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. 

Hedge laying

This week I have been testing out some methods of constructing more realistic hedges.  I am certainly very limited when it comes to scenery detailing, so I spent a couple of evenings googling some videos on you tube and then having a go myself.  I must admit to feeling pretty pleased so far!

The hedge starting to progress.

A class 47 about to run light to Exeter.

I started off by teasing out some clumps of rubberised horse hair.  These were then sprayed with brownish shades, such as burnt umber and sleeper grime.  I then shaped some clumps into vaguely plant like shapes and super glued the stalks together.  I dipped these clumps in ballast bond and covered with Noch leaves.  I left these too dry, before giving them a good blast of cheap hairspray.  Quick and satisfying!  I have then started to drill some holes and place these into the based board.  It needs a little more colour and variation, but a hedge is starting to creep along the first of the baseboards.  Plans for this weekend are to extend this further and add a fence as well, to start to form the scene at the front of the layout. A few more pictures below.  

Charlton non-micro layout update!

This week has finally witnessed a little bit of progress on the layout.  Previously I had become very unsatisfied with the original 3 ft fiddle yard and only 3 lines.  It was not big enough to accommodate a 2 coach train and locomotive.  So I purchased another baseboard (Tim Horn) and the original fiddle yard had a scenic break added to it, about one third of the way down.  This now gives me 5 ft fiddle yard, with four sidings (although these are not yet all laid down and wired up). 

New view of the layout with the extension added (right)

This redesign is much more satisfying.  Firstly, the head shunt at the end of the station is much bigger.  This is great, as originally the locomotive would disappear part away into the fiddle yard to run around its train.  Secondly, I can now run longer trains and more of them, significantly increasing the operational potential of the layout.  The downside is the layout is now 12ft long, so I can hardly call this a micro-layout any more!  It was meant to be a quick project, but has taken on a life of its own.  It is all good though, I am quite pleased with the way it is shaping up.

The new fiddle yard in progress!

View back towards the station from the new extension.

There is an awful lot of detailing working still be done on the baseboards and there has not be any progress on this!  I still need to build a few structures and add the scenery around this.  However, momentum and enthusiasm have both picked up a little recently, so I am hoping to achieve some more progress over the coming weeks.  The class 22 and 3 mk1 coaches plonked on the layout at the moment represent some projects for the coming weeks.  My normal enthusiasm for painting and detailing stock has disappeared over the last couple of months.  I have the Howes sound chip ready to go for this locomotive, so I hope to get this in the paintshop soon enough, although I have still to add the detailing pack to this locomotive.

The extended headshunt, with plenty of room to run around.

Class 22 ready to head back to Exeter via Barnstaple junction.

Hopefully some more progress to report this week!

A Grampus wagon ready for service

My apologies for the lack of updates recently - sometimes life just gets too busy for modelling.  Anyhow, a very hectic month has passed, where I managed to find precious little time to sit down and get on with some modelling tasks.  I find that momentum is key with projects and when it is lost, it can be difficult to get started again.

Recently finished Grampus wagon posed on the Charlton layout.

However, I finished off a couple of wagons about a month ago, but did not manage to get around to writing about them on this blog.  The first of these is a Grampus wagon, built from the Parkside kit.  It is built per the instructions, but is fitted with white metal buffers (Lanarkshire Modelling Supplies) and 3 link couplings.  As per usual I painted this with an airbrush and transfers are from the Modelmaster range.  This kit is one of a number I built in 2016 and has languished around until a few months ago for painting.  I am slowly working my way through painting this stack of built kits and it is very satisfying to see some of them finally finished and working on the layout.....speaking of which....

Another shot of the finished Grampus.

The Charlton microlayout has seen precious little development in the last month.  This is a shame because I am at the point when things really start to take off.  A few bits of scenery have been added here and there, but generally there has been little progress.  However, I have ripped up the original fiddle yard, as I was not satisfied with its capacity to hold trains to run into the station.  I have ordered another 3ft by 1ft baseboard, so the whole layout with fiddleyard now comes to 12ft!  I am not sure this really counts as a microlayout anymore!!  I plan to wire up a new fiddle yard this week, so hopefully a layout update to follow soon.

Charlton Micro Layout - a bit of scenery

A little bit of progress has been made on the Charlton micro layout.  The first board has had some basic scenery work done.  The car park has been added next to the station, although this needs some painting to blend it in.  I also need to build a stone wall to run along the edge of the back scene here - a job for this evening.  The houses at the end of the layout have been glued in place and their lawns have been added, alongside a little vegetation.  The front of the layout has had some flock added, before it will be covered with some static grass.  So some basic progress and it is starting to come to life.  I have next week off work - so I hope to really be able to crack on a bit more next week and get the bulk of this scenic work finished.

The tree will not be remaining on the platform!