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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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reddragon

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You're very welcome :D


You've just given me a brilliant idea - a bus service between the two pubs! Pubs are definitely the heart of a lot of small villages and so having another one for the centre of the town was a must. Definitely go for one if you've got the opportunity - great little things to add to a scene because you can do so much with them.
Thanks! I rather like Metcalfe kits but that's maybe just because I've not built kits from anyone else. They tend to be quite fiddly in parts but I've found that using a small piece of card to apply the glue makes a massive difference.


The sound quality is alright - nothing to write home about but nothing bad to comment on either. I'm not sure it needs any more bass because else it can be too deep. There's not a lot of space in the tender for the sound to reverberate but it seems to work.

-Peter

====[old post 20.11.2021, 21:20; new post 21.11.2021, 17:46]===

Update on the new pub - it's finished!
View attachment 105944View attachment 105945

After a couple of hours' work this afternoon - admittedly at a fairly slow pace - I've finished the coaching inn. It's a bit larger than I thought it would be, but it's a problem I can solve.
I've tried to finish this one off to a higher standard than some of the other kits on the layout, so I spent some time colouring-in the white edges of the card with a pencil and things like that. There's also the bits of greenery about the place, which seemed to work fairly well on the cottages (which are next to this building) and they work really well at hiding the joins between the main building and the wall/shed and a few other bits.
One of the most interesting bits about this kit for me was the yard out the back and the archway through; it's something a bit different but a pain to put together! The archway is formed from some bits which fold back to create the holes in the walls at each end, and then you stick the brick-textured piece behind those on either side (if that makes any sense). I didn't realise that was how it made until I'd chopped off the "fold-these-bits-back" bits and had to glue them all back together :lol:
At one point, I had a small plastic kit for a small barrow carrying fruit and veg and the like. It came with a copy of Railway Modeller I believe but it's one of the many things which seem to have gone missing in the many changes to the layout! Something like that might've been perfect for the yard out the back so I'll be looking on eBay I expect!

Next thing now is to work out what on earth I'm going to do about the road in front. So there's enough room at the back for the gate from the yard to make some sort of sense, the building needs to be set fairly far-forward from the tracks behind. This means the pavement at the front sticks out onto the roundabout - creating a bit of a Countdown conundrum. The easy option would probably be to remove the roundabout altogether and then just turn it into a bog-standard junction, but that sounds a bit boring really so I might try and make a mini-roundabout (as if the one there wasn't small enough already!). In my experience, a fair few mini-roundabouts tend to be really quite small indeed so there doesn't need to be enough space for cars to go around it properly, just enough so they can go straight over the middle ;)

-Peter
A single picture of yours exceeds all of my scenery!
 
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Peter C

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A single picture of yours exceeds all of my scenery!
Haha - thank you; but I expect that won't be the case when you start getting yours started! Really looking forward to seeing what you'll do with all that space.

-Peter
 

Peter C

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The Red Lion looks excellent! Well done :) Are you going to rename it?
Thank you! :D
There were several names to choose from in the kit, and I went for the Red Lion because it's a name with some sort of local connection (not unsurprising really, given I believe it's one of, if not the, most common pub name in the UK?). However, I might try and change it to something more railway-related; a name I quite like is "The King and Castle" of Kidderminster Town, on the SVR. Might try and print off some of their signs and stick them over the Red Lion ones... ;)

-Peter
 

Peter C

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It's that time of year again - yes, you know what it is - Easter! Wait, hang on...

Yes, it's the first day of December (how did we get here that quickly? It was April yesterday), and so that means it's the start of that well-known and time-honoured (for "time-honoured", read "since 2020") tradition of the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway Advent Calendar! :D
(Can we just pretend to ignore how I completely forgot about all this until about five minutes ago? Yeah? Super.)


Let's see which engine is first in this year's advent calendar.
20210909_203422.jpg

You'll have to forgive the use of an old photo, but the layout's in a bit of a state at the moment and so this will have to do :lol:
This is 1421 - a Hornby 14xx from around the year 2000 if I remember correctly (I have a feeling it's from the late-1990s?). It arrived on the layout at the start of September, and was quite a bit cheaper than they tend to go for on eBay (especially considering it came with the chocolate-and-cream autocoach in the background). The traction tyres - yes, it has traction tyres - are a bit worse-for-wear, though, so it doesn't run perfectly but does work if you give it enough time.
1421 is the second 14xx on the layout; I'd wanted one for quite some time, and got an Airfix one earlier this year, but always liked the idea of having a more-modern Hornby one. It came with a couple of other engines and is a really nice addition.


I went through and made a list of the fleet on the layout a while ago, and there were around thirty engines (including non-operational ones), so it's likely that this is going to do what it did last year and run on past Christmas Eve and up to New Year's Eve - or perhaps even into 2022. However I've got some plans for doubling-up some days to show two engines at once for instances where that would work so keep your eyes peeled! :D

Thanks for reading.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I’m just going to eat all the chocolate in one go and feel queasy for the rest of the night. :E
 

Peter C

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OK Peter, challenge accepted!

My Advent calendar for 2021 has started :)
Haha :lol:
Just seen it - liking that Class 491. Quite interesting things, those.

I’m just going to eat all the chocolate in one go and feel queasy for the rest of the night. :E
I'm blaming you for giving me the (simultaneously superb and awful) idea of just buying twenty-four advent calendars and then eating the contents of each one for each day of advent... ;)

-Peter

============
[new post 2.12.2021, 1919]

Well then! How have we got to the second of December already? I could have sworn it was only the first yesterday...
Anyway - another day, another locomotive (and another old photo but I won't tell anyone if you don't) for the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway Advent Calendar 2021 Extravaganza. What could it be today I wonder?

Ruston 48DS.jpeg
Today's engine is this delightful little Ruston 48DS from Hornby. It's in Queen Anne Distillery chocolate-and-cream livery (personally my favourite out of the original few liveries Hornby did), and has been fitted with a driver. It's surprisingly powerful given its size - a lot of the ability to haul trains comes from the flat wagon behind it really, as it has extra pickups to make the wheelbase a little bit longer (well, twice as long). I don't think the engine came with the front NEM coupling fitted, but I put it on there just so it can push and pull things.
I tried to fit a decoder into this engine some time ago but it didn't work (why, I don't know) so it's DC for the time being. I'd really like to add it to the DCC fleet at some point though, just to bring the layout a (tiny, quite literally) step closer towards being majority-DCC! :lol:

I hope you enjoyed that (I certainly did). Thanks for reading!

-Peter
 
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Cowley

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Yes that’s actually rather cool! The driver actually puts it into scale quite nicely.
 

Peter C

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Yes that’s actually rather cool! The driver actually puts it into scale quite nicely.
Why thank you good sir :D

=========

For the third day of the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway 2021 Advent Calendar Bonanza, we're going to have a look at a rather old engine in the fleet - in fact, the first engine on the layout...

1st - GWR 101 107.jpeg
(For the eagle-eyed, yes this is just the photo I used from last year's advent calendar - I promise I'll take some new photos soon ;))

This is Hornby GWR 101 - the first engine in my adventure into model railways. It came with a couple of loops of track about five or six years ago now, and it still works really well. It's one of two 0-4-0 'pocket rockets' on the layout, and looks quite nice with these two four-wheeled coaches I think. It needs a bit of TLC on things like the handrails but I'm afraid to change too much of it because of the sentimental value it holds. I might try and fit it with a crew at some point - probably the plain black-plastic driver and fireman Hornby definitely used to - not sure if they still do now - include in train sets, just for that ultimate train-set feel. It's hardly the most detailed engine but that's not a problem really.

Anyway - thanks for reading, as always. :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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That model is what getting a train set for Christmas used to be all about.
 

Peter C

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That model is what getting a train set for Christmas used to be all about.
That engine - and Mallard - hold a lot of memories for me because they were the first two engines on the layout. Many a happy hour just running them round, without loads of coaches, barely any scenery, and just that simple Hornby DC controller. Great fun. :D

-Peter
 

Cowley

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That engine - and Mallard - hold a lot of memories for me because they were the first two engines on the layout. Many a happy hour just running them round, without loads of coaches, barely any scenery, and just that simple Hornby DC controller. Great fun. :D

-Peter

Lovely. Also they’re literally at the very opposite ends of the spectrum. :lol:
 

Peter C

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Lovely. Also they’re literally at the very opposite ends of the spectrum. :lol:
They are, yes :lol:
I'm not quite sure why I went for Mallard in particular. I think it was just because it was one of the cheaper larger engines in the local model shop!

==========

For day four - blimey those first three days have gone by quick - of the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway 2021 Advent Calendar Extravaganza Bonanza Special, I bring you a pair of engines...

20th - Panniers.jpeg
This is yet another photo from last year - and proves how unoriginal I am, given I came up with the idea of showcasing both panniers before I found the picture :lol:
The engine on the left is a Hornby 27xx from a good few years ago. It came from a Facebook marketplace (?) sale thing a few years ago and works well. It came with a driver and fireman to fit in the cab but they've long since disappeared. It's got a sprung rear axle (fancy, I know) - although what that's supposed to do, I've no clue. Probably something really important.

The one on the right is an old Hornby-Triang (well I think it's Triang) Pannier which came from eBay before the newer Pannier I believe. It's fitted with a smoke unit but had some motor issues (which then turned into the bigger issue of not working at all). It's got some quite nice features though, such as the shiny safety valve cover (which looks a bit cheap but given the time it was made, it's not all that bad). One day I'm going to try and persuade it to work; it just needs some wires soldering back together and hopefully it should run (famous last words!).

I promise at some point I'll stop being so lazy and get some new pictures. A lot of this is going to be the same as last year I think (as if you hadn't worked that out already ;)).

Thanks for reading!

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Did you ever get the smoke unit working Peter?
 

Peter C

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Someone needs a Bourneville loco for advent chocolate!
Now that'd be nice. I wonder if there are any RTR engines which would fit that...

Did you ever get the smoke unit working Peter?
I don't think it's ever worked when it's been on my layout, but that's because I've never got around to getting any smoke oil to put in it so it's not really a helpful answer - sorry!
I've seen some cool videos of modern smoke units which just work with water, so if there's ever a chance of replacing the original one in that pannier with a water-based one, I'd definitely be looking into that.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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A bit quiet on the Christmas front here.
Just saying…
 

Peter C

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A bit quiet on the Christmas front here.
Just saying…
No day 5 or 6?
Ah yes - apologies. Day five went on strike over the weekend (well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it), so here's two engines. It's actually an idea I had a while ago so quite glad I get to use it :lol:

=======

In what may turn out to be the first in a series of carol-based puns (who's she?) in the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway Advent Calendar 2021 Extravaganza Bonanza two-for-one half-price special, we're decking all the halls here today...

Deck the Halls.jpeg
(Yes - it's a new photo! Wahey :lol:)
Here we have the two resident 'Halls' of Oldmoor - on the left is 6976 Graythwaite Hall, and on the right is 4983 Albert Hall. Albert Hall came from @reddragon last Summer and I must admit that it's not had any work done to it since it arrived; I need to sort out various bits before it can start running again because at the moment, the motor is sat awaiting a clean and then being put back in the engine! It's an old Hornby model.
You can probably tell that I love seemingly everything to do with God's Wonderful Railway, and so it's hardly surprising that I went for yet another 'Hall' - this time a modified example to complement 4983. Graythwaite Hall came in the same 'haul' (a Hall haul, you could say) as the 14xx from day one of this advent calendar, and is a Mainline model. It's got some lovely detailing to it, and it really reminds me of journeys behind Foremarke Hall on the GWSR. The only problem with this engine is the footplate sticks out beyond the back of the engine so much as to prevent the tender from taking any kind of curve - therefore meaning it can only really run on the straight parts of the layout. Doesn't mean it doesn't look any worse though - it's a lovely model.

======

In an interesting twist for the advent calendar, I've got a small bit of non-advent-related OJMR news - that being that all of the track on the board has now been pinned down! I expect you're as surprised as I was to find that the bay platforms of Oldmoor Junction station hadn't been pinned-down, despite them having been in their current state for some time now. I also sorted the railway centre trackplan - it needed a bit of work - over the weekend and pinned that all down too, so now I can clean the track without it moving every five seconds :D
I've also done some work on the roads - that being, finishing off the last section of one of the two roads through Oldmoor proper, and then continuing on the road beyond the mini-roundabout and to the station. I've used up the last bits of grey card I had to do it, so I'll need to get some more but there's not all that much to sort out.

Anyway - thanks for reading! :D

-Peter
 

Iskra

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Those halls look nice and Albert Hall in particular is a very evocative locomotive name!

It's excellent to hear that you've made progress on the layout too :)
 

Peter C

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Those halls look nice and Albert Hall in particular is a very evocative locomotive name!
It most certainly is! The names some engines got were really quite lovely.

It's excellent to hear that you've made progress on the layout too :)
Thank you - it's starting to come together (though I've been saying that for some time now ;)).

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Good stuff Peter. You really are a GWR fan aren’t you?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
 

Peter C

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Good stuff Peter. You really are a GWR fan aren’t you?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Thank you :)
Most certainly - the majority of the steam engines on the layout are of GWR origin. There's just something about the whole thing I really like - that, and living in part of the Western Region has probably had an effect!

=====

In the seventh day of the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway 2021 Advent Calendar Bonanza Two-for-one-get-it-now-at-your-local-supermarket Extravaganza, we're going to do something radical - and have a look at another GWR engine...

Day 7 - King.jpeg
Instead of Good King Wenceslas, we've got Good King Richard!
This engine is a Hornby 'King' - 6021 King Richard II. It's in the lovely BR Experimental Passenger Blue livery, just like the one at Didcot, and is fitted with Hornby's Twin Track Sound (TTS). It's been on the layout for a few years now but hasn't run for some time because there's some sort of issue with it meaning it won't move more than a millimetre (and that's not an exaggeration) before stopping and having to restart the whole sound process again - or even just cutting out entirely and needing a push. I promise some of the engines on my layout work :lol:
Even though it doesn't run, this engine hasn't been off the layout for some time - purely because of how much it reminds me of the 'King' at Didcot Railway Centre. Given the only differences between the two are the name and number, not all that surprising really! The sound chip works when the engine is stationary at least, so it can sit around idling in a part of the railway centre and still add to the scene. I did debate changing the name and number to match 6023 King Edward II at Didcot, but I'm not really that fussed and wouldn't want to break anything!

Thanks for reading - I promise I'll move on to some other engines at some point and move away from GWR steam ;)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Thank you :)
Most certainly - the majority of the steam engines on the layout are of GWR origin. There's just something about the whole thing I really like - that, and living in part of the Western Region has probably had an effect!

=====

In the seventh day of the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway 2021 Advent Calendar Bonanza Two-for-one-get-it-now-at-your-local-supermarket Extravaganza, we're going to do something radical - and have a look at another GWR engine...

View attachment 106601
Instead of Good King Wenceslas, we've got Good King Richard!
This engine is a Hornby 'King' - 6021 King Richard II. It's in the lovely BR Experimental Passenger Blue livery, just like the one at Didcot, and is fitted with Hornby's Twin Track Sound (TTS). It's been on the layout for a few years now but hasn't run for some time because there's some sort of issue with it meaning it won't move more than a millimetre (and that's not an exaggeration) before stopping and having to restart the whole sound process again - or even just cutting out entirely and needing a push. I promise some of the engines on my layout work :lol:
Even though it doesn't run, this engine hasn't been off the layout for some time - purely because of how much it reminds me of the 'King' at Didcot Railway Centre. Given the only differences between the two are the name and number, not all that surprising really! The sound chip works when the engine is stationary at least, so it can sit around idling in a part of the railway centre and still add to the scene. I did debate changing the name and number to match 6023 King Edward II at Didcot, but I'm not really that fussed and wouldn't want to break anything!

Thanks for reading - I promise I'll move on to some other engines at some point and move away from GWR steam ;)

-Peter

That’s a shame that it doesn’t work properly. I wonder if there’s a loose connection in there somewhere?
 

Iskra

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It doesn't look too bad considering all those years it spent under a car park in Leicester ;)
 

Peter C

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That’s a shame that it doesn’t work properly. I wonder if there’s a loose connection in there somewhere?
I hadn't thought of that. It went back to the model shop it came from a couple of times to see if the chap there could fix it and he managed to get some of its issues solved but not everything unfortunately. Superb little shop that - the owner had a small loop of track to test new models on if you wanted before you bought them and all sorts - but I digress. :)

It doesn't look too bad considering all those years it spent under a car park in Leicester ;)
Haha :lol:
It might not have been sat around under some tarmac, but it has spent a lot of time under the layout on shelves so when I remember about it, it's a bit like an archaeological dig!

-Peter
 
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