I got round to finishing off the base boards. The track plan isn't really finalised and I have to do the initial tracklaying to see what will work. The layout, or rather the track I'm laying, is for the German layout. The plan is that this layout will occupy the main base boards as depicted below. There will be an eight track station with a city scene behind . Still deciding on whether turntable is feasible or not.





These are the tracks that go round the edge of the room. There are remnants of the old layout here which I hope to incorporate into the new one.





These take the German lines behind what will be the UK layout. This is the line that will go behind.



There will be a backdrop on front of this to conceal it. In order to gain access to the layout a duck under or bridge was needed. This is it. It is not fixed down so can still be hinged to make a flap or as it is; a lift out.



I found a good supplier of cork for underlay. It came nicely packaged in very precisely cut sheets.



I am also still thinking about a large board for storing the ECoS and a laptop as the aim is to have it all computer controlled. This is the size and sheet of MDF I had in mind. One of the idea's I had in mind was to attach it to the underside of the layout however while pulling it out to take this picture I realised how heavy it was. I am now thinking about making it into a wheeled table that can be pulled out and stowed away when required.



That's all for now, next step is to lay some track.

Time for an update. We knocked our house down and built a new bigger better one and out of that I got a bigger garage with a bigger workbench, a room for computers and models and, best of all, a designated layout room inside the house which has air con and heating. No more of that layout in the garage nonsense. We moved in a couple of months ago and the dust has started to settle on the sorting the house out. As my time has freed up from house stuff my focus has shifted back to hobbies so I have started building a new layout. The room is 3.5metres by 4.5 metres and will feature two layouts on opposing sides of the room

The plan is rough and ready at this point. Some parts are fixed and others I'm still figuring out how I am going to do. The current debate is where the storage yards for the Scottish layout will go although, to be honest, there's only one place it can really go. There is also how I disguise the two UK lines going in front of the German station. I have made half the base boards and will do the rest once I get some free time in December. This is one of the baseboards.




Most of the base boards will be this frame format. It'll help to keep the weight down. The majority of the layout will be train line running through scenery. On one side of the room I will make a scene based on Lower Largo with viaduct and harbour. On the other side I'll have a German city scene modelled on Rottenburg. This will have a station with about six platforms. The main line from this layout will go round the back scene of the lower Largo layout. Both lines will go around the room. The current problem is the Lower Largo line will have to go round the front of the German station when it is at the other side of the room so I am looking for ideas to disguise or hide it.

Anyway here are the two benches where the station and city scene will be.





Ignore all the crap underneath. It will be covered over at some future point. The track will be 130cm high all the way around. The lower benches are 110cm high and will feature a raised track. This will allow me to have slopes coming down from the track bed.

I'll also have to have some kind of a raising and lowering bridge for the track at the door to allow access.

We'll that's it for now. I'll post some more once something noteworthy happens.

cheers

Neil

I haven't done an update for some time despite the fact that a lot has been happening because I have been a bit focussed on getting the layout presentable for the BRMA layout tour. The layout tour came and went with very few mishaps; only three guys from the first group got lost and turned up later when group three were there but that wasn't a big issue as there was sufficient room, Jeff (SR Man) took control of the wrong HST ( I suppose this would be an argument for a colour screen ECoS) and did a head charge into the Jacobite steam special, my class 60 stopped at one point and decided it wasn't going to move again. That was it though. Nice to see Ian Futers, who was the special guest speaker at the conference the day prior, come to see my layout. No one here models Scottish layouts so it was good to get someone to talk about Scottish layouts with. Bit of a first now I come to think about it!

Nice to get a chance to get my feet up and not feel under pressure to get a move on with the layout. I can now take my time and do a few other things like photography.

So onto what's been happening on the layout. I'll keep it general and maybe go into specifics on future posts. Here are a couple of pictures of the rear of the castle as I haven't shown this aspect before., probably because it looked like a dog's breakfast.





I have tried to conceal it as well as I can with vegetation but the tunnels are still visible and not that great. There isn't a lot I can do about it at this point but fortunately people in this position are likely to look at other parts of the layout, such as this.





This is the new extension to the shuttle lines. Plockton station is at the far end and I'm still deciding what to do about the other end. I can have a terminus at the place shown in the pictures above but had been intending to do a station in the middle, probably Spean Bridge. It's a bit to close for two stations so maybe do Spean bridge where intended and have the platform continue a fair bit round the curve and along the straight. I'm open to ideas. I have a West Highland station building already built though so it will have to be a West Highland station what ever is decided.

I built up rocky hillsides in the corners at the back to hide the joins between the new backdrops.

This is the mid section where the planned West Highland station will go.












The last shot shows a landscape picture of the area. I still have to add more vegetation, ferns and gorse. I hadn't thought I would have had time to do this corner. It used to have a Swiss mountain scene with high cliffs over here and I thought it would have been too much trouble to rework it before the layout tour but my A3 got stuck in there and I was unable to get it out. I took this as a sign that I had to demolish this area and I'm glad I did; it looks so much better than it did. Moving round from this corner we now have the section before the bridges. I had a tidy up here and used the grassmaster to make it look more natural.










The backdrop behind this area has lots of pine plantations so I was able to line the wall with pine trees to merge the scene with the backdrop. I will ballast this bit soon and finish it off as it has been in place for a couple of years no with no problems. I'm just waiting on it getting a bit warmer as it dries up quicker.

I was also speaking to Jeff aka SRman about doing some videos of sound locos as he is without a layout at the moment. I'm quite looking forward to doing a bit of that as a welcome change from doing scenics. I have a Tornado on the way ( a model one that is) to get sound in and have done a few sound install's that I have been meaning to film so will fit that in. There's a station to build and fair bit of ballasting, point rodding, signals and so on. It just doesn't end does it?

I have been meaning to do an update on my layout for some time but have been so busy. A lot has happened but there is still quite a lot to get done. What follows are work in progress shots; not the final look so nit pickers don’t feel that Christmas has arrived. I’m well aware that lots needs done. I just felt that it was about time for an update as there is a lot going on.

Firstly I changed the fencing around the castle to walling which does look better. I still have to do stuff like pavements etc but that can wait for a bit.





The next thing going on was the extension to the upper shuttle lines. I have now laid all the track, installed point motors, occupancy detectors and point decoders. Unfortunately I am unable to test it as the s-88 arrived without a connecting cable; apparently LDT no longer supply them due to the option of connectors now. This is how the new terminus bit looks.



Having gone as far as I could with that I then went on to the area where the turn table used to be. I have attempted to model Loch Eilt here. I still have more layers of epoxy to add to build up layers for the loch. The land needs tree and bushes still. The upper area above the raised tracks is to go. I don’t like it and have a better idea for this area. I have a backdrop which will fit in here. The fir trees will get pulled and replanted in a plantation like we tend to see these days.





At the moment I have been doing a lot of tidying up. Wiring cleaning paint of the tops of tracks etc. Next day I will start tidying up the scenic’s on the lower area round the loch. Once this area is done I can start on a new area. Probably backdrops all round this upper area then move on to ripping out the area I mentioned before at the back.

I was hoping to have finished this castle before this update but the whole castle project is a bit bigger than I had originally anticipated. I am about 95% there and just have small details to finish such as chimney pots, door handles and the like.

So here are some pictures of the castle in place.



Close up



With flags added



Large tree added



Side views with gravel driveway now in place.





How this looks in the greater context of the layout.





I have to say that had I known how much work these conical tower roofs were going to be I wouldn’t have bothered. These really were a mission. I still have to do walls for the front and back of the castle estate. I also have a lot of tidying up to do with the fencing. I am thinking of removing some of the fencing and replacing it with stone walls as this would be more appropriate for the area. I’ll try to do some of the walling tomorrow if I get time.

I haven’t shown any pictures of the back as I am still to finish off a lot of the part at the rear. I’ll show some pictures when I do that part.

I got some track from Paul (Lancashire Fusilier) at the weekend so I am pretty much ready to start my West Highland extension. It will still be based on Spean Bridge but will have to curve a bit. I had better finish up the rear part of the castle and do the tunnel mouths and covering foliage first however so the extension may have to wait until next week or even month.

I have started acquiring a fleet of late eighties early nineties diesels to run on the West Highland lines at the top. I am in the process of installing sound detailing and weathering these. The 47 and 26 both have sound installed. There is also a 37 which I installed sound in but it had to go back as the decoder was faulty. I just have to do the powders on the 26 and 47 and then they are done. Here are some pictures of the 47.

I thought it was about time for a bit of an update. I have actually been doing a fair bit although it hardly looks like it. It has all been focussed on one project though. Recently I removed all the German towers and bridges from the edge of the raised bit and am now left with this which needs remodelled. The plan is to cover over the gap at the top and place a castle on top of it with a bit of grounds. I will need to make a couple of tunnel mouths to go at the ends.



I have a vacant section which was the turntable and am debating what to do with it. I could do a diesel depot or country scene. My current favourite idea is to do a small lochan with an island with tall trees as is often seen in the West Highlands. I’d have to drop the level a bit so it goes well below the track level but it might be worth it. I also thought a rockier outcrop behind it might be good too. I had a picture in mind that I seen of the line to Mallaig in a friends book.



I also intend to extend this section and have my West Highland station in here along with a small depot along the lines of Spean Bridge. I will have to bend some of it round a corner at a 120cm radius so it will have to be modified a bit. I already have the station building made so that’s a head start. The extension will go over my workbench but will be about a foot above it so it will not obstruct using it.


The castle I mentioned earlier is the project that’s taking up most of my time. It’s the biggest building challenge I have had to date. There is a fair amount of work and, knowing what I know now, I probably should have made a simple tower. What I am doing is make a model of Kellie Castle in Fife as it is a local castle. I have most of the exterior done and just a few bits to scribe and colour . Will be getting onto the windows next. I bought some etched brass framework to use; I just have to remember what I did with them!









I also got my Grassmaster too and did a bit of work with that. I redid a lot of the grass to give it a late summer, early autumn look. I found you get better result when doing large areas. I’m quite impressed with the results.







I still have a few loco mods to do too. I need to finish the WD. I put sound in but have to add coal, get rid of the front coupler and weather it a bit more. I also have sound to put into 37, 47 and 26’s for the West Highland bit. Loads to get done. First though, I’m looking forward to getting the castle done so I can get onto the layout extension area. I like the idea of more track. I can make the shuttle lines a bit longer!

I’ve done a bit more work over the last week or so and have a bit of an update.

I have finished off the old gun emplacement and weathered it a bit. This is how it looks for a couple of angles.







This is how it fits into the bigger picture.





I am now working on the old sidings in the lower level where the ordinance would have been delivered down from the gun emplacement. I have ballasted this bit and started on the weathering. It still looks fairly healthy at the moment but I want to give it a really old abandoned derelict look so it looks like nothing has been maintained since 1945. The main Leven to St Andrews line will look relatively well maintained in comparison. Quite a few jobs needing done in this section; more weathering tracks and walls, make the fences look rusty, install girders under the bridges, place plants and trees in and around the tracks and I really need a fence to stop those cows falling off.





While doing this section I continued using the puffer bottle for grass but found it didn’t work so well on these smaller sections. I really wasn’t happy at all with how the grass came out. I decided to bite the bullet and get a Noch Grassmaster as this seems to be set up to do small areas better.

I had been thinking about which castle to model for the section behind the field and have come to the conclusion that it will have to be Kellie Castle because of location and appropriacy. Trouble is that it will not all fit in the given space. I will have to do a bit of thinking to see if I can extend that area to get it in.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to finish sections of the top of the layout at the front so I can start work on the cuttings below. I had forgotten that there is a lot of work needing done down there. I haven’t even painted the rails yet. That’s the problem with having a break; I forget what I had done and hadn’t. The plan is to work from the top down so I don’t dump scenic stuff on the completed sections.

I painted all the fencing green so next step will be weathering that with rust and adding some missing pavement to complete that area. I boxed up all the German buildings so I now have a bit of space to work in.




I had got reasonably far with my wheat field but ran out of (Busch) wheat. I ordered another pack from Hearn’s hobbies but it just arrived on Friday afternoon so haven‘t had a chance to pick it up yet.





What I have done is finish off the woodland scene. I have pretty much finished that off and made walls to bound it next to the road and edge of the cutting. I’ll need to get some markings on the road to finish that off.

The last blog entry was about a new German layout that I will be building. Having discussed this with a few people it was suggested that it may make more sense to finish of the layout I already have. I thought that was fairly reasonable as there would be torage issues, so that's what I have been doing. I had to remove the German city scene and will remove the Bavarian station and am replacing it with an extension of the cliff scene backwards. This is how it's looking now.










This is being modelled on the top of Elie cliffs where I used to go camping as a teenager. There are many old army blockhouses from WW2 still intact there and so I aim to include an old gun base and a blockhouse.







The base of the large gun was knocked up fom a Peco turntable with additions made from mdf and pollyfilla. I have still to weather and finish the base of the gun emplacement but you can get the idea. I still have to knock up a blockhouse but that will be quite easy with MDF and pollyfilla.

The grass cliff tops were made using a Noch grass applicator bottle and it seems to have done a reasonable job. The grass cliff tops continues for a fair bit and then reaches a fenced off bit where there is a short stretch of woodland. I have made loads of trees for this bit and they are ready to go. I want to get fences and walls in place first before "planting" these as they may get damaged otherwise. I have completed the forest floor and it has plenty of ferns and mushrooms and floor litter.







Over the road from the wall will be the top narrow end of a wheat field. This is what I am doing now.




Over the other side of road from the wheat field will be a new small Scottish baronial type castle along the lines of Falkland palace or St Andrews castle. A smaller and semi ruined sort of building. This will go in the space here.



So there's plenty to be getting on with there for the next few months.

It does seem some time since I last updated my blog. I have gone through a lengthy period of reflection on model rail and what I want to do in the future. Some events that occurred last year gave me reason to reconsider the direction I was headed in and I have now had a bit of a think about what is coming next.

One of my conclusions was that having the layout in the garage was a major off putting factor. Over here it’s either forty degrees or cold and damp, neither of which are particularly enticing. So what I wanted was to have my layout back in the house. As we don’t have enough space in the house there was only one solution; extend.

We had been intending to move back to the UK this year however due to the current financial situation we thought it best to stay here as we both have reasonable jobs and it would be mad to go into an insecure situation. We had also looked at other larger houses but wanted to stay in the same area so extending seemed the logical choice. Having the opportunity to extend my agenda was to get a new railway room in the house. I have managed to get this but with one limiting factor; it has to be only a metre wide at most. The room has to double as a guest bedroom, computer room and music room for my guitars and amps so I cannot dominate the space too much. The idea is to have a 4.5 metre by 1metre layout. It would seem logical to do a plank type layout but my main interest is fast express trains and this type of layout is inappropriate.

My current thought are that 1metre is sufficient for a pacific to turn in. I do have a couple of my locos which would not make it round this sort of curve but you can’t win them all. The plan is to have to have two loops for the express trains and and have a small station halt with some sidings. The layout is to be based in Prussia in the period between 1918 and 1945. It will alternate between epoch 1 and 2 depending on what I am running. It will be exclusively German. My current layout had different sections which represented Scotland, Germany and Switzerland however some people chose not to notice the dividing boards between the sections and accuse me of mixing up nationalities stock as a means of point scoring. This new layout will remove that option for those types.

The idea is that for the epoch 1 running the station area will be a forestry based scene as there will be much woodland around the back area. For epoch two there will be a large rail gun which will be on a shuttle and pop out occasionally to shell the Russians plus some marshalling yards for eastbound equipment.

I have kept the track very basic as I intend to make this realistic. The temptation is always to stuff in as much track and buildings as possible. I intend to resist this and keep it as close to reality as possible.

The backdrop will be curved as the square edges were always a bane on my current layout. I will have the ground gradually rise after the station for about 6cm so that it will be above the rear storage yards. Insufficient storage with poor access was always an issue on the current layout and the storage there was wasn’t long enough to accommodate many of the longer trains.There will be roads crossing the mainline at each end so that the curves at the end can be concealed by bridges. I would prefer to avoid any telling tight curves. Woodland will fill the back area.

I don’t really have much time for modelling now so my plan was to take a couple of weeks off work and get the baseboards and track sorted out then.




I have chopped up the layout into three sections as it is a bit lengthy and would appreciate any comment or thoughts.