vaughan45

Thankfully the issue will my arm has now diminished, although heavy lifting is still not permitted. A start has been made on laying the base for the front yard and experimenting with suitable surface textures. This base will allow the hard standing to be built up to almost sleeper top height, although only track on the rear siding will actually be inset for part of it's length. It will also enable items such the coal staithes, weighbridge and weighbridge hut to be inset, assisting the 'bedding in' process. Part of the top surface will be stone setts, whilst other areas will be rougher, like a well used ash / gravel mix, similar to some of the images in 'The Benwick Branch' by Peter Paye, particularly those on pages 40 & 63. My first attempt is shown on the photo below which was achieved using AK Interactive Terrain Spread that has been sanded back slightly. It is as yet uncoloured, if used this will need to be coloured carefully to capture the undulations and lowlights / highlights. Progress is likely to remain slow as great pressure is being exerted to finish the kitchen refit before Christmas!

Thank you David, I would certainly be interested in a J17 kit with only limited etched work. Whilst I have built small etched kits in the past, my soldering still leaves something to be desired - although as they say 'practice makes perfect'! Vaughan

A small amount of progress on the drainage canal, with more side walls and the rainwater drainage outflows from the goods yard installed. Unfortunately modelling has now been brought to a standstill by a dislocated shoulder caused due to heavy lifting last weekend, when clearing the kitchen for the refit that is now on-going.

Unlike a Dexta which is a breed of small Fordson tractors eminently suitable for a green diesel layout.

In a change to scheduled programming the layout now seems to be veering more towards a fenland setting, rather than the being based in the Waveney Valley. Particular inspiration at the moment is coming from the Benwick and Stoke Ferry branches. My limited research on fenland development seems to indicate that there were archaeological surveys done on the waterways in the 1930s plus some new works to improve existing drainage. I am also toying with the idea of having a covered goods shed as a layout design feature rather than a trackside one. Whilst the usual wisdom is to achieve structure balance across the layout, photographs of some fenland goods stations do feature a goods shed as a single standout structure in an otherwise flat remote environment - RMWeb members comments to help me would be appreciated!

Some further progress on the sluice area. The one on the right is presumed to be the original, whilst the newer higher capacity concrete one to the left represents something possibly built under 1930's government sponsored drainage improvements. Some parts from Wills and Busch kits have been utilised in the build. Both sluices require weathering. The side walls require capping and as the scenic build continues an ash / rough gravel surface will be applied to the sluice access pathway. Next to be installed are the side walls between the bridges, the drainage bed and 'water'

A little progress has been made on installing bridge structures over 'the drain'. The basic rail bridge structure is almost complete, the access road base is installed and work on the road bridge continues. Both bridges are a mix of Wills parts and scratch-built support structure clad in Redutex engineering brick sheet. They will be weathered at a later date. The 'drain' section between the bridges will have 2/3 height walls, one side including a couple of water outflow pipe openings. Planning of the weir has also been started. To the left of the road bridge will be the goods depot entrance complete with weighbridge & scales building. The yard will then extend to the coal merchants bins & huts and then onto the trackside goods shed / end loading.

Current likely locos are J15s, a J70 without side skirts and possibly one of the Accurascale J68/J69 as a stand in for a J65. If I can improve my soldering skills then I need to tackle the etched kit for a J17. I believe there was a J39 & N7 based at Lowestoft, but that wasn't until WWII or later so not appropriate for my era, unless someone can advise otherwise?

Current thoughts are that the scenic treatment / operation of the layout will be as follows: The left hand siding will be for coal traffic. The long centre headshunt will have a trackside goods shed(s) at the far end and also provision for end loading. The long righthand siding will serve a mill or feed warehouse and may also have a second goods handing facility such fuel oil supplies. The short righthand siding will serve a cattle dock and also act as a brake van refuge. As the layout is set in a country location there will only be a few other buildings. These are likely to include a coal office, yard office and associated weighbridge and a couple of others yet to be determined.

LNER Swanbroke (Goods) After a small delay I have started a new small 4mm scale layout based on an LNER (Ex GER) line near the Norfolk / Suffolk border. As this is designed to be a semi-permanent layout along the office wall, I have used a fairly heavy duty stripwood frame with plywood baseboard surface. The track & turnouts are Peco code 75 Bullhead, with most of the webbing between sleepers removed after laying to give the track a more open feel with daylight between the rail & ballast. A drainage dyke runs across the board. The baseboard edge frame visible in the photograph will be covered by the goods yard entrance bridge at the front of the board, with a weir / sluice gates to the rear. So far the track has been laid and wired up for DCC operation with a ring main style Bus around the baseboard frame, with individual power feeds to each section of track and to the turnout polarity change-over switches. Turnout control is manual using rods that also operate the polarity switches under each turnout. The era will be LNER circa 1936/38. With a bit of licence that should allow J15s with original and raised cab roof lines to be used in addition to rolling stock with both pre & post 1936 lettering styles.

Strangely if people showed up in vehicles that appeared to be above their paygrade, our audit team usually took an interest!

I suspect a Loco-remote Wi-Fi controller would fit in this model as I have one in a similar sized Ruston built from a Bole Laser Craft kit. These work by creating a wi-fi hotspot unique to the loco and this is then accessible on your mobile phone (either Android or Iphone). You connect the phone to the loco and it provides a control interface for direction and speed control. They are also available with some sound functionality. Two sizes of unit are available, one for max 6v motors the other for max 12v. There is a kit compatibility checker on their website. They can be found at https://www.locoremote.co.uk/

With the sale of the layout this thread is now closed. The 7mm excursion progressed no further than the previous thread as I lost my railway modelling mojo completely. Things have taken an unexpected direction and I am now building some 16mm scale (1/19th) narrow gauge items. The locos are battery operated and controlled from my phone using Loco-remote WI-FI control. I may start a thread on this development when progress occurs.

Quick update - this layout has now been sold and I believe the new owner will be starting their own thread for it. A link for that may soon appear on this thread. Meanwhile 7mm scale is being contemplated.......