Model Railway Forum

Thanks for the comments - perhaps I'm expecting too much? Looks better in the picture than it does when your standing next to it

We are forever telling people when they build/plan their layouts, to make sure they can reach everywhere. When I built my layout I could do this, but when I put my control panel in place, reaching the corners proved a little difficult Yesterday I finished adding some ground cover to the far corner behind the turntable, and it was a real stretch - especially when you have a teaspoon full of cinders you are trying to get placed carefully.

IMG_1347 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Worth the effort Barry.

You have 6 tracks leading to/from the TT but only 3 sets of buffers to prevent an overshoot.

The track, bottom right, is a siding off of the T/t, so there is a buffer on the end, it was an afterthought, and I'm not sure I could now reach to add a short length of track and a buffer up against the retaining wall - I think it might be the same for the next two tracks - they would need some track up against the left hand retaining wall - I'll tell the driver to be careful
I still think the retaining wall looks to new and clean.

Yes that would do the trick.

bulleidboy wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 1:38 pm I still think the retaining wall looks to new and clean.

If you think it looks too clean nine times out of ten it is.

The longer a real one is there the darker and smokier it looks. (Which I am sure you know.)

Glencairn

Agree with you GC the wall does look clean especially at the bottom in comparison to the coulour of the ground. The bottom of the wall would be same colour of the ground in real life but this is not real life it is a model railway. I like all my rolling stock and locos clean as new but they would not be like that in real life. So for me the wall is great.

I have been giving some consideration to replacing the wall with something a little more detailed. Whatever you do to card it is still card. The Bachmann Scenecraft Retaining Wall looks good, but the cost for the length of walling I have, I think rules that out. I have seen some UK produced plaster retaining wall that comes in dark grey or a dull brick red, which looks better than the Metcalfe walling, and is nicely detailed, and the price is considerably less than the Bachmann version. You can also get a mould for producing your own? The jury is out at the moment.

Barry, just something to consider but you could (as I did) make your own moulds and then cast as many sections as is needed. It’s not cheap if you’re starting from scratch but a lot less than buying ready made.
You’ve seen my retaining walls - I have the mould if you are interested.

Also, check out https://www.scalecast.co.uk/#/ they have a couple of moulds that may be suitable. They will take either plaster or resin as a medium.

Steve - it was the Scalecast site I was looking at. They do look promising - serious food for thought.