First point down

Small progress. This is going to be steady methinks. And already I've wound people up. 

The holes in the boards for the joining bolts are on the sloppy side. This was the same with Rhiw2 and allows the track to be laid flat, but some up/down jiggle room for the difference between the code 100 and code 75 track. Other than that it's all pretty standard fare and what you have seen here on numerous occasions; no P4 precision here. It looks a little stark at the moment, but I'm basically cutting a middle ground between Dury's Gap with the mix of HO spacing and the Bullhead and AotC with the forward mounted switches. This notices a lot less when it's all prettied up with ballast and green stuff.  Right to left: copper clad sleepers pinned and packed to the Peco depth. 9" of Bullhead, Peco code 75 RH medium operated with a DPDT slider and some wire in tube. All of this (switch excepting) has been used somewhere else before, thus, total cost: c50p. A Bachmann C Class and an 08 run through without hitch. Onward again.
 

Boards up.

 With Rhiw lying unloved and unconnected, the new basic boards have been set up. This all happened without drama, though to be honest, if I can't do this sort of thing with my eyes closed by now then something is wrong. Simple is the key here and I'm imagining that this is going to form a small series of build posts. Not quite with the intensity of reach of recent efforts in RM, but possibly with a wider international one. That is but a consequence and not the reason; that is provide a short-order home-based BLT to sit where Rhiw is now that can be left up and operated at short notice; as well as clearing a lot of scrap and left-overs from the cupboard. The boards are bolted together with a mix of M6 bolts and wing nuts and are still without any proper reinforcement until the backs and front profile boards go on. Easier to get the track down and wired and then work the details around that. The ruler is in place to fix the crossover/headshunt position. This needs to be around 10" to take a standard British 0-6-0 goods engine such as a C or Q1. The points are Peco medium code 75.

The next job is to sort ot the join from the FY.

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Baseboards for Drovers Brook

 And there they are. In fairly short order two 3 x 1' boards thrown together. The casual viewer may think these are quite neat. This is the good angle and the lower regions are a mix of off-cuts and the sort of thing that I stash at the back of the garage, but most people would put in a skip. Probably the same people who would lash out somewhere in the region of £200 for something similar to these in kit form from one of the board hawkers. These? Ten quid tops. Nearer five. And TBH they took no longer than it would have done to faff around with the kit versions. The mistake... there's always at least one... was drilling out the side frames to save weight for transport until it dawned on me, while standing in a cloud of MDF dust, that as this project was not really for taking out that this was utterly pointless. The upshot is that one has holes and one doesn't. 

All there is to do now is get them bolted together and lined up with the new domestic fiddle yard. Track down by next week. 

Drover's Brook. A plan.

So here's a funny thing. When does a plan start as a plan, then get discarded, then expanded, then shrunk again? Here of course. This may be Drover's Brook. The quick of brain and sharp of eye will notice that there is much here that is classic CF. It's a BLT, it's four points laid out a la Ahearn's Gammon End and it's a foot wide (the metre rule marking the rear edge).

This is/was the first in the new five year plan/Project 70 thing. Then it got pulled up to 7'6", then I thought better of it and started thinking in circles. Now back to square one with an anti-AotC 6 x 1 plan which breaks not one boundary nor any expectations. Or does it?  It's front op'...pause while I get reminded about my experience with Rhiw Mk1. This though ain't an exhibition piece, it's a home layout that could be taken to a low-stress show (I'm thinking the WRG event or even the recently visited Bredgar show). Much to certain people's dismay, the slide switches will be on top and front as with Dury's Gap and could be accessed by reaching over in show mode. There are some who get apoplectic about this sort of thing, but quite frankly, I couldn't give a toss. If you can't recognise the concept of an electric toy train set then your problems are far worse than my slide switches.

The main positive with all of this is that over 90% of the materials can be drawn from stock and will clear some space in the cupboard. A sheet and a half of MDF and some scraps, the buildings and points were in a box and the couple that need doing are in stock. The track came out of one of those Peco card track boxes from retailers. I just upended it and this is what came out - a mix of Bullhead and 75 which can be mixed as with Dury's Gap. The only thing that I may be short of is a little picket fencing. In a nutshell: SR (ex light railway) BLT, 6 x 1, to fit the new FY, front op'. To go on the low trestles. If I pushed hard I could get it done before panto. 

Worth a run at?
 

Quick rod

The ground frame and waving 2nd man was present on Rhiw Mk 1 and has since re-appeared on the Mk2. On both versions without any exiting rodding for the point and the FPL. I'm sure that there would be various proto-guidelines for the operation of the crossover, but despite all the comment over a decade or so on both versions existence, no one has mentioned it. This backs up the theory that modellers as a breed are fairly blinkered and see what they want to see and that the niceties of safety and actual proto operation are comfortably ignored. Anyway...

Not wanting to cough up for the commercial point rodding items which look too thick to me and stand out too much, I elected to just hint at the existence of the linkage with some lengths of rod and some plastic strip for the upstand rollers. This I'm fully aware is a long way from looking like the real thing, but simply suggests. Likewise, the already suggested FPL was in place on the Peco point. Tiny details, but who adds FPLs to points? Only the P4 bods I would imagine. There's that comfortable blinker again.

The upshot of all this is that I can announce that I've actually done some modelling; the first for a couple of months and the first for me for longer. There are two more small jobs to do in the same area on the layout. Hang on to your hats, I'm on a roll now.

 

Rhiw FY running

 Until I pick up some scraps of track from a well known West Sussex scrap box, the FY is essentially complete with running from both the off roads from Rhiw2. A bit of a departure having a running layout up in the house. This does have a slight temporary feel to it though it would be easy enough to beef up the woodwork and make it suitable for exhibition use. It is of course shorter than the usual yard, but then I'm not running long NSB coaches and Di3s, so no matter. My mind wanders to further layouts that would fit, but for the moment this is where it's at. 

I bought a copy of BRM today... again. 

Some FY track

Striking while the iron was hot... literally. Time to get at least a couple of bits of track down. No outlandish methods here, all classic stuff. The board were lined up and bits of sleeper-width thin card stuck in place, followed by pairs of EM copper-clad sleepers. These had been pre-gapped and the ends pre-drilled 0.7mm. This combo making up the depth of a Peco sleeper. 

With the last two sleepers removed it was just a case of lining everything up and hitting it with some solder. At this juncture a couple of things were pushed over the new joint to test. All appeared well. Just the wiring and the remaining track to go down. There is something intrinsically comfortable about working with code 100, despite all that it has going against it in terms of scale and fine-ness. It just works with no fuss and is almost bomb-proof. 

 

A new fiddle yard for Rhiw

Further to the last missive; a little work today, dancing between other things, on a quick baseboard build for the new short FY for the home running of Rhiw. A ferret around in the huge pile of old baseboards and MDF off-cuts in the garage turned up enough for a 12" x 38.75" board. It didn't need to be up to exhibition robustness so, at least for the time being, I did without pins and corner blocks, relying on glued joints only. 

Determined not to cut any new sheet, I could only generate one full length side piece, so a bodge with a short infill piece and a brace. As is standard, the height of these is 3" to match the layout.

In place with bolt holes drilled and some track dumped on it. The clearance is tight at the back, as it is with the exhibition FY, just need a bit more code 100 to finish it off. The next stage maybe to face it with some hardboard front and back with a small lip to keep things off the floor.

The rear two roads will cope with a two car DMU, the front of the three will hold a loco and two coaches... just. There will also be a plain road at the very front for the second 'off'. This is quite the departure as aside from building other people's layouts, I've not had one of my own in a running state for quite a while. Dury's Gap has a short temporary fiddle stick, but never ran at home with the exhibition yard. This a new world.

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Plan B .2

And back to reality. Despite a lot of trial set-ups and having trestles everywhere, not to mention a phonecall with AWK discussing Summer Springs, I haven't really managed to crack the nut in the way that I wanted to. This is not the end of the world and I am reverting to plan B (which is actually plan A if you are following this and where it gets a little theoretical). Surprisingly this does all loosely tie together in my head, though I am expecting a possible curveball from the west anytime now.

The upshot is that the temporary baseboards are down and Rhiw 2 is back up. There is 39" before the next wall (or just a fag end under) so a short FY is mooted, one that will comfortably take any of the Rhiw stock, but not the Svanda stuff which is not relevant anyway.  A redundant bit of MDF has been cut and some odds and ends of Code 100 that were in the drawer have been fished out and this will work. Not quite the round the room epic I had in my head, but never mind. This means that Plan A .1 may be returned to.

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Trefach

Photo Craig Tiley/Peco studio

A missive from the Ed. rolled in yesterday informing me that photos of the 009 Trefach had been taken and enclosing the above shot. The layout will be appearing later this year in RM as a 3-4 part build similar to the previous commissions. The building of it took way longer than I'd anticipated, mainly as unlike the previous layouts, this wasn't some straight track on a flat commercial baseboard. However looking at this, and with the advantage of some sensible photography, it was worth the effort. I've come to the conclusion that I like building layouts for other people, not myself!

Rumours for an appearance at Warley (Statfold) have been quashed, but it will be headed for the SEC in Glasgow on the Peco stand in 2025.
 

Experiments in room circling

 

Once upon a time a small boy was given a train set (this is almost like editing RM again) the small boy was me, and the set was the ex Tri-ang, now Hornby, freight set with three wagons and a Brush Type 2 as they insisted on calling it. My fascination for 31s has remained since. This was the first and last time that I went around in circles in 4mm standard gauge though there have been a couple of 009s. For a while there has been the seed of an idea floating around and a couple of experiments have been carried out with mixed results.  The trial corner section above is a rough carcass of a baseboard designed to carry two semicircles (rad 3 and 2) with a supporting cast of cutting type scenery.  In itself this is perfectly fine, but the sections joining this and further corners may not be quite long enough to satisfy the thing in my head...but it keeps coming back. That coupled with the earlier comment about exhibitions, or lack thereof, keeps driving my head back to what would be a very no-geographical specific piece of line which would run around part of the room with 25% being FY loops. This is much influenced by AWK's Summer Springs. This isn't particularly ground-breaking, stuff, but it is a bit of a departure for me and I need to get my head around it, simple though it is. There is a plan B, though this doesn't step away from the exhibition BLT quite enough, though I'm not discounting it at this stage.

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 The great clear out continues; well maybe great is a bit ambitious, but there is a definite movement. Much of this is via Ebay and some things that I thought were important to me have now been moved on. Notably any of the pair of narrow gauge titles to your right are now gone, but I am left with a few copies of the Southern and GWR which are going for around £13. The current items in the dispatch bay are here  

Much of this thinking has been discussed here in earlier posts and there is a major change underway. I'm taking a break from layout building for a bit and am seriously considering calling it a day on exhibitions (with the exception of a couple of mate's ones) post Uckfield. As I explained to someone yesterday, I hate the early starts, operating, and getting pinned by some droning twat that I can't escape from (e.g. the lorry driver on Sunday who was absolutely determined to tell me that Class 58s were still in mainline use and were still often seen at Portsmouth. Without an internet signal I couldn't prove otherwise.) No wonder we as a social group get such a bad rap. I have also closed the rail-angled FB account in case anyone on there thinks I'm being anti-social. I'm now concentrating on the work FB/insta accounts and anything rail-ish will happen here.

The above is now finished and with the chaps at Peco. Rumour has it that it will be going to Warley (Statfold) and the SEC, though not with me. 

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Bredgar and Wormshill model show

 

Rhiw 2's second outing this weekend at the Bredgar model show. Unusual these days, although I did exhibit at the almost equivalent Amberley Museum weekend for quite a number of years. The exhibition takes place in the engine shed which throws up issues that you don't normally encounter, but this being my first visit here, I was pretty impressed. Very friendly and the whole site was very well ordered and clean. None of the piles of tat that often surround such operations. 

Rhiw behaved almost faultlessly with only a minor coupling problem on the 08. It fills my front room on testing, but disappears in the shed amongst the resting locomotives. The essential trip down the line is more than entertaining with some very convoluted run-rounds and engine swaps which give the impression that the crews are having way too much fun. I'd recommend the place for a visit, but check the website for opening. It looks as though something Norwegian my be going next year. 

The return of Half Acre

With the delivery of a small 009 layout to Devon came the return of a previous build. Half Acre was a mess right from the beginning; started during lockdown when the world and his wife were buying track and the factory couldn't keep up. My initial plan went out of the window due to the shortages and this was the result. It's been hawked about on the Peco stand a few times, but has spent most of its time in one or other of the storage sheds from where it was rescued a week ago. I must admit that when it was offered I was slightly taken aback. Nigel has stock for it, but what would it do?

An afternoon was spent putting it through its paces and clearing the dust and spiders. All appears well and apart from a bent lamp post there is no obvious damage. While the testing may have gone well there was a reluctance in the air. Would we use it? The answer, almost unsaid, was no. Therefore the best thing to do is to move it on to someone who would make good use of a 7' x 1' total size N gauge exhibition layout that just needs stock and a controller.
 Wood End and Beyond: Half Acre (unnycoombelala.blogspot.com)

Rhiw 2 in RM

...and all back together again. A simple enough job, but one that was possibly overdue. Clearances are tight along the edge , but even with the lengthy Sprinter coaches, all seems well. 

I did forget to mention this. Rhiw 2 gets six pages in RM this month; all the thrills and spills that you would expect and the Sprinter still on its way to York. In Smiths now.

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New point for the Rhiw/Svanda fiddle yard

This must be one of the most tweaked fiddle yards in existence. Originally built in 2009 for Rhiw 1, adapted for Svanda, readapted for Rhiw 2 and now..

The pre show set/test for Svanda's showing at Eastbourne last week threw a curveball in a broken tie-bar spring on the No.1 point, i.e. the important one. No time to fix it, and as this would have possibly introduced a load more last minute issues, the decision was taken to do the show with the point being held over by a critically positioned lump of Blu-tak. Never let it be said that I over-think or over-engineer anything. However that was a quick fix and something needed to be done. This comes in two parts: co-incidentally I was due to drop off the 009 layout at Peco, so easy enough to pop next door to the exhibition and blag a replacement spring off of Andrew (he who makes Pecorama run smoothly). 

I'd  found a new Y point so decided to use this, relay tracks 1-4, and do the spring replacement on the bench. This also gave the excuse to replace the short sleeper-less length of track with something more substantial. Having said that, this has never given any trouble and proves that rails can work for at least two inches without sleepers under normal conditions. The track was removed as seen, and included pins, some UHU and still traces of the the Knightian staple gun repair carried out a decade ago at Global Rail.

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Svanda at Eastbourne

Another random appearance here, ostensibly to remind that the old lady of Norway; now in her 13th year, will be making the second of three 2024 showings at the metropolis of Eastbourne on Saturday. Confusingly this is the Pevensey club show which has wandered westward for the day. There is  information about other exhibits below including two favourites of mine. 10-4 at the top end of the 'old town'. Drop in and say hello and watch the temporary point fix in operation (the FY throat point spring expired yesterday).

Exhibitions | Members own Layouts (pevenseybaymodelrailwayclub.com)

 

Wave goodbye to the Seething Pigs

 Still quiet hereabouts and for good reason. The main is the finishing of the Peco epic (of which more later) but also for the finishing and testing of the arm-twist 009 layout Seething. This built purely to fulfil the wishes of Mrs. F. and thereby generating a weekend in sunny Suffolk. Another of my four point wonders and built mostly with stuff that was in stock at the predictable 45"x12" scenic. 

The post-match analysis proves that all went more or less according to plan; that is, one layout delivered to Beccles, a splendid day was had by all including Mrs. F who, in a delightful spot of karma got roped into catering duties. Old friends to chat to including a few that I could have stayed here for and not least 009 grandee Mr. Thornton who made the not inconsiderable trip from the western valleys. The final act in this three act play was someone (without name) who parted with hard cash and at 4pm loaded the layout into a car and moved swiftly toward Great Yarmouth.  Thus, my job is complete: Mrs. F. happy, exhibition manager happy, new owner happy and self a tiny bit richer. Now to get a final coat of paint on the layout's bigger brother and remove to Devon.

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009 dreaming

 Been busy. Actually, been busy slimming down in several different ways much of which is another story. The main thrust has been trying to get Trefach finished on schedule, which hasn't been easy; a lot of time-hungry walling, fencing and buildings, with some of the the main culprits on view here, including a last minute entry to the competition just visible on the left. I have also passed another life marker post and this has generated no small amount of head scratching as to direction of travel.

More immediate is Seething's only show at Beccles (see below) where I shall be disposing of as much 009 and spare buildings as possible. Essentially everything will be up for sale including a few books and in some cases the items in the books.

Corner Pocket

A little paper planning and a few problems, well not problems so much as fairly obvious setbacks. All looks fairly good in my head until I factor in immovable objects like radiators. This doesn't add much, but width add at the bottom right bounces things at the top left. Beyond this, off scene, lies an area of possibilities, but when repeating the exercise at the opposite end, this void starts to shrink below the acceptable requirement. I had done this on Anyrail so was forewarned hence the real world measuring, plus I know from using Anyrail as the planning device for the RM Setrack plan booklet that the gap between the screen plan and reality is sometimes generous. Essentially this means that I don't think 'a' will give me what I want, but I'll leave it for a while and mull it over. There is always b and c to consider.

好吧，你已经玩得很开心了，现在滚吧

Project 70 (a)

 The 'a' is important. There are two possible directions post the Peco 009 which is stacked here. Firstly build a small selection of 16.5mm derived layouts with various themes. This will happen in at least a small way, but not sure to the final extent of it and this is very much dependant on exhibition invites. The second, but primary here, is something bigger, but in many ways much simpler. No name to hook it on so I'll go with that moniker for the time being. 

What you are seeing is the corner of the room directly behind me. There is a clear space of about 9' square overall. This sounds huge, but in real terms the centre of this is needed for other general life stuff so the reality is really only an area that extends around the outside. picture now the endless Shows you How small bedroom illustrations and you are sort of close to what is going on. The shelving holding the magazine files is now fixed and a batten extends around to the right as the start of the next phase, except that is really the first phase using Rhiw2 as the initial, but disposable springboard. In essence I am returning to something I've not done since my teens - building a trainset. There is much to consider and I am still at the 'this may not work' stage.

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Do we need magazines?

 

Again, the mention of Swedish Death Cleaning in the last post got some reaction, not quite as much as the book ripping which got the predictable Nazis and Salman Rushdie mentions. This has got nothing to do with railways, model or otherwise, but does lead me to a question, the one at the top. I know at least two people with huge collections of magazines - whole collections in some areas. This would now be regarded as an 'old people' thing in many quarters. Not in a disparaging way, but in that we have moved on during this century. When I launched SRI a few years ago I was informed that 'print media is dead' and as much as it pains me to agree being a lover of paper stuff, as a populous, it is true. The purchase of magazines or newspapers is looked upon by anyone under 40 as slightly quaint. For example my step children, all born post 1985, don't own a book between them, don't own CDs or any hard form music, don't buy newsprint in any form and... this is important... lead far more vibrant lives than most of the people who are now arguing in their heads. Yes you could argue that if the internet goes off you can't access stuff, but the same would be true of the tills in Smiths, so that is fairly universal. We long stopped using coins and wooden drawer cash tills to facilitate the purchase of magazines. I reckon we have about 10 years before the fall in print makes it unsustainable in hard form. Books are slightly different and Kindles haven't really taken off, but any charity shop will tell you that they have more books coming in (mainly from over 60s) than they could ever shift. If you think that these don't get pulped or landfilled, then you are delusional. People are still buying new, but the second hand market is all but gone. 

If you add all this up, it explains my thinking about getting rid of stuff now and the way that some of this is being done. 

Saturday Ramble: The last 009 in the shop.

 This may be a quite momentous post, or one that time will reveal to be a complete waste of internet paper. And, as various internet memes are so fond of advising - don't overshare. Though as I've been doing just that here for well over a decade, it seems churlish to reverse at this juncture. Birthdays and new years are often points to reflect about what has gone before and what we hope may happen in the future. This can take many forms and I started noodling about this in a post earlier in the year, followed by the both contentious and popular post on Swedish Death Cleaning. This later point is well underway and I have thrown no small amount of stuff into the recycling bin and into the landfill, some of which has not gone down too well in certain corners. Apparently you cannot rip books up and recycle as you would a newspaper. Though why this should be so baffles me... it's just paper. I'd reduced all the magazines down to file pockets/ ring files some time back and now I am re-sifting through these again, though this is slow going. If that is the backward look then the forward look is also effectively backward. The photo is a hint at that and is of course a length of 44 x 18mm batten screwed to a wall. The anaglypta paper is the old dodge to cover a less than flat wall which may well be the original  plastering carried out by Stevie Wonder; the floor is my next problem. This suggests permanence though regulars will note that I have been here before and there is still much to decide, though I find that I get more done by starting something than over-planning. Much of the thinking here is influenced by that very common emotion of looking back at childhood. I for one find the older lady/teddy bear fixation  (a-la the Repair Shop) somewhat puke inducing though I am certain that the equivalent male and Tri-ang/HD is just as bad if not worse. It is this mindset that I find myself leaning. Not exclusively I may add, and there are other factors at play, but this is definitely a direction of travel.

Returning to the backward look; any 009 that I have is now effectively up for grabs especially post the first week of June. All of it. Anything that you've seen here that I still have is on offer including the arm-twist layout Seething. I may put a list up on here should anyone be interested. Contact via the profile page should you have questions. 

And to the army of visitors from the Chinese government, 欢迎 

Wyatt slate fencing

 Back through the mists of time; well 1979 to be precise, the iconic Dovey Valley appeared in RM over two issues. One of these contained a method of constructing slate waste slab fencing using plastic sheet. This has been used by 009-ers ever since with a couple of slight variations and I've tried most of these. Here on the Peco epic Trefach, 20 thou black plasticard is the material. This has been given a coat of Humbrol 29 followed by coach roof grey. The latter unmixed to give some colour variation. Alternatives are to sand the plastic to break the surface to a grey or possibly to use card which was the method 25 years ago with Wood End. All have their pluses and minuses, but all fall into the 'tedious, but worth the effort' bracket of model making. I've done over 9'  of this on this project and still not finished yet.

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Farewell Miles and Susan

As a start to the great 009 disposal I've waved goodbye to Mr and Mrs Bevan. Built using some scrap Chivers w/m kit parts and a few bits of plastic on Ibertren cuckoo chassis they have merrily trundles around all the last decade's 009 layouts and featured heavily in the RM article on Tal-coed. Now resident in the North West they are apparently to be re-motored and I'm guessing some new crew. Be interesting to see how that turns out.

This is just the start - it's all going. 

 

Grass at last

 It would have been stupid to think that this was going to be a quick project, but my inability to play the game and therefore not build things at they were intended or to take the easy road has slowed things to a crawl. This has not been improved by making the decision to drift toward mid-Wales styling and incorporating some slate slab fencing. I've done this before so no prizes for forward thinking as I know how time consuming it is. As I'd finished roughly 25% of it (visible here) a morale boost was needed and I thought I'd get the first section of open land up to the buildings covered with fluff of various types. This has been worthwhile and has given an indication of how the rest of the layout will look. The barn pictured is a case in point of how work has been added (and farmed out) with not only a new slate roof replacing the stone version included in the kit, but also bargeboards and guttering which weren't. Still recognisable as the Wills kit, but different. The centre area is undeveloped and will include the new Peco Tan-y-bwlch station building kit, but not as they intended (natch) and masquerading as a cottage which is basically what the prototype was/is. This is the last building to be done, that is after the row of stone cottages have been roofed. April on Monday; I have two months.

In other news: the usual hit rate for this page is still skewed after a week for huge amounts of traffic from Hong Kong. What this indicates exactly I don't know, but it's unlikely to be legitimate interest, so please go away.

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East Grinstead show

 

Another free Sunday and with the M25 closed there was no way I was going to attempt going to Ally Pally... not that I wanted to. So just a hop and a skip up the road to East Grinstead. The website didn't look promising with the traders listed first (but then this is run by a trader) and no less than six narrow gauge layouts. I'm a long term NG fan, but this looked a tad unbalanced. No need to worry though as the vibe had been retained and there was some lovely modelling and plenty to buy should you have needed anything. Though a chat with an inside source suggested that while it was busy, people were keeping their wallets closed. This may have a knock on effect for next year, though I didn't really help matters that much with little more than the entry and tea paid for. All in all quite an inspiring couple of hours with a huge amount of chat and the usual onward discussions.

Exhibition: 8

Parking: 9

Catering:8

Rucksacks: 0

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Saturday Ramble

In a moment of madness I set Seething up  a) to give it a run, but b) to set the fiddle yard support leg which I'd forgotten to attach. This needed a couple of 6mm holes drilled which took minutes, but the ensuing testing session took a little longer and turned into a bit of a loco service trip, the way that these things often do. The quick set-up for the boards was on the floor; so not ideal, but I found myself feeling that I'd been here before. This was after running the Norwegian at the weekend so perhaps a little case of extremes, but here I was with a FY to BLT layout in 009 built because it was quick. This exercise threw up the usual questions.

As previously mentioned Seething wasn't planned but was the result of some arm twisting from two people. The positives are are few days with friends and the use of a couple of buildings that were in the cupboard. The negative (singular) is that here I am with yet another small 009 BLT. If you peruse the tabs at the top of the page you will notice that this is a worn route; so much so that I'm not sure that I want to do it either now or at any time in the future. It's done, stick a fork in it.

There is another side angle that niggles me and I'm not pointing any fingers, but while I've always tried for the believable freelance route there has been a vast upshot in RTR 009 which plays against this. So much so that the current Peco layout build is designed to only work with FR gauged stock - anything else gets the chimneys knocked off. The new RTR is so good that even the most ardent 'modellers' can't resist it and it's getting a little same-y. This in respect to the endless GWR BLT style layouts with slate trains, and quarry Hunslets pulling L&B coaches - you get the drift. The individuality has all but gone. There are many exceptions of course, but bulk of 009 layouts seen at shows in recent times fall into this style. Thus the above layout is purely kits and bashes - no RTR. This also means that I am probably ready to move on from 009 for good. and will start off-loading stock in due course. What will replace this? Well there are a couple of short term ideas and a concept in mind, but this may well lean toward some very backward looking activity.

If you've enjoyed this waffle, show the love. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisford2Q
 

Wealden Railway Group exhibition 2024

In an unusually rash bout of being organised, a few thoughts on the Steyning show. In short; excellent (no marking as I'm not hitting this from a punter angle). The general thrust is that of small personal layouts and steers away from the usual club epics and box shifters giving a very different feel. It's more about chat and ideas rather than the impressive 'don't touch sonny' that some exhibitions promote. No doubt that Mr. Campbell will provide some photos on his blog to your right in due course, as he was also showing with the gorgeous 009 Hexworthy. For me the highlights were possibly well worn - Giles Barnabe's Shellsea, and Pete Bossom's Bulverhythe (now under Paul Hopkins' stewardship). Both mostly for the buildings; Giles above for probably the best example of how to take a flat piece of thin card print and turn it into a wonderful heavyweight brick warehouse. Among the many chats across the layout was the (below) remarkable 3mm scale GWR brake produced by Mike Davey. Not  a commercial operation and in his words, he is still on the learning curve, but it shows what is possible and how it can open up a whole new vista for the modeller. 

Svanda performed in its usual near perfect manner, with only operator (mostly me) error causing problems. With two exhibition enquiries forthcoming, the 'different' NSB Nohab powered train rolls onward despite now being noticeably heavier than more recent layouts. 

The WRG shows driven by Andrew Knights (with visitors from Glasgow yesterday) are a bright light proving how how the hobby is not dying, and while the RTR wibblers that hang around the forums complaining may be down in the dumps, there is a real passionate undercurrent of actual modelling just under the surface unencumbered and unaffected by industry comings and goings. Long may this little piece of flag-waving for it continue.

Svanda goods shed fit

The new goods shed for Svanda all fitted and bedded-in. This has made a remarkable difference to this end of the layout by opening it up visually. Which considering that the building is 20% larger than the old one is a surprise. There is a casual refurb underway now with new road surfaces and hopefully the addition of some new trees and newer scenic covering. This is being fitted in around the epic Peco 009 build of which more in due course. In the meantime don't forget that the above will be at the below this Sunday.

 

Saturday Ramble: More death and disposal

 

One of the more controversial posts here of late has been the Swedish Death Cleaning proposal. Not only has this received a sensible number of hits, but has made me and others consider what we may be doing and in some cases it has generated a bit of a backlash. I suppose my thinking is for me (and suggest to others)  to question the what's and whys of where the hobby is going. This in conjunction with considering how we deal with this on a personal level.

This is all with the background chatter of the demise of Hattons and the Warley show shenanigans among other trials and tribulations. I'm far from saying (as some in the forum-sphere) that this is the end of the hobby as even of late the fairly buoyant atmosphere at the Southampton show would suggest that we are far from being on the bones of our arses. There is however a subtle shift in play and my own feeling is that this is not unconnected with cost considerations. So if that's the hobby as a whole, where does that leave me? Well relatively untouched it would seem; my actual modelling in the very short term is funded by someone else (although we are certainly into piper and tune territory) and I have plenty of things in the cupboard. And there's the rub right there; we are back to the opening sentence.

What I am definitely aiming for is an empty cupboard - well not so much empty as completed. The aim... is not to buy anything else, only in regard to finishing things off. Though the wheels may come off that point fairly quickly. The forward motion is very much one of a series of small-ish projects that would be easily completed and would be centred around using what is in hand with the afore mentioned 'only buying to complete' and not buying for a new project. These may form into an idea which has been well documented on these pages and is also fairly close to a certain local modeller's recent system. 

In a nutshell: use the general concept of the AotC (6 x 1' layout with a common new FY) and construct a series of home/exhibition pieces at the rate of one per year which would probably see me either retired or in a wooden box  - delete as appropriate. We are into the 'pills for life' gag as there are really only about five or so possible ideas. This is at present just possible forward move (there is much to clear from the bench first) I may just call the exhibition layouts and make sheds from Wills sheet from now on or build a proper train set.

Dublo Minories

 

You know how I feel about this. There are two parts and a lot more behind it.

IR quietly returns

 A little pointer came my way earlier in the form of a web link. Mr. R. has a habit of quietly wandering off from the interweb and then just as quietly wandering back, and so it is here. Easily the most influential proper modeller of my youth, he still grabs my attention. Forget all the so-called 'modelling' that comes in blue and red boxes from China and the blow-ins. If you want the real deal, go to the source.

https://iainrobinsonmodelmaking.blogspot.com/

A new shed for Svanda

 

A final push has seen the new goods shed finished. Rather clean for my liking, but the prototype photos show a very spick and span building - very Scandinavian I suppose. I am as always  on these occasions, only responsible for the final layer and the build is pure Mr. Hill with his liking for not wasting a scrap of plastic. Unusually I can't detect any CD or cassette case material in here, but is does include most other possible bits and pieces. The final coat being a mix of Humbrol and artist acrylics. Fitting will hopefully take place in the next 24 hours in time for the Steyning exhibition on the 10th.

Too much to do?

 I find myself in the position of too much to do at the moment, to the point where I spent near on12 hours standing today working on the 009 project. Bliss some would say, but only from the position of having a choice. There is a 16t mineral on the bench which is headed for Rhiw2 that needs finishing, not to mention a runner wagon conversion promised for an RM Junior Modeller piece that hasn't even been started. That's without the small pile of book reviews to work through and the goods shed for Svanda which needs to be done ASAP. So why did I spend a couple of hours on the above? Simple answer is that I happened upon  a handful of sack mouldings in a tobacco tin while I was looking for something else and quickly decided that there was just enough to form some loads for the three 009 Society wagons purchased at Statfold last year. This now means that they are ready for the Beccles show in June, but now I have to make up some couplings... and so it goes on. 

Tenterden show

 

This is one that I make a point of going to, despite...

Compared to some of the other shows in the South, i.e. some visited in the last few weeks it is, some would say, a bit of a poor contender. The feel is very old style and the exhibits are a bit iffy in places, not to mention a bit thin on the ground in two rooms. Why the effort to go then? Not this time, but it is minutes away from the KESR, so a train ride can be factored in, but I find the show strangely appealing. Not least as whilst there are a couple of major box shifters, the accent is on smaller dealers often loaded with second-hand and rummage boxes full of old Tri-ang and the like. Regulars will immediately get the attraction. If you are a scratch/kit-basher like me there is a wealth of material here at low prices. In the end the haul was some cheap Wills sheet and viaduct bits, a wagon and putty, though there was much I walked away from as tempting though it was, I have to keep the rein tight and only buy for specific projects. 

Show: 5

Parking 10

Trade 10

Catering 6