With time to complete the Rail200 challenge running short, I've thought about the details needed to finish it. This pack of benches and luggage trolleys from Shire Scenes will add some interest to the station. They're assembled with superglue, a little fiddly (especially the wheels) but not difficult.
Michael Campbell's blog about his model railways. Building model railway layouts in 009 (OO9) scale
Friday, 22 August 2025
Planning some details
Monday, 18 August 2025
Rail200 - buildings finished
The buildings have finally been completed, painted with Vallejo acrylics. The brickwork was painted with my usual technique of picking out a few bricks in different shades to the base red primer, then a coat of mortar colour which is then wiped off in a diagonal direction. I painted the arches, lintel and capping bricks in something approaching "engineering blue" bricks though I'm not sure I got the shade right, the result looks effective though.
The stores building platform paving has had a few washes over the grey primer, while the "lead" roof is left in primer grey because I couldn't think of a better finish! The doors are closed - actually on double-sided tape so they could be opened up later if needed - and black paper behind the windows hides the lack of depth. The airbrush was used to put smoke stains over the entrance as though locos have lingered there.
On the boiler house my plan for fixing the doors has actually worked, although they can't be closed because they overlap! I think I'd narrowed the doorway slightly to make the building fit the space and the door to be central to the track, though the doors will never be closed anyway. The metal chimney has come out well with a hint of rust speckles and smoke staining with the airbrush.
The engine shed roof used the Vallejo "rust and chipping effects" I first tried earlier this year, but this time I airbrushed rather than brush-painted the chipping medium which has given a more effective patchy effect, and "chipped" off the black layer about an hour after applying it. I'm very happy with the result, still not convinced by the vent flues but they look better for being rusty!
Inside, I fitted a yellow LED under the centre brace, and the wiring for that and the front wall lamp runs down inside the far wall. The dirty whitewashed Slater's brick inner false wall works well when viewed through the open doors, while the windows have been smoked with the airbrush. Oh, and look - the doors actually close!
The canopy was airbrushed green for a neat finish then given a dirty wash to emphasise the planking, while the top was finished in a dark grey-brown. However, as can be seen, the top didn't fit snugly into the frame as it has taken on a more acute angle. I couldn't see a way to glue this down, the contact patches are far to small.
I fitted pairs of plastic fillet plates into the underside of the ridge, spaced to sit either side of two of the roof trusses. A 1mm hole through the plates allows a pin (paperclip wire) to pass through.
With the top of the roof in place the wire pins pass under the peak of the trusses forming a strong mechanical fixing.
As you can see, this pulls the top into place neatly. In fact, no further fixing seems necessary, but I'll fix the pins with a blob of glue.
I'm very pleased with how the station has come out, it has just the right blend of a grand facility of humble construction. It's well kept, but since locos run through it the ends and inside of the canopy and the roof glazing are smoke stained.
Like the engine shed, a thin inner wall tidies up the back of the windows in case of a look under the canopy. The finials are rather vulnerable, one has been knocked off and refixed twice already!
Sunday, 17 August 2025
Rail200 - lighting-up time
The last week or so, I've been working on getting the buildings completed so I can move on with the scenic work. However, this wasn't helped by a small diversion... I thought the platform looked a bit bare - it needs lamps! Cue some internet searching for something suitable, I didn't think the traditional gas lamps used on Hexworthy would look right. I found these swan-neck lamps from TrainSave (no I'd never heard of them!) on ebay, that looked perfect for the inter-war period.
The very fine wires that come attached to SMLEDs are impossible to secure into terminal blocks, and very difficult to poke through holes in the baseboard. I cut short lengths of single-core wire, stripped of insulation, and soldered them onto the already stripped ends of the wires. These will act like "needles" to thread them through the baseboard, then folded double should fix securely into terminal blocks. However, the priority is to install the buildings, wiring up and powering up will follow later!
Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Rail200 - adding terrain
Building a layout to a deadline means progressing multiple tasks in parallel. While working through the painting of the buildings I've been adding terrain to the baseboard. As usual this uses expanded polystyrene foam from my stash in the garage, saved from packaging over the years - especially if it's a flat sheet since that makes it easier to build up contours.
...the dry tile grout was then sprinkled onto the wet surface through a tea strainer. Tapping the teaspoon against the strainer causes an even distributed flow of powder. This didn't coat as evenly as I'd hoped, so I sprayed water over the surface and applied another layer of grout powder. Excess was then vacuumed up. I'm not sure if it was really much quicker or easier than spreading wet grout, but the result is a nice even soil texture.
There was some brown paint/PVA mix left over so I put a couple of coats on the pond, which will be sanded smooth then painted - er - pond colour.
Saturday, 2 August 2025
Little jobs
With a couple of exhibitions last month, progress with the Rail200 challenge has been interrupted, but I have continued with the buildings when time allowed. There were some final additions to make.
Sunday, 20 July 2025
Chatham 2025 and a nice surprise
This weekend I was at the Chatham show with Hexworthy. I can't do shows without help, so a big thanks to John Crane helping on Saturday and Mike Fox on Sunday. Here's Mike operating the layout.
Probably the biggest "wow" factor was the Lego "Brick Coast Main Line" by the Lego UK Railway group - this model of the Forth railway bridge must have stood over 4' tall and was hugely impressive. The trains were impressively detailed too - remember, this is all made from Lego.
Saturday, 12 July 2025
Rail200 - platform and canopy
Operation will be more interesting with passenger trains to bring staff and visitors to the hospital, so a suitable "station" was needed. Now, Whittingham hospital had a somewhat grand station with a substantial train shed, and Calderstones hospital had a temporary wooden station with canopy for the mainline ambulance trains during WW1. I thought my layout might be more interesting if the platform had a canopy, but something rather more humble. After a bit of browsing what was available, I thought the best starting point was the venerable Kitmaster/Dapol/Airfix platform canopy kit. The mouldings are dated 1959 so it has been around a while, but other than a little flash it's still a perfectly good kit.
A view from the yard side that won't normally be seen, which is a shame as it looks rather good from this side! This has taken somewhat longer than I'd thought, interrupted by a family holiday and the Pevensey show, but I think the result was worth it.