jukebox

Congratulations, Gordon - great to see you achieve orbit! Agree wholeheartedly that it's a Pause-Review-Rework moment, but the important thing is you have a milestone, and momentum. Looking forward to your future progress. Cheers Scott

A thought on your further thought, Iain. If you *do* put a ladder of points in so the loco can be released, remember you also need a way of uncoupling the loco from the train on each road. I put similar turnout ladders in my storage tracks for Stockrington, but only as a way to be able to free up shorter rakes of stock. I did, however, bury Kadee magnets at the furthest end of each of my storage roads, so a loco can be freed from any of them at the far end. Cheers Scott

And... because I wasn't happy with the first one, here's a re-do, travelling in the opposite direction, at a more sedate pace; Cheers, Scott

I won't have enough space for tees and green, Gordon, so am thinking this is the make up: Then I can have a path leading away to the next hole off stage at the lower left. The space at the far right will be important not to fill, as it is close to the site of the Station - so an open or treed area there will form a break between it and the green. Cheers Scott

Other than playing amateur Martin Scorsese, I've been contemplating the real estate on the new hillside: After Gordon's light-hearted comment about golf courses, I did a lot of looking around at the real thing on line... ...and am now rather enamoured with the idea, and the challenge of recreating the grass textures. That, and I couldn't face modelling a 0.5sq metre area of crop. It wasn't very inspiring, to be honest. I started a separate thread to discuss the idea, but now I'm settled, will report the progress back here on the layout thread. This is the space in question: The red areas are out, either because they are earmarked for continuity, or are the sides of the embankment. That space that is left is approx 1200mm x700mm. So on this side of the hill, with the (relatively) gentle downslope, I'm going to try and represent the last 75m of a golf hole. I'll need to terraform a flat area to develop a green, and possibly cut a couple of holes to excavate bunkers. Trees down the sides, shorter bushes along the railway fenceline. With a bit of jiggy-pokery, I'm hoping to get a view a little like this: Watch this space... Cheers Scott

This afternoon I finished track cleaning, and trains were once again running. After a few laps with the track cleaning car (CMX), I set up the minicam. I didn't expect much for £9... it's only marginally better than filming with a potato, but it gives you an impression of the drivers-eye view of Stockrington. Apologies; 1) for the Mallard level pace - the camera was blu-tacked to a Weltrol, but was still out of gauge and didn't have a knuckle coupler, so was loose shunted ahead of Kestrel.... 2) for the ropey trackwork! The things you don't see in still photos, eh... On the plus side, I was rather happy that everything worked okay electrically after two years of inactivity. The CMX pads were filthy, and will need to be run with fresh pads another dozen times on each track, but that was to be expected. My NCE seems to have defaulted back to 28 step speed settings, so I need to check that out. At one point I had Kestrel orbiting with the CMX on the Up track, and I got a K3 out for a run and orbiting on the Down. T'was a good feeling seeing all that action. It has been far too long... Cheers Scott

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The pronounced cutting of fairways looks so American.... Kirkbymoorside: This one at Wearside is more subtle: And that last shot inspired me further: If it all gets too hard, I'll just plonk the Penshaw Monument up there to anchor the location: Cheers Scott

Okay gents, so I've convinced myself this is an interesting challenge. Talk to me about golf courses in the North East. I assume they aren't the hyper-manicured affairs we see on TV in the USA - but Gordon, you mentioned the cross-cut pattern of the grass; would that have been "a thing" pre-war, or is it a 1950's+ maturation? Consett and District Golf Club: Ripon City Golf Club: Golf course above Rosedale Abbey: The Ripon City one in particular is a good match for my thoughts... minus the water hazard to the left. The variety of treatments to the greens leaves a lot of leeway. Cheers Scott

Nope. Too tidy, Jesse. I do like the casual touch of the pliers on the floor, though... Cheers Scott

Okay, so here's the canvas: But not all that is available. I want to continue the hedge line from across the far side of tracks, suggesting the railway came after the properties were divided. There's also the embankment sides, which are un-useable as part of a gold course. And the left most side of the ridge is a little steep, so I will set up another boundary long that. Observation: Looking at my sketch now that I've drawn it, the yellow property line would more likely be parallel to the green one. So that leaves: For context, and to show why some areas are out of bounds Looking left to right: Looking right to left For me this is the most promising area - I can form up a green in the centre right... This next view from the layout edge shows the slope is relatively mild That's a usable area of about 1200mm in length, 700mm at the top of the slope, 300mm at the bottom. A green, 200mm dia, 3/4 of the way down the hill would work for me. Cheers Scott

That's a very pleasing 3/4 rear view of 60007, Gilbert; perhaps because it's a trainspotters-eye-view sort of thing, watching it as it goes past? Cheers Scott

"Conventional wisdom" is that any sort of mechanical abrasion will create scratches on the rail head - microscopic or otherwise, depending on your choice of abrasive - that over time will collect dirt and put you back to square one. I'm not a metallurgist, so cannot vouch for this as being fact. But I do see the logic, and choose to use the strongest solvent (Cellulose thinners) as a chemical cleaner, rather than mechanical means. It comes with a truck load of OH&S warnings as being carcinogenic, but my way of thinking is I'm more likely to die from having a high-blood pressure-induced coronary over trains stalling on dirty track, than from exposure to the small amount I used to keep the rails clean... Presented as opinion, not advice.

Was a bit hot here today - 43C - so I didn't venture upstairs. But I'll do so in good time, and produce a scale sketch of the space I have to populate. That should help frame any ideas... Cheers Scott

If you think I'm going to let that opportunity pass, you've got another think coming! As I was saying: One man's filth. Another man's art.

It was random, as it illustrated more-or-less what I had in mind. Turns out it's Old Thorns, North Hampshire. https://www.agolfingexperience.co.uk/golf/old-thorns-golf-course-892 Cheers Scott

One man's filth is another man's art...

..and that pretty much nails the sort of thing I was thinking of. Very well done. Congratulations. Cheers Scott

Perhaps more of a taste,than a complete hole! Something like this: With the end of the fairway running down the slope to the right, opening out to a green, with bunkers. Some trees on the approach... I can terrafrom a nice level area for the green That would let me leave the left hand side rural to blend into the existing valley... This sort of a view from the layout edge, looking down toward the pin: Cheers Scott

Oh, don't worry - I know you weren't serious! But it's not a bad idea... and I'm not sure I want to go to all the effort to try and model a crop there - it just ends up a big nothing space, too similar to open pasture. It's not suitable for industrial, and I'm done with residential... But if I used a space of 400mm x 500mm to represent the end of the fairway, and lined it with trees on each side, and a small green - think 200mm dia - at the end. Some sand traps around the front and back... It'd be compressed from the real thing, but I think I could get the business end of a hole to work quite well. Cheers Scott

There's lots of players here on RMWeb, but has anyone ever seen a golf course modelled - or more correctly, a putting green, bunkers, and pin? I've a large area to scenic on Stockrington, and @gordon s flippantly suggested I use part of it to model a golf course, but the more I think about it, the less reason I can see not to. It's probably less work than the mustard field I had been giving some thought too... I did a bit of a search, but other than wading through 23 pages of people complaining about their golf game, didn't see anything obvious here on RMWeb. Cheers Scott

I laughed at this idea, Gordon. At first... I can't say I've ever seen a golf course modelled. The idea of just the end of a fairway, and a green with some bunkers around it is rather thought provoking. Let's just say I will not write it off... Hi Ian - yes, T200, the contract for the section in the tunnels underneath Taipei city. Hi Brian - b*gger me! I honestly remembered it was you. Turns out it was Mike 67A over at Dent. Have edited my post accordingly. Glad the cutting is looking "familiar" - it's very hard doing this from such a distance, and I know there are some things that really don't gel as well as they could, but post 2013, I've learned that if Stockrington is ever to look anything near complete, I need to just hoof into it and build. If anything *really* bugs me, I can always go back and remove and replace - it's not set in stone. Thankfully well clear of any bushfires, or threats of them, but they remain frightening to watch, and the aftermath devastatingly sad on our native animal population. Regards, Scott

Cripes, February already.... Chicken wire on, I fluffed up those crushed ridges using rolled up newspaper. Next the trusty old-shirt drop cloths were put in place to protect the track bed: Then it was on with a skin of soaked newspaper strips. Hat tip to @BrianD , (I had incorrectly remembered Brian as the clever chap who put me on to this - if the real magician remembers who he is, please let me know and I will credit you appropriately. In the meantime, do stop by Brian's thread and look at his work - he's very good!) who used this method on his Deneside layout. It performs two functions for me - creates a nice barrier so my plaster soaked cloth strips don't drip through the wire and all over the floor and storage tracks below, and just as importantly, creates a solid skin which I can use as a final check that I am happy with all the contours. *CORRECTION* Okay, I've done a search and it turns out it is Mike (@67A of this Parish) who uses this technique on his Dent layout. I even commented on it when I saw it - which is how I was able to track it back down. Apologies for the memory slip Mike, and Brian! I soak my strips in a 1:5 mix of PVA to water; the glue helps the strips stick to one another and bridge any sharp changes in contours, but also provides a slightly stiff finish when dry, that holds it's shape a little better when the heavy plaster cloth is added next. Elevated view: The all important contour checks; And the reverse view. Headed left from the junction turnouts, it's almost 900mm of real estate on a gentle slope up from the railway. That is a big open space. A blessing and curse, really. I'm thinking maybe a mustard crop - it's too green everywhere else here for wheat, and I didn't really want to build another farm. I want to keep it rural... so will probably plant a stand of trees down the river end where the land tapers in at an acute angle. There's about 2 linear metres here, so I could fence the land into three properties and still have lots to play with... Like most things, I'll get more inspiration once the plaster cloth is down, and I have a wide brown canvas to plan on... One last shot... a panorama of four stitched together, actually, so you can ignore the San Andreas fault above and below the third riser; it's not there in real life! As I'd said in a previous post, with 100mm shaved off its' height, the hill takes on a quite subtle shape, and creates a plausible reason for a cut-and-fill embankment level across the valley to the river crossing. When I'm done, I'll face the upper half of this opening with teak-stained fascia. Cheers for now, Scott

Hi Jeff - good to hear some positive news on your layout progress. Do you remember how I'm something of a stone thrower? Gill Head Now I'm not sure how wedded you are to that name, but.... Are you sure you don't want to open an Ordnance Survey Map of the area up, and find a nice amalgam of evocative place names that are plausibly S&C, without being too location specific? https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/hills/2505/Dent I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I think the reason Gill Head isn't resonating with me is that it sounds like two surnames... to wit: Arten Gill / Dent Head. There's a lot of place names in the region that (to me, anyway) scream Yorkshire Dales when they are combined. Haygarth Fell Lune Head Deepdale Beck Mossdale Gill (you get the idea, I'm sure) *crickets* Okay, it's only 8 hours since you posted, and you haven't even opened the new thread, but that bloody Aussie has already started in... I'll grab my coat and shut up for a bit. Cheers Scott

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