OO Wagon loads

I wouldn't say that it's a hate, but I don't like to see layouts full of empty wagons. I find it puzzling that many go to extreme lengths to super detail and weather using expensive bits of airbrush kit and then run the things with nothing inside. At the moment there are about ten wagons available for 'Y Fan' and about the same again in the kits box, most picked up at half or less price from rummage boxes. It was time to fill a few up.

This is a fairly standard Coopercraft five plank merchandise wagon and somewhere in the photo collection I've got a shot of rough sawn pit props stacked vertically in such a beast - can I find it? Can I hell. Anyway I can't remember ever seeing it done on a model before.  Simple enough, but not a fast job. a baseplate cut to the internal dimensions and over seventy toffee apple sticks of about 4mm square and 18mm long stuck on.

The fictional base to this is that the station is possibly a 1/4 mile up the line from the obligatory colliery. There is a facing siding into part of this so odd bits of traffic , mainly maintenance, come into Y Fan with the general goods to be dropped off on the way back. The result is that there are now two of these wagon loads to run.

Running in board

 Something short was required. Preferably not more than four letters to make it easier to shuffle bits of plastic around. Something that said Wales without explaining. Using the prefix Y is always a winner. It translates (according to my book on such things) as the peak. Saying it will cause confusion though. A VAN as in what is a Transit? And a long A sound. The lettering was from a set of Scandinavian shop signs, and the rest is bits of plastic sheet and strip. Valleys running in boards are not known for their ornamentation - something simple and concise is what's required.

OO gauge road bridge

 More signage. A Tiny Signs road bend sign was made up giving a splash of colour to the bridge: the card sign, a bit of rod and an etched triangle. The little boy looking over or through the bridge is a bit of a trade mark now with every layout this century having one if appropriate. Mind you from this angle he could be taking a piss.

And in the blue corner - the station building for the new 009 is now done. Nice and simple design for a nice and simple layout. Mostly Wills and a bit of scrap.

4mm scale platform sign

Sometimes it's the simplest things that are fun. I was rummaging around for couplings when I spied this at the bottom of the drawer - or to be precise a bit of printed card. A couple of minutes with a craft knife, a length of 1mm rod and a lick of white paint and I have a sign for the end of the platform. I think it's from one of the Prototype Models card kits, and I haven't built one of those for thirty years which suggests how long it's been lying at the bottom of the drawer, and of course it fits perfectly with the late 70s vibe. The Great Tidy Up continues...

Focusing

Yesterday saw quite a bit of time spent pondering the next moves. I'm not as scatter-gun as some people, but I've always got more than a couple of things on the burner. The AoC is in some ways the  main project. I mistakenly thought that it would be quite a quick game and as it was so simple in execution that it would be easily achievable. In it's base form it is - four point terminus on 6 x 1', however Roy Link is a wily old bird and he hints on the original piece in 1978 that it could be a long project should you choose. What I spotted yesterday was that should it end up in RM like most of my efforts this century, that I can't play the 'game of one' freelancing card - I'm up against all the other GWR termini. So while the wagonary is OK, the coach and loco stud is sadly lacking in detail. The layout itself is 95% done, the rolling stock for it is somewhere around 20%. There is still much to do and I have to focus on getting it done and not wander off.

009 Station building 2

Drainpipes and chimney to do.

Triang coaches

The unfinished end.
Once in a while I shuffle a few things up and down on the Art of Compromise. Here a rake of Triang coaches wait to leave. This is a strange one for me. So much has been done and yet so much remains to be done; this end still has a Metcalfe Signal box perched in the corner waiting to be replaced by a Ratio kit and the starter signal needs to be worked out. Some of this particular question lays with the 'does it exhibit or not?' point. It was only going to be a home baby, but I've pondered of late about taking it out and even offered it to a well known Southern show. It would need a fair bit of work to get it there, not least of which would be working on all the stock. There is enough of it, but much is still in a straight out of the box condition and that all takes time.