Thanks Wayne. The roof covering still needs cutting when I can find sutiable timber. This will allow the roof to be lifted off for maintaince. Following on from producing the artwork for the station buildings my attention wandered over to the old triang signal box. I decided that an extension was in order to make it fit in better…….

Next I started the task of painting the station. For the covering on the platform canopies I used some waterproof wet and dry paper…….




Hopefully I can get some more plasticard strips this week so I can get the roof finished. ;-)

Dave,
      Well done mate.that station looks the business!!!
very state-of-the-art!

Cheers,John.B.

This would be amazing if it was inside… But all this on an outdoor layout… You blow me away.

John
RJR

 

 That's looking really good Dave.

 Just a thought,given the time of year, do your trains run when you have had a light covering of snow?.

Thanks guys. As for snow carn't remember the last time we had any! I remember years ago reading about the daventry garden railway ( this gave me the idea all those years ago!) about how trains could still run in light rain yet tap water would bring them to a standstill. I think it has somthing to do with the minarals in the water. So I would imagan that light snow would proberly be ok too. I have seen a 00 snow plough recently!:lol:

I would be surprised if there was enough power running through the rails to short across  a 16mm gap even if they were submersed ? When i had the outdoor line the rain didnt stop the trains but I did find the spray coming up from the wheels came close to soaking the motor. The nickle silver seemed to oxidise quicker when you pass power through it when wet too..

John
RJR

The only thing that realy stopped the locos was the snail guts that got into the motor bogie! Maybe I should get one of those snowploughs!!!



Well the company that I work for has now been sold and the office has moved from Cramlington to Team valley so now I dont have to travel as far for spare parts, etc. One positive thing about the move is the office is now round the corner from hobbycraft! So this afternoon they thought I was traveling up to collect some spares but we all know that I realy went to get some more plasticard strips to finish off the station!!! Tonight I got some more of the strips glued on untill I lost the fealing in my fingers as the tempreture dropped. Last night I fitted some plasticard panels to the damaged footbridge. These have been added to stop anyone comming into contact with the OHLE. I sprayed the bridge with grey undercoat ready for a change of colour. Will stick some pics up at the weekend.;-)

Its amazing what diffrence putting the clock back an hour makes. Now when I get home its dark and cold and depressing!! Conscenquently not much has happened on the railway during the week. Yesterday I glued on some more evergreen strips to the station building just need one more pack to complete. Last night was mainly wasted by me trying to build a barrier from brass. The idea was to attach the bottom of the barrier skirt to a brass tube running under the trackbed. This was then attached to the top section via small brass rods so that when the brass tube was turned the skirt actualy pushed the barrier up. In thorey this would work but building it was a pain. The bottom bar was cut from a sheet of brass then aprox 50x 1mm holes were drilled along its length. For the top section I used a U section of brass that had brass rod soldered across again aprox 50 pieces. The top and bottom were then attached together with some small brass rod. The main problem with the barrier was that it didn't fold up properly. Also when in the upright position it looked a bit big!! So now im working on plan B that is to have four barriers two on each side. Before I spend any more time building the barriers however I think it would be a good idea to build the lifting mechinism first as if I can't get this working the barriers will be modeled in the down position. More on this over the next few weeks…….

Today I decided to tidy up the layout. Once all the junk was removed and the debries hovered off I laid some balast. The balast used was from my local pet shop and is actualy intended for use in fish tanks but at £3.50 for a BIG bag I coulden't resist! The balast still needs sticking down this will be done using clear varninsh as tested outside last year. Once stuck the trackbed will be given a coat of stone effect paint….





Also today the local council built another road bridge over the railway…….







The platform bases were given a coat of brick red and the top part of the station roof has had brown undercoat applied…..





With all the wet weather we have had I have noticed a slight leak in the clear roof. Some water has dripped down onto the prision and turned the roof green looks quite cool actualy! Anyway to prevent any more damage I have fitted some drip trays just above the area that will deflect any more water down the fence and away from the railway. I mentioned last week that woodham station took a beating in the high winds. The buildings were removed and repainted with brick red masonary paint. The footbridge has also been rebuild and now sports OHLE protection boards……..





The footbridge still needs the painting finishing off so this should keep me busy over the next week!

I just love looking at this layout, so much detail to look at in each and every photo. Just where you find the time is a mystery, still i am not complaining bring more pics on i say :doublethumb

Phill

Dave,if that was in my garden it would submerged just now with all
the rain here as for working on it brrrr. no thanks.

it is looking great though well done you.

:cheers:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs:lol::lol::lol::cool:

Stations looking good Dave but I think it must be nearly time to switch to working on the garage section now !!!!

I think it must be nearly time to switch to working on the garage section now !!!!

Must admit it is starting to get a bit cold now!! :lol:

After some serious thought I will be building another 'covered section' over the next couple of months. This will run the full width of the garden and will provide protection to the back of the layout. It will also prevent any more damage caused by footballs or kids climbing over the rear fence to retrive said footballs! As for the inside section I have enough 'projects' to finish off that will keep me busy over the winter.

[user=245]87 101[/user] wrote:

Dave I knew that you had all the gadgets to get your layout as good as it is, but to have a mug that's a track gauge as well, is just brilliant

 

It must be something in the air up north, as both you and John amaze me with speed and quality of your building, looking forward to you moving inside as that part of the layout is my favorite.

to have a mug that's a track gauge as well, is just brilliant

 

Never noticed that one! It suposed to be for holding a kit-kat although I've never realy tried it. As for speed, the railway has just passed its second birthday since the first concrete section was laid. Its only now that Im starting to get some enjoyment from it!

Mixing concrete in a wheel barrow - backbreaking

Seeing an 86+mk2's traveling at speed round the garden - Priceless


Next year I might even get round to having a 'propper' running session!:lol:

alan

very witty, maybe chris could comission a kernow model rail mug with a track gauge on the bottom.

i think i have had a good day if i tidy up my work bench. well done Dave:thumbs

This weekend work on the layout has moved indoors. First I found a new use for the old dining room table. As access over the back of the layout was difficult the table has been recycled into a raised platform……..

The new access has now allowed me to add some scenery around the 'hole in the wall'…….



In the centre of the layout I have added some new baseboards for the hillside behind the canal section……



The baseboards feature a removerable section to allow access to the lower level for maintaince…..

Dave, this is certainly an impressive bit of work.    I may have missed it somewhere on the many pages of this thread but have you posted a track plan?

I will get round to doing a track plan sometime! I have tried that xcad program but can't get my head around it. I have got a rough plan that I drew on paper then scanned somewhere on the PC so I will post it up when I find it!!;-)

Sorry about the quality as this didn't scan very well. This was the first plan of the redesigned garden railway. It's not to scale but shows the basic setup. The left hand side is the garage section. This has evolved over the past year to use every bit possable of the 16' x 8' garage. The plan shows the first design with the return loop diving down under the station aproch lines. This then evolved into the present arangement of a ladder junction using the longest points that peco make! The right hand of the plan shows the garden section and the location of the stations to each other. I have worked out that the distance from the start at st davids out to the garden back to the lower loops then back out and round to st davids again is aprox 4.7 miles!

Thanks Dave, I get the idea of the system now.