A brief update and an excuse

If anyone actually reads this, you may have wondered why I've not updated lately. The first image goes someway to showing that Widnes Road is back up and running having been stacked away since the exhibition. There are some more images to follow when my friend Jim, who took some high quality images with an SLR has processed them. This was simply one I took with my 'point and click' after I'd set the lighting up.

The second image explains the absence. I got distracted by my birthday present to myself. A brand new Triumph Street Triple motorcycle. A truly fantastic piece of engineering, and  provider of some of the most fun it is possible to have. Normal service will now resume; as I have a couple of blocks of low-relief flats to construct...oh, and a pub and row of shops.

Bye for now, 

Paul

Some pictures from the Welwyn GC Exhibition

Living the life of a somewhat subterranean railway modeler its not often that what I build has the benefit of good natural lighting. Last weekends exhibition in Welwyn Garden City was a real opportunity to take some photos, as it was blessed with excellent lighting on a bright spring day. Despite only having a compact digital camera with me I was pleased with the results.   

There is a few months until a good run of four exhibitions in close succession in the Autumn. This means I can get cracking on the parade of shops which will form the other side of Widnes Road and complete the western end of the layout. A combination of kit-bashing and detailing is the order of the day. I'm on the lookout for any company that does the basic components for shop interiors in 4mm and a decent kit to base a detailed public house on.

Widnes Road Signal Box - Part III

The completed signal box complete with interior and lighting has been installed on the layout next to the new level crossing. The through main line is laid ready for the extension of Widnes Road to allow end-to-end operation using two fiddle yards.

Widnes Road Signal Box - Part II

Having spent some time making a fully detailed interior, some decent internal lighting was required. A strip of three white LED's provided plenty of light and was easily hidden in the roof.

Widnes Road Signal Box

The new signal box for Widnes Road level crossing is taking shape nicely; the Ratio Midland region box with a fully detailed interior.

Widnes Road - Level Crossing

The level crossing at the western end of Widnes Road starts to take shape; the gates are Wills, the pedestrian guards are made from styrene rod filed to triangles. Next task is to complete the signal box to go alongside the crossing which will have a fully detailed interior.

Widnes Road Update 2010

Firstly, here is a quick list of the next 5 confirmed exhibition dates for Widnes Road

2010

17th April               De Havilland MRC              Welwyn Garden City

18th September      Mid Essex MRC                 High School, Oliver Road, Shenfield

2nd/3rd October     Ilford & West Essex MRC   Romford

9th October            The Leventhorpe School     Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire

13th November       Romford MRC

Secondly, a quick round-up of what I've been working on and what's in store for the 2010 exhibition season.

Having got fed-up with continually fixing the plastic handrails around the roof of the depot, I fabricated new ones from square-section brass rod; when painted up they look a lot finer scale, and have the added benefit of not snapping every time the track is cleaned. This was followed by the fitting of a number of 'express models' depot lamps to the buildings and yard area.

The next changes are a lot more drastic, and are still under construction. The final extension to the layout will see a level crossing installed to Widnes Road at the far left hand side; the front road in the yard being straightened and converted to a through line. This required the painful act of removing a significant section of scenery and track to enable the realigned line to exit across the main road and onto a second fiddle yard.

At present I've laid the new track and I'm now contemplating whether to go for conventional level-crossing gates or working modern barriers. Current thinking is for the older style level crossing gates and the through line is for freight services to the Runcorn Docks and chemical works and would have been unlikely to have justified the expense of fitting automatic gates.

I'm looking forward to the new Bachmann 03, as this will be perfect for short trip-working trains of a few chemical tanks running across the main road.

7mm SPA Progress

I've completed the assembly of the first of the 7mm kits I've been working on, and I think the result is quite reasonable given the fairly rough and ready nature of the mouldings.

The lack of believable brake levers led to a rummaging through the 'bits' box; parts were borrowed from the leftovers from previous kits, one side from a Grampus the other from a VGA. It goes to emphasise why you should never through anything away.

All that remains is to give it a coat of Railfreight 'flame red', and apply transfers.

Network Rail - Glasgow Central

Stock Weathering

I've been spending some spare time working on the new stock I have acquired for Widnes road lately. I try not to run anything 'out the box' for too long; so the new Class 25 has now had buffers replaced, detail parts added, and using 1500 grade wet and dry I have taken the shine off the body work.

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon weathering it and this shows the end result. A combination of Carr's weathering powders and a light airbrushing with three tones going from frame dirt and brake dust to smoke black. 

A break from 4mm - some O-gauge wagons

As last weekend was the final outing for Widnes Road for 2009, as illustrated by a new shiny Bachmann 150 Sprinter basking in the sunshine above; and with a nearly 5 month break until the next exhibition, there is a chance to get down to some proper model making.

I have always been someone who tends to hoard kits if I can pick them up for a reasonable price, even if I don't have a current project which they would suit. A case in point is the reasonable selection of 7mm modern image wagon kits I have accumulated from e-bay.

The first one onto the work bench is a resin / white metal SPA / ZDA Sea Urchin. The image above is the result of about 6 hours work filling and sanding as most parts had air bubbles or in the case of the metal parts, fairly large gaps in the castings. After a bit of  work however, I'm fairly convinced I can get a decent model from a really quite cheap purchase.

The next photo shows the rather less 'economical' purchase which has spurred me on to get back to some 7mm modelling. Having been on the look out for some more HEAs to add to the one I completed in the summer, at the Royston show on Saturday I acquired not one but five, and very tidy they are too. With a half-decent speedlink train coming together I now have the impetus to build a few more wagons, as well as getting some track laid in the garden in the Spring.

Layout and stock tweaks

Having spent two days running Widnes Road at Tolworth Showtrain, I used part of a day off to make some minor tweaks to the layout. The most time consuming was lengthening No.3 Road in the yard to enable longer locos to fit with a full rake of dogfish & sharks.

Although it doesn't look as if much has altered it still took the best part of 4 hours work to lay a short length of track, relocate the bufferstop and light, and paint and ballast the track.

A full rake of 9 wagons plus a Class 47 or 45 can now fit in the headshunt.

I purchased one of Bachmann's latest DCC Sound Class 25's from Kent Garden Railways at the show, a pretty decent model straight from the box.

One retrograde step, I think, has been the substitution of the older unsprung metal buffers with sprung plastic ones.  these seem quite crude in comparison, particularly when viewed side-on. It 's a simple step to resolve this as the plastic buffers are easily removed with a pair of pliers. The replacements are turned blackened brass Oleos.

Photos from Tolworth Showtrain

This weekend Malcolm and I spent a very enjoyable two days at the exhibition of the Hampton Court Model Railway Club. About the right size for a show with a nice balance of trade stands and exhibitors; and a decent mix of UK and continental layouts.

I was particularly impressed by a Swiss layout, Rhatia, last years Showtrain Cup winner, which I spent a fair while watching.

I have uploaded a few snaps taken of Widnes Road in action over the weekend as well as a couple of shots of Rhatia.

Hello to all the people who stopped for a chat, it was good to meet so many genuinely interested modelers. For those who were asking about the frog polarity changing power supply device; its called a 'Hex Frog Juicer', available from the people at Tam Valley Depot, and sold online by Fast Tracks (not Making Tracks as I mistakenly told someone).

Invisible progress

After a few gremlins crept into the wiring at the last exhibition I felt it was time to give the layout a re-wire; and at the same time take the opportunity to try out a new gadget from Canada; 'The Hex Frog Juicer'.

Initial trials are more than satisfactory, it does exactly what it claims, "Automatically controls the polarity of DCC power for up to 6 frogs on turnouts or crossings. If a train drives onto a frog and it is the wrong polarity, the circuit will switch to the opposite polarity."

"The Hex Frog Juicer is the ultimate expression of
running your trains and not the track."