Exhibition Dates - Widnes Road [Updated 27/02/09]

See Widnes Road at the following 2009 Confirmed Exhibition Appearances:

Sudbury MRC - 3rd October 2009
St. Peters, Market Hill, Sudbury

Farnham & District MRC - 10th-11th October 2009;
Aldershot - Connaught Leisure Centre, Tongham Road, GU12 4AS

Provisional invites; 2009

Hampton Court MRC - Tolworth Showtrain 2009
Tolworth Recreation Centre - 14th-15th November 2009;

Royston & District MRC - 21st November 2009

Provisional invites; 2010

Romford MRC - 13th November 2010

Confirmed Appearances 2011
Warley National Model Railway Exhibition 2011 19th & 20th November 2011, NEC Birmingham

Previous Outings:

2006
- Epping Railway Circle: Theydon Bois - November 06;

2007 -
- Enfield Town 07
- Erith MRC, Bexley September 07

2008
- Perth, Scotland, June 2008
- Erith MRC, Bexley, September 2008
- Epping Railway Show, Theydon Bois Village Hall, Essex, Saturday 15th November 2008
- Letchworth, Herts. Model Railway Exhibition, Saturday 29th November 2008

2009
-Erith MRC, Dartford, Kent - 24th-25th January 2009

Visit Widnes Road at Fotopic: http://www.widnesroad.fotopic.net

SNCB Class 13

Another continental interloper has a test-run on Widnes Road; this time its the latest SNCB Class 13 from LS Models.

A burst of activity...

A couple of days of work has resulted in some good progress on the extension to Widnes Road; the new longer fiddle yard is finished, and the best bit of any new layout building is the opportunity to try out favorite rakes of rolling stock...
IMHO you just can't beat a line up of classic 80's traction in BR Blue.

I've also been adding more details to the depot area, including walkways and the inspection pit within the shed itself. This overall shot shows how the extension relates to the original board.

Widnes Road - Mark 2.5

I just can't help myself; whilst I had Widnes Road apart to build a new and improved fiddle yard, which is built and just awaiting the track laying I decided I could model the 'back' of the depot building as well as the front.

A trip to B&Q and a few hours (well two days really) and Widnes Road had grown again, by a whole extra 10 inches (plus the extra 8" on the fiddle yard). This has the added benefit that the two sidings on this board have also been lengthened.

While I had the buildings off and was making a mess anyway, I took the opportunity to get the 'jigsaw' our and cut a long hole in the baseboard to fit an inspection pit, which is the beginnings of modelling the inside of the depot building which will eventually be lit. The plan is to scratch build some small depot buildings to fill the space between the depot and the relocated bridge, and a low relief shed to form a scenic break.

Widnes Road - Fiddle Yard Progress

The new traverser 'runners' arrived from Station Road Baseboards, and once cut to length were fitted. This then allowed for the fun bit; getting out various rakes of favourite wagons and seeing what will fit in the new fiddle yard.

It was also a good excuse to buy a few more of the excellent Heljan dogfish; although they stand out a mile not having had the attention of the airbrush yet. It's a shame that they now only come with a horrible black plastic load; which is rather too well glued in. A spot of attention with the scalpel blade and a very speedily delivered order from Ten Commandments soon sorted that out.

Let it snow...

The last two days have seen some of the heaviest snowfall in the South-east of England for nearly twenty years. The photos alongside show the Central Line taken from the bridge at the end of my road...no work today.

Widnes Road - Fiddle Yard III - Fiddle Harder

It was pay-day on Friday, so Saturday morning brought a trip to B&Q (other DIY megastores are available) to buy supplies for the jobs to be done on Widnes Road.
First off is the new fiddle yard; I've struggled with the various iterations of traverser that Widnes Road has had. The first was too small and kept sticking; this was solved on the second version by making it a) longer; and b) putting the traverser on furniture drawer runners. However, the layout grew, and the wood which formed the traverser base warped. I tried to reinforce the base with ply strips along the edges, but this was a bit futile. Wandering round B&Q on Saturday I hit upon a solution; extruded aluminium L-channel.
As can be seen in the photo above this has been cut to form a pocket for the traverser bed to sit in; and once drilled and screwed to the 'bed' it forms a very rigid and flat base for the fiddle yard. I'm just waiting for the new runners from Station Road Baseboards and then I can get the track laid.

I've taken the opportunity whilst rebuilding the fiddle yard of lengthening it to 4', long enough for a loco and a reasonable rake of wagons; such as a Cl.47 and 6 LWB vans, or a Cl.25 or 33 and 8 ballast hoppers and a 'Shark'.