Widnes Road - Plans for 2009

Having exhibited Widnes Road in its current form for the last 6 months ideas for a few minor tweaks have gradually gelled in my head to improve operation and gain longer train formations.

As it was originally planned as simply a loco-based layout there were no real thoughts regarding train lengths for head-shunts etc. As the layout has grown, operating short formation freights of up to 6 or seven wagons have taken more of a role.

I have already gone through two incarnations of fiddle yard; the first a mere 2 feet long; the current a little larger at 39 inches; however the longest trains which will fit in the sidings are 36 inches without a loco, which brings the overall train length closer to 48" with a long loco such as a cl.40 or cl.45.

Other tweaks include slightly repositioning buffer stops and Kadee uncoupling ramps to better suit train lengths; and move the fuelling point slightly east to allow 2 sets of 3 fuel tanks beyond the FP.

This brings me to a list of tasks for 2009 to be undertaken between now and the Autumn exhibition season; if I set them down in type I may actually get around to doing them:

1) Move Fuel point 2" east; move buffer stop 3" west on No. 3 road, allowing three fuel tanks in unloading siding;

2) Move bufferstop on No.1 (front) road 5" west, and reposition depot building to front of siding, extend headshunt 5" to a total of 40" (this allows cl. 08 and 6x VDA's to fit.

3) Build Mk.3 Fiddle yard @ 4' (48") long, to accommodate:
Cl.37/47 + 6 x VDA's or 5 x VGA's

4) Build inspection pit, with lighting in Main Depot building; No.1 & No. 2 Roads.

Hopefully this list should take no more than a few months allowing time to complete a few AC electrics in time for the next show in the Summer / Autumn.

On the subject of wheely-bins...

...or a cautionary tale about paying more attention when cannibalizing one layout to speed up progress on another.

I've been spending an enjoyable weekend exhibiting Widnes Road at a two-day show in Dartford, Kent. There were the usual mix of interested punters stopping for a chat, but there was one yesterday a bit out the norm. She was stood examining the layout for a fair while, and we got in conversation about the various cats; all eight of which are painted to match the four we have in real life and the four which our neighbours have had at various times.

This was all very nice and she was just leaving when the parting comments was along the lines of; "I like the cats but they didn't have wheeley-bins in the 1980's". Now I don't take my modelling so seriously that this causes anything other than surprise that someone is looking that closely, but what was odd was that to be honest I don't even remember putting them on the layout!

Then I remembered cannibalizing a small part of West Wirral (which was set in the late 1990's) to fill in a gap on Widnes Road when I was in a rush; and that small tableau of a depot office had a wheely bin outside the office door.

Suffice to say; the offending bins are coming off today to be replaced by proper 1980's dented dust-bins. Thanks for the heads-up; also a friendly hello to Peter Clark of http://www.peterclarkkits.com/ a guy whose work I admire and whose kits are first rate; for spotting that when I had taken the bogie sideframes off my Heljan 47 to clean the wheels; I'd put them on the wrong way round, well spotted. I hope to build one of your 7mm MPV's for my garden layout later this year.

Right; off to the modelling room to paint some dustbins...

In works - Class 85 Update

A day of ups and downs; I managed to 'blow-up' an expensive sound-chip whilst cleaning the wheels on a loco; but managed to calm down by making solid progress on the Class 85 I'm building. C'est la vie.

DSB comes to Widnes Road

This morning the post brought a large box of Hobbytrade and Heljan goodies from Denmark; so for one day only Widnes Road has been taken over by the Danish State Railway; DSB.

During a couple of holidays to Denmark I have developed quite an affection for the DSB ME class diesels, built by Henschel in 1981.

For comparison with the model, below is a photo of the real thing taken on the approach to Kobenhavn on a recent visit.

Weathering Inspiration

Prototype for everything...

Whenever I'm weathering a wagon I often think I've overdone it; but this picture shows just how weathered the real thing can get; an internal user TTA at Norwich Crown Point depot on 8/4/04.

Also of interest is the depot building in the rear of the picture which is the one which I based the colour of the shed on my Widnes Road layout on.

In works... Class 85

Having caught up with the maintenance backlog with Widnes Road, and before I get drawn into too many other daft projects (for daft projects see: starting yet another model railway layout...) I felt I ought to get around to building the DC Kits class 85 I picked up at the Perth show back in July.

This was inspired by this photo; taken by yours truly back on the 24th February 1990 in Wolverhampton and which I recently scanned for my fotopic site (see http://www.widnesroad.fotopic.net/).

Unfortunately when I opened the box it seems that the resin body had been damaged at some point in the last eight months, the buffer beam and one buffer was broken off and in three pieces. So what was planned as a leisurely evening modelling; i.e. filing a few random bits and maybe building the chassis turned into the more involved task of reconstructing the buffer beam, reinforcing it and filling the cracks with 'Rocket Powder' and cyano (a fabulous modelling product I couldn't live without, see: http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/923_1_1220504.html)and replacing the damaged buffers with far nicer turned brass ones I 'happened' to have lying around.

Task completed, I turned to the roof area and hit a major snag. The almost complete absence of decent photos of the roof area of a late 1980's class 85. The kit instructions didn't include any pictures and the diagram to my mind seemed to contradict the text and the few poor quality images I had managed to find. After trawling through my own photos, fotopic, and my usual reference books (including the usually reliable 'Main Line Electrics') I've hit a bit of a modellers block. Shall I make a few 'assumptions' based on best guess, or put the model on hold until I get a definitive answer. Watch this space.

If anyone actually reads this nonsense, and happens to have an answer / pictures as to where the various insulators and switchgear on the roof goes, drop me a line. Ta.

New Year's Resolution No.1 - 'Make the most of the mid-week'

One of my New Year's resolutions is to try to do at least some modelling in the evenings after work (one of the others is to go running before work, but methinks the day will not stretch in both directions at once). So when I got home tonight I decided to weather the brake van I 'spruced up' last week. I'm quite pleased with the results, none of the shiny look it had before I started; a bit of 600 grade wet&dry, Carr's weathering powders and a light dusting with the airbrush; 'smoke' and 'brake dust'.

OMWB January - Seacows

Having tackled most of the easier wagons, I finally turned to my rake of Seacow's; a mixture of Bachmann, Hornby and Lima offerings, albeit either fully resprayed or detailed, heavily weathered and fitted with loads. There has been plenty said about Hornby's 'own goal' of not including an NEM pocket on their Seacows, but that wouldn't normally be a problem, many older wagons are a doddle to convert with a No.5. The issue with the Hornby wagons is simply there isn't enough room to fit anything which swings sufficiently to get round any significant corners.

The solution was to create two 'barrier' wagons; Lima Seacows with Kadee's on one end only and run the Hornby wagons between them. It's relatively easy to transform the old Lima Sealion / Seacow into something which easily stands its own in a rake with the latest Bachmann and Hornby offerings, particularly as Bachmann's Y25 bogies are easily and cheaply obtainable; the brass canopies over the wagon ends are from A1.