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Looking good as ever. Interesting what you say about the Ratio footbridge. I've struggled with the Ratio Provender store in the past eventually getting there. Hopefully building three of them together will go well?. Sounds a bit pricey though! Cheers, Mark

Brilliant stuff as ever Missy and it looks like it builds into a lovely replica of the prototype. These would be good scaled up to OO too as there is a distinct lack of decent tank models available other than the Bachmann or Airfix/Dapol offerings. Going to be lovely seeing these lettered up and finished along with the point rodding of course! Cheers, Mark

Just wanted to say thanks to the organisers of show yesterday and I believe that the show was very successful raising a good sum of money towards the new church building. It was good meeting the likes of Dave, Nobby and George as well. It was an excellent show, larger than last year and one that is moving to a bigger venue next year. There was a good selection of layouts in all scales offering something for everyone. Juniper Hill behaved itself in operation with only a few glitches-one being that 'Percy' was out of gauge demolishing the water tank every time he passed it amongst other things. Other than that, a broken telegraph wire and a bent Hunslet/Austerity to repair were the only casualties of the day. Cheers, Mark

Hi Dave, A really good day, one I enjoyed and didn't have to do too much operating wise with Tony at the controls My first exhibition and 'Thanks' for the thumbs up and the advice. As for the 'Teddy Bear' well seeing as we played bounce the Hunslet/Austerity today a Teddy Bear may be a suitable replacement for the Hunslet whilst in for repair. Good to see you again and your layout Snape Maltings. All being well see you on the 8/6/13 in Harborough. Cheers, Mark Here's a picture of Tony at the controls of JH being watched by his wife Barbara and.......... Thankyou Nobby. Wrecrail is penciled in my diary the day after a very special day! Cheers, Mark Put me on the subs bench for Wrecrail if a space comes up! Here's a few more shots of the day too. JH set up prior to the doors opening, beneth the pulpit in front on the communuion rail. Sat on an ironing board. I think that JH does need to be raised another foot on the ironing board to assist viewing. Something I'll look in to. Sentinel 68184 at rest near water tank captured on film by a renowned railway photographer Jonty Chambers. Later on 'Twywell and 'Cranford taking on water.

Thanks Dave for those kind words. I'm glad it brought some memories back for you too. There were some lovely systems in those areas. I'm lucky having the old quarries on my door step but I've used a book called 'Steam railways in colour around Northamptonshire' by Coleman and Rajczonek (1993) for reference which has a series of photographs of some of the quarry systems around the county. It's interesting as I learnt that Ivo Peters actually came and took photos of the quarry systems too. I'd love to run an Heljan BSC Class 14 as used at Corby but I think it would be too big for Juniper Hill. Cheers, Mark

Evening, It's been a busy day preparing Juniper Hill for it's first exhibition. Everything is packed ready to be loaded into the car in the morn ready for setting up at the church hall around 8.30. It's a brilliant feeling knowing you're gong to be showing your layout to the public. One of excitement and intrepidation. I'll take some photos so hopefully updates either tomorrow night or Sunday. Thanks for all the words of encouragement and ticking the 'Like' box. Today I thought about it how I've progressed in the period since I've been a member on this site. I know RMweb has enabled me to develop my modelling skills and in the process meet and get to know some great modellers-some who have become good friends. Kind of sounds like some sort of BAFTA Awards speech! Anyway-the exhibition is being held at Hope Methodist Church Hall, Park Road, Rushden, Northanptonshire from 10.00-16.30. Think it should be a good do! Say 'Hello' if you're attending. Cheers, Mark

Morning Pete, Thanks for the thumbs up B) It's come together nicely so a few bit to sort before Saturday though should be ok. Will see how it performs in public but JH should be ok. As you say I can revisit area of the layout I feel I'm not happy with including those corners on the back scene, The layout is going to be displayed on an ironing board-no hot iron action though! Thanks for the 24 clock as well-Great stuff! Cheers, Mark

Hi Robin, Thankyou for those kind words. Juniper Hill has kind of fallen together today. Theres a few bit to sort and the scenery won't be totally complete but its almost there I guess. As for stock it's not going to be a Sentinel fest! 'Twywell' is sat on work bench and is a favourite-hence her regular appearance in the photos. Although designed around an ironstone quarry system this Saturday will see Juniper Hill running not only with the Hunslet/Sentinel but a BR Sentinel/Class 03. My operating colleague Tony will be bringing a BR Terrier and also Thomas and Percy may make an appearance with the troublesome trucks! The plan is to have 3-4 wagons appropriate to period plus 1-2 locos on the layout. There was talk of a DCC sound Class 08 but that idea has been scrapped I think. Cheers, Mark

Here's a few progress shots of the fascia and lighting I've achieved this pm. Dalerboard glued together forms the wings and pelmet and can be folded. Just needs the 'Juniper Hill' name in the top left hand corner to hide the join line on the pelmet strip. I'll also make add an information board to the fiddle yard area on the front highlighting the history, research and build of the layout for those interested. The lighting gantry if thats the right word is a piece if 2x1 with the fish tank light mounted on it which locks on the the back scene. Here's an Eastern interloper in the shape of Sentinel 68184 which I need to weather because there may be an Eastern influenced running period on Saturday with a Class 03 making an appearance. Finally 'Twywell' runs up to the tank to fill up her water. Bit more tonight then need to start on sorting/cleaning wheels of stock and adding some further scenics to the layout including bushes and one or two people etc. Cheers, Mark

Been busy over the past few days. I've completed the backscene and I'm presently working on on the presentation and lighting aspect of JH. As you can see JH is now mounted on a 4 inch plynth made from 4mm ply. This has received a covering of 'Windsor Blue' Dalerboard which will be the presentation colour/ The backscene is Dalerboard sprayed with a mixture of Valejo/Tamiya and Railmatch acrylics. I then over sprayed the whole backscene with a thin coat of white just to blend/tone things down. With a layout this size you don't want to overpower the foreground. As I say I'm working on the lighting which will be a flourescent fish tank light but here's a few shots on the work bench with daylight and light from an anglepoise. Here's a few shots of an empty yard showing the backscene. Ideally I should have curved the corners to avoid the vertical line in the sky. We haven't seen much of the entrance/exit to fiddle yard side of things. Here's the Sentinel 'Twywell' passing the mystery hut. You can see the lovely hole in the sky hidden by the goods shed and also there will be a wing on the front display hiding it further. Talking of the goods shed here's Terry the site foreman with his cat Marbles on the loading step surveying the Northamptonshire countryside. For those of you who live in Northamptonshire 'Juniper Hill' will be appearing at its first exhibition this Saturday having been invited to the annual 'Rushden Hope Methodist Church Model Railway Show' from 10.00-16.30. Come and say hello if you are attending. There's normally about 10 layouts and a few trade stalls plus excellent food/drinks. I've been winding up Pete (BCNPete) with talk of deadlines to reach with the music from the '24' series. Think I need to get my skates on now! Cheers, Mark

This is looking good Pete. You've got the infrastructure in place so hopefully the platform canopy won't present too many problems? As for breaking the office laser cutter. Did you wear it out? 24 series countdown music once again! Look forward to an uodate this week. Cheers, Mark

Seek and ye shall find! I've never had a layout thread before and thought it would be good to have a continuous flow as opposed to the blog style of things. Plus I thought it might keep me focused. You know me! As for the Dalerboard-two sheets of Windsor blue procured yesterday! Thanks Pete for the comments too. Cheers, Mark

There may be potential to use the fiddle yard area and add on to the board if necessary. At present JH will stay as it is-never say never though! Your description of crooked rails, weed choked sidings and all the debris kind of fills the remit I want to achieve with JH. Thanks for your comments Simon-really appreciated. Cheers, Mark

Say no more!

Thanks Simon. Hopefully there's atmosphere developing in JH portraying the industrial theme of the quarry systems. Cheers, Mark

Blimey Robin. I haven't looked in for a day and all these photos appear and 'Spaceships' too. Great stuff the shed photos look really good-a nice atmosphere about them. I really like the 'Grange' shots too. Nice job of removing the roundel and putting the GWR logo on the side of the tender. The coach builds add a nice touch of individuality about the coaching stock. Cheers, Mark

The mind boggles Mickey. I'm sure there's a very good story in there somewhere Go on Mickey. Between you and me!

Thanks Robin. Yes static grass certainly adds to the effect though my local model shop in Northampton only stock 2mm length stuff so I need to order some of the longer grass as I mentioned above. Don't worry about the Teign Valley line either As I also mentioned above I have my core interests and that is one of them. Look out for post war Panniers/Prairies in GWR times around Trusham! The idea of Juniper Hill is to test a few ideas, share my interest in the ironstone quarry lines, act as a photo plank and above all have a layout to shunt a few wagons up and down. It is also being constructed to be suitable for exhibition display with appropriate lighting etc. In theory if I removed the water tank and replaced it with something else you could almost have a generic layout. Thanks Mickey and it's not in Kernow either. Stubby may provide the Cornish theme with that mystery structure! Not sure about the Lark Rise to Candleford reference. The real Juniper Hill is just south of Brackley on the A43. The name has always fascinated me and I decided to use it. Obviously the real Juniper Hill never had a railway or ironstone quarry-the nearest being around Hook Norton I think? Cheers, Mark

Bit of a quick update tonight. Been busy with a few bits on JH and got the water tank finished eventually. I used some Ratio signal ladder and some spare parts left over from building a Wills water tower to complete the build. Here's a few work bench photos and some of the structure insitu on the layout. And with my trusty Pug Sharp eyed viewers may have noticed I've completed the grass-using hanging basket liner intiially. To finish I used my static tea strainer and a mixture of Jarvis scenics static grass 2mm fibres. This was fixed with Co-op hairspray-Because I'm worth it! I need to get some 4mm/6mm to add some extra length eventually. Also on the scenic front I've completed the fencing. The posts are matches painted grey with Vallejo brown wash to give colour and definition. Holes were drilled in the posts then I threaded fine elastic to create the wire. I fixed the wire with super glue. Finally, a shot of 51218 taken looking from the fiddle yard area. Scenic jobs continue and I'm in the process of looking at the display/lighting side of things. More updates soon. Cheers, Mark

Where's Elvis? Be nice to have a picture of him on the layout. Seriously though Missy-great stuff, brilliant photography and the layout oozes atmosphere. Cheers, Mark

Thought I'd start a layout thread for my micro-layout based on a Northamptonshire ironstone quarry theme. The layout is purely fictional taking in ideas and inspiration from quarries around the north and eastern side of the county. Perhaps the Cranford/Storefield sites are the biggest influence though. The idea of Juniper Hill is to represent the end of a quarry system where loco's can take water and crews can have a break. Also the small goods shed acts as a store receiving materials for the quarry. These sidings are by the side of the road and the local United Counties bus serves the workmen. Like many when I returned to the hobby nearly five years ago I had big plans and went down many dead ends. I still have my core interests but I wanted a quick project I wouldn't loose interest in. I'm more of a modeller than a layout builder so in theory this is a glorified photo plank that works. Also I just wanted something that I could shunt a few wagons around to relax that would fit into a spare room and not need putting up/taking down. In many ways it has broken all the rules about baseboard design being a 3 ft x 7inch shelf I found in the garage. It looked like it had possibilities so I just covered it in cork underlay-no bracing. I had some SMP track and a couple of PECO Code 75 points so made a simple track plan that can be seen in the photographs. There are two isolating sections and the points are controlled by the rod in tube method. I'm not good at wiring up layouts and wanted this to be simple. Control at present is by my trusty cheapy Bachmann workbench controller but I will probably wire up my Gaugemaster hand held contoller. The fiddle yard is a foot of track at present that will evetually be hidden when the layout is encased in a card display. I could make cassettes but stock will be minimal-4 wagons and 1-2 locos at a stretch. One thing I wanted to do was replicate the rough track surfaces the prototype ironstone quarry lines ran on. Thankfully, I have some excellent colour photos of the systems so was able to use these as a reference point. Some of you may recall my post on the update board last night about creating a WW1 trench railway. The track was sprayed with Tamiya acrylics- initially NATO black then my home brewed track colour. To achieve the look of the trackwork I used DAS clay filling in in the spaces between the sleepers and track. I did this over a number of evenings. Once dry I painted the clay with some Homebase terracota paint from a match pot. Yesterday, I'd baked some mud in the oven and used this as the ballast. The usual mix of PVA/water and a few drops of washing up liquid was used to fix this. Looking at it once dry it looked stark and wasn't what I'd hoped to achieve. Out came the airbrush once more and various shades of browns were used to blend things together. Once happy with this I detail painted/dry brushed areas to pick out detail. Buffer stops are modified PECO-painted and weathered. Last night I laid the grass-hanging basket liner fixed with PVA. This morning I pulled the top layer of hanging basket liner off and was pleased with the effect. The fibre looks very sun bleached, so I'm not sure if it warrants a bit of tweaking with the airbrush and a further mow. Static grass will be applied too in the next few days. As for the structures there's the usual suspects from the Wills range of kits-the hut and the small goods shed. I've built a water tank out of an old Bachmann tank wagon mounted on some pillars made from Wills sheet (Lovely to cut and work with-Not!) I've got to decide to either fix the water bag to some pipe work under the tank itself or scratch build a free standing water supply which I think I may go for.There is a water supply pipe for the tank in the paint shop and I will add a ladder too at the rear. The other scratch built structure is a hut that looks like something Stubby would build-I'm not sure of its purpose? The quarry systems had loads of huts about so I'll leave it to your imagination. In all seriousness, the goods shed will act as a view blocker and the mystery hut will take the viewers eye away from entry/exit to the fiddle yard. Hopefully as well the buildings and other bits of infrastructure will give a balanced perspective to the proceedings. Other than static grass, its a case of adding the fine details such as fencing, hedging, lamp posts, telegraph poles and general rubbish you would find around a quarry The plan as I mentioned above is to make a display case presentation with fish tank lighting and hide the fiddle yard. I'll probably use Dalerboard for this in the style of Pete (BCNPete) Finally, I'm going to use an old ironing board for displaying the layout on. Thanks, Mark

Evening Paul, This is putting my Austerity bash to shame now! Seriously though, your take on the subject is looking great and RT's detail parts are looking brilliant. This is going to be something special once its finished. I really like the beading around the bunker. Simple but effective. What colour are you thinking of painting your model? Cheers, Mark