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2996 Victor

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Everything posted by 2996 Victor

  1. 2996 Victor
    Did the MGWR have a standard design goods shed that was larger than that? Regards, Mark
  2. 2996 Victor
    Here's the current state of play with the track layout. I've got a tandem three-way point in for access to the goods shed and cattle pen sidings in order to keep the majority of the point work on one board, or at least not straddling a joint. Also, the loco and carriage shed roads are only roughed in. The rectangular outlines are the baseboard outlines at 1.2m x 0.9m. I may try a bit of width compression as that's really a bit wider than I'd ideally like, but at the same time I want the layout to have a spacious feel to it. Question time. Was a wall at the rear of the platform, to keep the goods shed road "safe", a common feature? Thanks as always for looking in: any comments or suggestions will be most welcome. Cheers, Mark
  3. 2996 Victor
    By that time they were pretty much worn out - only Lew found a buyer and supposedly went the South America. What an excellent descriptive phrase, though! Cheers, Mark
  4. 2996 Victor
    Hi Mic, Yes, we were extremely lucky with the weather, to the point of ending up slightly sunburned! Lyn was certainly the most versatile and capable of the locos: the Mannings were a bit underpowered, I believe. I think the Mannings were far more attractive in their early form: but the arrangement of the cab side sheets and spectacle plate apparently trapped exhaust steam and caused visibility problems for the crew! The rebuilt cabs look a bit "laid back" to my eyes! Cheers, Mark
  5. 2996 Victor
    .....hope you'll be doing a build thread? Cheers, Mark
  6. 2996 Victor
    So here are a few pictures taken at the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway on Saturday: And finally, one of my little version: Cheers for now! Mark
  7. 2996 Victor
    4-8-4T, now that would be something in 7mm!!!
  8. 2996 Victor
    Just a thought, but this arrangement on the West Somerset Railway at Blue Anchor could possibly be adapted The whole scene is looking fabulous, if I may say so! I just hope I can pull off a similar result when I get building..... Your approach to the backscene and how it melds into the three-dimensional scenery is masterful. Thanks for sharing, Mark Can we arrange a rota?
  9. 2996 Victor
    I've had a few kits and bits arrive this week which may see the start of a few buildings for Mount Bellew. First up are a couple of Ratio GWR signal box kits, one of the Severn Valley Railway Highley 'box and one of the generic "ground level signal box", both of which bear a good likeness to the McKenzie & Holland MGWR cabins. A scratch-built locking room will be needed though, as the Irish cabins seem to have much smaller windows. I've also received some more "scratch-aid" low-relief house kits such as I'm using on my Lynton & Barnstaple Railway OO9 micro layout, as I think they'll fit in well with an appropriate finish. Which brings me to station building, goods shed and locomotive shed plans. I believe the MGWR had standard designs? Some station building plans are in Shepherd's book, but are there any plans available for the major buildings I've mentioned? Suggestions, please, but keep it polite! Cheers, Mark
  10. 2996 Victor
    I'm planning to use one of these as the basis for the M&H cabin on my project layout. Achill, I think, is a good example of a smaller cabin of this type. The ground level version seems to have the same superstructure as the full-height one. The locking room windows seem to be much smaller on Irish cabins than on the Ratio model of Highley (Severn Valley Railway, btw). As mentioned by airfixfan, the Signalling Record Society book is a mine of information. Cheers, Mark
  11. 2996 Victor
    Jane and I had a lovely trip on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay today. The weather was perfect: sunny, just a light breeze. "Lyn" was in fine fettle with her beautiful 3-coach set. It was just a bit of a shame that there weren't more visitors: hopefully tomorrow will be better as they're doing Easter-related things for the younger ones. And I came away with the long-desired Heljan model of "Lyn" in her pre-1906 livery The box has been carefully opened and the prize within uncovered. But not handled, just looked at I'll post some photos once we're home again. Cheers, Mark
  12. 2996 Victor
    There's been a sneaky little bit of progress on the pub, aka The Prospect Inn, which sits at the back of the scene toward the right-hand end, next to the row of houses. I'm finishing it as a Starkey, Knight & Ford house, as they were a brewery local to where I grew up. My great-grandfather was landlord of the pub in the village I lived in as a child, taking it on in 1936, the family relinquishing it in 1968. It was a Starkey, Knight & Ford house, and their house colours were white with black trim. A large number of their pubs seem to have been rough-cast rendered as was "ours" so I was looking for a way to replicate that in a not-too-obvious way. Initially, I thought of sandpaper, and did go so far as to cover the building in some 180 grade but the window and door openings were a bit of a problem. Then I thought of that sandtex masonry paint, which led me by a roundabout route to some dark and cobwebbed recess of my mind where I'd filed away textured spray paint. A quick trawl through eBay and up popped Rust-oleum textured paint and a can was duly ordered. So here we are. The pub building has been given three or four coats according to the instructions and that was the end of that can! However, it's exactly what I wanted: And once that was touch dry (impatient as always) it was given a deliberately slightly patchy coat of Tamiya white acrylic: which I hope you will agree looks like the real thing ish! Onward and upward! Cheers, Mark
  13. 2996 Victor
    Fab workmanship, Patrick, just the right degree of greenery makes those setts and slabs look so convincing. The whole scene is looking really superb! Cheers, Mark
  14. 2996 Victor
    Sounds great, George! I'll look forward to seeing it progress have you been to Woody Bay? We're having a weekend away over Easter, staying in Lynton, and a visit to the L&B is a definite! Cheers, Mark
  15. 2996 Victor
    Just got a copy of this myself - fascinating stuff and well worth the money! Cheers, Mark
  16. 2996 Victor
    Hi George, What sort of layout are you planning? I did have a Manning but sold it a couple of years ago as I need the cash at the time! I need to "invest" in another one To backdate the cab, I'd like to get hold of the Backwoods kit as that has the early cab in etched brass; failing that I'll make one myself and modify the body moulding. But I expect Lyn will be the first loco to make an appearance!# I'm still tinkering with the point-work and the siding layout, but I've ordered a couple of wagon turntables to go in front of the archway warehouse. They won't be operational, though! Cheers, Mark
  17. 2996 Victor
    Very good advice, if I may say so! Just to add that the Alphagraphix CC-prefixed rolling stock card kits are available from Roger in 4mm/OO scale - just add 400 to the catalogue number so that kit number CC17, for instance, becomes CC417. Cheers, Mark
  18. 2996 Victor
    The baseboards are laser-cut kits from Grainge & Hodder, who have a range of modular sizes but who will also design to your specifications. Initially, this board was intended for a different project, and started out at 1m long x 0.3m wide. When I started out on this, I soon realised it wasn't really wide enough so ordered an extension board to go at the back. This arrived toward the end of last week and was assembled, and was then fitted to the "main" board yesterday by drilling, gluing and bolting together. I still need to order the fiddle yard boards, but there's no immediate hurry for those. This project has been underway since early last December, and rather than being "designed" is evolving in a slightly Darwin-esque way If you really want to be bothered, you can see all the previous drivel on my NGRM Online thread here but to be honest, apart from the inset track at the front of the layout, I'm virtually starting again. This is the current state of play. Almost bare boards with all previous cork track bed scraped off (what a blooming job!). The inset track at the front is PECO N Code 55, and is fixed and wired: Having fixed the timber baulk "buffers" to the quay wall yesterday, today I wasn't very happy with them - they're too skinny - so they've been unceremoniously ripped off again they'll be replaced with something heftier. The 25mm square pine strip at front will be the edge of the river, probably just 'orrible mud. And here is the current iteration of the track layout with the buildings I've got underway: There'll be a couple of wagon turntables in front of the archway warehouse at the left back. The tracks hanging off the nearest end will mate with a sector plate, of course. Lots more buildings to add! Thanks for looking in cheers for now, Mark
  19. 2996 Victor
    Welcome to my Lynton & Barnstaple micro layout build thread. The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway was a narrow gauge railway built between those two North Devon towns. It opened in 1897 and ran as an independent company until the Grouping in 1923, when it came under the control of the Southern Railway. It was closed in 1935, but a 1-mile section of track has been re-opened by the new Lynton & Barnstaple Railway as a heritage steam railway. The new company fully intend to rebuild the whole line and is making great strides with that purpose. Have a look at their website here if you're interested in this amazing project. This layout is/will be a micro/cameo layout portraying a small fictitious quay scene ostensibly in a Barnstaple backwater. Track will be Code 55 flat bottom rail, a combination of paved (i.e. inset) PECO N track and hand-built track. Hopefully, the latter will look a bit more like the real thing than the usual Toytown narrow gauge track available commercially, and will avoid the "RSJ rail" look! The layout is set in 1905 when the line was relatively new. This will allow me to run a Manning Wardle 2-6-2T in early cab condition and in the pale green livery. Locomotives and rolling stock will be mostly RTR PECO and Bachmann with a few 3D-printed and kit-built wagons thrown in courtesy of Custom OO9 and Dundas respectively; A/M chopper couplings that look a bit more like the real thing are planned. Overall sizes: the scenic board is 1m long x 0.5m wide, fiddle yard boards will be 0.5m x 0.5m. Thanks for looking in! There'll be some pics soon, but cheers for now, Mark
  20. 2996 Victor
    I meant to add that if you're going the OO route, it might be worthwhile considering the PECO bullhead track range as the rail height, sleeper size and spacing is so much better than their "normal" track, which is effectively HO track. These are the two types side-by-side: Alternatively, you could use SMP OO flexi-track and Marcway points, probably a little more expensive than than the PECO but a little more realistic still. Just a thought! Cheers, Mark
  21. 2996 Victor
    Hi @Jb1911, welcome to the forum - I'm sure you'll find everyone every bit as friendly, helpful and knowledgeable as I have. It's a great place full of great folk! @Galteemore has been very kind, but I really do have to say that I'm certainly no expert on the MGWR: everything I know (and lots that I've already forgotten) is entirely thanks to the people on here. John @Mayner and Jonathan @jhb171achill are the experts who know all there is to know. You might want to have a look through my layout build thread - link in my signature - as I've asked loads of newbie questions and got excellent answers to each and every one. There are also various books mentioned, but as a starting point, there are these: The Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland: An Illustrated History by Ernie Shepherd, Midland Publishing Ltd Irish Railways in Pictures No.2: The Midland Great Western Line by the Irish Railway Record Society London Area Rails to Achill by Jonathan Beaumont, Oakwood Press Rails through Connemara by Jonathan Beaumont, Oakwood Press Modelling Irish Railways by Stephen Johnson and Alan O'Rourke, Midland Publishing Ltd There were also some articles by David Malone in the short-lived RailModel Digest magazine: issues #1, #2, #3 and #6 are worth seeking out. New Irish Lines magazine published by Alan O'Rourke is also well-worth its subscription, link here Hope this helps and by all means ask me any questions you like - I'll try to answer! Good luck with your project, Mark
  22. 2996 Victor
    I don't know about going back to school - it seems to me that the way to a satisfying hobby is doing what you like and what you enjoy! And I think your results bear that out in spades, if I may say so! And I'm with you on doing things by hand - scratch-building a wagon, for instance, is immensely satisfying but I've tried to batch-build three or four of the same vehicle in the past and I just get bored with it where kits aren't available, I think that's where 3D-printing really scores. As for Templot, it's really "just another tool", and it serves an extremely useful purpose for setting out your point-work particularly where its on a curve or its particularly complex. Which I'll just leave to those who can do that sort of thing..... Cheers, Mark
  23. 2996 Victor
    Fantastic work on the cobbles - more like setts, if I may say so - but no doubt about the superb outcome! Cheers, Mark
  24. 2996 Victor
    Exactly, @Angus - I've just mentioned above that this is my third or fourth try at Templot, but its the first time I've got something meaningful out of it. All because previously I've expected it to perform like a CAD programme. The best thing I did this time was carefully read Martin's preamble at which time I had a light-bulb moment: basically, it ain't a CAD programme so don't treat it like one! And also that Templot's purpose is to design point-work, not layouts (although it can do that as well). Once I'd grasped that, it was a short step to producing my first 21mm gauge template, and then a double slip and a tandem. I've also produced a ladder for my OO9 micro. All these I've adjusted to incorporate EMGS standards, and its a joy to see the control template actually changing to confirm. My biggest eye-opener so far was attempting to rotate a RH turnout and tack it onto the slip: when it did it for me simply by dragging the connecting track centres together was an absolute "Wow!" moment. That's when I realised that Templot is incredibly clever and intuitive. And I've barely scratched the surface! If anyone is looking for the right tool to design their point-work, Templot is it! Read Martin's notes and watch the tutorials and prepare to be amazed! Cheers, Mark
  25. 2996 Victor
    Ha ha it certainly seems to be best approached with an open mind - it doesn't operate like other programmes we use regularly. I've been an AutoCAD user for thirty years now, and I approached Templot as if it were a CAD programme. But now on my third or fourth go it's finally penetrated my ivory dome that it doesn't work that way And even on a short acquaintance it looks like a tool that's worth learning to get the best from. Cheer, Mark
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