Clayhanger Yard

What's your modelling dream? 

Mine is to have a room big enough that all the layouts I've ever built can be set up at once. We aren't talking a barn here, the ones I have are all 10ft or under in length. At the moment they live packed up in a storage unit, but it would be nice to see them working again. 

I pondered this as I made a rare purchase of a lottery ticket - I only buy when the prize is over £100m as I can't be bothered with fiddling small change. 

Anyway, that got me thinking about the layouts I don't own any more, and especially Clayhanger Yard, my only completed 7mm scale model. It found a new home years ago, but I dug out a photo, added some sky and bring it to you today. 

I still have all the stock...

Farewell, Clayhanger Yard

Back in late February, I mentioned that my 7mm scale layout, Clayhanger Yard was for sale. At Kettering show, I was made an offer and accepted it. The buyer was keen enough to borrow a packing end board first to make sure it would fit in his car.

The plan was for the new owner to collect the layout after its final show with me, Leamington Spa last weekend. This happened and now the model has a new home.

It's very possible that Clayhanger will return to the exhibition circuit in the future, probably 2 feet longer than it was when I owned it.

Before handing the model over, I took the time to run a last train.

From the stock box, I selected the big, green, Barclay diesel. While not in period for the model, it was the first locomotive to run on the layout.

Behind this we have a wooden wagon with "Parker" painted on the side. Bringing up the rear is my GWR van with a apparently torn roof canvas.

This train ran around the layout, collected a couple of 1 plank wagons, and left for the fiddle yard leaving the layout empty of stock. After this, the lights were switched off, layout packed up and loaded into a new car.

Farewell, Clayhanger Yard. I hope to see you again one day.

Kettering 2014

My second proper, serious O gauge show!

Kettering is a great show to exhibit at. You have to be there early enough to get a parking space at the hall. Very early as it happens, stands must be set up by 9am according to the paperwork, with advance ticket holders arriving half an hour later. Between agreeing to take part and setting out, it seems that Kettering has been moved half an hour further away than I expected but even so, with a 7am departure we were set up in time for a wander.

Well, set up in time for a yummy sausage bap with red sauce. Just what you need after an early start.

As I've mentioned before, Kettering is a funny show. 6 small layouts and over 80 traders. You know what the visitors are coming for, and it's not to see the trains running.

If there is a recession, it wasn't obvious from the number of boxes walking around during the day. I suspect the O gauge modeller decides that if he or she is going by something, trusting it to the Royal Mail isn't wise. Nor is it cheap. Far better to have a day out at a show and get some retail therapy in.

We certainly had a good day. I was busy chatting and operating most of the time. My aged parental spare operator hates 3-link couplings so I save him from too much chain fiddling. He keeps up the supplies of tea and doubles the amount of chatting we can do. Anyway, I can't hold the fascia up to install it on my own...

We were on the receiving end of many nice comments. People were fascinated by how small the layout was. It must have looked OK too as Ian Rathbone asked to use it as a backdrop for photos of a couple of coaches.

One thing I spotted was that quality paste tables seem to be the legs of choice for the minimum space 7mm modeller. On one side, the Coney Hill Light Railway was on a pair from Wickes, on the other Eastbridge sat atop a B&Q example. Of course, I put it all down to my use of a Homebase version in the magazine a year ago...


Not many photos this time, but those I have are on Flickr.

Preparing for Leamington Exhibition

Another weekend, another model railway exhibition. This time though, it's the local show, just down the road from me at Stoneleigh.

I'll be taking two layouts: Clayhanger Yard and Edgeworth.

This might sounds ambitious, but I'll have helpers and Edgeworth is more static exhibit than layouts. A lack of stock means I don't have anything to run on it!

Clayhanger Yard will be more impressive as I'll be giving all my stock a last run before it heads back into its storage box as the layout departs with its new owner. Maybe one day, I'll build another O gauge layout for it to work.

I'll be there to chat t anyone who'd like to drop by about all aspect of modelling.

Apart from this, there's a hall full of good stuff - Visit the L&WMRS website for more details.

For Sale: Clayhanger Yard

The time has come, with 2 exhibitions this month, to part with Clayhanger Yard. I need the storage space for more projects and don't want to leave it to deteriorate when someone else can enjoy the model.

For those who don't remember, the layout was built as a minimum space O gauge shunting plank. At 10 feet long (7ft scenic, 3ft fiddle yard) and 2 1/2 feet wide, it should fit into most peoples homes. You can also get it in the back of a reasonably modest car if the new owners fancy taking it on the road.

Built for and serialised in Hornby Magazine(who are happy for me to sell it)  in 2013 , there are plenty of people who know the model and no secrets about its construction. Plywood baseboards are topped with Peco trackwork and buildings from several sources.

Point operation is manual via rods and can be operated from front or back.

Price £350

The buyer gets the layout, fiddle yard and cassettes, fascia panel and legs.

They don't get a controller (Gaugemaster plug-in will do), rolling stock stock or the fascia supports and lights (I use these on another layout), any details not glued down (the little car and lorry although I'm happy to chuck the later in), or the curtain.

The model can be seen and operated at the Kettering and Leamington shows. If you want, I'm happy to load it into your car at the end of Leamington. If we need to deliver, I'll discuss this at the time.

Basically, this is a nice layout that needs a home. The price covers the track and some of the woodwork. You couldn't build the layout for less.

Personally, I'd love to see it back on the exhibition circuit. As a magazine based layout, it wouldn't be difficult to get booked in to shows, I have one who'd like it already. Were I to do this myself, I'll be honest ans say I'd replace the point operating rods with Peco motors because I prefer these. At the same time I'd ditch 3-link couplings in favour of something automatic. Both are my preferences though rather than essentials - after all, we've exhibited it as it is several times.

On the other hand, if you want a home layout for shuffling wagons around, it would be ideal for this too.

Update: The layout has now been sold.

The Great Electric Train Show

Odd name for a model railway show isn't it?

When I saw it on the list of potential titles for the first Hornby Magazine show in Warwickshire, I wasn't keen to put it mildly. Since then though, it's grown on me. Now I really like it. There is a certain "Barnum & Bailey" feel - we are putting on a show to entertain you.

Anyway, this was to be my last hurrah with the magazine and so I volunteered not just to bring Clayhanger Yard along, but to help mark the floor out as as well. The Heritage Motor Centre is an odd-shaped place, but as it turned out, thanks partly to some handily printed carpet, the process went very well.

The show itself was, I am told, very good. Truth is, I spent both days behind the layout talking. An awful lot of talking. I mean some rally long sessions where I explained some of the Parker's Guide models on show as well as how we'd built the layout.

Visitors came from far and wide. I spoke to people from Australia who had followed the Clayhanger articles in the magazine. A gent from the USA who follows this blog (Hello) and someone from Canada who takes photos for a UK kitmaker. Quite a cosmopolitan hobby really!

I did manage a quick walk around on Sunday afternoon. The layout quality was higher than any comparable show of its size. You'd expect this sort of selection at the NEC but there you have so much to see, time with each exhibit is limited.

As far as the rest of the show went, well, numbers were really good. The layout of the venue worked OK although as I mentioned it's a really funny shape so a couple of years practise will be required to make best use of it. The driver from A-Line coaches decided to take his lunch when he should have been driving the shuttle bus and not when there was a break for eating. That's the sort of thing that makes organisers wonder why they bother...

There were a few complains about the place being a maze but I think this was caused by the layout of the museum. With the downstairs full of cars to see, the route to the escalators to the show wasn't as obvious as it should be - the museum signage isn't intended to get you into the conference centre after all. I was collared by a couple with a baby buggy who had been up in one lift which took them to a gallery not full of model railways. It took me a few minutes to work out there were two lifts and they wanted the one that wasn't obvious. Less obvious than me wearing a branded shirt anyway.

I did wonder if the cars would delay the visitors. They didn't. The first were up in the show on the dot of 10am when we opened. Never mind, I'm sure they took a look on the way out. I bet I wasn't the only one who wanted to try to take his train set home in the DB5 near the entrance. Of course, the prototype TR7 fastback would have been much more practical but they wouldn't let me borrow that either.

Oh, and cake. There was some on sale, a very nice Belgian bun thing. Not too sweet or large so better than most really. If I'd spotted it on the first day, I could have tried the ginger cake too as that looked pretty good. Never, mind, I'll be a punter next year so my time is my own. Looking forward to it already.

Photos on Flickr

Cars for Clayhanger

Looking over Clayhanger Yard, I think I need another road vehicle tucked away. Looking around Guildex, I was struggling slighty - there are plenty of vehicles to chose from but they are either too late for the period I'm running the layout, or too expensive. I can't justify £30+ for a single vehicle for this particualr model, even when the kits looks so appealing.

On the back table ot the O Guauge Guild exectutor service I spotted a battered diecast that looked about right. This turned out to be by the firm Hobbcar - who I can find nothing about on the interweb. It claims to be a 1932 Ford which is the right era even though it looks a bit Anthill Mob.

Branded as a Fortnum and Mason delivery van, I had some hopes the prototype ran in Britian. Fot 2 quid, I grabbed it.

One problem was that a wheel had been damaged so I required a replacement. Next on the table I found a battered Traction Avant which looked like it had suitable wheels. 3 quid.

The Ford turns out to be a Model B - a car that appears to have been manufacturered at Dagenham, so I'll get away with it.

On the running board, I found a spare wheel, ideal to replace the broken one if I only display the car with the depression in the wing hidden from view. Looking at the poster on the right, it may be that UK cars either didn't have the spare, hid it away, put it on the other side, or the artist just ignored it.

This is good because the Citroën is a nice model too and far too good to throw away just to use the wheels. An unidentified plastic kit, there are parts missing, as there are on the Ford, but I reckon I can save them both. Neither will be perfect, but they'll look the part and fill a gap on the layout.

You might think a French car isn't ideal for the UK layout, but as I discovered from a firend who owned one, they were produced in Slough, so mine will be a UK built model and this perfect for me.

Guildex 2013 - Please bring food

I don't know why I didn't book the Friday night.

I mean, I always book accommodation for the Friday night of a show. Except this time. Maybe I though I was being clever. Maybe I reckoned that the M6 on Friday afternoon would be worse than a 6:30am start on Saturday morning. Whatever, it was this that we did and to be fair, the M6 was pretty quiet.

Arriving at the hall, there was a quick circuit of the 1-way system to get us to the correct entrance but by 8am, we were in and the car parked up for the weekend.

Operational by 8:45, we had time for a quick look around the show before heading back to be ready for the early entrants at 9:30. There were some superb dioramas on the LNWR stand including a breathtaking piece of perspective modelling. You don't often see this but this was worth the look. Being there early and showing an interest, I got to see the top view - the model is very shallow but you can't tell this from the front. Quite how you go about starting a model where nothing is square, I don't really know.

I also managed to borrow the new Heljan Wester diesel and railcar. The later could have happily stayed as it was a gem, although £400 seems a bit steep. Big locos aren't really my thing so the Western went back before any more bits dropped off the pre-production model!

Anyway, we awaited the first punters for quite a while. This is a show with 120+ trade stands so obviously the early birds were there to catch the 7mm scale worms. Eventually though, they found us and started to watch.

And chat. Buy, did we chat to people. The Clayhanger Yard build has been serialised in Hornby Magazine and an awful lot of people seem to have been following this. One gentleman had even come up from London especially to see the model - fortunately he was pleased with what he found!

By lunchtime, the early start and constant talking was catching up with us. The problem was that the show was so busy, attempts to get lunch we doomed to failure - the queue was out the door. We survived on Kit Kats and biscuits until mid afternoon when I managed to bag some chicken wrap and a portion of chips from the very depleted cafe. Luckily, we acquired a couple of guest operators who kept the layout moving while we talked.

By the end of the day, we sloped off to the hotel which is next to the hall. A look in at the social event didn't last long as the single member of bar staff was struggling to serve the 50 or so people who had turned up at the same time.

Not fancying the restaurant much we headed off to a Beefeater only to find it closed.

Telford is a "new town" which means a lot of roads and very little town centre as far as I can tell. This is all great if you know where you are going but we didn't. Had we not been quite so knackered, perhaps a trip to Kidderminster or Bridgenorth would have been on the cards but neither of us felt like being adventurous.

Dinner ended up being a Twix and shortcake biscuit from the vending machine. Even that wasn't easy as the one on our floor was broken and I had to search out a working one. To be fair, the room was very comfortable but to be honest, I think we'd have slept on the floor at this point.

The "Full English" breakfast in the morning turned out to be under-cooked bacon in a bap. To accompany this there was cereal, and toast from a machine capable of making stale bread or charcoal and nothing in between.

Getting back to the hall, we had a quick clean up and then took a load of photos of the layout. While I have plenty of building shots, finished ones are a bit rarer. After this, we got our only other look around the show. There were some superb layouts and amazing trade. I even liked the big GWR model which was well made and featured stock of a quality I'll never match.

Anyway, the doors opened and we started work. Almost immediately, we discovered that the mechanism under one of the points had failed.

On Clayhanger, this is a problem. Because it's aimed at beginner, the model sits on a paste table so there is no access to the underside of the baseboard. Fortunately, the failed point was at the fiddle yard end so by sliding the table along while holding on to the baseboard, I could see what the problem was.

Point operation uses piano wire on to which are fitted the brass bits from inside electrical chocolate block. Wires soldered to these head up through the points to operate them and it was one of these that had dropped off. Fixing it requires the wire to be dropped off the board and a new wire soldered in place. Easy to do with the layout on its side. Nearly impossible with it set up.

In the end, discretion won out and we fixed the point in position so most of the model could be used. Being the first point on the board this dramatically reduced operation.

As it happens, by shear hard work we got away with it mostly. Every punter was talked to. Problems were explained and most seemed far more interested in finding out how we made things rather than worrying about seeing models move much.

The other blessing was that the show was a lot quieter. I reckon that the attendance was about 30% of day 1. We even got in to eat at lunchtime to get some very nice food. Of course, just as I got back, the Fowler loco arrived but my burger stayed warm in its box while I took photos...

Knocking down con-incided with the roar of heavy rain on the metal roof. Getting the car near the door was tough too. I should have moved it to the nearer parking in the morning as despite being a proper exhibition hall, access for vans involves a huge queue at the back and I got stuck in it for a while.

An hour after the show closed, we were just setting off. Another hour and half and the layout was back in store.

So, one of the tougher shows. We talked ourselves hoarse but that's what we were there to do. If I were invited again I'd go on Friday night and make sure I brought in some food like the team whose layout backed on to our did. Checking out the local eateries for Saturday night in advance would have been a good idea too. None of this is the fault of anyone but me - hopefully this will help someone in the future.

The show itself looked very good. Neither of use saw much but then that's what happens when you build a layout like ours which is about the chat rather than hiding away behind the scenes.

Anyway, what photos I took are on Flickr.

Watching a Pug shunting

Clutching his copy of "Industrial Locomotives of the West Midlands", Bob Baker watches LMS Pug No.11234 shunting a couple of loaded coal wagons to the boiler house at Clayhanger Yard. In a few minutes, stokers will climb aboard and unload several tons of nutty slack onto the ground, digging though the pile with shovels and the sweat of their brows. Fortunately, the weather is kind today, a cool and dry morning.

It's 1947 and the loco will be transferred into ownership of the new-fangled British Railways. The livery will remain the same although the tank sides will sport the ferret on a unicycle emblem. Sadly, the loco won't survive onto preservation, being scrapped in 1961.

By this point it won't be needed to shunt coal anyway. The boilerhouse will have been converted to oil firing. Fuel will be delivered by tanker to be stored in a new facility built where the pile of coal currently sits.

A few years later and the yard will finally close down and disappear into history. Now, there is no trace of the railway at Clayhanger although several lines still pass close by.

Note: All of this is of course, completely made up. Clayhanger Yard exists only as an O gauge model and Bob Baker is a whitemetal figure permanently staring into space, although in this respect he's like many railway enthusiasts I have seen...

Off to Telford for Guildex

Off to Guildex at Telford this weekend - how exotic is that?

Seriously though, we'll be standing behind Clayhanger Yard for a couple of days and trying not get tempted by any of the lovely kits on sale. Difficult, as there are always some fabulous models that I really, really want to build.

Hopefully I will have packed at least 1 new shunting pole to try out. We're planning to get there early to look at a little electrical issue with one of the points too. It's not big enough (read: I could just ignore it) to bother setting up the layout at home.

Please do come along and say hello and bring us cakes. We're always keen to chat to people, after all, this is a little layout and we need the entertainment. Don't forget to remind me that I don't need to buy any more kits too!

Guildex Website

3-link coupling hooks - Part 2

After struggling a bit with the 3-link couplings on our 7mm scale layout Clayhanger Yard, I came away from Midland Railex with a whole lot of helpful suggestions to make the hook we were using better.

The main improvement would be to lengthen the wire. Working between vans proved very difficult as the torch often hit the roof before the hook reached the coupling.

Thinner wire was suggested but I've stuck with 0.7mm brass as I don't fancy anything finer making it through the weekend without needing replacement.

Less for a curve on the hook is the second change. About 3/4 of a hook seemed to be the consensus.

My plan had been to test a number of hooks but and still stymied by the lack of small torches available locally. I'll keep looking as I'd like a selection to play with. I suppose the lighting up bit isn't essential, we didn't use it at Railex but then that was quite a bright show. Under the NEC sodium lights, I think a bit more illumination might be required.

Midland Railex 2013

This years Midland Railex came with the promise of a "Shunter Special" event. With this in mind, when were asked at last years event if we'd take a layout along, the obvious one to attend was Melbridge Dock. Trouble was, that was the model we'd just exhibited and taking the same layout two years on the trot is bad form.

Despite this, we didn't want to use Hellingly or Flockburgh as the accommodation is a bit basic what with it being a locomotive shed and all. Part way through the year, we worked out that Clayhanger Yard would do the job and so offered to bring this. It's a shunting layout after all and being new, it ought to interest a few people.

Anyway, that offer was accepted and so on the Friday before the show we set off. Our Satnav seemed to have developed some very odd idea about a route. The fastest and simplest was from Leamington is M69 and M1. Mrs Satnav seemed to have developed an aversion to motorways and speed, preferring to take us through a nearby town known for traffic jams.

A quick check on the settings confirmed on the device confirmed they were OK so we decided to ignore her and head for the M1. Sadly, the M1 developed queues, Mrs Satnav got in a huff with even madder routes such as off the motorway, along a dual carriageway, double back and head to the motorway again.

3 hours to do a 1.5 hour journey. Hmmm

Anyway, we quickly set up in the diesel shed and headed to get some food and sleep.

The next morning we cleaned the track and played trains. The early start caught us out a little - punters in the hall half an hour before official opening - at least were operating though, unlike the two layouts behind us who were still covered up! Andy (RMWeb) York and I uncovered them and switched lights on so the display looked OK. When the operators arrived a few minutes later, they were saved a job.

Anyway, Saturday went fine. The microswitches on the points had cured the electrical woes and generally the layout performed well. Those 3-link couplings are a bit of a pain but we've now had advice on different shapes of uncoupling pole so there is more work before Telford.

The shunting display was well recived - lots of people focussed on the Class 13. Several wished a RTR version would appear (come on Hornby, it would be easy and sell like hot cakes) and I pointed them in the direction of the Parker's Guide where the build process is explained. I told them how easy it was. I think only one person beleived me. Another wouldn't buy a copy of the guide as the knock-down price of £4, but tooks loads of photos from all angles of the model in the display case.

Sunday kicked off with a trip the steam shed to watch locos being prepared. How there were only 2 of use watching this is a mystery. Steam locos are lovely and watching them being stocked and cleaned by the volunteers was very special.

Less special was seeing Class 20 and 47 diesels being fueled and realising that locos I remember seeing as a kid are now obsolete and being preserved...

Sunday was also good. One highlight was meeting Richard Cooper, an annoying young modelmaker with tremendous talent. You can see some of his work over on MREmag. I hate him for being so good.

The biggest problem with the show was that neither of us got out and about much. Too much chatting with visitors limited our looking around so my collection of photos is a bit limited this time. Having said that, this isn't a bad thing as chatting is the best bit. Clayhanger is a nice model but not the most exciting to operate over a long period. That said, it's there to provide ideas and a bit of inspiration along the lines of, "If that idiot can do it, anyone can."

There were some top notch layouts to see when we did escape. I suppose many will mention "Diesels in the Duchy" but I preferred the much more bizarre Woolacombe, a huge scale model of a fisherman's railway. Weird, but I liked it...

Mind you, I did check the van to make sure my Dad hadn't sneaked one of the owls from the birds of prey display in the back, he checked to make sure I hadn't brought back the Peckett Whitehead.

A cracking shows. Even if you ignore the prototype stuff outside there were some superb layouts and better trade than at many "proper" model railway events. If there was a disapointment, it was that thanks to a PW mix-up, the shunters were mostly marooned in the shed and not out on display or working for us to enjoy. Next year maybe.

Anyway, take a look at my photos on Flickr.

If you were wondering about the cakes - that was on the blog yesterday!

Oh, and the trip back took 1.5 hours with no Satnav.

Safety first

 

One lesson learned at Hartlepool with Clayhanger Yard, was that the fascia panel hiding the lighting rig is a bit low. As we didn't have the protection of a barrier at the front of the layout, punters would often stick their head underneath to chat. A barrier would have held them back and provided something to lean on which brings their head down a bit.

 

The bigger problem came from people walking along and hitting their heads on the edge. It appears that all the marvelous modelling on display distracted them from LOOKING WHERE THEY ARE GOING.

 

Now, I'm not exactly sympathetic to this since grown-ups should pay attention but I also think I can make life a little less uncomfortable should this happen again. Originally the corners of the panel were square. Obviously even in 6mm plywood attached to a structure with a bit of give in it - more than in the average forehead - a square corner isn't an ideal target for headbutting.

 

With a bit more time, the fascia was built on the morning of the show last time, I've curved the corners. Drawing around a paint can provided the shape and keeps things consistent on all corners. A few minutes with saw, surform and sandpaper followed by a lick of varnish finishes the job. It is a very light bit of wood after all.

 

Despite this, we'll still set the model back a bit when possible. Ideally I want the fascia line about 6 inches behind the barrier line. We want the punters to enjoy the show after all.



Off to Midland Railex today

Later today, we should be loading up Clayhanger Yard and heading to Midland Railex at Butterley.

This year we should be on Stand 31, adjacent to the Hornby Magazine stand in the main shed. Since it's a shunting themed show, bringing a shunting layout along seems eminently sensible.

If there is space, I'll be adding a 4mm scale shunter display to the setup too.

Anyway, do come along. It's a good show with lots to see. Drop in and say hello. The layout isn't that exciting to operate - we need the chat!

Midland Railex 2013 website.

Sacks added

With the electrics sorted, I'm not doing the best bit of layout building - adding detail.

As a start, some of the Skytrex sacks have been added to the goods shed. The first lesson learned is to do this before glueing down the roof. The second lessons is that I am better at fixing a roof down than I thought - it was supposed to be easy to remove and it isn't.

So, there I am trying to manipulate whitemetal bags with a pair of sprung tweezers. Since the bottoms were covered in superlgue, I couldn't just push them into position, they had to be dropped as they would stay where they landed!

Ideally, I'd like to have placed a few nearer the sides of the building but that proved to be tricky so I'm assuming that they are in mid-move. I'll add some to the back of the lorry when it's finished to improve the effect.

On the platform, I thought a few more sacks would be a good idea.

Here, I was a bit too generous with the glue resulting in a sack that looked like it was sitting in a puddle. "No problem", I thought, "I'll let the glue dry and bang some matt varnish on it. You'll never see it.

Obviously I didn't wait long enough for the glue to dry as a spray of varnish reacted with it and turned white. This isn't pretty but for the moment will have to stay as it is - you can't see the problem from the front of the layout anyway.

Maybe I can claim they hold some white powder (fertilizer/flour) and this one burst? A bit of weathering powder sprinkled around might make this more convincing.

Micro-switching O guage points

One of the biggest "issues" we encountered when Clayhanger Yard went to Hartlepool was that the polarity switching in the Peco points is a bit rubbish. Well, it is once you paint and weather the track messing up the connection between switch blades and stock rails. Just like everyone said it would.

So, the first job was to work out what is going on electrically. Here's the diagram:

Where Red is one polarity, Blue the other and Green one or the other depending on the direction of switch.

All this is good. As long as the wheels have a sensible back-to-back and don't touch the switch rail as they cross the tiebar. Mine don't so all I have to do is switch the polarity, feed it to one of the rails at the frog end and all will be reliable.

To so this I've used SMSR45 standard micro switches bought from Squires. The arm, complete with roller, bears on the operating mechanism and is switched by it.

The green areas are wired to the common contact. Red and blue go to the normally open and normally closed contacts - I checked which each needed to be fitted to with a continuity tester. Feeds come from the ring-mail running around the model. I used fat wire for this and connected it to the track feeds via chocolate blocks so adding more feeds for the switches was no problem. In the end, there is only one soldered wire to the track, at the frog.

A quick test of the layout has locos running around quite happily with no stalling. Something we stood no chance of a few weeks ago!

Getting the sacks

The final installment of my O gauge bits'n'bobs is a pile of sacks, again from Skytrex.

Each is a whitemetal casting and they are very nice indeed. The modelling is superb with every single sack "slumped" as those it has been plopped down on the ground. Other sacks have been dumped horizontally on top of each other.

Painting the sacks raised an interesting problem. While I could have just gone for a plain beige/brown colour and left it at that, but real sacks are printed to identify them. Trouble is, what was printed on them?

Perusing photos in books didn't help a whole lot. Where you can see sacks they are often piled horizontally, hiding the print. When they are vertical, old photos don't show the detail because the colour is blown out.

I did manage to spot a few examples. The diamond pattern, some circles and lettering running down the bag are all prototypical.

What I wasn't willing to do was go the whole hog. Some sacks are covered in lettering and I'm not spending days lettering each one to that level. It might be possible to do something with a John Bull printing set but I'm not sure. More likely, some sort of transfer to be applied to the surface would work. Maybe you can already buy these but I've not seen them for sale.

A business opportunity perhaps?

Skytrex piles

Painting complete, I'm quite pleased with these. The picture above shows the SMRA13 Piles of Crates & Oil Drums by Skytrex. It's a one-piece resin casting in 7mm scale.

Painting something like this can be a bit of a challenge. You've got to be careful when picking out the different items in the pile. This becomes a real problem when some dry-brushing is required such as the wicker basket. To be honest, you struggle to do much as the tendency is to colour surrounding objects.

The trick, as far as I can tell, it to give the whole thing a wash of dark colour once all the base colours are fully dry. This sits in the gaps between objects adding shadow and more importantly, hides little mistakes made when delineating one box from another.

Most of the rest of the pile is supplied as separate items. On the left is a smaller one piece resin stack but the rest are individual white metal goodies. I might point out that all this detail comes at a price - £15 for the stuff you see in this post. While I don't consider this expensive, it does mean I want all the items on display and not hidden away in a shed!

Those with more time than money could easily build all the items from plasticard with the exception of the oil drums wicker baskets. Without a lathe you'd struggle to do drums well so you are probably left buying them in. Wicker baskets - I've no idea where you'd start with those.

Hartlepool 2013

There's nothing I like better than to spend a baking hot Friday afternoon stationary on the M1 motorway in a small, underpowered van that makes a bonging noise when it thinks it's reached 70mph and has brakes that are either of or ON. Oh yes, what joy.

It's not all glamour this model railway exhibition lark you know. I left home at 2, picked up my spare operator from Rugby, which is on the way, and we pitched up at the venue at 8:30pm. Knackered.

Anyway, the layout was thrown up and not tested. Both of us were more interested in finding the hotel and some fish'n'chips than tidying up the display. Besides, there would be plenty of time for that the next morning.

Hotel, food and a couple of pints acquired we settled down and woke afresh the next morning. After a stroll on the front we turned up at the show to finish set-up. A selection of Parker's Guide projects were laid out on a table, I dropped the 07 diesel and we prepared for the audience.

It was a bit of a surprise to discover the show opened at 9:30 on the first day. If we'd read the poster, we might have twigged this. It didn't say that the punters would be let in at 9 though, but they were. Apologies for those who found us unprepared, we were.

Anyway, the layout ran like a bag of nails and it quickly became apparent that this was to be a show about talking rather than playing trains. Luckily, operator Chris is good at this and quickly settled in. The problems stemmed from relying on the switch rail to stock rail contact on the Peco points. Despite cleaning this up and making everything work a couple of days before, the trip along the motorway had undone all our good work. Gradually, after some cleaning of metal bits, we got most of the points working. Sadly, the manual operating mechanisms that incorporate chocolate blocks to attach the operating rod failed in a couple of places - the rods came out of the connectors and because the layout sits on a paste table, we couldn't get at them to fix things.

None of this seemed to matter much. It seems quite a lot of people have been following the series in Hornby Magazine and were pleased to see the model and talk about it. We explained the problems and they seemed to appreciate the honesty.

The Parker's Guide projects went down well too, especially the Clyde Puffer. Once chap bought the magazine just to read this article! I enjoy yakking about these models and it's great to let people have a good look and handle them. We shifted all the Parker's Guide bookazines that had been brought along too.

Saturday evening, we took the time to slew the layout on it's table so the operating handles could be fixed. Then a quick trip to the tiny pub at the station (No beer for me. Boo) and then back to the hotel for food but as we were early, via a drive around the chemical plants of Middlesborough (ugly but interesting) ending at the transporter bridge, which was brilliant even if we were too late for a ride.

Sunday, Chris went fishing and caught a sand eel before breakfast then we had a trip around the marina to photograph boats before it was back to the show. Opening time was 10 but the audience came in at 9:30 anyway. We were better prepared this time.

The layout worked better than on Saturday and we finally got a feel for what it's like to run properly. Since about 10:30 the day before, I'd been convinced that I would be ripping out the manual point rodding to replace it with Peco motors. By the end of the show, I reckoned that if I could fit microswitches to the mechanisms to fix the electrical issues, I'd keep manual control. With three-link couplings, pushing and pulling things for switching seems appropriate.

Because of all the chat, I didn't really get to see the show so if you are hoping for photos, you'll be disappointed. The only one I took was of Quai:87.

Cake news - there was chocolate cake and it looked lovely. We didn't realise this until far too late on Saturday and then remembered to late on Sunday to. I have quite a nice Choux bun although my preference is for a higher choc to pastry ratio if I'm honest.

Apart from this, the main lesson was that out fascia needs rounded corners and if there isn't a barrier in front of the layout, people will duck under it to chat.

The layout though - ignoring the electrical issues, it works. Quite well too. Looks nice too. Maybe a 7ft 7mm layout is a workable concept. Let's hope so, I think a few people have gone away to build one.

If you were one of the huge number of very pleasant people either of us spoke to, thank you for coming. We enjoy a chat and to be honest, that's what I at least, am there for. I hope you enjoyed the show and if there is anything else I can help with, just hit the "Ask Phil" button at the top right of this page.

Sleeper cleaning

 



All that ask ballast was entertaining to lay on Clayhanger Yard. As mentioned on Wednesday, it sticks everywhere. Standard gauge tracks in yards tend to be ballasted up to the sleeper tops but not above. Something to do with sleeper rotting I think.

Anyway, while wet, the ash can be scraped from the tops with a sharpened ice lolly stick. When its dry though, things are different. Then it takes a blunt chisel slid along the tops. Good job we have some that probably have been thrown away.