Landform

It's been a long time since we last looked in on Corri-Llyn. I'll admit I had lost a little bit of love for it. Always seems to happen with layouts I try to make, when they reach that stage of track laid and painted but bare scenery the creative energy just seems to go. I hear it's quite a common thing though at that stage. Probably the lack of colour or the the overwhelming dullness of those there are.

This last weekend though, after getting it out of storage and admittedly having some fun running in the new Sentinel tram, I decided to make a proper start at some of the landforms on the corners.

Everyone has there own ways of doing landscaping so don't take any of this as a 'must do' guide. It just worked for me for a small layout. Digging into the large stack of 2mm card stock I started out by cutting some of it into thin (roughly 5mm) strips, and then essentially basket weaving the skeleton of the land, the weaving helping to avoid unnatural flat areas.

From there the frame was given a dose of the Neil Buchanan 'Art Attack' treatment and covered in a couple of layers of strips of kitchen roll liberally coated in PVA glue, creating a fairly solid shell when dry. Finally a thin layer of filler was spread on top to smooth out some traces of the frame that were still sticking through.

Sanded down slightly after the filler dried, it doesn't look half bad to me. It's also helping to properly visualise the scenics. For example I had earmarked the corner above for a potential churchyard, just implied with a couple of gravestones behind a wall at the side of the line, but now I'm wondering if it might be a little too steep. It's not a major problem or even a major loss, but it's interesting to see how this develops.

Sentinel

A little project I've been working on in secret for a while: My first attempt at a scratch built locomotive.

I'd been wanting to add another Kato powered engine to fleet for a while now to go alongside the railcar and Glyn Valley tram. They're not everyone's cup of tea, but there's no doubt they're reliable. Thus if I was at an exhibition and other engines were acting up I know I could at least have a few options for alternate motive power.

Another 'want' was for it not to be the somewhat cliched 'Toby' lookalike (Though I will probably get round to making one of those someday) The result therefore was an engine based on a type built by the Sentinel Waggon Works.

This particular example was made by roughly scaling down some measurements for a 7mm scale version in Chris Ford's book (Going on the maths of divide by seven, times by 4) and then using photographs in both the same book and the original locos appearance in the April 2017 edition of Railway Modeller on the layout Morton Stanley to roughly eyeball where all the additional details should sit.

The majority of the loco was made from 40thou plastic sheet, with detailing to the body side using 40x20 thou strip. Doors were chained drilled out after the frames were in position.

For once I remember to take a few photos whilst building, I'm getting better at remembering! Handrails were added to give it a bit of detailing the original version didn't have and ordinary card was used to create the motion covers on the tram skirts, these gained 20x10thou 'hinges' after this image was taken. The tank filler, and later the funnel, were both made from the leftover sprue of the Bagnall Wagon seen last week!

Although the engine does run on a Kato-109, it's been cut down slightly (It's amazing how much 'dead' space there is at the ends) mean it's slightly shorter and squatter than the 3D printed clip on kits that are on the market, helping to disguise it's motive power somewhat. As a little sidenote, I decided to paint this one using Tamiya 'Flat Green', it's surprisingly closer to a 'Sherwood Green' than I'd realised. I think I'm also just getting unintentionally lucky when it comes to weathering...

And finally, it only seemed right that the first scratch-built engine's first train should be the first scratch-built wagon, even if it only could shuttle up and down a few inches on The Garden Railway!

Bag Wag

Another one of the shutdown week projects gets its own post. Not much to say here, it's a very simple kit that had been sitting in the 'to do pile' for quite some time.

One thing I did try with this though: Making a remove-able load, in this case coal. Simply a small sheet of 40thou plasticard with offcuts of angled plastic struts for legs. Probably a little too neat and flat to look convincing, but it's not too much work to have another go.

Railex Buxton 2024

I had planned to return to proper modelling documentation this week, but I seem to be unintentionally taking a few railway themed days out as of late! 

Last weekend saw the return of the Railex exhibition in Buxton, once again being held in the pavilion building. Can I just say how nice it was to find a physical show guide was available. Granted, I'm sure many would recoil at the £2.50 price, but this is really at the high end of show guides. Not only does it have layout information from owners/operators complete with photos and track diagrams, but there's also a few editorial pieces on the history of the hobby, how the events of the last 12 months have effected it and how real railway societies have influenced the hobby. Very much in the 'bookazine' territory here. If this is how physical show guides are going to have to adapt to survive I'm all for it!

As always, not a complete show guide follows, just a selection. In this case not through choice though, Limited time & a lot of show meant I had to almost rattle through my visit slightly quicker than a leisurely pace! And as always, layout owners/operators credited where possible, any corrections duly appreciated!

Port William (009) David Wright - Always nice to See David's model making demonstration stand at shows, and nicer still to be able to take the time to admire Port William in a slightly less crowded atmosphere than Statfold earlier in the year. Seem every photograph I took was when a train wasn't running through the scene though!

Also, David not only had a model of the infamous 'Crooked House' pub, but also a scale model of the bar, complete with grandfather clock case cut at an angle to make it stand straight!

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Copenhagen Fields (2mm Finescale) The Model Railway Club - This was a surprise! I'd somehow managed to miss it on the layout list despite reading it a few times. One thing that has to be mentioned, and something I'd never seen was the sheer size of the layout from the rear, it just keeps on going up like a great wall. This was my first view of it, and the sheer size was incredible, especially when compared to the other layouts in the hall.

There isn't really much I can add about Copenhagen Fields that hasn't been said already. It's an incredible achievement. Immediatly though I started having flashbacks to the early 2000s when I first saw the layout on an episode of 'Blue Peter'. A quick YouTube search reveals the layout has been a guest on the show at least three times, but the episode I remember remains elusive. I distinctly remember the presenters being green screened and 'shrunk down' to interact on the layout!

In fact, looking at one of the front mounted control panels, there was a nice memento from one of those visits!

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Wintermans Road (00) - A very nice display of Hornby/Triang items. Lots of brightly coloured trains and rolling stock going round at high speeds, great fun! I'll always maintain that inside every modeller there's a part that always yearns for a proper train set like this.

Personally, for a while now I'd thought about having a go at bashing one of these Triang Hornby churches. Of all the commercial ones available it probably the one that has the nicest proportions for a 'average' church structure (Yes, I know, each one is technically unique in it's own way. Blame Victorian remodelling!) But as noted by Phil Parker recently, they used to be everywhere on almost every second hand stall. Suddenly there seem to be none!

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Nicola Landing (0N2 & 0N3) Bob Harper - Something a bit different from the norm, a layout under construction. Lots of interest in this one from people with layout building queries and a brilliant way to easily demonstrate. At the time I was looking, one of the operators was explaining how they were making notes about clearances through the backscene for one of the 0N3 diesels. Bonnet first it went through fine, cab first one of the sun visors just clipped the back board!

Vale View (O) Ian Hallworth - A very simple steam preservation MPD., the purple sky being the result of the layout having a day/night cycle. I'm not quite sure it works in this environment, it reminds me a lot of of UV lights often scattered throughout ghost train scenes! Probably a case of too much light from the hall creeping into the scene. It does give me a little food for thought for the 'Starlight Sidings' idea from last week...

Alswear (009) - A first time outing for this layout. It's a really nice setup consisting of two continuous loop lines, a tramway branch, an MPD branch at the top and some standard gauge section requiring the use of transporter wagons. That's a lot of track and operations in a fairly modest space.

A Peco N gauge Turntable seems to have been bashed into a sector plate.

This was my favourite part though: A fiddle yard exit disguised as an over bridge with trees hiding the other side, creating the impression that the line goes on further. It's a nice difference to the obligatory tunnel and it's one I've thought about employing on a potential 009 layout but had reservations about it looking convincing. Proof that it can.

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The Hasting Cliff Railway (O) - Sitting prominently on the stage of the Octagon, the back side of the cliff could be seen wherever you were in the exhibition (Yes, even towering above Copenhagen Fields!) Very simple, but nicely modelled. I especially liked the N gauge loco being used as one from the Hastings Miniature Railway.

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Burford (HO) Peter Howells - GWR branch line terminus. According to the show guide a large chunk of the rolling stock is commercial products, showing just how much is available for British outline in 3.5mm scale.

Emwell (S) - By far my favourite layout of the show, not to put down the others, but this is the one that I watched and thought "Yes, I'd be happy to have that at home". Based on G.E.R branch line practices, at some points you can almost see light railway undertones and at others some slight Wisbech & Upwell stylings. 

A very nice morning out, and a nice way to stay out of the intermittent downpours! Even better, due to the size and contents of the show guide, I've now got a least a week's work of reading material for my lunch breaks at work!

The World Championship Railroad Race!

Last week saw a much anticipated trip to the new production of Starlight Express at Wembley Park, London. After 23 years of waiting, having been just a bit too young travelled to have see the original, I was incredibly worried this new updated version was going to shatter all those hopes of a much younger seven year old me.

I loved every second of it. If anything, this new version was better than anything my younger self had dreamed of. An incredibly fun three hours, highly recommended! 

But during the long train journey back to the north I did have time to think. Could Starlight Express work as the theme for a model railway layout? Well, yes, and I know I'm not the only person to have thought of this.

German Model Railway Manufacturer Marklin produced a few train packs based on characters from the show in Z gauge many years back (Probably worth mentioning, there's been a permanent version of the show in Bochum since 1988!) and whilst I don't think the sets are in production any more, a quick internet search reveals many on the second hand market. I quite like the look of the generic Starlight branded tank engine and caboose:

Image from invaluable.com

Due to the small 6.5mm track gauge of Z you could probably set up a four track circuit imitating certain aspects of the stage layout to race trains round quite easily. The only thing missing would be the music and race commentary by Control!

Back to my travel musings though, and thoughts turned to a slightly larger scale, and to a different aspect of the story. The main character of Rusty the steam engine (Represented in some parts of this new show by a very nice model of a Jinty, I'd love to see a close up image of it!) spend much of their time being ordered about by Control to fetch the coaches and wagons. By pure chance there's four coaches and wagons in this version. A standard inglenook shunting puzzle requires eight items of rolling stock, plus engine. The germ of an idea was doodled out:

"Starlight Sidings"

A very crude doodle I know, but there really isn't much to say track wise. A standard 5-3-3 inglenook sidings layout, contained in a 'James Hilton' style case to try and create a night time effect. Very low, or even non existent, lighting on the layout side of the back scene could enhance this. The back scene itself however would be something quite different.

Making it 'double skinned' would allow an internal cavity to fit some LED strips, coupled with a series of holes drilled into the back scene it would hopefully create a starlight effect. You'll also notice there's no actual scenic work besides the back boards. It would be very much a layout to play trains on. Other than the stars the only other scenic element would be to inlay all of the rails, just allowing the rail tops to shine on the dark navy blue baseboard top, very much trying to imitate the simplistic tracks painted onto the stage in the show.

Image from Hattons.

Rolling stock would be equally simple, yet slightly challenging. Instead of creating a realistic engine and wagons I'd be trying to imitate toy and model trains of old, not quite the old Hornby Tinplate variety, but close. It's for this reason I'd be very tempted to try this layout in N gauge. An old Graham Farish Jinty with its simpler moulded body work would work for the style I want to go for, whilst the other required rolling stock could easily be made up from the PECO wagon kits. There'd be a temptation to try cut and shut some of the 15ft wagon bodies onto 10ft chassis to try and emulate the train set style.

I'll have to think some more about this. It's one of those ideas that I know will upset a large chunk of people who wouldn't consider it 'proper' railway modelling, but there's no denying it could be a lot of fun!