jamest

Hi, Excellent work, as others have already said. A very nice scene for photos and a nice manageable size to play with at home. I'd like to turn all my spare points, ply, buildings, etc. into something similar. You've inspired me to get on with it. All the best, James

Hi Steve, Nice to meet on Saturday and put a face to a name. The layout looked great and seemed to attract a lot of people. My first Stafford visit and hopefully not my last - a great show with plenty of opportunity for inspiration - and spending money! All the best, James

Hi Paul, Thanks for the feedback, I want better looking track on my next layout and this is a great option for someone like me who doesn't want to build track or deal with non latching points and expensive electrical switching\point motors. They are not cheap but neither are the other options and the operation is potentially cheaper. I'm not knocking code 100 or 75 but I'd like to give this a try. All the best, James

Hi Loving the layout - you really have an eye for colour and shading on the various surfaces and buildings - top notch. Speaking as someone who might invest in some peco bullhead track.....I notice from your earlier posts on this latest layout that you don't appear to be feeding power to the point in any way - are you using the unifrog and treating it like an insulfrog point? If so do your locos run over it ok? I assume they do given the fact you haven't mentioned it, or ripped up the track! When using code 100 I always found insulfrog points to be fine as long as they were laid nice and flat - and the stock rails were joined/fed - you also have the advantage that you don't need anything to activate them but a piece of wire. Looking forward to seeing your progress and thanks for sharing. Regards, James

Hi, Making the journey up to Stafford from North Devon with some friends on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh. All the best, James

That is spot on - I think you've been very sensible bringing the interior detail up to just the right level to benefit from lighting. I don't want to offend anyone that does like to super detail - but we all have limited time for this (or at least I do!). No point in 'going to town' on things you can't see. Far better to concentrate on detail like the fire - it looks great. Regards, James

Hi, Its probably been said already, but the track work is a real work of art, it looks fantastic in post #88. Highlighted by the real life photo in #89. Looking forward to following your progress. Regards, James

Hi all, Thanks again for all the positive replies. Bit of progress to report.... I've finished the low relief factory - painted the roof metallic grey, and added some fascia and downpipes and guttering: I've also decided to move the 'lean to' ready to plonk building and place it behind the scalescenes effort - still need to add downpipes here: I had hit a bit of an inspirational wall apart from that - so I decided to play trains a bit to inspire me a bit. The fiddle yard with cassettes proved to be a bit labour intensive so I decided to go to a traverser and use the base I currently have. I am really pleased with the results and it gives me five roads within the travel - four for the main line (nearest the front of the layout) and four for the 'siding'. No - my maths isn't that bad - by this I mean the extreme end roads on the traverser do not travel all across to the opposite side running line - so only the three middle roads can be used for either. Right enough words, this is probably time for pictures! The drawer length is exactly three feet - or one piece of flexi. And here are some running pictures - apologies for the poor light and bright green grass combo - I need better lighting in the shed. The dummy point motors need wiring up and weathering! All the best, James

Sorry for the double (now triple!) post. I'll blame the computer.

Hi, Sounds a good plan - looking forward to seeing it progress. All the best, James

Hi, Sounds a good plan - looking forward to seeing it progress. All the best, James

Hi, I've seen a version in my local shop with the "Through to the continent...." daubed thro with black paint. But I use kadees too and having converted some older tension locks like these, without the NEM socket, I try to avoid it if I can. But the lure of having the wagon might be too much! All the best, James

Hi Andy, Looking good - I can only echo other comments but the scenic track work looks fantastic. O gauge certainly is tempting! Will follow with interest. All the best, James

Hi, Not a job I enjoy very much - but a necessary evil! - Its looking very neat, and at least you can attack it in small steps. All the best, James

Hi, Speaking as someone who is very committed to Kadees (most of my stock and engines are converted) - and someone who has used both the 'on-track' and 'under-track' off the shelf versions - your design looks very interesting. Can I ask how you determine north and south? Or is it just important to have opposing poles each side of the track? So establish which sides repel and arrange accordingly. Cheers, James

Hi, Nice job on the platform surfaces - and the retaining walls. I use Scalescenes papers a lot, and for brickwork they are quite effective, but for surfaces like tarmac and concreate etc I think these types of methods have the edge - and you can 'form' the surface instead of having everything flat. Really enjoying the build. All the best, James

Hi all, Thanks for the kind words - the shed is great - I reccomend getting one. Its great to be able to walk away from a session and just close the door. When I was in the garage or on the dining room table I had to clear up after every playtime. I'm afraid the shed is not quite as tidy as it was in the earlier picture of the interior - notice I don't show anything but the layout at the moment! I do get pressure to store garden furniture, etc in there but it is strictly a no garden tool/furniture zone! Back to the layout - I have redone the half relief factory and shed in blue and dark red brick. I've also sourced some round and half-round strip to have a bash at some guttering and downpipes. Here is the shed - dark red brick, wills sheet roof and guttering in place unpainted (the building is not fixed in place yet): And the factory - really pleased with this - I've still got to paint the roof/add guttering/downpipes/some fasia and cover the two ridges with strip: Dark Blue brick - wills corrugated roof. The one area I'm not keen on is the left hand end over the platform end. I want to put something here but I don't have a lot of height to spare with the backscene so low and I don't want to fill it with green. I was going for a road but I've since gone for two other road crossings - and I've stepped the retaining wall down behind the sidings meaning it is not possible. I think in reality the 'tunnel mouth' would not exist as I have the surroundings set, and the cutting would continue, so I need to make the best of a bad planning situation! I've laid some ground cover (cheap wilko tester pot grey with woodburner ash spread on when wet - then hoovered off) and I quite like this structure in the photo below - maybe with a wall behind it, and an entrance from behind to the far right of it - lots of crap lying around - leave it with me and lets see what happens! Cheers for now, James

Hi all, Thanks for taking the time to post your comments, it is very encouraging. With regard to scalescenes - I've recently had a binge on several of the scratch building textures (plus some low relief flats and offices for a future project) so I'm thinking of going for different colour brick for the low relief factory and shed - I'm not sure the 'old' brown brick looks right. I'm thinking Dark blue brick for the factory and dark red for the shed - as opposed to the red brick seen throughout the station, walls and houses. Hope to have some photographic evidence by the weekend. In the meantime here is a pic that didn't make the cut the other day - my first car was a Capri so we had to have one on here (wish mine was a sportier one like this one!). Cheers for now, James

Hi all, One month later and I've added some more undergrowth and seamoss trees. The seamoss is simply cleaned up, sprayed grey and covered in gaugemaster leaves scatter. I've added some Peco flexible fencing along the embankment near-side and added some more modern fencing upto the hardstanding. The hardstanding is weathered with an airbrush around the edge of the sections and toned down with powers sealed with matt varnish. I've also started to address some of the gaps against the backscene. I plan to have the back of a shed between the houses and the road - the wills corrugated sheet roof is resting in place at the moment to give you an idea: And I plan to put a double apex factory end behind the station - just gluing the windows in place! All the best for now, James

Yes you did give credit to Saxlingham in the Railway Modeller article! It led me to search that one out too, very nice and very much my type of layout. Regards, James

Hi Steve, I've been following this layout for a while - excellent stuff, I hope to attend the Stafford show next year so I am looking forward to seeing it for real. I've also had an eureka moment on your actual name and some of your other layouts I have enjoyed, and taken inspiration from, without putting them together under one creator. I really like Parkhouse and Holditch, but my personal favourite, and one I'd like to transfer to OO for my next layout, is Cross Heath. I will try to put my own mark on it, and its interesting that it was actually a reverse of another plan you liked, but it does pack a lot of what I like into a small space - even scaled up to OO. Hats off to you for your work. All the best, James

A Taunton appearance is great news - well within my range! All the best, James

Hi, Really liking the layout - the track plan is very interesting and provides a lot of moves in the relatively limited room you have. I especially like the photos in post #53 above looking at the bay siding and platform from the throat. You've made the feel and look of the layout much better with the gentle curves - it could be done straight and/or parallel to the board edge and be no-where near as visually interesting. Like the originality of the station building/goods shed too. Might even nick some of your ideas if that's ok. Looking forward to your updates. Regards, James

Hi again, Well the grassmaster has been fired up and here are the results. I've started on the busehes and undergrowth on the house side - the other side of the appraoch board is still lawn. I'm happy with the results so far - it certainly brings out the houses and makes the scene come to life - now the stage I am always wary of.....when to stop adding undergroth and trees and leave it alone. I'm sure there will be much tweaking of green stuff in the near future. I'm glad I went to the trouble of putting down the javis scatter first as in slightly bare areas it shows through and looks good. Next jobs - alongside adding more green - are to decide what goes above the line at the end of the station - and to add a low relief factory behind the station. I am regretting the low backscene now - it was intended to be stored under a bed, but after the change in location I think I should have gone higher - bit late now. Anyway here are the pictures of the progress so far.... All the best, James

All the best for the weekend Mike