John Geeee

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeeee Hi All. May I take the opportunity to wish you all a merry Christmas. I have started work on a diesel refuelling point. It still needs weathering and once in place I will also add some pipework to join it to the two storage tanks. I have also done some work on the first Dapol turntable. I have replaced the plastic rail post, that I kept breaking, with a rail and posts from brass wire. I have also added some decking to the bed of the table to try and make it look better. I then plan to redo the motorising method to something more reliable. Cheers for now.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I purchased the new Right Track 11 Weathering Techniques with Tim Shackleton from the Warley 2009 show. He makes it look so easy so it inspired me to "Attack, Attack, Attack" I already have a "cheap" dual action airbrush and compressor which I have used for colouring the track. Time to put it to better use. Following Mr Shackletons recommendations I use Humbrol 62 Leather and Matt Black mixtures diluted with white spirit to give a nice sprayable consistency. It takes a bit of practise to get used to how much to apply. I find the more you dilute the paint the weaker the effect, as I would expect to be the case. So it takes some time to get a feel for the amount to apply but I think I picked it up rather quickly. Now the bad news is that this entry brings you completely up-to-date with the layout so far. So the blog upto this entry is everything i have done for the last 3 years. Therefore entries will slow down a bit now, but the good news is I do have lots of things to do so it is by no means anywhere near completion. Here are some before and after pictures of the first weathered wagons: I think I need to add some odd rust to the metal components, rivets etc. Otherwise I don't think they are too bad for my first attempt Next Up - I have not got a clue as yet! Watch this space.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I decided to add a small representation of a coal pit so that there was somewhere to load coal into the wagons for delivery around the layout. At the time I was not up to scratch building standards (and still not ) so I searched but could not find exactly what I wanted. In a desperate move I went for a Faller kit to use as loading screens over a track. It was fun to build but to be honest it does not work for me because it is not "British" enough in my opinion because of all the wood. I was not going to add it to this blog but well why not it is still a modelling exercise! Knightwing have since started producing a Coal Screens kit so I now have one of those to try. I also plan to scratch build the Pit Head at a later date. So for now here are some pictures of the completed kit but it may not stay on the layout for ever. I may just re-clad the top wooden unit with corrugated sheet to try and improve it. The roof is also removable and ther is a hopper inside so that you can pour coal into the wagons below. So if anybody has any other sensible suggestions for turning it British please let me know. Next Up - First Time Wagon Weathering.

Hi Mikkel, Thanks for the kind comments. Yes there are two sets of transfer with the kit, one for this coal merchant and the other for a timber merchant. Cheers John Geeeee

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee Here are some pictures of the next build, a Coal Merchants Ratio kit. For the wood construction I paint the wood a cream "pine" colour and then "stain" it with burnt Umber washes until I think it looks right. A stone wall will be added later to seperate the coal merchants from the rest of the yard area. Next Up - Coal Loading Building.

I agree with the windows and the hinges, but it was only a "experience gaining" task so it may be replaced again at a later date

Yes I can see where your coming from, well I tried a few things with the roof and nothing looked right to me . the best look was to have it "flat" or rather believe there to be a slope towards the back for water to run off to drainage. So for now I will leave it until I see something to give me a better idea. Cheers John Geeee

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee. Lets see if we can turn two Dapol single engine sheds into a two road roundhouse shape shed for the area by the turntable. I managed to make the two sheds form a triangular shape by adding an extra window section at the back and using a piece of plasticard to fill the gap between the roofs. I lined the inside walls plastic stone sheet and added gutters and down pipes to the outside. I also added some beam structures to the inside roof. The painting was carried out in the usual methods I have previously described to give dirty stone look. I haven't fully bedded it in yet because I would like to add some lighting and equipment to the inside. Did it work? You tell me. I know I like it.. Next Up - The Coal Merchant.

Thanks Ian. Yes it's a bit big, I thought I may have overdone it at first but knowing me I will probably change it to something else in 12 months time when I think of another idea:rolleyes:

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I needed a space filler for the top left of the layout to add a bit more interest but there was not much ground surface available because of the way I had fitted the backboards. Therefore I decided to go for a warehouse unit that I could fit over the backboards without actually taking them off. I went for the Scalescenes model because it could easily be configured to fit any space. It was something different to build and because of the size I was building it required a lot of paper and card. I used about 60 sheets of premium 100gsm inkjet paper and 3x A1 sized card with adhesive backing from Hobbycraft. The adhesive card made life a bit easier and gave a reasonable stiff structure. I made the model with only three sides because the back could not be seen.The most difficult part was fitting the north light roofing because it was quite difficult to keep all the corners of the walls square. In the end it was a case of trimming some of the north lights to fit and squeeze them in as best I could. After building it I sprayed it all over with matt fixative to try and prevent the inks from fading. I wanted it to sit over a single siding so that wagons could be shunted in and I added a platform to the ground level. The floors are only half width because that is where the backboard comes to when the warehouse is fitted over it: I still have some bits to add to the area such as a couple of steel exhaust pipes to the outside of the warehouse and also I think I will add a retaining wall to the rest of the corner at the back. Next Up - Kitbashing an Engine Shed.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeeee This is the row of terraced houses and the church yard at the back of the layout on top of the tunnel section. They are all Metcalfe models and I have added gutters and drainpipes for extra detail. The top of the tunnel is in two pieces to make it easier to take off in case of a derailment. Therefore I have to be careful how I set things up on top so that I can still take the top off in two halves. I added part of a Peco backscene to the end of the row: The Church: There is still a lot to do to improve the area. I created the churchyard on a card base but over the summer this has warped slightly so I may have to modify it slightly. I have more details to add to the churchyard such as gravestones, monuments and some trees etc. I need to add more stone walling to the front of the rock face and then I plan to create an area for the house residents as either a playground or some sort of seated viewing. I am also still on the lookout for chimney pots for the houses which is why there are not any at the moment. Next Up - The Industrial Warehouse.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I like the Metcalfe card buildings because they are easy to build and you can fill a space very quickly but sometimes I do not think they look detailed and textured enough for areas that are easily viewable. So as time goes on there are certain buildings that I want to replace with better quality options. The first was the Goods Shed. It's at the front of my layout so very visible. Here is how I built the Ratio Goods Shed. Personally I think this is my best paint job so far. I think I got the stone work just right. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of the painting stages other than the ones here. My method was again start with a base coat of yellow ochre on the stone work. Then apply washes of a dilute burnt umber until the stone work is looking a darker colour. This needs patience and takes several days to complete allow each wash to dry before repeating. A apply the wash to a horizontal surface which seems to allow the brown umber to build up on certain "bricks" to give that uneven appearance. When I have applied 5-6 washes and I am happy with the darkness I apply a cream wash to highlight the morter lines. I make the cream wash less diluted than the umber wash which seems to give a lighter weathered effect on top of the umber washes. When I brush on the cream wash I wipe it off again lightly with a damped paper kitchen towel to take the majority of it off the stone surface. Here is the inside platform painted as described above: I try and paint as many parts as I can while they are still on the sprues: The Goods Shed walls all painted and ready for the doors and canopies to be added. I like the random colour to the bricks but this has not been achieved by delibrately picking out certain stones. The effect is just the way the umber washes settle more on certain stones: Now with the final details added: Now the pictures of the shed on the layout: These final pictures show a yard crane added to uload wagons. I will make a better platform for this when I get time: Next Up - Down Our Street.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee The first turntable was a learning curve and not all of it was for the good. I decided that the next turntable had to be better in every way. I went for the Peco turntable and I needed a way to motorise it and get better reliability. Whilst visiting an exhibition I came across a Meccano stall and bought a motor some rod, couplings, worm gear and a gear wheel. I made a fixing bracket for the motor from a 6"x4" steel panel and fixed it in place to the baseboards under the turntable. A rod was attached to the underside of the turntable and with a gear wheel and worm gear all was connected to the mecano motor. The motor was wired up to the same Hornby controller used to operate the first turntable, so this provides a variable rotation speed. Then with the help of a couple of isolating switches I could decided which turntable to move. The track is lined up by eye and I think it is easy enough to see. The power to the table track was just tapped off the feeds and returns from the terminus station area via an isolating switch. It took a bit of playing to get the gear drives in the right place but eventually it worked although a little jerky. So finally I added the magic ingredient.. Vaseline! Rub a good blob on the gear and wheel and voila! smooth turning! Yippee! There are a few wires around but once they are taped out of the way theres nothing to worry about. And just to show that it works please click on the image link below.. Nwxt up - The Goods Shed.

The OO Garden Shed by John Geeee Here are some pics of the Cattle Dock, Coaling Stage and Water Tower. All of them are Wills/Ratio kits and are easy to build. I think the most difficult thing to decide with these kits is how to paint them. I do not know how they looked in real life and most pictures in reference books are black & white. So in my case it simply comes down to imagination. Hopefully I have got them half right, if not please let me know. This is the Coal Stage just after initial painting. It later gets a dirtier airbrushing around the stone base. The Water Tower is added: The Cattle Dock was a little more work. I do not like the lamp posts because they are so fragile and difficult to get the top arc glued on straight. If any body has any tips on the lamp post please let me know: Everything still needs bedding in but again all in good time. Next Up - The Other Turntable.

Here is my first effort and entry into this. I hope you like it:rolleyes: Cheers John Geeee

Hi Witherbrow, Thank you, I am glad you like it. Theres a lot more to add to this area of the layout yet, so please keep watching:D Cheers John Geeee

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I look on my layout as eventually being a series of Diorama scenes all linked by railway track. I am certainly learning all the time so I never consider any scene to be complete untill I can master all forms of the art of railway modelling. Therefore as I learn a new skill I revisit one of the scenes and try to improve it, as seen earlier with the way I think I was improving the yard surface. For the area past the new turntable I decided to create a small corner area with retaining walls. I used Wills retaining walls which are easy enough to put together. Parts of them were cut to size to hide the back of the corner hill area. After construction the walls need to be painted. I decided I wanted to try and do a dirty sandstone type of colour effect rather than a red brick or blue brick effect. I use cheap artist acrylics for painting my plastic kits. In their straight out the tube form they paint the plastic very well and dry relatively quickly. They can also be diluted with water to form a wash. I have also used them diluted for airbrushing various parts of the scenery. Here is a completed wall section, I still have to add some water drainage down pipes: The Walls are first painted with a Yellow Ochre basecoat: I then added the drain pipes. I painted the arch bricks in a prussian blue and then picked out some bricks in different shades to break up the brick pattern: Finally I made up a dirty wash to liberally brush all over. I apply about 4 or 5 washes to gradually build up the dirtyness, allowing each wash to dry before adding the next. This stage needs a bit of patience because it can take a couple of hours for the wash to fully dry. If you add the next wash too soon it will just dissolve and remove the previous one. I used a misture of browns and blues for the washes on these walls. I think it created a bit of a "green" tint unfortunately. I have since found that I get a better effect by just using a burnt umber wash on brickwork, or at least that gives my favoured appearance. I find that if you apply the first couple of washes with the plastic horizontal you can get small pools of brown concentrating on some of the individual bricks so that when it dries some bricks start to take on a dirtier appearance which I think adds to the effect rather than having a totally even wash.For the final couple of washes I apply them and then stand the plastic vertically so that the wash runs down and a stronger colour builds up at the base which is where most of the dirt would build up on the at ground level. After tehfirst couple of washes: After a few more washes. I have also tried to add some other "water" stains. Well it was my first attempt at painting stonework : So I fitted the walls in place using a bit of silicone sealant on the back to fix them to their surroundings and then added some greenery to the back of the left side walls to blend them into the corner hillside behind: I may still get the paintbrush out again on theses walls one day, but for now they wil do. Next up - A cattle dock and coaling stage.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I was becoming dissatisfied with the facilities available to the terminus. I wanted a nearby turntable to turn locomotives but I did not have the room. So another extension was required, "but thats the last one!" said Mrs Geeee. I therefore got the wood out again and increased the area so that I could add a turntable with some storage sidings and a loco service area. This extension would offer more room to develop the goods yard, add a coal merchant siding, provide refuelling for steam locos, an engine shed and maintenance sidings off the turntable, and finally a diesel refuelling siding. First some pictures of the extension boards and the whole cut for the Peco turntable. The track was laid straight onto the boards becuase I did not want it to look too raised and point motors added to the points. I would soon change my mind again and I was not happy with the raised look of the track. Therefore I covered the board surface with cork floor tiles and then painted it with a dark muddy colour emulsion. To add some texture I added dried sand to the paint and then brushed in various directions to look like track marks around the goods yard. Once the paint dries I use weathering powders again to lighten the look of the surface. Later I would decide I was still not happy with the look of the yard so I filled the gap on the outside of the rails with DAS. I also extended one of the sidings so that it would fit two diesels for refuelling. Now I am happy with the yard surface Next up - The Yard Retaining Walls.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee I wanted to do something to add to the scene around the terminus station. I got the wood out again and added about another 8 inches to the left hand side baseboards so that I could add a row of high street shops and at the top end some kind of factory. To cover the baseboard joins I put down some black card and stuck it with some spray adhesive. It seemed a good idea at the time but about 12 months later the card has slowly bubbled up and become uneven. So I am currently thinking about repairing the road surface. Otherwise the black card worked well and I applied light coloured weathering powders with a brush to grey it off. I added a wall to the right side as the boundary to the station. Then I created a pavement on both sides using the Metcalfe self adhesive paving. All the shops, banks and pubs are Metcalfe kits for now. In the long term I will have a go at making my own shop fronts by scratchbuilding with plasticard etc, but thats probably a few years away yet! At this end of the high street I want to add a hotel structure facing the station building but I am yet to find a suitable kit. The back scene is created from Townscene backscenes stuck onto card and then the skyline was trimmed around all the roofs and chimneys etc. When I have repaired the road I will then add more details like street lighting, zebra crossing, road markings etc. The top end had a Metcalfe industrial building for a while but it eventually gets replaced with a Scalescenes warehouse structure, this will appear in a later chapter. Here are some pictures of it for propserity ;-) Next up - Another extension to add another turntable and loco service yard.

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee. OK, lets break things up a bit shall we? Here are some videos of the trains moving. Its not the best digital camera in the world for taking the first five videos but I hope it gives you a different view of the layout in action. The last two vids were taken with a new camera and have a better quality picture. You will see that I like to run things at express speeds so my appologies to those that get travel sick:rolleyes: Lets feel those G forces...... The Devon Belle with lights: Next up - The High Street Shopping Experience!

The OO Garden Shed By John Geeee So, this is my first attempt at a working turntable. I bought the Dapol turntable kit because it was relatively smaller than others available and it was cheap. I thought I would try and motorise it and use it in the first loco yard. I bulit the kit easily and tried to paint it to make it look dirty and weathered. This was my first attempt and I think it shows! I plonked a length of track on top of the turntable and added a couple of brass strips underneath it with wires leading to each side of the tracks. Once I had glued the circular base to the baseboards I then took a couple of pieces of flexi rail and bent them into a suitable semi-circle shapes and fixed these to the baseboards with some track pins. Then I wired one semi circle with a feed and the other with a return to povide the power. The brass strips under the turntable are positioned so that one pics up the feed and the other the return. Then I attached the table to a Maplins geared motor fixed under the baseboards. The motor was wired up to a Hornby controller which provided the variable speed. After a bit of fiddleing it eventually worked. It does not look exactly right and I am in two minds what to do about it. Sometimes I want to just rip it up altogether and other times I want to start again. The motor has become a pain and was not very good and often just slips if the table snags because of the brass strips. I have bought a new motor and some mecano gears etc so one day I may make a better job of it. I am also thinking about taking the piece of track off because it looks rubbish and replacing it with just some fixed rails and filling in the track bed. So here are some pics and a video of its best days. For a better effort see later for my much improved workings with a Peco turntable. Next Up - Lets see some action!!

The OO Garden Shed by Ginger64 original page on Old RMweb I did not want to buy ready-made buildings if I could help it, after-all what do you learn about modelling from them. I discovered Metcalfe and liked the look of them. I thought they would be good to get the layout populated relatively quickly. I had actually started building some of them before I had laid any track so that I could measure things up like stations and good sheds etc. The long term plan is to slowly replace the card kits with more "realistic" looking plastic kits etc as I learn more about how to paint them etc. Theres not much to say about building the card kits other than read the instructions carefully before starting anything. I glue them all together with good old Bostik. It can be a bit stringy but on delicate areas like windows etc I apply the glue by using a small pin that I put into the nozzle of the glue tube to collect the glue and transfer the glue to the window or card by rolling the glue covered pin where glue is required. The Terminus Station Building: The platforms can accomodate 4 carraiges. The Brewery Buildings: The Through Station: The Engine Shed: Next up - The First Turntable. Cheers John Geeee

The OO Garden Shed by Ginger64 original page on Old RMweb After track laying and wiring some basic scenery was required. The traditional home layout tunnel was added. This was made up from layers of foam polystyrene bult up and glued with PVA. The top layer is removable to allow access to the tunnel area incase of derailments. At this stage I still was not sure what feature I would put on top. Once set the layers were cut to shape and then covered in a polyfiller PVA mix with some paint added to achieve a "stone" colour. The mix was applied simply with a paint brush. The tunnel mouths were Metcalfe card kits. The "Rock Face" would later be painted, weathered, and treated with various scatters. The outside of the incline was part covered in a set of foam incline arches from International Models. The fitted the natural incline angle remarkably well and they were flexible enough to be fitted around the curve! The remaining ends were fitted with stone paper applied to hardboard strips. I still need to fit some hand rails to the tops of these walls. You can also see that the track has been ballasted by the usual accepted method of: 1. Pour the ballast over the track. 2. tap into place with a small brush. 3. Spray with water mixed with a couple of drops of washing up liquid. 4. Make a 50:50 mix of PVA and water with a couple of drops of washing up liquid and apply it with a dropper to the ballast. It should soak in easily and takes 48 hours to dry. 4. Vacuum off any loose ballast and remove any ballast stuck into the inside of the rails that may cause derailments. The other areas of the incline were made up using Modroc. The areas were first stuffed with screwed up newspaper to provide some shape. The Modroc roll was then cut into 4" lengths, dipped quickly into water and then applied onto the area. About 3 layers were applied and the surface smoothed over by hand whilst still wet, wear disposable gloves!! The mod rock is fully hard in 24 hours and can then be painted and covered in scatter etc. For the scatters I try to apply different shades of green. I do not want everthing to look exacltly the same colour like a carpet. Later I will also apply paint to the rails and trackbed with the aim to create a general appearance of rusty red and various track dirt running into the ballast. Next up - The buildings start to appear. Cheers John Geeeee

The OO Garden Shed by Ginger64 The next stage was to lay the track. All track used was typical code 100 with Hornby Insulfrog points. All points are to be operated by Hornby point motors. At the last count there was about 35 points with motors. All track was laid onto cork glued to the baseboards with PVA. All the boards were painted grey prior to final pinning of the track. Holes were cut into the baseboards to fit the point motors under the points. I obtained a DC Guagemaster Q Four Track controller which gives me all the track and accessory power required ( I use a Hornby set controller for rotating the turntables , see later). My research into electrics had helpped me plan how to power the track. I decided to use a CAB system with the whole layout separated into four isolated sections: 1. The upline of the loop. 2. The downline of the loop. 3. The inner marshalling yard/loco shed area. 4. The Terminus station/ loco refuelling and turntable area. The Cab control system allows me to set which section is controlled by which track controller. Therefore if I set both the terminus and downline to track controller 1 then the train can run seemlessly from the terminus to the down line without any jerking over the cross over point. A 3mm plywood was used for the base under the incline lines. The minimum height for the crossover was determined and this was taken as the top of the incline point. The incline ends were then determined and then various height supports were created. This was a simple process of find the mid point along the length of the upslope and downslope and then support this point with a piece of wood made to half the height of the crossover. Then repeat the process for the 1/4 and 3/4 points on the inclines. The inclines were then tested with various locos and wagon/carraige loads and everything pulled as required . At this stage the various track areas were tested for running by attaching the controller feed and return wires directly to different parts of the track using crocodile clips. Once I was happy everything was working ok I then set to work on the control panel. As I said before its all DC control so I have lots of various isolated sidings and also the two line running loops are sectioned into three parts each so that I can actually isolate various areas to stop trains running while another train crosses the lines at various places. It seems complicated at first but I got used to it and now I feel I can do anything I want when it comes to running a train from one place to anywhere else without trains being able to collide by unwanted movements. All the track has power feed and returns soldered in various places to the outsides of the rails and the wire feeds directly through a small 3mm hole inbetween the sleepers. I made the control panel from a piece of hardboard with 2"x1" support and topped with painted aluminium panels. I marked out the layout plan onto the panel and drilled the required holes for all the swithches. The panel had hinges added and then it was fixed onto the side of the baseboards. Then the wiring began. It was not fun but as long as I followed a structured path everything went according to plan. As always Over the next 3 years I have continued to add the odd section switches etc as I came across the odd "I wish I could do that" moment. There is also a CDU under the panel to power up the point motors. Also each rotary switch now has an isolator switch fitted because I found that if I already had a train running round the down loop using controller 1. and then I wanted to run a train on another section from controller 2. when I turned the rotary switch for the next section through location 1 to 2 the train would jerk as it picked up power from controller 1. So the isolators for the rotary switches stop this. The control panel with isolated CAB selectors for the up and down lines, MPD, and Terminus areas: Next up: Some scenery work. Cheers John Geeeee

The OO Garden Shed by John Geeeee original page on Old RMweb Just setting up my old RMweb layout thread by copying it over using Martins transfer utility. Thanks Martin Now I will try and tidy up the copy of the old RMweb thread to make it a bit easier to read. This will involve removing some of the older general comments and the addition of more detail and pictures from the early scenic work. I will try and give the blog a bit more of a chapter feel to each stage of my progress. I hope whoever reads it finds it interesting. My appologies to anybody whose previous comments I may delete during the process but If they were questions about the layout I will leave in the answers to help others. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:42 pm Hello to everyone at RMweb. I have been watching and learning for the last 18 months and I am now brave enough to post some pictures and receive comments, from the more experienced modellers out there, on my OO layout that I have been putting together since about November 2006. I have a thread on a similar forum for beginners so I appologise if the pictures are familiar to some of you, if you don't want to see them again then please tell me to go back where I came from, I promise not to be offended I am 44 years young and this is my first ever layout. Don't ask me why I left it so long, all I know is that I have now got the bug and I can't help myself!At the moment most of it is constructed from the usual well known kits, I have not braved any scratchbuilding as yet. It is not based on anywhere in particular and I run whatever trains I like the look of, mostly steam but I also have a small diesel collection as well. I wanted to build a layout that would let me run trains whilst also giving plenty of shunting. All locos and wagons are fitted with Kaydees. Its a DC system, all the points are electrically operated, there are two motorised turntables, and the layout is divided into 4 sections, each can be operated by a 4 way controller using CAB. So here is a selection of my favourite pictures so far. There are many more available going back to the point when the shed was first cleared out, but I will not bore you with all of them unless requested I am always changing my mind and trying to expand wherever possible, usually after much negotiation with 'er indoors! Some parts I have still to decide what to do with so this is very much a work in progress for a few years to come. Firstly the Trackplan for the layout which is about 9ft by 10ft at the moment Updated 20/10/2009: "> The Shed: The view from outside. Total size is 22ft x 9ft. Only the front has wood for external appearance, the other three sides being brick and breezeblock. The windows are PVC double glazed. The roof is precoat aluminium. Therefore the layout takes up about half the interior at the permission of 'er indoors . The Early Days: The inside of the shed had to be prepared before layout construction could begin. Some serious tidying up was needed becuase it was becoming a store for unwanted items. There was a bit of damp in some areas of the floor in the corners. The concrete floor was first sealed with a sealer and then repainted. The damp has now dissappeared. The walls which are lined with chipboard were then painted with a light blue emulsion. The roof had to be insulated to prevent condensation so the roof beams were lined with foiled bubble wrap which has also worked a treat and stopped any condensation forming and dripping onto the layout. I was lucky in that the previous house owner had left a lot of 12mm 48"x18" sheets of plywood which seemed ideal for nice strong baseboards. So I selected the best boards that were flat and damp free and started to add 2"x1" battons to the edges etc to prevent warping. It seems to have worked well with no warping in three years since they were put together. There was two sturdy work benches in the shed already so all I did was remove the tops and use the bases for the legs and support of the boards. The Boards are held together with coach bolts and extra 2"x2"legs added where required. I initially had a raised border around the edge but over time this was removed to gain a bit of extra width for scenery. Unfortunately I was not brave or experienced enough to fit a removable section for access to the central operating section, so its a case of crawling under. As the layout developed a bit of extra board was added to the left side to create the high street and two extra boards were added across the front to create the goods yard and turntable area. I obtained a few lots of track from Ebay. even though I ended up not using a lot of it because of its second hand condition, it did prove useful for trying out various ideas for the track plan. After throwing a few ideas around and with some help from members of another forum I more or less ended up with the basic layout below. I wanted a layout that would let me run trains and also provide some interesting shunting potential. I did my reaearch by getting hold of as many railway modelling manuals and track plan books as I could in those first few months. I now own quite a collection of very old and modern railway modelling books for reference. So I came up with the "inverted 8" loop to give the continuous running, with a terminus attached to the outside of the running lines and a wagon marshalling yard/ loco shed inside the running loop. I also had space to add sidings for a brewery and "somethin else" later to become a small coal pit. There is a through station on the right hand side running lines. I later decided to add another loco MPD with a turntable at the front of the layout which was reached via the terminous line to the goods shed. There is a cross over point on the running lines so there has to be an incline which is just high enough for my tallest steam engine to get under. Once the plan was settled on, then track laying could begin. In Phase 2, I will explain the track laying, electrics and the control system. Cheers John Geeee