Somewhere SW of London. Somewhen before today

So I re-did the signs on glossy photo paper and with a little weathering added I am happy enough with the result. 

I have to accept limitations of scale and skill at some point plus the absence of a workbench. All the cutting, sticking, painting and weathering these days is done on a cutting board perched on a wooden rolling stock storage box on the floor with me squatting on a step stool. It’s not ideal but it’s what I’ve got (and all I’ve got room for) so it’s a case of doing the best I can. 

The Up platform - with the sign facing the camera



And the Down platform seeing the reverse side of the sign which does have its nameplate fitted facing the platform 

You might not have much space to work with the results are stunning.

Yes indeed - I agree with Pete.   :pathead

There you go. The “workbench” in all its glory! 

Hmmm - quite a bit of "glory" there Rick ……………………    No wasted space I note and still there's room for a coffee mug…………. ;-)

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

No wasted space I note and still there's room for a coffee mug…………. ;-)

No coffe - no workee  

I've got about a dozen times that space and yours is still tidier.

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Yes indeed - I agree with Pete.   :pathead

I've got this 'ere 'eadache, don't know why.

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Yes indeed - I agree with Pete.   :pathead

I've got this 'ere 'eadache, don't know why.

Rick you should pick up one of these tables from B&M. we have 2 ( the wife stole the first one I bought almost immediately !). Height and angle adjustable- several angles or flat and a reasonably small footprint, which folds flat for storage. Reasonably stable to work on and quite a tough plastic top for cutting on etc. Lightweight so you can carry it outside on good days or tuck it in under  the chair or sofa to work in the sitting room ( If she'll let you  :It's a no no ) A godsend for bad backs  :thumbs
B&M Spaceways adjustable table

You can get them from Amazon etc but at the moment B&M have them down to £15 which is the cheapest I've ever seen them

HTH

Cheers

Matt

P.S. even modelling on a box your work far outshines my efforts !

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

I've got about a dozen times that space and yours is still tidier.

 

More lights. Five on one platform and four on the slightly shorter other one. Two on the footbridge which has required some delicate hand-boring of 0.7mm holes through the resin to accommodate the wires. 

I still have no idea whether these will work as intended. This is still a work in progress as the very visible wiring shows. 

The plan is to also fit a couple of lights above the exits which would be fairly simple lamps mounted on an arch-shaped length of tubular steel. A couple of LEDs and some fine brass tube might do the trick. 

The station is coming together very nicely Rick. Good luck with getting the lights turning on!

Today’s effort was to plant some weeds and a little overgrowth behind the platform. 

[user=2080]Barchester[/user] wrote:

Rick you should pick up one of these tables from B&M. B&M have them down to £15 which is the cheapest I've ever seen them

P.S. even modelling on a box your work far outshines my efforts !

It's not the cost that is the limiting factor but space.  Or rather the total lack of it.  Nowhere under the layout (that space is filled with rolling stock boxes, my weathering demonstration stand and my late father's CD collection among other things) nor indeed anywhere else.  The "workroom" is an area about 1.5m (or 4 feet 8 1/2 inches) square in the bedroom.  The rest of the floor space is occupied by desk, bedroom furniture and bookshelves.  It's very compact, there's a lot of overlap with, for example, the layout's fiddle yard over the desk and beneath the cabin-style bed, and there's a lot in a small space but it works for me.  

There is outside but that's common space with all the flats in the block so nowhere to keep anything and very exposed most of the time in terms of any weather and anyone passing by.  

I manage.  I'm not supposed to solder, weather or paint indoors in case anything goes onto the carpet.  I do all of the above at times when no-one is looking and have industrial-grade carpet shampoo on hand in case of need!  

Some people model in a box - I model on a box.  The box itself contains most of the scenic materials; all those packets of Woodland Scenics and other brands of greenery, gravel, coal etc ….. the only things not in there are the large Woodland Scenics shaker-bottles of ballast, trays of "Fine Leaf Foliage" and an unbranded box of fairly realistic trees a few of which already feature on the layout.  

Great pictures and really nice "look" to the layout. It's the space that you have that really got me thinking. We live in Spain at the moment and my dedicated model railway room is massive by most people's yardstick. It's the way it worked out and I am really lucky, but for my take on the hobby it's important. I am not really into scenics like you and others (being slightly colour blind and as I call it, colour dyslexic, doesn't help) but what really brought floats my boat is DCC and computer controlling lots of trains on a big layout. Now what was the wife saying - wouldn't it be nice to move back to the UK. Not sure UK planning would let me have a 50+ sq mtr garden shed.

You turn out some remarkable stuff from your "compact" space Rick.

I'm a bit like Dave in that I need some "Lebensraum" around me.  If you've been following my Maxmill thread, you'll know my railway room is now a 20ft portable office unit (s sort of Portakabin)  - much reduced since Maxmill Mk 1 and I feel somewhat cramped.

I therefore really take my hat off to you for managing what you do in such a small space   

[user=1886]DaveH_Murcia[/user] wrote:

Great pictures and really nice "look" to the layout. It's the space that you have that really got me thinking. We live in Spain at the moment and my dedicated model railway room is massive by most people's yardstick. It's the way it worked out and I am really lucky, but for my take on the hobby it's important. I am not really into scenics like you and others (being slightly colour blind and as I call it, colour dyslexic, doesn't help) but what really brought floats my boat is DCC and computer controlling lots of trains on a big layout. Now what was the wife saying - wouldn't it be nice to move back to the UK. Not sure UK planning would let me have a 50+ sq mtr garden shed.

If you seek out my previous layout, Penhayle Bay, you will see that I have gone from one extreme to another. That was 34 metres around the main circuit, had two branches, two stations and was outdoors at our former Australian home. 

 Another large layout, very much in the style of “I just like running trains”, was the Tywarnhayle and Perranzabuloe of late member Brian Webb. I saw that a few times. His home at the time was on a steep hillside with a shed to the rear in which the layout was built. He extended it back into the hillside!  Brian ran DCC and had an enormous collection of locomotives many of which were perched precariously on sagging shelves pinned to the walls.  There is an old layout thread on this site but most of the pictures have gone thanks to Fotopic closing and Photobucket now charging. In those days we were not able to host images directly on this site. 

On the subject of Brian Webb Rick, have you any idea what happened to his rolling stock ?  I'd guess Chris T was involved in its disposal …..

A very much missed member ……

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

On the subject of Brian Webb Rick, have you any idea what happened to his rolling stock ?  I'd guess Chris T was involved in its disposal …..

A very much missed member ……

Sadly no I never found out where that collection ended up.  I too think that Chris T. might have been involved but as a personal friend rather than as a business as he doesn't deal in second-hand items through his shops.  

Brian moved into a much smaller bungalow very late in his life after the house became too much.  There was a much-reduced T&P layout in build there when he passed to the great engine-shed in the sky. As he had to down-size at the time he may have disposed of a lot of his collection himself.