devondynosoar118

The SDR trust have previously stated restoration of services into Ashburton is not in their plans for the line. If money was no object it could be technically feasible it seems the trust has decided (rightly IMO) to focus its efforts on sustainable development of its existing facilities with a view to improving coaching stock standards by making it easier for them to be stored undercover and providing better workshop space for C&W. I would have loved the Primrose Line to still be there to ride on, it’s a glorious route and the station site at Kingsbridge deserved better than to see its building demolished over a weekend in an underhanded manner to leave an ugly pile of rubble for 6 years instead of a fine William Clarke building that has been visited by Eisenhower, Montgomery and played a role in both world wars. We should be thankful the intermediate stations have been better cared for and that sections of the line are still there to be enjoyed so long after closure. I have to be content with battling to produce it in miniature instead!

The SDR is seeking to move forward with its coaching stock, with the new shed being completed beyond the engineering works for undercover accommodation. As ever the principal issue with completeing the Buckfastleigh redevelopment has been money or lack thereof, with a lot of hard work done to get things moving forward and secure funding. It would be great to have better views of the engineering shop and C&W as both are producing lots of interesting and high quality work, I am sure there are further plans for both. Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit, both lines have their unique charms and we are fortunate in having them here. I would recommend an occasionally muddy but always beautiful walk along the old track bed of the Kingsbridge branch, the section from Loddiswell Station towards Gara Bridge is particularly beautiful at most tones of the year.

This thread has provided a wealth of information, thank you all. My only concern with a line emulating the road route to Salcombe is that it would need a number of tunnels and embankments, the road goes up an down all the way, there isn’t a flat strech on it. The estuary route arriving across Batson creek on a Barmouth style bridge and a terminus at the end of Island Street where there is now a car park and slipway would provide both better scenery and a flatter route. You could probably fit an intermediate halt in or a very small station at one of the hamlets by the creeks. Up until the early 70’s there was very little housing on the Malborough side of Salcombe, followed by a steep hill into town, well away from the principle sources of traffic for the railway that the towns quays generated.

Great to see it out and about! It was the first 2FS layout I saw in person way back when it was at Taunton members day. It’s even older than Kingsbridge, which has never been run, despite me owning the mother of all sheds.

I think that tunnel looks great there, I had to look twice to check the scammel was only a photo!

I am busy berating my kids to get back down the pit so I can put another round of coal into my router ready to access a new look RM Web. Full steam ahead!

Some very realistic static grass work on the foreground track in that shot.

Our proper traffic warden was great, she kept her focus on ticketing yellow lines on main roads and used her discretion on the residential areas slapped with 2hr max stay bays. Bloody “Council Tax Subsidy Collectors” we have now are a pain in the arse, when my Morris broke down blocking a side street I pushed it onto a bit with single yellows, put a note in the window and went off to find parts. I returned to find it had been given a ticket. Time allowed for recovery vehicle or repair, from when it was “observed” to ticket issue was 8 mins. I have never seen an AA man arrive that fast and even on my best day it takes me that little big to get the toolbox out the boot, open the bonnet and start looking, never mind fixing anything. The ticket was appealed and quashed, but only because a friendly garage gave me a towing invoice, I had to prove I had bought parts, which was tricky since the points and condenser used to fix it came from old stock in my shed and you can’t buy them in any shop in town even if you wanted to! I would love to see a manufacturer do a “British Bangers” range, with flat looking paint, accident damage or parts from scrapyards that don’t match etc put on already. Such scruffy sheds were an essential part of most eras and existing 60’s/70’s products could be used as a basis.

I am sadly a no for this, much as I would have lived to come and see you all. Enjoy yourselves and hope to see some of you face to face again at some point this year!

That looks great!

Not a very hard scratch build off a flat bed chassis? Real one is just a box on the pick up chassis.

Great pictures of period commercial vehicles here- http://a2ecommercials.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=87595403

If you want a cinder/gravel/coal dust finish then very fine sand (play sand is good as it’s washed) sieved onto the yard then wetted with a hand sprayer and fixed like ballast works very well. To get the tonal variation I use dyed PVA mix, use calligraphy inks in varying black/brown mixes added to thinned PVA with water and a bit of washing up liquid. To do the coal dust use a fine sieve with real ground coal, same with ash. You can mix the two together and dust over the wet sand mix. An example of a yard in this finish can be seen here, note this is 2mm/N so the coarser bits can look a tiny bit over scale. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/39822-squeezebelly-lane-depot-n-inglenook-in-a-table-still-going/?p=683441

No idea how I missed those 100E’s!

That film was ace, good selection of vehicles! Saw an old friend in the R12, my dad loved his Renaults, he had a R4 van and a couple of Renault 12’s. Where’s the Fiat Stradas, Talbot Sunbeams/Horizons and Vauxhall ‘Shove its” in the vehicle manufactures releases? Good to see the Mk1 Fiesta available tho. Likewise Granada and later Cortinas, both of which were common and in run down form could be seen well after the reps had finished with them. Currently the steam era cars are short a ton of common models, little Roootes group stuff available and even Fords seem to be a bit limited, no 100E’s .

You will be asking the printer to do all the things it’s less good at, namely small individual surface detail (bricks/windows) and thin, hollow structures with apertures in (walls.) At the end you will have an inferior result compared to “traditional” methods. As several people have now commented card is a very good medium for this type of building and base material could even be free from packaging, combine with either a printed skin or even a single sheet of brick paper and your hut could be done in an hour for under £1. Plasticard with brick sheet overlay would also work if you want a more robust job, again materials bill will likely be less than £5. If for any reason self assembly is impossible for you I am sure someone on here would put the scale scenes hut together for you, it’s a very quick build. I have all the required parts in my stash, I could build the hut in your photo and post it to you (uk only) for £5.

It’s surprising how many really common vehicles from the rail blue era are not available as models!

Don’t forget a few medium to big Fords and Vauxhall’s , like Granada’s, Carltons, Cavaliers and Cortinas. Few boy racer Mk 1&2 Escorts if you want a cameo or there’s a good garage on the layout. Also BL products were common, like land crabs, knackered princesses etc. You can include some exotic foreigners like the Renault Fuego, VW golf gti and Scirocco and the mighty Matra Rancho if there’s even a model of that.

Is there a final date for deciding? Need to look at work diary first.

I might be available for this too, where is the “new” venue?

The DG couplings are great. I used a few tips from various places to get mine to work better. Paint or blacken the fret before building. Use jewellery wire in steel for the loop, which you blacken with a CD marker. Saves making it in two parts and two materials. I only use the loops at one end, my loco has a latch only on the front then loop and latch on the back, all stock has the same, loop one end, latch the other. This helps reliability a lot. Use the loop jig.

Not quite enough for a complete update on the blog, here’s a few shots of today’s progress on the station kitbash. The 4 elevations are now complete, I have got some of it together, here’s some progress shots of the elevations, in primer and some of the filling and rescribing of the stonework done. Cost so far including windows is the wrong side of £80 but the fastest way to fix a problem is sadly to throw money at it and in this case the station building is really needed to get the board finished! Close up of the scratch built gable end, right by the station entrance if we could time travel. Whilst I had the station board at home I re laid the run around loop at the buffer stop end to make more room for coaches on the platform, as it was originally too compressed looking. I found it made the whole station look too short, this was one of the areas that I had to compress to get things to fit and making it hold more stock before the points has helped the illusion that the platform is longer. More to come on that when I set the whole lot up again. Hopefully all of these pics stay the right way up...

I am doing that at two spots. Plus things like the notice boards etc can also help disguise the joins. The reality is you will only see them in extreme close up pictures, the building will be 3ft back from viewers at exhibitions, so I can live with tiny imperfections in the big scheme of getting the layout done! Thanks for all the excellent suggestions and support, the next sacrificial victim in the shape of another Ratio station kit has arrived so I should be ready to do part 2.

Straight, easier to do and you can re scribe the interruption to the brick courses after it sets.