Silver Sidelines

Mikkel Thank you for those kind words. I shall bear in mind your comments about weathering. I must compliment yourself on your attention to detail with your own modelling. Even with no sunshine and lots of rain there are still not enough hours in the day to finish what are essentially still basic tasks. Regards Ray

Back to ballasting! Managed to finish the track to the branch terminus. First an atmospheric view: The buildings are the well known Hornby Skaledale, whilst the rolling stock are a Dapol 14xx, Mainline autocoach and a Lima railcar on a Hornby chassis (I don't like the colour of the Hornby body shell). And for comparison, an earlier view showing the layout under construction with an Airfix 14xx and some Mainline wagons in evidence:

Thanks, yes nearly very good but not so smooth forwards. I have spent too much time this week trying different axles and re-quartering the wheels. I feel that I am missing something. On my model there seems to be far too much slop in the drive axle and I am wondering whether there is more clearance provided in the metal chassis to allow for the extra diameter of the rubber tyre. I am still thinking about a possible solution! Regards Ray

Instead of ballasting track, this week has seen some playing with trains: This is my 'new' Hornby 14xx. However as received it was not a smooth runner and it been given a replacement Dapol chassis. The Hornby model replaces an older and much loved Airfix model. The suspect Hornby chassis has been given to my Airfix model. As an experiment much time has been spent delving into my 'box of bits' and I have replaced the centre driven axle (with the traction tyres) with a pair of plain wheels from an even older Airfix mechanism. It is nearly very good.

No heat wave here in the west of Scotland. In the meantime ballasting has passed under 'the bridge in the middle'. Two pictures looking up and down the line. And a more general view which highlights where some of the 'civil engineering' works have still to be finished off. The bridge itself lifts off to alow access to the tracks beneath. Further details are provided here in my photogallery. http://www.rmweb.co....789-the-bridge/ I have also added a picture from the past to show how plans change. The diamond crossing with 'insulfrogs' was replaced with a single slip with 'electrofrog' for infintely smoother running. Also a loco spur was provided at the end of the goods sidings to hold spare engines. A good example of where allowing time to reflect (play trains) highlights where improvements can be made to the track layout prior to casting everything in stone i.e.ballasting!

This week there have been conflicting interests, so not so much ballast and instead a bit of history: My old Superquick engine shed in its latest postion - a rare picture with no engines. The shed dates back to the early 1980s and my Bracken Ridge Layout. It was part of a pair of sheds which were customised to fit my track spacing. The sheds were made narrower. This was achieved by separating the gable ends from the walls. If you look carefully you can see where the brick arch from across the entrance was separated from the rest of the gable wall to enable the new narrower gable to be lowered back onto the side walls. Another scanned image from the past with Airfix Castles, a Lima Crab and some Mainline ex GWR and LMR types. There is also a Hornby Dublo 8F which lives on with handrails and tender 'borrowed' from an old Mainline 'Scot'. The Bracken Ridge layout was never completed (as with so many layouts) and everything was packed away and moved to Park View for yet another uncompleted project: Back to the present layout the sheds have had to be separated and the coaling ramp has been abandoned!

Thanks José - it is becoming difficult to maintain the momentum!

As someone said, Summer is next year! In the meantime the ballast has reached the loco yard: Where there are to be buildings I have glued a piece of cardboard down to the board prior to ballasting. The cardboard is cut ever so slightly smaller than the building footprint so that it doesn't show beneath the finished building. I also took the opportunity to make a 'concrete' floor for the engine sheds. Here is the footprint for the old Superquick shed: And here the footprint for the Skaledale Shed: And then the finished product:

Thanks - the latest Bachmann and Hornby rolling stock deserve a decent setting.

This week has seen lots of rain so there has been lots of progress with the ballasting: On the mainline the ballast has reached the main station. 'Upstairs' ballasting has progressed in both directions, towards the branch terminus: - and some more at the junction: A back breaking task reaching across the layout. This week has seen the second 1 kg bag of seed used. Must be approaching half of the visible trackwork. Still on target for a Christmas completion

Hello Martin My benchmark are the British outline Bachmann Mk1s which have a weight of around 165gm. They have metal wheels running in plastic frames. Hornby make some very good BR outline stock but their coaches are lighter and I have had problems with the leading coach of a long rake jumping off where the track has both vertical and horizontal curvature. I cured this by ballasting the Hornby coaches with a little lead shot (placed inside the seats) to bring the weight up to the 165gm benchmark. Then of course you will need to ballast the locomotives to pull the additional weight up the gradients? The proof is in the eating so to speak, some Bachmann Mk1s and some Hornby Hawksworth with ballast. Regards Ray

Good progress and the 'ballast' has crossed the viaduct and arrived at the junction: The 'branch' is ex GWR but the 'junction' provides a connection to the the old LMR. The foot bridge is the ubiquitous Hornby model cut down for platform use: A view from the main line, the engine shed will have wait for another day!

Another wet week so the potatoes are still in the ground! However good progress with the ballast on the mainline: As originally constructed the exit from the goods yard / station was a simple diamond crossing with dead frogs: This was then changed for a single slip. There is more metal rail on the single slip which gives superior running. However the rather abrupt 'turn left' is too tight for some engine / tender combinations and is in restricted use. The change from 'diamond' to 'single slip' required the insertion of a new 'pink button' on the control panel to operate the 'turn left' solenoids. The orginal 'straight across mode' being catered for by the existing buttins: Now a close up of the newly ballasted crossing:

Mixing and pasting track ballast currently looms large and I am attaching details of the procedure that works for me. I prefer the small poppy seeds to gritty mineral sands. I use wallpaper paste as the adhesive. It should offer less resistance than PVA should there be a change of plan or track repairs needed. I use simple tools, a small plastic bowl (ex Christma Pudding basin), stainless steel spatula and a small screw driver: I use a heavy duty wallpaper paste which has been chopped finer using the Kenwood liquidiser in the kitchen. Hopefully the finer powder mixes more quickly and easily. To make sure that the mix can be used well before it starts setting I only make a small batch at a time. I use around 8ml of water (1/2 a tablespoon): I add sufficient dry paste powder to make a stiff mix (around half a teaspoon full): I then stir in sufficient dry seeds to make a stiff porridge. In this example, just over 1/4 ounce or just under 10 gm: The porridge is then spread between or along the tracks using the spatula: For smaller places I use the screw driver: For the sides of the track I make a wedge or fillet which extends about 1cm from the edge of the rail: This is then flattend between the sleepers and smoothed into place: Then depending on my patience I can use the small screw driver to clean out between individual sleepers: Spare or left over material can then be placed between the rails using the small screw driver: Experience suggests that it can be three or four days before the mix completely dries. Prior to running trains the track is brushed gently with an old tooth brush and the surplus seed carefully removed with a vacuum cleaner. The tops of the rails are then cleaned with a damp cloth. Too little paste or applying the porridge too long after mixing may result in a very fragile ballast which can disappear up the vacuum cleaner!

Markus, Maws seed featured in a number of model railways described in 'The Railway Modeller' in the 1960s. It might even have been used at Pendon but I cannot find a reference. I am not expecting it to sprout, certainly not in the dark dry atmosphere of my railway room.

Four weeks ago a back of envelope calculation indicated a requirement for circa 3.5 kg of ballast. Four bags of poppy seeds were purchased. Now four weeks later the first bag has been all used up. My wife confirms my suspicions. Instead of four bags, the visible trackwork will probably require at least five bags. Four weeks to use one bag, 20 weeks to use five bags. A Christmas completion is still a possibility? There have been discussions on this web site regards the optimum width of baseboards. The Longsheds Layout was constructed with maximum 3ft width boards. This is fine for operating. However for ballasting the width is a bit of a problem. The solution presently adopted is to start ballasting at the most difficult postion - 'upstairs' on the viaduct at the back: Then when my back starts creaking the centre of operations moves 'downstairs' to the main station boards: The darker patches of ballast are still not dry. Interestingly there is a tendancy for the poppy seed to swell when initially wetted but it tightens up as it dries - will it sprout?

I spent many hours trawling the internet and telephoning shops to see if they stocked the seeds. If you look around it is available but carriage was always going to be expensive. Then by chance when I was in our local health food shop buying a beer kit I noticed that they had a bottle of seeds - which are used for coating bread. I asked if they would supply me with 1Kg - no problem that was how they bought it. So I put my order in for 4Kg and waited for the weekly delivery from the wholesaler. I have used nearly 1kg in just a month, so I guess I will be back to buy some more!

Longsheds layout started life around 2005. Base board construction and track laying is complete but as a number of observers have noted the track is unballasted and the scenery is lacking. This blog will detail progress with these tasks. Last week saw completion of the ballasting to the mid level junction station: This week has seen a start to ballasting at the branch terminus: Ballast is blue poppy seed otherwise known as maw seed and it is mixed with wallpaper paste. It will be interesting to see just how durable the 'product' is.