Railex 2014

Photo: Buckminster Ironstone, seen from the staging/fiddle yard end taken at the little layout's outing to Railex over the weekend. The loco, which was a visitor courtesy of Paul Marshall Potter, is a tweeked Hornby Sentinel. These inexpensive and very useful small engines are great runners. You can 'Like' Paul's Facebook Toy Chuffer page here. . Click photo to enlarge.

This weekend was Buckminster Ironstone's first outing. The show of choice being Railex in Aylesbury - a superb and fabulous showcase of some of the best modelling.

The tiny layout only has one point, so visual interest was enhanced with actual loading of wagons. Real crushed ironstone was considered, however it tends to produce are large amount of dust as well and clogging up the hopper. A workable alternative was chosen in the form of fine sand, which had been sprayed with a little red primer to give it a reddish hue. This flowed well through the hopper, and with the inevitable spillage, there was the risk that it would get in to locomotive mechanisms, but I was prepared to take the risk, which in the event was not a problem. The sand was washed prior, this might have removed any elements such as salt or mud which could make sand grains stick to loco wheels and maybe work up in to mechanisms.

Finally, I must thank Graham Muspratt for giving up his Saturday to play trains, and for Paul Marshall Potter for giving me several well needed breaks on the Sunday

Disclaimer for precious or nervous types; If you want to mix sand and toy trains; don't take my word for it - run a test if you want to try this out for yourself.

Photo: fine sand caught in action dropping into a hopper wagon. Click photo to enlarge.

Railex!

Click to enlarge

Today I'm packing up and getting ready for Railex www.railex.org.uk this weekend, for which will be Polbrook Gurney's first outing.

Here's an un messed about snap of the right hand side of the layout and the brewery at the back of the Pedant and Armchair on Polbrook Gurney is working hard by the look of things, I just hope they're not using the orange iron pyrites stained water which will have been pumped out of the mine.
If you cannot get to Railex to see the layout, it will be at Larkrail on Sat 20 July www.titfield.co.uk and Model Rail Live 21/22 September www.modelraillive.co.uk

Follow the build of this layout in Model Rail magazine www.model-rail.co.uk

Polbrook Gurney Colliery update: history

Templecombe's ex-GWR Pannier tank No. 4631 is captured near the colliery weighbridge through a long lens in 1961. Until 1833 this area used to be a canal basin, it was later drained and laid as a 2ft 8 inch gauge dramway, and the canal tunnel seen in the background could be used for railway purposes.

In later years when the GWR (Binegar, Nettlebridge Holcombe and Vobster Light Railway) came though 20 or so feet lower than the colliery railway on the right, the whole location was transformed which included replacing the narrow gauge with the British standard gauge of 4ft 1 inch. There were rumours that some silly gauge of 4ft 8 an a half might be adopted, this never happened of course.

• You can follow a detailed build of this layout in Model Rail Magazinewww.model-rail.co.uk
• Follow the layout on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chrisnevard
• See the layout in action at Railex www.railex.org.uk
• See the layout in action at Model Rail Live www.modelraillive.co.uk

Polbrook Gurney Colliery Update - weighbridge

nevard_130511_PGCH_IMG_3837, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Polbrook Gurney Colliery update: Today I'm building a weighbridge, a common feature was the splitting of the line to allow trains to pass through without using the weighbridge. A hut which would have contained the measuring apparatus needs to be built, and will go top left of the split track. Here's a prototype example, though my control hut will be more rustic and smaller and be partially set back into the undergrowth. http://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/5783179259/

• You can follow a detailed build of this layout in Model Rail Magazine www.model-rail.co.uk
• Follow the layout on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/chrisnevard
• See the layout in action at Railex www.railex.org.uk

Pestle and Mortar

nevard_130508_PGCH_IMG_3807, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Polbrook Gurney Colliery Update:

With RAILEX just 2 weeks away finishing touches are taking place, starting with the the screen area behind the loco which was given a good dusting of real coal (found near Shillingstone on he former SDJR) which had been ground up with the kitchen pestle and mortar and then sieved into place with the kitchen sieve (don't tell my wife). The whole lot was then spayed with diluted PVA (white glue) to fix into place. Then when the above was dry, the track was cleaned and I gave the layout a really good run using a wide range of locos, ensuring that there was no stalling or jerkiness caused by the track or incorrect back to backs. A few spots needed the paint removing from the inside of the rail heads.

The shot here is unmanipulated, and shows to advantage of the high warp around backscene a real bonus for photography. Note the narrow gauge tramway above one of the fiddle yard exit points.

See this layout for real at RAILEX 25/26 May www.railex.org.uk/
Follow the build of this layout in Model Rail magazine - www.model-rail.co.uk

Polbrook Gurney Colliery Update: engine winding house

Click to enlarge

A few extra hours were grabbed today unexpectedly which means that I've managed to pull the replacement of the engine winding house forward to before Railex which is just 3 weeks away.

This one has shades of Ludlows Colliery in the centre of the Radstock.

As usual time is the limitation and will always dictate how much time I can dedicate to a project, but I can always go back at a later stage as needed. Apart from the chimney which is a previous bit of slap dash messing about, this is about 4 hours work with foamcore, various plastic sheets and a little Das. I've since started on the roof since grabbing this snap on the mobile; which despite limited time is going to be individual slates applied from small overlapping squares of junkmail. Tthe shiny finish of such being ideal for taking paint; today the junk mail donour was some irrelevant PAYE material which we keep being sent.

Follow at detailed construction of Polbrook Gurney Colliery in Model Rail magazine.

Polbrook Gurney Colliery Update: Sat 20 April

nevard_130418_PGCH_IMG_3501, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

A couple more snaps of the trainset.....
Railex is just 5 weeks now and I've so much to do...

• Build 2 fiddle yards (with split height rail access for the different exit points).
• Build some more cassettes.
• Build the rear of the pub which previously was up against a backscene.
• Build 2 loading screens and a bridge carrying a narrow gauge tub /spoil line over the right hand exit points (in progress with code 40 rail)
• Paint the diorama case.
• Hope the drape I use for all layouts will (should be fine) will fit.
• Hope it fits in the back of my old Mondeo with its 2 foot high backscene (a tape measure suggests it will).

Things that probably wont be ready for Railex

• Cosmetic fishplates for the flatbottomed Colliery sections
• Cosmetic point rodding
• Lineside fencing.

Polbrook Gurney Colliery Update - starting to look like a layout...

nevard_130401_PGCH_IMG_3271_BW, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Been really busy today adding Das modelling clay to the lightweight colliery sidings. The clay is bright orange, so the power of Photoshop helps remove that aspect until I get around to painting it. But if you really want to see the the Sunny D look, click on the thumb to the right...

The difference between the heavier traditional British bullhead track in the foreground contrasts nicely with the light weight colliery flat bottomed rail sidings.

Lots more to do yet though! Railex is just a few weeks away....

Polbrook Gurney Colliery Backscene

nevard_130226_Polbrook-Gurney_WEB, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

I'm currently working on the backscene for Polbrook Gurney Colliery (see link to right) which will be light, misty and distant. The original is 7 x 2ft and will feature wrap around the ends thus avoiding sharp corners in the sky. It has been created photographically as per my recent feature in Model Rail magazine.

2ft is quite high, to me this is important which means that photography, even when looking up at the colliery buildings you'll still see the backscene behind the layout rather than room the layout is in.

This combined with bright even neutral illumination (yet to be decided, but it won't be spots which are dreadful!! LED might be an option btw.) should give a good airy spacious feel which hopefully will disguise the 4 x 2ft footprint and fool people into thinking the layout is much bigger.

Deadline, end of May at Railex!

Polbrook Gurney Colliery will shortly be featured in far greater detail in Model Rail magazine.

Polbrook Gurney Colliery - 16 weeks to go!

Polbrook Gurney Colliery is the latest layout, the plan being to merge the Polbrock and Mendip Colliery projects into one decent sized layout, the deadline being Railex in around 16 weeks. The photo to the right being a careful alignment of structures to hide bare baseboard, then a little sky Photoshopped in to see how it could look.
 

Above a sightly more revealing shot shows the actual state of progress, the elevated view showing all the bits hidden in previous shots.

The backscene will be a gnats under 2 ft high (mostly a clouds on a 21 x 90 inch print wrapped around back and the ends). I was going to have pale blue as with Polbrock but quite like the summery clouds as here.

Behind the pub (Pedant & Armchair) and to the right of the track will possibly be a drainage pond, a stinking polluted place with orange mud.

The colliery buildings, since these two photos are now around an inch higher than here, the only structure still needed will be a small Writhlington-esque screen. That will be an afternoon job with a bit of corrugated sheeting.

• Polbrook Gurney Colliery as with Polbrock and Brewhouse Quay and will form part of a forthcoming serial in Model Rail, in there I'll go into far more detail than here.

Cement Quay - Steam Style!

nevard_120927_CQ_IMG_0257, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Cement Quay dates back to 2006, and after several months not doing a great deal, the September of that year saw nearly everything take place. Scenics can in fact be very quick to do, the basics here only taking a couple of days. Further detailing like weeds and extra static grass being added well after the layout's first outing.

Those who have seen Cement Quay will know that it's usually operated as a present day layout with Class 66, 59 and 37 locos in current liveries, but I've been toying with the idea of portraying it in the last decade of steam with a smattering of diesel power too. Apart from swapping out the LaFarge branding on some of the buildings and the addition of a few period lights like he standard to the right of the loco it's quite easy to backdate industrial locations like this, if only temporarily.

Cement Quay hasn't been on the road since 2009, for no reason other than I have several layouts to rotate through, and that there's always something new on the layout front. I don't do too many shows a year, 3 or 4 maximum being more than enough, but I am thinking about taking Cement Quay as a steam layout to Model Rail Live this time next year and possibly Railex 2014, again as a steam layout to make it different from previous incarnations.

Favourite Layout: St Merryn

nevard_110201_stmrryn__DSC_1264_CLAG, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

As Model Rail's layout photographer I get to regularly point my lights and cameras at some really cracking layout throughout the course of the year. So rather just just talk about my own bodgings, as a diversion and time permitting I'll reflect on some of the layouts that have made a real impression on me.

St Merryn, is the creation of The South London Group of the Scalefour Society, and beautifully represents a distant Cornish outpost of the Withered Arm of the old London & South Western Railway in the summer of 1954 - The 'Withered Arm' being the popular nickname for the former LSWR west of Exeter in its declining years.

One of the things that makes St Merryn so special is that fact that the builders have chosen to copy the ordinary, selecting the everyday bits and pieces that are such a feature of former LSWR branchlines in Cornwall. It's this ordinaryness thats makes St Merryn so successful, to the extent that many admirers will be reaching of their railway atlases to find the actual location - albeit unsuccessfully!

If you click on the photo above it will be easier to see the detail and textures that really bring St Merryn to life. The summer of 1954 was by all accounts a dreadful one with very little sunlight, this the builders have represented this well with the layout's built in fluorescent lighting giving a soft even illumination much like an overcast but bright day.

The photo above shows the layout in soft sunshine, not something that made an appearence much that summer; however for photographic and illustrative purposes, and to enhance the wonderful modelling I wanted slightly more directional lighting just for this one occasion as well as differentiating it from other photograopher's work. Rest assured however, if you see the layout for real the sun will have gone behinds the clouds again, so remember to take than cardie.

If you want to know a little more about some of  the St Merryn's secrets, I can highly recommend the book dedicated to the layout called 'St Merryn what we did, why, and how we did it'.  Written by the layout's creators, it can be picked up from the exhibitors or the Scalefour exhibition stand for the hugely competative price of £10, which to me is great value for money as well as being a mighty fine read!

• Should you want to see more of my photos of St Merryn and a full feature on the layout, get yourself the December 2011 issue of Model Rail magazine by calling 0844 848 8872.
• To see St Merryn for real, it will be taking centre stage at Railex 2013 on 25 & 26 May.

Something for the Bus Spotters

nevard_120529_Bristol-LS_DSC_5233, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

At RAILEX over the weekend an hour or so before the show ended I finally got around to having my tour of inspection and came across this rather nice diecast EFE Bristol L.S in Southern National green livery on the hosting club's secondhand stall. The clincher being the Devenish Draught advert which sadly now promotes that long gone well loved Weymouth brewery.

All starry eyed, I donned that dirty gabardine raincoat, greasy hair with comb-over, NHS specs, National Express holdall from 1970, an old bus timetable entwined in with my snotty hanky and broke into the £4 pocket money that mother had some kindly given to me along with corned beef and salad cream sandwiches - job done, and here it is posed on the nearest I have to a street scene on my various trainsets.

In the latter half of the 1970's I lived in Dorset and recall the school bus was occasionally one of these, it was very clapped out and would often stall going up a 1 in 6 hill which was part of its windy route through the hills. The stalling would usually happen during an uphill gear change, and on one occasional we all had to disembark to make the coach lighter in an attempt to help the driving get it going into second gear. With the bus finally going at walking pace we all then got back on. Of course in today's world such would almost certainly involve death of nearly all involved, sacking of the driver and a very expensive televised inquest. The two surviving school children would then go in Britain's Got Talent or the X-factor and win with a sympathy vote. The school bus route would then be disbanded because it would be deemed far to dangerous and road deaths in the area would rocket due to 4 x 4 accidents from drivers on the school run.

It's a very pretty bus though I'm sure you'll agree, and perfect for my Somerset based layouts. In due course it might become a superdetail/Workbench project, but not today because again the weather is far too nice, so a day in the garden beckons.

RAILEX 2012 – and what a show it was!

120527_railex12_DSC_5164, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

The annual Railex in Aylesbury on the weekend of 26th and 27th of May cued the beginning of summer like it so often does. I’m sat here in the garden with laptop taking advantage of the weather, our rather limp-wristed wi-fi just about giving me a signal strong enough to allow me to reflect on a fabulous weekend away from the more usual camera, sofa or modelling bench.

Railex as always is in a very well lit supersized tin shed built for some Olympic thing a couple of decades ago, and excluding my poor effort hosted some of the best talent around in the toy chuffer world without disappointment. The Princes Risborough club have this knack of packing out the floor space with all sorts of gems from both modellers displaying what if added up must be hundreds of years of workmanship along with those sought after retailers (those all important men in sheds mostly) selling wonderful goodies no longer found in high street model shops – even if you have one that is!

As an exhibitor, this was to be my 5th Railex, for some reason they wanted me to bring Brewhouse Quay http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Brewhouse%20Quay along, I’m not sure why, but I’m guessing it’s a good example of a quick ready to plop bodge in model making and how not to do it which isn’t really what the show is all about – it’s a show for better than that.

For 4 years out of 5 I have been in the corner furthest from the door, which frequently is a quadrant of 1/76 scale layouts which this year consisted of the forever growing Bron Hebrog (OO) http://bronhebog.blogspot.co.uk/ , Albion Yard (OO) http://albionyard.wordpress.com/ , Canada Road (EM) http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/layout_canada.html , Diesels in the Duchy http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12234-diesels-in-the-duchy-aka-st-blazey-dcc-em/ - all great company I’m sure you’ll agree!

Of course there were many other equally fantastic layouts which can be found listed here http://www.railex.org.uk/railex2012l.html with reviews popping up on the various toy chuffer forums. Best Layout deservedly went to the lovely pre-grouping Penlan http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/1432-penlan-lnwr-in-south-wales-1910-em-gauge/ - a very worthy winner all the way from Cornwall depicting a lush part of the LNWR in Wales a little north of Swansea.

Within 30 minutes of the doors opening curiously beer started to arrive, totally out of the blue some lovely Loose Canon Brewery http://www.lcbeers.co.uk/ draft ale from 7mm scale modeller and altogether top chap John Atkinson was passed over the fiddle yard. Before the smiles had faded Samuel Bennett – another altogether top chap and eager snapper I hasten to add, handed over 2 bottles of ale, one from Ascot Ales and another from the Windsor and Eton Brewery. Because I know that you chaps read my twaddle here, you be delighted to know that the *beer has now all gone* (jobsworths, please read the disclaimer at the bottom of this page) – the hot weather making it even more tasty – so CHEERS to you! The hoppy malty aroma of the ales helped the atmosphere of the brewery themed layout all too well. I might have to install handpumps next time the layout goes out!

Despite felling a little squiffy from all the ale (more likely the heat), Brewhouse Quay worked well, with only one point switch-blade parting company from the copper clad tiebar – easily fixed with a dab of the soldering iron luckily. The Caboose Hobbies manual ground throws caused interest or irritation depending on whether you’re a ‘hand of god’ type of person or not. BQ uses 3 link coupling because they look good in photos mainly, so ‘hand of god’ to operate the points is only a little more intrusion.

Thanks must go to the Railex team who as always do their best to make the show go well behind the scenes as well as ‘front of house’ ensuring a good experience for all.

Finally my BIGGEST thank you must go to Graham Muspratt who gave up his whole weekend when he could have been enjoying BBQs and such, but instead helped operate Brewhouse Quay in a far more professional manner than I ever can.

I’ve been asked about next year’s Railex but I do have a few overdue layout-operational debts to pay to other layout owners, I am also planning a modern themed 12 footer with DCC sound and actual mineral loading, but that’s another story….

* Note for jobworths: The beer was drunk at home later, being drunk in charge of a model railway in a public place would be very irresponsible of course, driving over a layout spider would not be good.We did sample two bottles in our respective meal breaks for research purposes, and placed the empty bottle on the side of the layout to help with the atmosphere.

Preparing Brewhouse Quay for Railex 2012

nevard_120517_BQ_DSC_3618, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Next weekend it's the excellent RAILEX (that's the flyer on the right by the way), an exhibition frequently being regarded as one of the best all weekend enthusiast targeted shows in the south. For some reason they wanted to invite my OO gauge Brewhouse Quay I'm guessing the reasoning being the to 'how NOT to do it' angle, so the last few days (OK about one hour) has been spent cleaning track, checking mechanics and polishing loco wheels.
Followers of this blog will probably have mostly only seen pretty low angle photos that make the layout look like it is Gauge 1 occupying an area of 40ft x 20ft, this photo will hopefully spoil the illusion in advance for any moany-hard-done-by Daily Mail reading show-goers who until now were expecting something the size of an aircraft hanger. It isn't.

But they might be interested in that recently I added a small cassette yard to the right hand side, this allowing trains to exit off set to the right, and when combined with the small fiddle yard behind the left hand side (via a sector plate) allowing short trains to run right through the layout from one side to the other if shunting gets a little boring. The working wagon turntable combined with chain shunting adds another dimension which proves popular with the younger audience - maybe I just need to add Thomas for complete approval?

• RAILEX website
• Brewhouse Quay

The Afternoon Goods from Evercreech

With Combwich all ready for RAILEX, a last chance to knock up a quick video of Ex-Midland Railway 0-6-0 4F No. 44417 arriving at Combwich with the afternoon goods from Evercreech Junction. August 1961.

After arrival, the engine runs around its train, then shunts the short rake of old wooden wagons into the goods yard.

And for the smart asses out there, yup, I know that the vacuum pipe on the the loco is missing;-)
This short was simply shot using the video capture facility on my point and shoot Canon G9

Combwich at RAILEX!

nevard_101106_wycrail_IMG_8338_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

Combwich will be having a rare outing at RAILEX this weekend (28 & 29 May 2011). Tim Maddocks' excellent SDJR Enginewood will be right next door, and the intention is to run occasional trains between the two layouts.


To add to the excitement of this rare operational marriage of layouts, it will also be a chance to see Model Rail's specially commission Sentinel in action - at least 2 months before the production models appear in the UK.

• Find out more about Combwich here!
• Find out more about Enginewood here! 
• Find out about RAILEX here! 
• Find out about the Sentinel here!

RAILEX 2011 Model Railway Exhibition  

Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Harvey Road, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP21 9PP

Saturday 28^th May 10.30-5.30
Sunday 29^th May 10.00-5.00
Adults £7.00, Child £4.00, Family(2+2) £16.00
Sunday only - up to 2 children admitted free with an accompanying paying adult.

10 inches in 2 Minutes

Model Rail Magazine's Sentinel, taking around 2  minutes to traverse a mere 10 inches (that 25cm in new money) in the sidings at Combwich.

• Order now http://www.modelrailoffers.co.uk/
• See this loco running 28/29 May at Railex!

Model Rail Sentinel at RAILEX!

An announcement from Model Rail's Chris Leigh...

The proprietors of Combwich and Engine Wood are pleased to announce that it is planned to operate a service between their two layouts at Railex at Stoke Mandeville, May 28/9. Following successful negotiations with the manufacturer, a Model Rail Sentinel demonstrator is expected to operate this service. This is a rare opportunity for those who would like to see the Sentinel in operation.

At the time of writing we understand that the models are in production and we hope to have delivery in August.

CHRIS LEIGH  (Model Rail Mag)

• Order now www.modelrailoffers.co.uk 
• See this loco running at Railex!

Above is a video shot on Combwich demonstrates the very good slow speed performance over hand built track. Any juddery movement here will simply be the You Tube compression which tends to drop frames here and there - not the loco performance which is exemplary!

Grubby Green Planet

nevard_110523_planet_IMG_9983_web, originally uploaded by nevardmedia.

This evening saw the completion of the little Roxey Mouldings 0-4-0 Planet diesel. Brewhouse Quay has been put away for a few days while I prepare Combwich for this weekend's RAILEX, so makes as ideal background to pose the little beast on. The wagon in tow is an ex-LBSCR wagon from a Smallbrook Studios kit knocked up a couple of weekends ago.


Here is a more close up view of  the little loco
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevardmedia/5752986418/in/photostream

• RAILEX
• Combwich
• LBSCR Van
• Planet
• Brewhouse Quay