FEBRUARY 2012 UPDATE
January 2012
GREG BROOKES (SHENSTON ROAD)
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KEITH TRUEMAN (LESNEY PARK)
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PETE JOHNSON (CANADA ROAD)
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TREVOR HALE (CAMBRIAN & WEST HIGHLAND LAYOUTS)
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KIER HARDY (HORNSEY BROADWAY)
D5909 heads a special freight from East London to the West Midlands in 1970, worked by Stratford men with
a route conducter from Rugby due to traction shortage!
This Heljan model has been converted to EM gauge and joins the Shenston Road fleet, finished off
with weathering to a photograph of the loco C1970.
Whilst waiting for the special freight, this Alco switcher was seen at BSC Shenston Road.
Construction of the parcels facility at Lesney Road is complete. I managed to get some good modelling
time in on Thursday (26th Jan public holiday here to celebrate ‘Australia Day’) and I even mowed the lawns as well!
The brief for this model structure was to create a blend of designs that I have seen both railway, and
commercially. The use of mixing brick and timber mediums was adopted for greater visual interest. Another factor was
that it would not shout any particular BR region, although the M.R. styled signal box windows from Ratio, could I suppose,
undermine this to some extent.
Showing the building in situ' during construction - Lesney Park though is a imaginary scenario on the
BR system, and for me it will provide a platform on which to separately enjoy locomotives and stock from different regions.
The model is scratch built entirely from plastic making use of Evergreen strips and sheet styrene, the
latter appropriately overlaid with brick sheet by Slaters.
The double entry doors are from a Wills pack, whilst the roller shutter doors are improvised using
pressed corrugated aluminium sheeting. Rain water guttering and down pipes are a mix of Wills, Ratio, and Evergreen styrene rod.
Humbrol Enamel paints were brushed by hand on the building structure, while the roof was airbrushed, and
with three shades of grey applied for effect.
For the mortar lines on the brick faces, I have used Vajello - Game Colour - bone white acrylic paint.
This was diluted with water and flowed into the crevices. The development of skills in this area, and the
knack of finding perfect environmental conditions to make this process smoother is still under development.
Trackbuilding has continued with a double-slip, this time built entirely by the PCB strip and solder
method. I began this one with the two crossing noses, carefully aligned, and then added all the surrounding rails and switch blades.
The double-slip on Canada Road has sometimes given trouble at the switchblade solder joints. With four quite
short switchblades at each end the operating forces are high, and the solder fatigues and cracks after a few hundred operations.
In an attempt to overcome this on the new project only one of the switchblades at each end flexes, the other three being located
by sliding C&L brass fishplates soldered at one end only.
With the turnouts prepared, progress has been rapid once tracklaying began – these views show the appearance
of board 2 after just one day. The various turnouts had surplus rail length trimmed off as required to give track joints at the
correct positions. Evostik was used to bond the PCB sleepers to the painted plywood deck.
A view looking along the board towards the yard entry. The bedplate for the weighbridge is from the Cooper
Craft kit, but with all the rail clamps carefully cut off, re-spaced for EM, and then bonded back in position. PCB and solder
construction has been used at section break locations and also to reinforce the board edge track joints.
A bird’s eye view of board 2, with the original full size planning diagram for that board alongside for
comparison. The track centrelines were marked out in pencil before any pieces were positioned. The trackwork generally is
aiming to improve on Canada Road for accuracy, with more prototypical alignments, and scale rail lengths with fishplated joints.
A general view of board 3. Those familiar with Canada Road may recognise a similarity in the track
diagram……well with a fleet of shunters and a couple of hundred wagon models the new project was never going to be a
passenger-only branch line station!?
A detail view of part of board 3. A gold marker pen has been useful to mark details to be added –
‘FP’ shows where fishplates are still needed – and the reference numbers for the wiring connections.
Another detail view showing turnout number 10 (T10) and a few of the isolating sections (S14 etc).
A section of track is still to be added for S17 - the centreline marking in pencil can just be seen.
Board 1 is mostly a five road sector plate made from hardboard with aluminium angle edging. The
added area at the back of the plate will be useful for standing stock items, such as brake vans.
A detail view of the entry end of the sector plate, with a line marking where the scenic break will be just visible.
End stops for the five tracks have been made from bent rail and copper-clad strip. The power
feeds for the tracks jump onto the plate close to the pivot, where the relative movement is least.
Having spent the latter part of 2011 building walls, house alterations and decorating, I now have
a place to resume my modelling projects, and this view shows my work bench and current projects.
My layouts and rolling stock are based on examples which would have been seen in some of the remote parts
of the British Isles, namely the Cambrian Coast in West Wales, and the West Highlands of Scotland. Several locomotives can
be seen on the shelf awaiting final detailing.
I came across this American HO scale building kit at a recent swapmeet, and thought it would be suitable
for use along the backscene. It will be located behind the viaduct, so the lower storey will be hidden from view.
Although there is still some further detailing to be carried out, and it should make a good representation of
a manufacturing plant in the industrial area.
As I was passing Hornsey Road depot, I managed to take a snap of HS4000 Kestrel resting between duties. This
Heljan model has been detailed and weathered to represent it during the last year in this country, before being exported to
the USSR in the early 1970s.