Platform for Success

This weekend we concentrated on platform construction - firstly with the station at Anchwood (see top picture) and, then, the various platforms at Davemoor.

All platform surfaces have been constructed out of hardboard, sitting on wooden supports to achieve the correct height.

The surface of Anchwood was then covered in the Metcalfe tarmacadam sheets but we were not happy with this so have painted it over in grey acryllic paint. 

With Davemoor, since there will be quite a few joins in the various sections of hardboard, we plan to cover all of the surfaces in Smooth It before painting them.

As there are quite a few curved platforms here, we first had to create templates for all platforms using pieces of card taped together. 

We then attached a pencil to an old coach to get the spacing right.

The pencil needs to be attached to the centre of the coach for inner curves and at the front corner of the coach for outer curves. I will try and demonstrate this, with pictures, in a future posting to make it a little clearer.

You will note that there is to be a small industrial unit incorporated into Davemoor, with its own siding and bay platform. At the moment the thinking is that this will be a paper factory but, of course, this is subject to change.

Heljan's Awesome Foursome

We took a trip to Howes Models of Kiddlington near Oxford the other day and came away with one of Heljan's DP2 prototype diesels.

We have been wanting to acquire one of these lovely models for some time now because it means that we have all four for Heljan's prototype main line diesels in our fleet - and all can be seen lined up in the photograph above.

Currently only two of these locomotives are fully operational, namely Lion and Falcon. These have both had Howes sound decoders fitted and have been lightly weathered by Alex of Mikron Models in Taunton.

Kestrel and DP2 have yet to be fitted with decoders and, once they are, they too will be lightly weathered and ready to start hauling trains on the remodelled Lakeland Railway.

Seeing them all together here makes me wonder if any of the full size prototypes ever met during their all too brief lives.

Outlines of Power - Nº 2: The Metrovick Co-Bo's

Here we have the second of the 'Outlines of Power' articles by Mike Turner that the magazine 'Rail Enthusiast' ran during the early 1980s. 

This one featured the Metrovick Co-Bo's or Class 28s as they were classified under the TOPS system. The accompanying annotation reads as follows:

Mike Turner has painted Metropolitan-Vickers Co-Bo diesel-electrics D5709/10 with the "Condor" fast fitted freight headboard that was often carried by the type in their early days.

The Metrovicks were introduced in 1958 and their Crossley V8 two-stroke engines produced 1,200 bhp at 625 rpm continuous rating. The Co-Bo axle design allowed the use of five Metropolitan-Vickers 180 hp axle-hung, nose-suspended, traction motors to be used and this, together with 3 ft 3½ inch driving wheels and an all-up weight of 97 tons, resulted in an impressive tractive effort of 50,000 lbs - exactly the same as a "Deltic".

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.

Snow Go!

Due to the adverse weather conditions this weekend no work was done of the layout. However, before the snow came, we had made some progresss on creating the embankment for the branch line as well as laying the platform surface of the newly located Lake End station.

You will see that this station has also acquired a small, single road, engine shed for storing the tank engine that will work the line. This shed was by Scenix (Catalogue EM6102) rather than by Hornby or Bachmann, and is ideal for what we wanted.

Hopefully the weather will have improved by next weekend and this will allow us to continue with the embankment. 

The next job will be to give it a coat of earth wash because, at the moment, it looks as if it has been affected by the recent snowfall!

Once the structure of the embankment is in place we will turn our attention to construction the platforms at both Davemoor and Anchwood. 

Anchwood marks the interchange between BR and the steam railway and will just be a single, curved platform while Davemoor is going to be quite extensive with lengthy and complex platform faces.

Hmm, should be fun!