Magnet markers

This week I've been preparing Loctern Quay for its outing at Uckfield model railway exhibition this weekend. Being a small layout this isn't especially onerous task, and thanks to the use of graphite I don't need to clean track or wheels, though the graphite is topped up in a few places. However the layout does get a vacuum and dusting with brushes, and a thorough test. All locos are tested including couplings against one wagon, and all wagon couplings are tested against one loco. A few couplings were adjusted, and one wagon which was reluctant to uncouple got a small block of foam positioned to rub against a flange. 

A couple of detail junk items have also put in an appearance. My assistant operators sometimes struggle to locate the magnets, now those on the front sidings are in plain sight but they do disappear when a train is over them, particularly the front siding, and the rear siding magnet is invisible under the track, so they do have a point. I figured a discrete marker by each magnet might help.

The chain I've had in the bits box for decades, I think it must be iron since it is attracted to magnets but it is plated in some shiny bronze-like material that resists paint. I tried applying gun-blue which had little effect but perhaps dulled it a little, so I dropped a length of it into gun-blue solution and left it for a couple of hours. As you can see, that actually worked. 

A length was then cut, roughly shaped, and dabbed with a little matt Modge Podge to see if that got it to hold its shape. That seemed to work, which allowed me to wash over some dark brown, then dry brush a little rust colour, followed by a dusting of weathering powder. The suitably grubby chain was then stuck in place alongside the front siding magnet with a little more matt Modge Podge. It's the first time I've used matt Modge Podge but I've heard it is a good scenic glue, drying without trace, and it seemed to work here.

The rear siding magnet got a couple of old sleepers. These are cut from Peco "crazy-track" with the webbing removed, the sides and ends roughened with a razor saw blade dragged across and rough emery paper, and the hole under the rail fixing filled with filler. They were painted dark "track" brown with the fixings picked out in rust, dry-brushed with pale grey, and then dusted with weathering powder. Matt Modge Podge was used to stick them down too, with a heavy weight to sink them into the grass. 

We'll find out this weekend if the markers help locate the magnets reliably, but hopefully they also add a little visual interest without looking out of place and being discrete as to their true purpose. If you make it to Uckfield - and I hear it will be a great show - do say hello, I'll be upstairs. 

A new fiddle yard for Hexworthy

Hexworthy was designed to use the same exhibition-friendly fiddle yard I'd made for Awngate, but that is large and not pretty, so for home use a compact fold-away fiddle yard was built with a simple 3-road sector plate. It's seen here before the boards were painted grey. The frame attached to the layout with split hinges front and rear for a rigid joint, and the board rotated around the vertically-mounted flat hinges to stow inverted over the layout. 

It worked very well being tucked neatly out of the way when not in use. However, after redecoration and reorganisation of the room the layout is tucked into a 6' space between a wall and a pillar. This means neither the fold-away nor the exhibition fiddle yard fit in the 18-in or so gap. 

My solution is a new home fiddle yard fitted around the pillar, which gives me the extra length needed to hold a train. 

A sheet of 5mm ply and off-cuts of softwood were assembled into this odd-shaped baseboard. It was a tricky board to make as there's no real datum, most of the side protruding above the board while none of the battens are full depth. The end is 3" by 1", the inner battens 2" by 1", and the thinner diagonal batten will I hope help resist any twist. The curved slot is for the sector plate. 

The split hinge alignment and joining method previously used worked well but getting the pin in and out was tricky and involved a pair of pliers, plus it would have required more height to the corners of the board. The club layout has adopted over-centre catches with alignment pins which are really easy to use, so I thought I'd give them a go. I bought packs of each from Station Road Baseboards. 

I got what are described as "bullet dowels" which have reasonably tight tolerance while being easy to fit, just needing a hole through the ends. The problem was I realised the ends of Hexworthy are just 3mm ply over 5mm foam-core board, which wouldn't be substantial enough to hold them, so I stuck blocks of softwood behind the foam where the holes would be. The boards were then clamped together, and pilot holes followed by the 7.5mm holes to take the dowels, the locations of the holes being dictated in part by where I could fit the blocks. The dowels then hammer into place, although where the dowels passed through the foam into the blocks I used a sash-clamp as a kind of vice to squeeze it into place, ensuring it didn't tear the foam apart instead. 

Fitting the catches was also limited by the existing boards, fortunately there are softwood blocks in the corners of the Hexworthy board but existing screws had to be avoided, and the end fascia panel had to be trimmed to fit around the catch. It would be much easier when building new baseboards to think about the locations of these catches first! Nevertheless, catches were fitted both sides. 

You may notice that the dowels and catches are handed, I'll have to adapt the exhibition fiddle yard to use the same attachments and this means only one more dowel set and catch set is needed. 

The new arrangement is much easier to connect and release, especially when reaching behind the layout on the shelf unit. The connection is not as rigid as the split hinge, which allowed one end of the layout to be lifted without any bend at the join, but having got the catches as tight as I could it seems good enough and the dowels make for just as good alignment. 

Now I need to fit the sector plate and tracks, although it might be a couple of weeks. Next weekend Loctern Quay will be at Uckfield, which looks to be an excellent show as always. Do say hello if you're there. 

Fareham Railex 2022

Last Saturday I took a trip to the Fareham model railway exhibition. I'd not been before but it looked like being a big show, and there aren't so many local shows around at the moment. I was expecting the hall to be busy on a Saturday morning but it didn't feel crowded, perhaps because the large hall had been used to allow wide aisles. There was indeed a good selection of layouts, but here I'll just show the narrow gauge layouts. 

Derwent Road (O9) - Bill Flude

This model is inspired by the 2' gauge railway at Leighton Buzzard which carried sand, and was gradually taken over by a preservation group. Bill's freelance model has both sand and tourist trains (plus the occasional works train) with a similar setting between the road and modern housing, but is modelled to O9 so around 18" gauge. It's a fine model with varied trains. 

Hook Basin (1:25 / 16.5mm gauge) - Richard Williams

A large scale layout in a small space, which offers fine detail and characterful trains. There are two scenes, the wharf on the left where trains of skips are tipped into the waiting barge, and the station scene and engine shed on the right. 

Launceston Steam Railway (009) - Richard Holder.

This heritage railway in Cornwall is faithfully and beautifully modelled, and instantly recognisable to anyone who has visited. The locos and stock of the line are also modelled, including the iconic Welsh quarry Hunslets. 

Bluckless, County Donegal (OOn3) - Andy Cundick

Models of the Irish 3 foot gauge aren't common considering the number and mileage of lines that once existed. This simple station is nicely modelled, as is the loco and stock.

Avyn-A-Llyin (009) - Andrew Bailey

A classic from years ago this busy Welsh layout still looks good. The pier station is novel and superbly modelled, though it would look better in photos with a backscene! Nice to see it again.  

Bergeller Bahn (HOm) - John Laister.

This large layout had multiple levels with trains winding their way through ensuring there always seemed to be something moving, even a yellow postbus on the mountain road. The scenery was dramatic, and the detailing thoughtful - check out the cable car delivery. Having seen photos of the Swiss railways this seemed a convincing as well as interesting model (yes Switzerland is that clean and tidy!). 

That's a fine selection of narrow gauge layouts by any standard, and I have to admit some of the 20 or so other layout were pretty good too! 

Flocking

Hexworthy has been an arid desert for too long, so I figured it was time to start making it green. Before static grass and other scenics I like to start with a base layer of traditional flock scatter, it makes sure the brown plaster is well covered and doesn't show through. 

I use a range of colours, I seem to have collected many packs. The first layer may not give an even coverage, but another layer of PVA and scatter gives a deep even coat. A little ground foam scatter is used for the second layer too, creating patches of roughness that will hopefully make the static grass "tufty", 

I've blended different colours to give a varied appearance, and used deeper greens where there will be trees and near the river, and lighter colours for open ground, aiming to blend with the backscene. 

It's surprising what a basic layer of green does to bring the layout to life. There's much more to do to the groundwork, but I need to think about the river and the playground too. 

I like steam engines

Earlier this week I took a trip on the Bluebell Railway. It's relatively local but I'd not been for a few years. 

I do enjoy a steam train ride!

The loco shed/museum has had a makeover since my last visit, with bright LED lighting and more space between the locos it was a much more attractive space. Raised walkways provided views into some of the cabs and access into one of them. There were some interactive exhibits too including a loco driving simulator. 

And in other news... I have a new toy!

It's a Kato/Peco Ffestiniog England loco, Prince. Not only does it look lovely, it runs very nicely too. 

Redecoration

I mentioned in an earlier post that there wouldn't be much modelling this summer due to redecoration of our lounge-diner. That involved rewiring, wallpaper stripping, plastering, painting, new carpet and some new furniture units - and no, I didn't do all of that myself but the disruption has lasted weeks. However, it's now all finished and I have been able to set up my bookshelves and the layouts again at the end of the dining room. 

A little rearrangement has meant I've been able to extend the Ikea IVAR shelf from 1.5 to 2 bays, about 6 feet. I retrieved a folding desk for it from the garage from when the shelf unit was shortened after the kids were born, the desk gives a little workbench space when needed and I've fitted another shelf under the desk for useful storage too. Hexworthy is back on the shelving unit but the pillar means the "domestic" fiddle yard won't fit, so I'll have to make a new fiddle yard for home use stepped to fit around the pillar. Landswood Park is in the box-files underneath, and Loctern Quay sits on its short legs on the sideboard. 

I'm fortunate that my wife tolerates my layouts and railway stuff in the living room, and it's nice to have them on display and available for use, but it does mean they have to be made presentable and kept tidy. Now things are back to normal modelling should be able to restart soon - but don't expect much before what's left of summer is over!

New 009 Society Handbook

Back at the Narrow Gauge South show in April I was given a copy of the new 009 Society Handbook. This is now the third edition, it has been over two decades since the second edition and the first was published around the time I joined the Society over 30 years ago. I found it a useful reference then (my copy looks rather dog-eared), and I hope the new edition is just as useful to 009 modellers now - especially those new to the scale. This edition is a thick spiral-bound A4 book illustrated throughout in colour, and covers topics such as DCC and 3D printing as well as the age-old challenges of track laying, wiring, couplings, scratch-building, and even exhibiting your layout. 

The reason I was given a copy was because I had contributed a section on how to model inset track, using my experiences from building Loctern Quay and Slugworth which used different techniques, along with a short description of how the prototypes do inset track. 

The 4-page article includes lots of photos which I'd used on this blog, so I was able to illustrate the processes. 

As well as the article I'd provided, some of my photos were used in a couple of other sections written by Richard Glover, one covering different types of fiddle yards showed the "easy cassette" system I used on Awngate. 

Another section on micro layout design featured photos of my Southon Yard, and Joshua's Slugworth & Co., both of which were EXPO-NG competition winners. 

I have to say it's a real honour to have input to this handbook alongside many well-known modellers, the works of some of whom were an inspiration to me when I started in 009, or over the years since. The format of the handbook may look similar to the original, but it has been thoroughly updated with new content and covering new topics. If you model in 009 it is well worth picking up a copy from the Society sales.