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Gloucester Road

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  1. Gloucester Road
    Knew this time had to come sooner or later; have become disgruntled with the current layout Gloucester Road. Though not finished i have begun to look else where and want the challenge of something new. The current layout is 7 years old and is starting to show its age, scenery is looking tired, track (points specifically) are starting to fail, not sure i still want a roundy roundy as the boys are getting older and into operating as opposed to watching, and i have a feeling my skills have moved on and i could do a better job. Not to mention some of the great N guage layout on here are providing insperation. So decisions to make.
     
    First one was made last night when i started playing around with some track planning software from Atlas. The property that was awarded to me for this potential adventure is 12ft by 3ft. Have been messing around with point to point plans with sweeping curves in the aloted space.
     
    Second decision was made today. Code 55.....what else is there, to say it looks amasing!!! Drove 90 minutes round trip to the "local" hobby shop and purchased two points and four pieces of flex track. There is one cautionary tale as the owner said some locos dont run well/derail on code 55, and for this reason atlas has stopped making code 55 but he has plenty of points and flex track, so i better come up with a plan. Once back home and having checked some things off the "honey do list" we started on a test track. Farish and Dapol locos and wagons run (powered by the mysterious hand) and look stunning on the track; first time through the atlas point and my heart sank, the wheels of the locos failed to go through the atlas frogs. oh @@@!!!. After some time thinging and studying out came the Dremmel and we opened up the frog and guide rail a bit and presto!!!
     
    So thats where we stand.
     
    Might also change to a thread format to, as that format seems to apply to discusion and interacting about potential issues. Anyway off we go.
     
    Stephen
  3. Gloucester Road
    So managed to spend some time yesterday weathering a YGA per the pics in my lasr post, then today took some photos on "New Street". Happy with how it turned out.
     
    Here it is being shunted. This side was made to look like the upper picture on previous post
     

     

     

     
    Here it is from the other side, tried to replicate the lower picture from previous post
     

     

     
    I think they turned out pretty close to those in the pictures, three more to go. Finally here is an overall photo, really should put grass in the front right
     

  4. Gloucester Road
    Having passed my annual checkride and with six months to relax before my next one I decided to do some weathering. 67027 was the victim, as the pictures hopefully show I added the buffer detail and added the front valance. I seperated the valance from the bogies and reattached it, now when the bogies turn the valance doesnt go with it. Found a picture of 67027 online and went to work with my powders. I am fairly happy with how it turned out.
     
    Before mod

     
    Buffer details

     
    Valance not attached to bogies

     
    before weathering

     
    weathered

     
    arriving from the works

     
    light weathering

     
    close up

     
    stabled for the night

     
    welders at work

     
     
  5. Gloucester Road
    The Missus had a Ladies Christmas party last night so I disapeared to the train room for several hours last night. My rake of four Farish HHAs need to be weathered so out came the powders and some transfers of grafiti. Then this morning my yougest said "Dad lets play trains", who can pass that up!!!!
     
    2 pics of the HHA

     

     
    the rake was then seen passing the unfinished portion

     
    passing out of Upper Brimsley

     
    then several pics in Gloucester Road

     

     

     
    And finally the happy driver

     
    The next thing on the list of things to do; there is a lack of housing above the station in Brimsley. Have completed one set of low relief buildings from Scalscenes (see earlier entries) and so last night set to and started on two more sets.
     
     
     
  6. Gloucester Road
    This morning 57003 was held at Brimsley, sort of unusual to catch a picture of it as it passes through at night.

     
    Managed to remove grass while taking the above pic.

     
    So why the hold up, off to find out. From the vantage point of the air we could see an engineers possesion at Gloucester Road

     
    We landed and headed back to investigate. 08921 was shunting the wagons and 67027 had been called in to cover for the failed class 37


     
     
     
     
     
  7. Gloucester Road
    Thought I would post some images of the construction of Scalescenes small terrece houses. I had lots of fun building these; as with all scalescene the instructions are very clear and construction is straight forward. The first two I did are complete with the interiors all done up and the front walls are removable to see inside. The last two I thought would be done as if if they were still underconstruction, so no windows and the roof is under construction. The wood and flooring is strips of balsa wood, not to scale but it looks ok. Just awaiting some construction equip. and workers to show up to finish the cameo.
     
    foundations

     
    in place

     
    interior shot

     
    front wall on

     
    building the roof

     

     
    in place, just waiting for workers to come and finish their job




  8. Gloucester Road
    Not the final name for my small layout, but I got tired of calling it unnamed; so for now this is it. Took it outside for some naturel light, WOW ! More than pleased with how they turned out.
     
    autumn sunshine
     



     
    the first delivery



     
    class 57003 shatters morning peace




     
    All these and some others have been put in my gallery.
  10. Gloucester Road
    Took a little break from building baseboards today and played trains. Fiqured out a panoramic function on the camera that stitches pictures pics together on its own. . Here is Gloucester Road stitched into two pictures.
     
     
     

    the original board
     

    the extension
     
    Not to bad when you consider the camera is on the mobile phone and it stiches automatically.
     
    Also today a parcel arrived that had in it what surely must be some of the best RTR weathered wagons to date. The weathered silver bullets are amazing. Freightliner 66610 was seen pulling them through Brimsley and Upper Brimsley.
     

     

     

     

     
    and the "wagons on the web" type of shot.
     

     
    I was a little hesitant to purchase these as my luck with Dapol locos has been less than good, but these seem well worth it.
     
    Thanks for looking.
     
    Stephen
     
     
     
  11. Gloucester Road

    Ballast and YGA/YGH

    By Gloucester Road,

    Spent yesterday laying code 55 track on the test track, but that wil appear in a thread later. Also spent some time adding ballast to YGA/YGH.
     
    Cardboard former was cut to shape, then PVA glue and ballast:
     

     
    This was repeated four times, once for each YGA/YGH.
     
    Here is the YGA which was weathered sometime ago, but it now has a load including some on the discharge chutes and on the decking.
     

     
    Here is the YGH with its load; looks very clean must get the weahering powders out. Then all four lined up as a rake.
     

     
    .
     
    Will get some shots in a new thread for the code 55 test track.
     
    Stephen
     
     
     
     
  12. Gloucester Road
    So finished rakeing the leaves off the lawn today. Many people come to New Hampshire to the view the leaves as they change change colours, however they leave when it comes to cleaning them off the lawn. Decided to have a go at my shunter 08921. Had thought about taking off the couplers on one end, like on my other locos, but figured that might effect how usefull it would be as a shunter. Was going to put the included pipes onto, but they got in the way of said couplers so. I weathered it lightly instead, there are some before and after pictures here and in a new gallery.
  13. Gloucester Road
    Well the bike ride did not go as planned. 30 miles in had a puncture followed by a bent rim.... Oh well will try again. Came home to try and do some work on the layout and got fed up with a strectch of track that was not working, tried all i could to fix it in place and then just pulled it up.
     
    So some track laying will commence the next week i am home.
     

     

     
     
     
     
     
     
  14. Gloucester Road
    With the warmer days and nice weather my other hobby has taken over. During the spring, summer and fall seasons I try and get 200 miles in a month on the bike, it is a Jamis Ventura....a nice ride. Just got back from 47 miles in preporation for a planned 120 miles on Thursday. Here is the bike
     

     
    The railway has not been neglected as there has been much playing....errr operating of the trains, but no modelling to speak off so enjoy the bike picture.
     
    Will see how things go on Thusday. Im going south from New hampshire to Connecticut so it should be downhill right!!!!! The map doesnt seem to think so. Oh well
  15. Gloucester Road
    Took some time to trainspotting today and caught 56074 out earning revenue. Will be interesting to see the Dapol class 56 compares to the old Farish one.
     
    56074 in Brimsley, with what looks like Thomas lurking in the background

     
    56074 passing the the signals which need wiring in

     
    passing through Upper Brimsley

     
    heading into the tunnel

     
    arriving into Gloucester Road

     
    Though I did some modelling, see Scalescenes thread, it is nice to sit back and watch the trains run sometimes.
  16. Gloucester Road
    I have decided to start building the Scalscenes Small Corner shops; at first it will be just the shop fronts finished in low relief and will then move onto the corner shop full size. Progress can be followed in a new thread under the Scalescenes tab in the skills and knowledge section.
     
    Stephen
     
     
  17. Gloucester Road
    Its been awhile since I have made any updates, and here is one reason:
     
    Chloe an Australian Cattle dog, texas heeler mix, she is nine months old and taking to training well, our three cats are less certain of the latest addition
     

     
    The other reason is spring has sprung so work in the garden and cycling has started up, but purchased the "small corner shops" and started putting those together. It will be low relief on the backscene at Brimsley (shops only) and full size with pub in Gloucester Road, replacing some off the old farish buildings.
     

     

     
    and finally some gratuitous train/layout pictures
     

     

     
    Stephen
  18. Gloucester Road
    Happy New Year to all. A big thanks to Andy and his efforts to get (and keep) rmweb up and running.
     
    Progress on Gloucester Road has been slow over the Holidays, but as things start to settle back down into routine work is picking up. Have done some more work on the backscene behind Brimsley and purchaed the Station Structures from Scalscenes. YGA and YGH wagons arrived for Christmas; these are great wagons and I have started to add all of the details. Also 47474 arrived, this is a vast improvement on any class 47 that has been put out before. Details will be added and both the loco and wagons will be weathered in due time.
     
    Sky and fence behind Brimsley

     
    Bright sunny day

     
    New fencing

     
    YGA and YGH

     

     
    47474

     

     
     
     
  19. Gloucester Road
    The weekend after Thanksgiving there is an event in Southern NH and Eastern Massachusetts that this year involved 23 open houses/layouts that you can visit. This year on Saturday there were 11 open in MA and on Sunday 12 in Southern NH the event runs from 9-4 on both days and allows one to visit layouts that are not open to the public. It is rather fun to sit down and plans one attack, then with mobile, camera, map and two excited boys we left mum (who looked rather pleased at our leaving) to enjoy driving and visiting layouts. The highlight this year was seeing Tom Oxnard's Boston & Maine layout which was featured in the December issue of Model Railroader. There was also an n guage layout set on three levels and completely controlled via computer. We managed to see 5 houses in six hours, and returned home about 6pm tired and happy. Pictures will follow here and in the Gallery section.
    Joel Ditrolio HO layout

     
    Tom Oxnards HO layout

     
    John Newick N

     
    Dave Kotsonis HO

     
    Bobby Babrera HO

  20. Gloucester Road
    Decided to go with the Scalescenes Low Relief Flats to fill in the hole above New Street. Feels more urban altready
     
    The empty hole

     
    streets and flats

     
    Cut windows and pavement

     
    Roughed in walls and elevators

     
     
    compare these two pictures and it does seem a bit more urban
     
    vs
  21. Gloucester Road
    Have been building some more of the Scalescene low relief houses, ran out of glue so the roofs will have to wait. Also test fitted some above the retaining wall on New Street, I think they will look good here too, but maybe as store fronts at the end of a road. Might also put the new low relief flats here instead, havent made up my mind yet. With the new corner shop and shop fronts some of the old Farish store fronts on Gloucester Road will also be replaced
     
    Ran out of glue

     
    workers have gone for the day

     
    from station platform looking up

     
    these ones still to go

     
    test fit for potential shop fronts or flats on New Street, not sure which.

     

  22. Gloucester Road
    So the postman delivered a package from Osborns today that contained a bulldozer and an exteneded crane. They are both very convincing models , though the crane is much taller than i thought it would be. Anyway they have been weathered and added to the housing site, I think they finish off the scene nicely. Any thoughts?
     
    Had to add muddy tracks for the heavy equipment

     
    Here is a picture of the bulldozer with driver

     
    The workers getting to it

     
    Two views of the work site

     

     
    Some closeups of the crane

     

     

  24. Gloucester Road
    Spent some time this afternoon sticking the last of the backscene parts to the Brimsley boards
     

     
     

     
    Then here are the pictures of 159007 with the new gears, valance attached and some weathering.
     

     

     
    Then out for a test run.
     
    Leaving Brimsley
     

     
    Passing the signal box
     

     
    Passing through the station with 156xx waiting for a clear line
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  25. Gloucester Road
    Feeling fairly pleased with myself tonight. My Farish (not Bachman) 159 has been in bad shape for some time, poor running and noisy with lots of cliking sounds. I have suspected split gears, as Farish was (?) prone too. Tonight I took the wheel sets off and took apart the gear stacks and to my surprise found not one but two split gears; one on each gear stack. So off to the parts bin (you never know what will come in handy) found two wheels sets with correct gears on them. Reasembled the gear stacks with new gears put the power car back together and onto the tracks. Blue sparks and a puff of smoke later it all came to a dramatic end.
     
    Or so I thought.
     
    The springs that take power from the wheels to the motor had shorted through, new wire and solder later it runs a treat. Took the additional step of cutting the big coupling off the outer ends and taking the skirting off. After cutting the coupler connection the skirting was reattached to the body not the bogie. Now when the bogies turn the lower skirt stays in place, it looks so much. Tomorrow will do some weathering and post some pictures.
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