A New Loco Shed

This years plan (?) is to try finish off a number of projects that languish on , or under, my workbench. The first is the loco facilities for my small 09 (7mm scale on 009 track) miniature railway. The loco shed itself is finished, and I attach a photo of it, plus a picture showing the stages of window production.

 

I also have a water tower and coal heap nearly ready to go beside it.

The second thing on the list is a rather unusual type of little cart. Something I've wanted to portray for a number of years and have searched high and low for a kit, to no avail, so end up making one from scratch. In the film "The Quiet Man" you will see John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara taking a ride (actually 'courting', chaperoned by Barry Fitzgerald) in an Irish jaunting cart, and I wanted to add this little vignette to my scene.

As I said, I cannot find a kit, so had to do some research. There are surviving examples in various museums, who have pictures on line (isn't the internet marvellous in time-saving) and I found a Hobbies design for a model, which didn't have a scale to it, so I asked the Science Museum for a few dimensions of theirs and was able to rescale the drawings.

Most of the pieces could be done with 1mm ply, but the wheels and springs were too fragile for my clumsy attempts. These I had 3d printed for me at a reasonable cost. A couple of attempts at the bodywork hit the bin, but I eventually managed something reasonable.

These parts are now fixed together and I'm working on the driver's seat and steps. I've tracked down some reasonable facsimiles of the figures, from S&D Models along with a suitable horse. While I do the next part of construction I'm painting the figures as close to the film as I can get, and also researchin how to harness the horse into the shafts.

Progress report to follow.

 

New Rolling Stock

 

Ted, the lines odd job man examines the latest arrival for use on the estate railway at "Hornby". A small box van obtained from the Far Tottering Railway.

In reality, built from 1/16 ply and balsa strip on an old Hornby wagon chassis, roughly to 1/32 scale, the design is based on one of Rowland Emett's drawings. Next on the stocks is a cattle/sheep van based (very loosely) on an Irish 3 foot item.

'Whimsey' grows grass.

 After a bit of a hiatus I've managed a couple of weeks work on Whimsey. The ground base got painted and the initial coat of flock grass has been planted. For photographic purposes I've placed some of the buildings and figures in place to see the effect.

 

Here we have the main station in its basic form. still needing fences and a bit more foliage.

The, in the corner behind the barn is a large rabbit hole in the hillside, with appropriate resident standing outside. There will, eventually, be a suitable young lady hiding in the (not there yet) trees nearby.

 

Meanwhile, on the opposite corner is 'Granny's Cottage'. This young lady is visiting with some goodies and is in for a shock. Luckily a woodcutter is at hand. There is also a stange creature walking the (soon to be) woods at the back.

Next job is the ballasting, and I could do with something suitable to fill the large empty space in the centre. 

Wish for a better year

 Good morning everybody, on this second day of the new year. I hope you all get a better one than that which has just past. Here at Joppy Towers we have had upheavals galore, starting with a move of house, downsizing to a one bedroom bungalow from a two bed/2 recep house, with all the accompanying trauma of deciding what has to go and what we can keep. Fortunately we have a wide hallway so have fitted waist high bookcases along the length (good old IKEA) and kept nearly all of the library. About 12 of those cardboard veg boxes you get at the supermarket have been filled and sent of to an auction house, while others went to the various charity shops. How soon before I want to refer to one of them?.

The other major influence was the diagnosis, early in the year, of MrsJ having some impossibly named disease that would drastically reduce life expectancy, not something we wanted to hear when we'd both hoped for a long retirement! After a year of tests , some more intrusive than others, the professional still aren't sure if she has it or not, but can't track down the reasons for her condition. We take it as it comes with weekly hospital trips until something is discovered.

So not much hobby time over all. I seem to get about half an hour a day in the shed on four days a week. Two full days and an afternoon are taken with baby sitting our 18month old grandson, who is now getting to be curious and very mobile. At least his favourite word is "TRAIN".

Over the Christmas period we were stuck at home, so I dug out my little lockdown railway project and managed to do a bit more to it. This is the state today, scenery is complete and has received a preliminary painting. Iwish I'd treated the road differently as the filler I used is very bumpy. A card base would have been better.

The next photo is of one corher, the hill behind the barn. You may ask why there is a large hole in the side, but tghis will all become clear in due course. In the meantime I refer you to the writings of one Charles Luttwidge Dodson. Next is the proper colour base followed by grass scatter. The buildings are ready to put in place, so it moves forward.

I dad knock up this little plaque in the summer but haven't found a home for it yet.

I hope to be more regular in my reports this year, so keep looking and stay safe.

Progress of a sort.

 Just a couple of photos to show current progress on the 7mm scale narrow gauge shelf layout. The track plan is based on the Eastgate Tramway by the late Phillip Moss but is flipped end-to-end. Running from a small station on the left to a hidden siding on the right, which is behind a low relief warehouse of the Lincolnshire Egg Packers. Now I have to work out a wiring diagram and start laying the track.

 

Note that the layout is currently sitting on the boards for the 009 one, and will eventually move to the shelf above.

New Boards ready for track plan

 

As Mrs J has kept me busy gardening these last few weeks of sunshine, progress in the shed has been slow. However, I have managed to get the boards for the top shelf 0:16.5 layout ready. I had two boards three feet by fourteen inches already, earmarked for another project, and as these didn't quite go the whole length of the shelf I fabricated a shorter lenghth for the right end. You can just about see the joints in the picture. The hole in the end is to allow future access to a fiddle yard if the layout ever gets to a show.

The back scene, or sky, had to be repainted. I tried to match the end to the old one but it failed, so now the sky is basicaly a very light grey with faint tinges of blue.

Now to work out the tracl layout.

Ready to start.

 At last, after nearly four months of intermittent work, the railway shed is ready for layout construction to begin. 

Here we have a picture of its present situation, taken from the doorway. The main worksurface, on top of old kitchen units, is to be the foundation for the 009 layout baseboards, while the shelf to the right is going to hold a small 0:16.5 7mm scale layout. At least, that's the idea. The cupboards underneath hold a multitude of boxes full of the essential stuff needed for modelling. Kits, paints, tools, old cardboard, brickpapers, etc.. This includes a box full of old Superquick kits and a batch of even older Bilteezi card kits that may actually get made! A number of baseboards can be seen on the worktop, ready for putting in place. Now for a track plan.