Jon Fitness

The cutting sides by the new bridge have had the basic scenery work built now and resemble a snow scene. Steve has decided a couple of railwaymans cottages would look nice there, with a pathway and steps down to them. There may even be an allotment or 2 as well. The cottages in the pics may or not be used eventually as they are an old low relief building from the bits box with a temporary “back half†added on! Railings along the top of the retaining wall will keep the people where they should be, and the old “edge of the hill†back-scene, which for structural reasons can’t be removed, will be disguised by the contents of a large box of sea-moss purchased cheaply from a local florist. Once the walls have been painted to match the bridge, I’ll finally be able to re-attach the signal gantry (in its new position) and make a start on some new signals to reflect the changes made to the track layout. More to follow.

With the recent changes that have taken place on our layout (new junction layout, inner bi-directional loop and a bridge to replace a tunnel) some new signals will be required. Some of the ex Talacre signals that are languishing in a box in the cupboard will be re-assessed to see if they fit the requirements or can be altered to suit. More importantly, I now have an excuse to build a working banner repeater! I have a kit from MSE in which instructions show how it can be built (with additional parts) to represent a GW version or a Southern rail-built version but an ex-LMS version is what I'll try and build. After consulting my trusty LMS signals book, I've made a start. One thing I'll have to consider is that the real things were operated electrically rather than mechanically, so I either have to Devise a hidden linkage down to a servo under the baseboard.or Build the kit as instructed with an external linkage at the rear of the signal and hope the position of the signal will hide the linkage. Some head scratching required methinks. More to follow...

I'd love a really good victorian Lancashire cotton mill. Not a complete one in one download, just some elements that could be printed off to join together to make a large or small one as required. Things like the engine house, chimney entrance doors, arch over the gate outside, lift tower (with a fancy top!) and editable names to blend in the brickwork along the top of the wall and down the chimney. Plenty of layers to the brickwork and even a large horizontal steam engine (or representation of one!). I pass a superb one in Preston if you need piccies... Jon F.

It was more about the price of beer than the smoking ban. Although I'm not a smoker myself, I do miss the haze in a well used pub! . It just seemed part of the whole pub "thing" that I remember from my yoof!

NOOO, I love staffies, cracking hounds they are but..... It's the hackney'd image of the "Chav with the staffy on a lead" using a perfectly nice hound as a fashion accessory I don't like. JF

Cable theives Train Taggers Excessive 'elf and safety Poorly kept real ale Travelling on voyagers (noisy uncomfortable stinkheaps..but irritatingly fast and reliable) post 1980 buses Chavs with staffies Soap operas jeremy vine on radio 2 EU The smoking ban (and I don't smoke) Over priced beer (If Sammy Smiths can do reasonably priced beer.......why not everyone else?) Pubs closing down (see above) Sooldering irons that burn out just as you've sussed out how to set up a complicated and delicate joint... etc.....

Cheers John! Feel free to come and wave a lens at it when it's finished!! JF

S'funny, a few people, well a lot....well everyone has said that ! JF

Hi Pete, I paint the whole lot with Railmatch "concrete" colour or similar, allow to dry for a day, then mix up a brew of matt black/leather/brown and scrub it across the raised stone in a diagonal direction both up and down, and in both axis. This way it catches the raised areas but not the mortar courses. If it still looks too bright, dry brush it with the same browny mix over the bright bits. After it has dried you can go back over with a dry brush of matt black or even matt dark green in places. Try it on a bit of scrap stone card until you're happy with it. The whole paint job took about 10 mins for the cream and 20 mins for the dark colour. I'll have to do the rest of the retaining wall to match now!. If you look at the Saltney gallery pics of Astley Bridge station area you can see I've had a bit of practise... JF

After a pleasant couple of hours at the Gresford gauge 0 get-together, (where I met fellow RM Webbers Dikitriki and Dibateg, nice to meet you fellas!), I returned home to daub a bit of paint on ET’s replacement, the stone bridge. The results can be seen below and I’ve left it with Steve to install and bed-in. Once it’s in, I’ll blend in the surrounding stone-work and I’ll then be ready to re- install the signal gantry. This will be moved so it’s on the “approach†side of the bridge and it will be joined by one or two others appropriate to the now revised track-work. Jon F.

Yes, I know I said that the last entry was going to be the last but I couldn’t face starting a thread from scratch… We reached at that time, what Steve called “the crest of a slumpâ€. Astley Bridge station was all but complete, and everything else was just ticking over. There were a few bits of the layout that all of us liked and a similar few that most of us didn’t, there was too much stock, not enough operational flexibility and too many other distractions. It seemed we had lost a bit of impetus to work on the layout and we just ended up meeting and drinking tea. Steve decided that the down-hill incline from Uppermill Station was just too steep and was making the locos run badly. I was never happy with the ET* between the two junctions as it covered up too much of the main lines. Half of the main lines are already under cover where the storage loops are and it just dominated one end of the layout. I arrived one day to see several rubbish sacks outside the door, containing said hill and was greeted with an empty space on the layout where it once stood. Steve had decided to re- arrange the junction up to upper mill, reducing it to single line, removing the down-hill line and to do this entailed removing the hill to lay a crossover. The two mainline junctions then gained a bi-directional link line so that now we can run between the 2 terminii without stopping traffic on the mainlines. The old lead to the downhill line now heads off to 2 long sidings via a double slip, thereby curing 3 problems in one massive re-modelling session. No more steep gradient, a massive improvement in operational flexibility and that huge ET* removed giving more “viewability†(is that a real word?) to the layout Steve was in charge of the track alterations and to replace the ET* and retain the physical/scenic break between the 2 junctions, a new stone bridge is being built, both on the slant and on the skew. Once I’ve built and installed that, quite a bit of re-signalling will be required which will keep me occupied for quite a while. Meanwhile, mojos duly found and fired up again we’ll bat along with the alterations and see where we go next. *…ET= Elephant T**d…

Thanks Steve. Hope to be adding to it soon!

This any good? Straight off the camera, just re-sized for uploading. Jon F.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/1273-bolton-trinity-street-station-1980s/ Any help? JF

Hi Chaps, Thanks for the compliments! The castings I make for myself (from my own masters before anyone asks ) are for the arms, backblinders, brackets and lamps. I prefer the depth of detail on my cast arms and back blinders and as I have made a lot of signals (about 70 so far ) it keeps the cost down. The brackets for things like the LMS tubular post junction and "running line to loop" signals I cast myself as (to date) they are unavailable from the trade. As I put lamps in my signals I cast a simple square lamp box/ bracket with a 3mm hole already in it just to save having to drill holes! I may yet switch to Scale signal supply's cast brass ones as they are easier to solder on to a brass post without damage. Post caps and other fittings I use either SSS or MSE, whichever I have in stock. Things like lampmans staging I build from brass strip with coffee stirrers for the wood work. Etched brass signal fittings and arms and a huge selection of castings are available from Model Signal Engineering and Scale Signal Supply both of whom I thoroughly recommend (usual disclaimers apply!). Mark, Depending on the era, a nice mix of semaphore and C/L signals works well, as the LMS started a policy of fitting colour light distants and IB signals in the '30's. The boxes I worked around Bolton/Manchester in the 70's and 80's all had a mix and some of the C/L sigs were the old round topped variety. Happy days. Jon F.