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Lapford station in N gauge.

Peter C

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Ah yes Peter. Yet again you knew that I had something to say!
I'm psychic, you see...
(Well that's what I think people say behind my back ;))

Not too much actually, just spent yesterday evening fencing off the farmland from the unwanted neighbours and putting a piece of rusty farm machinery in the gateway with an unwelcoming sign:

View attachment 98524
That's a really nice scene you've got there. How big is it approximately? Looks quite large but that may just be a modeller's trick!

He really doesn’t like the people with the old caravan...
(Actually I don’t know if you remember but the old rusty bailer is positioned over the baseboard joint which I think was your suggestion?)
Haha :lol:
I think I suggested a tractor at some point, but even if I didn't, I expect half the profits made from when that thing's sold at auction (or to the scrapyard, either or)

Apologies if you've already mentioned it, but how have you got those roads like that? I assume the greenery is just static grass and other such materials, but how's the road surface done?

Also road signs have been sprouting up here and there:

View attachment 98526

View attachment 98527
Again - very nice! That first shot, looking down onto Eggishford, looks brilliant. The signs add loads to the scene, and the perspective makes the hill look bigger than I think it is?
I printed off a selection of road signs ages ago, with the intention of getting them onto the layout shortly afterwards, but I ran out of things to make the posts out of and gave up. How have you managed to make the posts for those?

Quite like this photo with the bus. I get just as much enjoyment out of modelling the roads as I do the railway really.

View attachment 98528
It's amazing how something so small can be made to look so big and lifelike with some good camera trickery. You can just imagine the bus trundling along, full of (probably disgruntled) passengers, all wishing they'd let the train take the strain, etc.... ;)

And do not pass this point please!

View attachment 98529
I was having a conversation with someone about that sort of sign the other day, and I realised that there's loads of modelling potential in even something as small as that. At Kingham, there are three or four signs, all saying the same thing, at the London end of Platform 1 - one of them says "Do not cross the line (except by means of the footbridge)", another says "Do not pass this point", and I think another is a sign about trespassing on the line. It's also interesting how the first type of sign seems to have been used by almost every railway company since the day dot - the GWR certainly made signs with that wording in the steam era.

-Peter :)
 
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Cowley

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I'm psychic, you see...
(Well that's what I think people say behind my back ;))


That's a really nice scene you've got there. How big is it approximately? Looks quite large but that may just be a modeller's trick!


Haha :lol:
I think I suggested a tractor at some point, but even if I didn't, I expect half the profits made from when that thing's sold at auction (or to the scrapyard, either or)


Apologies if you've already mentioned it, but how have you got those roads like that? I assume the greenery is just static grass and other such materials, but how's the road surface done?


Again - very nice! That first shot, looking down onto Eggishford, looks brilliant. The signs add loads to the scene, and the perspective makes the hill look bigger than I think it is?
I printed off a selection of road signs ages ago, with the intention of getting them onto the layout shortly afterwards, but I ran out of things to make the posts out of and gave up. How have you managed to make the posts for those?


It's amazing how something so small can be made to look so big and lifelike with some good camera trickery. You can just imagine the bus trundling along, full of (probably disgruntled) passengers, all wishing they'd let the train take the strain, etc.... ;)


I was having a conversation with someone about that sort of sign the other day, and I realised that there's loads of modelling potential in even something as small as that. At Kingham, there are three or four signs, all saying the same thing, at the London end of Platform 1 - one of them says "Do not cross the line (except by means of the footbridge)", another says "Do not pass this point", and I think another is a sign about trespassing on the line. It's also interesting how the first type of sign seems to have been used by almost every railway company since the day dot - the GWR certainly made signs with that wording in the steam era.

-Peter :)

Well taking it from the top (thanks by the way), the area of scenery around the ramshackle bungalow is probably about a square foot but I’ve slightly sloped the scenery away so that your eyes aren’t drawn to edge too much.

The roads are all made from fairly thick grey card bought from The Range and trimmed down bit by bit until they’re the correct shape.

As far as the signs go, because they’re so small I cut them out first and get some of the green wire they sell in garden centres, dab the end of the wire in a tiny bit of superglue and then pick up the upside down sign with the wire. Once it’s dry I paint the posts and the back of the signs grey before snipping them off and planting them.
For some reason the ones with two signs look much more convincing to my eyes.

The joy of N gauge of course is that you can do a lot with a small space.
I went to a swap meet today and couldn’t get over how big the 00 stuff looked now that I’m not used to it!
 

Peter C

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Well taking it from the top (thanks by the way), the area of scenery around the ramshackle bungalow is probably about a square foot but I’ve slightly sloped the scenery away so that your eyes aren’t drawn to edge too much.
Ah cool - thanks for explaining. In N gauge, I expect that's quite an area. I'll be stealing ideas from your layout and using them on my own, definitely :D

The roads are all made from fairly thick grey card bought from The Range and trimmed down bit by bit until they’re the correct shape.
Thanks - I'll be looking into that then. Cheaper than the pre-made road strips from the likes of Noch (I think they do it?)!

As far as the signs go, because they’re so small I cut them out first and get some of the green wire they sell in garden centres, dab the end of the wire in a tiny bit of superglue and then pick up the upside down sign with the wire. Once it’s dry I paint the posts and the back of the signs grey before snipping them off and planting them.
For some reason the ones with two signs look much more convincing to my eyes.
That's a clever way of doing it. The two signs on the one post also looks a bit different (in a good way) to a basic one-sign-per-post arrangement; there's something very Postman Pat-esque and quaint about it. :)

The joy of N gauge of course is that you can do a lot with a small space.
I went to a swap meet today and couldn’t get over how big the 00 stuff looked now that I’m not used to it!
Haha :lol:
I've been struggling today trying to work out a trackplan for where Oldmoor-on-Sea used to be as I'm not fully happy with the one I'd come up with, and it would be so much easier if I had a scale which was half the size!

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Well hello from Lapford… :)

As I said in the other thread I’ve had a bit of a rebuilding job on my hands this last few weeks.
I was never very happy with the printed fronts on the warehouses, especially the large brick one in the middle because it just looked very 2 dimensional to my eyes, almost like something out of South Park.
It had also faded over time so it was time to do something!

So here’s how it looked when I originally did it:
F483B9E3-78C3-406F-BB10-EDEBF3526FD2.jpeg

And here you can see my first attempts of building a new frontage by marking out the many windows with a paint pen and then overcladding the lot with brick plasticard:
6794954F-8304-4EB8-B1CC-BCBA0830B36D.jpeg

Absolute nightmare!
Here’s that attempt and you can also see the old original faded one lying in front of it:

7B2722E4-B385-450B-8C1D-A6E4AA846D17.jpeg

The only thing was, it was far too thick and ended up sticking out beyond the roof, plus you could see the lines where I’d pieced it together and all honesty it looked absolutely (insert expletive here).

Back to the drawing board then and time to have a go at doing what I wanted to avoid doing in the first place.
Cutting about twenty windows (over the three buildings that I was working on) out of the brick individually…
This was all a bit daunting:
735CD83F-8039-4203-BB76-1491D6C32A05.jpeg

But… I managed to do it without too much drama in the end and this was the second (well third really) go - showing it and one of the other buildings I was working on:
204C1381-EA7E-45B3-B028-6453B3A04762.jpeg

So here’s a couple of photos of the new look buildings, which still need a couple of little bits doing but are definitely an improvement I think:
D63D30FC-492F-4ED9-A095-DEB0675D854E.jpeg

FBB81AB5-03BB-46CF-8BB4-C745950FBA27.jpeg

And the whole scene:82FE85A0-13A8-4469-A02F-C7FCBBA5090D.jpeg

Plus with the added bonus that I’m able to put lights in one that didn’t have proper windows before (I’d turned the lighting controller up higher than normal to check that the lights weren’t leeching through hence the brightness):
EAE58CDE-FE8B-4FEA-96A5-AE87F35047FA.jpeg

B1FF060E-0475-4877-B4A8-7C733BB7F5A6.jpeg

It’s all a bit of a learning process isn’t it? :)
Thanks for reading as always.
 

Peter C

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Well hello from Lapford… :)

As I said in the other thread I’ve had a bit of a rebuilding job on my hands this last few weeks.
I was never very happy with the printed fronts on the warehouses, especially the large brick one in the middle because it just looked very 2 dimensional to my eyes, almost like something out of South Park.
It had also faded over time so it was time to do something!

So here’s how it looked when I originally did it:
View attachment 99789

And here you can see my first attempts of building a new frontage by marking out the many windows with a paint pen and then overcladding the lot with brick plasticard:
View attachment 99797

Absolute nightmare!
Here’s that attempt and you can also see the old original faded one lying in front of it:

View attachment 99798

The only thing was, it was far too thick and ended up sticking out beyond the roof, plus you could see the lines where I’d pieced it together and all honesty it looked absolutely (insert expletive here).

Back to the drawing board then and time to have a go at doing what I wanted to avoid doing in the first place.
Cutting about twenty windows (over the three buildings that I was working on) out of the brick individually…
This was all a bit daunting:
View attachment 99795

But… I managed to do it without too much drama in the end and this was the second (well third really) go - showing it and one of the other buildings I was working on:
View attachment 99799

So here’s a couple of photos of the new look buildings, which still need a couple of little bits doing but are definitely an improvement I think:
View attachment 99793

View attachment 99790

And the whole scene:View attachment 99792

Plus with the added bonus that I’m able to put lights in one that didn’t have proper windows before (I’d turned the lighting controller up higher than normal to check that the lights weren’t leeching through hence the brightness):
View attachment 99794

View attachment 99791

It’s all a bit of a learning process isn’t it? :)
Thanks for reading as always.
Thanks for sharing @Cowley - interesting to see how you managed to get there in the end. That first method is probably the same thing I'd have done (but I wouldn't have put in the effort to fix it all afterwards ;))!
Is that the pen I sent the link for a while ago? You've managed to get a good look for those window frames there. The lighting just completes the scene - it might not cost a lot or take a lot of work but it can be really effective if used correctly (as done here).

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Thanks for sharing @Cowley - interesting to see how you managed to get there in the end. That first method is probably the same thing I'd have done (but I wouldn't have put in the effort to fix it all afterwards ;))!
Is that the pen I sent the link for a while ago? You've managed to get a good look for those window frames there. The lighting just completes the scene - it might not cost a lot or take a lot of work but it can be really effective if used correctly (as done here).

-Peter

That’s exactly that pen Peter. It worked a treat really and I couldn’t think of any other way of doing it. It was fiddly though and I had to glue the windows in four at time because it was hard to get it lined up.
Don’t know what I’m going to do with this though?

5DCDD6CE-CF7F-4645-AEE9-F1284485F9BF.jpeg

Actually…

E0792BA7-C317-4043-9F3C-0B8DAE697016.jpeg
 

Iskra

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It's certainly an improvement, well done. It looks good in the scene and the night lighting looks convincing :)
 

Peter C

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That’s exactly that pen Peter. It worked a treat really and I couldn’t think of any other way of doing it. It was fiddly though and I had to glue the windows in four at time because it was hard to get it lined up.
Ah super - I might just buy one of those then. Don't know what it could be useful for, maybe Stratford-ising some engines... (which sounds a bit rude, but I can't think why)
You've certainly managed to get a very nice result out of your work though. Thinking about it, have you had many issues with N gauge being so much smaller than OO?

Don’t know what I’m going to do with this though?

View attachment 99800

Actually…

View attachment 99801
Perfect - a second layout set in a factory yard beckons!

-Peter
 

Cowley

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It's certainly an improvement, well done. It looks good in the scene and the night lighting looks convincing :)

Thanks mister. :)


Ah super - I might just buy one of those then. Don't know what it could be useful for, maybe Stratford-ising some engines... (which sounds a bit rude, but I can't think why)
You've certainly managed to get a very nice result out of your work though. Thinking about it, have you had many issues with N gauge being so much smaller than OO?

I think I decided somewhere near the start of all this that I’d try and make it more detailed than I ever managed with my 00 railway. Sometimes it’s so fiddly that you have to find a work around or just come back to it later like I did with those buildings.
But I’m used to it now I suppose and it all feels pretty natural.

I seem to have had a big shouty font moment there.
 

reddragon

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Thanks mister. :)




I think I decided somewhere near the start of all this that I’d try and make it more detailed than I ever managed with my 00 railway. Sometimes it’s so fiddly that you have to find a work around or just come back to it later like I did with those buildings.
But I’m used to it now I suppose and it all feels pretty natural.

I seem to have had a big shouty font moment there.

Did you look at that embossed paper and also some new stuff on Rails.

 
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Cowley

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Did you look at that embossed paper and also some new stuff on Rails.


No I didn’t see that at the time. I might order some for a different little job I’ve been thinking about though…
 
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Cowley

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So @Cowley - my psychic powers seem to suggest that something's been going on here... ;)

-Peter

Well yes indeed Peter!
I had a bit of a running session this afternoon and made another video, this time featuring a bit of freight action…

 

Peter C

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Well yes indeed Peter!
I had a bit of a running session this afternoon and made another video, this time featuring a bit of freight action…

(I'm going to continue pretending I've got psychic powers - they'll never know ;))
I saw that video earlier and it's really nice to see the layout in action. I was watching some of your other layout videos the other day in fact: no difficult plots to follow and get lost in - only brilliant modelling!

-Peter
 

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(I'm going to continue pretending I've got psychic powers - they'll never know ;))
I saw that video earlier and it's really nice to see the layout in action. I was watching some of your other layout videos the other day in fact: no difficult plots to follow and get lost in - only brilliant modelling!

-Peter

Haha. Thank you. :)

I reckon Wayne and his knackered Transit could probably feature in an episode of Rogue Traders or something similar..?

CF0F5892-5470-4209-983D-FABC73ABBBD2.jpeg
 

Iskra

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Very good! Nice to see that troublesome auto-uncoupler in action too :)

Is the 121(?) a dummy version?
 

Peter C

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Haha. Thank you. :)

I reckon Wayne and his knackered Transit could probably feature in an episode of Rogue Traders or something similar..?

View attachment 99885
Oh definitely - you can just imagine Matt Allwright chasing him following up on a dodgy-hedge-cutting business (i.e. a hedge-cutting business that's a bit dodgy, not a business dealing in the cutting of dodgy hedges ;)) and then giving up after he remembers he can't run at the speed of a Ford Transit...

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Very good! Nice to see that troublesome auto-uncoupler in action too :)

Is the 121(?) a dummy version?

Yes it is a dummy @Iskra. I’ve been toying with getting a powered one so that I can run them as a pair with lights inside as it’s really easy to do on those. Couldn’t find any in blue and grey the other day though.
I’d also like to put a light in one of my BGs so I can run the mail train at night.
 

Iskra

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Yes it is a dummy @Iskra. I’ve been toying with getting a powered one so that I can run them as a pair with lights inside as it’s really easy to do on those. Couldn’t find any in blue and grey the other day though.
I’d also like to put a light in one of my BGs so I can run the mail train at night.
Yeah a pair would definitely look good.

Can I suggest a formation with a 31 (or similar) towing the 121 due to some sort of failure? I know 31's towed 101's in passenger service on the Darlington-Saltburn line, but can't quite remember the exact circumstances behind it. I'm guessing something similar probably happened at sometime in your era in your neck of the woods? I think loco's towing DMU's just look very novel if you can find a prototypical way to do it. Equally, would any of your DMU's ever have towed freight wagons like happened on some lines?
 
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Gloster

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Yeah a pair would definitely look good.

Can I suggest a formation with a 31 (or similar) towing the 121 due to some sort of failure? I know 31's towed 101's in passenger service on the Darlington-Saltburn line, but can't quite remember the exact circumstances behind it. I'm guessing something similar probably happened at sometime in your era in your neck of the woods? I think loco's towing DMU's just look very novel if you can find a prototypical way to do it. Equally, would any your DMU's ever have towed freight wagons like happened on some lines?
The 04.05 Exeter-Barnstaple used to haul a GUV containing newspapers in the early 1980s. Recollection, imperfect as that is, is that the bubble cars did not often come east of Plymouth and when they did it was mostly as a substitute for a power car in a three-car set. But there were no doubt exceptions.
 

Iskra

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The 04.05 Exeter-Barnstaple used to haul a GUV containing newspapers in the early 1980s. Recollection, imperfect as that is, is that the bubble cars did not often come east of Plymouth and when they did it was mostly as a substitute for a power car in a three-car set. But there were no doubt exceptions.
Thank you for those snippets of information! Passenger trains running on branchlines at 0405 in the morning, seems so incredibly odd in comparison to our modern railway.
 

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Thank you for those snippets of information! Passenger trains running on branchlines at 0405 in the morning, seems so incredibly odd in comparison to our modern railway.
It was really going out to work the first service back, but the actual timings were tied in with getting the newspapers out as early as possible. If it hadn’t been for them it would probably have gone out an hour later or so later. While at Barnstaple it did shunt the GUV to the middle siding: that is the vehicle that often appears in photographs. The only regular passenger I heard about was a postman going to, I think, Crediton. I can’t remember at this distance whether it provided a connection out of the down night train.
 

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Thank you for those snippets of information! Passenger trains running on branchlines at 0405 in the morning, seems so incredibly odd in comparison to our modern railway.

It was quite unusual back then in a way. The branch had some similarities to some of the Scottish ones in the West Highlands in the way that it had quite a variety of traffic. After 1987 it declined somewhat when the goods yard at Barnstaple was removed though.

It was really going out to work the first service back, but the actual timings were tied in with getting the newspapers out as early as possible. If it hadn’t been for them it would probably have gone out an hour later or so later. While at Barnstaple it did shunt the GUV to the middle siding: that is the vehicle that often appears in photographs. The only regular passenger I heard about was a postman going to, I think, Crediton. I can’t remember at this distance whether it provided a connection out of the down night train.

I will do a proper recreation of the early train the next time I do a video. I’ve been thinking about doing a couple of vids on the various trains that ran on the line. One for 1986/87 and one for 1990/91 maybe.
 

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It was quite unusual back then in a way. The branch had some similarities to some of the Scottish ones in the West Highlands in the way that it had quite a variety of traffic. After 1987 it declined somewhat when the goods yard at Barnstaple was removed though.
I could add, or should have added, that the 04.05 wasn’t the first train of the day. There was a goods at around 03.00, which meant that the signal boxes open early. Even with ten-hour shifts, the last train from Exeter had to be relatively early.
 

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I could add, or should have added, that the 04.05 wasn’t the first train of the day. There was a goods at around 03.00, which meant that the signal boxes open early. Even with ten-hour shifts, the last train from Exeter had to be relatively early.

What would the goods have been @Gloster? I’m still quite often caught out by the variety of traffic on the line!
 

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What would the goods have been @Gloster? I’m still quite often caught out by the variety of traffic on the line!
Just the traffic for Barnstaple and the Meeth line. I don’t think it would stopped en route at Lapford or Kings Nympton: shunting at four a.m. has plenty of disadvantages. Anything for these two would have come on the later goods, although I think the UKF wagons for Lapford were tripped from Riverside after they had been dropped off by the Truro working.
 

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Just the traffic for Barnstaple and the Meeth line. I don’t think it would stopped en route at Lapford or Kings Nympton: shunting at four a.m. has plenty of disadvantages. Anything for these two would have come on the later goods, although I think the UKF wagons for Lapford were tripped from Riverside after they had been dropped off by the Truro working.

Yes that sounds about right from what I’ve looked into.
Unfortunately there’s no rtr model of those UKF wagons available (although Lima used to do a 00 version). I live in hope though…

@Gloster - Do you remember anything about the pub?

Yeah a pair would definitely look good.

Can I suggest a formation with a 31 (or similar) towing the 121 due to some sort of failure? I know 31's towed 101's in passenger service on the Darlington-Saltburn line, but can't quite remember the exact circumstances behind it. I'm guessing something similar probably happened at sometime in your era in your neck of the woods? I think loco's towing DMU's just look very novel if you can find a prototypical way to do it. Equally, would any of your DMU's ever have towed freight wagons like happened on some lines?

Here you go @Iskra. A bit of a recreation of this scene taken by Ian Dinmore in 1991 (https://www.railscot.co.uk/img/38/349/)

25E40BB2-AA3D-422D-BFBA-0CD972982D1E.jpeg

6EC4B717-FDF5-468B-8BED-1BAF86A28523.jpeg
 
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reddragon

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If only DCC had a dummy mode, where you could set a loco to provide just enough power to turn its wheels to respond when being hauled, but nowt else . . . . .
 

Iskra

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You can programme 2 loco’s to work in tandem :)

Or just use an actual dummy loco...
If only DCC had a dummy mode, where you could set a loco to provide just enough power to turn its wheels to respond when being hauled, but nowt else . . . . .
 

Cowley

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If only DCC had a dummy mode, where you could set a loco to provide just enough power to turn its wheels to respond when being hauled, but nowt else . . . . .

That would be very useful. There were all kinds of unusual rescues back then.
Mystepbrother and I were at Exeter st David’s when 37175 was hurriedly scrambled to rescue a 31 that had packed up somewhere between Barnstaple and Exeter in 1987. This would be another great one to recreate:

CA04BA82-7DDB-41D6-B82D-BE01F22115C9.jpeg42E4CAF6-2237-4C07-A478-DB48B48950AE.jpeg

You can programme 2 loco’s to work in tandem :)

Or just use an actual dummy loco...

You might be able to, but I just stare at all the buttons on the controller before finding something easier to do. :lol:
 

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