Wht's left to do?

I keep getting enquiries and comments from people asking when the layout will be ready...

Well the layout is supposed to be (as defined by me in 2005) "a snapshot of the WHR when the full line opens to Porthmadog in 2009."

However, we know that didn't happen, and it may well be 2011 before it is opened all the way to Port...

So, do I freeze time at 2009 and only model what is now, do I wait until 2011, or do I ensure the best of all worlds and utilise 'modeller's licence'? It will probably be the latter, whilst trying to keep all trains on the layout at any moment consistent with each other.

That then brings another problem, for example Pullman 2115 which is currently in Pullman brown/cream livery, but this winter it will be overhauled and repainted to match the blackberry black observation saloon. I can't bring myself to have multiple versions of the same model, so I'll have to choose.

So, what is there left to do?

• Electrics - minor work to add the final wires taking the bus bars back to the controller base station and to allow for an extension wire around the layout to the second handheld controller. So, basically complete.
• Lighting - a major area that is not complete, I have in stock a load of ikea spots, I just don't have the framework for their support or even a design for the framework yet. I would also like to avoid the 'multiple suns' problem that comes from many spots pointing in different directions.
• Backscene - test prints of this should be done in the next week or so. May not be the problem I first thought.
• Baseboards - the yard board needs finishing works, e.g. sleeper grime etc adding. Work is still required to sort out baseboard joins, although this is underway with all bits necessary in stock.
• Scenics - work left is minor, mainly being fine detail such as signs. The water tanks are mostly complete, although the wire strapping for their legs has yet to be completed.
• Carriages - the first batch are in the paint shop, but glazing, door handles, transfers, couplings and ride height checking will still be required. A long job and one where prioritisation is key.
• Locos - After this winter I should have two NGG16s and K1 ready with another NGG16 (No. 87) close to finish. The two funkeys should be ready as should Upnor and Conway Castles. These are the core stock.
• Fiddle yards - these need a bit of work to sort the alignments between the traverser and running lines, but the traversers themselves are ready.
• Curtains - fabric in stock, requires a full set up of the layout in order to measure exact lengths. I also need some sew-on velcro.

A realistic date for first exhibition? In a rush I could probably make it for the Spring, but Summer 2010 is probably realistic.

Tanks update

Here are the two tanks I have nearly completed. Annealing the front tank wrapper was fun on the electric hob(!) and they have gone together well. Next are the final details and then they are ready to be swapped... These tanks will go on 138, which is in Cheltenham. Those tanks will go on my black (143) one here and then those that were on 143 will be altered to go on 87.

I have also started cutting out the main parts for 87, including looking at the cab to see if I can cut it down. Looks like it should be ok, the window will have to be blanked out and there is a tab that goes through the footplate...which is annoying but will have to stay in that position.

Colin

Primed!

More carriages have had the treatment, this time in grey. The SAR red oxide stuff is visible behind.

General update

I've not made much progress on the layout recently due to being away with work a lot, but some minor progress can be reported:

• The water tanks have had three coats of red paint. They may need another, but are close now.
• The pipes for each tank have been delivered by knightwing, these were cut to length, cleaned and joined together. I just need to check the distances on the baseboards (i.e. so the pipe sits above the middle of the track) before painting these.
• The new tanks for 138 have been cut out of the frets and work has begun e.g. the water tank has had its rivets removed and its side holes altered to fit the reality.
• An FR oil tanker (in a bizarre and random piece of work - don't ask) had its bogies changed for a better balanced variety. This has made it far less top heavy.
• I have been investigating how best to create rust - does anyone know of a UK supplier of rustall?
• 2 bocoals have been painted base green and await their black banding and weathering.
• I have resoldered the wiring between pickups and motor on a minitrix 0-6-0 chassis I now no longer require. This runs fine. If you need such a chassis (good for WHR 4415 and others) let me know. Else it's going on ebay. Post post note: it's on ebay now http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110442321933#ht_500wt_1101

Colin

Paint your wag(g)ons

Progress from Cheltenham:

Some of the cans and tins of paint I dropped off for Dad a few weeks ago. Two kinds of primer - grey for most carriages and red oxide for SAR types. Ford ivory is our chosen spray colour for the cream part of the FR and WHR liveries. Also included is a humbrol green for carriage 23, precision blackberry black for the obs 2100 and a few bottles of railmatch: BR crimson and Oullman colours (brown and cream).

Ajax scouring powder for neutralising flux deposits and a hairdryer to speed up drying and also to make the brass warm, helping paint to adhere to the surface.

and the results : 4 B wagons and the SAR brake in primer (which is also their base livery).

Dad explains:

As the weather is ideal today, I decided to make a start on spraying some primer. Procedure was as follows:-

1. Scrub thoroughly with 'Ajax' Scouring Powder to clean the brass and neutralise any traces of acid flux from soldering. Rinse in clean water.

2. The above action also tends to reveal anything not fixed on firmly enough (!) and 2 door bangers came off two separate B's. These were soldered back on and action No.1 done again!

3. To speed up the drying process I used kitchen roll tissue to remove any obvious water globules, then gave the wagons a good blast on the mini hair dryer, until they were completely dry and warm.

4. I then went to the top of the garden, well away from the house (to keep the fumes away) then, holding the wagons with a long hook made of copper wire, I sprayed each wagon with a coat of the Halford's Red Oxide Primer. I used a good face mask to avoid breathing any of the paint fumes, and held the wire with a domestic rubber glove. It is a good idea to take off your watch when doing this as well!

5. After spraying I placed each wagon in a Plant Propagator (from a garden centre) as this is perfect for keeping the dust etc out during drying. It is best to leave them to dry out overnight before doing any further painting.

So we are up and running in the Paint Shop and you almost have a complete SAR freight train!

cool!

From the Cheltenham Works

Stage one from the paint works in Cheltenham - two trays worth of carriages cleaned up ready for primer.

From top left, across then down: ex FR obs 101, Pullman 2115 Bodysgallen, SAR Brake Van, 1001 Combination car, 23 cut down Ashbury Summer car, No. 24 not cut down summer car, kitbash of Vale of Rheidol parkside kit, FR 113 (used for a while on WHR), 2 B wagons, saloon (previously test painted), Pullman obs 2100, 2 bike wagons.

Second tray: new saloon, older saloon, saloon 2042 with different beading, semi-open, 2060 Romanian car, new saloon, 2010 service car, 2090 also with older beading and brake, semi-open and older saloon.

Colin

Pieces of the jigsaw

The interchangeability of parts between the 3 similar NGG16s on the real WHR is a bonus, but it can make modelling somewhat difficult!

If we say that the prototype time period for Rhyd Ddu is 2009/10, then I can model:

• 138 in her new lined red livery, sporting a new front tank (a copy of its old tank) and the bunker from 143 (both unriveted)
• 143 in SAR black just before overhaul with its own front tank, but the bunker from 138 (both unriveted) or after overhaul with 138's old front tank and the bunker from 138. In fact it will likely have 140's boiler too, so there won't be much of 143 left!
• 87 in light aircraft grey, coal fired with riveted tanks. It is expected to go into black this winter, but you can only have so many black engines, given that K1 is black too!

An illustration of the differences between tanks/bunkers:

87 front tank

87 bunker

138's old bunker on 143

138's new front tank and 143's (ex 138's) front tank and the new 138 tank painted

143's old bunker to go onto 138

and for good measure (all unrestored):

109's bunker

109's front tank

140s front tank

140's bunker

So, how to get this as correct as possible?

I have the following:

• a painted model in SAR black (143?) but with rivetted tanks
• an unfinished model of 138 with unriveted tanks
• a kit not yet started, nominally of 87.

So, if I remove the riveted tanks from the 143 model, strip off the paint, alter them slightly and repaint in grey, these can become 87's riveted tanks.

Given that the real 143 will return with both 138's bunker (which it sports at the moment) and its front tank, we may as well move 138's model tanks onto the 143 model and paint them black.

That leaves the unbuilt kit tanks to go onto 138. Which means I need to make these up asap, with no rivets, so they can be delivered to Cheltenham ready for 138's final fitting out and painting in lined red.

That seems to work - phew!

Colin

Update

Much to report:

2 NWNGR 4 wheel carriages have been soldered together, I have the sides for the third but await the ends and chassis - Allen of worlsey works has temporarily lost them apparently. They look good and will complement my NWNGR train.

The two water tanks were scrubbed with ajax, dried and then sprayed with grey primer. Now they are dry the primer has covered 99% so they are ready for the red to be brushed on - railmatch acrylic 2311.

I managed to pick up an N gauge fleischmann 0-6-0 loco on ebay for £30. This was described as DCC ready, which I suspect partly explained the low price. It arrived today and to my great surprise was not just DCC ready, but had a decoder on board. A quick test and she works nicely - another great ebay deal! This chassis will be used under the WHR Kerr Stuart diesel. A quick bit on butchery on the white metal body underframe and she'll be ready to go - easy livery too - grey with white lettering.

I delivered a case full of the main WHR (C) carriage stock to the Cheltenham works for painting at the weekend. Dad has helpfully and very kindly agreed to get these going and there is also talk of a spray booth...cool.

Meanwhile I have continued painting a few random wagons - 7 skips, 3 FR 2t slates and 2 RAFs were painted mid grey last night and will be dry brushed and weathered with pastels later.

Further thought has gone into the design of board joins. Firstly, I have taken the advice of John DeFrayissnet (of County Gate) and ordered some super catches from wixroyd - http://www.wixroyd.com/purchase.php?p_no=4926&id=558&method=w The bolts drilled between boards will now be used as if they were dowels for alignment only.

Secondly, I am gradually removing the plaster bandage where it overlaps the board edges as these are causing greater gaps than necessary. This has shown that the end pieces of the two Fridd boards are not perfectly square and this explains why such a gap appears in the scenery. These will need to be taken off and reattached square. I may also in doing this be able to reduce some of the weight of the main Ffridd board - it is very heavy indeed.

Also at the entry to each hidden sidings I will be copying John's idea about half way down the page here: http://www.009.cd2.com/track_page.htm - i.e. solder tubing to the rails and insert a pin to ensure perfect line up.

This leaves a couple of joints which may need relaying as they may still be too wide, but we'll see where we get to with the above first, and anyway much of this will probably wait until Spring as I need to get on with stock.

I have also ordered a load of pipes from Knightwing - click here - to form the water tower piping.

Progress on all fronts really.

Colin

New updated top 10 NG layouts

I have decided to redo the top 10 narrow gauge layouts series of posts that I did a few years ago, this is because a number of new excellent layouts have hit the circuit. I will do this in one post this time.

10 NEW ENTRY - Tan y Bwlch

I saw this layout at Shepton Mallet and I loved it, for far too long we have been waiting for this idyllic location to be modelled. The stock is really nicely done, there is a gravity slate and the scenics are generally excellent. A worthy new entry.

9 - FR 1926 see post here

8 - Corris see post here

7 - Dulas see post here

6 - NEW ENTRY - Dinas (FR)

DCC sound in 7mm finescale, a cracking layout from the man who brought us Borth y Gest. The stock is still being added to and the new scratchbuilt 'Little Wonder' is truly special. The layout is being improved all the time and I can't wait to see it again at warley, when an even higher position in this 'chart' may be justified.

5 - NEW ENTRY Borth y Gest

It's a close run thing whether this is better than Dinas, but it's had time to bed in and is beautifully done, so I've put ByG ahead...just.

4 - Tan y Grisiau see post here

3 - Dinas Ddu see post here

2 - Knocked down from the top - Dduallt - see post here

No. 1 A NEW ENTRY - COUNTY GATE

A large and complex layout rarely seen outside of club layouts. It's DCC, can be automated, the running and stock is exceptional, scenics have depth, believability and have been very well researched indeed. Goodness knows how much £ this cost to build, but it's worth every penny. See it at Warley.

all the info you could need on this magnificent layout is available here

Disagree with my selections - then post me a comment...

Colin

tanks glorious tanks

I now have two water tanks - one the brass topped one was built by Dad, the new one with the plasticard top was built by me. Both have also had their top detail added. Now some grey primer and then some railmatch 2311 for the red sides and bottom.

Picture fest

Whilst I await more sleeper grime, I have taken the yard board back downstairs so I can concentrate on soldering the other water tank up and prepare the first rake of carriages for painting. This was after I installed the model point levers, moved the point indicator and checked all the point motors by removing and reinstalling them.

The usual caveats about these shots - the garage is too dark, so the camera uses flash and the colours thus look different. Also the layout is without any details that are not yet fully stuck down - station building, cars, signs, benches, nameboards, water tanks etc etc...but hopefully you get the picture...

I'm really pleased with the results so far. My only remaining concerns are the backscene and the board join gaps, which I fear are in places too large. Work may be needed to close these gaps to ensure reliable running, but at the moment the boards aren't even fixed together and sit on a downward slope, so this is difficult to predict.

Error

Was looking again at many images of the real thing last night and then I noticed a bad error. I've erected the point indicator near the yard points, when it should be next to the loop points - whoops. The offending post has been removed and hole filled in. It will be reconnected when I'm back from Wales (including a trip to Pont Croesor from Caernarfon - cool!) next week.

I also added a load more bushes and generally weathered the ballast. Two more pots of sleeper grime are on the way from gaugemaster as well as a length of the new peco 009 'mainline' track and an extra DCC plug for the base station, meaning I can switch between exhibition wiring and home setup easily, without constant screwing of wires in and out of the terminals.

I have also got the bits out ready to complete the yard points levers and ground frame.

I guess there is about 4 hours of work left on this board and then it can join the others downstairs again.

I have then decided to bring the hidden sidings boards upstairs to complete the layout to exhibitable standard (except minor details such as signs etc and the backscene) before I crack on with locos etc

3 kits for the 4 wheel NWNGR carriages arrived yesterday from Allen at worsley, so more soldering beckons.

Oh and the broken soldering iron turned out not to be broken at all, it was one of the 4 outlets on my 4 gang extension lead were the problem lay!

Colin

promised photos

Those promised images:

Firstly here is the maze of wiring underneath the yard board - all wired up and ready to go.

On top it looks like this now, with road markings in and spot reballasting continuing. I have however run out of railmatch 'sleeper grime' so there will be a short delay before this board is finished.

The station board just before it was removed to the garage - the JCB cost an arm and a leg! The flower beds and station planters are glued in place, as is the fencing. Final details such as water tanks(!), signs etc will come later.

Latest

Camera is out of battery, so no images...promise some in a few days.

Tonight the white lines for the Pitt's Head road have been added. I have not made these perfect, but have rather picked at them and tried to weather them into the road a bit to make them more believable.

Also the wiring on this board was completed and an error on a previous board corrected. All wiring is now done, apart from the links between the traversers and the hidden sidings proper. This shouldn't be too taxing though.

Today I also had the misfortune to require dental surgery, so I took the dental pick to the track on this last board and picked off any stray ballast that had got into the points and the inside of the rails. I will take each of the point motors out for a final clean, again this should be a quick job.

So it's coming together...must get going with locomotives and painting stock!

Colin

Last board taken upstairs

Yesterday the last of the boards was taken upstairs for the next stage of treatment. The station board is now at a stage where it is really only details that have to be added, and I really need to finish the second tank before anything more can be done...so that is back in the garage.

The last board (yard) has already been spot reballasted, the grass upgraded, the point indicator installed and...finally after a false start...the points decoder installed.

Tonight I hope to finish soldering the wiring up (some minor bits are required such as the 16v AC feed to the points decoder and the feed to the point indicator LED) and then I need to start work de-gumming the point blades. fun fun fun!

Colin

Further progress on the station board

A quick update in bullet points:

- Much of the fencing has now been test erected after the necessary holes were drilled.

- The first water tank has had roof-top details added.

- Many signs have been produced on the PC and printed out - more on this in another post soon.

- The two platform flower planters have had flowers added.

- A model JCB has been acquired.

- Ballast has been finally weathered and rail heads cleaned.

- The Fridd Isaf farm sign has been completed ready for erection on the level crossing board.

- The wendy house has had its final (5th) coat of brown and now just needs its windows painting.

Colin

on a roll!

A recent trip to Oswaldtwistle Mills was rather productive indeed. In a corner of one of the old mill buildings were a load of fabric rolls. There were plenty of different types of fabric and colours...including a lovely navy blue. ummm I thought, this could be good for the layout's curtain to hide all the unmentionables that need to be stored under the layout during exhibitions. A quick bit of maths and I'd worked out I needed about 30 feet of the stuff. Good news, the roll I was looking at was 32 feet long by 5 feet high (enough for a hem and then some). Then I saw the price - £9.50!!!!

Readers will not be surprised to hear that said roll was duly loaded into the car and brought back to the Midlands!

Mum has been recruited to do the necessary sewing, I just need to get hold of 20 feet of sew-on velcro now!

Identical but not the same

Part of the long term grand plan is a 16mm narrow gauge garden railway. Dad has bought the Slater's Prince kit and we have a few waggons already. This last week I have found time to construct a pair of NWNGR single plank bolster waggons. These were used for wood extraction by the PBSSR and I hope to find a suitable piece of branch to balance on them. What's interesting is that one was ordered from cooper craft direct and the other bought on ebay (still sealed in the original bag). The right hand one is clearly a different colour, came with ballast weights and axle washers and was altogether much more poorly cast. weird.

On Rhyd Ddu, things progress well. More smaller conifers have been added, the two water tower frames have been sprayed black and installed, much more weathering of the ballast has been done (even though the flash in the below shots doesn't show that up!) and both sets of rail upstands for the nameboards have been installed. A tree has been replaced on the grassy side and the next job is fencing...

Colin

More trees and other bits

A quick update:

- A water bowser for the station approach section has been created and has had its first coat of yellow paint.

- The two structures for the water tanks have had small base plates added to the bottoms of the supports and have been sprayed satin black.

- 3 new trees from' skale (sic) scenics' (i.e. hornby) have been acquired today and will be added asap. The 2 canyon creek trees arrived (from Oregon) recently too and have already been added.

- Further (last time?) ballasting has been done after the hoover (dyson) removed a bit more than I expected.

- The first two uprights for the platform nameboards have been set in place

- The first planter has had its busch flowers glued in place

- Final weathering of ballast will be completed now I have some more woodland scenics stone grey. This has already been started with sleeper grime and slate grey.

Colin

Another Welsh foray

Back from Wales... we visited the FR - including a trip behind Blanche in the first class saloon 102:

The WHR, including a trip from Rhyd Ddu to Hafod y Llyn via the Aberglaslyn (wonderful!) and some time at Bryn y Felin paddling and watching trains.

and the Talyllyn from Dolgoch Falls to Nant Gwernol.

Happy days