MRDBLUE17

James, I have been very impressed following your build and your hard work is really paying off, that control desk is brilliant with the dials etc added as well. It will make your project different having more less modelled motive power and it has certainly inspired me to look into building a kit in the future. Thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, Many thanks for all your comments and feedback, I am glad you like the look of it. That roof has taken me hours to get right and I had put off doing it for long enough but I have found if I keep getting a few bits done it will be done. I have over the last two nights added the lead flashing around the chimneys. This just needs a little touch up with paint - I have used oily steel railmatch acrylic as it gives a nice weathered effect with just enough shine and that is the main roof finished. I will need to get the glazing done for the station next - the thin clear plastic off the wills brick sheets and slate packs that have been used will be perfect for this and have been kept safe and clean - got to keep the carbon footprint down! The lighter nights now mean the sun shines over the flats opposite in the late afternoon and helps to light the layout so took some photos in more natural light. The last shot shows an EWS 37 heading North to Fort William with the BP tanks. I copied weathering for these from photos and using gloss varnish was able to create the spilliage effect on the second tank which although was given some dirt washes first was cleaned off before the wet look was created. Hope your like them and thanks for looking, Mark

Hi Alex, It is amazing to follow your updates on this one - it is going to be a monster of a layout and really very impressive. It is great to see the rate of progress as well. Thanks, Mark

Hi Pete, Good luck for the show hope it all goes well for you. As the others have said your finescale work is very good to follow and the standards you have achieved are outstanding. The whole presentation of the layout is first rate and you have to look twice to see how you have got it all to fit in a box file like that! It will be good to see your building when it is complete as well. Shame I won't be at the show to see it. Thanks, Mark

Thanks Pete, Busy week at work this week so only managed to get the brick platform facing fixed in place. I have tried to get a close up to show how these are built up to create the overhang at the top edge but I didn't seem to take any during the building stages of each sections so will do so when I build the rear facings as it will be easy to follow. I am quite pleased with how they look as they are in keeping with the buildings and whilst the real ones appear to be much more of mixture I have assumed that they were repaired when the station was painted up and the platform surfaces repaired back in 2007. Some more photos of the work so far: Thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, Work on Rannoch is still progressing but with so many other things on have not had chance to get some photos added. Anyway this should bring you all up to date: The viaduct board has been lifted to allow wiring to be completed. As with the others I have wired all the droppers together using Red and Blue wire to create simple clarity around the whole layout - should make it easy to fix any faults or damage over time and also for connections at board joints. The point motors are all Peco and the side the coils are joined on are all wired with a black supply and the power applied for switching is fed to Green or Orange wires although only the basic connections are soldered in place so far. The layout has been connected properly on DCC for the first time and over the last 2/3 weeks of testing has proved very reliable and the track work isn't that clean in places at the moment. From my experience it is worth putting droppers under each track section during building for DCC operation as it really does help to ensure that all track sections are live which should make the operation of the layout as fun and enjoyable as possible. I still need to get the point decoders to wire in and once I have done that I should be happy from an operational point of view. Next up the Station building has seen the facia boads fitted under the roof line and painted green and then guttering has been painted and added to this as well. I have decided to do the interior as well so I am adding walls using thick art card and will look to add some other details as needed before looking at some lighting as well. I have a box of lots of cut sections of wills brick sheets which so far have been assembled into the platform facings for the front of the station. These have been painted in a brick shade before adding in the cement colours using a water and dabbing on railmatch concrete acrylic to colour the courses. This is then finished with dry brushing and painting of bricks in varying shades to add texture. Once fixed in place some of this will be weathered with dark, dirty washes of browns, black and greens once the trackwork is ballasted around it. These sections are joined using plastic weld to create more depth with the top edge overhang being created for more realism. Hope you like the latest work and the photos and I will keep the updates coming once I have more to share. Comments/questions always welcome Thanks for looking, Mark

Hi Gary, Nice to catch up with the progress on your layout looks superb! I hope to get the chance to see it at an exhibtion at some point as whilst it is great to see it - I would like to hear the sound of the Sulzers at work! Better got on with mine! Thanks, Mark

Hi Peter, I can't keep up with you updates! Some great pictures though and it is interesting to see the road vehicles as well. Those tips for the Leyland nationals are useful as well - might need to have a go at those myself on some of my buses. Further back your photo of the weather reminded me just now of the Lightning we saw along the Great Ocean Road when we where there back in 2005! Keep up the great work, Mark

Hi Everyone, Gary - my 2 week burst was only down to being on holiday and having a couple of full days on the layout not to your standards yet! Since my last update I have managed to get the last board wired and so far so good in terms of testing which with the sound fitted models I currently have is great fun - you do have to learn to drive especially the SWD chipped 158 but it does sound good going around the layout! I have been busy making the brick sections for the platform facings all from wills sheets - Flemish Bond brickwork - all sections have been cut into the bits needed and then using plastic weld stuck together. I have so far painted the base brick shade and added a motar colour as well but lots still to go on these and need to get some pictures as well. The station building has seen the floor painted a suitable dark brown to look like stained floor boards and the roof has had a plain edge facing boards fitted just under the edge of the slates and painted green ready for the gutters to be added. Again once this has moved on a bit more I will get some photos added. I recently went to Barrow show held by Furness Model Railway Club which was an excellent exhibition and I had seen that Cumbrian Railways Association had produced an etched kit of the fancy Furness Railway Squirrel benches. There are modern versions of these in several places including Ulverston dotted around the town and I wanted some which although will be used elsewhere in the future they will be going on Rannoch as they are exquisite little etchings that I just can't leave lying about un-used until another project gets off the ideas stage. This is the first etched kit I have put together and have another 4 to build but whilst small and a bit fiddly I think they capture the originals very well and thought you might like to see them. Thanks for looking and will hopefully get more done soon to share, Mark

Hi Carl, Your work and attention to detail on this project never cease to amaze me. Those new photos show just how good it is looking already keep up the good work and the updates coming. Thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, I don't really get around to updating the Blog much but thought I would let you know than Rannoch has been wired up ready for DCC control. I still have one board to finish at the viaduct end but having installed all the droppers from each track section as I built the layout the job of joining everything up on the 3 boards was completed in a day and apart from the slight issues with the3 way points the layout has gone over to DCC control using my Gaugemaster Prodigy. See my layout thread for many images of spagetti - or wiring for the technical term! Next will be the point control once I have obtained the necessary decoders and then the daunting fact of how many sound decoders I still need for my Scottish fleet for this layout has also become very prominant. With GBRF now running the Alcan flow I have been able to keep my motive power up to date as Richard at the Train shop in Morecambe had one Bachmann 66725 Sunderland left which has been suitably finished with little westies on the cabsides seen at Rannoch! Thanks for looking, Mark

Hi Everyone, Back to work today so my time for modelling will be less again but at least I got most things done last week when I was off. Due to running out of red wire couldn't get the viaduct board finised but at least I can link the board with 2 wires at the single track station join and still enjoy all the benefits of DCC and sound until the wiring is complete. Apart from my failure to put enough insulated joiners on the centre roads off the 2 x 3 way points in the storage yard which caused a short and shutdown of the layout which was soon fixed without too much fuss the layout is running very well and as planned under DCC control. The key to this is putting droppers down from each track section and I have put blocks in at the joints of each board which when the layout is assembled 2 wires can be run between these and screwed up tight so there is no issues with getting a good contact between each board of the layout. I have been using Gaugemaster branded packs of wire as they are readily available and for a layout of this size the cost is kept down. I am using different colours for each circuit type so that if any faults or damage occurs it will in theory be easier to fix. The point motors are standard Peco units, some of which came off an unfinished project hence the white bell wire droppers off these but the new ones have green and orange droppers off each side and the power input is black. I have run Blue and Red wires off the track feeds and these form a main power bus around the layout with the black run for the points separate as I may fit a CDU to support power to these if the decoders aren't sufficient - still work to be done on these but the plan is to use a Bachmann 4 output unit on the main senic board and the Lenz 6 output units on the other 3 boards which should work out the most cost effective route for this layout but I still need to source these soon! Some pictures of the wiring - it is so much easier being able to turn each board over or onto its side for doing all this work which meant I could get all 3 boards done in a day. I will be doing the same when I come to get the points all wired in as well! The pictures should make more sense than my ramblings! Any questions or comments please feel free as usual, Thanks, Mark

Hi Claggy, Great to catch up on the progress with your layout - some really good shots on there that I hadn't seen - when is the Ferry going in position as that is going to be a very impressive feature! Keep up the good work, Mark

Hi Mike, The signal box was built using plastic strip - I built this after the entrance shelter before the layout was even started just to make sure I could build things from scratch from photos of the real thing. I will do a proper feature on this at some point as to how it was built etc but everything on it was built from plasticard and strip sections with wills sheets for the lower brickwork and the roof slates. The windows were a bit of a pain to do but they worked out quite well. LN Lancs thanks for adding those photos very useful for reference - why didn't I opt for a more sensible building with all the windows boarded up! Thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, Pete - Its funny from a visual point of view with the card platform structure in place the curve appears to flow much better - in fact if you sit at the front of the layout at the viaduct end it sweeps quite nicely round so hopfully it is going to plan and will look realistic when its finished. As you have probably gathered by now apart from my overall vision to get the layout complete so much of this one is being devised as I go along as I have had to scratch build and so on. I have decided that I will go with brick built platform facings as i can't find decent photos of the real thing and the shots I have found so a mixture of stone, brick and timber sleepers with rails holding them up in place which I don't fancy doing. The assumption is that when the platform surface was redone I think in about 2007 the facings were also repaired and done in brick! I did some research on the net on brick built platforms and I think I have come up with workable and fairly realistic effect for Rannoch, here is a shot of the sample section. This will be made and painted and final fixing will be with superglue as there are a few curved sections to fix tight to shape and final touchs added from there. Dave - I totally agree with you about lighting and it is part of the plan. I am thinking of doing the exterior lights those under the roof overhang and the modern platform types - I have got some bright LED's and brass rodd etc to have a go at making these at some point already - I will keep you posted. I was going to leave the interior of the station without as in a lot of the photos I have found it seems to be closed up a lot of the time but I want to add some lighting effects to the cottages, room lights, fire flicker and possibly TV flciker as well in one of them to add a bit extra detail. I also want to add the lights to the Stop boards and somehow link these to the route settings of the track. My cousin Steve isn't into trains but he knows a lot about electronics so I will draw him some sketches and a few notes and he will be able to come up with what I need - hopefully I can even get him to make a large PCB with all the gadgetry on it like he has done for me in the past and then I only need to connect the wires from the various LEDs etc to the panel but this will be some way off yet. It's a shame April the 1st has passed as I could have added this image and told you that I was scrapping Rannoch! As I have been off this week I have been able to spend the last couple of days working on the layout - The storage area was only lightly laid and the layout was connected with fishplates at the board joints for a running session so I could test everything from an operational point of view. It looks a lot more drastic than it is but everything had to come up so the holes for the dropper wires off each road and the holes for the point motors could be made. The rear facia panel for the storage roads was also finally able to be fixed in place and once the track was all fixed in place permanently and rail ends soldered in place the whole section could be turned over ready to start wiring it all up for the switch over proper to DCC. The photos show the work in progress. Thats the lot for now, been busy on the wiring today as well and 3 boards are complete but ran out of red wire so the viaduct section still needs to be completed! I will show you the wiring progress soon. Comments and questions welcome as always, Thanks, Mark

Hi Peter, Nice to see a new 47 model on your layout and looking very good! I really like the new Bachmann 47's that we are getting at the moment - 47 474 has joined my fleet well not officially until Saturday 30th present from my mum and see even kept it down in Barrow since December so I couldn't run it! If I can work out how to upload a video I will add it to my layout thread to tempt you by DCC sound had a go at recording my 2 DRS sound fitted 37's. Only joking - it is easier to plan to do a layout from the start to DCC where as converting is not as easy as people will make it out to be if you want everything to run well without stalling etc. Even doing mine today thought everything was going well until I shorted out on the two 3 way points as I hadn't used enough insulated joiners on 2 other rails. At least it wasn't too painful to fix. Keep up the good work as always, Thanks, Mark

Hi Dave, Its great to see those coaches - the work you have done on them is very good and as others have said I don't think I have seen those window stickers used before either. I really need to add an up to date charter rake for Rannoch and seeing some of the conversion work you have done on your Mark 1's is very helpful as those roofs do look good - I also like your attention to detail with the people as it adds a lot to the overall effect. The weathering also looks spot on especially the underframes and bogies. Looking forward to seeing more. Thanks, Mark

Hi everyone, Thanks for your kind comments glad you like how it is turning out. I am off for two weeks at present and as you can tell have found some time for modelling while the wife is at work! Well planned you might say. I got some more thick art card a while back from a cheap art shop in Glasgow and got 5 large A0 sized bits for £10 which will last for ages on many future buillds. Anyway this stuff is easy to work with, will bend a little where needed and is strong and light once fixed in place. So with a sharp stanley knife, steel rule, pen and some PVA I got to work on the platform. This is another large structure that I had been putting off but actually quite enjoyed doing today with the sun shining in the window! Quite by luck the first copy of Model Rail I picked up from 2000 had the dimension chart I was looking for to help work out the platform heights etc and this was a useful starting point. I made a rough sketch of how I want it to look once complete and took started building from there. I am going to use wills brick sheets for the platform sides which will go on over the card so this has been set back to allow for this and I am going to layer out the bricks on the top 3 rows to create a realistic overhang which will also allow a flat card base to sit on the top of the frame work you see in the photos and then the surface treatments will be added to this such as edge slabs, the square textured slabs and hopefully if I can find somehting suitble the brick sections with the remaining areas done in pink granite ballast as per the real location. The photos are better than words for showing the work so far: Thanks for looking, Mark

Hi Everyone, A bit more progress has been made. The chimney stacks are now completed, fully painted and weathered and with the sun coming out I was able to get some in natural light to show the colours off to better effect. These were not the easiest things to make due to having to slice the brick sheets into rows and then remove certain amounts off the back of each to create the brick levels as found on the real ones. The south end one even had a rebuilt upper section which I have tried to replicate using a thinner sheet of brickwork. Overall though I am happy with the way they have turned out. The roof has had the ridge tiles cut out and stuck on - these appear to be a greener shade than the main roof sections so I used the light shade of humbrol slate to paint these. The tiles themselves are made from tamiya masking tape - the 6mm wide stuff which is cut in half down the middle and then the sections were cut from this. I tried to cut them to the length seen in photos which appears right for the ends at least. The great thing about using the tape is that it sticks to shape really well, is easy to create the overlap of the tiles and the paint goes into it easily. It is also very thin so is much closer to scale than using plastic sections. As masking tape dries out it stays permanently in place and hasn't shown any signs of peeling off on the signal box or entrance shelter that I made about a year ago so should last well. The close up of the tiles shows them just painted so the main roof slates still need to be touched in where I have covered the edge of the tiles. The other shot shows the building in its current state in situ. Finally just back up from Barrow having driven down on the Saturday night to go to Furness Model Railway clubs show. It was well worth the trip down with some very good layouts to watch including Loch Dour, Apethorne Junction and Sweet Home Chicago to name a few. I have picked up some very fine etches by the Cumbrian railways soceity of the Furness Railway benches with the Squirrel ends which are too good to sit around for a future project but will look good on Rannoch in the mean time. I was also able to pick up the EWS management train pack from DC kits - thought I wouldn't be getting this as my new glasses cost a fortune last month but since getting paid again it just had to be purchased as I thought it would look great on Rannoch and my brother has even agreed to buy the buffet coach when it comes out as my 30th brithday present so I can complete the train. Here is a quick view of it at Rannoch. Thanks for looking - comments and questions welcome as usual Mark

Hi Alex, Those shots in the garden look fantastic - you get a real idea of the scale of it all with those fine looking 60's along the front! Just imagine how loud this layout will be with several sound fitted locos idling on the shed area! I am still amazed at your progress - it is going to be a great layout! Thanks, Mark

Dave/James, Thanks very much for the info and photos for comparison. My next project is a little way off but I want to get it right as it will be quite a big project and is planned to take a number of years to complete so as I see things I am trying to get as much knowledge as possible as it will make a difference. Thanks, Mark

Hi Alex, Not sure I have seen this track before with concrete sleepers anyway. I have seen the intercity models contrete sleeper with the Costain branding which I thought was very good. Yours also looks to be very good as well with the wider sleeper spacing should look really good once bedded in and more space for weeds and clutter amongst the track work as well. One thing I can't see from the photos is the type of chairs present as in the future I will really need to have the more modern style pandrol clips represented for main line standards. Those 60's look good as well by the way. Keep up the good work, thanks, Mark

Hi Pete, Funny thing really but last night whilst running 37670 I was just thinking about how to hide the fiddle yards a bit more - the North end off the viaduct is much simpler in some ways as I am building the small rusted metal footbridge and as this bank is steep will be looking to forest it with pines etc. The bridge face is made and although this section is very much a compromise to the real thing it takes elements such as the footbridge and the valley and viaduct are of the style found on the line so a bit of modellers licence can come into play. The south end is bascially a hole in the sky but looking at photos there are a few trees about so won't be too bad - the only really issue is when ou view from the front at each end of the layout as you are looking straight through them which you don't get on most layouts but I wanted to use the corner space to create that more open feel and also to get in some very key scenic features like the cottage and lane at the south end and the viaduct at the North so seeing through the fiddle yard entrances isn't to bad a compromise - time well tell how well these get blended! Thanks, Mark

James, That sentinal is looking great - I am following your progress with this as I would like to make an industrial shunter in the future for either an MOD or industrial type of sidings and seeing your work is very good to learn from and I am really impressed with how this is taking shape, please keep up the posts as well as the great work, Thanks, Mark

Hi Everyone, Thanks for all the positive comments I am really glad you like the progress and the layout in general it makes it so worthwhile sharing it all with you on here plus I get to see your work and get so many more tips and ideas which I can put to use on my layout. As I was off today I stayed up late last night to finish off the chimneys, by picking out some bricks in highlight colours to add abit of depth to them and also the top brickwork on the rebuilt one. I then used some railmatch weathered black to dyrbrush them and give them a suitbale worn sooty appearance which has finished them off nicely. I also decided to give the roof a second coat of Humbrol enamel slate grey so finally went to bed at 3am. I have detailed the front end of 37670 as well and currenty working on my wiring plans for the layou at present there are lots of neat droppers in red and blue with the point motors in as well but I still need to do the rear storage board with all this and buy some point decoders - I am going to use a Bachmann module for the scenic board with 4 outlets and I have found the Lenz one has 6 outputs so think this will work out the best route to take but need to get hold of some hopefully quite soon. I am also working on a design for the main modern platform lights using LED's and some brass tube which is yet another job on the list of many things I want to get done. I will try and add some more photos soon. After you all liking the 37 I am not sure you will like my long term plan for this one - I really like modelling DRS engines and I am thinking that this would be a good base model for 37 087 with some nose end work and some even finer work on the cantrail grills to match the prototype but we shall see as the Bachmann release of 37415 will also be a suitable machine that I have seen cropping up whilst researching the line on the net. Thanks, Mark