Wykeham - Somewhere in the south!

[Walkingthedog]

A difficult one Brian. I too like them both, and thought that the wall closer to the town/shops might be a little cleaner than the wall next the shed?

Yes that is what I was thinking. Start with the dark one and slowly change to the light one the further you get from the shed. That should keep you busy for a day or two. I’m sure what ever you choose will look good.

[bulleidboy]

It now works every time - lights off /lights on. I needed to add another magnet just inside the tunnel portal. Sorry for the abrupt halt as the train crossed the points after exiting the tunnel - the piece on the coupling that hangs down, will occasionally catch the top of the point motor rod - which gives an emergency stop
Click on the picture to get things moving.

IMG_1464 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

I've started to weather the retaining wall - not one of my favourite jobs This is a mix of blue/grey wash, black wash, dark green wash, preceded by a heavily diluted Humbrol acrylic concrete. As the walling is mounted on strip pine (Homebase) painted dark grey, I'm not sure whether I should get some brick plasticard and face the wood strip and paint it the same colour as the wall?

IMG_1469 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

IMG_1468 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[Steve M]

Cut a slot in the baseboard for the stripwood to sit in.

Honestly Barry, I didn’t even notice the strip at the base of the walling until you mentioned it. You could just break it up with some weeds and lineside clutter.

[Walkingthedog]

Looks very good Barry and yes I think the wood would look good as brick.

[Hound Dog]

Looks really effective Barry - lots of tonality which will please Mr Mumford - LOL

[sandy]

Looks lovely Barry. Great improvement over the old walling.

[Bandit Mick]

It’s looking great! If it was me I’d also cover the wood with brick.

[Chops]

A few questions, if I may.

1. What is the manufacture of that back drop you have there, I have been looking for something like that, can't seem to locate that precise vision. Most seem to feature brambly overgrowth, not the neatly manicured fields of Britain. (Though I did spend some formative years amidst British bracken).

2. Wykeham, it is point to point?

3. The lights on the coaches illuminate as the train enters the tunnel. This is by design? Brilliant.

And a few reactions. The use of retaining walls is fabulous how it simultaneously expands and contains any given view. I shall be plagiarizing that technique. The disused wagon parked, and likely forgotten, on a siding, with grass growing out of its gravel load. That is quite the touch. This thing of yours approaches art. It moves and it breathes atmosphere.

[bulleidboy]

Hi Chops - Many thanks for your kind comments. Like many on this forum, I just work away at it - and try and get it right
Answers to your questions:

1. The backscenes are by iD Backscenes - there are many suppliers of their products. They are actual photographs - usually five feet long - and one in their range will give a forty foot continuous scene. They come in twelve and fifteen inches high, and either self-adhesive (peel-off backing) or can be glued (wall-paper paste?).

https://modelmasters.co.uk/collections/ ... backscenes

2. Wykeham is a point to point or end-to-end as we call it in the UK - approximately a twenty seven foot run. I could have gone around the room (10' x 7'), but to get decent curves I would have needed to start them early in the ten foot room length.

3. The coaches are from Hornby's 4 and 6-wheel range - with lights - that are operated by waving a magnet (supplied with each coach) across the roof of the carriage. I installed a magnet just inside and at the top of the tunnel portal - so the lights are on when the train is in the scenic part of the layout, and turned off when in the fiddle yard (storage sidings). The coaches were a "Black Friday" deal - four for the price of two.

The new retaining wall is a cheap plaster cast from Ebay. They came in grey primer and are now in the process of being weathered. Having a brick texture, they look a little more realistic that the Metcalfe walling originally fitted.
Barry (BB)