Woody Lane 009.

 I just want something simple to run narrow gauge trains at home and at exhibitions.

I apologise about the rather blurred photo of the layout- easier than trying to draw a trackplan!

This is the plan I have come up with and all of my stock, with the exception of the Lynton &Barnstable Manning Wardle loco and bogie coaches, have all had a test session to make sure they run well over the track.

Even though the tightest radius is 8 inches, the Bachmann Baldwin traverses the layout without problem.

All turnouts are operated by PECO motors and passing contact switches. Three sections are controlled by the panel, shown below, which is, yet again, a product of Jurassic.

Romsey Model Railway Exhibition Rescheduled.

The event scheduled for 3rd and 4th of March has a new date. The local council, who are the operators of the venue, deemed that conditions were too dangerous to hold the event as scheduled.

So the rescheduled date is Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2018.

See-http://www.rdrms.com/exhibitions.html

009 WW1 Trench layout

 I had seen several images of this layout built by Callum Willcox.
At the Small & Delightful plug and play day at Compton Dundon I had the opportunity to see it in the flesh.
What a lovely layout- really captures the atmosphere of Callum's chosen subject.
Photos can't do the layout justice but here are some anyway!

009 Quarry Sidings.

 I saw this little layout, demonstrated by the supplier of Lynton and Barnstable resin cast buildings and wagon loads.
I must admit my forgetting the builders name but I am trying to rectify this.
A continuous loop with a single siding, I have just let an O&K diesel have a run whilst showing ,finally, a use for the JCB!
I intend to paint the lower fascia buthave not yet decided wether to keep its name. Time will tell.

New Forest Model Railway Society Exhibition.

This weekend, 26th and 27th May sees Hillbrow at the New Forest Model Railway Exhibition at Brockenhurst Village Hall. This is the 40th spring exhibition and some interesting displays are promised.

Hope to see you there.

Corris 009.

 I have seen Corris 1930 several times. At the S&D plug and play day I had the chance to have a chat with Rod Alcock its creator.
Inspired by P.D. Hancock, who Rod knew, this is a very special piece of modelling and so let the pictures do the talking.

009 Minitrains and Bachmann Baldwin comparison.

These two were pictured on Callum Willcox's WW1 Trench layout at Small & Delightful day.
Comment has been made that the 2-6-2 Baldwin was smaller than the 4-6-0.
So although the Minitrains offering is to HO- is it that much of a difference? Maybe not.

009 Bachmann Baldwin 778.

 Much has been said about the first narrow gauge loco released in the UK. There have been a couple released in the States which were Thomas the Tank locos and not licenced to be sold here.
This one had a run about on Hillbrow at the Small and Delightful plug and play day at Compton Dundon over the weekend.
Straight from the box the loco runs superbly, one downside is that the couplings are a little thick so will need paring down a bit.
That's the only downside so looking forward to the rest of the releases.

Can you ever have enough 4MM Bulleid Pacifics?

The answer in my case is no!
34105 Swanage is my seventh and was bought second hand, in the wrong box and minus brake gear.
There are a few blemishes but now that a headcode has been applied plus work on the tender and crew have been  affixed these are not so obvious.
The front coupling has been replaced by a brass U so enabling the vacuum and heating pipes to be fixed in place.
I will source the brake gear sometime but for now I am very happy with my bargain buy!

Modified 4MM PECO Cricket Pavilion.

 This has been a very pleasurable building to make. As purchased- a little over £6-I wanted to create something other than a cricket pavilion. I also wanted to experiment with corrugated iron.
So, the ends were built up with some plasticard shuttering and clear corrugated plasticard was cut to size .The capping is some left over brass angle from Worsley Works coach kits. This was then sprayed with Bauxite undercoat, then when dry brushed with a lighter shade of rust. Finally the whole roof was dry brushed with Humbrol metallic steel.
This is very subtle and is difficult to capture on camera- all I have to do now is decide which layout it will inhabit!

4MM Heljan BRC&W Type 3.

 Rotorail was a very happy hunting ground as, for a little over 40 of your finest pounds, this Type 3 was found unboxed and minus couplings but otherwise intact.
All the pipework had been affixed and the chassis and lower part of the body had been weathered- not my usual cup of tea but although it is one of the first batch with the incorrect roof profile- for the money!!!
All that needed doing was cutting and bending a couple of pieces of brass wire and fitting in holes I had drilled in  the buffer beam to make couplings. Well pleased.

009 Freelance Peckett.

 So- this one is just about finished.
The nameplates were found in my bits box so 'Robin Hood' came into the fleet- no family name this time.
I have found that the body sits a bit high, discovered by the couplings not joining with any of the stock. This has probably arisen as I built the body before sourcing the chassis!
So, the couplings have been removed and the holes filled. A new mounting point will be drilled slightly lower which should cure the problem.
We shall see as'Robin Hood' will be at the S&D open day at Compton Dundon near Street in Wiltshire this weekend.

Narrow Gauge Fun Day May 12th 2018.

Small & Delightful Railway Group:
"Plug & Play Fun Day":
Meadway Hall,
Ham Lane,
Compton Dundon,
Street,
Somerset.
TA11 6PQ.

Opening times: 10.30-16.00
Admission £5-00

There will be approximately 22 layouts in the popular scales and gauges. The difference from a normal member's/open day is that visitors and exhibitor's will be encouraged to operate the layouts and if they wish to bring their own stock to run and photograph on a different layout this will also be encouraged.
There will be at least 12 009 layouts including Dave Simpson's "Wisteria Collop".

Refreshments will be provided by the ladies of the SDRG and Glastonbury & Street Lions Club who are famous for their excellent homemade cakes.

New life into an aged Bachmann Pannier.

I found this Pannier Tank as a non-runner at the Rotorail Exhibition.
On examination the armature had given up and so a replacement was obtained from Bachmann- have the box/original code number ready, not as I did and asked for the part number on the service sheet .
Whilst I was waiting for the new motor to arrive the body was given an all over coat of dirty black paint to cover the original Great Western scheme.
Some early BR transfers were applied plus route dots plus lamps.
I visited my local model shop- Model Railway Solutions and obtained a pair of cabside plates- for a 67XX series which were specifically shunting engines.  When affixed, a smokebox door plate was made from some black plasticard and small numbers from a HMRS sheet- yes I know they are yellow but its my loco etc.
A quick coat of Testors finest and hey presto ! There are a couple of missing bits but they will be found in due course.
So- for about £25 I have a useable workhorse- must darken the con rods though!

FIVE79 RC28 Freelance Bagnall 0-4-0.

The chassis unit has been received from N-Drive . This needs a slice being taken off each end to fit the body. Care has been taken to ensure the cylinders are in the right place.
To balance the loco it was necessary to pack all available orifices with lead as, without this , the loco is rear heavy. I could have rebuilt the cab in styrene but as our roof has been replaced recently I have a large amount of lead!
The large pictures cruelly expose the poor joins-ho hum!

PECO Cricket Pavilion.

 I bought this for Misarah. It will be the Beach Club for personnel relaxation.
I have altered it slightly having done away with the hip roof replacing it with boarded ends and a corrugated iron roof. PVA glue was used to construct- carefully applied with a fine paintbrush.
This is a well thought out kit- the laser cutting is very fine as can be seen in the images.
The previous PECO wooden station was marked
as being produced by 4Ground but there is no markings to identify who laser cut it.
The wooden bit is built- maybe we will get a few decent days so I can spray paint it!

Woody Lane 009.

I decided that Woody Lane would be of more use in a 4ft x 2ft format.
So a 9mm piece of ply to those dimensions was cut by my local woodyard- shed wood is not for me i'm afraid.
Framed with 2x1 inch softwood with a couple of bracing crossmembers at 16 inch centres.
Helpfully, Model Railway Solutions supply a self adhesive cork underlay for 009. This is slightly wider than the N gauge product.
After marking the track centre line the underlay is split in half and each piece is stuck either side of the line.
Then several lengths of PECO Mainline 009 track has been beaten into place with slots drilled for turnout operation which will be by solenoid switches.
The fiddle yard motors have been mounted on top to cut down the amount of fiddling about!

009 Freelance Peckett.

This FIVE79 whitemetal kit I had built with the intention of running it on top of a TU Koppel 0-4-0 N gauge chassis.
However, this proved to be too back heavy and just looked wrong.
So, what to do?
After running the Dolgoch chassis I contacted N-Drive and most helpfully Nev suggested a couple of combinations for this Peckett. He also had a picture of his identical loco running on a very short wheelbase chassis- so I am waiting for one-!!