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Worsley Dale Garden Railway


mick
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4 hours ago, roddy said:

Have a look at Chris's backscenes in Amblethorpe Mick. That sky is really all that you need and to be honest is what I thought you had started above the tunnel. If you wish, you could suggest some hills, or a village. Note that I say suggest, rather than depict. That couple of simple washes would give the impression of being "somewhere", and I suspect that is all you need for now.

Yes just a simple backscene is all I'm looking for Roddy but I would like to show that there's a reason for a tunnel at each end of the station. The trouble is my tunnels are just about on the backscene which gives me very little space for building up scenery behind so it'll be an inch or two and then the rest will be simple washes as you suggest.

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2 hours ago, ThomasI said:

....I can understand your motivation problem very well, as soon as the weather is nice enough to build on outside I can also find it difficult to build on the layout part in the house

I'm much happier working on the outdoor section Thomas as I don't have to worry about scenery outdoors because it takes care of itself. That's the attraction of running a garden layout.

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17 hours ago, mick said:

I'm finding it difficult to get motivated or make much progress with the indoor scenery. It's certainly the part I like least of all but something that might become easier once I've figured out what needs doing. As I've said before, maybe if I'd sat down and planned things from the start then there wouldn't be a problem but I've built platforms and laid tracks without any thought for the surroundings.

 

I can relate to this. 

Personally I think it is impossible to plan a project as large as a garden railway. At the start we can sketch out a general intention, but over the years things change and need to be adapted as we go along. If we planned everything in detail from the start we'd never get anything done.

When I'm stuck and can't make progress I've learnt to ask myself a simple question.

"What is the one thing that you haven't made a decision about?"

When I stop to answer that question it alway clarifies what my problem is. I then have a choice as to whether I make that decision and get on with work, or ignore it and keep procrastinating. Either way, I have to face up to the real issue.

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10 hours ago, mick said:

Yes just a simple backscene is all I'm looking for Roddy but I would like to show that there's a reason for a tunnel at each end of the station. The trouble is my tunnels are just about on the backscene which gives me very little space for building up scenery behind so it'll be an inch or two and then the rest will be simple washes as you suggest.

Stick some low relief trees around your tunnel mouth. Trees are best for hiding what the landscape is, or should be doing. When I look out my window I can't see the road on an embankment climbing to bridge over the railway, I just see trees and sky.

IMG_6105.jpeg

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Hi Mick, great gob on the tunnel portal , yeah I agree what Chris has said, love that pic, you could do the same blue sky with some clouds and those trees with bridge.

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Stick some low relief trees around your tunnel mouth. Trees are best for hiding what the landscape is, or should be doing. When I look out my window I can't see the road on an embankment climbing to bridge over the railway, I just see trees and sky.

Tony from down under

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Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and ideas which I will take on board.

I've always had a vision of Sheiling Bridge station being isolated against a mountainous backdrop but recreating that vision in a limited space has caused me no end of headaches. Today I have decided to bite the bullet and attempt to place the station at the foot of a mountain with part of the mountain jutting out and created from a base of polystyrene off-cuts and packing pieces. These pieces have been randomly stuck together and will be further shaped once the adhesive has had time to dry. Granted, it doesn't look much right now and I have to admit to having no previous experience of modelling this, or any other type of scenery but I think it might just work. It disguises the right angled corner and fills in the void behind the station buildings which would otherwise be difficult to reach.

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Now I know that the above photo doesn't look all that attractive and it might be difficult to imagine what I'm imagining in my head at this time but perhaps the following photo with the station buildings replaced will show things more clearly. With the camera at a lower angle this is the scene I hope to create with the station isolated against the backdrop. The mountain scene will, I hope, be continued around on the backscene - all depends how good I can paint!

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That leaves me with another decision to make and it's another one that has given me some grief - access to the station. Do I need to create a road entrance on the far side of the tracks or can I suggest that the entrance to the station is on the near side and that passengers need to cross using the footbridge? Perhaps I'm looking too deeply into it? Do I need to show a road access at all? Can I get away without?

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I was keen to make more progress today and the best motivation is usually when you see something coming together so I decided to get rid of the polystyrene look by covering the 'mountain' in blue paper towels soaked in diluted PVA glue. Before I did that I carved back the polystyrene so there was less upper overhang and more of a gentle downward slope. I'm still not entirely happy with some of the larger crevices but I'll take a look at that again later - it's an easy enough task to fill any that I don't feel look right while the mountain is in it's bare state.

Here's a couple of low down shots looking towards the station buildings from left and right with my newly created mountain as the backdrop. This is the view I want to be able to focus on.

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There's still the small matter of painting and finishing the mountain and I'm going to have to search for some ideas on how to do that. I also want to repaint the station buildings when I can get round to it - nothing too drastic but just to move away from the factory look.

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Study photographs of the steep hills in the Lake District and other similar places. Is it possible to continue your mountain around to the tunnel mouth? I am colour blind and would make a hell of a mess trying to do your backscene, but remember that the further away you go, the lighter the colours appear, so by creating layers of wash indicating mountains or trees, they need to be darker to the foreground. This should start to give you some sort of perspective.

Does this help in any way? I drove over Hardknott Pass in the Lake District a few years ago. Some of the facing hills are in shadow, just for your information.

 

Edited by roddy
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Thanks for that Roddy. Much like many of the photos I've been looking at in my 'West Highland' books, there's very little green colour in the landscape. It's mostly browns and creams, especially the more elevated parts, with any greener colour towards the lower ground.

Regarding continuing my 'mountain' round to the tunnel mouth there isn't sufficient space for adding much polystyrene packing but I can continue the tissue around the backscene board which is what I've been thinking of doing. It will add texture and should help bring the two sections together. (In fact I had considered sourcing some green tissue to use instead of the blue that I have available because apart from adding texture, overlapping layers also adds deeper shades. Green for the landscape and a lighter blue for the sky would almost negate the need for any painting of the backscene!)

To the left of my 'mountain' I will continue pasting tissue paper directly to the backscene in an effort to extend in that direction. If I think about it carefully, I should be able to depict distant hills by layering the paper where necessary. We'll have to see how it goes.

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Well as per my previous post, I've begun extending my tissue paper 'mountain' both to the left and to the right. I managed to add a small amount of polystyrene packing pieces into the corner to create a more gentle curve towards the tunnel and then it continues as tissue paper only from that point. When I'm standing in my kitchen looking down towards the shed the effect is really good but doesn't quite come across in a photo so you'll have to make do with a shot taken from just inside the shed door.

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And just to show what a difference extending the 'mountain' makes, here's another couple of photos taken from in front of the station buildings looking right towards the tunnel and then left.

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There's still plenty of work to do, crevices to fill, more tissue to add, but at least we are getting somewhere now and at least the tunnel is beginning to look like it needs to be there. Trouble is there's currently no direct road access to the station from across the way but I can live with that for now - I never did feel like making a road anyway because rarely can you make them look realistic. Over the footbridge it will be when I pop it back in place.

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On 01/05/2019 at 20:20, roddy said:

What you need to really add an impression of distance, is some very small mountain climbers somewhere on the mountain. The smaller they are, the greater the distance will appear.

I could probably do with a 'mini-me' stuck up there Roddy as when I look at what's left to do on the layout I regularly feel like I've got a mountain to climb!

Well unfortunately I've had little time to do anything further since my last update other than to add a bit more padding to my 'mountain'. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with it even now but it's getting there and approaching the point where I'm going to have to add some paint and texture. The accompanying photo below may look very similar to previous ones but there's been work to the very top of the mountain and to the area above the tunnel portal.

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Had the weather been a bit pleasanter over the past couple of days then I'm sure there would have been further progress but all I wanted to do was stay indoors where it was warm and dry. There's also the fact that my knees are playing up and I've been finding it very difficult to get down onto the floor in order to work and excruciatingly painful to get back up again.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

While there's been no further visible progress on the layout I have managed to obtain photographic evidence enabling me to justify operating a Scottish themed model railway on a layout with a name suggesting a more Yorkshire location.

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A 'Scotrail' liveried class 158, minus the Scotrail branding, shortly after leaving Hellifield station. I've noticed this several times over recent weeks but never managed to grab a photo until this one. In fact I was lucky to get this because having noticed the unit working an earlier Carlisle to Leeds working, we worked out when it would possibly return towards Carlisle. Waiting at this bridge, along came the train but unfortunately it was a Northern Rail liveried 2-car unit and I lowered my camera only to discover that the Scotrail one was coupled on the rear! Quickly raising my camera I just managed to get this view of the rear car as it passed by.

Anyway, that's my excuse for Scottish stock appearing on Worsley Dale.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Returning to the layout after yet another break it was time first of all to repair damage to the viaduct parapet walls again. I'm not sure if it's birds or cats but despite all my efforts something is intent on using it as a stepping stone to the rest of the garden. It was then time to trim back overgrown vegetation before hoovering off the debris and then to clean off all the bird droppings which are mostly confined to the run along the large viaduct. At least the varnish secured ballast does it's job and allows me to scrub away the droppings with water and an old toothbrush without causing any damage.

So we're all set for some running action - or perhaps not quite. Trusty 26024 circles the layout pushing the track cleaner without problems and so I decide to add some freight wagons for a change - the only problem being the incompatible couplings. I have Kadee's on the loco but not on the wagons so that's a simple change, at least to couple the rake to the loco. But then the tension locks on Bachmann wagons are at different heights and some are the larger types so not ideal for trouble free running - and so it turns out. Problem after problem. I decide to replace the VGA wagons with Kadee's but can't seem to get them to work properly with the TTA tank wagons. After a couple of hours I gave up but did at least manage some short runs. I need to sort out the problems with the couplings and get them all at the same level.

Anyway less of my problems and on to three photos of 26024 doing its thing.

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Hauling a lengthy rake of mixed freight wagons, 26024 has just crossed Stack Gill viaduct. There are TTA tanks, a grain wagon, an OBA open and some VGA vans in tow.

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With the same mixed rake, 26024 crosses Low Shott viaduct on its approach to Shieling Bridge.

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26024 was the only loco in operation yesterday and is seen again here only this time hauling a rake of six VGA vans.

A garden layout, especially in OO gauge, demands a lot of work to maintain it in good condition and much like the real thing the best way to keep it running well is to use suitable construction materials. The wooden sections of Worsley Dale are in need of replacement both beneath the tracks on the ground level sections as well as that bordering the lineside which has simply rotted away in parts. It's all part of the attraction and the challenge.

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A garden layout, especially in OO gauge, demands a lot of work to maintain it in good condition and much like the real thing the best way to keep it running well is to use suitable construction materials. The wooden sections of Worsley Dale are in need of replacement both beneath the tracks on the ground level sections as well as that bordering the lineside which has simply rotted away in parts. It's all part of the attraction and the challenge.

Hi Mick, totally agree what you are saying about  maintenance on 00 scale garden railway, dust is our biggest issue even with my layout being modular and stored in a shed dust builds up in the tracks and cause issues with points, I couldn't believe it when I pulled up track to shift the amount of dust on  the ply. I will have to get the vac out and vac all the track on especially the station modules, that dust gets into the loco motors., probably why points don't work  on any layout after a while.

I am back into working on my layout and found   I have to sort out the bus wiring connecting the  modules, if I powered up the layout with the control panel would not work, good to find out now.

We are back to having a mild winter.

Tony from down under.

 

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Yes, these little models have an awful lot to contend with Tony and it's amazing just how well they cope with it all. I'm looking forward to the day when I've got everything with the layout sorted out and can keep the stock close to hand so that I can get into a routine of regularly cleaning them to aid better running. That little class 26 has run miles and the poor thing hasn't had a decent clean for ages. When you consider some of the muck and debris it must have run through the wheels and pickups must be in a really sorry state by now. I really can't fault how reliable it has been.

As you are no doubt aware, we're in our summer period which means we can expect absolutely anything weather wise. Just had a few days of warm sunshine which has dried things up and allowed me to sort a few things out but it's back to rain again this morning. I'm perfectly happy with temperatures in the high teens to low twenties so long as it's dry and not too breezy. High temperatures are not my thing.

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Hello Mick, hello Tony.

So the biggest problem for me is the heating of materials by direct sunlight.

I still have no problems with dust.

Wet and cold are always a challenge, of course, but one that I can master in the meantime.

Therefore, my great effort to bring more shadow in the garden.

 

Regards 

Thomas 

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Another of my 'Scottish' loco's that I don't think has been seen on Worsley Dale before is 68006 'DARING', a Dapol model with factory fitted sound - though not by any means the best I've ever heard. In its striking livery and at a discounted price it was hard to resist and so I'm waiting now for some similarly liveried coaches for it to haul which will be a better match than todays offering! And next time I'll have the lighting switched on too.

Here's 68006 running light engine along Buttlebank towards Moor Dyke Junction.

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And later in the day 68006 is seen again crossing Low Shott viaduct after departing Shieling Bridge.

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And something probably not seen too often, 68006 passing Stackgarth Gill with three 'ESSO' branded TTA wagons in tow. I just wanted to see it hauling something!

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