Amberleigh at Night with a 108 DMU

The evening DMU service runs into Amberleigh.

It has been a week or so since my last post. Things have been busy, not least starting my own business this week. This has meant that there has been little time for actual modelling, until this weekend. This said, I still managed to purchase a Hornby Class 50 in NSE and also a BR blue class 03, coupled with two Mk2 TSOs. I guess I needed a good luck present for the new company!!

Another purchase this week were two telescopic trestles, to place the Amberleigh scenic board on. I finished the soldering on the scenic board this weekend, and attached one of the two fiddle yards. So far, so good. It all works!!! I waited until evening to see how effective the little station light and buffer stop are. I hope the photographs do it justice. I think it looks fantastic and am really happy with the result. I ran in my class 108 in NSE with its lights on and took a couple of snaps. The station light is from the detail matters range. It has created just the effect I was after, of an isolated unstaffed halt in rural Devon, waiting for an infrequent DMU service to the big smoke (Barnstaple or Torrington!!!!!)


Waiting for the late train back to Barnstaple

Tonight I am going to add a couple of trees to the layout, add a bush or two to a scorch mark on the grass caused by the soldering iron, and paint the tunnel and steps. Just one more fiddle yard to add, then all done. A scenic test track all finished, and after a few weeks rest, I will start the larger sister layout of Watergate Halt.

Other projects remain seriously slow at the moment. The walrus and grampus are gloss varnished, ready for transfers. The class 33/1 is apart, as is the mk1 NEA, but there has been no progress at all on any of these projects. I also want to do some further weathering of my class 47,035. Hopefully, over the next two weeks I will get up plenty of posts of progress on these projects soon!


The class 108 pulls up the halt. It is a NSE 108 livery, it is not uncommon to see this livery this far west

Engineering wagons at Amberleigh

BDA wagon with rail load

After a great weekends modelling, I have done very little this week so far. However, I did find time to put together all the components of the BDA wagon I had, to model a wagon with a rail load. This was certainly inspired by George Dent's article in model rail, but my load uses painted rail instead of steel girders. Also I used some low task masking tape for my straps. However, I think it is a great way to produce a realistic looking wagon with relatively little work - thanks model rail for some good inspiration here!!

Inspired by how pleased I was with this wagon, I decided to put some other of my engineering wagons on Amberleigh, together with my class 37/0. This incidentally I have regrettably put on flea bay to raise some much needed funds. However, with some empty ballast wagons and some rail carrying wagons, I think Amberleigh looks great, modelling some engineering works in the late 1980s'. Below are a selection of photographs from this, enjoy, they are only a bit of fun!!!


There has been considerable engineering work on the Torrington line this week. At Amberleigh halt a class 37/0 with a short empty ballast train passes a stationary BDA and salmon YNA with crane


Shark wagon at the end of the engineers train


37035 halls its train of catfish and dogfish wagon past the small siding at Amberleigh


The train contained both old battered and relatively new dogfish wagons

Bachmann class 37/0 weathered!! (plus a dogfish and sealion)

Dutch livery class 37/0 shunts some engineering wagons at Amberleigh halt

Well a great weekends modelling has transpired. In fact I would go so far to say that I am modelled out!!! This weekend concentrated on weathering a class 37/0 in dutch livery, giving it a really heavy weathered finish. This is only my second attempt at modelling a weathered locomotive with my new air brush. It was a good lesson, as with funds being a little tight, I was planning to sell it on e-bay ready to raise some much needed cash!!! However, I am very pleased with the results and am now considering keeping it.


The passengers waiting for the local dmu service to barnstaple get a close up of 37035

I have somehow messed up my airbrush this weekend, it is spraying slightly to the side. I am gutted, but have no idea how it happened. I guess the centre needle must be broken, but how this happened I am not sure. Anyway,I weathered the locomotive with a combination of frame dirt, matt black, weathered black, roof dirt and sleeper grime all from the lifecolour range. Two coats of humbrol matt enamel varnish were added to seal it. The model is depicted in a heavily weathered state, but I really like the overall effect. I especially like the very flat matt finishes of the lifecolour acrylic paints, I think they look most realistic.


A slightly battered sealion wagon in the short engineers train

Other than that a sealion and dogifsh have been added to the engineering stock. Again two very pleasing results with the airbrush weathering. The dogfish is an heljan wagon and the sealion is a bachmann wagon. Both have turned out nicely i think. I especially like the rust effect on the sealion wagon.


Close up of the weathering on the sealion wagon

On other projects I have a NEA Mk1 brake waiting for a good weathering and a grampus and walrus ready for the addition of some transfers. I also need to buy some trestles to finish the amberleigh halt scenic board. I have a feeling that the sale of the class 37/0 on ebay might end up funding the acquisition of these new trestles.....we shall see!!


A dogfish wagon also in dutch livery at Amberleigh


The unkept state of a departmental class 37 in the late 1980s

parcels wagon and a lamprey

The 50ft parcel wagon and end of the lamprey wagon - finished today!!

Well today I finished off the painting on the lamprey wagon and also the 50ft parcels van. The lamprey turned out nicely, although for some reason I struggled to take a photograph of it in focus!! Anyway, another nice wagon to add to my growing engineers fleet.

The 50ft parcel vans was looking great, until that is, I took off the maskol from the window. On one of the central windows the maskol had spilled over onto the body side and there is a patch of gleaming unweathered rail blue!! I am currently not too sure what to do about this and whether to leave well enough alone or not. A bad bit of air brushing necessitated the need for a graffiti decal on the side of the van. This has then been weathered down and I am pleased with the overall appearance, with the wagon more heavily weathered on one side than the other.


The weathered wagon, with a slight aberration around the centre window!!

The weekend I have free to model, with my son away and girlfriend working - bliss!! I plan to finish the detailing and weathering of a class 37/0 in dutch livery, weather a bda wagon and add a load of steel rail to it, build an SR CCT and paint it in rail blue and lastly convert another 12T van for the riverside freight train. All in all ambitious, but looking forward to a good weekends modelling.

Class 47 at Amberleigh

A really heavy week at work with the resurgence of that flu has meant there has been precious little time for modelling. None of my rolling stock projects have moved forward, but I did manage an hour or two of detailing on Amberleigh. I put up the information board and added the fence at the front of the layout. I also added a small speed sign and also glued down some old sleepers on the side of the track.



The creation of this scenic plinth has been a really good learning curve. Although the detailing of grounded van body is not yet complete, I did make a mistake detailing around it and sprayed the bottom edge of van with hairspray. I am not sure if I like the randomness of this effect or not!!?? Other than a little detailing around the grounded van body, and a few more bushes to add, this little plinth is effectively finished. This weekend I hope to finish it properly and also make some progress on my rolling stock projects.

Amberleigh Progress

Well a few days modelling with my son has transformed the landscape of Amberleigh. The halt is close to finished, with the platform light and some passengers installed. All the trees have been added. All that is left is a little static grass to add at the front, some minor details on the halt and ground van body to see to, a speed sign to add and the steps to paint.

We did a test photo shoot today with a class 25 on a short engineers train. So below are a selection of shots of the nearly finished layout. It has been a joint effort of my son and me. It is not perfect, by any stretch, but as a first attempt we are happy with it. The backscene is the biggest imperfection, but I am looking forward to soldering up the last of the wiring and having a good running session soon, on a fully operational test track.


Class 25 with empty grampus.


Grampus wagon and SR brake van.


SR 25 ton brake van in the engineers short train.


Class 25 returning past Amberleigh.



The entire layout.


Platelayers hut by the bridge.