Signaling the changes...

About a year ago I bought one of the Hornby Skaledale GN style signal boxes with the initial intention of seeing how good it was and possibly repainting/detailing.

As bought

Well this week has seem my eyesight suffer in trying to make it more BR (E) in colour and tweeking some of the details, changing the chimney pot that was cracked, opening one of the windows (which are actually nice brass etches) and fitting an interior.

 


The painting turned out to be the easier bit - well the green bits - compared to building up the Wills interior kit.  This kit is all whitemetal and is possibly the worst I have seen in a long time in terms of flash and bad mouldings.  The green in place of the BR(M) red is based on the advice from this great website (http://www.stationcolours.info/) and is Tamiya flat green with a bit of white mixed in. The rest is from warhammer or Phoenix greys/browns for both the tiles and general weathering.  A final wash is still needed on the roof.

As I was going to the trouble of fitting an inside I thought it would be a good idea to light the box and decided on LEDs as grain of wheat bulbs seem to put out quite a bit of heat and I'm not sure how the resin style stuff the model is made of would survive...

I'm fairly new to LEDs and always panic about wiring them up properly but this seems to work ok - only slight concern is that the Gaugemaster contoller I have that has a 12V DC output is actually putting out nearer 16V when tried with a multimeter...

Box and partially built lever frame and interior

Still a bit of finishing to be done but one building nearly done - now just the rest of the layout to wire up, the control panel to build, all the rest of the buildings to complete and it might just look like a real railway....

A slight Great Central feel

A bit of an ex-GC London Extension feel today - B1s and Class 5 in well worn 1960s style.  (Apologies for the grainy photos - artificial light and an iPhone camera don't go together well...)

After a bit of playing and again more point motor wiring along with kit-bashing the ex-Airfix Platform Canopy kit (separate update to follow on that) I have nearly finished my pair of B1s as Immingham 40B locomotives - white paint and all...

Both are Bachmann offerings - One (61168) is from a toy-fair at Lincolnshire Showground and came in pristine condition - I have renumbered this one and done some weathering with some still to complete (especially the wheels and valve gear.

The second (61190) is from eBay and came renumbered as an Immingham loco and already weathered but fitted with Sprat & Winkle style couplings (since removed - I'm not keen on tension lock but 99% of my stock is so fitted) - it also needs a front coupling hook refitting...

They are seen on the newly laid diesel fuelling tracks (after playing around and not being able to get a point motor quite where I wanted due to the bolts between layout boards) which also means the tracks are set a little further back from the line onto the shed.

The class 5 is a DJH kit with coreless motor and while needing a little tlc to a few rubbed off paint patches looks the part and runs well (apart from the steps shorting occasionally on tight points... another job to tweek).

Also another 'new' project is part started updating an old Airfix class 31 picked up at Barrow Hill.  I have already removed the moulded plastic handrails and front hand holds and stripped it back and put a coat of primer over it.  It is eventually going to be D5579 in its experimental Golden Ochre livery to add a bit of colour to the scene - I already have one Hornby 'skin head/toffee apple' in green  - a separate update on this too follow at some point...

Model Rail Live - 2

Some of the layouts on show over the weekend - including Brewhouse Quay but as there was always people in front of it I never managed a photo.  Also some videos from the day - Mayflower and Tornado along with the DCC O gauge layout with sound and smoke effects.

'oo' gauge layout being constructed in the 'Deltic' shed of Finsbury Park

Model Rail Sentinel up close

Model Rail Live at Barrow Hill

Some pictures from Model Rail Live at Barrow Hill, Staveley today.

Various views of the roundhouse, locos and diesels, Tornado and B1 Mayflower plus other views of the site.

 

East Midlands Trains Class 158 on Chesterfield - Barrow Hill shuttle

Tornado ready to back onto the short shuttle stock - and some of the 37s on site

 

 

B1 61306 now named Mayflower in LNER Apple Green - something I don't think it ever carried in real life being a BR built loco...

DRS class 37 and BR Green class 40 with full yellow ends with a 73 lurking behind

Don't think I can get away with one like this on Abthorpe - even though I have an old style Hornby one kicking about that would look a lot better in this livery!

Roundhouse views - the sand dryer is giving me ideas...

Baby Deltic Project - long way to go!

One of the Deltics on site - Tulyar was in the shed undergoing restoration and various other Deltic bits including the cab mounted on the road trailer I remember from my childhood is also on site.

Assorted ex-East Coast Mainline Electrics and the surviving MR 1F tank that used to be based at Barrow Hill for shunting at Staveley Iron Works

Butler Henderson and the Severn Valley's Class 5

The other B1 on site

'Mayflower' on the shuttle service and 89001 parked out front in the carpark - is that livery correct from its BR days?