Plaster 'n' Ballast

Last weekend we continued to form the embankments and landscaping that is proving to be quite a feature of this part of the layout.

We began by creating the embankment along a part of the branch between the brick bridge and the new stationat Anchwood. We went as far as we could but, at the point where we stopped (in the top picture), we will need to continue with flat, vertical sides due to the proximity of the main line.

Other landscaping was done at the Davemoor end of the main line (see bottom picture) and, next weekend, all of this newly plastered landscaping will be ready to receive a coat of earth wash.

The rest of the time was spent ballasting .. and there is a lot of ballasting to be done .. as well as adding some stone walling along the branch and greenery around the tunnel mouth and alongside the mainline between the tunnel and girder bridge.

This is about as much landscaping as we are able to do, for the moment, since we do not want to block access to the stations on the branch line until we have installed all of the necessary wires for lighting.

Next job will be to start building the platforms for Davemoor and Anchwood - wish us luck!!

Outlines of Power - Nº 1: The Deltics

This 'Outlines of Power' article was the first in a series of centre-spread features by Mike Turner that the magazine 'Rail Enthusiast' ran during the early 1980s. 

It depicted some of BRs more interesting diesel and electric locomotives and began, naturally enough, with the Deltics.

The annotations in the picture may be too small to read here so I have reproduced them below:

"Deltic" Prototype built 1955 by English Electric. Powered by two Napier "Deltic" 18-cylinder, 1,650 bhp engines, total 3,300 bhp. Weight: 106 tons. Maximum tractive effort: 60,000lb. Notes: Now at the Science Museum, Kensington.
First Production "Deltic" in service, D9001 St Paddy. Power details as above, but weight 103 tons and maximum tractive effort  50,000ib. Built at Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows. Notes: One of the first two "Deltics" to be withdrawn, and now broken up.

The Hills Are a'White

With the embankment for the branch line pretty much complete now, we turned our attention last weekend to other parts of the landscape in this area. 

We had previously made up a backdrop for the main line, to fit between the tunnel and the landform in the corner of the pillar. This backdrop was made up of polystyrene tiles which had dampened, screwed-up, kitchen towels stuck to them whilst they lay flat on a work surface. On top of this we laid strips of land form and, finally, we painted this with a layer of polyfilla.

This was then left to dry for a week before landscaping material was applied and, finally, the whole ensemble was stuck to the wall with some tile adhesive.

This just left us with a small gap to fill, to complete the connection with the hill in the corner, which we did with more screwed up tissue paper and land form.

This can then be painted and landscaped next time.

Next we continued to landscape the area to the right of the girder bridge, leading into Lake End, and left this to dry so that it, too, can be painted and landscaped next time.

The white strip running alongside the main line is going to be a minor road and this has been formed using a mix of polystyrene tiles, stiff card and Smooth It. 

This should also be ready to paint next time so we should see quite a transformation after our next session in the Shed.