Farnham & District 49th Model Railway Expo

I remember when entry to a model railway exhibition was £5 before Covid and after Covid it increased to £8 and today it is £10 and if you have children in tow it will be more. I don't blame the club exhibiting for the rise. It is just the rise in costs generally, probably brought on by geopolitical influences.

The poster at the entrance boasted over 50 layouts on show but I counted less than 30. In fact the number of layouts and traders seemed little different to previous years although an extra room was opened this year indicating a larger exhibition.

The quality of layouts was extraordinarily high, leading me to abandon my usual thoughts of choosing a personal best in show. Instead I'll highlight three layouts that depicted unusual scenes not normally seen at a model railway exhibition.

Moors View (N) depicting a wintry season

Buggleskelly (00) A diorama accurately depicting
the station from the film Oh Mr. Porter

Brief Encounter (00) All monochrome. Based
 on the 1944 film Brief Encounter

I made one planned and two unplanned purchases from traders. A bag of static grass to complete my Battledown Flyover layout, a 'morris minor traveller' car that took my fancy and the book 'Main Line To The West - Basingstoke to Salisbury' which has detailed historical information of the line, including Battledown Flyover.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #21 (Embankments Completed)

 The east end embankment:

The split line between two baseboards is clearly visible in the above photograph but that lighter coloured line sloping right on the embankment is a grass worn path that is evident in early 1960s photographs of the prototype.

The rusty fence, made from bullhead rail, was originally painted white on the prototype.

See that bush by the brick pillar in front of the fence. It started life as lichen on a broken tree branch that I found during a countryside walk.

I carefully removed a piece by cutting away a slice of tree bark that it was attached too. The lichen was glued down on the layout via its tree bark foot. It was then covered in static grass and scatter for a convincing looking bush.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #20 (Reality Quest)

This is the view under the model bridge; pretty much as it was in the first half of the 1960s including, sleepers laid against the wall, the single rail buried in the grass, the fences, the trees on the far side of the embankment and the tree line in the backscene.

The field fence was particularly troublesome to install, mainly due to the bridge and embankment hindering access.

The fence is an unusual design. Unusual because I could not find any other examples of the post on the web. The post comprises T section metal posts with sloping sides supporting five wire runs. Wire stays fit between the posts.

The posts were installed first and then bare electrical copper wires fed through them followed by fitting of the stays. The fifth wire at the base was not installed as it would have been buried in the long grass! I roughly painted  the parts a rust colour. 

All, except the wires, were resin 3D printed by myself. They are small, thin and with the holes make them fragile. Several broke during installation but, thankfully, I had just enough spares to replace the damaged ones. 

My CAD design is shown below. 

To Part 21.

To Part 1.

A Card Kit for October

 Platelayer Huts

View the Card Kits Here.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #19 (Visual Trickery)

I thought that the north west embankment in the early 1960s was just grass, turning into shrubs and trees just beyond the wooden hut.

Take a look at this photo at flickr. I had missed the fact that trees are evident between the bridge and signal.

This is fortuitous because they will help block views of the non-prototypical fiddle yard sidings behind the embankment on the model railway. However, not by much because it is only the tops of the trees that are visible from this viewpoint.

My preferred method of making trees is to use natural flora, specifically the wild herb yarrow or sedum autumn joy. These plants, when died back to brown in winter, retain remnants of their flower heads that look like model tree canopies. They are both domed shape so a model tree has to be made by cutting and joining sprigs together.

The normal viewing angle on the model railway is much higher than in the photo above. The trees I made showed too much of their lower parts, including trunk. To remedy this I used a technique that I applied to my Swanage Loco Yard layout. Namely, lay individual sprigs down rather than fabricating a whole tree.

If we look behind the embankment the trick is revealed. This viewpoint is impossible to see in practice without a camera or mirror. 

The sprigs are not even glued down. Just arranged to give the desired effect when viewed from the other side of the embankment.

Next, I needed a solution to hide the non-prototypical tunnel mouth that is employed as a scenic break.

Even though on the prototype there are no trees this side of the embankment, I used 'modellers license' to judiciously place a tree that blocks the tunnel mouth from the normal viewing angle. I also added some dried moss to make it look a bit shrubby. None of it is stuck down.

To Part 1.

To Part 20.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #18 (Two Huts)

If you saw the huts today at the prototype location you would find that they are heavily weathered - taking on an earth brown appearance. Further more, the window glass and doors are gone. 

In the early 1960s they looked almost new. So, that is what I depicted on these models for the period of my layout. 

They are made from commercially available card kits. Web link top right of this Blog.

To Part 1.

To Part 19.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #17 (Embankment Grass)

Seems to me the grass was tidier in the 1960s than the scrub evident today. (1960s example here). To emulate the tufty grass of the 1960s I followed WWScenics guidance in this video except, I used inexpensive heavy duty glue spray and firm hold hairspray instead of the two WWS glues presented in the video.

I have applied static grass before but, this is the first time I used the WWScenics method so, a little apprehensive. My main concern was my glue selections. Would they stick well enough?

With buildings and signal removed I masked the ballasted track and embankment surrounds and set to work. The grass finish is not as  spiky as I expected but looks tufty and about right compared to the prototype.

Now, it was time to vacuum up any loose fibres, which would reveal how well the grass stuck. With a fine mesh over the end of the vacuum hose to catch loose fibres for reuse it was slowly moved across the scene about 10 mm above it. To me surprise and delight the grass held with a small amount of loose grass collected. A few bare patches did appear which were easily covered with a brush of PVA and a pinch of static grass pushed into the glue.

This end of the layout is the busiest in terms of lineside objects. There is the repurposed signal box base, wooden lineside hut (1960s Airfix kit), distant signal (part custom, part ratio kit) and a scratch built railway telephone box near the signal.

Behind the embankment is a double track mainline and 3 'fiddle yard' sidings. The scene there is not prototypical (the main line in reality sweeps away from the embankment whereas in the model it is alongside) and as such may not be landscaped, being treated as a service area. I may not tidy up the backscene there either. Whilst it stands out in the photograph when viewing the scene my mind tends to ignore it!

I do need to disguise the tunnel mouth that is there for a scenic break since there is no tunnel at the prototype location. 

To Part 18.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #16 (Repurposed Signal Box)

Before continuing the embankment on the west side of the bridge I needed to work out the position of this odd building and make it.

There are a few photos on the web of it, all viewed from this side only. Here is an example. I could see from a 1909 map that the embankment meets this side of the building and on the other side there is a gap/walkway before the embankment continues. I assume there was a door in the building wall that side.

Originally, towards the end of the 19th century, this building was a tall signal box. By the 1960s the box had been demolished leaving only its plinth. A gabled corrugated roof was installed on this. I assume the building was then used as a permanent way store. 

The prototype photograph shows a beam sticking out from the front. I assume this was a hoist. Today the building is gone and the embankment continues across the alcove. It is still possible to see the rear brick wall poking above the top of the embankment. 

The model is made from card with decorative paper overlaid. The hoist was knocked up from scrap plastic bits. Looking back at the prototype photo the modelled brick is too red and the depth of the building a little short. Never the less the essence of the prototype is captured in the model.

On the other side of the track a little further west there was a tall distant signal and a wooden hut. These need to be accommodated as well.

To Part 17.

To Part 1.

Andover Modelex 24

Yearning to see some model railways in the flesh, so to speak, I visited this 1 day exhibition on 31st August 24.

30 exhibits of layouts and traders spread over 2 halls. Arriving half an hour after opening and during the morning the footfall was IMHO lower than previously experienced at such shows. Therefore, no jostling needed to get good views of the exhibits. Maybe the low turnout was due to the time of year as later or earlier in the year is the main exhibition season.

My top three layouts were:

Maritime Lane VMF (00 gauge)

The layout draws its name and inspiration from Southampton Maritime and Basford Hall VMF. The scenic section is 4ft by 2ft and features a wagon repair shed, fuel point and loco stabling. Adding the fiddle yard doubles the length.

Now this is small. However with seven sidings it has plenty of operating potential, which is why it appealed to me.

Old Parrock (00 gauge)

A small Southern Railway Sussex halt set in picturesque countryside. My photo does not give justice to this pretty scene and in particular the cottage and watermill that have been scratch built from card to a very high standard, influenced by Pendon construction methods.

Penworth (N gauge)

The modelling of this GWR branch line is a feast for the eyes and I make no excuse for showing three scenes from the model. This type of layout that captures real life in finely detailed miniature is right up my street and I was excited to see it.

The detail of the scratch built buildings is beyond belief for N gauge (1:148 scale). The construction method follows the principles employed at Pendon and if you know anything about that you'll know that bricks and slates are individually laid on card (guess the same method used here). But Pendon is 1:76 scale, twice as big. Doing the same in 1:148 takes great skill and patience.

Talking about detail and authenticity, look closely at the second photo (click for larger image) and spot the picnic setting and the man laying a roof.

Needless to say this was my best in show.

Trade Purchase

Green Scene Mod Roc 2 pack (plaster of Paris bandage) from Squires Tools.

Coverage: 0.825 sq m (£5.99).

Nearly bought static grass but not sure how much to buy as I have a large area to cover using multiple layers so, I left it for another day.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #15 (Embankment Sub-Structure)

Using spare wood to hand the track bed is supported on 5 mm ply and 3" x 1" blocks (or thereabouts).

The method I used to set the gradient was to first cut two supporting blocks of the required height for each end of the embankment. Lay across them a length of straight wood and measure  the heights for intermediate supports.

The embankment itself is made from shaped polystyrene packaging blocks covered in two layers of plaster of Paris bandage. Stores where I found the bandage were 'The Range' (£1.50 for two rolls. Not clear whether the size stated is for one roll or two (coverage is either 0.4 sq. m or, 0.2 sq. m?). But, beware that whilst their website may show 'in stock' at your local store in my case there were none! Second stop was Hobbycraft who had a large stock of single rolls at £2.00 each (coverage: 0.3 sq. m). They call it Plaster Moulding Roll.

BTW, I determined the slope of the embankment from measuring the angle of the wing wall on a photograph of the prototype.

I decided to fit the grey girder bridge loose so it can be removed for maintenance or reuse and the brick pillars are also loose being held in place by the landscape. 

The layout comprises three independent baseboards, meaning track and landscape do not span the baseboard joins, thus making it easier to separate them in the event of removal. 

Drop wires are soldered to the track at each end of a baseboard and pass through the baseboard to  'chocolate' terminal blocks. Wires from these connect to bolts that hold the baseboards together and these also convey power between baseboards. At the two ends of the layout are 'D' type connectors that complete the power circuit of the oval. 'D' connectors are also hidden in the bridge pillars allowing the bridge to be disconnected easily and removed if necessary. 'D' connectors are an overkill as only two terminals are required. 'D's are what I had in stock.

To Part 16.

To Part 1.
 

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #14 (Fun with Trigonometry)

To recap, this is roughly the layout plan for Battledown Flyover (top half of photo). Note that the flyover west and east tracks in red, are dead ends. Therefore the bridge scene is almost a static diorama. Almost because a train can run across the flyover from west to east (up line) but, it would need to be a short train.

Since the track does not need to be the steep gradient (1:30) of a model railway in order to join other tracks at ground level I can make the gradient prototypical. But, what is the gradient of the prototype?

Foolishly I did not initially search the web for the answer. Probably because as the bridge is within walking distance of my home I can go and look where the gradient starts, relate this to google maps to measure the horizontal distance and from this calculate the gradient.

Problem is I have not used trigonometry since school days! 

Using Goggle maps I measured the horizontal distance of the gradient to the bridge to be  approximately 7376 mm (4 mm scale).  I new the height of the model to be 80 mm. Now I needed the angle. I remembered from school the acronym SOHCAHTOA to help remember when to use sine, cos or tan but, I choose the easy path of using the web to do the calculations for me!

An angle of 0.621 degrees was calculated here.

and the gradient of 1:92 here. 

Only then did I search the web and found in this forum posting stating the gradient to be 1:90.

I was impressed that my calculation was pretty close to that!

Now I had to work out the rail height at the extremities of the gradients on the model. I measured the track lengths to be 1300 mm on the west end and 1400 mm on the east end. 

Recalculating using the same angle and subtracting 1300 from 7376 etc. gave heights of 65.8 mm and 68.5 mm respectively.

Now I can proceed to build the bridge embankments.

To Part 15.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #13 (A Close Call)

Track and cork underlay are reused from the previous layout. Both are glued down using 'Copydex' since they will peel off easily for reuse if required.

About halfway through laying I realised that I did not have enough track because two turnouts from the previous layout are omitted from the new plan.

From the previous post in this series you will see that I put myself under some pressure to complete track laying for the west of England mainline before a visitor arrived to play trains next day. This would not be possible without obtaining track from somewhere. Buying online was not an option due to the shipping timescale.

Fortunately, the town in which I live has two model railway shops (a rare occurrence). A quick dash to one of them to buy a length of Peco SL100F and some rail joiners enabled me to complete the track work in time. The pressure is now off and I can continue modelling at a leisurely pace.

The turnout in the photo on the far left will connect to a small, three road storage/fiddle yard that will be hidden by a bridge embankment in due course.

I am so grateful that my town still boasts model shops. I wonder how long they will last since many modellers buy online these days to get the best deal.

To Part 14.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #12 (Onwards at Pace)

Three baseboards now in place. The one far left looks smaller than the others but it is in fact similar in length. It needs an infill at the front but, its build can wait until I am ready to lay the bridge track work that will need to run onto it.

What is important just now is to lay the double tracks to complete the circuit so that trains can run all round the oval. In fact I only have a day and a half to do this before another visitor comes to play trains.

The tracks on the right hand board were already in place, being from the previous layout. Just had to swing the straights slightly towards the front to line up with the track plan on the middle board.

BTW the boards are bolted together and fixed to the wall with metal right angle brackets. The back scene is loosely fitted, slotting between wall and baseboard.

To Part 13.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #11 (Rusty Screws & Wood Offcuts)

Railway Modelling need not be as expensive as some may complain, especially if you keep spare fittings and wood from past projects for potential use in future baseboard construction.

This is baseboard #2 that cost nothing to build. It looks a right bodge and it is but, once the bridge and scenery is added no one will know.

One of the boards was my son's school artwork project that he did not claim when he left home (he is a dad now). Don't tell him I sanded away his picture.

The other odd shaped board is from another abandoned project. Two corners needed filling with triangular offcuts. One was cut too narrow so the gap was filled with another offcut that awaits sanding down.

The boards are 3/8 inch ply and frame 2 x1 timber to match the adjoining boards.

What is important in this bodged approach is to ensure the top is flat throughout and the assembly not twisted.

For the back story of this baseboard see post #10.

To Part 12.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #10 (Phase 3 commences)

The plan is to embed the bridge in landscape and join the West of England tracks to my existing Misterton layout. To achieve this I need to replace my Hewish Gates layout with the bridge layout.

Photo shows Hewish Gates after removing all above ground features. I am expecting visitors in August who will want to see trains running so, tracks stay in place for the time being. What struck me was how open it is now. Trains running around are definitely the focus of attention with nothing else to disrupt the view (BTW the dead end tracks join a lifting section).

Buildings, trees and lineside furniture were not stuck down so lifted off easily. Some fences and hedges were stuck with PVA but peeled away easily without damage.

It is my practise to lightly stick paper all over the baseboard and build the the scenery upon it. When it is time to break up the layout the scenery is easily removed by breaking the bond between paper and baseboard thus leaving behind a clean baseboard. I can't remember what I used to stick the paper down but it came off extremely easily taking the embankments and tunnel with it (I remember on Misterton I used small blobs of PVA here and there to fix the paper in place).

Ballast had been set in place with 50/50 PVA and water. Using bradawl and small chisel the ballast was loosened and hovered up into a clean bag. The bag was then emptied and ballast sieved to remove dust and large lumps with the sieved ballast ready for reuse on the new layout.

The new layout baseboards will be in three parts instead of the two here. I plan to modify the existing baseboards for sections 1 and 3 and make a new baseboard for section 2. Section 2 will contain the bridge.

The rolled up paper in the photo is the track plan for Section 2. This will be stuck to the new baseboard for track positioning.

Never an easy decision to break up a layout after spending considerable time building and admiring it. To settle my mind I broke it up in stages over several weeks for a job that could be done in a day. What also helped was the ease of disassembly that resulted in parts being undamaged and available for future use.

Here are some views of Hewish Gates before the axe fell.

Embankment

Crewkerne Tunnel

To Part 11.

To Part 1.

East Somerset Railway - Cranmore Station

On the face of it, a small heritage station and 3 miles of track suggests there will be little to see. On the contrary, there is plenty there to satisfy the enthusiast.

I knew that David Shepherd, the wildlife and railway artist was associated with this line because two locomotives he owned ran on it but, I did not know he had founded this heritage railway having acquired and initiated development of the site.

I met David, who graciously gave me his autograph, at a model railway exhibition in Farnborough many years ago where he was showing some of his locomotive paintings.

What came as a great surprise to me upon visiting this railway was that he was also a railway modeller and had created a 3mm scale layout, part of which is now displayed at the station.

Our ride was on the lines Class108 DMU

Ivatt Class 2 46447

A small selection of their extensive stock

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #9 (Phase 2 and Dilemmas)

This phase was about making the brick pillars and walls for the bridge. These were constructed from 5 mm foam board with decorative paper overlays. What is missing are the wing walls. These will be constructed during phase 3 - Landscaping.

The white wall in the photo will be covered by an embankment.

Dramatic view of girders beneath the deck.
No rivets here as not normally viewed from this angle.

I have not yet found an effective way of permanently fixing the bridge deck to the walls as there is little contact between them. In fact, I am in two minds as to keeping it removable or fixed.

In the first posting of this series I pondered about integrating the bridge into my existing layout, or scrap all and create a new layout focused on the bridge, or make a static diorama of it. Somewhat late in the day I sketched plans.

Integration

Integrated Plan

My existing layout - Misterton, lies on the Waterloo to Exeter route that passes under the bridge. The Southampton lines (one of which passes over the bridge) need to join it to complete the circuit.

Points of concern.

• The bridge is much longer than I anticipated, being nearly 1 metre long, due to the skew. With 1 in 30 inclines; at least 2m at each end is required to get the track down to ground level. I fear this would encroach too much into the station layout
• The Down Southampton line curve is too tight and the line it is to join would still be on the embankment

To confirm my concerns I temporarily plonked the bridge on my Hewish Gates layout that it would replace and sure enough the inclines would encroach on Misterton Station. (Misterton is the other side of the short tunnel in the photo).

Scrap All and Create a New Layout

This creates an interesting arrangement that provides the round and round operation idea with sparse landscaping that I suggested in the first posting of this series.

The design requires crossover tracks that enables a train on the up Southampton line to cross over the bridge, run around and go under it. The down line stays at ground level. A good point is that in the vicinity of the bridge the trains always travel in the correct direction, as per prototype. Another good point is that the inclines have room to reach ground level before the crossovers.

Points of concern

• Curvature close to the bridge is not representative of the prototype
• Sparse landscaping makes for a boring model to view when trains are not running
• No storage tracks, unless run off tracks take us to an under layout storage yard
• Do I have the heart to rip up my highly detailed Misterton Station.

Diorama

Potentially a separate model, perhaps a shelf layout about 2 m x 0.5 m. This could accurately reflect the track layout of the prototype and the inclines pose no space limitation. 

Points of concern

• Operating potential extremely limited.
• I swore never to build another layout without scrapping one of the six already in the railway room, four of which cannot be operated in the room due to space constraint

Semi-Diorama

In this scenario the down Southampton line is omitted and the up line is a dead end. We have the advantage that Misterton Station is retained and we have the bridge scene with its flyover track layout and inclines being more prototypical.

Points of concern

• The two Storage tracks available at Hewish Gates are lost. Probably not critical as I also use an off layout storage cassette anyway
• Operating potential of the flyover extremely limited

This is looking like the best compromise but, I am taking a break to ponder further so, it will be a while before returning to this project.

There is an important lesson here and that is to plan the layout before making models to ensure everything will fit as you imagined.

To Part 10.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #8 (end of phase 1)

Considering phases of this project then this is the end of phase 1 in so far as all the 3D printing is complete. Next phase is the brick pillars, which will employ a different modelling medium. The final phase will be integrating the bridge into a landscape.

The last 3D prints to make and apply were the three top spanning girders. I am glad it is over because the manufacturing process is complex, messy and time consuming but frankly, there is no better DIY way of making a model with such high level of detail comprising thousands of rivets!

Track ballast has also been applied. This is sieved pumice grit with a sprinkling of cork granules for colour variation. Ballast is fixed in the traditional way of laying it dry and then flood with a 50:50 mix of PVA glue and water with a drop of washing up liquid to ease surface tension so that it flows easily through the ballast. When dry a black wash was applied to the track bed between the rails.

The bridge looks the part when viewed from the sides (normal viewpoint) but looking end on there is some bowing of the sides. I found it difficult to keep the sides flat as the cured resin took on a life of its own. As I have mentioned before the water washable resin used is not really tough enough to hold the shape of a model this size where thin sections are present.

By the way, the loco chimney does clear the spanning girders with about 5 mm gap.

To Part 9.

To Part 1.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #7 (track progress)

The track needed lifting by 1 mm on the bridge deck to mirror the level of the prototype. The obvious method was to use cork sheet as this may also absorb the sound from 'toy' trains as they pass over the bridge. 1mm thick cork was duly bought off Ebay but, what arrived was 4 mm thick! 

Evidently the vendor had no stock of 1mm (despite their listing showing stock available) and thought 4 mm would do! Well, I got a refund and searched for another supplier and I also wondered if I had anything that could substitute for it.

Right in front of my eyes on my desk was a spare sheet of 1.5 mm thick corrugated cardboard. Since this had air pockets then it too might be suitable as a sound absorber. In fact, a test with and without cork or corrugated board had no effect on sound absorption (probably too thin). Anyway, the corrugated cardboard was cut to size and glued in place using Copydex latex glue.

On top of the cardboard a paper track template was glued down to guide adjustment of the double sleeper sections of the track, which was glued on top using Copydex. Copydex with a little heat allows easy removal of track for reuse in the future.

The masking tape shown in the above photo was to preserve the raw plastic surface for later gluing in place the bridge sides.

My method of painting the track was to spray a mix of burnt umber and black acrylic paint (colours that I had to hand) then wipe off the overspray from the rail top.

When dry the cosmetic fishplates were glued each side of the rail at the joins

A mix of brown, yellow and red to mimic rust was hand painted along the side of the rails and over the chairs. The fishplates being picked out in black.

To Part 8.

To Part 1.