Corri-llyn - Beginnings and Baseboards

I mentioned before Christmas that a there were plans for a new micro layout brewing, and now they've finally come to some sort of fruition, if only a current work in progress.

I'll hold my hands up, the main motive behind this particular layout was to be able to have a place to run the small collection of Bachmann 'Skarloey Railway' stock. Compared to my usual staple of Minitrix/Arnold chassis based 009 stock the Bachmann offerings not only have longer wheelbases (Bar Rusty) but they're also fixed wheelbases. Skarloey being the longest dictated a minimum radius of six inches after testing. For baseboard size I gave myself a small challenge: Back in 2017 ExpoNG held a contest to build a layout in 50x30cm, I've been sketching ideas for this footprint since, but never quite found anything that suited me till now.

I know, it's a terrible name. I scribbled it down as a rough note on a sketch but it seems to be sticking. Inspiration naturally came from the Talyllyn railway scenery wise, Pendre being a good means of providing a scenic break with the staggered structures view blocking the line in the background. The wharf area was dictated from wanting to use a couple of structures built from guides by Chris Ford.

The only area that's a bit up in the air construction-wise is the station. I had originally planned a straight up copy of the Pendre building as seen in the above doodle, but now I'm starting to wonder if a Corris style station with overall roof might work. There's an old Dapol/Airfix station canopy in the stash that could easily be adapted, it just simply boils down to space.

Baseboard construction was helped by a very good piece of fortune. Rather handily a pallet of materials at work arrived topped with a 2x3' lid of 6mm MDF. After checking that it was headed for the skip it was quickly liberated. The top of the layout was marked out at 50x35cm with frame rails at 4.5cm deep, the whole lot of was then glued and pinned together providing a light yet surprisingly sturdy baseboard. 

Board assembled, it was then given a coat of 'Earthly Hue' emulsion tester pot paint to seal it. Whether or not this was nesseccary could probably be debated, but I decided it was better to spend a quick half hour painting than to see the whole structure start to twist and warp horrifically during the water based ballasting stage!

Next stop - Track laying.

The Point of the Problem

The Garden Railway hadn't been running all that well lately. It soon became apparent there was a loss of power in the track despite all the spurs having direct power connections. Given that the layout mainly tends to be used more as a glorified photo-plank, this wasn't too much a problem, but a few weeks back I finally sat down and did something about it.

A not so quick test revealed the main weak spot to be between the two points. Some will probably tut and claim the problem is down to them being insulfrog settrack points, and to a point (Boom Boom!) I'd somewhat agree, but given a secure line of power and good cleaning they can work well with short wheelbase stock.

Improvement was incredibly straightforward. The paint was scraped back on the sides of the rails around the fishplate joint, then two 1.2mm holes drilled either side the track through the ballast. Dropper wires were then soldered to the rails and fed through the baseboard to connect up to power lines already running underneath. The solder joints just need painting now to blend them back in.

There was a small casualty on the way. Having to get the soldering iron so close to the signal box/potting shed and essentially solder blind it came into contact with it. Mercifully it only really took the paint off and gave the drainpipe a couple of realistic dents! Again, just another quick fix with a touch up painting wise.

Hopefully this means I might actually be able to get moving footage of The Garden Railway at some point soon...

Petite Pendre

Surprisingly (Or not, looking back at it) none of the items I had planned for over the Christmas/New Years break were achieved, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on other things...

I said there were plans for a new micro layout during 2024, and whilst I was going to dive straight in with baseboard construction over Christmas I decided to hang fire. Roughly 50% of the structures for the layout are already completed, making use of old projects that I really needed a home for, but I thought I'd play it safe and try get to a point where at least 80% of the structures were completed, given in the rough plan I have they all slot together to form a view block of sorts with not too much wiggle room between them. 

And thus, a locomotive shed materialised. 

Very much taking inspiration from the Talyllyn shed at Pendre, but shrunk down to Micro dimensions, using the measurements of the Talyllyn Gunpowder store in one of Chris Ford's books as a starting point. Other than those basic box dimensions it's really been a case of looking through a few books at different photos (Mainly from the 1930s) and adding on details that to me look right. The additional bargeboards hide a multitude of sins from trying to mitre the edges!

It's not meant to be a 100% accurate depiction by any means. I had intended to make it a little bit longer to fully accommodate a Bachmann Skarloey, but I followed the powder store dimensions a little too rigidly and had already fused the walls together before realising! At the same time, it's only when I'm writing this that I've realised I've glued the wall with the windows in place upside down. The shed will comfortably take a whole Kerr Stuart Tattoo though.

Just requires doors and exhaust vents to complete the main building process really.

Orient Expedition

And we're back! Now for something completely different.

I must have been very good during 2023, as an unexpected surprise Christmas morning was finding a Lego Orient Express set sitting under the tree with my name on it.

Lego trains are a bit of mixed thing for me. Don't get wrong I do like them, and there are some incredible builds out there with a surprising amount of detail (As an example, check out the work by my friend Andrew over on his Flickr page) The part that gets me is the size, they're usually sort of somewhere between O Gauge - Gauge 1, so even a small engine is quite large. Not so bad if you're just displaying trains, but I would like to see this run. I've visions of it being like photos of old Hornby Tin-Plate trains taking over the whole living room carpet! I suppose the one trump card Lego has over other model trains is that you can literally break it down into its component pieces and essentially flat pack it away!

But how was it building wise? 

Well, I started out by saying to myself that I was only going to build it two numbered bags at a time, much like the Titanic build a couple of years back, but by the end of that day I'd already finished the Restaurant Car, I was enjoying myself that much! Adding all the details to the bar and tables was a lot of fun, some of the stickers are a tad fiddly to apply, but the exterior lettering is all printed on the bricks, and very well done. Another nice little bit of innovation is that the windows are built 'sideways' to allow them to be easily taken on/off when accessing the interiors. 

A really nice surprise was opening the instruction booklet and finding out that one of the figures in the set (The lady in the red hat) was not Agatha Christie as some online commenters are claiming, but is in fact the character of journalist Pippin Reed from the old (late 90s/early 2000s) Adventures Line. In short, the theme was essentially a homage to Indiana Jones/old action adventure films. A bit of hunting saw me retrieving my old 'Lord Sam Sinister' (The villain of the piece, complete with hook for hand, monocle and no doubt twirlable moustache!) to also join the characters on the train.

Much like any other model railway, it's the little details that count. The tail lamp on the back of the restaurant car was a really nice touch.

Having finished the Restaurant car the next stop was a sleeping car, featuring a first class suite and smaller compartment with bunks and washbasin. Again, there's some really nice details in here, particularly the typewriter, though the toilet in the suite was a bit confusing. I couldn't actually tell what I was building until it was in place in the carriage!

Notice the 'mirror' above the bed!

As someone who used to be in awe of the pictures of Lego trains from the 1970s/80s, it was really nice to see these classic train door elements making a come back for the end vestibules. Look closer and you'll see more of the 'faux panelling' inside. I'm also told this cameraman figure here is a representation of the sets designer - a nice little cameo.

Finally the locomotive - The Sapphire Star. I REALLY like this. Seeing how far along Lego have come with steam engines compared to diesels is always an interesting topic, and one the designers often comment on as the humble Brick certain lends itself more to Diesel/Electric units than steam. Here though it's a really clever design, the central core of the locomotive is essentially a box shape, with the curved tiles wrapping round it to create the boiler.

I must give a mention to the front of the footplate above the bogie. In another piece of design innovation, this is assembled upside down! A nice use of the 'negative space' on the bricks.

Also, the tender chassis caught me by surprise. I found myself building a working 'not quite Cleminson' chassis with a traversing centre axle to negotiate the incredibly tight standard curves of Lego track. Really nice that this has been thought of so that it doesn't remain a static display piece.

As an aside, this is the first time I've even known a Lego set build coaches first, then the engine. It was a much nicer build experience this way I found.

I've seen a few comments online loudly proclaiming that the engine is too 'cartoony', and to some extent there is foundation for this claim. The original concept for this particular set showed a very accurate french locomotive with a single coach. However, I'd argue that in this medium, there would always have to be a compromise somewhere, if not in visual aesthetics, then certainly in either technical or financial terms, much like any other model train. I certainly don't think it looks bad, it nicely complements the figures and certainly doesn't look out of place with the coaches. 

Lego has proved they can do bigger, more accurate trains - but that doesn't always mean better. The Hogwarts Express - Collector Edition (76405) is a good example of this. Sure the engine looks nice, but it's been made to a much larger scale than the figures, totally dwarfing them. I much prefer this slightly smaller scale, this this in itself is apparently large, being the first time one has been built to eight studs wide. It works well! The coaches in particular look and feel incredibly solid, not toy-like at all.

In conclusion: A very fun build for the days between Christmas & New Years. If anyone was to make a start at getting into Lego trains, this is the set I'd recommend. Here's to hoping there's more trains in this style from them in the future. It might even tempt me to make an 'under the Christmas Tree' layout...

And before anyone asks the obvious question...

Yes. Yes you CAN buy a minifigure of Poirot!