The Welcome Mat

Welcome to this Blog. Hopefully you may find it of use (i doubt it but it doesnt stop me hoping does it?). All my skills are normally self taught, and at the moment i'm a lone ranger when it comes to my layout with the occasional help from friends (normally it involves alot heckling).

I've never yet got a layout really past the electrics stage. I normally lose interest which is why i've decided to become involved in lots of things so i can vary my time between different things. All the work you see on Westleigh is my own work and all the photos you see on my fotopic sites are again my own work. I'm amazed i havent started to play with it, perhaps leaving the vast majoirty of the wiring to the end helps.

My main interest in railways is principally the early 90s. Even though i only just got into double figures in terms of age just as privitisation came in, i find it a very interesting period. My earliest memories were at Salisbury, Oxford and Bristol. So to counteract this aswell i tend to model the northwest scene during 1990 to 1994. However i also do the Wessex area during the same period and the scottish lowlands during 1988-1990.

I do have a little interest in the 1996-1998 privitisation period. I'm more aware of this period than the sectorisation period and again i wouldnt mind if it turned into this era.

I also am working on a project of Devizes station in 1963/64 just before alot of the line was rationalised and eventually closed. This however is a very very long term project and probably wont get anyway for many many years yet.

I do spend alot of time in the summer out an about doing photography particularly of civil jet aircraft. I'm certainly no David Bailey but i'm reasonably proud of most of the photos taken.

Anyway i suppose i really should get off the computer and get on with some modelling work, except work has a tendancy to get in the way!

Monday 19 January 2015

Its Showtime

Well again too long has gone by since my last post. This is mainly due to it being the start of the show season and also the comedown after christmas.

In the time since the last post the actual level of modelling has been 0. This is mainly due to work and also having so much to do i cant decide what to get first! Even weekends are a struggle. Over the next three months its nearly a show a weekend. This weekend was Calne, next weekend its Eastleigh, then Stafford than im exhibiting at a show in Bornemouth. This ultimately comes to and end with the Bristol show in may.

I did get a chance to give some thing a run out on Sommerford over the weekend including my FGW 150 and a newly purchased Bachmann 166. I thought the 166 looked quite good on Sommerford so its been placed in the early 90s highbridge fleet as a unit under test (they were first delivered in 1992 so around 12 months overlap between them and LHCS). ive also started an HAA MGR rake along with a load more PGA wagons for respray to ARC colours.

Thats its for now but i will try and do a more comprehensive round up towards the end of the week.
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Monday 12 January 2015

Bringing a layout back from the dead

Well recently as you may know ive become layout manager for a club layout. Ive been working on the platform and canopy as it was sadly past it. The whole platform is being replaced with a new one as it had just too many imperfections. The trouble is the more i look at it the more im not happy with. The road bridge tops are quite poor. The foliaging of the rear wall isnt that good. One bridge doesnt even fit. This is all in addition to all the extra work i need to do to it just to get it to look ok! Its just when you think it will be a quick project it seems to get longer and longer! We will see what happens once the platforms gone in and then appraise what other destruction needs to take place before reconstruction occurs.

Also 150128 has arrived. Im very pleased with it and it runs really nicely. I was convinced the front ploughs were right but they do stick out slightly on the real one and with the supplied buckeye rather than tension lock it does look a lot better. Now all i need is the Realtrack 143 and Hornby 153 to complete the collection!

Richard
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Friday 2 January 2015

Replatforming

Recently ive become layout manager for a club layout called Gladstone Road. The layout is a simple through station set in the late 80s early 90s. The trouble is the layout has been unloved for a while and it needs some basic refubishment.
Most of the jobs are fairly basic but one big job is the platform and the associated canopy. The canopy itself is made using some of the early airfix kits. I know dapol have reintroduced this kit but its not as nicely moulded as the early ones so airfix ones it is. ive got a few kits and im slowly building a new one but the main problem is the platform. Its had so many things stuck to it over the years that its got lots of glue marks and has a few holes and other imperfections. The more i look the worse it seems so im wonder if a new main platform is needed. It would follow my usual construction techniques of peco sides with wills sheet tops. If the current platform is the standard width then it will be very easy as of yet though i have measured one up to see what its like!

The other jobs are minor repair jobs and cleaning jobs as its been in store for nearly 2 years but i would like to see it back out on to the circuit some time next year (2016) and hopefully a magazine article will also have been written by that time.

Oh yes and Llwydd is still there, i just havent done anything else to it yet but the plan has been made for it!
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