End game

Due to ill health, I have ceased all work on the layout but my good friend Peter Bennett is going to take it over and finish it in the way I had intended. He is in the process of moving so wont be doing anything in the short term but he will keep the blog updated when things happen. I have been fitting point motors and making a start on the wiring.  B

Today sees me lying down in the chemo ward of St Lukes in Guildford with 3 hours to spare and as luck would have it, the latest photos are in my laptop,

The first of the Rudd wagons in the process of spraying Ford Broom Yellow, and the finished article with the Departmental grey applied by hand.

 The general idea of the kit is that the chassis is built at the same time as the body but because of the complexity of the paint scheme, I chose to make them separately and made a jig to ensure all was square. This also involved the use of some 2mm square plastic rod,

Next come 5 scratch built Clam wagons which use the same chassis and regularly appeared in trains with the Rudds.

The originator of the Rudd kit will probably have a seizure if I admitted that the completed one actually has a Tri-ang chassis with all the thick cast detail removed and the brake rigging from the Society 12' chassis applied.  This is to provide enough chassis for the Clam wagons,

Moving forwards

The two oil tankers are finished; the extra 47 done, and after the sixth rebuild, the double motored Western is now up and running. Thanks to Peter Stratford for the non-wobbly Maygib wheels which sorted out all but one of the problems. The final problem which was causing the loco to Kangaroo down the track was an axle which turned out to be far from straight - nearer V shaped, how that occurred heaven knows but all sorted out now.  Had a great time at Expong at Swanley and relieved Andy Shillito of 20 Rudd wagons so I have some unbuilt kits once again. Looking forward to welcoming Peter Bennett for a modelling day soon where no doubt some of these Rudds will be built. Cant paint them though because Phoenix Pecision did not have the right shade of paint when I saw them :-(.  Also looking to welcome a former member of the Broad Green operating team Pete (Tich) Colton who has indicated that he can help me with semi-auto signalling and an entry exit switching system for the fiddle yard. Photos when next the sun shines!! :-)

A period of ill health and heavy business commitments has prevented me from continuing work on the layout but in the intervening period, I have been busy trying to make progress on all the unfinished rolling stock dating from years to decades!

So far I have outshopped 8 Mk III HST carriages, a dogfish wagon, a class 20, class 40, class 47, two class 37's, a three car met camm unit and an 08 outside framed shunter, a CCT parcels van, a BG and a GUV - also parcels vans.

Photos of this lot will follow.

Currently awaiting completion are two bogie oil tanks, another 47, many diesel chassis kits for 37's and Westerns, and two HST power cars.

Once I have a clear modelling bench, attention will turn to wiring Alexandra Junction!

LOCOS

WAGONS

 

PASSENGER CARRYING STOCK

NON-PASSENGER CARRYING STOCK

Escape from England

My regular autumn trip to Howard Love's house in France with supplies of English goodies included the scenic part of the layout to allow track laying to be completed.

Although there is a bit of tweaking needed where I haven't got things quite straight, the next task is fitting point motors and wiring.

The two main running lines each have a passing loop where freight trains will recess for crew changes, or for passenger trains to pass.  The inner freight loop also leads to three and run round loops and a freight branch line which passes behind warehouses to end adjacent to the fiddle yard.  A similar headshunt for the sidings leads to the headshunt on the opposite end.

ESCAPE FROM THE OLYMPICS

With so much TV airtime devoted to the Olympics, the only way of getting away from it is in the garage listening to Magic 105.4!!

The goods loops on the public viewing side of the layout are taking shape and sidings and warehousing will be added to the right. The slightly odd arrangement is because I do not want any vehicles less than 4" away from the edge of the layout so they are mainly out of the reach of tiny fingers. Scenery will slope up slightly towards the edge of the board.

Looking the other way, we see 58017 with its complete rake of MGR hoppers to test the length of the passing loops.  The wagons are kits from Andy Shillito.  The tracks between the baseboard joins have yet to be tacked down so are not as straight as they should be!

As you can see, four into two are not going to go!  When I buy the points needed to complete this end of the goods loops, I suspect that there will be a slight curve to the right.

TRACK PLAN

Thanks to Phil Smith, here is the track plan for Alexandra Junction.  As construction progresses, there will no doubt be small changes, but the top seven boards are fiddle yard, and the bottom five are mainly scenic.  It is likely that the two stubs at the front will continue behind the backscene to terminate at buffer stops next to the fiddle yard. There will be tunnel mouths at each end of the scenic section.
The front of the layout comprises the main line and two freight loops.  A line leads off the main line heading to a run round loop. Freights arriving in this loop can run round and disappear into the Docks complex off scene, or shunt into the hidden sidings in a complex of warehouses. How many sidings and whether hidden or not will be determined as track laying progresses.