Typical!

Yet again apologies for the very lapse updating of my blog.  Quite a lot has been happening work and home wise but I have done quite a bit to the layout but no pictures just yet.

Back to title of the post 'Typical' - I've been 'halfway' converting an old airfix/dapol castle into a Star for a few months years and now they are brining out something better than I can ever achieve plus Blue Spot Fish Vans after amassing old Wrenn, Dapol etc ones (many in need of a lot of TLC) over the last few years!  The new ones are going to be a lot better, correct underframes etc.  Your begin to wonder why you bother sometimes....

Wrenn - White gone quite yellow!

V  

More Blue Pullman playing

Playing about after moving baseboards around half the day by getting the 8 car 'conversion' set out (and holding together with gravity!) to put the two side by side. Also the four extra spare cars in the bay... It also highlights that I need a bigger room for longer platforms.....!

Blue Pullman unpackaged

Again another quick post but I have now had the Pullman out of the box properly but due to the layout still being in lots of bits can't connect it all together and test it!

A few pics follow with my Triang/Kitmaster coversion being an interloper...  It does highlight the touch up needed following the fitting of the LEDs in the front though!

Quick update

A very quick update after a real lapse since August.

Quite a bit of progress has been happening but mainly under the surface trying to get all the wiring sorted on the station boards - still need to order switches for the control panel - but the main connections are all (hopefully) in place even through the actual connectors between boards still need to be decided upon....


The real purpose of todays update though is this little box that arrived this morning.  Only had a quick look so far but it makes my ongoing project to create a 'decent' cross hybrid of Triang & Kitmaster 8 car Western Region unit look very beginnerish!

MPD Update

So doing things in the wrong order as normal I decided to have a go at trying to get at least one part of the scenic section started that already had the wiring done.   This may prove to be a silly idea as its the part nearest the back and as such will have me leaning over it for the rest unless I take the board down (which is probably too sensible).

It is quite impressive what half an hour, two used Morrison's Savers Herb pots and a small Oregano pot can be formed into.  The backwall is just plasticard and may yet change for the entire length.  The depot is a Bachmann one with a scalescenes pit with LEDs fitted.  The fuelling point being a Knightwing one without the supplied base.  Infil is a mix of card and ballast which has been scribed and then painted 'concrete' colour.  This will all be weathered well at some point but I wanted to make sure things still ran and the point worked before doing too much more.

On a ballasting note how do you stop the glue going into blobs and thus lifting the perfectly prepared ballast?! I have followed all the tricks available (pre-wetting it, adding washing up liquid to the glue/water mix and going atleast 60/40 water/glue) but still it does its own thing!

Some bad pictures taken this morning in South Yorkshire's August sunshine (read grey sky and murky) on my iPhone don't really show things that well - except all the rest of the junk that always seems to pile up on the layout!  They also show the final board fitted and the basic extension of the platform and buildings in place (rather than in a box and on the floor) - though it needs to be about 8" deeper...

Oh and while I'm on have a look at my eBay items finishing later today - moving on some items that definitely don't fit with a Eastern feel or are projects that are never going to be done - see here

Big update!

Was my last update really in March?!   Well things have moved on quite a lot since then - the house moved happened and went quite well.

After a while of the normal sorting things out with the house I got round to the 'railway room' which wasn't quite as user friendly as I had hoped due to fitted bedroom furniture (the problem of a rented property means I can't rip it out) and a great big 1930's chimney breast....

I have managed to finally get all the remaining fiddle yard boards connected and relaid the track into the fiddle yard and basically reworked the whole lot.  For what feels like the past month when I've had the chance I've done nothing but solder and fit switches and connectors between baseboards.

Basic boards as moved and put up

The larger room and the fitted units do mean I can get round a lot more of the layout other than the part in the far corner in the alcove by the chimney breast.

Work in progress in laying the fiddle yard - double slips and polarity switches are not my friends!

Some stock in the roads now the wiring is working (unlike my controller again after a recent return from Gaugemaster - track 1 has given up the ghost again...)

Immingham based B1 and 6 Mk1s (good old Mainline ones as test rake)

Control panel for the fiddle yard and the jumble of wires behind - all the red is point motor switches and the positive feeds for each power feed.  I really needed some more wire but with already having a lot of red and black (black being used for the common feed) I've used it and tried to label where I can.  I imagine lots of headaches later though when things come detached if the layout does ever leave home!

The last couple of nights has involved a bit of break from wiring with a bit of laying of 'concrete' in the diesel depot.  This is a bit of a trial and error attempt at using card that came with a box of envelopes as straighteners but happen to be exactly the right thickness to just sit under rail height.  Locos run over fine and with a bit of concrete paint on one bit as a trial it doesn't look too bad - hopefully once its weathered and covered in oil spillage etc it should look much like the real thing....

Hopefully the next update won't take four months...!

House Move and N5

Apologies for the lack of updates recently - this is mainly to do with working away 3-4 nights a week but all this is shortly to end.  After a great deal of discussion we have decided to move to lovely Barnsley (I'm being serious) and have found what we hope is a nice 3 bedroom semi which means I 'get' one of the two larger bedrooms to play in :)

Not only does this mean I can look at easing the curve round the top of the layout and allow the remaining fiddle yard board to be fitted permanently but it should mean i can get round the sides of at least one side of the scenic bit without having to be a contortionist!

The only problem with moving is the packing and dismantling of everything (railway and house!).  Hopefully by the end of March we should have keys and everything moved in....

In the meantime here's some final pictures of the tight space and some of the N5 - nearly all done (except for the replacement trailing wheel - now in a box after safe handover from dad).  All that needs doing to it now is proper couplings and weathering....

N5 update

A bit of further work on the N5 - a Sheffield (Darnall) 41A example number 69258 - mainly due to types of chimney, longevity and available photos!

Fire iron brackets fabricated and fitted to the tank top and hand holds fitted above the front steps. Buffers still need repainting too.

New rear wheel still to be fitted to once it has made it over to Lincoln...

LNER N5

So after getting the N5 home and trying it out it very reluctantly moved under its own power.

A major wheel and pickup cleaning operation and some lubrication has helped matters but it still seems rather reluctant when left for a while and then tried again.  Perhaps more use may improve things.

I've also made a start on cleaning it up, replacing the rather heavily applied numerals and the old style handrails this week - something to do while sat in a Travelodge!

Replacement handrails on the front and side - lamp brackets fitted and replacement smokebox door handle.

Coal rails removed from incorrectly fitted location on the outside of the bunker and replaced inside with 'planking' as fitted to most in available pictures.

This evening I have also fitted the replacement ross-pop style safety valves and steam pipe on the front. Then a bit of replacement black paint to see if it would cover ok without having to strip more off and spray the whole loco - so far so good!  I've decided that by 1960 the last of them wouldn't have been looking great with paint or general external condition being 70 years old....

Smokebox and chimney still to do with metalcote black - also side tanks need another light coat to touch in.

The wheels also need painting and a replacement 3'6" 10 spoke fitting on the rear - ready to be picked up on next visit to Dad!

LWMRS Exhibition 2012

This weekend I paid a visit to my old model railway club's Exhibition - the Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society - at the NAC Stoneleigh.

It was nice to see and speak to many old acquaintances and see the progress of the OO layout Duxbury which I had been involved with.

I didn't take that many photos and those I did weren't the best only using an iPhone inside...

Did make a 'small' purchase however of a quite roughly put together old Millholme LNER (ex GCR) N5 0-6-2T.

Eastern Region 'O' gauge

Duxbury

Duxbury (with part of the goods shed I started to build on show)

The Club's Walford out on the road again

  

and the N5.....