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nebnoswal

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  1. nebnoswal
    Well, this the 1st entry on the forum about my N gauge layout. I'll get around to transferring from the old site, once its up and running again.
     
    I started this project officially, back in August 2008, well that??�s when we started making the baseboards. Some would argue that the idea was first hatched back in 2000 when I first saw the track diagram for Stur. Over the preceding year I did some researching and lots of reading. Having to spend some of my valuable time flying round the sands of Iraq did cut into my time.
    The layout is built on 2 open frame baseboards, both measuring 2080 mm x 1100mm. It is made form rolled C-section light steel, as used for shop-fitting, and has 7mm plywood tops. The design is same as 2 other N gauge layout to be found downunder; Grassington and Thresfield by Greg Goodchild and St Albans by fellow forum member Sithlord75, aka Kevin Knight. You could kind of call it a modular layout, as you can connect 2 layouts up to a 10 track 2m long traverser, which can hold upwards of 20 trains. When taken to an exhibition it has a frontage of 6m, and it hold all of our running stock for a weekend.

    My version for Stur differs slightly from the prototype, but it??�s my hobby and rule No.1 applies. Firstly, Stur was single line working with a passing loop. Moving North to Stalbridge or South to Shillingstone require a token. Having the want to run trains, I??�ve expanded to this have both up and down lines, ie. more trains. Also to avoid having to put points on the baseboard join, I shoved them further to the left by a scale 50 feet, this means the station platforms and good yards are an extra scale 50 feet long.
    Research, especially from 20000 km away, has had its moments, but the internet is a wonderful thing. There are too many names to mention from the S+D trust, S+D heritage trust, the Sturminster museum and members of this very forum.
    So where is Sturminster Newton? It is located in Northern Dorset. Up until the 1980??�s it was a large market town, and was host to the largest livestock markets in the UK, held every Monday. This market was served by the S+DJR/LMS/BR until its closure in 1966. It was also home to some famous poets in the 19th century.
  2. nebnoswal
    This photo shows the expanse of space and several times now I??�ve been quoted as saying I have too much space, what modeller ever say??�s that?

     
     
     
    As the year has rolled on, work progressed gradually, most of it just tidying up. Ever so slowly I moved on towards the development of the station, yards and surrounds. At the same time research has continue, the biggest gain being some aerial photos taken by the RAF in 1947. These have both helped and hinder the building progress, mainly in the redesign of the cattle dock and station yard area.
  3. nebnoswal

    Stur

    By nebnoswal,

    To try and get some authenticity, I found a model-maker who is making their way through my list of building that was require. Opening the order was the station building with station masters office and booking office. I??�m quite happy with them.

  4. nebnoswal
    Have been tidying up over the past few weeks, its amazing the amount stuff you find when you clean-up!
    Other work has included:

    trying my hand at fence building, refining my static grass technique and trying to finish my entries into modeling comp for the BRMA convention this up coming weekend (3 NGS Mk1 horseboxes). On a good news front, my 7F has hit the rails. Its one of the old GEM S+D 7F 2-8-0 kits running on a Farish 8F chassis. I contacted GEM last month to check on progress of their new updates kit was promised it would be ready by early in the new year. Fingers cross it is and I can get another one, or two, or three ..........
     
     
  5. nebnoswal

    Spring cleaning

    By nebnoswal,

    Progress on Stur has been a little slow of late. Last few weeks prior to going to the BRMA convention were spent preparing wagons for the modelling competition. I was quite happy with my 3 horseboxes. Whilst Brisvegas I did some consulting with our head musketeer, and owner of the 10 track traverser. Also managed to find an article about a OO layout based on Sturminster Newton, which was in the July 1987 edition of Practical Railway Modelling. Some interesting hints and tips there that may be worth following-up.
     
    Over the past week I've managed to work on the rear of the backscene, on the non-viewing side, in the fiddle yard by adding and reinforcing that also acts as a shelf and will also support a TBA lighting arrangement. This work has proved to me that my garage is in a complete mess and needs a good clean-up. It is spring here downunder so it is a good time for a spring clean, even if the temperature is 37C outside. So this weekend will be spent tidying-up. Already I've managed to find several small items that I'd misplaced, many moons ago. Now it s time for the dust to fly and see what other misplaced goodies I can find.
  6. nebnoswal
    Well, I??™m about to take-off down to the beach for a week, a sort of pre-leave leave. Or as my wife puts it, time for us to spend time alone prior to our new arrival in the new year. Anyway, I thought I??™d better update on the little progress made on Sturminster in the past month. Time has had to be juggled between work, fire brigade training (yet another bad fire season is expected down under), anti-natal classes and keeping my 35 week pregnant wife happy (any tips most welcome).
     
    I got some Dornaplas toilets, which I??™ve put together, but still need some weathering. The other grey one's are readymade I got from an American supplier, but can??™t recalled the name at present. I??™ve got a pig sty in progress as well.
     
    I??™m still practicing with the static grass, and have only done a small corner of the layout as I try to develop my technique. One thing I??™ve learnt is that my lead wire is too short, as I accidently made contact between it and the wire strainer the other night. It was shocking !!! I definitely need to dull down the green base coat, as it looks a tad fluorescent. You will have to excuse the trees, as they are only temporarily in place. The fence is also too shiny and will need to be dulled down.
     
    Christmas is fast approaching, hope fully my new Stove R??™s will arrive in time, and maybe, just maybe, there will be a new Manor in the new year
     
     
  7. nebnoswal

    Sturminster Newton

    By nebnoswal,

    I don't seem to have gotten the hang of this blog thingy, so I reverted back to the old format in Layout Topics. Updates for Sturminster can be found there. Maybe in the future I'll work blogging out. You can now see updates in the link below.
     
     
    http://www.rmweb.co....__gopid__55142&
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