A small portable N-gauge project in the near-present era

Is that the Scalescenes version Rick?

It looks a fun build.
Cheers
Marty

It is the Scalescenes one Marty.  And it's as much fun as you'd expect from a paper / card kit in N-gauge!  Some very tiny pieces indeed and what I had't realised was that the kit makes several boats when only one is really needed.  So there's a lot of spare material / potential waste.

I'm not that happy with my first venture into this discipline but needs must and the whole thing has to be finished in another month.  I'll press on.  Landscaping due to start over the weekend as well as forming the sides / carry-case.

The formal announcement has been made on RMweb  

RMWeb Members Day, Taunton, 2015 - full line-up announced - RMweb Events - RMweb

In case you can't see the page via that link here's the text relevant to my own efforts:

‘Boghouses’ by Rick Squirrell (aka ‘Gwiwer’) – words almost fail me at the dedication of some RMWeb folk, and this one probably ‘takes the biscuit’, as this must be the farthest-travelled project yet exhibited at any RMweb event. Although well-known for his substantial OO gauge home layout ‘Penhayle Bay’, I have to emphasise that not only does Rick live in Australia (yes, that’s Australia, the large continental land mass on the other side of the world), but that Rick is actually building this layout for our Taunton show, transporting it all the way to Blighty, and then bringing it safely back to Australia again afterwards! Rick describes the layout as follows:
 
Boghouses has seen better days.  It probably never had any glory days and might always have been more of a glory hole.  Having never been flushed with success as a facility in 2015 it struggles along papering over the cracks of lost opportunity.
 
It lies somewhere in the East Midlands where worked-out coal mines lay as dormant as those who once spent hours below working them.  Repurposing hasn’t yet reached Boghouses whose sparse and scattered population are mostly unemployed.  Even the local pub closed down years ago.
 
The only traffic at Boghouses nowadays is the occasional train of scrap or spoil - the Boghouses Waste dump.  And the solitary DMU which plies up and down the line that was reopened to passengers in the 1980s after a vigorous campaign but which has also failed to live up to promises.  There are more trains than passengers some days ………
 
Boghouses, presented in N-gauge, has been built from nothing in just a few days.  The underlying structure is a pair of cork notice boards retaining their plastic borders for rigidity and sourced from the local office needs superstore.  Constructed in Australia it has been designed and brought over specifically for SWAG Staplegrove 2015 and will return to Australia afterwards.  It is therefore making its one and only UK appearance.

Love it. Bravo Rick!

Saturday afternoon was spent building the carry-case



This involved nothing more than cutting four lengths of "Tasmanian Oak" to form a perimeter frame, fitting them with case clips at the corners and cutting and fitting small brass pegs for accurate locating and added rigidity.  Cutting, filing and fitting the brass was by far the longest task with precise drilling called for.



The baseboards themselves are hardboard (Masonite)- backed cork notice boards with the hardboard to the outside and as shown the outer surfaces have been painted white.



These are, incidentally, the first posted images from my new camera.  With a wedding "shoot" booked in six weeks' time I have joined the DSLR brigade with a bargain Canon EOS7D.  Not exactly this year's model but more than good enough for now.  One cannot turn up at a wedding with a point 'n' squirt camera no matter how good the images which come from it!

It's been a day of progress and pain.

Most of the track was successfully laid in a single session.  The original plan doesn't quite work (does it ever?) and I require a Y-point instead of a left-hander in one spot but that should be easy to source next week locally.  My first experience of N-scale track laying has resulted in only one scrapped joiner and one cut finger-tip.  Not a bad effort, I reckon.  It was actually easier than I had expected including on the eyes.

I have successfully powered up and run test trains which, among other things, prove that my tight radius curves are just about OK.  Unrealistic but workable.  

It also proved that the class 08 shunter, bought new from Hattons, has a short; it refuses to move and generates a loud hum at the controller which also shows a short alert light.  That awaits skilled attention.

The card kit canal scene is slowly moving along after making umpteen constructional errors despite trying to follow apparently simple instructions carefully.

Track laying in progress with rails more or less where they will end up.  The track is pinned and will also be glued as an integral part of the ballasting process.



And where would I be without weathering?  The two locos are supplied factory weathered and need very little more but the class 158 DMU has received my attention as seen here with one car done and the other not.



The first of the "megabox" bogie wagons has also been dealt with as seen here posed on my regular photo spot - the OO gauge Darras Viaduct



Click-to-play videos proving that trains move.  Power was jury-rigged from Penhayle Bay with feeders run from rail to rail.  Here's the first test run with just the basic oval of track in place.  Normal operations will not use all eight wagons.  I only need six but the pack of eight was cheaper than buying six individually.



And with one more short length of rail fitted the "fiddle yard" is complete and the DMU runs through what will become its stabling loop. The freight will use the "main line" with the loco remaining on the rails and wagons lifted on or off as required.  Accompanied by the protestations of our chickens!

This is coming along well. Having trains running will definately encourage the continuation to completion, no doubt. Counting down the days now, I bet ?? ;-)

Cheers, Gary.

Counting?  You bet.  Only eight more full days available to me!  Looking at what's done so far that's scary until I remember that what's done has only taken about three days so far.

The time-consuming jobs are tack-laying and land-forming.  As there's very little of the latter to do I'm hoping to get most done in the next two days as we have a holiday weekend.  

The scenic detail can take as much or as little time as I then have.

It is good to see those trains going round! I'm designing an N Gauge layout at the moment and was worried about my 30cm radius curves. They're massive compared to yours, so I think I will be OK! Looking forward to seeing Boghouses continue.

Thanks Mike

I wouldn't normally consider anything approaching these flange-squealing curves but for this particular project needs must - it has to fit inside a travel bag!

I must admit I breathed a sigh of relief when the trains went around.  I had a plan up my sleeve to rotate the track plan through 90 degrees (in other words with the boards joined at the long sides not the short) but you can see how little space this would have left for any effective "layout" and shunting.

On another positive note the 08 shunter which was indicating a short yesterday has performed faultlessly today.  I am of the opinion that there was something - possibly a slight excess of lubrication for manufacture - which caused the power to short across to the frame but this having been cleaned up the beast now works perfectly.

Today I have cut and test-fitted EPS foam blocks for land-forming.  I have also tested adhesives as my normal fast-grab craft glue attacks the EPS and cannot be used.

I have found that neat PVA will secure the foam blocks to the cork if allowed to go off undisturbed for 24 hours so I also hope this is enough to keep things in place during transit.

As a curious twist I normally used PVA for ballast adhesive but as this layout has to travel I shall instead be using the craft glue!  That will also help to secure the track in place.

Track glued in place.  Ballast going down.

The track would have been double back in the day but has since been singled and slewed to the centre of the tunnel.  You should be able to see the sleeper imprints of the lifted track mostly to the left then at the tunnel mouth over to the right of the running line.

This tunnel mouth is a Scalescenes build and will actually be fitted to the other end of the layout therefore not impinging upon the sidings as suggested in these views.  

The HAA "merry-go-round" coal wagon isn't staying there either - it will have a spot among the imminent scenery to rust in peace.

Looking good Rick. :thumbs I like the former track imprint in the ballast/scatter material, very effective.

Cheers, Gary.

[user=878]Gary[/user] wrote:

Looking good Rick. :thumbs I like the former track imprint in the ballast/scatter material, very effective.

Cheers, Gary.

I've got bits of base board looking like that, unfortunately it wasn't intentional :oops:

Coming on great Rick :thumbs

Perfectly intentional in this case, of course, and done very easily.  

I laid the ballast (Woodland Scenics fine coal and fine burnt grass mixed 50:50) onto a film of fast-grab glue.  Next I pressed a sleeper base minus rails upside down - so with the connecting webs between sleepers facing upwards rather than down - to achieve the imprint.  With that in place I oversprayed with dilute PVA / water 50:50 and carefully lifted the sleeper base before anything dried.  

It's a little fragile for a movable layout but I'm hoping that a top-off spray with artist's fixative might produce a more robust job.  If it doesn't it's a five minute job to re-do it before a running session.

Progress report:

I have three weeks until I need to have this completed, packed and in transit.  This weekend, next and Easter will be busy!

The glued track is holding firmly but the glue hasn't stuck the ballast down.  That meant I had an hour today scraping back glue residue from the track and have had to move to Plan B.  That is to thoroughly soak everything in my more usual 50:50 PVA:water mix but without using a pre-soak of wet water.  I'll see what it's like tomorrow after 12 hours overnight to go off.

The canal scene is steadily moving on.  I am up to step 78 of 89 in the construction!!!

Once that's done I have a brick bridge to build which should be much quicker and then finally assemble the land and larger scenes in and upon it.

On the workbench - the remaining stages are to build and fit the lock gates and a few detail parts.



On the layout with an indication of where the waterway will be in relation to the railway.  It is quite common to find one alongside the other and for there to have been goods transferred between the two at some locations.



Some of what has been called "Rickery" is now going in - the ballast is all done and the waste land extended to both ends plus the viewing side border.



An overall view at "close of play" today with PVA still wet on all tracks and "Plan C" in use on the headshunt which is an application of neat PVA from the bottle over-sprayed with the dilute.  We'll see which works best.

And after a determined session today the first "land" is in (a foam block carved to shape with a hot blade) and things are moving ahead nicely.  Track is weathered where it will be on show and there's more green - some of which is as black as it is green in this former mining area.  The two spots of white are pools which have "Water Effects" resin curing in them which will end up translucent and can then have "Magic Water" brushed over for a smooth glossy surface.

Cracking on a pace there Rick, but you have set yourself quite a task within the times scale. Well done :thumbs

I hope you don't have a problem getting on the plane with all the new security checks, which include turning on electrical stuff to make sure it is what it looks like.

Visions of you and a couple of security blokes playing trains, while a plane full of passengers wonder what the delay is



Ed

Thanks Ed.

I was over last summer so have already gone through the "new" security checks. Having made sure the mobile was fully charged in flight it wasn't even looked at!

However the cunning plan is that the rolling stock will be in my cabin bag along with the cameras so that I am in control of the most expensive and delicate stuff and the layout will be packed into its case in my checked bag.

It will of course have wires soldered to the rails for control purposes but there will be no controller coming with me.  That is being sourced once I'm in the UK partly to avoid any questions and partly because I don't have a spare one here and they cost a lot less over there!

I now have the next two weekends of which the second is the long Easter one and some afternoons in between as I now swap onto early shift for the next few weeks.

The ballast looks complete and the greenery is starting to grow already ! Soon you'll be mowing the grass… ;-) I see a few more sidings have been added too, since the last progress report. Looking good Rick. :thumbs

Can I ask if the canal will be sunk into the baseboard or will it be modelled on top ??

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Gary.

The canal will be mostly just above baseboard level to give it a little vertical separation from the sidings) with the lock rising towards the back scene and a brick bridge.

That bridge will also be the road access route to the sidings.