Dreaming.. (again)

I’ve just finished my message pad at work, went to throw away the card back and had to stop myself. I figured it’s just about the right size to make a tunnel mouth insert. Then i look down at the pad itself and the doodle on there i started this morning of the dilapidated N gauge layout in the loft. I was up there yesterday putting some bits away, took a look around and thought to myself that maybe, just maybe, i could tackle this next. I did plan to build a nice little N gauge exhibition layout, and i’d still like too, but what with Hartland Junction just gathering dust in the shed i think it’s more than unlikely i’ll ever exhibit that again. It’s just too much effort, i think it’s the 48’ long incarnation that’s left. Too big for me, even if the sense of nostalgia and honour it would bring me to exhibit one last time is still there. So why not trash it? salvage what i can and rebuild the loft layout. I’m sitting here redesigning the whole thing again already, the double track main line remains, but as the gradients were always too steep, build a middle level, loop it round the loft 3 times instead of 2, i like the idea of the middle level being on a bridge and covering the bottom level. Little Vignettes in my mind, maybe extend the branch to the middle level and to a nice little country station, and even as i type i realise theres no need for the desk up there anymore so i COULD extend it onto that and do something there, but that seems a little too adventurous. I did think at first though, run the branch to the lower level, then back over the bottom track to this new station, but if i just run it to the middle level, then i can possibly squeeze another double track just on the bottom level.. who knows.

Anyway, this post wasn’t even supposed to be about this, it was supposed to be wrapping up my summer activities, oh well.

Back to the doodle, and see what my over active imagination can come up with this afternoon.

It definitely beats working.

Picture this..

..a day in December...

Or August actually, and not really a day more a couple of hours in the evening. Spurred on by 2 visits to the decent layout at Butterley and another depressing visit to the shit ones at Swanwick whilst at Indietracks. Not to mention coming back with a 'Western' body, 3 southern Maunsell coaches and 5 box vans, work is continuing out in the train room. Not too much last night, but i’m so far happy with what i’ve done.

Theres definitely room for improvement though, the ballast i picked up the other week is far too dark so will need a layer of lighter grey over the top to keep it uniform, but the top station is now built and painted and waiting for the finer detailing – a white strip along the edge and i’d like to try and take inspiration from Swanwick itself with some nicely located flower pots and a decent station name (still to be decided, it won’t be Bideford though) I’m very happy with the way the bay road looks (ballast excepted) and will carry on painting the sides of the rails with the rust colour, however tedious it may be.

Next thing to do is finish the ballasting of the loco and work on the detail there, then put the signal box in place and work around that. Lastly for the top station, having finished last night with gluing the wall all the way along behind the back track is sort the road out in front of the long terrace. Hopefully once all thats done, it should look very presentable. The finer detailing can wait, as it’s down to the carriage sidings after that to get them laid in as best possible.

What else, of course, pictures! I took some and will load them to the Flickr set here to get more of a story of whats going on, whoop!

A work in progress.

Right then, Its that time of year again, when two worlds collide. I’m sure i must be in the minority of people who looks forward to Indietracks as much to see the comforting sight of sidings full of diesels and a ride on the DMU as well as the music. This year feels slightly (very) different and it’s with a sense of trepidation that i’ll be heading off on Friday morning.

Anyway, thats not what this is about right now. Over the last couple of weeks things have been moving on at a pace approaching steady down in Gravesend. Summertime isn’t usually the season for railway modelling, theres other distractions, the weather, beer gardens, festivals, The World Cup, life really, but i’ve enjoyed having it as a distraction this year and throwing myself if not headlong, then carefully back in. I stood having a look at the monster i’d somehow created for myself the other day and started to really think about what i needed to do and what i wanted to achieve, then i realised that best way to do it would be with a proper plan. A plan to start with the basics and get it at least looking respectable and finished enough to run and then move onto the details after that. They do say a model railway is never finished.. So, this is a brief update on what i’ve done in the last few weeks in case i forget -

· ‘Bideford’, as it was known as, successfully rebuilt and stripped ready for finishing.
· All ‘Bideford’ - trackwork now laid and 90% ballasted.
· Top loco laid, tested and isolating sections wired in.
· Top loco trackwork embedded and waiting for detailing.
· Roadway along front of top section cleared and waiting to
be redone.
· ‘Hartland Junction’ footbridges reduced and rebuilt to only cover
tracks they need to.
· Fiddle yard cleared and ready to be finished.
· Decision made to not cover down gradient and move terrace housing on top of new ‘floor’
· Gradient covered behind the cinema to allow that to be built back once terrace also half built to cover new roof.
· Bay road at ‘Bideford’ relayed with isolating section and rails/buffer stop started to be detailed to check how easy it is!

Quite a lot gone on then, it still doesn’t look like it, but by concentrating more on this section than moving all over the place it looks like things will gradually slip into an acceptable and presentable layout. Cant wait to get it back into a postiition when it doesn’t just look like a tip out there, the motivation for that is a good incentive.

More to come post Indietracks

Back on track!

Cor, 9 months on.. i could have had a baby by now, well, not me personally, i don’t have the bits..

I wasnt sure if i’d ever update this again, the trainroom is a mess, i struggle to get in there now as theres a pile of old carpet inside the door from when my mum decorated the hallway, but a few things happened recently, well, one in particular really that led me back to here and a new found enthusiasm for updates and action.

It probably won’t last.

Anyway, we got a skip, the other weekend, to clear out a whole load of junk and garden stuff, it was quite exhilarating, in a funny sort of way, i spend my day sitting at a desk, my evenings pottering about, i don’t do enough exercise, i’m not sure if clearing sheds and filling skips is ‘exercise’ but it definitely cleared away a few cobwebs, especially in one of the sheds. For years our old exhibition layout ‘Hartland Valley’ has been stored, well, not all of it, just 1/3. The other 2/3 was disposed of years ago, it was getting silly, some 48’ long, 12’ wide then 48’ long down the other side. I wish i had some pictures of it, maybe i do somewhere. This is deviating though, i had a look at a couple of the boards, they’re in a right state. My heart tells me to tidy them up, restore it, even if its just for one final outing. My head tells me to let go, scrap them, salvage what i can and put the stuff away for further use. Theres also the layout in the loft, which is in a similar state of disarray, although that would be easier to remedy. Then there were the random boxes i found full of track, stations and buildings and junk.. all N gauge, which truth be told, is where my heart lays. As much i have enjoyed the OO in the trainroom, part of me wishes i could rip the whole thing up and make a lovely big N gauge layout, i cant do that though. Either way, it got me to planning again, only in my head, i’d like to get back out on the exhibition circuit, locally at first, i don’t have a car, i cant drive, i cant go too big, hence my love of the N. So i have a nice manageable plan in my head, and a name, and a style, and a bit of a dream too. But i don’t want to do anything concrete yet until i get ‘Hartland Junction’ at least looking respectable, so thats what i plan to do..

More to follow!