I think it's heading in the right direction, but I'm always open to idea or suggestions. Wayne

It's due to land sometime today so I'll look forward to it and I appreciate Rob giving me the heads up on it. Just like when I bought the Peckett, this will be the first ever steam related book I've bought so there's a couple of first's ticked with this scheme. Cheers, Wayne

Just a very quick update. 03:03am this morning saw the very first powered move along the layout over the temporarily laid track, the reason for the silly time being that I work late evenings finishing around Midnight. This means that it takes me a couple of hours to wind down before heading for bed and this allowed a quick lash up of a power source. Wayne

That patchwork on the tanks, crikey! Now that is a rough 'n' ready loco, but it still looks like it's capable of putting a shift in.

With a few hours to spare before work this evening I've gone and tweaked the track layout slightly. Taking Rob's observations on board I've moved the shed back against where the backboard will be and moved a little closer to the board but left a small bit of space to include ground cover/details etc. I've also pulled the point back that leads to the landsale spur and curved the siding a bit more, as a result I can fit in 4/5 16 ton wagons now. I've held it down temporarily with drawing pins for now so that it doesn't move around if I have to move the board. Here's a photo of the revised arrangements. Cheers, Wayne