Widnes Road - Stock Update

A week before the exhibition season begins and I have made enough progress on Widnes Road that a) It looks fairly finished; and b) I can have a break from the scenery and get back to what I enjoy most; resprayed and detailing rolling stock.

The results of this have been i) the fitting of a Howes of Oxford Sound decoder in one of the Class 33's. I'm very pleased with it, I reckon its a match for my much loved South-West Digital decoder fitted locos. ii) The partial respray of my last 'out the box' loco, 37 057 "Viking" into Eastfield Machine 37 035.

Whilst not finished, I still need to plate over the nose doors and remove the sealed beam headlight and aerials, with the fitting of Heljan ploughs (from a 47) it looks the part. The respray was needed to remove all traces of the nameplate and Tinsley Rose. I will eventually lightly weather it to match 47 597.

Widnes Road - Exhibition Ready

With two weeks to go to the Sudbury Model Railway Exhibition; I have been adding the finishing touches to the latest section of Widnes Road. This new element, although only adding just over a foot to the scenic section, adds a rear part to the depot scene, as well as allowing more depth to allow a for realistic backscene to be incorporated. The road overbridge has been improved with new supporting pillars which make it look a much more believable structure. A further low-relief depot building has been added to the far right-hand end of the layout, as shown in the close up picture above; I still need to add the far bridge abutment and add much more to the backscene.

Depot Progress (Widnes Road)

Progress lately has focused on improving the appearance of the main depot building, with the fabrication of a new depot floor with recessed tracks, an inspection pit and full length inspection walkway.

Exhibition Time Again

Although it seems only weeks ago that the British summertime finally decided it would happen, far sooner than I ever allow for the autumn Model Railway Exhibition season is rolling into view again.

As with every year I get half way through August and realise that the dozen or so jobs I had determined to do when I unloaded Widnes Road from the last exhibition of last years season remain at best half finished. In fact as with last year; after the last exhibition in the spring, I took a large saw to Widnes Road, to enable an extension to be fitted.

To be fair, I've made pretty good progress, the woodwork was finished very early on, as was the trackwork and wiring, but then; as usual I got distracted by another project, this time the continuous run around the railway room.

So to spur me on here is a list of the tasks still to be completed by the first weekend of October:

1. Rebuild the main depot building from a dead-end to a through 2-road shed (largely complete, just need to make and fit three new roller shutter doors)
2. Lay new hardstanding with inset trackwork throughout the depot building area;
3. Construct low-relief depot building to form backscene to new extended depot area
4. Construct low-relief wagon repair shed for foreground of extended board.
5. Refit all small depot detailing parts;
6. Paint and fit new electric sub-station;
7. Fit OHLE to extended tracks;
8. Re-fit signal and buffer warning light;
9. Make new backscene for scenic board extension;
10. Fully test layout and clean all stock.
    

55 days to go...

The next two upcoming Exhibitions at which Widnes Road is appearing are:

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:

Singen Hbf - Signal Box

With the added incentive of new rolling stock to photograph, I managed to get around to painting the signal box for Singen Hbf; as well as finishing off the main station building with the latest DBAG and S-Bahn signage. I'm pretty pleased with the results. The new rolling stock is a Fleischmann OBB Hercules; and a Trix SBB Mak Diesel. Next to be built is the town square, complete with fountain; then finish off the fuelling point.

Here are some photos of the finished signal box:



















And some more photos of the new locos, and the updated main station building:

Singen Hbf - New Arrival

While in Berlin this week I picked up one of the latest Fleischmann driving trailers; so here are a couple of photos showing it being tested on my Singen Hbf layout. It's a huge improvement in detail levels from the old design which is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. It's inbuilt lighting is also DCC friendly, but at 95 Euro is certainly isn't cheap.

Below; I have included photos both taken last week at Koln of the two different prototypes on which the two Fleischmann models are based for reference. In my opinion probably one of the best pieces of contemporary rolling stock available in N-gauge.

European travels and fresh inspiration

I've just got back from two weeks of traveling around Europe, reaching Prague via Belgium and Germany; lots of updates to come over the next week or two.

The light at the end of the tunnel

A major milestone was reached today on the new layout; the structural woodworking has been completed. Now the trackplan can be laid out using the Tillig HO track templates and any minor adjustments made to allow for point motor locations etc.

'Muizen' Progress - The first tracklaying

Another weekend of successful woodworking and I've been able to get the first track down, at least in 'first draft'. It's to give me an idea of whether I can keep to my plan of a minimum radii of 30-36" even on the off-scene parts; and initial tests are hopeful. Although it's not too clear in the picture all track will be laid with prototypical super-elevation or 'cant'.

I've already rebuilt the 'removable' section by the door to ease the track radii from 28" to a generous 36", and to ensure that where the track joins the main baseboard from the 'bridge' it does so perpendicularly to allow for a reliable rail joint.

The second photo shows the main off-scene area; this allows a continuous run to be achieved and also accommodates a 4-road fiddle yard for up to 6/7 coach trains plus locos, this will be laid as far as the wall in the distance. The four tracks to the right of the picture are placed to gauge the depth needed for a useable storage yard; this quarter of the layout will not be modelled.

All track is the HO-Elite system from Tillig, obtained from international models in Wales, who provide an excellent range and great, friendly service. I consider the Tillig track a good compromise for a layout that doesn't leave home. Whilst my exhibition layout Widnes Road has only hand-build turnouts, for something of the size I'm planning for Muizen I felt it really was a bit of a tall order, plus would have slowed progress by 6-12 months. The Tillig track once ballasted and weathered, and fitted with slow action Tortoise or Fulgerex point motors can look nearly as good and has all the excellent slow-running characteristics of live-frog continuous point blade turnouts.

The final shot shows the layout in context in the main basement railway room (Widnes Road has it's own room!) It really is starting to dwarf Singen Hbf, but the design allows for either layout to be operated independantly, and the central layout is easily moveable if extra room is needed at one side of the room for modelling. Next task is to get the windows in the room replaced and then the main baseboards along the longest wall can be built, and a continuous run laid.

Further real-life inspiration: Muizen (Part 1)

I recently spent some time in Belgium researching for my latest HO-scale layout; the permanent one which will take up the larger of the two basement railway rooms I am lucky to be blessed with. Whilst traveling from Antwerp to Leuven I passed through a small station Muizen with a very interesting and extremely active yard; and had to go back and take some pictures. A couple are reproduced here; I will upload some more soon.

The yard which included both hopper and container unloading facilities, was packed with pairs of Series 13 electrics; 77xx diesels and a Class 66; the station itself was a nicely compact twin island platform, with a neat row of houses which formed a ready made backscene.

Obviously the yard would have to be massively reduced in scale, but by judicious use of say, the road overbridge seen in the background (moved slightly east), only the yard throat need be modelled; the station though, could be fairly easily reproduced, at least in width, even if it may need to be slightly shortened to around 6 coaches in length.

I will start on a track plan soon.

Easter Woodworking

The Easter break gave me a few clear days to make progress on my new permanent layout. The main structural frame is taking shape with three sides of the room now having the principal wooden sub-structure in place.

The top deck is only on temporarily until the track plan is finalised at which point the track bed will be cut out allowing the rest of the scenery to be built using the open frame structural system.

The track in the foreground of the top picture is heading across the 'bridge' section which links up the complete loop and can be lifted off to allow large items (like the boards of Singen Hbf seen in the background) to be removed from the room. It is mounted on a series of pattern makers dowels which are set into the ledge on either side baseboard. I have yet to devise the system which will allow the OHLE system to cross the bridge. I'm working on it...

In the rear of the 1st photo you can just make out the structural steel work which has been fitted into the wall to allow the double-track mainline to pass through a retaining block-work wall. This was quite a daunting task but the track plan would have never worked out without it. The steel was supplied by metalsdirectuk and was supplied ready cut and finished, a top drawer service.

A weekend of woodwork.

Inspired by the layout that Nigel Burkin has under construction at: http://nigelburkin.wordpress.com/ I've made a start on the baseboards for my latest layout. Unlike my last two, this one is a 'layout that doesn't leave home'; mainly as it will have extensive OHLE, and frankly to model overhead line equipment convincingly it isn't too compatible with portability IMHO. I've started with the easiest section; the narrow return along the door-side of the room; a run of around 11 feet; with a minimum board width of 15 inches; widening at both ends for the corners. I am planning to use a minimum radii of around 3', but hopefully well disguised by either scenery or completely 'off'scene'.

Excuse the Roco NS 1800; it's simply to give sense of scale. I've gone for a completely wall-mounted construction for the narrow 15" wide 'returns', but the main section; at some 13' x 2'6" will need at least some additonal support.

New HO Project: Hasselt / Kiewit (SNCB); or 'here we go again...'

Anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that I can never have just one or for that matter two major railway projects on the go at once; in fact I'm never happier than when I'm planning the layout after the one I haven't built yet.

So to that end; I introduce my latest overambitious project; a permanant layout inspired by the Hasselt / Kiewit area of Belgium. This town is home to the Pukkelpop alternative music festival: http://www.pukkelpop.be which I am very fond of and have been to the last few years.

In between bands and on the day either side of the festival I've been known to spend rather too much time in and around the railway; on the weekend of the festival many trains are strengthened and additional loco-hauled services run to both the main station; Hasselt, and the local station next to the campsite, Kiewit, making a highly modelable subject.


Add to the fact the Kiewit station is on a branch line, is a compact site, sees regular freight trains and is at roughly 90 degrees to the main line, some interesting scenic breaks afforded by river crossings, and the fact that the main station has a busy yard and its own locomotive depot and there is some excellent inspiration.

The main station would take a great deal of modelers license to compress; the real thing having 9 platform faces, which can accomodate up to 12 coach trains; the layout I have in mind will accommodate reduced length rakes of between 6 and 8 coaches, but hopefully I may be able to capture some of the essence of the station. It should be possible to model Kiewit fully, as seen below the station building is fairly compact, though it may be necessary to curve the platforms.

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'.