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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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reddragon

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Thanks! I don't think I'll be doing a lot of work on that bit of the station for a while now as I've got to work out how to do the station building (which will have to be scratchbuilt) beforehand. Should be able to make it all look a bit neater though in the meantime.

=====

It's the last day of 2021 today (how this can be, I simply don't know - it was August yesterday), and I thought it was as a good a time as any to share the latest acquisitions on the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway (really, the things I got at Christmas - which I refuse to believe was six days ago).
Let's jump into this and see how much I can waffle on then, shall we? :lol:

View attachment 108061
The first item is this lovely Hornby A1 Terrier. It's in LSWR green and it's absolutely tiny in comparison to pretty much everything else on the layout! It came pre-DCC-fitted from Hattons and is a lovely runner. There's loads of detailing on it and the livery is superb. That's the main reason I went for it actually; the green isn't unique on the layout in the sense of it being a shade of green, but the bright colour is so nice and really adds to the whole thing.
The second item is the coach currently coupled to the first - a Hornby Mk1 brake coach. I can't remember the technical term at the moment but it's one of those ones with the guard's bit (or the brake bit, whichever) in half the carriage with the other half being normal seating; it's a design I've already got two of on the layout, but they're both test-train coaches and so would look a bit out-of-place in a heritage rake! This coach ticks two boxes - firstly, it's a passenger-rake-prototypical livery, and secondly, it's in maroon - a livery I've seen countless times on heritage railways but not yet had on the layout. Hopefully at some point I'll have a few more maroon coaches to join this one!

View attachment 108062
The third item is this GWR Mk3. It's a first-class one and takes the number of GWR Mk3s on the layout up to three - thus meaning there are five total (the other two being old Hornby ones - the short ones - in BR blue/grey). Just as with the other two GWR Mk3s on the layout, there's not really much to complain about with this model - the gloss finish is lovely, there's plenty of detailing, and the couplings allow for close connections between the carriages. There's also the fact that being from the Western Region and having grown up with the FGW/GWR HST sets, the plan is to make a GWR HST set at some point (because I doubt I'll ever be able to afford a Hornby FGW Mk3 without selling a kidney) - probably using the RailRoad-style GWR HST powercars.

View attachment 108064
The fourth item is this Network Rail Mk3 - I didn't put two and two together until I saw it in person, but I think it's probably supposed to go in a New Measurement Train rake. Either way, it's a lovely addition to the test train fleet, which now comprises four yellow coaches. Just as with the GWR Mk3, there's really not a lot to complain about with this coach - apart from maybe that some of the bits of plastic put in the windows to change their shape or otherwise remove them are very noticeable in places. However this is typical of the whole Hornby test train range so it's not a major problem as it fits in with the other coaches in the rake.

View attachment 108065View attachment 108066
The last items for today are these two vehicles - the first being a Morris Marina (no, of course I didn't have to look that up), and the second being a British Rail Land Rover. They're lovely additions to the layout and I can easily see how people start collecting these little models - they're not overly expensive and they make for a really good way of populating a town scene. I don't quite know where the Land Rover is heading off to, but I can only assume there's been some sort of issue up the line! Probably leaves - or the wrong kind of snow - or maybe that 'Jubilee' currently looking in the insurance offices' window...


Anyway - that's it for 2021 on the Oldmoor Junction Model Railway. Thanks so much for reading all of the stuff I've written over the past year (well, even if you've not read it all - and I don't blame you - I still really appreciate it) - it's really lovely to read the responses from everyone and the banter makes it all the more worthwhile. I've had two extremes really in terms of the outside world and its affect on the layout; for a not-insignificant proportion of the year I had quite a bit of free time, and got a fair bit done, but then for the past few months it's been a lot more full-on so less has been finished but I'm still really happy with the overall state of the layout as it stands.
I've got all sorts of ideas for 2022 - I've shared most, if not all, of them with you already: let's see how well it goes!

Happy New Year, everybody - let's hope it's a good one. ;)

-Peter
Peter

You clearly do not have a railway big enough for all those locos! Hence GW loco driving along the road to Titfield?
 

Iskra

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Happy new year Peter! A very nice set of acquisitions you have there. I like the livery on the terrier :) I’m always a fan of the new GWR green livery too.
 

Peter C

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Some very nice additions there, I especially love the Terrier as it’s a classic little loco and the Kent & East Sussex have done the odd charter with a single coach, a couple of wagons and a Terrier.

Happy New Year to you too!
A Terrier has been on the list of engines to get for some time now and it really is a lovely addition. Liking that little rake there - thanks for sharing because I might just try and replicate that at some point. :D

Peter

You clearly do not have a railway big enough for all those locos! Hence GW loco driving along the road to Titfield?
There's a series of shelves beneath the layout to store the stock not on the layout but yes, the collection is probably a bit on the big size. I can only see one way of solving this issue - make the layout bigger!

Happy new year Peter! A very nice set of acquisitions you have there. I like the livery on the terrier :) I’m always a fan of the new GWR green livery too.
I did wonder about getting the GWR-liveried Terrier at one point; only problem was it looked a bit bland on without the lining and all the fancy bits (technical term). The GWR Mk3s are really cool - only problem is the gloss finish makes any fingerprints stand out and so you've got to keep them clean :lol:

-Peter
 

reddragon

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There's a series of shelves beneath the layout to store the stock not on the layout but yes, the collection is probably a bit on the big size. I can only see one way of solving this issue - make the layout bigger!


-Peter
How long have we been telling you that Peter, you must have a loft that can be boarded over there!
 

Peter C

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How long have we been telling you that Peter, you must have a loft that can be boarded over there!
There is a loft but it's rather inconsiderably full of old stuff at the moment and it'd be a timescale to rival Network Rail to clear it all out :lol:

-Peter
 

reddragon

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There is a loft but it's rather inconsiderably full of old stuff at the moment and it'd be a timescale to rival Network Rail to clear it all out :lol:

-Peter
A challenge to you then, clear the loft selling anything of value on eBay, board & light it, clean it & start you railway.
 

Peter C

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Blimey - eleven days since I last posted anything? No. Don't believe it. ;)
Not a lot has happened in Oldmoor as of late; real life is definitely back and as I think can be gathered from my rather sporadic posting on the forum, I keep forgetting to keep updated on here (despite reading it all when it's posted). I do have several ideas, though, so here's a sort-of-not-really-comprehensive-subject-to-change-available-now-in-your-local-supermarket list of things I'd like to try and get done on the layout this year (famous last words)...

  • The town - this has been an area which has received quite a bit of attention in recent months (i.e. it's been worked on to the point of existing and being at a fairly decent stage, if I may say so myself). There's still a lot I need to work on, though; the town is comprised of two roads - one is designed to look like a small country road, with suitable buildings (i.e. the church, the inn, the cottages, the row of three small shops), and the other is designed to be a bit more industrial (and almost as if it's just from a larger town), with the insurance offices and furniture shop. They're more retail park/business park buildings, so they're being kept separate from the others.
    I've got the first road mostly sorted - I just need to sort out the currently-unfinished paving, and that's it I think - so the more-industrial road is going to be the main focus. In theory, it shouldn't take too long; I want to put a car park in front of the insurance offices, and that shouldn't take long and it'll hopefully add a fair bit to the scene.

  • Oldmoor Junction - this is a bit which has been mostly neglected for the past year, so I've tried to make some improvements in the past couple of weeks but with varying levels of success. The main issue is that of platforms; between the inner running loop and the outermost bay platform (if that makes any sense), there's an area which needs to have a platform but due to the width, the platform has to be proprietary. I've tried with the Metcalfe platform kit, but I don't think the inner running loop is perfectly straight through the station (that, or I've got my width measurements wrong), and the platforms don't seem to fit the gap. I'll need to take a look at that before I work on the station building - to be perfectly honest, I'd be surprised if I got that sorted this year (well, definitely within the first half of the year), because it's going to be a lot of work, particularly when it comes to measuring and designing it.

  • Oldmoor T&RSMD - this area has been mostly left alone over the past year. I made the shed for it, and I put some basic hard-standing in, but it looks a bit basic and the shed isn't going to be sorted to the level I was originally planning, with brick paper and all sorts. One of the railway-related Christmas presents I didn't mention was a Gaugemaster plastic kit for a TMD shed, so I'm going to build that and replace the old card one with that. I might even see if there are any other ways of doing the hard-standing. There's Poly-Fila but I don't particularly want to use that given past experience - however if it that's the only way of doing it, so be it.

  • Railway centre - the railway centre needs ballasting, a new engine shed, and all sorts of other detailing bits. A new water tower also wouldn't go amiss; perhaps even a new signal box too! I think I've made it fairly obvious that a lot of the ideas for this area are coming from Didcot Railway Centre, so there's going to be a fair few things which look similar between the two (with any luck!)

I think that's pretty much it for the time being. There's also some smaller areas, such as the far corner of the layout, with the ever-present Mrs Miggins' shop, but that's going to be an easy area to finish once I can get some more grey card for the road surface. Apologies for the lack of anything particularly interesting this time - I'll try and get some photos of engines running around for next time. Perhaps even a video too? I don't half spoil you lot ;)

-Peter
 

Iskra

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I can definitely empathise with the difficulties of getting the platforms exactly right, I’m now on my 3rd- and hopefully final solution- after plan A and B didn’t quite work. Persevere and you will find the right answer!

You also aren’t alone in finding the real world more and more time consuming either; I hope however that you can make more progress than you anticipate this year and I look forward to seeing how things develop :)
 

Peter C

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I can definitely empathise with the difficulties of getting the platforms exactly right, I’m now on my 3rd- and hopefully final solution- after plan A and B didn’t quite work. Persevere and you will find the right answer!
I'm wondering if it's worth just cutting my losses and going with a pre-made platform. The only problem is the Hornby ones are too thin, which would look odd from above - although I think Triang once made some wider platforms, which might just be what I need. eBay beckons! :lol:

You also aren’t alone in finding the real world more and more time consuming either; I hope however that you can make more progress than you anticipate this year and I look forward to seeing how things develop :)
Thanks - and the same to you! It's been great fun this past year seeing how everyone's got stuff done. Liking what you're doing with your platforms in particular.

-Peter
 

BRblue33

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i find it best to put the platform on . Before you fix the track down that way you can adjust the track if you need to. I've used Scalescene platform's. i find it better as you can make it the size you want. Plu's if you get it wrong you can print it again. My depot floor was made from Poly filler with pva glue mixed in.
 

Cowley

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Blimey - eleven days since I last posted anything? No. Don't believe it. ;)
Not a lot has happened in Oldmoor as of late; real life is definitely back and as I think can be gathered from my rather sporadic posting on the forum, I keep forgetting to keep updated on here (despite reading it all when it's posted). I do have several ideas, though, so here's a sort-of-not-really-comprehensive-subject-to-change-available-now-in-your-local-supermarket list of things I'd like to try and get done on the layout this year (famous last words)...

  • The town - this has been an area which has received quite a bit of attention in recent months (i.e. it's been worked on to the point of existing and being at a fairly decent stage, if I may say so myself). There's still a lot I need to work on, though; the town is comprised of two roads - one is designed to look like a small country road, with suitable buildings (i.e. the church, the inn, the cottages, the row of three small shops), and the other is designed to be a bit more industrial (and almost as if it's just from a larger town), with the insurance offices and furniture shop. They're more retail park/business park buildings, so they're being kept separate from the others.
    I've got the first road mostly sorted - I just need to sort out the currently-unfinished paving, and that's it I think - so the more-industrial road is going to be the main focus. In theory, it shouldn't take too long; I want to put a car park in front of the insurance offices, and that shouldn't take long and it'll hopefully add a fair bit to the scene.

  • Oldmoor Junction - this is a bit which has been mostly neglected for the past year, so I've tried to make some improvements in the past couple of weeks but with varying levels of success. The main issue is that of platforms; between the inner running loop and the outermost bay platform (if that makes any sense), there's an area which needs to have a platform but due to the width, the platform has to be proprietary. I've tried with the Metcalfe platform kit, but I don't think the inner running loop is perfectly straight through the station (that, or I've got my width measurements wrong), and the platforms don't seem to fit the gap. I'll need to take a look at that before I work on the station building - to be perfectly honest, I'd be surprised if I got that sorted this year (well, definitely within the first half of the year), because it's going to be a lot of work, particularly when it comes to measuring and designing it.

  • Oldmoor T&RSMD - this area has been mostly left alone over the past year. I made the shed for it, and I put some basic hard-standing in, but it looks a bit basic and the shed isn't going to be sorted to the level I was originally planning, with brick paper and all sorts. One of the railway-related Christmas presents I didn't mention was a Gaugemaster plastic kit for a TMD shed, so I'm going to build that and replace the old card one with that. I might even see if there are any other ways of doing the hard-standing. There's Poly-Fila but I don't particularly want to use that given past experience - however if it that's the only way of doing it, so be it.

  • Railway centre - the railway centre needs ballasting, a new engine shed, and all sorts of other detailing bits. A new water tower also wouldn't go amiss; perhaps even a new signal box too! I think I've made it fairly obvious that a lot of the ideas for this area are coming from Didcot Railway Centre, so there's going to be a fair few things which look similar between the two (with any luck!)

I think that's pretty much it for the time being. There's also some smaller areas, such as the far corner of the layout, with the ever-present Mrs Miggins' shop, but that's going to be an easy area to finish once I can get some more grey card for the road surface. Apologies for the lack of anything particularly interesting this time - I'll try and get some photos of engines running around for next time. Perhaps even a video too? I don't half spoil you lot ;)

-Peter

Nice update Peter. Also don’t worry because it’s always interesting reading each other’s thoughts and ideas when it comes to this kind of thing.
Where it comes to using polyfiller for making a hard standing, I can recommend what to use (Easy Sand Polyfiller personally) and don’t worry about not getting it perfect first time because as long as you don’t get it in the points it’s very easy to take back and skim over a second time (obviously I use the stuff every day with my work). What you need to get though are these for spreading it, much much better than using a scraper with a handle, plus the pack comes with all different sized ones for various jobs.
 

Peter C

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What is the width of the platforms you need?
The platform is made up of three pieces at the moment - I've just taken one which looked to be the right width (I think they're all slightly different), and it measures to be 75mm wide. It's about 5mm wider than the Hornby platforms but that's a big difference when you've got 1:76 scale people :lol:
I think it's probably just easiest to make yet more sections of platform to replace the ones which aren't quite right, and then not worry too much if there's a bit of a gap between the train and the platform. I won't be looking at it in all that much detail when operating the layout anyway really.

i find it best to put the platform on . Before you fix the track down that way you can adjust the track if you need to. I've used Scalescene platform's. i find it better as you can make it the size you want. Plu's if you get it wrong you can print it again. My depot floor was made from Poly filler with pva glue mixed in.
I've been through more variations of this trackplan than I've had hot dinners, but never thought of that - thanks! I might well try that for a future layout (which hopefully will be some time away). I'll also look into the Scalescenes platforms; thanks again. I've been using Metcalfe kits so far because I've had experience in building them and they're good quality but definitely willing to check out other options!
That's interesting re. depot floor; I'll have a look at that.

Nice update Peter. Also don’t worry because it’s always interesting reading each other’s thoughts and ideas when it comes to this kind of thing.
Where it comes to using polyfiller for making a hard standing, I can recommend what to use (Easy Sand Polyfiller personally) and don’t worry about not getting it perfect first time because as long as you don’t get it in the points it’s very easy to take back and skim over a second time (obviously I use the stuff every day with my work). What you need to get though are these for spreading it, much much better than using a scraper with a handle, plus the pack comes with all different sized ones for various jobs.
Thanks :)
I attempted some form of similar technique for a hard-standing area some time ago (before I started sharing the layout on the forum), and I think it was really let-down by the fact I tried to do the hard-standing between the rails as well; I've decided I'm not going to bother with that this time, and have normal ballast between the rails. Thanks for the link to those - I'll definitely get a pack of them. Not a bad price by any measure!

-Peter
 

BRblue33

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Peter i will post a pic on Ditton with Scalescene platforms. I like there downloads kits try one of the free one's. Just to see how you get on with them. Or look up Kingsway models there are some free one's on there .
 

Peter C

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Peter i will post a pic on Ditton with Scalescene platforms. I like there downloads kits try one of the free one's. Just to see how you get on with them. Or look up Kingsway models there are some free one's on there .
The name rings a bell - just looked it up and I was actually looking into downloading one of their kits to use on the layout (not the platform one though). I'd be interested to see how you've done your platforms, definitely :D

-Peter

===================
[new post, 20.1.2022, 20:15]

In a move away from the scenics of the layout, and onto something I've only ever attempted the once, and not for some time - a new rolling stock-related caper! What could it be, I wonder? Well, let's have a look...

(This is going to be a bit of a ramble, so apologies - and I've not got any photos yet)

There's been a lot of talk on Twitter of people painting and bashing together old models to make modern image stock - a lot of it driven by the Hornby price increases. This is the sort of thing I've been thinking about for a while, particularly with regards to HSTs. Being one of the younger members of the modelling forum, I have very much grown up with the First Great Western (later Great Western Railway) HST. I really got into trainspotting a few years before the HSTs were finally withdrawn from GWR service in May 2019, and so I've seen quite a few of them.

The FGW "Dynamic Lines" livery holds a lot of memories for me - I expect this is going to be one of the few times many of you will read that sort of thing - and I've wanted a model of a FGW HST for a while now. Some listeners may know that I repainted a Lima Class 50 into its then-new GBRf livery back in 2019, and it's been something I've wanted to have another go at with another model for some time, especially thanks to the collection of engines I very gratefully received from @reddragon back in 2020 (blimey - how was that so long ago?!).

So, the other day I set about looking into how much it'd all cost. Buying the paint from Phoenix Precision, and the transfers from Railtec Transfers, I could do the power cars for around £15 - it'd then cost about £40 to do three coaches (the transfers for the coaches come in sets allowing for the making of three coaches at a time), and around £70 on top of the original £15 for a full eight coach rake. I've already got three Hornby GWR Mk3s, so I don't need to make eight FGW ones - therefore meaning it'll be closer to £50 or £60 to make the five coaches needed to fill the rake up to eight coaches. I might change this at some point though - a full HST rake might look a bit silly on such a small layout.


I mentioned that the models I'm using came from @reddragon - in fact the power cars are a pair of old Hornby Class 43s, both numbered 43010, which came with the short Mk3s. They've been sat around on a shelf for a long time now and I don't need five of the same class all in the same livery, so it made sense to repaint these two to make them that bit different. This also means that there's another one sat spare, numbered 43002 I believe; I had the idea at one point of trying to repaint that one into the 2015 GWR green as carried by some of the Class 43s by their withdrawal in 2019, but if I decide not to do that then I might try and make it into 43002 as it was in 2019, with the blue/grey livery noticeably starting to fade in a few areas!

Like I said at the beginning, I don't have any photos of the work done so far because my laptop and phone won't co-operate, but for those following along at home, here's what I've done so far (and I should add, none of this has come from me originally, I've taken the ideas from other places online by looking up things like "Hornby HST First Great Western repaint"). This is all for the original Hornby HST power cars from the 1980s (?):
  1. Select power cars. Make sure they're not in an absolutely awful condition. Any minor issues (e.g. cracked bits around the cab doors) can be fixed at a later stage.
  2. Remove the bodyshell
  3. You'll want to remove the ridge between the yellow bit around the bottom half of the model and the blue. The plastic is fairly malleable so you should be able to do most of this with a craft scalpel. Be careful though as you don't want to make too many large scratches on the bodyshell. You can always sand down this bit if there's still a line.
  4. Remove the glazing in the cab before removing the first bits of the ridges around the front (there's one above the front window and one below) - just to make sure you don't scratch anything. Also a good idea to remove the lighting bit at the front too; be very careful when removing this bit as it can break easily. I'm not sure if I'll actually use this piece again for mine, as it doesn't represent the MTU-style lighting arrangement, so I'll probably use some sort of clay-like thing to fill in the hole and then make holes for the lights.
  5. The windows on the sides of the power cars at the very backs were removed by the time the Class 43s received FGW livery - there's a ridge around the frame on the old Hornby model so you'll want to remove that with a scalpel and/or sandpaper as in step 3.
  6. Give the model a quick rub-down with a couple of cotton buds, just to remove any really grubby bits. You might even want to give the model a quick wash to really get rid of any dirt - just don't put it on the washing line to dry afterwards ;)
I've not got any further than that so far. It's been a couple of evenings' work to make sure the bodyshell sides are pretty much smooth, and then to try and get rid of any obvious imperfections. The next step will be getting the paints and then painting the model itself! I'm not going to be spraying the models as I've never done that before, and prefer to do it with a paintbrush. You can still get a very nice finish if you brush-paint a model - the key will be masking the bits I don't want to paint. I've got some Tamiya masking tape to do just that. Should hopefully go well!

Thanks for reading such a rambling post. :)

-Peter
 
Last edited:

MotCO

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I don 't know if you follow Chadwick Model Railway on Youtube, but the latest episode shows how to replace the motor in a class 43 (Ringway motor) with something smoother.
 

Peter C

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I don 't know if you follow Chadwick Model Railway on Youtube, but the latest episode shows how to replace the motor in a class 43 (Ringway motor) with something smoother.
Ah yes - I saw that come up on YouTube this morning funnily enough! Had a quick watch and I think I might just try and do that; the DCC fitting might be a bit out of my technical range but I'll give it a go once I've got all the bits together. Thanks :D

-Peter
 

Peter C

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Well then. Where's this past month gone? It'll be Easter before we know it...
It's blowing a gale outside, the layout's in a bit of a state (please read on for further explanation), and I'm writing this on a computer so old I'm not sure it wasn't designed by Brunel, but here goes ;)


Apologies for the lack of updates of late. Life is a lot busier now than it once was and so I've not been able to get as much done on the layout - that, and without wishing to sound as though I'm putting-down modelling, there are things which appear much more interesting in-the-moment than working on the wonderful world of Oldmoor. I think a lot of the problem is I'm struggling to find easier things to do on the layout which can be done quicker and without needing to lean over the board; don't get me wrong, it's great to have such space to use, but as the scenic areas become more and more built-up, it's more and more difficult to reach over them, or to lean on the board at all.

With all this bad weather we've been having recently, I've had some time to come up with a few ideas for things to do re. model railways. The first two things are building the engine sheds needed for the T&RSMD and the railway centre; I've got the one for the former, and need to buy the Metcalfe kit for the latter. Only problem is the T&RSMD shed is a plastic kit, and so I'll be wanting to have a window open when using the poly-cement; could be quite interesting in this weather :lol:

Another idea I had was a way of making progress on the town scene. I ran out of Metcalfe's self-adhesive paving slabs ages ago and I've been looking for a way of getting some more - turns out a different Metcalfe kit provided the solution, in the form of off-cuts from another kit. Metcalfe tend to use a lot of grey card for their kits, even if the card is just grey on one side; cutting the unneeded bits of a recently-constructed kit (I believe it was the church, for those of you who are interested - and I know there's a lot of you) into paving slab-sized bits provided an ideal way of getting some cheap pavements done. Turns out then fitting the slabs is much harder than expected, but it's fun. They don't look the same as the Metcalfe pre-made ones, but I think that variation probably makes it more realistic. I would share some photos but with the lighting as it is now, and the fact this computer pre-dates Stephenson's Rocket, you'll have to wait a while ;)

A further realisation I had the other day was that the ballast on the layout covers about half-to-three-quarters of the track, but then nothing more; and even then, a lot of it looks a complete mess because I never got around (see; 'got bored') to sticking it down. A plan for the next week or so might be to try and glue some of the ballast down, and to make it look that bit neater too. The big issue is going to be when it comes to gluing down the ballast through Oldmoor Junction, but that's a bridge we can cross when we come to it (see I've dragged you lot into this now).

And just before I go, a quick update on the FGW HST; work has pretty much stopped (by which, I mean 'come to a complete stand') on this project for the time being, as due to the small problem of forgetfulness, I keep managing to, well, not remember to buy the stuff needed to get working on it. I might try and do that over the next week.

Anyway - must dash. Things to see, etc. Apologies for the lack of photos; normal service should be resumed at some point between now and the next ice age. ;)

Thanks for reading!

-Peter
 

Iskra

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Certainly a wise idea to keep hold of the off-cuts from Metcalfe kits Peter. Hope you can progress on your layout soon :)
 

Peter C

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Certainly a wise idea to keep hold of the off-cuts from Metcalfe kits Peter. Hope you can progress on your layout soon :)
I must admit, when I built the church I made a few little origami tubs (having been doing some very basic origami at the time) to keep the bits in. Great resource to have.

I've actually made a bit of progress on the layout today, after having had an idea last night after writing my post. I've long been looking to make Oldmoor Junction into something inspired by Birmingham Moor Street - i.e. modern-image station with through and bay platforms, but with a restored GWR station building. Long-time readers may be aware of my love of all things (well, I suppose it's better to say 'most things' just in case there turns out to be some awful bits I've not come across yet) GWR, and so to have an excuse to build a totally-GWR-designed station yet still have it be prototypical is brilliant.

The work on the layout this morning was all trackwork-based; the bay platforms have now been angled, to give not only a bit more interest (it's not just a set of parallel lines anymore), but also to give a bit more space on one of the platforms to put a GWR-style water tower, as features at Birmingham Moor Street, with plenty of space either side to allow passengers to walk around it. I need to do some more work on the platforms now, to make them fit the new space, but having admittedly spent a lot of time looking at photos of Moor Street yesterday, I'd have wanted to change the platforms anyway as the ones on the prototype are of a more-pavement-slab design, as opposed to the grey design on the Metcalfe kit.

I'm wondering if fitting platform lights may be a possibility too - having seen this photo on Flickr, I think Oldmoor Junction would look nice with some GWR-style lamps and architecture surrounding them to suit. That photo also shows the paved platforms, which isn't the style of all the platforms at Moor Street, so I needn't worry about changing the long plastic Hornby platform (although I may look into ways of making that one look more realistic).

Photos should hopefully be on their way by the end of the week. :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I must admit, when I built the church I made a few little origami tubs (having been doing some very basic origami at the time) to keep the bits in. Great resource to have.

I've actually made a bit of progress on the layout today, after having had an idea last night after writing my post. I've long been looking to make Oldmoor Junction into something inspired by Birmingham Moor Street - i.e. modern-image station with through and bay platforms, but with a restored GWR station building. Long-time readers may be aware of my love of all things (well, I suppose it's better to say 'most things' just in case there turns out to be some awful bits I've not come across yet) GWR, and so to have an excuse to build a totally-GWR-designed station yet still have it be prototypical is brilliant.

The work on the layout this morning was all trackwork-based; the bay platforms have now been angled, to give not only a bit more interest (it's not just a set of parallel lines anymore), but also to give a bit more space on one of the platforms to put a GWR-style water tower, as features at Birmingham Moor Street, with plenty of space either side to allow passengers to walk around it. I need to do some more work on the platforms now, to make them fit the new space, but having admittedly spent a lot of time looking at photos of Moor Street yesterday, I'd have wanted to change the platforms anyway as the ones on the prototype are of a more-pavement-slab design, as opposed to the grey design on the Metcalfe kit.

I'm wondering if fitting platform lights may be a possibility too - having seen this photo on Flickr, I think Oldmoor Junction would look nice with some GWR-style lamps and architecture surrounding them to suit. That photo also shows the paved platforms, which isn't the style of all the platforms at Moor Street, so I needn't worry about changing the long plastic Hornby platform (although I may look into ways of making that one look more realistic).

Photos should hopefully be on their way by the end of the week. :)

-Peter

They’re nice lights, I like some of your ideas too.
I’m having a bit of awkward week for getting on here because there’s no reception where I’m working but I enjoyed reading your last couple of posts.
 

Peter C

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They’re nice lights, I like some of your ideas too.
I’m having a bit of awkward week for getting on here because there’s no reception where I’m working but I enjoyed reading your last couple of posts.
Thanks very much, on both counts :)
I know what you mean about having issues getting onto the site. My laptop broke the other week so it's been interesting using a computer older than Mallard for a while! Hopefully you lovely lot should get some photos of the layout by the end of the week (he says).

-Peter
 

Peter C

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That’d be great. :)
Well then - what have we here? Not photos of the layout, surely? ;)

Yes - I've just taken a couple of photos of Oldmoor Junction as it stands now, and so hopefully they'll be of interest. Excuse the mess :lol:

photo1.jpeg
As you can see, the layout is in a complete state at the moment, but hopefully this photo gives a good idea of what I've done to angle the bay platforms. I think I mentioned the main reason for doing this was to allow for the platform on the inner loop to be that bit wider, therefore allowing a water tower to be put on the platform and a wide-enough platform to be kept either side. However, it's also brought other benefits, the main one being just the whole thing looking that bit more interesting (in my eyes, anyway). There's a lot of platform to be made to fill the gaps made by angling the platforms, and I think I've got an idea for how to achieve this; the platforms at Birmingham Moor Street are covered in stone slabs, and I might try and use the Metcalfe off-cuts I mentioned before to give that look.
Another, smaller, thing to mention is that the signal box has been moved from the far end of the rightmost platform to the near end, which I think looks a bit more realistic. It's quite deep so it took up a lot of space on the platform and meant passengers wishing to walk around to access the far end of the platform had an interesting task ahead of them! I've got another bit of Hornby platform spare I believe, so I might add that onto the end of the platform and then put the signal box on that, to give it a bit of height.

photo2.jpeg
Another photo of the layout, and it's all gone a bit Titfield Thunderbolt on steroids with all those engines on the road...
I know Oldmoor is about as far from a model of a real-world location as you can get, but I've tried to base different bits of it on things I've seen or heard of. One of these places is Banbury; I'll put a link to Google Earth in, but to quickly explain, there's a bridge carrying a road over the railway at the northern end of the station. On a train leaving Banbury heading north, you pass under the bridge and then immediately on your left, there's a small park area which then connects up with a much larger park area which stays fairly close to the railway.
The railway is raised above the park in Banbury, so what I'm aiming to make won't be a true replication, but it was never going to be perfect anyway. All of this is a long way of saying I've moved the two big buildings in this photo slightly closer to the roundabout, to give some space closer to the railway to put the park area. This also has the added benefit of having the road to the level crossing 'flanked' by two green areas, which I think should look quite nice.

Anyway - that's quite a long and rambling post, but hopefully it explains what I've got done. :)

Thanks for reading!

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I like building too…

Are you going to make a wider platform then Peter?
A cardboard template and a jigsaw (the type that cuts wood) could very well be your friend at this point, it’s not too difficult to do and you could make something that slots right into the gap.

I like hard standing to the left by the Bubble Car by the way. :)
 
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