WIP (Jan - Apr 08)

20 Apr 08

The Hornby EWS Class 56 bought earlier this week had it’s detailing bits and bobs added to the front end only and a Lenz Gold decoder + power 1 module installed.

More scenic work commenced with wood cut and placed.

Skaledale retaining walls and double tunnel portal glued into place.

Some 6mm MDF cut for the base of a removalable scenic section and more cut for a road over the tunnel. Then followed some painting and ballasting of the section. Much more to do but all in all a good afternoons work.

17 Apr 08

Managed to pick up a few bargains over the last few days on EBay including this Hornby Class 56 for less than £50 - will enter service at the weekend once it has had its detailed parts fitted and been DCC chipped. Other acquisitions included a Heljan Class 33 and also some points ready for a new section in the months to come.

I have also been impressed this week with Express Models - I order some bits and pieces from them on Sunday evening and the goods arrived on Tuesday morning - excellent service.

13 Apr 08

The ballasting done yesterday had dried allowing some watered down, black acrylic paint to be added to the track area with some clumps of grass added also for good measure.

Time was spent doing a few odd jobs including sorting a decoder that was short circuiting inside one of the engines.

Finally some time was spent looking at CV’s and setting up a double header using a pair of EWS Class 66’s.

12 Apr 08

The day started with one of Roger Murray’s 2 Aspect Signals being wired into a Heathcote Electronics MAS-SEQUENCER-4, took a few attempts to get things right as it has been well over 18 months since they were purchased (had been connecting a 4 aspect light and was struggling to understand why it wasn't lighting in sequence!). The MAS-SEQUENCER-4 fits under the base board after the signal and has built in infra red train detection which peaks through between a couple of sleepers so that when a train goes over it, the colour of the signal changes.

Next came a little more embankment building using some odd pieces of wood and some plaster of paris bandage which once dry was covered in grass matting. A couple of Woodlands Scenic’s large ready made trees were strategically placed. More clump foliage was added to make some bushes.

Signal box had some clump foliage attached and lighting was added inside, Skaledale walling was glued to the base board around the signal box and some more grass matting added. The road approaching the level crossing received a coat of black acrylic paint.

Finally the track leading up to the level crossing from the scenic side was ballasted and a good quantity of watered down PVA glue added to secure it.

30 Mar 08

Took some time to give the web site a quick once over......

29 Mar 08

A day of playing trains!

It has been some time since I have just run a few trains, sat back and enjoyed.....well today was the day. After a few minor glitches all ran smoothly :-)

28 Mar 08

More time invested in scenic work.

Managed to get some Busch "Furrowed field" sheets from Modellers Mecca, near Wolverhampton which finished off one of the sections quite nicely. With time spent with the glue gun and some clump foilage added to the walls and field edges.

More Skaledale Cotswold wall arrived from Amazon and was quickley put into use and secured with the glue gun.

Again the glue gun got some use with lots of clump foilage stuck down. White lines applied to the road and large traffic cones (from the Peco Modelscene range) glued together and secured to the road.

Traffic signs from the Skaledale range were used and the die cast vehicles were bought in Walmart in the US a couple of years ago for a few dollars. Grass is as usual cut from hanging basket liner with the road surface, contents of the digger's bucket and pile of gravel fine ballast secured with watered down PVA.

The figure is from Bachmann's new scenecraft range of OO scale figures from set 36-052 (Civil Engineers).

The beekeepers are from the Noch HO range.

24 Mar 08

A little time spent on some of the finer detail on the 2nd Level with watered down black acrylic paint used on the ballasted track section to add some grime, weeds (Silfor Tufts) and various clump foliage added in addition to a couple of AWS boxes from Harburn Hamlets.

Another scenic section was started to include the road down to the level crossing.

And finally a little time spent running trains!

23 Mar 08

Another scenic section started and very nearly completed, however work has come to a stand still as I need some Busch "Furrowed field" sheets - the only stockist I know is MGSharp in Sheffield so it will have to wait for a visit in a couple of weeks time. I also managed to run out of Skaledale walling so have ordered some from Amazon (seems the cheapest place and free postage - it always pains me how much some shops charge for P&P but not this time ;-).

A few pictures of progress - the empty space behind the stable is where the furrowed field sheets will go.

It's lucky I don't paint the lines on the road for a living!

11 Mar 08

Some more scenic acquisitions arrived.........

9 Mar 08

Work continued on the Old Vicarage until it was near enough completed - just the lights and a few details to finish off.

I will leave it to the pictures to tell the story.......

8 Mar 08

More bits and pieces arrived this week – with a supply of Woodland Scenics items from EC Scenics that should give me plenty to work with over the coming months. In addition some new Skaledale items arrived including Websters' Modern Industrial Building which I am sure will be slotted in somewhere!

Work started on the Old Vicarage. Polystyrene was cut and shaped with plaster of Paris bandage applied to form some of the slopes all this was glued onto 6mm MDF and painted with Dulux sample paints.

2 Mar 08

Not much time to do anything substantial today so have being doing some odd jobs. Buffer beam details and name plates added to Fastline 56302, buffer beam details added to several of the recent Class 66's.

1 Mar 08

The Feedback and Guestbook pages have been removed and these have been replaced by the Stafford Central Forum.

The track that was ballasted some time ago has been cleaned and test run on.

The four Lenz Gold decoders with pre-soldered power 1 modules arrived from USA today enabling a couple of engines to be chipped; Hornby Fastline Freight Class 56, 56302 and Bachmann Class 66/9 diesel DRS/Stobart Rail 66411 "Eddie the Engine". Had problems chipping the class 66 as you have to use a 21pin to 8 pin adapter this raises the height somewhat and I found that once the chip was in and the body back on the engine would short resulting in all the lights flashing! After a little effort and some tape the problem was sorted.

In addition some more scenic work started with boards cut and painted for the section behind the church. Once the paint was dry skaledale walling was glued in place followed by some double white lines and grass. Some vehicles were added and hey presto we now have a road running by the church (needs more work yet but I am sure you get the idea).

26 Feb 08

Thought it was time to get to grips with a little of the scenic work and decided to create a church and graveyard scene which is going to become part of a much large village. A piece of 6mm mdf was cut to shape and painted a chocolate brown colour.

Metcalfe self adhesive paving slabs were used to create the pavement and church path. St Andrews Church comes from Hornby’s Skaledale range as does the church gate, gravestones and Cotswold walling. The grass in the graveyard was made using a diluted PVA base coat, various scatters and more diluted PVA on top.

Trees and hedges are from K & M. Embankment grass is hanging basket liner from Wyvale Garden Centre (still wet in pictures). Figures are from Noch.

24 Feb 08

Another Bachmann class 66 diesel, 66407 in DRS livery and a Hornby Pendolino DCC Set were aquired this week. As usual the Bachmann Class 66 is excellent and runs really well (even with a standard Bachmann decoder) and entered service quickly.

The Pendolino is another matter, it looks really great but it ran like a dog until it reached speed step 48 or so, and until it reached this speed sounded awful. Reading some reviews online this appears normal and is due to a combination of the poor basic Hornby decoder and the gear mechanism. Using my lenz system I couldn’t change the engines address from the default 3 using the normal programming mode, though it would change by programming CV1 direct but would then default back to 3 after a little while.

Upon opening up the engine to change the decoder you find a non standard socket so unless you plan on doing some soldering you’ve had it. I suppose I could change the decoders but to be honest can’t be bothered – when you buy something from one of the main manufacturers you expect it to work!

Overall the Hornby Pendolino was a big disappointment and soon to be offloaded via EBay.

18 Feb 08

At last the RAIL EXPRESS’ limited edition Fastline Freight Class 56, 56302 arrived this morning (a very belated Christmas present!). It looks great with a wealth of fine detail – just need to wait for the decoders from the USA and it will be chipped and properly commissioned.

In addition some additional scenic detail has been acquired in the form of some dioramas which in due course will be slotted in to the layout somewhere. I am really impressed with these and will be keeping an eye out for more.

10 Feb 08

As the main railway runs underneath some of the second level base boards I need the ability to lift some of the boards off to gain access if and as required - I have therefore decided to raise the town by at least two cm's. My intention is then to build the town in sections on 6mm mdf boards that can then be lifted off - the additional benefit of doing it this way is it will allow me an air gap to hide all the wiring that will be needed for the street and house lights.

The section started today is fixed so I have used wood and plaster of paris rolls, cut into strips and painted to form a slight embankment. More ballasting was then completed. It has all now been left to dry for a few days.....

9 Feb 08

Scenic work began on the upper section today with one of the back boards cut, painted and slotted into place, base board painted ready for ballast and some actual ballasting on the bridge section completed - I am experimenting with finer ballast on this level.

Earlier in the week several packs of Hornby’s Skaledale retaining walls were purchased from AP Models and these were positioned to get a feel for how the section will look – quite like the effect – couldn’t continue in this area as I am awaiting delivery of a pack of Skaledale Brick Double Tunnel Portals from Amazon. The downside of the retaining walls are they come in packs of two with a left and right facing piece - no good if you are doing as I am and only constructing one side (I will have to find a use elsewhere).

In addition the Express Models Automatic Barrier Warning Lights (EXLC2) were connected and the level crossing installed – as well as flashing warning lights the unit comes with sound (though you would pretty soon get fed up if the sound was on all the time!). These have only been wired up to a manual switch for now, however I will need to wire them in to the DCC system at a later date so that the trains can activate them as they approach the level crossing.

2 Feb 08

A little work done today…….the Vi trains EWS Class 37, 37422 had most of its detailing pack fitted (a very fiddly job), which makes it look much better. Ten Commandments loads for the 51 Ton scrap wagon SSA’s were painted silver. Four new videos were also added to the video clips page.

25 Jan 08

General DCC work and stock housekeeping conducted – don’t collections grow! The following engines were retired along with a growing number of items of coaching and wagon stock – all surplus to requirements (thank goodness for EBay):

Heljan Class 47 diesel. Weathered ltd edition. 47212 in Railfreight Petroleum livery.
Heljan Class 47 diesel 47806 in Virgin red & grey.
Bachmann Class 57/0 diesel 57602 in First Great Western livery.

Thus making way for the following:

Bachmann Class 66 diesel 66522 in Freightliner/Shanks Waste Solutions livery (DCC sound on board).

In addition a number of decoders were ordered from the USA – this should mean that the majority of the running trains have Gold + power 1 modules installed - a definate bonus.

Stafford Central

A modern image DCC controlled "OO" gauge loft layout