Western on a parcels service at Charlton June 1970

Last weekend I set up the layout to test out the new fiddle yard, and then ended up playing trains a little!  So captured on an overcast day in June 1976 a BR Blue western is captured running a short parcels into Charlton. This truncated SR branchline in North Devon somehow escaped being a victim of the Beaching Axe, although the branchline was effectively halved in the length.  The remaining half into Barnstaple gained a late reprieve, with a healthy level of goods and parcels traffic on the short branchline still in the 1970s.  More work has recently progressed on the layout and I am feeling happy with how it is all progressing.  It really helps to see it all working and it provides some impetus to get it finished!

Evenings parcels service runs into Charlton.

The Western uncoupled moves over the points to run around the train.

Western running around around the short loop.

Buffering back up, ready to head back to Barnstaple and then onto Exeter.

And back to Barnstaple the parcels service heads.

Charlton layout - further progress

This week has seen some further progress on the layout.  As always there has been less time than I anticipated, but life always finds something to keep you busy!  Anyhow, a lot of those little jobs have been finished off.  The fiddle yard has been wired up so it is operational.  There is one more one more siding to add to the fiddle yard, but this is a relatively small job to solder this last one up.  The casing for the fiddle yard still needs to be finished, as this has only been partially completed.  However, the fiddle yard is now operation and can easily hold a 3 coach train plus locomotive in the longest siding, which will make operating the layout much easier.  The four roads in the fiddle yard will be able to hold a 3 coach plus locomotive formation, a 3 car DMU plus 1 car DMU, and two freight trains in the other two roads, a mixture of parcels, milk, china clay and of course an engineers working!

New fiddle yard, with three of the four sidings are now operational.

The fiddle yard can now easily hold a 3 coach train plus locomotive.

The tunnel entrance towards the fiddle yard has been glued down and the backscene partially painted.  The landscaping around the tunnel has been started using some paper mache, with the plaster bandage to be added over this today.  This new track has also been painted and ballasted, with the landscaping on this end of the layout starting today in earnest.

The tunnel entrance towards the fiddle yard is starting to take shape.

General view towards the fiddle yard.

The cobbled area around the provender store and old warehouse is taking a bit longer to finish.  I can't quite seem to get the balance right with the painting.  So attached are a couple of photos of how it looks at the moment.  An awful lot of mind numbing scribing went into this area, so I would like to get the balance of this right and really bring out the detail.  There are a couple more coats of paint to add to this today.   

Cobbled area, which still requires some more painting.

The cobbled area with a little bit of dry brushing across the bottom.  I am not happy with the appearance this at the moment.

Other jobs in progress are the scribing of a wall behind the signal box, which will eventually head towards the tunnel, and adding more static grass.  A lot of refining of this needs to happen around the trackwork and along the platforms.  The front of the layout needs some hedges and fences to be added as well.  However, there is a little bit of momentum with the layout detailing at the moment.  Maybe a June finish date was a little optimistic, however, it is all heading in the right direction.  

General shot of the layout as it currently is looking towards the fiddle yard.

The terminus end of the layout, showing the carpark and terraced houses.

View towards the terminus end during a test run.

BR 22t plate wagon

A few weeks ago I managed to finished off another wagon - this time a 22t plate wagon.  Work has been a bit hectic recently, so the little snatches of modelling time I get have been used to add more scenery to the layout.  The layout is progressing nicely and I am confident I can finish it by the end of June, ready to (hopefully) visit some exhibitions.

Plate wagon on the Charlton layout!

So anyhow back to the wagon! This is the standard Parkside offering and I must say - (and this is being a big fan of Parkside) - it was a bit of a shambles of a kit!  I think it must be an older kit, but I found it very difficult to build the wagon square.  It must have been glued and then forced apart about four times, before regluing!  It has white metal buffers from Lanarkshire modelling supplies added and 3 link couplings.  It has been painted as per usual via the airbrush and had CCT transfers added, with the data panel from Modelmaster.

Looking back down towards Ilfracombe.  This section of the layout is almost finished! Almost....

This was another one of those builds that has languished around, so it is great to see it finally finished and ready to run on the layout.  I have kicked off a few other projects this week too - a coach, a DCC sound fitted class 25 and also a Dapol class 22 ready for detailing and DCC sound.  So I have been busy this weekend doing some actual modelling - and very nice it has been too! Layout report to follow next week sometime.... 

A couple more of the plate. wagon.