groundwork..

Progress been made lately.. After my not so successful attempt o fix ballast with Klear, I reverted to the tried and tested dilute PVA.

As this railway is supposed to be a fairly lowly affair, and yards rarely sported perfectly ballasted sidings anyway, I really wanted to 'bed' in the trackbed.

I took DAS modelling clay to build up the ground levels, and spent some time pressing it in all around the tracks, using a small old brush to tamp in between sleepers here and there. Once dry, this has been painted a mucky old grey colour.

I picked up some 'ash' scenic powder stuff at the Doncaster show (If I had a fire, I could have used actual ash.. and I suspect this is exactly what this is!) Anyway, a liberal coat of pva was applied, and the ash teaspooned over it. I found I really needed to pile it on to get good coverage.

Left it for a day and hoovered up the surplus.

A little filling in going on now, but after my initial fears that I had wrecked it all, I think it's starting to take shape.

In addition, I've put the platform in place, moving the station building along , which I feel balances the scene a little more.

The back corner and left hand side were bothering me, but I've resolved to have a grassy bank on both sides, rising up to a small wooden footbridge over the track in the corner. I know it's fairly improbable, but I'm hoping it will help to frame the scene too.

As I move along with various jobs, I'm puzzling over what to do with the area in front of the yard. At the moment I'm thing perhaps the edge of some allotments, or simply a fence, to break up the open space.

Klear cut?

A few years back, I had a go at making balsa and tissue freeflight aeroplanes.. I came across johnson's 'Klear', used instead of 'dope'.. marvellous.. no nasty smells, neat and cheap..
More recently I read about it's use as a fixing agent for model railway ballast, so I thought I'd give it a go on Winkford, seeing as I still had nearly a bottle full.

The results are mixed.
It's really easy to apply, dripping in, no need to pre-wet the ballast and it wicks away very well.

BUT.. 24 hours later, there are lots of areas not fixed at all, and those that are, are a bit flaky.
My guess is that this will work, but some experimentation is required.. maybe I need to seal the board first?

So.. tidy up and then it's the traditional PVA mix :-(

(Although I'm applying a 'traditional' ballast, the plan is to weather it all down and get it pretty flat and weedy by the end. Tempted to try Chris Nevard's clay method).

Paper and Pigs

Pigs? Well.. it's funny how your brain can just miss the most obvious things. Winkford is supposed to be pretty local - Notts, Lincs 'ish'... but unless I move it quite a few miles Westwards into Derbyshire, I don't think there's going to be much use for those lovely W&L sheep wagons!

So, cattle van built, as we certainly have cows around here, and it occurred to me that there might be justification for the smaller wagon to be used for transporting piggies.

I've moved the loading ramp to the side of the goods shed now and off the headshunt too.

Paper? The little space front right of the layout, where the trains emerge and cross the road, was intended to be an allotment or similar low-level feature. But the balance didn't seem quite right, so I'm using paper mock-ups to see how a house would look, and to play around with the shape and dimensions before I commit to building it properly.

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'.

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:

Weathering..

A nice today so I sat in the garden with my airbrush and had a go at weathering some of the stock for the HO layout. (The name 'Dreary' is being re-considered!). Anyway.. I'm quite a novice with the airbrush and I have mixed feelings about the results.
I didn't copy any one picture too closely, but tried to learn something from looking at pictures of the prototype. I think I need to develop a lighter touch.. a little more subtlety.

A slice of Americana.. an 8 foot shelf

Having deliberated good and proper.. I decided to make a start on that shelf layout (again)..

My inspiration is the real life Washington, Idaho and Montana.. bearing in mind I have been nowhere near this part of the world, I hope to capture something of the 'feel' of it.. my shortline is the Yellow Pine RR.

The layout is set in the fictional town of Dreary, Idaho, where the line now terminates.

It's the early 1980's and BN own much of the line. In Dreary the railroad services the local grain elevator

as well as a small lumber concern, collecting sawn and finished products for transit to the main BN interchange.

A lead track is also in use as a team track.

Typically traffic is light.. the 'local' Geep bringing in and collecting small 3 or 4 car trains, usually stake, bulkhead flats and full door cars for the lumber, and various covered hoppers for the elevator. An occasional box car arrives for the team track.

So far I've laid track and it's being 'tested' ;-) before moving on to scenics. the depot is an old wooden kit ('euromod'?), the elevator is scratchbuilt, as will be the lumber company buildings. Scenery will be sparse - Having used 'street view' around the area, I'm already thinking teddy bear fur! (Google image search 'Palouse' for some beautiful pictures).

Lots to do...