lapford34102

Sort of confined to barracks after a bit of day surgery my attention turned to Drewry Lane which is off to Warley next month. It was built using recycled track which didn't worry me too much at the time as I never expected it to be still getting invites 6 years later. The point under the overbridge was a bit troublesome from day 1 and I had kept saying I'd replace it but never actually got round to it. A recent local outing showed another point was looking a bit iffy so decided to lift and replace them all with new ones though leaving the sidings in place. The old trackwork was sliced up in-situ to hopefully minimise any damage and came up well. Any remaining ballast was carefully chiselled off leaving a useable trackbed. The new track was glued in place - I'll never use another trackpin, lesson learned - wired up and tested. It's now been ballasted and the basic weathering done. Still more to do there but the general scenery going to have a bit of work done on it so I'll do that together. Looking at the layout with the pointwork gone was one of those moments that makes you question your own sanity but I think it'll be worth the effort. Running is better and whilst primary power tends to be Bo-Bo diesels which would run well on a couple of old wire coathangers I can now vary things more. A couple of pics, sorta during and after. Cheers Stu

Ye Gods, isn't this fun! I was mildly amused with the age angle of Ravenser's comments. I've thankfully recently made it to retirement (whether visibly that age you'll have to ask someone else) and with a bit more time on my hands doing things I never managed to get round to whilst working but probably should have. Making my own track was one of those things. Ravenser, a moments reflection on Martin's comment about people not realising about "other" OO solutions might be in order. I know there are OO layouts with "better" trackwork out there, I was next to one at Canterbury this year. I know there are DOGA stands at various shows. But to be brutally honest those promoting the Association are light years behind EM and P4 at getting the message out there. Is there a DOGA presence here for example. OO-SF seems to be slowly pulling in people from both the RTL camp and to some extent from the "finescale" community. As a track solution it has attracted a deal of interest and that may well be due to the way information is being disseminated, the web. It's seemingly been around for years but it's only now is getting a wider audience. To some extent I can understand why it's sudden prominence would rankle members of a long standing and honourable group but I don't think your approach is helping anyone. Please can we get back to the original topic......... Stu

In stark contrast to today's weather it was 30 C in the shade on Saturday and the show was surprisingly busy. Things went pretty well but there were a couple of glitches. Had some buffer locking with the Hymek which meant some shunting had to be done at dead slow. Having a think about things wondered about the buffers as I remembered that on EM Gauge 70's http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/one Hymek owner had clearly shortened or replaced the buffers. Will look into this. The sound Crompton started behaving bizarrely by stalling and then emitting strange squeaks from the speaker when nudged. No idea why though a pickup wire had become detached somewhere along the line though I can't really fsthom any possible connection. We were inclined to blame the heat. All in all though a fun day and got some good comments though was rather baffled by the actions of a couple of people. One stood about 4' from the layout, never said a word to us but was scribbling on a notepad... The other was a gent clad in a seriously heavyweight sweater (!) who suddenly appeared, enquired "where are the sheep ?" and disappeared off. Cheers Stu

Mike, not sure DOMH still has a valid visa for the Dartford Crossing :-) Will report back in due course. Stu

Just in case anyone is near Whitstable on Saturday and the weathers not beach friendly there's a show here https://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Kent-Model-Railway-Society-Whitstable/189851787724319 Sheepcroft will be there at it's first fully public outing which could be very interesting...... Cheers Stu

Guy, their advert implies these units (!) will be on sale on Charlie's stand at Warley. I'd give a lot to know what dear old Colin (MTK) would make of this. Vague notions of copyright occurred to me though that was never exactly Colin's style. Stu

Mr Bachmann will probably be delighted at this. Stu

Thanks to all who have commented or tagged, it's appreciated :-) Not sure it's that good but thanks all the same for the comment. Someone looking at the layout described me as an artist. I thought that out of politeness he was leaving out the usual epithet that precedes artist. It did make me pause to think though, 20 years too late being the main one........... :-( I mentioned that I was thinking of making some scenic additions and got an emphatic no, it's fine as it is, any changes might be a backward step. I'll accept that (easy way out) but I do need to get a few more bits of dedicated stock and retire the retreads. A couple more pics - my own this time......... Stu

Hi, Well Sheepcroft had something of a first public outing recently when it was "exhibited" to a group of friends (!) Probably a good thing as it threw a point blade early on though with all the experience around it was a bit like having toothache at a dentists convention. Thanks to Dave T and George for quickly getting it sorted. Probably due to my inexperience with them had some niggly problems with the 3 links but that's hopefully now sorted. Overall though things went tolerably well. A few pics courtesy of Paul Wade. Cheers Stu

Thanks for the info Paul and I agree that given a small space there's always the temptation to use every square inch. I've decided I'm not that happy with the centre foreground and been having a think so I may decide to change what I was going to do. Bill, we have a local Hobbycraft who keep a reasonable if pricey range of Woodland so it's an easy choice for me. I was going to write a tad more earlier but domestic duties called...... Sheepcroft or to be more accurate Sheepcroft Sidings is an actual location. They were freight sidings at the end of the Easton branch. Sadly apart from the name and the freight only bit there the similarity ends so if anyone asks I'll have to say (very) loosely based on. Largest loco's to get there were Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2's so maybe that's thought for the future. Cheers Stu

Hi, Thanks to all who've commented on or "clicked" my efforts, appreciated. Bill, regards the groundwork there's not much skill or artifice in what I've done. The embankment is Woodland scenic's foliage http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/GCFoliage It's basically their ground scatter on a fine mesh. The structure of the embankment is traditional card formers with paper pva'd over it. When dry it was painted a suitable colour, in my case a grey/brown sludge mixed from matchpots. When that's dry the foliage net is glued on using pva. I tear it into random shapes and simply stick down. I usually overlap a couple of layers to give a bit of depth. The "bushes" are http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/TRFine-LeafFoliage Good but a tad expensive but beats covering yourself in cheap hairspray I've also used static grass along the base of the bank and in random bits, applied with my puffer bottle which works to a certain extent or applied by hand into pva puddles I've mixed feelings about static grass mainly because a lot of the easily available ones look to garish to me. The one I've used looks quite orange in certain light. If I find something more to my liking I might well re-cover. Hope this helps but please say if this doesn't make sense. Paul, handbuilt track ain't rocket science but it can be challenging. There's plenty of people on here well qualified to give you advice so if you haven't got anyone handy use them. My first 2 or 3 "V"s were deemed *&%%$£# and got scrapped so I needed to stick with it, glad I did. Cheers Stu

Hi, Just a few pics showing recent progress. Cheers Stu

Just to add to 18 being the best candidate I've a pic of it at Vauxhall in 65, possibly a little late but shows they did get around. The Std 5's replaced Weymouth's Hall locos, one reason why was that Halls weren't allowed east of Basingstoke due to clearance issues. Stu Edit for typo

Sitting out in the garden yesterday having a coffee and watching the comings and goings at the birdtable when all hell broke lose. Then realised that a Sparrowhawk had landed on the fence, first we'd seen in the garden for a long time. Eyed the place up then cleared off. We seem to have acquired a pair of Dunnocks from somewhere and there have been a few Sparrows around. They were very common when we moved in here 30 odd years ago but been noticeably absent for a long time along with Starlings which we never see round here now. If anyone from the Basingstoke/Winchester area is looking in are there red Kites in that area ? On the train Fri heading south saw a couple of V tailed raptors. Stu

Hobby Shop seems to agree. Stu http://www.hobb-e-mail.com/

Hi, An update showing what's been done over the past few weeks. Still a way to go but the basic groundwork in place. Photos taken outside and this seems to have made some of the colours look a bit garish. Stu

Someone else wandering around with a clipboard pretending he's working.... Stu

When there's none left to shoot maybe they'll start on each other. Stu

Chiffchaff in the garden this morning. Stu

Been doing a bit to the layout but had a couple of issues. First one is with me as I’m sitting here with more than a couple of stitches in my head having had something nasty removed. So remember T-shirt, hat and sunscreen and if you spot anything odd get it checked. No sympathy please as it’s partly my own fault…  With the dressing off temporarily granddaughter thought all the stitches looked gross, my grandson was impressed, not sure what to make of that. Second issue was with the ballasting done in the traditional manner although the thin sleepers took a bit of getting used to. The problem came a day or so after as a point had appeared to warp and there were some very bad rail joins, derailment bad. Not sure what the problem and cause was and tried to do some repairs. However after a few days things were back . The baseboard deck is made from MDF and enquiries have revealed there can be an issue when it gets wet. I used two pieces of MDF and the problem occurred at the join. Advice is to seal MDF before you use it. With that out the way the track weathering and a bit of scenery has been started. As usual the pics aren’t brilliant and the flash has made the colours look all wrong but it’ll give an idea. Cheers Stu

Some additional weathering to do on the underframes and ends but need to get to better pics so I'll have to talk to my local NSE expert but I'm sort of calling this done. Cab corridor connection modded in the approved manner - that was fun! All necessary bogies turned and the DTC's leading bogie "reconfigured" - that was fiddly but worth it. First class compartment partitions opened - A bodge and certainly not to the standard of one of Mr Parks plastic confections but make a very noticeable difference. Missing grab/handle on MBSO. Some very basic painting on the interior partitions. Lights disconnected - it's DC so a little pointless going on and off all the time but that's a personal view New roof vents and horns, repaint roof dark grey. This is a very difficult model to pigeonhole. Aspects of it are excellent, the sides for example, other aspects.........! It's seems to me to be a bit like a horse designed by separate teams, very odd. I wonder if a lot of effort went into the lighting rig at the expense of other elements. From my viewpoint there's an odd coincidence about this model. I thought I had a set of brass horns somewhere but must have used them so resorted to some very old whitemetal ones. They needed a lot of fettling and still aren't that good. I then realised they were MTK ones and it was an MTK kit that I used to build my first VEP a long time ago. I wonder what some of "todays" modeller would say faced with one of those ? Stu Apologies for the iffy pics, sun kept going in and out.

Hi, Well not a lot to report but there has been a certain amount of doing things then undoing them. Perhaps I am getting somewhere now. Have decided on a simpler backscene, now painted. Not totally satisfied but think it'll look passable when the scenery starts coming together. Have started the ground work with some clay infill on the sidings and a couple of hardstandings. A bit of basic weathering as well. In the next few weeks hope to make progress as well as getting to grips with the stock. Although it's first public out is some way off so far it's two definite and three possibles for invites. Not sure if this is a show of confidence or sympathy on the Ex Manager's side though one did comment about the difficulty in finding small "finescale" layouts. A couple of pics and I'll do my best to update more often. Stu

Hi, Yes Martin a bit of progress. have some pics that I need to put up so will try later today. Stu

It looks as if the Gov will announce that HS1 is to be "extended" to Ramsgate. Apart from the already known improvements to the signalling and trackwork it will involve a major re-alignment of track at Grove Ferry and according to an NR source installing 25Kv between Ashford and Ramsgate. Links here to local news though little detail so far http://www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/kent-to-benefit-from-more-33358/ http://www.canterburytimes.co.uk/12-million-railway-improvement-cut-10-minutes/story-26167639-detail/story.html Quite what the reaction would be to a catenary appearing along the Stour Valley will be time will tell. Unsurprisingly it's already become a election football but the least said about that the better. Hopefully more detail later. Stu

Picked up an NSE 423/1 cheap - sold as seen - in the Hornby factory sale and started work on it to run on a friends layout. Started on the TSO as being the easiest to do. Apart from turning the bogies has new vents and repainted roof, cantrail now correct colour, AK wash on doors. Looks a bit more VEP like...??? MBSO next. Stu