Waving goodbye to Rye

A fond farewell this afternoon to the layout that has perched to my right for a good number of years. Built as a fairly quick micro layout project and as a one day exhibition beast, Dury's Gap has been somewhat successful, though perhaps not as intended. The exhibition showings have been few and where it has scored has been as a photo backdrop, not only for various rolling stock portraits, but more recently to drop the odd building project onto for a snap. Here receiving more fame than intended when one of these ended up as a Wills advert to show the slate walling sheet.

The new owner is not new to layouts built hereabouts and (ten years ago I was informed) purchased the Western Region N gauge layout Unnycoombe. Dury's Gap is of course itself a recycled baseboard and under the Peco Code 75 lurks the ghostly underpinnings of a 7mm NG layout in the form of Morton Stanley, parts of which still exist in a shoebox in the loft and may yet see the light of day again.

Remarkably, Unnycoombe is still extant and a phone photo came my way showing some of the subtle upgrades. As I've opined before (and not always been well received) upgrades can go one of two ways in the eye of the original builder, but I'm particularly taken with these, especially the short avenue of trees which has given it a whole different vibe and one which suits it very well. The addition of Dury's Gap appears to be the extension of a collection.

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Layout planning on the kitchen table

 Yeah, I'm on  a roll now.

Despite all the up to date tech tools for planning, this is still often the best way forward. The joke is that the afternoon was meant to be for thrashing out some new approaches to a new Hopwood. However that done, the box of buildings that I'd brought got emptied out and things went a little feral. The concentration on the compact urban 1960s style  trainset suddenly became an 009 micro using the opposing sidings plan with a generous hat tip to the 7mm ng Morton Stanley. Not quite what I was expecting and not at the front of the queue. This got worse...'Brent'.

Saturday Ramble

As we enter week three of the lockdown I haven't really noticed too much difference during the day - I now just don't go out at night. This isn't a problem as now all the crap TV is wound back and they are running more films (Ealing Comedies all next week) who needs money anyway when all the shops are shut? For those of you who still have a job; be grateful.

The primary work at the moment is the O gauge. The station building is done and only needs a couple of painty things to get it sparkling. Yesterday was 'hunt the fire buckets' - not as much fun as 'hide the sausage' and not a game I'd played before, but one that I can recommend for those with time on their hands. I was going to buy some from Invertrain, but was warned off slightly by their Covid 19 postal service. This was mentioned on the phone to our Mr. Hill who reminded me that we had used some on Morton Stanley. These would be stuck to the station building - which is now resident in the loft - which can be accessed by the ladder - which is behind the car - which is unlikely to move out of the garage for the foreseeable future. How many buckets were purchased? Well I can now inform you that it was ten, as eight whitemetal 7mm scale buckets have now been retrieved from the deep, dark depths of the cupboard and all is well with the world, I don't have to ring Invertain and I don't have to play that little wavy dance with the postman when he bangs on the door then jumps back and gesticulates at the doorstep from the end of the drive.

The rest of yesterday was spent avoiding gardening (nearly) and getting point one down on Tiley Road. This was a nail-biting affair as the last time I built my own track; here some Devon stuff is the order and I couldn't be 100% sure that the standard DPDT switch would work with the throw of the point blades. If it didn't there was no plan B in stock and no shops that sold one. In the end I did a little happy dance around the patio when it went 'clunk' and the blade hit the stock rail. The very old Lima motor bogie, which is the test unit, ran happily up and down in all directions, so hopefully all will be well.

Wiring the Southern Region micro

One of the lock-down jobs has been to tidy the wiring on Dury's Gap here. I'm in a bit of a mess with layouts - the house is small and railways however compact, are bulky things and I've spent the last week trying to shift things around to make space for yet another one. I think I'd almost be happy for someone to buy absolutely everything except the toolbox so I could start with a blank page. Anyway...

One of the things that got noticed while moving DG was the loose wiring. To be honest the whole layout is scrapbox: regulars will know that the board is the old Morton Stanley carcass which as you can see was made from scraps of MDF from old layouts, s/h screws and timber from skips. Even on this second layout the wiring is tat: redundant layout wire, speaker cable and even odd bits of mains wire make the whole thing go.

I fired up my Woolies mini glue gun, twisted the cable sets together and blobbed most of them flat onto the underside of the board. The only things dangling now are the main feed in to the 12v and the link to the FY. The usual thing now is to use a bit of plug chocky strip to clip this to one of the corner blocks, tidy for moving, but with a layout-build looming and a limited amount of this in stock (who knows where I'll be able to get anymore soon) I just looped this around things. Not super tidy, but at least not all dangling now.

Point control switches

Fitting new point control switches
Part of the electrical work is to fit new bigger DPDT switches. The old layout trackwork on Morton Stanley used the slightly smaller version of the standard switch. This meant that the holes in the MDF sheet that holds them needed to be enlarged. After much filing to make the holes bigger (it would have been easier to start from scratch) all four are now in place. There are also 7mm diameter holes drilled immediately below the switches in the back of the board to thread the wiring through to link it to the points. This means that hopefully at least one end of the wiring is easy to get at during an exhibition. The wires themselves run to the stock rails and the frog so that the electrical polarity is changed by the switch while the sliding action physically changes the point.

This is all quite crude compared to some people's layouts where every effort is made to hide switching gear away from view. I take the view that is easier to fix if there is a problem if it is as visible as possible, besides the strip of batten which supports the whole lot acts a a) a stiffener for the layout and b) is somewhere to put an uncoupler and a track rubber during an exhibition.

I might paint the outside of the case now before anything else happens.

Micro layout baseboard

And the boxing-in begins. I have traditionally built open ended boards with just a back board to stop the eye. This has become somewhat unsatisfactory of late, mainly because a lot of the 'display' part of the idea is now photographically via here and other web medium. When you are building just for home and occasional exhibition, the human eye quickly realises that the scene ends at the edge of the board and does not query the other factors in the room around the layout, as the viewer is standing among it all. In a photograph this becomes irritating, as the relationship has changed and the background rubbish is as important on the image as the model.

Take this shot of Morton Stanley by Mike Campbell - one of my favourites of the layout... except 20% of the shot is other stuff. Enclosing the scene would be better. 

Part of the reason is the finality of boxing-in. In my head there is always the possibility to extend and although it is possible to rip end boards off, it usually happens at 8.30 am on the morning of a show. This doesn't end well and neither does the properly intended action - there is always debris and it never is as clean an operation as you first wished. I realise this is fairly old hat thinking in some quarters, and I first built a fully boxed layout in 1989, so hardly new for me either, but there is a step change in thinking that needs to be taken.

Morton Stanley is dead, long live Morton Stanley

With Morton Stanley stripped of the buildings there was a happy hour spent dumping different things on it to see how the board could be recycled into something new.

The Terrier from the Southern book, a Kirk BR van and a Bachmann ER brake were close to hand along with the freebie Metcalfe weighbridge hut given away with RM a while back. Some new track and buildings and.... Rother Wharf?

Narrow Gauge South

Morton Stanley is due to appear at Narrow Gauge South in Eastleigh on the 7th April. This is definitely it's last showing, but it will have a price tag on it. If no one bites it'll be stripped for parts ASAP. If you're interested let me know by the 7th.

Svanda and Morton Stanley go west

Possibly a first. Two layouts - two photographers - for two magazines - both at the same time. Our thanks to the two gentlemen who worked non stop all morning to get it all done at a beautiful location.

Expong

Saturday saw the 2015 ExpoNG at Swanley. Always a highlight of the year, not just because it's narrow gauge, but more of a social event as you tend to spend the whole day talking and catching up with people. Mr. Hill and I were attending with Morton Stanley so less time to walk around. Consequently I missed things, though there are photo galleries available via Mike Campbell's blog to your right. What did catch my eye and was a personal highlight was Tom Dauben's Isle Ornsay which after going to a few shows during its build is now finished and looks fantastic (above with Ted Polet's Atlantic perched on the turntable). What is a worry is the state of the venue which appears to be literally crumbling with huge cracks in the walls and broken floor sections among other things. Are the council letting it fall down deliberately?
Morton Stanley behaved more than adequately and there are questions around it. It was only really intended as a bit of fun to use some bits up and to tick a box. There were though several future unconfirmed invites on the day, so there are the questions of what do we want to do with it and why?

Testing times

Morton Stanley's first outing at Lancing -  Sussex Downs Members Day on Saturday.

Up the workers!

And basically done - just a couple of tidy-ups to do. Oddly when put alongside the existing Morton Stanley coaching stock it looks OK; better than expected. Smaller of course, but then they are supposedly 3'6" gauge prototypes from Minicraft, whereas this is a dinky little quarryman's coach for 1'11" so there is a 5mm height and a 10mm width difference.
So the run down from the top: roof 40thou plastic covered with my usual bog paper canvas, Wills Taximan's Rest Hut kit used more or less as per with the additions of end curves from 60thou and a door window cut out and framed, door handles from 7mm NGA sales, 60thou bufferbeams, solebars and steps, rummage-box wagon chassis from Dapol. Oh and the glazing which is so clean you can't see it is a left-over from the LBSCR coach build from a while back.
I pondered about grab rails, but decided against. Reading the account in Boyd on how these fully enclosed vehicles came about meant that they were bare-bones construcion and built only under order to prevent workers travelling in semi, or completely open coaches or on slate wagons.

Rainy days and mondays

For some reason I'm not getting much done at the moment - well indoors anyway. there's been some progress on the something 3 piece, and the above, which in all honesty is a bit of a giggle, turning a 4mm Wills kit into a FR style 7mm quarryman's coach. This is primarily to give us another coach option for Morton Stanley at the Sussex Downs Members Day in a couple of weeks. Dimensionally it's spot on. Aesthetically; I'm not so sure. I'll press on.

Outside things are moving. I've got about 40' of trackbed down using concrete blocks and whatever else is lying around. This is very new territory for me and I'm still not convinced of its likely success. The target is to get about a third of it down this summer. In this respect I'm on the game with only about 10' to go with the  substructure.

Moving on slightly

...but only slightly.
Morton Stanley has been stood on its end and put to one side for a moment while I clear a few things and re-organise. So why is there a baseboard photo? Well, the old trimmed Rhiw boards had been sitting in the garage for six months getting all cold so I thought it was time to get them in, warm them up, give them some hot soup, and take a look at what I could do. A little track has been dumped on and moved about to see how it looks, but first they need a damn good clean and sand -down. There's still quite a bit of ballast/glue residue on the flat bit and the 'sky' will need sanding and re-painting. And that's just the start.

The desk has been partially cleared of debris and work done on the 009 F&B coach and the second Peckett for Morton Stanley has been 90% dry-brushed weathered just to tone it all down. Only the cab roof needs attention and some plates sourced. The biggest item to shift is the IPEng based 16mm diesel, this is primary this week.

Morton Stanley

 All done now. Just awaiting a couple of buckets from Scandinavia and a Roxey bike. It's been quite a fun build - more than I had anticipated and very low cost which to an extent was part of the brief. M. Stanley was/is very much a test piece and although it is exhibitable and was designed as such, I think a two day-er would be a little too far. Cosy one day-ers and members days are more it's style.
And now? Well there are tidy up bits on the bench; in fact I could spend the rest of the year just doing tidy up bits. Without leaning in any direction I can reach an 009 coach (actually plural) an EM Y6, a 16mm diesel, some fencing for Tal-coed, Langley cow-catchers to go on an 009 railcar and something in 3mm. That's just what's on the bench; lean  6" to either direction and the whole world opens up into a modelling vista.
Just send me paint, glue and commissions.

Saturday Ramble

Firing on lots of fronts. On one hand there is the steady finishing of Morton Stanley. It's at a point where it could go out, but there is odd bits of detailing to do: I'm not happy with the station area yet, the building needs diddling with and there needs to be a little signage, benches, etc. The LH end is basically done, mainly though Nigel's sterling work with the warehouse. I'd been looking for a duck or two, just to accentuate that the shiny bit at the front was actually still water. I found a pack of suitable pieces on Duncan Models stand and although there are way too many they seemed like a bargain, and in some useful poses; all except the standing one with it's wings outstretched which would not look out of place over the door of a 1938 German government building. I've often pointed out that this game takes you to unexpected places and these had me reaching for the top shelf and British Birds you missed with your air rifle to get the colour right. The floaty one, a male mallard, took ages, the female with her arse in the air (settle down 5C...) was a bit quicker. I'm not 100% sure about this one as it looks as though someone has dropped a frozen chicken. Still it's stuck now.

I was having a bit of a downer about exhibitions, but the weekend at Southampton went very well. So much can depend on whether you are left alone to get on with it and not overly managed (just point me toward the stand space and I'll do the rest please) and whether the day long trek to the cup of tea place is friendly and flexible. This scored well on both counts. Kudos to David Barker and his team for getting it right.

Which takes me to moving forward: so far Morton Stanley is working well - better than I'd expected. I'd struggled with 7mm NG in the past, but this has a certain charm. Whether that will extend to standing behind it at an exhibition is another thing. It's first trip out is to the Sussex Downs Group's member's day in March; five o'clock on that day will be a better time to assess things. In addition to that I walked away from the weekend not wanting to bin all the 009 and burn the layout. This is unusual. Forward thinking and various discussions revived my liking of the '5 year plan' (not that it's five years any more). This would mean that the GWR 'Art of the Compromise' plan (being item four on the list) could be the next one out of the traps...

Wales 3

 Blaenau. This was a little weird. I'd only ever been here via the FR, not by car. We came in from the north, parked up, and looked for the town - there isn't one, unless they fold it up during the day; just housing. I found the geography of the place very confusing. It's so familiar through B/W photos and yet so much has gone from these historical views that I really couldn't get my bearings at all. We walked around and had a coffee still looking for signs of life, but the place seemed only inhabited by three mums pushing prams. I think the above view is the ex-GWR line from Bala which save for the weeds looked as though it could suddenly produce a train. below is Merddin Emrys running round in the low afternoon sun.
Well at least it wasn't raining.

 Fence for the end of Morton Stanley just resting in place - yesterday's project.

Bedding in

Buildings on the left now all stuck down and bedded in.

Morton Stanley

Although it's been quiet here things are moving on apace on Morton Stanley. The point where there is no bits of bare baseboard has been reached and we both agreed yesterday that it's looking quite good. The buildings to the left are now fitted and bedded in. the warehouse has a bit of weight to it being built from 80 thou plastic and cassette boxes so as well as the glue a couple of pilot holes were drilled through the baseboard and the floor and a couple of 1/2 inch wood screws wound in to add a degree of belt and braces.

Testing

Yesterday was the day when things got tested. The almost built water tower was trial fitted and then taken away by Nigel to finish. All the stock was run around the layout in various combinations and a few likely operative moves tried out. Once the track had been cleaned and a bit of snagging undergrowth had been trimmed back all went fairly smoothly. There was one major fail: the Gnomy tram conversion that I built in the 1990s is simply too un-grunty to manage the heavy Tri-ang based wagons with it's Tenshodo drive. On its own it's fine. Adding more weight would not be a problem, but I'm not sure that the unit would take too kindly to it. It's therefore be put on the reserve list.
There's still a fair way to go before March, but nothing impossible.