David Holman

Agree with all that has been said, plus also worth keeping an eye on other hobbies too. The war game and military diorama folk have some great ideas, while for the US scene and ideas to inspire generally Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette is always worth a look.

Really interesting - presumably the new North Kerry book will help. Must get myself a copy! Newcastle West has always fascinated me. Always liked the idea of a 'terminus junction' because it expands operating potential. How easy is it to get hold of station track plans? Bet there are many tempting possibilities. Think 21 mm gauge would be wonderful, or 10.5 for that matter. Will look forward to hearing how things develop

After the delights of a week in the sunshine [Tenerife, very nice - especially away from the resorts], got back to model making. The kit is so well thought out that assembly is a breeze for all the main structural bits. Tabs and slots make positioning of each piece easy, particularly once all the rivets have been pressed out. The boiler requires a bit more effort as it needs rolling. On Hazlewood, I used some large diameter copper pipe that our plumber gave me. Absolutely the right size, but such a heat sink that it was impossible to solder anything to it. This time, borrowed a blow torch and annealed the boiler etch, which made rolling a tube much easier. A picture shows the 'tools' used - essentially some plastic water pipe and a bit of curtain pole, though anything of the suitable diameter will work. Used florists wire [soft iron], twisted round the boiler to hold in shape while the end pieces were soldered in place. After, a chunk needed taking out [with a slitting disc] for the motor gearbox at the firebox end. Setting up the boiler on the footplate has been well thought out. One solders a nut in the centre of the firebox end and then this can be bolted in place via a hole in the cab. A self tapping screw is used to hold the smokebox front in place & once satisfied all is square, the smokebox front is tack soldered to the boiler. One addition I've made is to solder a nut to the inside of the smokebox, so the whole boiler-smokebox unit can be bolted in place, which will hopefully make painting a bit easier. So suddenly the main structure of the loco is complete. However, time-wise, I suspect we are less than halfway still. This is because adding the details takes a lot of effort, while cleaning up, painting & weathering is also something not to be hurried. Getting there though.

Looking at photos of your layout is a good way to 'proof read' it an tidy up mistakes or areas that still need improving. Was looking at the hedgerows and noticed that the bases of the trees were bare and the wire frames were clearly visible. Easy to remedy with some postiche and scatter material. Have also started adding some reeds to the drainage ditch, which is going to be tedious. Only done a small area so far & not sure if I like it yet. A case of C-, could do better, as my school reports used to say!

Murrayec is correct, Warbonnet. Currently the press retails for £85... Did I really pay that much?!? Works with material up to 20thou thick. Has 3 anvils and two punches. Plus if you are suitably minded, there is a table gizmo with adjustment wheels [like on a lathe?] which, if you follow the instructions & understand the maths, enables evenly spaced rivets to be produced - even in a circle. I use mine intermittently, but is one of those tools that, once you've invested, you wonder how you got on without it. Bit like a static grass machine. GW Models are very 'old school' - which is why the press is so beautifully made. So, no email, but he is based at 11 Croshaw Close, Lancing, West Sussex BN15 9 LE. Often attends shows in the south east [uckfield especially] & usually has an advert in Model Railway journal

Currently the layout is not seeing much work as I concentrate on the railbus and Small Tank. However, cleaned the track and did a bit of test running recently, so here are a couple of new pictures.

Don't know about anyone else, but the successful completion of a working chassis is always a cause for celebration for me. I've built over 50 locos [kits and scratch] in the last 20 years, so I ought to know what I'm doing by now, but it is always so nice to get a chassis to the point where wheels and coupling rods turn freely. After all, we want our trains to run well. The Northstar [now Studio Scale Models] kit is fairly simple in that it is a basic six coupled unit, with no outside rods or valve gear to worry about. There are nice slots and tabs to help align things, so with my aluminium rods, it wasn't too hard to get everything nice and square, so the chassis will roll under its own weight. The interesting bit is the trailing bogie, which has a clever vertical and horizontal alignment capability using small and large springs and a sliding machined brass block. Works well. Springs and brake gear are a bit fiddly, but again, careful design and clear instructions ensured things went together easily. The final bit of the chassis was to add some dummy inside motion. This is a crude copy of a very nice set of castings produced by Laurie Griffin. In my case cobbled together from plastic rod, strip and tube. Once painted, it fills the large gap between the frames - often an issue with Irish locos. When I do Large Tank Sir Henry, I've promise myself that I will have a go a working inside motion - the wider frames ought to make it a bit easier, but like outside motion, is one of challenges I think one has to have a go at eventually. You can hold me to that too. Have included a picture of the GW models Rivet Press - super bit of kit, essential for this model, as you will see later.

Railbus B certainly felt like a major project, not least because it was a scratchbuild, but there is something rather splendid about starting a model locomotive kit. As with Hazlewood, this is a Northstar Kit, which our own Weshty is now custodian. Being 7mm scale, you get a nice big box, with brass etchings for the body, nickel silver for the chassis, plus lots of whitemetal and lost wax brass castings for all the details. The small package at bottom right of the main photo hides the prime delight - additional etchings for the tank and bunker sides. Those of you familiar with these Beyer Peacock locos will know they are covered in rivets and these 9 etches contain over 1000 of them [yes really] which all need pressing out. Thank goodness for the GW rivet press... Have spent several sessions reminding myself of the kit and getting serious arm ache with the rivet press. However, now ready to get started, so should be able to report on the chassis by the weekend.

Been asked by the Club to take on publicity for our show, due to illness of the chap who usually does it and this site seemed like a good place to start! The show is on 14th & 15th June, at the Mid-Kent Leisure Centre in Gillingham, Kent. Adverts will be in the main magazines with full details in their June editions, which come out in mid May. For a while, the Chatham Show was one of THE prime events in the south east, but changes of personnel and [especially], venue within the Historic Dockyard, Chatham meant for a few difficult years after we lost our venue in the old fitted rigging house. A large marquee was used one year, pitched on shingle - not great for baseboard levelling - an it leaked! Then we had the Number 5 Covered Slip for several years. In some ways a wonderful venue with superb industrial atmosphere. However, it was also only half enclosed, the roof leaked and the River Medway could come up through the floor at high tide! The floor was also less than level. Never mind beer mats to pack baseboard feet, bricks were needed in some cases! The unsealed concrete floor was a nightmare for dust too and being unheated, early June could [as often was] less than warm. The main advantage was exhibitors and traders could drive their vehicles into the 'hall'. The final straw was supporting a Dockyard event at Easter last year, when the outside temperature was zero with around a 10 degree windchill. Using 3 link couplings not an option! Hence we are now in a smart, newly re-furbished Sports Centre, with lovely level floors, no gales blowing through and masses of space. Seemed to go well last year, with lessons learned re public catering, so if you are in the area, it is well worth a visit. Arigna Town's big debut, but as soon as I can will get hold of the list of traders and other layouts. We try to have a good blend of scale and RTR, so should be something for everyone. A long way for all you folk from over the water though...

With the signals now complete, work on Arigna Town again enters a new phase. An audit of rolling stock shows I already have more than enough to be going on with for the layout's exhibition debut in June, so now have the opportunity of some bonus time to try and built my second Sligo 'Small Tank'. As mentioned earlier, can't think why I would want to only have the one, as really want to avoid handling stock in the fiddle yard if I can help it. Hence the building of this will feature in my Workbench thread & after months of working mainly with plastic sheet and scenic materials, am looking forward to doing some metalwork again. Fingers crossed, having already built Hazlewood, the new one will benefit from that experience, though it was a while ago and I don't always remember the details!. That said, a look at the instructions shows I made a lot of notes as I went along, so maybe a bit of common sense did prevail at the time. Due to one of our other clubmembers falling ill, have found myself in charge of publicity for this year's Chatham Show. 14th and 15th June, folks! Not having done this before, it has been interesting to see discover how quickly advertising deadlines come round in the magazines, with mid to late March the cut off for the June editions [which come out in early May - never could understand that one]. Will add something to this site's what's one. Magazines are often very good in featuring layouts to help promote exhibitions, but RM now need a 9 month lead in, though they will try to do a news item, so you may see a picture of Arigna Town published, but any article not likely before the end of the year. At least have plenty of time to write it!

A few more stress filled hours have got the signal finished, though not yet mounted. As the pictures show, have added the finials, decking and the lamps. The latter and interesting exercise as I wanted to replicate the working lenses. The Sligo tended to go for a red light for danger and a clear white light when the signal was pulled off. They also had the lamps remote from the signal arm in many cases, so have done that with the two slotted ones. There are some lenses on the Tyrconnel fret, so used these, pivoted with small pins on the main post. Soldered a small extension to the pivot arm, with another pin fitted into a hole drilled into this. This pin is soldered to the operating wire to the signal arm, enabling the lens to swing down from the lamp. Sadly the lamps do not work. My knowledge of electrics would fit on the back of a postage stamp with room to spare and the though of wiring up an already busy signal post fills me with horror! Also included a photo of the below baseboard bits, though not sure if it is of much use. Just hope the things work when I fit them. No reason why not, but space is a bit tight to say the least.

Find the comments interesting as I have used T&E as busbars on three exhibition layouts without ill effect. One was a 20' long terminus - fiddle yard, the other two large 0 gauge ovals. Despite being loaded in & out of vans/cars and put up/knocked down at a dozen or more shows, never had problems with loose connections, nor any noticeable power drop. Started off with a Lenz 90 system, but have since moved on to the Prodigy Advance which is SO much more intuitive & easy to use. Arigna Town on the other hand is a total back to basics - simple Gaugemaster hand-held controller and wire in tube point operation [instead of Tortoises, to cut down depth of baseboards].

Am starting a new & on-going thread, in the style of many of you to encompass future projects - rather than have a different one for each model. Don't know if the moderators want to merge the Railbus into this, but happy to let it stand alone, as still want to add a couple more pictures. First up in the new thread is the ticklish subject of signals. Well, ticklish to me that is & this is putting it mildly. I confess to an innate issue in putting together anything that is 'handed' [flatpacks a nightmare], so with the signal in question having 3 arms on two dolls, with an arse-about-face additional problem of operational bits being upside down underneath the baseboard surface. Simple structure, but a nightmare to make work. The pictures show firstly 'one I made earlier' - an LNER lattice post two doll starter, built using Wizard Models components about which I cannot speak too highly. The second picture shows the bits I am using to build this model, alongside a picture of the prototype. The final one is progress thus far. The two whitemetal main posts have been connected with laminated 60x250 thous plastic strip, then pinned and expoxied together. A Wizard Models slotted post kit caters for the two arm main post, with all three arms coming from the Tyrconnel Models etch available from Alphagraphix. The arms need to be painted before being fixed in place. This only took a couple of hours, but then linking the operating rods [0.7mm wire] to the balance weights and then below the baseplate to the operating mechanism took the whole weekend, amid much cussing and swearing. Signal operation is a peculiar science which I often think is akin to iceberg theory in that 90% of the model is below the surface. The Wizard models idea works on a wire in tube format that allows the whole signal to be removed from the baseboard for transport an maintenance. L shaped 'paddles' pivot to give the up & down movement to the balance weights. This part seems to be working ok, but will be some time before I can install it on the layout as the baseboard needs a hole cut and the operating links fitted to the underside.

Lovely work George - was a bit concerned when read you were using liquid lead and PVA, but as it is exposed you should be alright. A lot has been written about the stuff in sealed spaces like boilers and fireboxes. After a while a chemical reaction sets in and it expands, with often horrible results...

Planning an article at the moment. RM are generally favourable to layouts making their debut at a show and Arigna will be a Chatham in June, so am keeping my fingers crossed. Am sure you will be able to do as good a job on your scenery. It is all about building up layers and making careful observation of the real thing or colour photos. If you can get hold of a static grass machine you can get wonderful effects very quickly too. Tis all very satisfying and will look forward to seeing how you get on. The standard of your rolling stock and buildings suggests to me the outcomes will be worth seeing.

My workshop is only 16' x 8' John and what I know about welding and the like would fit on the back of a postage stamp with room to spare. Doubt if soldering and plasticard will help! In some ways £200k does not seem much to get it back into shape, but I fear there are many other priorities ahead of it...

The joys of narrow gauge - always a prototype for everything!

'twas the same railcar UP. When the Sligo closed in 1957, all the stock was auctioned off. CIE bought the railcar and used it in the Navan line and for driver training. The two Beyer Peacock tanks were bought by UTA and ended up shunting in Belfast. The railcar is still with us at Downpatrick, but in a poor state it seems. One day though, it should run again. You can ride a Walker railcar on the Finn Valley and a fine experience it is too, even if limited to 5mph.

A big day today as the railway took delivery of its new Railcar B. Not quite fully complete yet, as the rear bogie still needs its pickups linked to the motor. will use those little gold plated computer type plug and sockets, but only have sockets at the moment, which makes me wonder as there were the same of each in the pack when I bought them... A trip to Maplins on Saturday should sort things, though even with just 4 wheel pickup it seems to run well and [most important] doesn't foul the platform. Very pleased with the way it has come together & though far from perfect [i know where the issues are, but am not saying!], it seems to look the part. Given I started work on the 2nd January, the project has come in at about 5 weeks. Probably given it an average of 3 hours a day, so equals around 100 hours work in all, which is about par for an 0 gauge loco kit. So, a short break while I do some planning for the signal at the station throat - the three arm, 2 doll beauty in the Sligo album. Should make a change from all that plastic and sanding,

What's this? A bare workbench? Not quite, but the clear space is because Railcar B has moved to the layout. Hence go there to see pictures of it in its proper environment. What you can see here is my cheap and cheerful rolling road. Bought it several years ago from I forget who. however, as you can see, it is any gauge, because the L shaped brass angle sets that, while the rolling bit is catered for by little fold up etches into which go some small TT wheel, on which sits you loco or whatever. Have enough of these for a six wheeled loco, plus non-running carriers for pony and bogie. In 7mm scale you need a very big space for a roundy roundy and though my local club has one, have not persuaded them to put in a broad gauge line yet. Hence the rolling road is very useful for testing and running in.

Positively salivating. Love the tractor thingy, while the painting, weathering and overall standard of finish is stunning - especially as the photos are no doubt bigger than the models themselves. Very well done Phil - will look forward to the next instalment.

Casting my mind forward to June & Arigna Town's hopeful debut, started thinking about operational sequences. When planning the layout, deliberately went for a turntable fiddle yard because this complimented the on scene loco turntable and would minimise handling of stock. Initially thought all was well, but then found that could only fit in 4 roads, not 5, so the railbus & railcar would have to share a track. Again, this seemed ok, but then realised that Railcar B does not need turning, but the railbus does. So, now a question of how to swap them over as part of the operating sequence? A bit of scribbling found this was possible, with both on the layout at the same time, but this was not really what I wanted. An alternative would be to break the fourth track in the fiddle yard, so each railbus/car only operated from one end. In mind simple minded way, decided this would be ok, until then realised that the railbus would need turning by hand, which is definitely not on the agenda. Bit of a bummer really, though an option would be to use a small cassette on the fiddle yard, so the railbus and trailer could be turned round easily. Have used cassettes on several previous layouts & they are very effective. In this case would use the same aluminium L shaped angle as the 'track' and glue it to some plastic sheet, so that the top of the angle matches the top of the rails. If I go on that route, will share how I manage the electrical connections. However, another issue presented itself, in that had been initially aiming to run with just the one Small Tank [Hazelwood], but use it to hall both the mixed train and the goods. Guess you have already spotted the fault here - more crane shunting in the fiddle yard! Beat me round the head with it and I get there eventually... So, looks very much as though I need to build my other Northstar kit before the layout's debut. Given that Railcar B will have taken around 5 weeks of [fairly full on] work, then am hoping can get the second Small Tank done in a couple of months. It is as well I don't have much work on at present [increasingly semi retired], methinks. Equally, am feeling the need for another change of direction, so will probably have a go at the signal for the entrance to the station. Will be based on the splendid 3 arm jobbie shown in the Sligo Album. Main post has two slotted arms [one for each direction], with the secondary doll having a third arm. The two on the main post will be the starter and the home signal for entering the platform road, while the one on the shorter doll will be used to indicate entry to the other side of the loop, eg for the goods and coal train. Have got some Tyrconnel etches for the arms and a range of bits and pieces from Wizard Models. Have use Andrew Hartshorne's stuff several times and more than happy with its quality. The tricky bit will be fitting 3 operating mechanisms on the one main post. Arigna Town is a very simple layout, so anything that expands its operating potential has to be a good thing.

Just goes t show you can get a nice range of colour and texture without static grass, while careful ballasting is doing a decent job of making the 00 track. Really hangs together well Patrick - full of atmosphere. Top job.

The railcar is coming together now, with the trailer-saloon interior fitted out, which has enabled glazing to be fitted and the roof added. The latter always a bit of a worrying time, because I could not think of a way to make it easily removable, so if anything comes loose now, those of you over the water will undoubtedly pick up the cries of anguish. Am also having to be careful to keep dust [from sanding] out of the interior, because I’ve modelled some of the toplights in the open position… Meanwhile, the tractor unit really is almost there. Sprayed the main [green] body colour, so could then add the buffing gear and guard irons. This was made in a single unit, from brass strip, bent to shape, with a few rivets put in using my GW Models press. The has earned its purchase price many times over & is a lovely tool to use. The actual buffer heads are from some old ABS buffers I had in the spares box. In other words, they are small drawing pins [yes, really], but seem the ideal size for the purpose. Now, the main body colour… Roof is easy – white. Upper and lower body are more difficult. The best colour pictures I have are two from Irish Railways in Colour, which show the railcar in bright sunshine. The lower body ‘green’ shows as an olive shade, to my eyes not dissimilar to that used by the Southern Railway in England. The upper body is decidedly cream in one picture, but more like a pale green [light olive oil?] in the other. However, in Irish Traction in Colour, B is pictured in somewhat ‘softer’ weather and while the upper body is again a light olive oil green shade, the lower body is much darker – more like Brunswick green. Now, all three pictures were taken in May 1957, so the paintwork should be the same in all cases. Hence, it just goes to show what the effect of light can have & then if we factor in the type of film used & exposure on the camera & it all gets very complicated… At the moment, the lower body is sprayed Brunswick green, while the upper body is brush painted with Humbrol acrylic light olive, toned down with more white. I bought a Humbrol spray can of a more olive green shade, but this [to my wife’s eyes, as well as mine] looks too green and maybe a bit too light. Tried a test spray on top of the Brunswick green [on a bit of grey card], which is closer to the ‘bright sunshine’ photo, but am not completely convinced. Add in the fact that models themselves can look very different under varying lighting conditions [ALWAYS paint your models under the same type of light as you intend displaying them] and you can begin to appreciate my uncertainty. Comments most welcome, though note that the weather on Arigna Town is deemed to be permanently ‘mainly cloudy, with a high chance of showers’. My exhibition lights are Clipspots, with bulbs that give a slightly yellow light. Still at least the tractor seems to run well. Have given it an hour in each direction on my rolling road - far more than it will ever get on my layout!

. Am guessing one siding will be plenty! As for the power station, 7mm scale buildings tend to expand beyond available space, though have thought about it. A siding/mineral line going off scene is one way to deal with the issue without building extra baseboards - as per my line to the Arigna mines. Certainly a good excuse to build some more wagons.