Alcanman

Whilst visiting the excellent, well stocked, Monk Bar Model Shop in York, I noticed the newly released Bachmann steel strip carrier in DB Schenker red livery and couldn't resist a purchase. This is an well detailed wagon but the bright red finish does make it a tad toy-like. A simple method of weathering I like to use is to spray all over with Humbrol enamel varnish, this takes away the shiny plastic looking finish. Leave to dry, and then spray with Humbrol acrylic dark brown, concentrating on the lower half of the wagon. Although not as precise as an airbrush, good results can be achieved. Practice with an old wagon first. Later, if desired a little judicious use of dry brushing or weathering powders will produce a nice result. ps. For some reason my camera doesn't like DBS red, producing a strange pink tone! Aaargh.....

Having had a little time to study my pics, I've made some interesting observations. In this pic, a lorry has arrived with a load of wheelsets. Quite a few white vans (I purchased another Ford Transit from the Monk Bar Model Shop in York) Nice autumn colours of the trees in the background. I had already noticed that the fork lift truck (in the next pic) appeared to be driven by Lewis Hamilton. I've never seen one move so fast! In the next pic you can see the fork lift returning to the WRD with one of the wheelsets.

Seeking photo reference for my new layout, I visited Tees Yard on Friday, 6th November where I found 66031 and 66016.

Thanks. Yes, I have to confess that I am now officially an OAP. For my birthday Mrs A had booked a weekend in York as I wanted to visit the NRM and the Yorkshire Air Museum. Of course, what I failed to tell her was that a visit to Tees Yard was also on the agenda. After all, I could hardly pass Tees Yard heading south on the A19 without a visit. Luckily, the nearby Teeside Shopping Park would offer a welcome distraction for Mrs A. So off I went to Tees Yard.....

With the layout almost completed I've been adding a few more details. Must be one the quickest builds ever for me, approx 2 months, don't you just love small layouts! I think the layout actually took longer to design and plan.

Thanks. The concrete hard standing is made from Wills 'Cement Rendering' styrene sheets. Painted and weathered.

Thanks to all for the kind comments and likes. Next couple of pics show progress at the fuelling point with a GBRf visitor arriving.

I've now finished adding trees along the back of the layout and the warehouse has become disused and rather overgrown. Still lots of detail to add to the front of the layout including the fuelling point. The layout is proving to be fun to operate, there is something rather satisfying watching large locos shunting a couple of wagons around. In additon to great sound, the Legomanbiffo Loksound decoders offer excellent slow speed control for shunting.

I spray all of the trees, including branches with humbrol dark brown acrylic. When the paint is dry,the trees are sprayed with 3m photo adhesive and then rolled in a plastic tub full of Noch leaves or Woodland Scenics coarse turf. Shake off the surplus and you have your finished tree. You'll find that as the seamoss is a natural product, the trees are often curved straight out of the box. To straighten the tree, simply hang the tree upside down on a washing line with a peg at the bottom, spray with diluted PVA and leave to dry for 24 hrs. The weight of the peg will straighten the tree and also make the tree less brittle. Have fun and good luck.

A few more sea moss trees have been added to the back of the layout. I've now ran out of them, time to order some more methinks....

Thanks for the pic. All the pics posted have proved to be extremely valuable reference for the layout. Of course, I cannot hope to achieve the spacious look of the prototype within the space available. Most of the components of the layout have now come together and I've tried not make it too overcrowded. The 'shanty town' is simply represented by a couple of portacabins and a small office building, together with lots of details being added. Still lots to do but the joy of small layouts is being able to create a lot in a short period of time, whilst also being able to 'play trains'.

I've now started extending the 'tree line' along the back of the layout. Next pic shows how the tree line is made. I start with a some 9mm MDF cut to the length required and 3 inches high. The MDF is painted with a moss green emulsion and then covered with Woodland Scenics foliage. The right hand end of the pic shows this. The left hand shows the finished look with some grass mat ground cover and sea moss trees in front of the MDF . Also, I've decided to break up the tree line (as I did with Furnace Way Sidings) with a small low relief industrial warehouse. I'll weather the warehouse later and I'm going to need a lot more sea moss trees!

No. ISL is 'Industrial Short Line' . A common term used in the US, particularly by small layout designers.

The bridge is only 3 inches wide, probably wide enough for 2 cars to pass. I may place the occasional bus or van on the road for photos but nothing permanent. No street lights are planned.

The bridge has now been weathered and I've also started working on the fuelling point. Weeds around the tracks have been added with a mixture of static grass and grass tufts. Finally, a view of the layout from the bridge.

Last week, I started to build the road overbridge. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've simply gone for a generic type of structure, using Wills dressed stone and vari-girder. The bridge has received a basic coat of dark grey primer, I'll weather it later. Meantime, at the other end of the layout, a tree line has begun to appear behind the depot building. A few detailing items have also started to appear on the layout.

Yes. Although I do salvage as much as I can, usually buildings and sometimes points, they get re-used in fiddle yards. Trees are also easily re-cyclable

I have my own 'traditional' method which I've used for years. Track hand painted first with Humbrol enamels then,Woodlands Scenics fine grey ballast with a little light grey and dark brown mixed spread dry over the track. Water with a drop of washing up sprayed on then Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement (PVA) dribbled over the track. Although expensive, the Scenic Cement is the right consistency for ballasting and dries matt. Yes, I recently started using this supplier and they provide an excellent service and 'live' in stock' website. I've been giving the backscene a lot of thought and there are a lot of trees, so I may go with a tree line, similar to the one I used on Furnace Way Sidings.

Looks like an interesting read. As regards nicknames, when I was 'spotting back in the early 80s I wasn't aware of any nicknames being used. When I returned to modelling some years ago, I found the nicknames rather odd. Here's 37003 they way I like to remember it.

Thanks. Funnily enough, look what arrived in the post yesterday. I've tried a few makes of tufts but find Silflor/Mininatur to be the best. They come in 3 different lengths, colours are natural looking, and each individual tuft is sized differently, so plenty of variation. Didn't take long for the weeds to start growing...

Ballasting now done and finished painting the depot building. Also a little weathering to the hard standing areas which have now been glued in place. Still lots to do to get the weedy, overgrown look to the track and the general clutter around the area.

I've just painted track on my new layout today with humbrol enamels. Nice matt finish. I've been using humbrol for over 30 years and never had a problem. The old tip of storing the tinlets upside down and mixing the paint well has worked for me, and quite surprising how long some of the paint lasts

A little more progress today. Track painted and the depot building painted light grey (humbrol 147) Next, I'll proceed with ballasting.

Before painting the track, I decided to start working out the areas of hard standing based on the excellent pics supplied. Thanks again to all who have contributed. 60 thou plasticard topped with Wills 'cement rendering' which brings the concrete almost to rail level was used and then painted with a spray can of Humbrol grey 64 acrylic. I haven't glued anything in place as yet, as I'll be painting the track and ballasting later. The depot building has received a coat of grey primer and will be painted later a lighter grey to match the prototype. I've also been adding to my small collection of EWS wagons, particularly steel types, which as you'd expect at Tees Yard, are common

Great pics, thanks again. I've now reduced the length of the middle siding to stop at the hard standing and I'll add a couple of wheel stops.