Tim Mercer (j69buckjumper on Youtube) has uploaded some video clips of Widnes Road taken at the recent Croydon Model Rail Society exhibition:





Thanks for the heads up...

European Layout - Update

I had originally planned to spend this weekend adding DCC turnout decoders to Widnes Road, which would have meant dragging it all upstairs from the dungeon and setting up in the dining room in order to wire the boards up to test the installation.  

I tested the first decoder before committing to rewiring the whole layout, and lo and behold, a DCC 'funny' occurred. It worked OK on my old ZTC system, but the much newer ECoS would not recognise the decoder (an NCE Switch-it). 

Much head-scratching and consultation the internet later and I was not much further forward, so abandoned that idea while I waited on the font of much of this black art, Kevin from Coastal DCC to get back to me. So instead, I roped Alice, my better half, into helping (well, more accurately, do-ing) the emerging scenery on my permanent HO European layout.

It turned out that the decoder issue is a clash with Railcom on an earlier firmware installed on the ECoS, and it all works fine now, but by then it was too late to put Widnes Road up and it can wait until another weekend. As it is, really good progress has been made with the base layer of scenery; namely the river bed, and hills which form a scenic break between the layout and fiddle yard.

The grey area next to the river wall is where the large pub will go, with beer garden on both sides of the railway line. On the other side of the river will be a camp site, running up the hillside.

Guest Traction - MERC Traction Invasion...

Last weekend saw Widnes Road invited to the Croydon Model Railway Society exhibition, and for the first time also saw a new operating team; formed of the Mid Essex Model Railway Club crack modern image squad; Andy, Tim, Jake and Bill. Another notable first was an influx of guest traction and rolling stock; from 'cartics' to early 'freightliner' rakes through to a Plasmor block train and an electrification works train.

The third and final '1st' was that Widnes Road is now 'Wi-fi' enabled and through the use of the excellent Touch Cab can be operated via iPhone from the front which was an interesting experience, and enabled more interaction with the viewing visitors.

Thanks to all the guys from MERC for helping out and making it a great weekend. Looking forward to Shoeburyness, hope to have all the points, and maybe the signals DCC controlled by then.

Widnes Road - goes electric

Although I've been threatening for some time to get around to fitting Over-head Line Equipment to the rest of Widnes Road, and at the same time prepare a fleet of 25Kv AC Electrics; I have now finally got the majority complete, and tested, along with fitting signalling equipment including lineside cabinets etc. The results can be seen in these new photos and in the flesh at  the Croydon (13-14/10) and Shoeburyness (24-25/11) model rail shows. 

The new fleet comprises 2 backdated and repainted Heljan Class 86's, an extensively reworked and remotored Hornby 86 and two of the new Bachmann class 85's. At shows this will be supplemented by other Blue AC electrics owned by Mid Essex MRC member Tim Mercer.

Widnes Road - 15th Anniversary Issue - Model Rail October 2012

The bumper 15th Anniversary Issue of Model Rail arrived to day, and one of the three featured layouts is Widnes Road, as photographed by Chris Nevard in January this year along with a re-located Acton Mainline, now named Dragonby. I have included only a single image below (the one that is reproduced on RMWeb), as it is only fair to Model Rail to encourage you to go and purchase a copy yourselves. I will wait until the magazine is off sale before I post any other images (assuming that's OK Chris? :) )

 I am very pleased with how the photographs and the overall article have turned out. I have since acquired a small fleet of BR Blue 25Kv electrics so the overall feel of the layout has already moved on since the pictures were taken, so plenty of new elements to see when I take it to Croydon and shoeburyness shows later in the year. First up is Croydon on the 13th and 14th of October, hope to see lots of people there.

Widnes Road - New Arrivals

With a matter of weeks until the exhibition season begins again, time for a few photographs of some new arrivals on Widnes Road. Firstly a kit built Leyland Roadtrain Tanker, painted to represent the late 1980's and early 1990's ICI Chlor-Chemicals livery. The transfers are from Fox, the lettering being adapted from their 'Rail Alphabet' series. Its not perfect but a reasonable approximation of the real thing.

The next arrival is a new Bachmann Class 85, fitted with Kadee couplers, the first of two for Widnes Road. I hope to have at least one blue class 86 ready as well. The 85 is posed next to the other element of the layout I've been working on, namely lineside equipment and signalling. I have added new colour light signals, and numerous signal telecoms cabinets of various sizes and shapes as well as ducting and point heaters etc.

Bavarian and Austrian Travels

A selection of photos taken between 30/5/12 and 10/6/12 in and around Munich and Salzburg. Further pictures from this trip can be seen on my Flickr page: Widnes Road

Spring has arrived - Time for garden railways

We have been blessed with fantastic weather this week; and what better excuse to get out into the garden and try out the new 7mm stock that has arrived since last autumn.

First up is a test run for the RJH/PWP Class 37/4 (37 421) that recently returned from being finished by Aardstorm models. www.aardstorm-models.com/ On its first run out it performed very well, 10 airbraked wagons being dispatched with ease.

The second new arrival is 08 100 which was acquired from the Gauge O Guild stand at the recent Basingstoke show. A Bachmann Brassworks loco, finished by Tower models, it also put in a superb performance.

For comparison purposes, I lined up the brass 37/4 against  the Heljan 37/0, surprisingly there is a significant size difference, the Danish machine being around 1 1/2 cm longer.

With some more coaches arriving next week I'm hoping the weather holds out to enable another running session next weekend.

Where to see Widnes Road in 2012

Somewhat belatedly, as I have already taken Widnes Road to the Canterbury model railway show in January; here is the brief list of exhibitions that I am attending with Widnes Road this year:

10/11th March         Basingstoke & North Hants MRC - Aldworth Science College, Basingstoke

13/14th October      Croydon Model Railway Exhibition - John Rusking College, Selsdon

24/25th November  Shoeburyness Model Railway Exhibition - Southend Leisure Centre 

Also to look forward to sometime later this year; Widnes Road will be appearing in Model Rail Magazine. The photo above was taken when Chris Nevard popped round in January to do the photoshoot. I've seen the finished results and they are fantastic. 

O Gauge Class 37 - Finishing by Aardstorm Models

Many years ago (probably well over twenty years in fact) I purchased a Post-War Prototype (PWP) O gauge class 37 kit. This represented was a pretty steep learning curve for a 17 year old who at the time had been used to detailing Lima class 47's, but I wanted an O Gauge 37 to run on the layout at the model railway club I was then a member of, and there were no other options available at the time. I had actually built 90% of the loco by around 1992 (three years later) but by then I lost interest in 7mm as I was no longer a member of a club with a 7mm layout, and had no layout to run it on. It was then out back in the box until I could get round to finishing it. 

Twenty years later, I now have a O-gauge garden railway, so I thought I would see what needed doing to finish this part built kit off. The problem I have is that my modelling standards have (slightly) improved in the intervening two decades; I couldn't face undoing work I had already done, and have many other newer kits to distract me. So... I decided to send the lot off to Aardstorm Models www.aardstorm-models.com/ and see what Trevor could do with it. The answer is, he can work miracles, as these photos will attest to, 37 421 is now ready for action in the garden as soon as it stops raining, now I just need to finish the rake of 1980's airbraked speedlink wagons to run behind it.