Tuesday, January 31, 2012

to work..

I'm trying to hold back on doing too much scenically until I'm happy that the trackwork is ok and painted and ballasted.. but it's hard! I am varying the jobs a bit however to keep things interesting.

So, this week I have taken the goods shed down a bit in height, it now sits on a brick plinth (which needs painting), and has had an initial wash of 'sepia'. I think I'll hold back on the weathering on this layout too.. so a drybrushing to highlight the woodwork may suffice. The roof has had it's base coat too.



Next up, I've been cracking on with building the stock and fitting Greenwich couplings.
Here are three opens for coal and/or general goods: (I noticed I'd moved the brake shoe on one of them -since fixed)


I do like these Welshpool&Llanfair wagons.. just that bit more substantial than many other types, without going all the way over to big bogie wagons (I originally thought of using ex-WD types, such as found on the Ashover railway).

Finally I've been doing a bit of planning and fussing around the structures, just using card and balsa for now to get a sense of proportion etc. There will be a small brick-walled yard at the back of the pub and another wall with a gate at the entrance to the yard (at the front of the layout by the road). Over on the front right I did picture a small allotment, but I'm contemplating a two-storey building instead.



I've also 'scratched up' a platform in balsa, using a paper template to get it in place around the gentle curves there.



Next up, I need to start 'testing the track and the couplings and work out where I'm going to plac magnets (and to an extent 'how' !!) .. and I need to lay some track on my 'fiddlestick'.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Winkford

So.. six months on.. what's new?

Dreary has been temporarily dismantled as part of a general 'tidy up'. I decided that what I was trying to portray in the space I was using wasn't working. I may come back to it, or start again, but for now it's all safely packed away.

I can't have nothing on the go can I? So.. welcome to 'Winkford'.. a OO9 layout.

So far boards built and track laid and wired up.

The railway will hopefully portray a fictitious light railway built 'locally' (Notts, Derbys, Lincs area) and set around the mid 1930s.

I've decided to stick to broadly Welshpool and Llanfair type stock for consistency. I already have a a couple of Hunslets and ordered some kits from Ninelines.
Hopefully the pictures give an idea of what is planned..(at the moment.. some things may move around a little.. I'm not sure of the placing of the station building yet)

First, the layout as it is today, on my bookshelf. It is 4ft x x1ft:


Next some visual notes which hopefully give an idea of what is planned:


This Wills kit will serve as the main station building when I've finished hacking at it:


A scratchbuilt ramp for loading sheep / cattle (along with Ninelines W&L sheep wagon):




A view of a train entering the station as it crosses Main Road. The yard office and coal siding in front:


A higher view of the train on the ungated crossing on Main Road. (Two Skaledale buildings here):


This Skaledale pub looks a lot like one or two I've known locally, including the 'Worlds End' in Lambley:


A view up Main Road as the train crosses - a photo temporarily in place of where a low relief building will be placed: