Jason T

I really like this. Not over-complicated, nothing too fussy but everything seems to blend together perfectly. I personally don't think that the grass is too bright. It's easy, at this time of year, to forget just how vivid and bright green grass can be in late Spring, especially after rain.

Thing is, I couldn't even tell you what the secret to Templot is; it just sort of clicked one day. Funnily enough, as daft as it may seem, I think one of my biggest problems was not using 'Store & Background' and stuff just disappearing. Anyway, I persevered, which is just as well really as I have done a lot of adjustment to the station throat from the printed out Templot pages shown in the first page. The problems I was faced with were getting the pointwork and track to flow correctly from the platform ends, without 's' bending (as they did in the original print out), fitting in two crossovers and all other pointwork in 5' (also ensuring that no point motors would be in awkward positions, e.g. required to be where battens will be) and ensuring a steady curve that also included a curved crossover that did not fall below the minimum radius of at least 600mm. I think I have now achieved this. The photos below show the print outs on the (as yet loose) baseboards; not all track has been included or printed out as I didn't want to waste paper / ink and it is the ones shown that are critical to each other, if you see what I mean. The additional part at the front is for the goods yard, although this will change somewhat. The track into Platform 1 is shown as curving on past the edge of the platform itself on the print out but as this will be flexi-track, the print out of this part is irrelevant really; I just wanted to ensure that I had a decent enough curve into the platform. The station from above. If it appears to overhang the baseboard, then that's because it does. There is another 10" deep scenic board that will be attached to the end, the frame of which is just poking into the photo. The various buildings in the background are left-overs from my last layout and in all likelyhood, will not find homes on this one. You may also have spotted the Judith Edge Vanguard 0-4-0 shunter that I started earlier in the year and am yet to finish.... You would not believe how tedious it was sticking the 500 plus tiny strips of Microstrip onto the glazing of the canopy roof, followed by a load more for the drainage channels on the non-glazed parts. Hopefully though, you'll agree that it was worth the effort. I still need to finish the bases of the columns off (basically, just attach them really)

My reasoning behind building the station first, however daft, is that I wouldn't know how wide the platform was until I'd built the canopy, and I wouldn't be able to plan the station throat properly until I knew how wide the platforms would be.

<p> </p> <br /> <p>Inspiration for a layout can come from many places; a track plan, a layout seen at an exhibition or in a magazine / website, a real location, memories of a location that stick with you. For this layout, the inspiration came from page 77 of British Railways Past & Present No.3: The North West. I bought it when it first came out (1986 - I had just turned 16) and the photograph in question is of a Class 105 DMU exiting a run down Bacup Station as a Black Five shunts a BR goods van. In the background is your usual grotty Pennine mill town, with unloved terraced houses, chimneys galore, mills (both working and abandoned) and the River Irwell trickling past, choked almost to death by the myriad of chemicals that have flown into it upstream from various factories.<br /> <br /> For some reason, this photo has always fascinated me although I never had any intention of attempting to model the place. However, circumstances put paid to my last layout (bloody Sundeala warped so bad, I could have modelled a BMX track and not had to construct any of the jumps) and with a blank canvas and a mountain of plasticard, I decided to give Bacup a go.<br /> <br /> Bacup was, at one point, at the head of two lines; one from Rochdale and one from Bury (the Rochdale one closed long before the Bury line). It had an engine shed, goods yard, carriage sidings and all the other good stuff that makes it cry out to be modelled. It was an L&Y terminus with one double sided platform. Upon this, for about half it's length, was a canopy under which nestled two shelters. At the end of the station was a rather austere looking station building. So, in totally illogical order, I built the station first - it took over three months! Details of the build (and other buildings for the layout as they appear) can be found here:<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/40873-buildings-for-bacup/page__fromsearch__1">http://www.rmweb.co....__fromsearch__1</a><br /> <br /> Next, I purchased the required quantity of birch ply for the baseboard tops, although I have yet to tackle them. Basically, the trackbed will be raised 2 inches throughout. The baseboards are in an 'L' shape, the longest leg being 13' x 3' and the shorter (fiddle yard area) 11' x 2'. Scenic area will be the full 13'.<br /> <br /> The track plan (everyone loves a track plan) is not an exact copy of Bacup, but uses the basic layout of the station. Left out are the junction to the Rochdale line (assumed to be off-stage and still present, even though the period modelled is after the line closed), the engine shed and most of the sidings in the goods yard. Unfortunately, I do not have room to model the goods warehouse in the yard, so I plan to build a model of Whitworth goods shed instead.<br /> <br /> The plan was first drawn up in Anyrail using Peco points, etc., just to check that everything would fit. I originally intended to use Peco Code 75 throughout but I knew that it would always annoy me that it doesn't look quite right so I have bitten the bullet and am making my own pointwork (in OO, so still not right.......) using PCB and bullhead rail. So, I purchased a copy of Templot, swore at it a lot, decided that it was designed purely to annoy the hell out of me and then upgraded to Version 0.91c and it all got a bit (not a lot) easier.<br /> <br /> I'm getting ahead of myself here; I was talking about the track plan.<br /> <br /> This is a 1910 OS map of Bacup station: <a href="http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bacup/map1910.jpg">http://www.disused-s...cup/map1910.jpg</a><br /> Here is my attempt in Anyrail to create it using Peco points:<br /> <span><img alt="bacupvariation2.jpg" src="http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/51CharlesStreet/bacupvariation2.jpg" /></span><br /> <br /> I haven't got a Templot plan to show you but it is basically the same as the Anyrail one but with (hopefully) more flowing pointwork.<br /> <br /> It is worth pointing out now that I will not be modelling the surrounding buildings and scenery as it is in real life, mainly because if I do, you would not be able to see the station because it would be blocked from view by a retaining wall, houses and a mill. Instead, I aim to attempt to create a grotty looking mill town filled with terraced houses, mills, etc.<br /> <br /> Anyway, progress to date:<br /> Station built (it's actually further on than this)<br /> <span><img alt="BacupProgress017.jpg" src="http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/51CharlesStreet/BacupProgress017.jpg" /></span><br /> <br /> Stone built terraced houses (the first of many)<br /> <span><img alt="Bacupstoneterraces062.jpg" src="http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/51CharlesStreet/Bacupstoneterraces062.jpg" /></span><br /> <br /> Progress on pointwork so far. Not the best, but they do work fine (tested with an ancient Dapol Pug)<br /> <span><img alt="Bacupstoneterraces064.jpg" src="http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/51CharlesStreet/Bacupstoneterraces064.jpg" /></span><br /> <br /> Templot printout (and a couple of lengths of SMP flexi track) to check that the station throat area works<br /> <span><img alt="Bacupstoneterraces061.jpg" src="http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/51CharlesStreet/Bacupstoneterraces061.jpg" /></span><br /> <br /> <span><img alt="Bacupstoneterraces060.jpg" src="http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv225/51CharlesStreet/Bacupstoneterraces060.jpg" /></span><br /> <br /> I am notoriously bad at updates so the next time I post could be months down the line and a whole lot done. Oh, and the period modelled will be the early 1960's.<br /> <br /> Thanks for looking and I hope this appeals to some of you.</p>

If you were to have a collection of boy racers and their cars based around the time period of the layout, then you would be much better with a motley collection of Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, maybe a Talbot Sunbeam (made to look like a Lotus Sunbeam) and some poor, deluded fool in a Chevette with Rostyles on it. Your discerning boy racer back then (me included ) wouldn't be seen dead in a front wheel drive car, especially a Mk3 Escort! XR3's may have been quick, but the power drove the wrong end of the car....

A mix of weathered black and sleeper grime, applied with an old brush and then when still wet, CARRS weathering powder (once again, mostly black with a tiny amount of rust colour) blown over the painted patched and then sort of dabbed in with the old brush. This was then followed with a wash with dirty thinners and dry brushing. I was experimenting basically, but it seems to have paid off (this time)

A few of my efforts - Bachmann, Parkside and Airfix:

The below site is more for the purpose of walkers / mountain bikers but it does enable you to compare new OS maps against old ones on the same screen (amongst other useful functions). You can expand or contract the scales of each individually and where you put the arrow on one will show a pointer on the other. May be useful for tracing the course of closed lines, etc. http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm