kes

And to nitpick the nitpickers, have a look at photos of the real thing. The centre wheel balance weights are nearly adjacent to the crankpins, because the inside cranks are 180 degrees out of phase with the connecting rods. Kevin.

Maggie and I have just returned from exhibiting Sandy Bay at Doncaster, which was a very busy and enjoyable show. Everything on the layout worked like clockwork, which when you consider all the controls are mechanical, is probably a good description! The remotored class 108 dmu behaved impeccably, being much smoother quiter and slower running. The 16x8 coreless motor came from Tramfabriek, I had to invent the mounting for this one. It consisted of carefully glueing the Farish front mount to the motor and filing two notches in the lower rear chassis to clear the end of the motor. I had many requests for layout info at the show, so I suspect we will get a good few invites in the future.

Wow! What a show! I thing Maggie and I managed about 20 mins away from the layout all weekend, just enough time to buy some bits and pieces, get drinks and food, and have a look at other layouts on the way past. The response from the public was brilliant, numerous people recognised all the key elements on the layout borrowed from their real locations. Sandy Bay worked well all weekend. We got a lot of praise for how cold, dark and menacing the North Sea looked. All the locos and stock behaved, and I now need to have a massive wheel cleaning session. I think we may have quite a few invites to future shows based on the number of fliers we gave out. A big Thanks to the BRM team for a successful show. We hope to see you all again soon. Kev and Maggie.

Hi Ray, I like the thought process you have followed to get the plan right before building commenced, working the same way could save others a lot of pain! I found when building points on copper clad that I needed packing under the sleepers to bring them up to the thickness of Peco track. I also noted that you need more packing than you think as the Peco track has a gap between the bottom of the rail and the sleeper where the chair goes, whereas the copper clad has the rail soldered direct. I found suppliers on Ebay who sold mount board in various thicknesses. You need to mate a point to a length of track to work out the thickness required. I am thoroughly enjoying your build. Best Wishes, Kevin.

Hi Mike, when we lived in Mackworth, we could walk up there in 20 minutes and not pass a single car, let alone see any buildings other than the water tower and the Great Northern hotel. Up here in Whitby they are gradually increasing developments around the old Whitby to Scarborough line. I hope to see you around at one of the shows in the future. Kev.

It's been a long time since I posted anything about the layout as I have been building many others. Mickleover will be at the Whitby and District Model Railway Show at Goathland Village Hall, on Sat/Sun 23/24 July. Show opens 10am, and only costs £2. There will be refreshments and toilets available. It should also be featured in Model Rail in the issue available from the 17th March. It's going to be a busy year with 4 exhibition layouts on the go!

The layout has been set up in the kitchen (!) for 2 days whilst we have checked the wiring, cleaned the track and done any small scenic repairs. We have also checked all the locos and stock for running issues. The only concern is the Farish dmu which slows down randomly. I have traced this to an internal fault in the motor, so I shall be remotoring this with a 16x8mm tramfabriek motor.

I have left the roof removable so I can add internal furniture and lights in the future.

Last Christmas, my wife bought me a couple of laser cut kits from Lasercut Railway Models (www.lasercutrailwaymodels.com) of a small station building, and a small signalbox. This Christmas I finally got around to building the station. The fit of the parts is very good, I used pva to assemble the parts, and acrylics to brush paint them. I added internal walls out of laminated cereal box, and moved the chimneys to a more believable position as they have two flues in each stack. I need to make some downpipes out of copper wire, and add some station signs. The door handle knobs are dress makers pins donated by Maggie. I think these kist are very good value for money. You can add as much detail as you want.

Over lockdown I found an old pair of Slater's Midland 4 compo toilet sides and a pair of brass clerestory ends in my junk box, so I created a psuedo -Dean 6 wheeler from the bits. The roof is wood covered in card, the underframe has one fixed axle, one dropping centre axle and one twisting end axle.

During lockdown I built my remaining Kirk kit, a LNER five comp brake third suburban. They were quite rare beasts, I think only 12 were built, some for use in Scotland, and a few in GE territory. So I now have a rake of five Gresley teak suburbans to run once the spring is upon us. The brake is awaiting weathering and final varnishing. The pictures came out a bit washed out as I was trying to get them before the rain started!

Sandy Bay, Maggie and I, will be out if hibernation at the BRM Doncaster show on the 12/13th Feb 2022. The plague looks like it might have subsided by then. Later this month we shall put the layout up in the lounge for testing and any remedial work required. See you in February.

Hi, just a thought, I have extended the poles on uncoupling electromagnets by adding a section cut from an 3" iron nail glued in a hole drilled in a thick baseboard. The section needs to touch the pole of the magnet. The result is that the flux generated is nearly that at the pole. It might we worth trying. Kevin.

Thanks John for the kind words. I have one more, a Gresley suburban to make over the winter to bring my tally to 2 x LMS period 2 Suburbans, 5 x Gresley suburbans, and 2 x Collett suburbans. The I can start on the Connoisseur Brass 6 wheelers I bought 10 years ago.

I have finally got around to putting some paint on the second D98 brake compo. The cream was enamel and air brushed, the brown was acrylic and brushed on. The lining is beige enamel applied with a bow pen, and the black was a 0.2mm permenant fine liner. The grab handles are from bent staples. I now have to cut out about 42 windows and glue them in. The coach is a Ian Kirk kit. The trouble is, I keep playing trains, and then I don't get much construction done!

Sandy Bay is now tucked up, safe under a sheet in the shed, and the beach donkeys are having a welcome rest.

Sunday was just as intense as Saturday, with many favourable comments. Maggie managed to take a couple of photos just before the doors opened!

Maggie and I have had a fantastic 1st day at Tings with the layout, which has performed perfectly. We have not had a break due to the continuous request for info ref the build and location. I hope we have increased people's interest in the North Yorkshire coastal region. Tomorrow is another day, so we will vary the stock a bit.

Hi Kevin, if you have the hook protruding past the buffer face you will find the loop on the mating coupling will bottom out when propelling so it won't lift out onto the latch when using a magnet under the track. I know, I have made hundreds of these things. The couplings make life much easier for shunting. I also fix them rigidly to the buffer beam as this allows better alignment.

Hi Hal, I usually take an old shoe box with me containing a scalpel or knife, a pack of swiss files, a razor saw, a sheet of sand paper, a small brush, a container of solvent, some superglue, tweezers, and these days a magnifier! I also have an off cut of hard board in the van so I don't mark the table. I have a small stone holder, meant to hold a night light candle, which is ideal for keeping the solvent bottle upright. A selection of pin vices and a range of drills from 0.5mm up to 2mm seem to do most jobs. This might sound like a lot, but they all fit in the shoebox, so keeping the van tidy. The Kirk kits are ideal if you don't mind the cutting and filing, and you can add as much or as little extra detail as you want.

Recently Maggie and I went away to Flamborough for a few days in the motorhome, and I always take something model railway oriented with me to assemble in the evenings. This time it was an Ian Kirk Collett suburban. I use a gig made from some wooden offcuts to align the side sections. Once I got home, I completed the bogies and most of the body details. So shortly I should finally have my B set complete.

I am flattered that my little layout is still creating a stir. It still gives me pleasure to set it up and run a few trains over that viaduct. Kevin.

Thanks very much, this will be the first layout I have built where the ballast will be reasonably clean, except where the engines will stand.

Three boards down, one more to go. I must be a glutton for punishment as we are ballasting the o gauge layout at the club as well.

I have used 10 thou plasticard inserted in the board joints to allow them to be separated.