Jason T

double post.

A few more shots, including end of day silliness

A few shots from 101 Not Out; more to follow later when my hands stop shaking (after effects of San Miguel)

That looks much better Jeff; I didn't like it when it had gaps between the rocks but didn't get chance to tell you it looked crap

Just a quick note to say that we and the layout are t the 101 Not Out EM/P4 Skills Day in Ewell on Saturday. Due to other commitments, not a huge amount has been done to the layout since Expo EM North other than a bit of tidying up but there are a few new items of rolling stock that will appear and the High Level RSH should hopefully be painted (but not weathered); I just have to mask up the body and apply the coat of black to the smokebox, chimney and footplate now, which is easier said than done when you have a six month old nipper and a missus who finds things for you to do all the time. So, if there are areas that are still in primer on Saturday, you know why. Saying that, it is a skills day so maybe I can spray it at the event (although there would be little skill involved ) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107366-101-not-out-a-scalefour-society-em-gauge-society-skills-day/ If you are in the area, pop along. Loads of stuff going on during the day, a few lovely layouts and surely better than gardening / housework / shopping.

When Chris and I built 'The Mill' for the EMGS competition, we decided early on to use Gibson wheels on all locos and stock and have had no issues. One of the reasons was aesthetics, as they make Markits/Romfords look like steamroller wheels. On a layout measuring 60" X 18", aesthetics is important....

Thanks guys. It was great to be able to work on the layout again, I currently have no room for it at home and Chris's modelling room has been full of other stuff too so it has been sat in Shipley's clubhouse since the Shipley show back in September (including being stranded there since the floods decimated the ground floor of the building the clubhouse is in on Boxing Day). The layout is next out in a months time at the 101 Not Out EM/P4 Skills Day in Ewell on the 12th March. Before then, we have a few more tidying up jobs to be getting on with but the layout is still far from finished; isn't that always the case? In the aforementioned lull, I have been building a frankly ridiculous number of wagon kits, most of which need painting and stand no chance of being ready for the 12th. However, there are others which are fully decorated and grubby, but need AJ's. What prompted this post was me finding the below piccy on my phone of a recently completed BR 5 plank with LMS J suspension and brake gear (oh, and with no tarp bar) Found this one too, from a month or so ago:

To be honest, I come across many more rude older people than younger. When Sofia was pregnant and commuting by train to Leeds, it was invariably younger people (teenagers included) who gave up their seat for her whereas older people (e.g. 40+) would ignore her. It seem at times like older people feel the World owes them something and younger people do not deserve manners.

For the first time in a long time (since before Expo EM North in fact), Chris and I had a modelling session last night. Chris set about adding a faster motor to the sector plate and failed miserably, and I managed to tidy up one of the unfinished scenic areas, namely the section between the drops and the cobbles which was just a pit down to bare baseboard beforehand. Probably quite obvious but I cut a load of sleeper lengths from Plastikard and used .060 X .060 square section underneath. Still need to tone it down but it's one job that was bugging me off the list. Talking of the drops, here are a couple more hoppers. The 20 ton wooden one was bought ready made but titivation is slowly taking place (and a removable load has been created); the LNER 21 tonner was completed yesterday morning.

I'd made a few basic building for Rubbishtown, most of which are now the property of Mr Bodgit. The canopy was the first serious item I built though as if l couldn't make a half decent job of it, there was little point in continuing as it was the key feature of the real station.

Just found a couple of old Bacup pics on my iPad that I can't remember taking, both taken a couple of years ago before the layout was in BRM Article condition (e.g. Lots still to do). Anyway, ths thread has been quiet for ages so I thought I would pop them up. Neither are good quality but hey ho

I, of course, would say that you have modelled the proper side of the station

I'd honestly keep the two 'halves' separate mate, with backscene end boards on either side; the one with the headshunt being low hills and the other your mountain. I know you love building bloody great hills but you are adding complexity when it's not needed. As such, it gives the impression that the railway arrives from the south through lower fells, passes through the station and then enters big hill country, a lovely contrast. You really can ignore me with this one as it will look nice either way, I'm just postulating on what I would do but it's not my train set.

It's all looking lovely mate. I'd offer to get you some shots from Bradford now but the area around Exchange has changed beyond all recognition and nothing of what is in your shots remains from what I've seen. Both of Bradford's stations are mere shadows of what they once where and both have also been moved a short distance from their original locations. Forster Square is a modern three platform affair with no charm other than the grubby and huge retaining walls, seeing nothing but EMU's for Skipton, Ilkley and Leeds. Interchange is no better really, other than having services for destinations furth afield.

That's more like it mate

I did think about that Mike but the Romford and Bachmann wheels are like bloody steamroller ones in comparison and the track on The Mill is much happier with Gibsons clattering through it. As I don't buy much in the way of RTR any more, I can justify the cost as being spent on wheels rather than a shiny choo choo. Plus, it would be nice to have a bag of OO wheels to pop in when visiting mates OO layouts.

It may be worth painting the track round that section before encasing it in a cutting

Here's a thought for you. Use the old main line overbridge as the scenic break for that end of the layout with the railway in a cutting leading up to it (the hill extended to the baseboard edge) with a backscene board behind the bridge. As I guess there will be no scenery on the lift out section, then you need something at that end to go off scene and a cutting, bridge and backscene would be a nice way of doing it. You would also have a bit of a storage area for your specs in the back corner behind the backscene and next to the lift out section. The two road bridges you built are lovely structures that it would be a shame to not use, and the railway running through a cutting through shallower hills would be a lovely contrast to the tunnel and fell on one side and the embankment in the central section - a real railway in the landscape.

If it were me, I would start raising the contours on that side towards the hills so that the railway is in a cutting, even if it is a low and shallow one. It really doesn't matter if doing so encloses the valley into a bowl because imagination lets the valley continue in one direction and the railway head off in a straighter line than is possible with a roundy roundy.

You're going to HATE me but why would a road be tunnelled under such a large area of ground? I like the idea but it would work better (in my opinion) if the road bridge was just the width of the railway. I know you have already plastered it in but could you not trim down the trackbed to the width of the railway and slot the bridge in? I just think it looks a bit mad; I can't think of any road tunnel of that length in a rural setting on a country road. Of course, you could lay track on it and hey presto, you have a scenic-only Stainmore route.....

When Andy wrote the above, I was in full agreement. I may be considered a bit of an oddball for saying this (well, I AM an oddball but that's beside the point) but passenger stock and services do nothing for me whereas a ramshackle collection of wagons and I am a happy camper. Bacup was very nearly a fan of exchange sidings in an urban setting but as I had always been fascinated with the place and managed to make a half decent job of the station and canopy (the litmus test) then I went ahead, albeit with the emphasis in my mind being around freight rather than passenger services (which in the main are served by DMU's or a short rake of suburban coaches). The thing is, that hankering for a more intense freight based layout is still there and part of me wants to know what is at the other end of the line from the Mill (and other off-scene industries). Now as you know, Bacup is OO and The Mill is EM so when the shed finally gets built, they would still be two separate layouts and understandably, my interests are now definitely in the EM camp which raises questions over the future of Bacup. However, the essence of Bacup to me is not the track but the buildings and they were all made to be removeable and reusable on future layouts (albeit with the window frames painted to avoid future correspondence on the subject). I think you can probably guess what the future holds for Bacup, especially as a roundy roundy will be possible and probable. So to get back to Andy's comment, how many wagons is too many. For the Mill, around 20 would be the ideal number given the size of the sector plate (which accommodates 3 and an 0-4-0), storage and keeping interest up out front for any punter foolish enough to watch for over 30 minutes but if The Mill was a modular part of a larger layout with exchange sidings, then quite a few more would be needed. Many more. Yep, you guessed it, I have started to convert Bacup's wagons to EM Gauge. Kit builds have had the brakes moved or replaced (and more detail added to the under-gubbins) and the majority of he RTR stock has been fettled to accept EM gauge wheels. The current position is that about 60% of Bacup's stock is done, albeit awaiting a mass order of EM wheels from Mr Gibson; the rest should be ready very soon. They currently still have their OO wheels in (and they will all be kept so they can be run on mates layouts by swapping over). Current total of EM compatible wagons is now around 150. So there you have it, my current thinking; The Mill as an exhibitable layout that plugs into a larger system. When it's at Chris's house so he can play with it, then I guess we'll have to build another one to the same dimensions (but different industry?) to take it's place.

You don't do things by half, do you? (As if I can talk..... ) The Crosti looks fantastic, as do the plans for the station. Remind me, are you going for handbuilt track as I bet my bottom dollar that you wouldn't find it's construction too much of a challenge. Cheers, J.

The thing with road surfaces is that scaled down to 1/72, the surface would be all but smooth. I know that as modellers we tend to add overscale textures (for instance with embossed plastikard) but with road surfaces, I don't think it translates. On Bacup, on the roads that were tarmac as opposed to cobbles, I experimented with textured paint but it was just too rough; when the lumps of 'tarmac' in the road are half the height of a 4mm gadge's foot, it just looks wrong. I ended up sanding it back as smooth as possible and then painting over again with a dull grey. Now I will be the first to admit that the tarmac roads on Bacup looked a bit crap but the surface texture was ok (it was something I always meant to revisit but never did, including never getting round to adding manhole covers and drains, which I did to the cobbled streets). As for the roads on AV, I wasn't convinced at all as they were far too pitted and would have ripped the wheels of anything that tried to drive along them.

Forget the Metcalfe sheets, they look what they are, painted cardboard. PM Andy Y and ask him what he uses, as his road surfaces are amongst the best I have seen

At work mate, quite busy too....