Controls

 A quick hop back on the railcar project, making a start on the interior.

A fun little exercise in using up parts from the bits box. I decided to go for something 'tram-esque' in appearance, drawing on my memories of work experience in the depot at Crich Tramway all the way back in 2008. The large lever on the left is the throttle, the small one on the right is the directional lever, whilst the round handle is a ratchet style brake. Sanding gear and a horn would be operated by foot pedals.

The levers were made using some spare handrail knobs and wire bent to suit whilst the brake wheel comes from a Wills platform accessories kit. It started life as a wheel for a porters sack barrow! A small piece of wire drilled into the centre from underneath and another piece off centre on top completes the look.

One control panel down, now to make a duplicate!

Corri-Llyn station

I said that when I had the track down I'd get the platform in before making a start on the station building, but having the main shape and level blocked in I could get some exact measurements for the footprint it would occupy.

A quick weekends work saw the main structure assembled:

Rather than lop the station building in half and covering the back with facia boards I thought I'd have a try at making a structure to fit the space, in this case an irregular hexagon.

Surprisingly construction wasn't all that difficult, I certainly seem to be improving at mitring the edges of Will's sheets with a sanding board.

Inspiration was very much from the original Corris station, hence the platform side of the building being a wooden screen. 

Still requires a small amount of filler, and obviously painting, before I can call it done. Then there's the eventual challenge of building the canopy to go with it.

Track Painting

Nothing too elaborate here. An unseasonably bright and warm day a few weeks back resulted in getting Corri-Llyn outside to have the rail sides and sleepers painted. 

Unlike most modellers though I don't paint my rails 'rust' colours, instead going with a 'tank grey'. When fully ballasted it creates a nice effect of grease and grime on the sides of the rails, whilst also not being as overpowering or luminous as some rust colours can be. 

This is actually my first time painting rails with a rattle can too, usually it'd all be hand painted. I'm never going back now, well, aside from slight weathering and touch ups that is.

Toad-ish

I had a surprisingly productive Sunday model railway-wise. I think I might actually be starting to get my creative thought processes back, not just with tiny trains but with art in general. It's a really nice feeling after seemingly hitting a mental block back in January.

One thing that did take me very much by surprise though was the urge to finish the Toad-ish brake van project. A scratch built body running on a Peco N Gauge 15ft wagon chassis (NR-122) Some may remember the state it was left in last December, very much unloved and relegated to sit in the stock box till another time.

In the space of a day it went from that ghostly white shell to finished (Or as near as, I may add a little more soot weathering to the ends) Alongside being my first scratch built item of rolling stock there was something else I wanted to try here: I'd been painting wagons in Revell's Leather Brown but being so dark a shade it doesn't really show up the detail that well, even after weathering. Having used a 'silk matt' brown from the same range on a pair of Talyllyn Coaches I decided to try that here. It's a good deal lighter, and after a dark wash is applied it takes all the shine out whilst showing up the details nicely.

Having had the customary works photos on The Garden Railway the chance was taken to pose the new van with a couple of different locomotives. Size-wise the van is roughly the same dimensions as the Talyllyn's No.4 coach, adn there's certainly plans to paint the spare Meridian kit I have in the same scheme.

Posed with one of the 009 Society wagons painted in the darker Leather Brown, the difference is immediately notable. Seems all the brown stock will be getting a trip to the paint shop at some point!

Let's hope this new found creative streak continues.

Statfold Barn Model Railway Show 2024

A couple of Saturdays ago saw me heading back over to the Statfold Barn Railway for their now annual model railway exhibition, very much a delayed birthday outing from February. As always, what follows is not a blow by blow account of every layout there, just a small selection.

Firstly, I must apologise for any omissions or mix ups with the descriptions. Unfortunately Statfold didn't provide a physical show guide, it all being done with QR codes and the internet instead, so I'm trying my best to work with my not so great memory, the few images I have and a layout list from The UK Model Shop Directory. Even looking online at the official show guide only shows layout names and scales, but no operators/owners. Any corrections are duly appreciated!

Port Dinorwic (OO/OO9) Kathy Millatt - Mixed standard and narrow gauge. One thing I did really liked about this one, and something I can't say I've seen at any other show, is that the fiddle yard ends had large perspex windows to look at the other stock. It's not everyone's cup of tea being able to see behind the scenes but I quite like it, though probably not something for every layout.

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Corrish (009) George Williamson - I've been following George's progress on this layout (And more recently his Nant Gwernol layout) on his YouTube channel for some time now, so it was nice to see it in person.

Hodgemead (OO9) - Simple but very nicely sceniced narrow gauge layout. The water in particular was very nicely done.

Ashgate (OO9) - An interesting use of selective compression in this Ashover Light Railway based model. The main elements of the Ashover terminus are there (Bar the turning triangle) but even laid out like this the scene and location are easily recognisable. In particular, the backscene blends really nicely with the foreground scenics.

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Titfield (OO) - I really liked this. Instead of modelling the fictional Titfield the layout represents Monkton Combe as it appeared during filming of 'The Titfield Thunderbolt', complete with film crew. I nice touch was the working scale studio lamps, as per prototype emitting a very strong light, though this isn't too noticeable in photos. The brake van seems to have gone missing at some point on the return from Mallingford!

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Shovel Head Halt (OO) - Small and simple micro layout.

Lapping Works (00) Matt Stevens - GWR Micro layout. Spot the terrier lurking in the back!

Derwent Road (O9) Bill Flude - Leighton Buzzard inspired preserved industrial narrow gauge. Just like the prototype, what was once open space has been encroached upon by modern housing, resulting in some interesting scenery for the trains to run through.

Port William (OO9) David Wright - As always, fantastic scenery work by David. It does seem rather odd seeing it in a historically based setting rather than the fantasy world of his other layout 'Raven's Ravine'!

Overall, an enjoyable day. I'll admit I did feel it was slightly let down by the attitudes of some of the other attendees (Very much the 'I've got a bigger/better camera' or 'don't you know who I am?' brigades) but this is very much a probably a personal thing, perhaps I was just in the wrong parts of the exhibition at the wrong times, or perhaps I should start going on Sundays during two day events, I hear they're often calmer. A shame really, as the Statfold staff and layout operators had put in a lot of effort, I do hope it went well for them.