Update Part 1

After many weeks of failing to post any updates, I felt that it was high time to rectify the situation with a two-part tour of those areas of the layout that have been worked on during the past few weeks.

I will begin with the southern end of Gunnmere and, from the photograph above, you can see that we have turned the pillar just beyond the platform into a grass and greenery covered rock face. This is to try and make it look a part of the cutting beyond and it is certainly better than the blue wall that was there before!

Moving around the layout, in a clockwise direction from Gunnmere, we come to the embankment of the branch line, which has also changed quite considerably. It now looks much more realistic when compared to the bright green colour that it used to be. In time this will have trees and bushes added to partially conceal the branch line rising behind it. We have also taken out the short siding that ran alongside the farmhouse and turned it into a dirt track for vehicular access.

In the next photograph we catch a glimpse of Manxton, a new intermediate station situated on the section of four track main line. Standing beside the platform is Bachmann's Scenecraft Shillingstone Signal Box (44-165) which we have had slightly weathered by Alex of Mikron Models.

Finally, in this first part of my update, we see Manxton Station in its entirety with Bachmann's Scenecraft Shillingstone Platform Shelter (44-171) on the far platform and this has, again, been weathered by Alex. 

On the near platform is a kit building that, I believe, is by Ratio. We picked this up at a recent Toy and Train Fair and, again, it has been weathered so that it looks in-keeping with the Bachmann buildings. The bridge that joins the two platforms is also Ratio kit that was built, extended and weathered by Alex to span the four tracks and it looks fantastic. 

Indeed, so good is it that I will feature a close-up of this work of art in a future posting.

Gunnmere Gets More Lights

Having installed lights on the platforms at Gunnmere we thought that we should also install some in the sidings and goods yard.

So, this weekend we added three between the two tracks leading to the engine shed and one in the small goods yard.

This has certainly made Gunnmere look quite spectacular when all of the lights are lit, as indicated in the busy scene above.

Here we see Class 50 'D400' at Platform 3 with a northbound express. It had travelled 'wrong line' from Coneyvale Halt due to Sunday engineering works on the down line.

Standing in the sidings is Class 23 'D5909' with a short rake of oil tankers and Class 20 'D8158' with a rake of coal wagons both ready to depart once the express has cleared.

Light The Good Light

Having made some major improvements to Gunnmere during the past few weeks, we thought that it was high time that the station was fitted with some platform lights.

So, this weekend saw us fit five double lamps to each platform such that, now, two of our three major stations have been enlightened!

We still have to instal some coloured light signals at each end of the platforms, as well as lights inside some of the station buildings. We also plan to put some yard lights between the tracks leading to the engine shed as well as one in the small goods siding. 

So, when all of those are fitted Gunnmere will be, well and truly, lit-up!

Once More To Davemoor

Following a bit of a summer break, during which time we had a lovely holiday down in sunny (in fact, very sunny) Cornwall, I guess it is about time for an update on our latest progress.

From the photos above you will see that Davemoor is now, more or less, up and running with trains able to arrive and depart.

The aerial view in the first photo shows the station layout with a two-car, Class 108 standing at Platform 1, having just arrived with a train from Anchwood, via Gunnmere. 

At Platform 3 is a Class 24 with a local train, waiting to depart for Gunnmere while, at Platform 4 is a Clayton at the head of a rake of coal wagons.

To the extreme left of this photo can be seen a Class 03 shunter fussing about with some wagons in the factory sidings - the factory and its sidings can be better seen in the fourth photo. The wagons seen here are actually cattle wagons but only because the ones that are going to be used here are away being weathered.

You will see that the Mk 1 coaches behind the Class 24 have all been weathered as, indeed, have most of our coaches now. The coal trucks have also been heavily weathered and filled with real coal which has then been secured by diluted PVA glue. These now look very realistic and are a superb complement to the grey (and similarly weathered) Class 17.

Clearly there is still much landscaping work to be done here but at least trains can start running again.

Finally, in the bottom photo, you can see that we have done some more landscaping at Gunnmere, between the road bridge and the station. This will eventually give the appearance of an extension to the embankment on the other side of the bridge and will certainly look better than a flat, blue wall.

Coming To The End

In my previous posting, I mentioned that the construction of Davemoor (the northern terminus of the line) was almost complete.

Well, as if to prove the point, here it is!

All of the platforms are pretty much finished - they just need the buildings to be stuck in place and the addition of people, signs, lights etc. No mean task in itself, of course!

However, all of the track is now in place - and all of it is wired to the bus. It has all been ballasted as well so it just needs a good clean and a test before trains can arrive and depart from the station's various platforms.

You will see that we have managed to acquire all of the Bachmann Art Deco platform buildings and have complemented these with the Hornby Signal Box of similar design - just seen in the distance of the bottom photograph. More of this in a future posting.

The little factory unit now has two sidings, with one of them having the rails set into tarmac so that this platform face can be shared between rail and road vehicles.

There is still much work to be done here but at least, as I say, we are almost in a position to be able to run trains again.

And it's been a very long time since we were able to do that!

Gunnmere Almost Gonemere!

Having been working for the past few weeks on (and almost finishing) the construction of the newer and much enlarged Davemoor, we decided that Gunnmere, our main intermediate station, also needed some improvement work.

To begin with we decided to use some of the Ratio Retaining Walls along the back wall, having first had them suitably weathered by Alex at Mikron Models. These have now been stuck to the back wall and we are in the process of fixing the abutments across each join.

We then decided to resurface the platforms with thin cork - as used so successfully at Davemoor. So we ripped off all of the Metcalfe sheets that were originally stuck onto the Hornby platform sections and replaced them with the cork. This was glued in place using UHU Wood Glue, which has proved to be an excellent adhesive for sticking cork.

Once all of the cork was down, we sealed it with a coating of PVA glue and, once this was dry, we then gave it two coats of Humbrol RC412 paint.

This dries very quickly and allowed me to add two strips of platform edging before we had to call it a day.

We have also added ground cover and detailing to the little good yards, seen more clearly in the bottom photograph, and although this does still need some work doing on it, is looking much better than it was a couple of weeks ago!

Davemoor Is Once More!

After a hiatus of about two months, during which time we had the Easter holiday, I thought I had better post an update on our progress to date.

As you can see Davemoor is coming along nicely now, after a few false starts which, at times, made us think that the darned station would never be completed!

Well, as of last weekend, the platforms are pretty much finished now and we have started ballasting the track between the platforms.

The station was constructed using wooden supports with hardboard surfaces which then had thin cork laid on top. 

This was then 'painted' in PVA glue, to seal and strengthen it. It was then painted with Phoenix Precision grey paint (P979) before we edged all platforms with our own version of the Metcalfe Platform edging. These were printed on an inkjet printer before gluing them in place with PVA. When this was all done, we painted all platforms, again, with PVA. 

This gave the station surfaces a slightly shinier appearance than was achieved by the paint alone and also helped to seal it and toughen it.

We are still going to have the small industrial unit, seen in the bottom left hand corner of the top photo. This will be fenced off from the rest of the station and has its own loading bay. 

We also decided to use the Bachmann Art Deco station buildings and have already added the main station building as well as the Centre Building on the middle platform. Now we just hope that we can acquire the rest of the buildings to complete it!

Because of space constraints, we decided not to use Bachmann's Art Deco Signal Box and chose use Hornby's version instead. This will, eventually, have interiors fitted since, at the moment, it looks rather empty!

The new Lake End station is also coming along - see Photo 3. The platform was made from pieces of used Skaledale platform sections which we covered in thin cork and painted in the Phoenix Precision paints P979, followed by a coating of the PVA glue.

The small engine shed used here is by Scenix. This has been weathered and has had doors added at both ends, courtesy of Alex at Mikron Models who did an amazing job!

We are not sure if the buildings and canopies, currently seen on this station, will remain here but they give an impression at least.

Finally, in the bottom picture, I took a photograph of our Class 17 hauling a rake of coal wagons beneath the girder bridge, just as the Class 121 'Bubble Car' passes overhead. Clearly there is still a lot more scenery work to be done here - and elsewhere! 

However, once the trackwork at Davemoor is ballasted and cleaned ready for use, we will get back to doing this work!