The Bluebell Model Railway Exhibition - a success (mainly!!)

Well I have just got back from my first exhibition.  I spent two days operating Charlton at the Bluebell Model Railway weekend, set up at Horsted Keynes.  This was my first exhibition operating a layout and the first time I have ever displayed any of modelling.  It was with a little trepidation that I turned up on the Saturday morning to set up.  I am pleased to say that I found the weekend a very fun experience, if not a little exhausting!  I was operating on my own, so keeping something moving all the time demanded quite a lot of concentration.  However, the days flew by and it was fantastic to have some dedicated running time.

The layout set up ready to go.  The black drape needs a little work!

The class 45 running in a passenger service - before it was sent flying to the floor!

Like doing anything for the first time, it is a steep learning curve.  The layout behaved faultlessly, with the exception of one loose wire on a point that occasionally needed a tweak. The engines behaved beautifully and the slow speed running and shunting was fantastic.  I was also happy with how the couplings worked, although I realised pretty quickly that the class 22 could not be coupled up to a coaching rake under the gaze of the public - the body skirt essentially hides the coupling.  However, with the Western and class 45 on the passenger service, plus the class 22 or 25 on the freight side, everything worked really well.  I also quickly realised that I tried to cram far too much stock into the fiddle yard and slowly reduced this over the weekend.  A freight train or two, a passenger service and DMU were more than sufficient to keep the layout working.  

View from the other side.

A busy moment as the western heads out on another passenger turn (what happened to the windscreen wipers??.....

However, there was also a slight downside, with a woman who inexplicably gave the fiddle yard a frightful bump and sent the class 45 clattering onto the concrete floor.  I was a little annoyed, but she did apologise - I have realised that people do get too close, so next time I am going to set the layout further back than I did this time.  However, other than the class 45 now being completely knackered, this was the only down side.  I realised that I need a lip on the fiddle yard to stop this happening again, so this will be installed before its next outing.  This was certainly a preventable problem and was caused by my own inexperience of not having exhibiting before and realising that some people are not that spatially aware!!  The western also somehow lost a pair of windscreen wipers and the roof fell off the BY wagon, but there are easy fixes.  Other than these very minor issues, the weekend was fantastic and I am keen to do more.  There were a lot of great conversations and some very kind comments, making the whole experience very rewarding.  It also gave me a lesson in not being too precious about the layout - it was built to be used.  I can see that taking it to exhibitions will cause some wear and tear, but I think better that than just keeping it at home.  Thank you to anyone who came to see the layout and I hope you enjoyed it!  Off to Ebay now to get a new class 45 bogie and gear box!!

The class 45 stripped down tonight, ready for repair.  It needs a whole new bogie plus gear box.  However, as luck would have it, I think there is one on ebay right now!  Hopefully this should not be too difficult to fix and patch up.

Am I ready? - the first exhibition and a class 25 with DCC sound

So tomorrow I will take my layout to an exhibition - this is the layouts first exhibition and it is also my first exhibition ever!  I am looking forward to it, although I am also a little nervous.  I wonder how my modelling will compare to the other layouts and more importantly how the layout will operate over a whole weekend of running.  However, I am really looking forward to giving it a go.  My son was meant to be helping out, but I guess young men have better things to do with their time nowadays (he is working saving up for University so I should not complain!), so it is me on my own for the weekend.  Whilst the layout is finished, the front parts of the baseboards could do with a little tidying up.  I have purchased a black curtain, but have just run out of time to do anything else.

The newly sound chipped class 25 shunting at Charlton.

The class 25 I sound chipped several months ago has been put out of service, due to me somehow dislodging the handrail.  So I have managed to sound chip another class 25 a couple of weeks ago and this will now fit on the roster, alongside a class 52, a class 42, a class 22 and a class 45.  As per normal this is a Howes programmed Loksound decoder, although I believe it is the newer version 5.0.  The Bachmann rats are great little locomotives so I envision this will be doing a lot of the work tomorrow.

Class 25 leaving Charlton.

So the layout is in the van ready to go tomorrow morning.  All the stock has been sorted and is packed up.  Fingers crossed I do not forget anything....and wish me luck.  In case you are interested in coming, the exhibition is on the Bluebell Railway and I am at the Horsted Keynes sections - maybe see you tomorrow.

Class 25 running onto to its train.

BY van in the engineers train

As well as finishing off some of the detailing on the layout last weekend, I gave the final blast of varnish to a BY wagon.  This is the standard Parkside kit, finished off in engineers olive green.  Many years ago I built a CCT and a PMV, both finished in olive green. So the BY van now joins them in this small train.  I have recently revised my interest in building a short(ish!) train of engineering CCTS and vans.  I have now got a PMV, CCT, 12t van, and recently purchased a Bachmann olive green BG to run with this.  On the work bench I am building a GWR Python wagon and a GWR Iron Mink wagon to add to this in some shabby engineering olive liveries!  So maybe not such a short train, but something a little different and fun to build.

Finished BY at the station.

Being shunted about at the station.

Coupled up to its train.

As per normal this was built from the kit, although I reinforced the joins with some plastic strip.  It was painted with the airbrush, using Railmatch enamels, and the transfers are from Modelmaster.  I am not sure the lighting in these photographs does the wagon justice - but I think the detailing on this one looks spot on!  So another one finished and ready to go.  I will definitely be taking this van to the exhibition in a few weeks time.  When I built the original PMV I somehow forgot to add the footboards, so I also need to revisit this over the coming weeks. Summer is here now and I have to go trans-Atlantic with work for a week or so, so an update when I get back.

At the station ready for collection.

Coupled up to a warship and heading back to Exeter!

Class 42 Maroon Warship DCC sound - running and in service!

Over the last year or so I have been detailing a Maroon Warship - this is a Bachmann model that I treated myself to in January 2018.  The locomotive was a total wreck when I got hold of it second hand, but it was the newer 21 pin version with lights.  I think that sometimes a beat up locomotive is more fun to work on - you can be a bit bolder with your approach and it does not matter too much! Anyhow, rather than stripping this locomotive right back to its shell and repainting, I gave the locomotive a good clean and added some splashes of white.  Over this I added some various shades of faded maroon before an overall coat of grime, before spraying some individual weathering elements, such as black around the grills, etc.

The finished warship - a speedy project taking only 18 months or so!!!

Running an engineering train into Charlton.

The underframe was missing any buffers and a detailing pack.  I fitted some A1 brass buffers and luckily Bachmann had a spare detailing pack that they sent to me for a modest sum (excellent service from Bachmann here).  The underframe and body were weathered separately, before being finished together.  

Shunting some milk wagons by the provender store.

First strip down of the locomotive.

All I needed to do was pop in the Loksound decoder and speaker - blown by Howes.  Or so I thought!  I had not really considered the space inside the body shell - but there was really no room.  I soldered a single Iphone speaker to the decoder, minus any casing.  The speaker was from Road and Rails and they were super helpful over facebook in helping out (they had come across the same issue when they did their class 42).   So it all fitted together - just, after much cursing.  I have a second BR blue warship to do, but given the total headache with this, I am not so sure I want to tackle this one.  I might mill out a portion of the chassis block to fit a downward speaking speaker, although this means completely dismantling the locomotive.  However, otherwise I do not see much of an option.  There is no point spending £100 on a sound chip for it to sound a little naff!!

A magpie spotted at Charlton.

Iphone speaker soldered into the warship.

The finished set up - there really isn't room for the decoder either!

So the verdict?  I think this warship looks excellent!  However, it sounds just ok.  The speaker is good for its size, although the sound is a bit small over compared with what I was aiming for.  The PCB board from Bachmann is massive in this locomotive, hence the lack of room.  However, with this, a class 22 and a Western running over Charlton, I certainly have the 1970s covered (and I have just sound chipped another class 25!). This is how I intend to run the layout for the majority of time, glorious 1970s BR blue, I must however resist that Hymek.....).   

Shunting at Charlton.  Getting ready for the run back to Exeter.

Coupling up to its train.

Heading to Barnstaple junction, then homewards to Exeter!

Morris J4 British Rail Van

There has not be a lot of time for modelling over the last couple of weeks. A weekend away and heavy workload have all but put a stop to any projects.  However, something I did managed to finish off before last weekend was a small BR van for the Charlton layout.

A BR J4 Morris van!

Note the driver squashed in - he must be tall!

This was a quick and simple project.  I took the van apart, added a driver and weathered the body of the van, chassis and glazing separately.  I gave it a spray of satin varnish before I started a bit of weathering, to give the paints something to key into and then applied some weathering enamels from an air brush.  Before I had sealed the van with a final varnish coat it slipped over in the paint box (it was balanced on a class 37 chassis) and it rubbed some paint off on the sides.  I decided to keep this though, as a few yellower and darker patches seemed to work quite nicely. So the first road vehicle for Charlton.  I really need to get the layout set up and running, as its first exhibition is coming up at the end of June.  Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the space right now...although a finished DCC sound warship is about to roll out of the paintworks....

BR Blue BG with working lights

Recently I finished off another project, this is a MK1 BG coach, in BR blue.  This coach is the Bachmann model with the newspaper lettering.  I decided to do a little bit of experimentation with the interior lighting for this coach, using a layouts4u lighting kit.  These are considerably cheaper than the Express Models lighting kits, so I ordered a couple to have a little play around.  

The lights are on at the station!  The finished BG.

As per normal I dismantled the coach and removed the glazing.  I then weathered the roof and coach sides separately, before rejoining them together and sealing up the gap between the coach sides and the roof to stop lighting bleed.  To do this I glue in some microstrip  and then fill in the gap with glue and glaze.  When this has set I paint it black.  

The coach during reassembly with the stay alive unit on the left.

When it was all ready I added the lighting unit together by super gluing it to the roof and wired it up to a stay a live unit.....and it all failed to work!  I checked the lighting unit and this worked, but the stay alive unit was dead.  In the end I just left this out and wired the lighting kit straight to the pick ups.  Verdict - these lighting kits are pretty good and easy use.  Personally I prefer the effect of the Express Models lighting kits, so although they are more expensive I will continue to use these, as I only intend to do 6 coaches in total.  I thought the lighting in this BG is a little bit fierce, but that is personal preference.

The newspaper BG being shunted around the Charlton station.

Another view looking down the station.

This coach will be coupled to back of the passenger service to Charlton, which consists of two MK1 coaches.  The BG will then be uncoupled at the station.  So this wagon has been finished with a 3 link coupling at both ends, in order to enable easy uncoupling.  I am very happy with this project overall and will add a little variety to the rolling stock at Charlton.  I just need to find a little time and a location to have a proper running session soon.

Working station lights plus some final details

Over last weekend I managed to finish off some of the last remaining jobs on the Charlton layout, which were the adding of the lights to the station and the addition of some trees behind the station.  These were jobs that had been put off for a while, but once started progress was swift.  The layout is only 1ft wide, with the station position near to the back scene.  This has caused some problems, as the station needs some context behind it before the backscene, but there is not a lot of room to play with.

The lights are on at Charlton!  This was photographed in very dim light and there are clear shadows being cast on the backscene from the station lights.  However, I am still very pleased with the result here.

The trees behind the platform help break the scene up.

There was not a lot of room to work with here, so I began by fitting in some trees behind the main platform.  These were off the shelf models from Noch and Faller and it was a bit of a tight squeeze to fit them between the station and the backscene.  I have also recently purchased a big box of sea moss, so I set about making some smaller shrubs and trees from these.  This is a first attempt at using this medium, but I was delighted with the results and these were also fitted in behind the station.

The shadow effect is clearly evident in this picture.

In less dark lighting the shadows on the backscene are reduced, with the lights producing a pleasant effect.

The stations lights were added to the station by drilling some holes into the platform (taking a deep breath!!) and supergluing in place.  The lamps are 3v LED lamps from layouts4u, a cheap and good looking sets of lamps.  These were wired up to a double AA battery holder and hey presto, quick and easy working lights.  The  light from the station lamps is a little bright so I might tone this down in the future with the use of some resistors.  There are shadows clearly being cast onto the backscene.

The far end of the platform with a couple of trees added in.

The station building I constructed many years ago and it is great it has finally found a home.  However, I had managed to place a frog juicer on the underside of the baseboard right under the platform.  This meant I could not simply drill through the baseboard to install a light for the station building.  So, I purchased a 1.5v circular batter and simply bent the connectors of a small 1.5v LED to shape and installed it into the building.  It is a pretty quick and easy fix to give a good light to the building.  As the building was built many years ago it was not designed to have a working light inside it. Consequently, the light clearly seeps out under the edge of the building.  I am going to insert a small floor to plug up this gap in the building.  Both platform structures are simply positioned on top of the platform - so changing the battery will not be a problem.

A simple solution for interior lights!

Over the last few weeks I have also built a little station building to fit over the baseboard join.  This is a run down little structure knocked up from some plasticard and painted with some enamels.  This was placed on the platform with the other station furniture glued down, such as signs.  I think this shelter really looks the part and am pleased with the overall outcome of the station.

The new platform shelter, which will eventually be positioned over the baseboard join.

So the layout is finally finished!  There will be a little bit of tweaking here and there, but overall it is complete. My first completed, working layout.  This was meant as a quickie project over 6 months and has taken on a life of its own.  But it is a real relief to get it over the line!  I need to find of day and some space to set the whole layout out and really give it all a proper work out.  I am generally quite pleased with the result and learnt a lot of lessons along the way.  The problem is, at the moment, I do not have the space to run this layout regularly......so a little 5ft micro-box layout is already on the cards!  I will start this off over summer watch this space!  Until then there is plenty of stock to finish off to run around Charlton with the first exhibition date fast approaching.