Model Railway Forum

The signs look fine.

Love the weathered wagons from Mondays photo.

It all looks good to me.

Pleasure to watch the progress. And whats more plenty of good idears as well to pinch.

sandy wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 9:42 pm Pleasure to watch the progress. And whats more plenty of good idears as well to pinch.

I’ve been pinching ideas for years - let’s call it a free trade agreement.

I was on the verge of drawing up plans to make my own station lamps having found that the Gaugemaster range is out of stock everywhere, then I found a small supply of what I suspect are the Chinese knock-offs. Actually slightly cheaper than those I have used before so there should be a small parcel in the post.

I’ve also started making plans for signalling the layout - that complex station pointwork and two branch junctions has come back to bite me on the bum.

Added some more detail to this part of the layout. I picked up a very old kit for a lamp hut recently it the supplied fire buckets were grossly overscale.
I found some 3D printed versions online which I painted yesterday the realised I needed to put something in them. Ordinary sand is far too coarse but I have a collection of sands that I have brought back from various holidays and found one that was the right colour and texture.
So, today’s top tip is to fill model fire buckets with Saharan sand from t’Egypt.

2022-05-13_11-04-29 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

That’s not such a ridiculous tip by the way - volcanic sand can be a substitute for dark ash or coal, I have a bottle of real ash and a lump of coal from a preserved railway and another sand I collected has been used to decorate the margins of streams and rivers.

Spent much of the morning painting the oil lamps for West Orton to approximate those on the S&C. I managed to lose two bases but found two spares in the box before finding one of the originals behind the station.
I’ve fixed a short length of plastic tube through the baseboard to make it easier to fiddle wires through - once I know they are all working they will get a drop of glue.

20220513_130423 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

20220513_130528 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Which brings me on to the wiring! These lights have VERY thin wires and I remember Barry having some challenges when he soldered his. This could be a long and frustrating weekend under the boards.

That's all looking very good - I like the lamps. I think with thin wire, sometimes its getting the outer covering off that is the problem - a hot iron usually works, but it can cook the internal wire making it very brittle.

The lamps look superb Steve. Well done for the paint work. All they need is a Gas lamp twinkler (MERG kit No 61 £2.93 for three lamps plus P & P)

Fine wire to a suitable wire sic=ze (7/0.2mm) is a pain but a careful soldering and some fine/small bore heat shrink tubing will work, best done on the workbench before fitting!

Brian wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 7:15 pm The lamps look superb Steve. Well done for the paint work. All they need is a Gas lamp twinkler (MERG kit No 61 £2.93 for three lamps plus P & P)

Fine wire to a suitable wire sic=ze (7/0.2mm) is a pain but a careful soldering and some fine/small bore heat shrink tubing will work, best done on the workbench before fitting!

I’ve always wanted a twinkler.
I’ll have a look at that suggestion.
I agree with the solder before fitting - will have to try that for size tomorrow. At least nothing is glued in place so it should be doable.