East Coast Main Line - in the sun

Wow. Fantastic painting. If only I was as good with paint and colours.
 

Thanks David, it just shows how intricate this type of headgear is!

Phil.c said

I walked up the steps to the top of the headgear a few times many years ago….when I had a proper job  

A painting (6' x 4') I did for the managers office of Oakdale colliery when I worked there.

From “Post #287,759”, 16th May 2023, 8:56 AM

Good grief Phil Phil.c , 6' x 4', must have taken ages.

Looks fantastic  

Ed

Yes Ed, but they gave me Saturday morning overtime at the colliery's paint shop where I worked at the time :)

Been a while. What with further trips to the "holiday home" in the UK to get the foundations laid for the new railway shed and catch up jobs over here, the model railway has had to take a bit of a back seat. I did spend some time with the model shop owner in the UK and we have come up with a plan for some of my models. I am currently working on an N gauge version of the pit head (which is proving somewhat of a challenge) for a specific customer and re-designing my barn so we can cut it in N, OO, O and G gauge to show what is possible in the shop.

Back to Spain and along with the other projects, like trying to get get my medical paperwork sorted so the UK government takes over my medical costs when I become a pensioner and trying to sort out the revised deeds for the house ready for putting it on the market, modelling time has been somewhat limited. This, combined with it being rather hot upstairs, doesn't make for quick progress. Anyway, just to show it hasn't stopped altogether, her is a pic of the new station building, the roof is coming along nicely. I just need to complete the central clock tower and then I can finish the tiling. At the moment the canopy which goes on the front is detachable but I am thinking of putting the whole stucture on a thin base as it needs to be removeable to gain access to pointwork in the event of a problem.

Any progress in these temperatures is good progress, as I know only too well Dave, so we'll done and all possible good luck with the paperwork, house sale and move.

Bill

Well it's still 30 deg plus upstairs so progress isn't exactly what I had hoped. Two major projects on the go at the moment.

The first is for my layout and it's the station building I have designed and laser cut. It's coming along in fits and starts but a milestone today, got the tiles installed. I have still got flashing, ridge tiles and guttering to do but it is progress. I had laser cut a batch of roof tiles and, as luck would have it, there were exactly enough not even a full tile to spare.


The second is a sort of commission. I took the OO gauge pithead in a previous post to the UK and someone asked if I could do one for them in N gauge. Sure i said, what a challenge. It's taken some redesign work and a bit of trial an error but finally it is finished. I will actually get the one for the UK cut over there so I guess my friend over here in Spain is going to get another present. It is so delicate that my cheap diode laser does struggle a bit, hopefully the CO2 laser in the UK is better but many pieces are cut from 0.9mm Laserboard but are only 1mm thick (or thinner - see handrails).



So now to design some rige tiles and try and remember how I did the flashing on the terraced houses. I really should write some of this stuff down when I find something that works.

Stay safe.
 

Well the ridge tiles are done and the flashing under way so hopefully get those along with the guttering finished over the weekend.

Unfortunately I have also become interested in another guy's project and thought I would have a go myself. It is a signal box with a difference - it's over the tracks.

The prototype (image says from the Bill Potter/ Bernie Holland collection)


And the work so far


Now to look at the deck, railings and the box itself.

Very neat, Dave. A nice project.

Nice Dave,
Laser cut timber frames?

Hi Marty,

Yes, the main girders are 2mm MDF whilst the legs and other bits are 0.9mm Laserboard. It takes a while to cut but I think it is looking OK. Just preparing the deck and railings now. I will hopefully get time to at least make a start on the signal box itself before our planned holidays.

Just a quick update. Hopefully get a little more done today although we have visitors later.



The signal box is removable to gain access to the under-deck box for electrics if required.
 

Well a quick update to say there won't be any more updates for a couple of months. We set off for the UK on Monday to escape the crazy heat here in the summer. The last couple of weeks have been around 38 deg C and above (100F) so the layout room has been 34 - 36 deg, which is way too hot to get much done. Anyway I have just finished cutting the parts for the signal box including a set for a guy near Chichester who asked for one. His "kit" (which contains 100+ parts) also includes different signal box walls to allow it to be orientated across the tracks rather then parallel to them.

There may be an exciting development whilst in the UK, if it happens I'll post a quick update.

I know the feeling, Dave. Summer near the coast in Queensland see's us with similar temp's but high humidity as well. We've been here since 1974 and have never fully got used to it.

Currently 16 degrees here in the UK and raining.  It feels a bit chilly so I have just put on a jumper!

Don't bother bringing your sun cream Dave!

Terry

col.stephens said

Currently 16 degrees here in the UK and raining.  It feels a bit chilly so I have just put on a jumper!

Don't bother bringing your sun cream Dave!

Terry

From “Post #288,269”, 22nd July 2023, 2:15 PM

 

Just doing some catching up Dave ..........................

That signal box looks fantastic - I love the complex steel work - must have taken an age to set it all up but the results are stunning.  Great you can cut up to 2mm thick material - how does it work on 2mm card ?

Liz spent some time in Norfolk in June - she shivered at 16C whilst I melted here looking after the dog.  It seems UK isn't having the best summer ever although I'm not quite sure which is worse - the cold and damp or the sweltering heat of parts of Spain and the Eastern Med.

Well quite an interesting couple of days at our "holiday home" in the UK. The plan is to eventually move back so Monday saw a visit from the local council building control guy. Very helpfull and no problem. On our last visit a coupleof months ago we got ths done.



Then Tuesday morning at 07:10 a lorry arrived outside our "holiday home" above Blackpool from West Yorkshire. By 13:10 we had this.



Its 8mtrs wideand 5mtrs deep so quite a space but only just over half that I have in Spain. But when we move back in the next few years I'll have a new railway room.

Now I better get on with installing a kitchen or I will be in serious trouble - but I did get my priorities right. You can always eat out!
 

That's a very useful size Dave - not too big but big enough to have some fun !

If you remember mine, it's roughly 6m x 2.5 metres so you've got double the width - the width is what I've found limiting here rather than the length.  As with you, my "old" railway room was much larger at 18m x 10m …………………..

Hi Dave

Welcome to the 40sqm Shed Club.  Look forwar to seeing what you do with yours



Good luck!

Barry