Jump to content

Worsley Dale Garden Railway


mick
 Share

Recommended Posts

The backscene is fine as it is Mick. You know the problem when you are weathering wagons. Stop at the right time or overdo it.  Time to stop now. I can see the problem that you mentioned with the footbridge. How difficult would it be to cut out and turn the steps at one end?  A job for a wet day I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, roddy said:

The backscene is fine as it is Mick. You know the problem when you are weathering wagons. Stop at the right time or overdo it....

Yes I understand what you're saying Roddy and it's good advice but I think it would be of benefit to both the through station and the terminus if I continued the backscene along the end of the shed for that 30 inches or so. I've got a spare piece of board so it only needs pinning up and painting. It then allows me to take photos from the far platform without the shed panelling encroaching.

1 hour ago, roddy said:

...I can see the problem that you mentioned with the footbridge. How difficult would it be to cut out and turn the steps at one end?...

Nigh on impossible I would think looking at it. I can either put up with it, which isn't a big deal, or dispose and buy one that's more suitable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#1320 - Awesome photos Mick - youve done a superb job with all that scenery.

Can I make a suggestion? It concerns the rearmost siding, by the station approach.

IIRC, when I went to the West Highland line in the late 1980's, a number of stations had a siding like that, up against a loading bank. Quite often, there would be a yellow BR staff van parked up and an engineers wagon or 2, in the siding. Some were in service - others were firmly rooted, rusting away, with all sorts of growth coming from them. A Wickham trolley might be seen too. This would look brilliant.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, ba14eagle said:

..Can I make a suggestion? It concerns the rearmost siding, by the station approach...

That area behind the station would be ideal as a basis for recreating such scenes. That's the fun part of a layout, when all the hard works is complete and you have time to experiment and enjoy what you've created. I like taking photos around the layout so I'll see what I can do. Should be fun.

There's not a lot of blank space left to cover now so I've begun creating more rocks along the very edge of the baseboards. They'll be finished as before and then I'll be able to complete the remaining ballasting right to the edge.

20190718_220713.thumb.jpg.bbedac83b6b50add08639a4fc1cba4d8.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been looking at that artificial hedging screen Roddy. There's a garden down the road from me that has it and while it's a bit thin for a proper hedge it would be ideal for my fence!

It's a bit damp out there today but I've given the new rockery a coat of paint. Will be finished off once it dries.

20190719_130601.thumb.jpg.1fbafd4477b08e2931c9a57515e8e8f6.jpg

20190719_130612.thumb.jpg.110f376d5a98a0d62975639501a93f80.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is so very different from a couple of weeks ago Mick. I was teasing about the fence you know. If anything, I might add some of the brushwood screen or whatever its called, but that is neither here nor there as that behid the shed area is hardly part of your intended "picture".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ThomasI said:

Mick, now are you the one who makes great progress and shows great skills in landscaping. 

That looks awesome...

Thank you for your comments Thomas. That's how it is with me - nothing for months on end and then I can't sleep for thinking about what to do next. Give it a couple of weeks and I'll probably have disappeared again.

Right, the landscaping is progressing but it would be easier if the rain would stop so that I could put some things outside to make more room inside the shed. 

The sidings have now had their dressing of hanging basket liner and I've started teasing it out and trimming off the excess but as usual with me, I'm a bit too impatient and it would be better if I allowed the glue to fully dry before starting. I've done a bit but will leave the rest.

20190719_172316.thumb.jpg.a39ff3169810d79706b2d395332f3790.jpg

Buffer stops always look nice set amongst overgrown vegetation. Does that buffer stop need dirtying?

20190719_172340.thumb.jpg.e9bad8b7fda740ef207d63bcc5d76f3b.jpg

By the way, I've now got some more platform fencing so I'll be extending this soon but there's other things to fit before I can do that.

And while waiting for the glue to dry on the grass liner I thought it was time to start making the shed yard a bit dirtier and what better loco to pose there than my scruffy old 37403 'Isle of Mull'. Near side ballast will be weathered once I've sorted the grass.

20190719_170659.thumb.jpg.ef7174f1f0fc4a3ebf0a368d47d6a665.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, ThomasI said:

As you can see, the rain is also a problem here... 

I'm sorry to hear that Thomas especially as you're working outdoors and I'm within. So I shouldn't complain too much.

I've finished for today. Hope I haven't gone too far with the grassed over sidings but I do remember them as overgrown as that - sometimes more so, but generally much dirtier. I've rolled the wagons back up to the buffers and for once it feels like they belong here. There's a few more wagons on the other side of the shed so it won't be long before they're making their way across to allow me to start work on the terminus boards.

20190719_205212.thumb.jpg.584bf6accca5f0c95bc227385d693c5f.jpg

Funnily enough the road where the TTA tank wagons are standing is my only designated wagon siding at Shieling Bridge The road next to it is actually the arrival road for the loco depot so I can't block it with too many wagons. I suppose I could use the road next to the bay platform for wagons when required but I intended that being for standing DMU's. There's only one thing for it Roddy......we need a bigger shed!!

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A change of scenery today as I move across to the other side of the shed.

There isn't quite so much work needed at this side so I've started off by fitting the tunnel portal in place using blocks of polystyrene to create the surround and roof. The tunnel portal itself had taken on a pronounced bow after being painted so I glued it directly to the polystyrene.  The loco box is just holding things down while the glue takes hold.

20190720_112320.thumb.jpg.f3ba85b48d705e1ba559aaa902397295.jpg

More polystyrene bits and pieces were glued in place before several layers of paper tissue were worked into the cracks and crevices just as I did on the larger mountain across the other side. This is as far as I've got today as I'm now waiting for the tissue paper to dry before I can paint it.

20190720_171616.thumb.jpg.ebaf004f6cb944ec4044db960c9cb516.jpg

Back on the other side all that rain yesterday has resulted in the emergence of some trees and bushes. Again my painting leaves a lot to be desired but one or two of them look quite effective. I'm still not happy with the backscene and can see me having another go at it before too long. The trouble is there's always a different perspective depending on where you sit or stand - sometimes it doesn't look too bad while other times I'm almost grabbing the brush again. I'll see how I get on across the other side before deciding what to do.

20190720_174218.thumb.jpg.a6266ef9b2ca3bb6b9f651053b32e418.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By this morning the majority of the paper I'd pasted across the polystyrene had dried, though it was still damp around the base. I decided to go ahead and paint what I could with the brown emulsion.

20190721_143042.thumb.jpg.cbe11b325e0345bfe7a4dd09b68d8aa9.jpg

I almost forgot to take a photo of the first stage with just the brown paint and only realised just as I had started adding the lighter highlights as above.

The next photo shows it with the whole area highlighted in the creamy/white mix

20190721_151457.thumb.jpg.c34fa2c6160106b3e104473115ca7f87.jpg

And then it was time to begin adding the grassy bits.

20190721_152948.thumb.jpg.b137a5a10f4767dadc51f5949574f483.jpg

Rather than adding distant scenery behind this tunnel entrance I'm going to try give the impression that this mountain extends right to the top of the backscene by gluing more grassy bits higher up to the flat backscene itself and adding some shading below using paint. I do like a challenge!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ba14eagle said:

I think your painted background looks fantastic.

Thanks for that Iain. I'm not sure 'fantastic' is an accurate description but if I'd been offered it a few weeks ago I would have taken it. The thing is I jumped straight in without seeing how it could and should have been done. I'm not saying I could have done it much, or any, better but I just feel I could have done it differently.

Thankfully it looks better in photos than it perhaps does in real life. This isn't a posed photo it's just where stock had been placed while I work on the layout.

20190721_203030.thumb.jpg.fba6493fe1b9e173139c7ff733412431.jpg

What have I been working on this afternoon? Well I've been finishing off some work I started a while ago. If you remember I had to move the track nearest the outside wall of the shed, the one where the class 26 is standing in the above photo. I never fitted the point motor nor wired the tracks to the power bus. I've been putting it off because the point motor is right at the back of the baseboard and there's less than 18 inches beneath it for me to gain access. Thankfully I've managed it almost through 'feel' alone so it's such a relief to finally get it done. I didn't do the bus feeds today because I spent some time tidying the wiring by shortening where necessary and fastening up as required. Much better now but more in need of doing.

This is the point in question, still requiring the operating wire trimming down. The section of rock outcrop to the left alongside the point has also only been completed over the past day but that means it's now all done.

20190721_202952.thumb.jpg.2aa114e2c9340740e605f851acaabdcd.jpg

With all that out of the way I can move forward to the platform fencing but there's something else to fit before I can install the fence.

I though some lights might look okay?

20190721_203552.thumb.jpg.3c773ea4fbeeb055e44d7d5f7bb9e2d7.jpg

I toyed with the idea of adding fancy gas or oil lamps but in the end settled for the modern type. I think they work out at less than £4 per light so they're good value for money. The height is adjustable but I had to leave it like that in order to stand it upright for the photo. I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy wiring them all up but maybe it'll be worth it when they're done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of today's work has been beneath the baseboards sorting out and tidying up the wiring so there's not a lot to photograph. As construction of the indoor section progressed I seemed to keep soldering more and more wires to the power bus, with the dropper wires swinging across from back to front and in most cases being far too long for what was needed. A lot of wires hung loosely down and were prone to being caught whenever I put anything under the boards for storage. In addition, the change over to 'auto frog' modules meant I could remove many of the power feeds to the accessory switches on the point motors. I've now taken single feeds from the power bus to choc block connectors into which all the droppers now connect making any future changes much easier. So although it's taken a big part of the day it's something I am pleased to have got done.

The only other thing I've managed today is to drill holes to accept the platform lights. This was something I wasn't looking forward to as it meant drilling through the plaster platforms and in some cases with the drill chuck right up against the platform fencing. I managed to measure it all out to avoid lights being positioned on top of anything underneath the boards but there was just one place where I had a double thickness of baseboard to get through and small drills aren't very long! In the end I had to use an oversize drill and will need to make good the over large hole when I get round to fixing them permanently in place. Hopefully this photo will give you an idea of what they look like.

20190722_181516.thumb.jpg.4d73bab452d5938d1f9316238bc96fcf.jpg

The light in the very foreground was the troublesome one but it's not a problem. The lights will all stand upright but are just loosely fitted at the moment so that's why some appear to be leaning.

I have some double lamps for the opposite platform but they'll have to wait for another time. I need something to eat now.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was almost dark by the time I packed away this evening but it's been a very satisfying day. Not a lot of progress to actually see but a lot to leave me feeling content.

During the day the shed interior lights don't seem to give out all that much light leaving parts of the layout in shadow and making it difficult to take decent photos. But when it's dark outside they really do illuminate the layout.  I thought it would be nice to show a couple of overall photos of Shieling Bridge station as it stands this evening taken from just outside the shed door. Same viewpoint for both only one of them is at a slightly lower angle than the other. I post lots of photos of individual areas as I'm working on them but not many of the entire thing.

20190722_214342.thumb.jpg.4ec3f8855001e71bb555ac7523d8b9f9.jpg

20190722_214334.thumb.jpg.16c83cbe66bd789c212ddbf376eae86d.jpg

It's actually the best time for taking indoor photos.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been much too warm today to be messing around underneath the baseboards with a soldering iron and a hot glue gun but I have managed to do a bit as well as destroy one of my lights!

Things started off well. I wired the first light and tried each of the three solder pads for the highest brightness. I'm wiring up to an old 12v DC controller so thought it best to wire bright and use the controller to dim the lights should I need to.  The trouble is the online instructions differ from the results I had obtained and I wondered if I'd made a mistake so decided to mess around with the second light just to be sure. I must somehow have shorted the LED whilst playing around with the wires and now it doesn't work anymore. Lesson learned so I'm sticking to my original plan - brightest setting or not!

I've completed five lights leaving two more to do on this platform, though I do now need a replacement for the one I've messed up. Not the best of photos but here's a glimpse of how they look starting with the one closest to the tunnel in 'daylight'.

20190723_215512.thumb.jpg.eb80b0364556bee753ddbf250ddd730c.jpg

And with the shed lights turned off we have these grainy images again starting with the one nearest the tunnel.

20190723_215549.thumb.jpg.86231aa55803bb58926a98a263556146.jpg

The light I messed up was to have been located between the two in the photo below, just the other side of the small waiting room.

20190723_215558.thumb.jpg.1a60f5422161783687c42269be90ef5c.jpg

20190723_215608.thumb.jpg.3f4b2455539710de2410ad2e7bd0f8cd.jpg

In the photo below there are two lights immediately after the first one still to be wired up

20190723_215618.thumb.jpg.36272cb033c1ac1bb6d11e071062f8ef.jpg

I don't think they're too bright but there are still more lights to come - three on this platform and perhaps five to add on the opposite.

Lighting up the platforms wasn't one of my plans and I would have been happy with just plain non-working lights. I'm not sure how much use they'll get but they provide another option for taking photos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Mick, wow  in your last post I spotted your control panel do you have working signals on your points and does your blocks light up as well when selected, I wont be worrying about lights on my platforms and station building, only be the bridge as I only by running trains during the day.

I like the way you are making your rocks around the tunnel portal very nice indeed, on this page, I am starting to look into 3/D back ground scenery .

We are having a warm dry week, hope that means rain coming.

Tony from down under.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...