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Amblethorpe


chris
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It struck me yesterday that I've finally completed the track work on Amblethorpe. The final tasks were adding point motors and extending the sidings in the shed.

My focus is starting to shift to the structures and scenery. All three of my stations have seen a lot of work recently. This week I've tackled Barnmouth, the through station. The fixed platform has been refurbished and the moveable one extended to allow The North Belle to fit. Platform fencing has been added and pan scrubs have created a wall of conifers as a backscene. Some of my inspiration for this station comes from Haltwhistle. I'm in Northumberland next week, so I'll hop off there and take some photos.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I managed to get tiny fleck of ballast in the spring mechanism of a point. It wouldn't throw. After a couple of days of procrastination I knew I had to lift the point out to fix it. Putting the spring mech back together is a fiddly job. It's back in place and working smoothly.

I've been thinking about adding a cant to one of my curves. The forthcoming ballasting of the chosen curve meant than it was now, or probably never. My plan was to cut a strip of roofing felt and insert it under the outside rail. Having pinned my track at both sleeper ends I could remove the outer pin without having to worry about the track going out of alignment. To ease the transition I took a hammer to the end of my roofing felt strip and made it as thin as I could. I had no problems sliding the felt under the sleeper ends and aligning it with the rail. Once in place I pushed the pins back through the holes in the sleepers. I added extra pins half way between the existing ones, just to make sure.

I ran a coach round to check all was well. It derailed every time. Then I noticed that one of the bogies had rotated through 180º and the tension lock was stuck under it. Reorientated, it ran through smoothly.

With point and cant sorted I cracked on with ballasting.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Having declared that I've finished the track work on Amblethorpe, I have to admit that I spent yesterday laying track.

I have two turn back sidings on my railway which are there for operational reasons and I'd not really thought about what to do with them scenically. A friend was bugging me about creating a fuelling point so I took his idea for one of the turn backs.

I threw down some old track. Added a few extra details to Bachmann model. Popped a 50 year old wagon tank on the second road, and liked it a lot.

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Yesterday I lifted the old track. Painted the roofing felt black and laid new track. It was a bit breezy, but for once the soldering of bonding wires went smoothly.

If it stops raining I may take a picture.

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  • 3 weeks later...

In the last week I've made a lot of progress on my rebuild of Cowlick station.

The original 3 road station was on a 240m by 30cm removable board, this was too cumbersome. It bit the dust last year and is being replace by a longer 4 road structure. The main difference is that the station is in two halves. The first half, built last year, is permanently outdoor. The second, which I've been constructing this week, is on a 120cm by 40cm removable board.

I've become aware that I always have a stumbling block on a project, and this was no exception. I could not work out how I was going to support the baseboard. While searching an Iron Mongers for shelf brackets I came across shed door hinges and realised they'd do the trick. I've used one as a fold away bracket and it's perfect.

With the support sorted I've cracked on. Braced the baseboard, laid and bonded track, installed platform bases and wired up a connecting cable. The platform surfaces are painted, the edging stones will be added tomorrow and then stuck to the bases.

While on "The Dalesman" trip to Carlisle I purchased another two packs of Peco Overall Roof to make a second span. I've started on the job of cutting all the pieces out, but I'd forgotten how long that takes!

I'll have to make a decision on what the roof will sit on. The plan is to have two outside walls with columns along the middle. But I want to come up with something more prototypical than the kit columns.

As things stand I now have a working terminus station, which still does't look much like a station. Give me another week or two...

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  • 1 month later...

In mid August I had a Sunday when I spent most of the day building the second barrel of my Peco overall roof. With that complete, I started work on the girder that will run the length of the centre of the roof.

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It took me a while to work out how build this girder and make it "look right". I was after a structure that would allow me to use a lot less pillars than the kit recommends. The girder allows me to use a pillar every third rib of the roof which is prototypical. In the end I think I've made it too small, making it twice as high would have looked better and given me more height to the roof. To add the extra height I've built the pillars with the extensions, something I was trying to avoid.

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The girders and pillars needs painting and I need to build the two side walls.

The other job is to repair the old roof barrel, which has suffered some damage. While doing that I will replace a good number of the clear plastic panes which have faded yellow over the last 5 years. My aim is to make it look like the roof is being restored in some kind of Network Rail project.

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  • 5 months later...

I wasn't happy with that central support. I had another trip to York Model Making and bought a larger bracket which looked more the part. I also bought some window frames to go in the walls.

I made the two outer walls from foam board. The facing wall has 8 windows, the rear wall doesn't. Cutting the walls for the windows was easy and the frames went in without the need for glue. I used Metcalfe models card for the stone effect.

I came up with a way of making the walls and central support very ridged. This has meant that I haven't needed to glue the two barrels of the roof down, they sit in place happily enough and can be lifted off for easy access.

I'm very pleased with the building. It's a grand terminus and I will be more inclined to get it of the shed and into the garden than I was the board it replaced which was too large and cumbersome.

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  • 1 month later...

It has been a great weekend to get back in the garden. Yesterday was a day of repairing the winter damage to the scenic sections and today has been a running session with friends dropping by throughout the day.

The only issue I had was a point that would not close. I had to disassemble the latching spring enclosure and in there I found a tiny fleck from the roofing felt which was stopping the spring moving across. I the fleck was easy to remove, and truth be told, the point went back together easier than any other I’ve done.

Great day in the garden.

Although I do fear I am now undertaking something very foolish indeed. :oops:

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Looks really good Chris. The track looks excellent in the above photo even though the actual space appears to be relatively narrow. Is this section actually located outdoors? Looking at the additional photos in the Grass Mat thread it would appear it is. The Grass Mat, by the way, looks superb, as does your embankment.

How have you got on with the ballasting? Have you found anything that sticks?

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This section is by the side of the shed. It is covered by a small canopy and is open to the elements only from the viewing angle. The wind can blow rain on to the campsite board, but hasn't done any damage.

The main damage is done by a cat. It sits on it. The scene is on two levels and the 25mm of foam board must be a warm spot to curl up on in Winter. :evil:

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Nice piece of work there Chris, I like the two DMU sets and noticed you have the Bachman Cross Country 5 unit DMU set, I am hopping to get the Doctor Who set some time this year, the train looks very close to our EMU sets in Brisbane city rail.

The finished terminus station platforms is pure awesome, I hope mine will turn out like yours have, have you completed your layout now, like the viaduct .

Tony from down under.

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aussietmrail said:

Nice piece of work there Chris, I like the two DMU sets and noticed you have the Bachman Cross Country 5 unit DMU set, I am hopping to get the Doctor Who set some time this year, the train looks very close to our EMU sets in Brisbane city rail.

The finished terminus station platforms is pure awesome, I hope mine will turn out like yours have, have you completed your layout now, like the viaduct .

Tony from down under.

I completed the loop in 2014. Last years big job was building that terminus station. I've added some photos to my gallery.

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Half of the station is built on a moveable board, this means I have been able to create something without having to worry about weatherproofing it. It's a very nice model. I'm particularly pleased with the central pillars, only using 1 of every 3 of supplied in the kit and building a span instead has worked very well. It's got the feel of a North Eastern Railway station. At some point I will add the Metcalfe Station building to it.

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Like Jim I hadn't been able to view the video on my phone but having just watched it on the PC (albeit without any sound - no speakers) all I can say is it looks just awesome! A fantastic tour of a layout that appears much bigger than I had initially thought - it seems to go on and on with so much to see along the way.

I remember a time when most of us were just building, putting up/down boards, sticking on the felt and so on, and now everything seems to be coming to fruition. It's been a long hard slog for most of us but it's great to see the forum alive with layouts that are actually operational. This one's a great advert for running OO gauge outdoors. The interior view of the station is stunning. And the photo you recreated....brilliant! I remember a time when we couldn't squeeze a photo out of you :) I also recall some of the excuses we were given :D

I imagine much of praise for the little cameo scenes should go to Sarah so you can pass on our congratulations to her and then treat her to a good day out.

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mick said:

Like Jim I hadn't been able to view the video on my phone but having just watched it on the PC (albeit without any sound - no speakers) all I can say is it looks just awesome! A fantastic tour of a layout that appears much bigger than I had initially thought - it seems to go on and on with so much to see along the way.

I remember a time when most of us were just building, putting up/down boards, sticking on the felt and so on, and now everything seems to be coming to fruition. It's been a long hard slog for most of us but it's great to see the forum alive with layouts that are actually operational. This one's a great advert for running OO gauge outdoors. The interior view of the station is stunning. And the photo you recreated....brilliant! I remember a time when we couldn't squeeze a photo out of you :) I also recall some of the excuses we were given :D

I imagine much of praise for the little cameo scenes should go to Sarah so you can pass on our congratulations to her and then treat her to a good day out.

Thanks Mick,

I've maximised my space, the railway loops around the complete perimeter of my garden. Having two terminal stations, one on the inside of the loop and the other on the out, does give me a good running length, even as an end-to-end.

Sarah hasn't been too involved for the last couple of years, but she has just got back into it. Some of the scenes have suffered from the attention of wildlife, and Sarah has really enjoyed restoring them back to there original glory.

We are thinking about adding scenery to the viaduct area next. A heavy application of grass-matt and pan-scrubs in the next few days.

I also remember "when most of us were just building, putting up/down boards, sticking on the felt and so on". The exception was IanR, who had basically finished The Kirkfield and Warmthorpe Railway and whom I've shamelessly copied from the start. Yes, I've innovated my own systems and solutions, but without Ian and yourself I think I may still be considering building a railway in my garden.

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