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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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Peter C

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Good stuff. So do you mean that the map is what you’re doing but without that little siding between the platforms?
Essentially, now I look at it :lol:
It was that little addition that made it feel a bit more like a steam-era station with plenty of sidings and storage space and not enough like a 'streamlined' modern-image station.

-Peter
 
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reddragon

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Essentially, now I look at it :lol:
It was that little addition that made it feel a bit more like a steam-era station with plenty of sidings and storage space and not enough like a 'streamlined' modern-image station.

-Peter
You could build a garden railway, so much more space.
 

Cowley

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Essentially, now I look at it :lol:
It was that little addition that made it feel a bit more like a steam-era station with plenty of sidings and storage space and not enough like a 'streamlined' modern-image station.

-Peter

I’ve always been a fan of less is more personally. I think a gap where a track might have been says more somehow.
One trick that you could do is imprint some track into the ballast while you’re glueing it. I did that on my sons railway to make it look like there was a removed line into a platform. Leave a few sleepers and rails around and it can look quite interesting.
Anyway the reason I mention it is that there’s no way I could have actually got a line in there because it was too sharply curved, the eye doesn’t notice that though and you could do something similar where the short siding would have been and just follow the line to an imaginary three way point that’s been altered.
Here’s a photo of it.

E54586F9-92FF-4C04-BDE6-70E12CBEA3B6.jpeg
 

Peter C

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You could build a garden railway, so much more space.
I'd love a garden railway. But it would have to be large enough to ride on - that's a problem on limited funds :lol:

I’ve always been a fan of less is more personally. I think a gap where a track might have been says more somehow.
One trick that you could do is imprint some track into the ballast while you’re glueing it. I did that on my sons railway to make it look like there was a removed line into a platform. Leave a few sleepers and rails around and it can look quite interesting.
Anyway the reason I mention it is that there’s no way I could have actually got a line in there because it was too sharply curved, the eye doesn’t notice that though and you could do something similar where the short siding would have been and just follow the line to an imaginary three way point that’s been altered.
Here’s a photo of it.

View attachment 100186
I hadn't thought of that trick - thanks! That disused bit does look good: I might try and work it in somewhere on the layout. I did have an idea to make one of the platforms (probably the one closest to the centre of the board) look disused with some static grass and other bits of foliage - not as extreme as making it look like the platform was removed, but sort of the previous step in "how railways age" :D

=======

I don't know if I mentioned that I was doing some work on the railway centre, but here's a new trackplan I came up with this afternoon:
1627154856902.png
(I haven't got it quite right there but it works on the real thing)

The black box at the top of the frame is the goods shed. The unloading side is the side facing the other siding to its right, but there's enough of a space between the two that you could get a small goods yard in there. The filled-in grey box at the top of the frame is a platform long enough for a single coach. This is at one end of the running line.
Moving down the running line (the rightmost line on the picture) brings us to the light-grey box - this is the level crossing. There will be a walkway to allow visitors to walk over the adjacent siding safely - as at Didcot Railway Centre.
At the end of the running line is another station, again long enough for one coach. My thinking behind this is the same as @Cowley's "less is more" principle; there's very little track in the bottom of the frame, and the main idea is to fill it with scenic stuff and trees - lots of trees. Just like at Didcot, where they've got their "Branch Line" running line (a small section of track running from about halfway along the site to the Oxford end), this will be a place for passengers to enjoy a short ride on the train before exploring the other bits of the site.
There's the option of taking the curved piece of track leading into the siding next to the level crossing and turning that into a set of points which would then lead into a line going into a small shed, but I don't think I'll go down that route as not only would that require buying another set of points, but it would also be a bit pointless as I don't tend to run engines back into sheds and things at the end of a running session. If I want to include an engine shed, it can go next to the goods shed.

Thanks for reading :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Yes I like it. The little running line is a great idea and I can imagine a set of gates dividing the centre from the mainline. There’s a lot of modelling potential there actually.
 

Peter C

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Yes I like it. The little running line is a great idea and I can imagine a set of gates dividing the centre from the mainline. There’s a lot of modelling potential there actually.
Thanks very much :)
You mentioning gates separating the centre from the mainline has given me yet another (but - thankfully - easy-to-implement) idea: put a gate at the entrance to the railway centre, and then put a small platform on the mainline side of the gates! Mainline units (just the Class 153 and 121 really, as they're the only ones which will fit in Little Piddling platform) can then call at that station, reverse there, and then head off down the Little Piddling branchline.
It makes a bit more sense than an idea I'd had of giving the railway centre two running lines - the little one included within the main railway centre area and then the line along to Little Piddling. One idea might be to potentially keep that idea of two running lines, but have the Little Piddling one as the lesser-used of the two; it might then make for an interesting set-up where the station at the top of the railway centre (the one next to the goods shed) acts a bit like Bodmin General, where you can take two routes out of the same terminus station (and an idea I'd wanted to include somehow).

Sorry for thinking out loud a bit there - I'm a bit pleased that you've given me that idea :lol:

-Peter

=====

EDIT:
I've just done a quick test-fit of a Hornby curved platform piece on the curve at the entrance to the railway centre, and it should work. I'll make my own platform to fit the exact dimensions in this area of the board but the concept works. I've used one of the old-fashioned crossing gates (so it's half of the full two from the Hornby two-track level crossing) as a placeholder gate until I can find something with the red circle in the middle and not half a red circle on one end.
 
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Cowley

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Yes that sounds pretty good actually. Can you fit a loco and carriage in there so that people can still board the carriage at the display platform?
I think my first ever run behind a Deltic was at Didcot. Three GWR carriages and D9000….
 

reddragon

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Yes that sounds pretty good actually. Can you fit a loco and carriage in there so that people can still board the carriage at the display platform?
I think my first ever run behind a Deltic was at Didcot. Three GWR carriages and D9000….
My last service run on the main line was behind 55.013 THE BLACK WATCH York to KX replacing a failed HST. It ran non-stop with corridor MK1s. Down Stoke bank it hit 117 mph according to the driver.

It left York late and arrived KX on time on a HST schedule, minus a couple of stops!

Utter beasts.
 

Cowley

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My last service run on the main line was behind 55.013 THE BLACK WATCH York to KX replacing a failed HST. It ran non-stop with corridor MK1s. Down Stoke bank it hit 117 mph according to the driver.

It left York late and arrived KX on time on a HST schedule, minus a couple of stops!

Utter beasts.

Outrageous!
 

Peter C

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Yes that sounds pretty good actually. Can you fit a loco and carriage in there so that people can still board the carriage at the display platform?
I think I might be able to change around the lengths of certain pieces of track in the railway centre to make the platform serving the two lines bigger, definitely. The problem is that it's all starting to become a bit of a geometry lesson - angles, lengths... Pythagoras would have a field day in Oldmoor :lol:

I think my first ever run behind a Deltic was at Didcot. Three GWR carriages and D9000….
Wow - I expect that got moving pretty quickly! A quick search on Google shows that D9000 wasn't the only Deltic to go to Didcot, so that's cool.
The best acceleration I've seen on a diesel was at the SVR's Diesel Gala in 2019 (I think that was the one where we both seemed to keep passing each other but never meeting), when 50007 (I think) left Arley with four LMS coaches in tow. It got going a lot quicker than the 'Western' on seven or eight Mk1s earlier that morning!

My last service run on the main line was behind 55.013 THE BLACK WATCH York to KX replacing a failed HST. It ran non-stop with corridor MK1s. Down Stoke bank it hit 117 mph according to the driver.

It left York late and arrived KX on time on a HST schedule, minus a couple of stops!

Utter beasts.
That is a brilliant run. Just goes to show how powerful those things were. All of this has made me realise I've never actually seen a Deltic in service...

-Peter
 

reddragon

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Deltics could wheelspin even at 100 mph such was their power. Their electrical equipment couldn't cope with all the horsepower and the rolling stock couldn't cope with their speed.

Today a Deltic with AC electricals could easily run at 125 mph on modern tracks. You have to remember, whilst rated at 3300 hp, the same engines were rated at 5000 hp in boats
 

Peter C

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Deltics could wheelspin even at 100 mph such was their power. Their electrical equipment couldn't cope with all the horsepower and the rolling stock couldn't cope with their speed.

Today a Deltic with AC electricals could easily run at 125 mph on modern tracks. You have to remember, whilst rated at 3300 hp, the same engines were rated at 5000 hp in boats
Blimey. I've found myself watching a British Pathe video showcasing a Deltic as it happens - they not only have plenty of power, but a hot-plate for your tea as well ;)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Blimey. I've found myself watching a British Pathe video showcasing a Deltic as it happens - they not only have plenty of power, but a hot-plate for your tea as well ;)

-Peter

They certainly were beasts. It’s still Westerns for me though. ;)
 

Peter C

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They certainly were beasts. It’s still Westerns for me though. ;)
I think I'd probably agree with you on that front. But then again that might be because I've ridden behind a Western but never behind a Deltic!
Thinking about it, I've seen a Western, a Hymek, and a Warship (of some description), so I've got all (/most) of the hydraulics "ticked off", but never a Deltic... a trip to Shildon awaits!

-Peter
 

reddragon

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I think I'd probably agree with you on that front. But then again that might be because I've ridden behind a Western but never behind a Deltic!
Thinking about it, I've seen a Western, a Hymek, and a Warship (of some description), so I've got all (/most) of the hydraulics "ticked off", but never a Deltic... a trip to Shildon awaits!

-Peter
To experience a Deltic, a main line run is essential in a way not required with a Western.

The Western is great at low speeds and high speed adds little to, whereas Deltic impresses at a ton
 

Peter C

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To experience a Deltic, a main line run is essential in a way not required with a Western.

The Western is great at low speeds and high speed adds little to, whereas Deltic impresses at a ton
I'll definitely be looking out for a Deltic railtour then - but probably to be simply viewed from a platform ;)

=====

Apologies for not posting anything on here for a couple of weeks - I think (as with all of us), real life is starting to return, which unfortunately means less modelling time!
I've written quite a bit here, so I'll break things down into different sections.

Track-cleaning troubles

The OJMR has spent a lot of time in recent weeks laying silent. Mostly because other things have cropped up (well, mostly Minecraft and occasionally real trains), but also because just cleaning the track to get it to a good standard so trains can run is a pain in the proverbial. I've mentioned time and again that I ordered a Gaugemaster Track Cleaning Wagon from Rails of Sheffield in mid-Marsh. Five months later (blimey, time flies!), and I've not received it. Admittedly, it was listed as being on back order, but when I emailed Rails in late June, they said they still didn't have a date from the supplier.

Looking on Rails' website, it says the wagon in question is actually on pre-order (explaining why I supposedly haven't made any orders yet I've pre-ordered things). Looking on Hattons' site just now, it turns out that they posted something on 17.8.2021 saying the following:
Gaugemaster produce a range of Track Cleaning wagons in OO gauge. Produced in partnership with Piko, these wagons are not fully prototypical but represent realistic liveries from different eras of the UK’s railways. A track cleaning wagon can form part of essential maintenance duties on your layout and makes the job of cleaning your track much more enjoyable.

Gaugemaster’s wagons feature:

  • Updated wagon chassis with UK couplings
  • Removable track cleaning pad
  • Carefully applied liveries representing modern Network Rail and earlier Railfreight colour schemes
  • Replacement cleaning pads available

So I have to go to Hattons to find out what's up with my Rails order - not amazing. Looking on Rails' homepage doesn't help as whilst the news section goes back to 17.8.2021, it doesn't contain anything about the wagon I'm interested in. This is the same for the product page. I can only assume that Gaugemaster have decided to make another run of these models, and that this has happened in the time between me placing the order in March and now. Shame that they didn't say anything about that!

That's a long-winded way of saying I've not really been running many trains recently (or doing anything with the layout) because the track is dirty and it's a pain to clean it without a special wagon. I could use the Hornby track-cleaning coaches I've got but they're not so much track-cleaning as track-dirtying. Not very helpful. ;)


Running trains - finally!

I managed to lean over to the far side of the layout the other day, though, and got the outer loop cleaned. I didn't bother with the inner loop as I've been storing some coaches on it and didn't want to faff around with moving them. The first trains around the layout were all DC, as the Gaugemaster controller was wired in. The other day I ran the DCC engines for the first time in several weeks and they still work really well after not moving for so long, which was a relief.

The Bachmann Class 47 works as well as it always has, and apart from one tail light going out at one end (an issue it's had for some time now), it's a perfect little model. Strong, stable, and seemingly not fussed about dirty track, it's spent the past few days trundling around the layout for several hours at a time with some Mk1s and then yesterday it was put on the test train formation. It's really nice to know I can just set the trains running and (apart from a small issue with the 68 yesterday where it ran into the back of its own train) they'll run without supervision so I can get on with something else.


Railway centre shenanigans

Regular readers will know that I'm incapable of coming up with a trackplan and then staying with it. Over the history of this thread, the layout has grown and moved about a lot. In the past few days, I've continued this tradition by making a new trackplan for the railway centre.

The thinking behind this was inspiration from Didcot Railway Centre, which I visited earlier this month. Here are some photos for those of you who are interested:
IMG_0875_edited.jpgIMG_1235_edited.jpgIMG_1289_edited.jpgIMG_1330_edited.jpgIMG_1141_edited.jpgIMG_1350_edited.jpg
(Do not adjust your sets - the white balance was off on my camera when I took these so they've been edited to make them more realistic and the results weren't perfect :))

One of the main bits about Didcot is their 1932 engine shed, and it's brilliant for wandering around in and seeing the various engines on show. I wanted to recreate this sort of thing on my layout, and so I've come up with this trackplan:
1629404085401.png
(The blue line is the edge of the baseboard outline on SCARM)

As you can see, it's quite different to the one I last shared, but I prefer this one as it's got more space to display engines which otherwise wouldn't get shown on the layout. At the moment (I've built the trackplan as I find it easier to plan them in-person than on the computer), the engine shed bit is housing the Battle of Britain/West Country, 'King', 53xx, and Tornado. The goods shed can hold a few small wagons and a small engine at the front, with the Ruston 48DS in front of that (admittedly only if you remove one of the wagons). The storage sidings at the bottom of the frame can hold a large diesel each, and the level crossing can do the same (although a 14xx and autocoach set-up looks much nicer :lol:).

I'm keeping the idea of a platform just outside the railway centre's "limits", but to make up for the removal of the station within the main bit of the centre, it would be detailed up in GWR colours and made to look like a heritage station.

I'll post photos of it all tomorrow - it's a bit late now and I'm quite comfy in my chair :)


That siding opposite Oldmoor Junction

This siding has caused more trouble than any other bit of a model railway - ever. Alright, that's probably exaggerating the situation, but that's what it feels like at least. The original idea was to have two sidings, which depending on my mood at the time would either be a small heritage set-up or a pair of holding sidings for mainline rolling stock. However, as I've now used the curved points originally in this area for the railway centre, this pair of sidings has gone down to just the one. It's currently two-R601s long (Hornby's double straights), so it could be quite useful, but not for much really.

A potential plan is to remove one of the storage sidings in the railway centre - thus giving more space for scenic stuff, such as a picnic area, and then put the curved points back in the Oldmoor Junction sidings area. That would allow for my idea of making those sidings into a tiny railway museum - like the one at Locomotion in Shildon, where they've got a few rows of engines, but smaller. It could sit quite nicely in the gap between the town buildings and the existing railway, and could house the remainder of the interesting engine fleet not yet on the layout (i.e. Mallard, Claud Hamilton, a HST power-car or two, etc.). It would be a glass (well, plastic really), scratchbuilt affair with a small cafe/entrance hall on the road side.


The town of Oldmoor - scenics

I mentioned in some of the earlier posts on here that I'm aiming for a more scenic approach now than before. The main problem with this idea is finding the materials to make this happen: I've got the static grass, and some foliage bits, and I can buy the relevant Metcalfe kits, but things like paint for roads, and fences, are a different situation. Does anyone have any recommendations for paints they've used for roads? @Cowley I think you might be able to help here?

Another bit of the layout which needs sorting is Little Piddling on-the-Wold. It's been neglected for quite some time now and needs to be finished. The station and house haven't moved since I put them there and they're not going anywhere very quickly, so I can start gluing them down and working on the detailing around them. One of the main things is adding an entrance/exit to the station, as well as the road giving access to the house.


Ballasting

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my last post, but I've done some ballast work around the Little Piddling curves and managed to get it done all the way up to the level crossing. Unfortunately, it's all been knocked quite a bit and needs some reworking before it can be glued. I'm going to try and finish the ballasting work on the majority of the layout before the free time I have starts to really run out: getting the whole lot ballasted and glued would be even better. It's a bit of a hurdle I need to get over at the moment!


Tales from Oldmoor

I mentioned previously in this post that I'll make another post tomorrow with photos of the railway centre, so I'll also share a Tale from Oldmoor at the same time as it's been a while since we heard from everyone in the town. The main issue is going to be remembering names! :lol:


Anyway - that's a very long post, but it details the (lack of) progress made on the layout in the past few weeks. I hope you found it somewhat interesting - and thanks for reading.

-Peter
 

Cowley

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I'll definitely be looking out for a Deltic railtour then - but probably to be simply viewed from a platform ;)

=====

Apologies for not posting anything on here for a couple of weeks - I think (as with all of us), real life is starting to return, which unfortunately means less modelling time!
I've written quite a bit here, so I'll break things down into different sections.

Track-cleaning troubles

The OJMR has spent a lot of time in recent weeks laying silent. Mostly because other things have cropped up (well, mostly Minecraft and occasionally real trains), but also because just cleaning the track to get it to a good standard so trains can run is a pain in the proverbial. I've mentioned time and again that I ordered a Gaugemaster Track Cleaning Wagon from Rails of Sheffield in mid-Marsh. Five months later (blimey, time flies!), and I've not received it. Admittedly, it was listed as being on back order, but when I emailed Rails in late June, they said they still didn't have a date from the supplier.

Looking on Rails' website, it says the wagon in question is actually on pre-order (explaining why I supposedly haven't made any orders yet I've pre-ordered things). Looking on Hattons' site just now, it turns out that they posted something on 17.8.2021 saying the following:


So I have to go to Hattons to find out what's up with my Rails order - not amazing. Looking on Rails' homepage doesn't help as whilst the news section goes back to 17.8.2021, it doesn't contain anything about the wagon I'm interested in. This is the same for the product page. I can only assume that Gaugemaster have decided to make another run of these models, and that this has happened in the time between me placing the order in March and now. Shame that they didn't say anything about that!

That's a long-winded way of saying I've not really been running many trains recently (or doing anything with the layout) because the track is dirty and it's a pain to clean it without a special wagon. I could use the Hornby track-cleaning coaches I've got but they're not so much track-cleaning as track-dirtying. Not very helpful. ;)


Running trains - finally!

I managed to lean over to the far side of the layout the other day, though, and got the outer loop cleaned. I didn't bother with the inner loop as I've been storing some coaches on it and didn't want to faff around with moving them. The first trains around the layout were all DC, as the Gaugemaster controller was wired in. The other day I ran the DCC engines for the first time in several weeks and they still work really well after not moving for so long, which was a relief.

The Bachmann Class 47 works as well as it always has, and apart from one tail light going out at one end (an issue it's had for some time now), it's a perfect little model. Strong, stable, and seemingly not fussed about dirty track, it's spent the past few days trundling around the layout for several hours at a time with some Mk1s and then yesterday it was put on the test train formation. It's really nice to know I can just set the trains running and (apart from a small issue with the 68 yesterday where it ran into the back of its own train) they'll run without supervision so I can get on with something else.


Railway centre shenanigans

Regular readers will know that I'm incapable of coming up with a trackplan and then staying with it. Over the history of this thread, the layout has grown and moved about a lot. In the past few days, I've continued this tradition by making a new trackplan for the railway centre.

The thinking behind this was inspiration from Didcot Railway Centre, which I visited earlier this month. Here are some photos for those of you who are interested:
View attachment 101321View attachment 101322View attachment 101323View attachment 101324View attachment 101326View attachment 101327
(Do not adjust your sets - the white balance was off on my camera when I took these so they've been edited to make them more realistic and the results weren't perfect :))

One of the main bits about Didcot is their 1932 engine shed, and it's brilliant for wandering around in and seeing the various engines on show. I wanted to recreate this sort of thing on my layout, and so I've come up with this trackplan:
View attachment 101328
(The blue line is the edge of the baseboard outline on SCARM)

As you can see, it's quite different to the one I last shared, but I prefer this one as it's got more space to display engines which otherwise wouldn't get shown on the layout. At the moment (I've built the trackplan as I find it easier to plan them in-person than on the computer), the engine shed bit is housing the Battle of Britain/West Country, 'King', 53xx, and Tornado. The goods shed can hold a few small wagons and a small engine at the front, with the Ruston 48DS in front of that (admittedly only if you remove one of the wagons). The storage sidings at the bottom of the frame can hold a large diesel each, and the level crossing can do the same (although a 14xx and autocoach set-up looks much nicer :lol:).

I'm keeping the idea of a platform just outside the railway centre's "limits", but to make up for the removal of the station within the main bit of the centre, it would be detailed up in GWR colours and made to look like a heritage station.

I'll post photos of it all tomorrow - it's a bit late now and I'm quite comfy in my chair :)


That siding opposite Oldmoor Junction

This siding has caused more trouble than any other bit of a model railway - ever. Alright, that's probably exaggerating the situation, but that's what it feels like at least. The original idea was to have two sidings, which depending on my mood at the time would either be a small heritage set-up or a pair of holding sidings for mainline rolling stock. However, as I've now used the curved points originally in this area for the railway centre, this pair of sidings has gone down to just the one. It's currently two-R601s long (Hornby's double straights), so it could be quite useful, but not for much really.

A potential plan is to remove one of the storage sidings in the railway centre - thus giving more space for scenic stuff, such as a picnic area, and then put the curved points back in the Oldmoor Junction sidings area. That would allow for my idea of making those sidings into a tiny railway museum - like the one at Locomotion in Shildon, where they've got a few rows of engines, but smaller. It could sit quite nicely in the gap between the town buildings and the existing railway, and could house the remainder of the interesting engine fleet not yet on the layout (i.e. Mallard, Claud Hamilton, a HST power-car or two, etc.). It would be a glass (well, plastic really), scratchbuilt affair with a small cafe/entrance hall on the road side.


The town of Oldmoor - scenics

I mentioned in some of the earlier posts on here that I'm aiming for a more scenic approach now than before. The main problem with this idea is finding the materials to make this happen: I've got the static grass, and some foliage bits, and I can buy the relevant Metcalfe kits, but things like paint for roads, and fences, are a different situation. Does anyone have any recommendations for paints they've used for roads? @Cowley I think you might be able to help here?

Another bit of the layout which needs sorting is Little Piddling on-the-Wold. It's been neglected for quite some time now and needs to be finished. The station and house haven't moved since I put them there and they're not going anywhere very quickly, so I can start gluing them down and working on the detailing around them. One of the main things is adding an entrance/exit to the station, as well as the road giving access to the house.


Ballasting

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my last post, but I've done some ballast work around the Little Piddling curves and managed to get it done all the way up to the level crossing. Unfortunately, it's all been knocked quite a bit and needs some reworking before it can be glued. I'm going to try and finish the ballasting work on the majority of the layout before the free time I have starts to really run out: getting the whole lot ballasted and glued would be even better. It's a bit of a hurdle I need to get over at the moment!


Tales from Oldmoor

I mentioned previously in this post that I'll make another post tomorrow with photos of the railway centre, so I'll also share a Tale from Oldmoor at the same time as it's been a while since we heard from everyone in the town. The main issue is going to be remembering names! :lol:


Anyway - that's a very long post, but it details the (lack of) progress made on the layout in the past few weeks. I hope you found it somewhat interesting - and thanks for reading.

-Peter

Going to have to reply properly tomorrow as I’ve only just read this.
Loved the photos though. :)
 

Peter C

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Going to have to reply properly tomorrow as I’ve only just read this.
Loved the photos though. :)
Ah thanks very much - I've got somewhere in the region of 800 in total from that day out IIRC!

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Well you have made some progress. :lol:
I’m not sure that you’ll ever have quite enough storage on the layout for all of your locos but that’s fine because you swap around what you want to run anyway (and eras).
The idea of doing a mini Didcot looks tempting because it’s something local to you that you know well so that’s easier to imagine and recreate in a way.
I love Didcot anyway. It’s amazing. Seeing the line up of GWR 4-6-0s outside reminds me of the first time I went there the best part of 40 years ago…

Re the roads - I’ve made all of mine out of large sheets of grey card that I bought from The Range. No need to paint them plus they’re easy to cut to shape with a pair of sharp scissors. For the more complicated bits I think I made templates out of paper first, but the card only cost a couple of quid and I did all of them (plus the platforms) out of two sheets.
 

Peter C

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Well you have made some progress. :lol:
I’m not sure that you’ll ever have quite enough storage on the layout for all of your locos but that’s fine because you swap around what you want to run anyway (and eras).
The idea of doing a mini Didcot looks tempting because it’s something local to you that you know well so that’s easier to imagine and recreate in a way.
Haha - thanks :D
That's kind of what I was thinking too - but as you say, I change what gets run so things will always need to be taken off the layout and put back on.
Didcot's brilliant. The idea of focusing the Oldmoor Railway Centre around an engine shed/MPD was based on Didcot and how that was a depot before the Great Western Society took over from British Rail: there are some excellent photos online showing the engine shed filled with BR (WR) locos and then just one road for the GWS. How times change!

I love Didcot anyway. It’s amazing. Seeing the line up of GWR 4-6-0s outside reminds me of the first time I went there the best part of 40 years ago…
They've always put on a good show when I've been. One of the best things they do is their exhibition days - no trains running, so it's cheaper, but you can still walk all around the site as you normally would. Great fun. :)

Re the roads - I’ve made all of mine out of large sheets of grey card that I bought from The Range. No need to paint them plus they’re easy to cut to shape with a pair of sharp scissors. For the more complicated bits I think I made templates out of paper first, but the card only cost a couple of quid and I did all of them (plus the platforms) out of two sheets.
Ah that's excellent - thanks very much! I'll get some of that then and see what I can do. Could be quite useful for finishing Oldmoor Junction's platforms too now you mention that...

--------
I wrote this next bit yesterday but didn't post to avoid merging:

To quote Victoria Wood, We'd quite like to apologise...

Sorry for not sharing photos of the new railway centre earlier today - I've been a bit busy changing it and then got distracted by other things! Anyway - here it is...
1629489975375.png

It's different to the trackplan I shared yesterday because I wasn't happy with the goods shed arrangement. The building is actually two parts - the main goods shed bit and then the small office at one end. The office just sits up against one of the end walls of the main shed (it's not glued on or anything). When the goods shed was next to the engine shed, the office building had to sit parallel to both sheds and some distance away from the main goods shed so as to not block the unloading doors. This just didn't look right and the only way to solve the problem and keep the goods shed in the railway centre is to move it to the other side of the board.

So the goods shed's position is now taken up by the level crossing. I did think about having a third engine shed road instead, but it would only be big enough for one engine and not really all that useful as a result. This level crossing is a lovely Bachmann model I received one Christmas a few years ago and it's been moved around on various bits of the layout ever since - it works really well in a heritage setting but not having a through running line with space to accommodate it makes for some tricky trackplan designing! In an ideal world, the track which runs through to form the kickback siding would have space for the crossing, but that would take a bit of reworking. I might try that tomorrow now I think about it... (This is why I never get anything done!)

I've put captions on the photo to show what it's all about, so I don't need to explain it all as much as I've done in the past. Essentially, track's been moved and it all looks a bit more like an ex-MPD now, which is good. :)

-----

Now - as promised, a new instalment in the ever-changing series of Tales from Oldmoor...

Will Mr Miggins finally work out how the DVD player works? Will the trains ever run again? Why is Oldmoor connected to the outside world only by rail?

It's been quite a quiet time in Oldmoor as of late. With no trains running, there's been simply nothing to keep the residents entertained and they've spent a lot of time indoors. However, now the trains have started up again, the people of Oldmoor are out and about again - and most of them are down at the Crown & Anchor.

In the pub, Dave Hatley is cleaning some glasses. They're not his, and they don't belong to the pub - Mrs Miggins has lost her wipes for cleaning her glasses and has come round to get Dave to do them instead. "Thank you ever so much," she says, "it's very reassuring to know that I can always pop 'round should I have any vision issues."
"Don't mention it," replies Dave. He doesn't mention that most of the vision issues Mrs Miggins has are less to do with her glasses and more to do with how much of his stocks she gets through of an evening when they all pop round.

As Mrs Miggins leaves the pub, she bumps - quite literally - into her husband. "Morning Maureen," he says, "I'd wondered where you'd gone. I couldn't see you at home and my first thought was to pop in here."
It's safe to say that Mrs Miggins isn't too happy with this remark. Now she can see Mr Miggins with her clean glasses, she can aim where she throws her handbag, and manages to hit him squarely on the nose. Dave Hatley jumps in at this point, and breaks up this altercation before he ends up becoming famous for being "that place where those pensioners had a brawl". He stands inbetween Mr and Mrs Miggins, and receives a bump on the nose from the latter's handbag as a result. Getting very angry, he throws both of his customers out, just as if he was in EastEnders.

-----

It's a bit late now, so I'm calling it a day with this escapade from Oldmoor. Will Mr and Mrs Miggins fall out over this? Will they ever visit the pub again? Tune in again next time to find out (if you actually care that much).

Good evening :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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In my mind all of the old ladies sounds like the ones in Monty Python. :lol:
I like the arrangement with the goods shed and engine shed there actually. That looks like it works well.
I can’t work out where you said you’ve now ballasted the new bits?
 

Peter C

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In my mind all of the old ladies sounds like the ones in Monty Python. :lol:
Haha :lol:
It wouldn't surprise me if Oldmoor's got gangs of them running through the streets...

I like the arrangement with the goods shed and engine shed there actually. That looks like it works well.
Thanks - I've found that viewing the layout from track level actually makes it easier to see if something's realistic or not and that helped there. The Budget Model Railways team film a lot of their layouts from ground or platform level and it's much more realistic.

I can’t work out where you said you’ve now ballasted the new bits?
The top left-hand corner of the layout, where the Crown & Anchor pub is, has a crossing (well, most of a crossing) connecting it to the centre of the board; I've done the ballast from approximately halfway around the curve there to the crossing nearer Oldmoor Junction station. I'd done the ballast around the curve closer to Little Piddling months before!
(I tried uploading a photo of the most recent ballasting work earlier and my laptop fell flat on its face, so I'm leaving that one for now ;))

-Peter
 

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Hmm…

Photo shows Peters GWR line up outside his Didcot style railway centre, which I’m finding rather pleasing to the eye… ;)

0CEBB442-E4E1-4C8B-A268-32721858251E.jpeg
 

Peter C

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Hmm…

Photo shows Peters GWR line up outside his Didcot style railway centre, which I’m finding rather pleasing to the eye… ;)

View attachment 101591
Haha :lol:
Thanks for posting that one here. (For those who don't know, it was originally in the "Things you like" thread) I think I've finally found a trackplan I like and all I need to do is pin down the track, ballast it, and then get on with the rest of the scenic work!

-Peter
 

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Haha :lol:
Thanks for posting that one here. (For those who don't know, it was originally in the "Things you like" thread) I think I've finally found a trackplan I like and all I need to do is pin down the track, ballast it, and then get on with the rest of the scenic work!

-Peter

I think looking at it, railway centres can quite often be packed full of a lot of locomotives in quite a small area using any available buildings, which is probably why it looks correct to my eyes.
 

Peter C

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I think looking at it, railway centres can quite often be packed full of a lot of locomotives in quite a small area using any available buildings, which is probably why it looks correct to my eyes.
That's a very good point. It's sort of what I've gone in with in-mind; there's no way you could recreate Didcot in that small space so it's all a compromise. I've gone for a bit more of a "small society in need of anything it can get", hence the inclusion of the level crossing and goods shed (well they went in just because I wanted them there but it's a nice story for the layout 'timeline').

======

As I've said upthread, I've finally found a suitable trackplan and so work now begins on the scenery. I've worked out how much everything's going to cost and it shouldn't be much more than £30/£35, which just goes to show what a good deal card kits are!

Having said all of that, the first scenery things I've done aren't really anything special. The first is the hard-standing area for Oldmoor T&RSMD, which simultaneously makes it look much more realistic and means I don't have to ballast anywhere near as much of the track! Here's a photo of what it looks like:
OldmoorT&RSMD.jpeg

This is a technique (if you can call it that?) which I've used before, and it's amazingly simple - the hard standing is formed of cut-up strips of cardboard from Jaffa Cake and cereal bar boxes, measured to be the correct (or close enough) widths between the rails of the different depot roads. The sections with curved bits near the points were a bit more tricky than the straight ones obviously, but still easy to make. The plan is to connect these pieces together at some point - maybe with poly-cement (?) - to make one large piece for inbetween each road.

The pieces on the innermost depot road are kept at a level height by gluing four off-cuts underneath the long side not supported by the sleepers on the track: the height of those four bits of card are the same height as the sleepers (or they're close enough, at least).

I've continued this into the depot building, but not alongside the outermost depot road. Having looked at it, I'll definitely put some hard-standing bits behind the depot as it would form a nice triangle between the outermost depot road, the entrance to Oldmoor Junction station, and the depot building:
OldmoorT&RSMD OutermostRoad.jpeg

The paint pots show the edge of where the station entrance will be. The steps up into the station might be replaced by a more suitable design (scratchbuilt) for the situation. The 'triangle' area isn't really a perfect triangle, I know, but it could be quite useful for a depot storage scene or maybe a smaller building behind the main one?


Another area I've done some work on is the town centre - nothing major, but something which should hopefully be useful in the near future. I've drawn some new road sections, thus turning about twenty pieces of road all placed next to each other into something closer to ten. This will make life easier when making the card roads:
Oldmoor Town.jpeg

I've also added the roundabout for the first time: I spent some time working out how wide the road needed to be around the centre, and settled on this version purely based on the road sizes elsewhere on the layout (and in the end, the road around the roundabout is slightly thinner than the main roads, if that makes any sense).
I'm waiting until I get the card for the roads before doing much more in this area. One other thing I've done, though, is move the Pine Shop next to the terraced houses to make for a small road through to the area behind the insurance offices; this area will be used for the office/shop car park. The hedges next to the terraced houses mark the parking area for both houses.
The buildings haven't been sat right next to the paper road edges as there'll be a footpath between the two; I've got most of a pack of Metcalfe's paving slabs so they'll go on the board.

Thanks for reading. :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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That's a very good point. It's sort of what I've gone in with in-mind; there's no way you could recreate Didcot in that small space so it's all a compromise. I've gone for a bit more of a "small society in need of anything it can get", hence the inclusion of the level crossing and goods shed (well they went in just because I wanted them there but it's a nice story for the layout 'timeline').

======

As I've said upthread, I've finally found a suitable trackplan and so work now begins on the scenery. I've worked out how much everything's going to cost and it shouldn't be much more than £30/£35, which just goes to show what a good deal card kits are!

Having said all of that, the first scenery things I've done aren't really anything special. The first is the hard-standing area for Oldmoor T&RSMD, which simultaneously makes it look much more realistic and means I don't have to ballast anywhere near as much of the track! Here's a photo of what it looks like:
View attachment 101714

This is a technique (if you can call it that?) which I've used before, and it's amazingly simple - the hard standing is formed of cut-up strips of cardboard from Jaffa Cake and cereal bar boxes, measured to be the correct (or close enough) widths between the rails of the different depot roads. The sections with curved bits near the points were a bit more tricky than the straight ones obviously, but still easy to make. The plan is to connect these pieces together at some point - maybe with poly-cement (?) - to make one large piece for inbetween each road.

The pieces on the innermost depot road are kept at a level height by gluing four off-cuts underneath the long side not supported by the sleepers on the track: the height of those four bits of card are the same height as the sleepers (or they're close enough, at least).

I've continued this into the depot building, but not alongside the outermost depot road. Having looked at it, I'll definitely put some hard-standing bits behind the depot as it would form a nice triangle between the outermost depot road, the entrance to Oldmoor Junction station, and the depot building:
View attachment 101715

The paint pots show the edge of where the station entrance will be. The steps up into the station might be replaced by a more suitable design (scratchbuilt) for the situation. The 'triangle' area isn't really a perfect triangle, I know, but it could be quite useful for a depot storage scene or maybe a smaller building behind the main one?


Another area I've done some work on is the town centre - nothing major, but something which should hopefully be useful in the near future. I've drawn some new road sections, thus turning about twenty pieces of road all placed next to each other into something closer to ten. This will make life easier when making the card roads:
View attachment 101716

I've also added the roundabout for the first time: I spent some time working out how wide the road needed to be around the centre, and settled on this version purely based on the road sizes elsewhere on the layout (and in the end, the road around the roundabout is slightly thinner than the main roads, if that makes any sense).
I'm waiting until I get the card for the roads before doing much more in this area. One other thing I've done, though, is move the Pine Shop next to the terraced houses to make for a small road through to the area behind the insurance offices; this area will be used for the office/shop car park. The hedges next to the terraced houses mark the parking area for both houses.
The buildings haven't been sat right next to the paper road edges as there'll be a footpath between the two; I've got most of a pack of Metcalfe's paving slabs so they'll go on the board.

Thanks for reading. :)

-Peter

You’ve actually done a great job on those buildings Peter. I wonder if it might be worth starting a thread up about doing all this sort of thing really cheaply?
I’m sure that the cost of things puts people off getting into the hobby sometimes but there are ways around it.
 

Peter C

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You’ve actually done a great job on those buildings Peter. I wonder if it might be worth starting a thread up about doing all this sort of thing really cheaply?
I’m sure that the cost of things puts people off getting into the hobby sometimes but there are ways around it.
Thanks very much :D That sounds like a great idea for a thread.
A lot of the bargains out there just need a bit of waiting before you can find them - and they need the buyer to be happy buying second-hand!

=====
I'd got some work done on the layout yesterday but I'd written the previous post before, so here's the current state of the layout.
Here's Little Piddling Manor:
LittlePiddlingManor.jpeg

As you can see, I've put some static grass and ballast down to make a first step in doing the garden. The ballast is some really fine stuff from Woodland Scenics which I tried using on the layout properly but it was much too fiddly and so I gave up. It works very well as gravel for houses and gardens though!
The gravel goes down the side of the house, around the front, and around to the far door. It doesn't go through into the little area next to the house though, as this is going to be either a small section of a field (complete with a pair of sheep) or a small section of the back garden, with a Metcalfe greenhouse.

You can also see the addition to the platform at Little Piddling here - the plan was always to have the entrance/exit of the station running perpendicular to the track and the rest of the platform, and here it is. This bit has been made from an old platform made originally for Oldmoor-on-Sea and which sat around on shelves for ages. The original idea was for this to slope down to form a ramp, but that's a bit more effort than it's worth so I'm leaving it as it is here, with the idea that the ramp is off the edge of the board :lol:
There'll be some sort of information board near the end of the platform. I believe Bachmann sells these but I can always make my own.


I've also done some more work to make things easier when it comes to making the roads out of card - I've made a basic level crossing:
OldmoorLevelCrossing.jpeg

Long-time readers of this thread will now that the barriers have been in place for ages now, but there's not been a proper road across to actually make it a level crossing. Now there is! The pieces are made from a card box, and have been measured to be accurate enough without spending too much time on it. Now when it comes to making the road out of grey card, I can just take these off the layout (they're not glued down) and use them as a template!


I've also added in the level crossing gate at the entrance to the railway centre:
OldmoorRailwayCentreCrossingGate.jpeg

I found this gate in a tin a few days ago and it's just right for this area. It's a Hornby plastic one - from the same box as the level crossing barriers in the previous post actually. I might build a platform for the gate posts to sit in, and thus allow it to open more easily, but at the moment the post the gate's attached to is stuck in a hole in the board.


And here's today's work so far - the workers' cottages in Oldmoor:
OldmoorCottages.jpeg

This building came from the same kit as Little Piddling Manor and has been sitting around on the layout for some time. This morning's work has been to do the garden, and I'm quite happy with it. As with Little Piddling Manor, it uses that really fine ballast for the gravel in the driveways on either side and then static grass from Gaugemaster for the main garden area. The greenery is a mix of a couple of Woodland Scenics products. The shed is a Hornby Skaledale building with some greenery added to the side facing into the middle of the board. The walls around the edge have been glued down, and some greenery's been added on the railway-side to break up the brown.
I've not done much with the front yet - I'm not sure if there's much which can be done.

Thanks for reading. :)

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Thanks very much :D That sounds like a great idea for a thread.
A lot of the bargains out there just need a bit of waiting before you can find them - and they need the buyer to be happy buying second-hand!

=====
I'd got some work done on the layout yesterday but I'd written the previous post before, so here's the current state of the layout.
Here's Little Piddling Manor:
View attachment 101742

As you can see, I've put some static grass and ballast down to make a first step in doing the garden. The ballast is some really fine stuff from Woodland Scenics which I tried using on the layout properly but it was much too fiddly and so I gave up. It works very well as gravel for houses and gardens though!
The gravel goes down the side of the house, around the front, and around to the far door. It doesn't go through into the little area next to the house though, as this is going to be either a small section of a field (complete with a pair of sheep) or a small section of the back garden, with a Metcalfe greenhouse.

You can also see the addition to the platform at Little Piddling here - the plan was always to have the entrance/exit of the station running perpendicular to the track and the rest of the platform, and here it is. This bit has been made from an old platform made originally for Oldmoor-on-Sea and which sat around on shelves for ages. The original idea was for this to slope down to form a ramp, but that's a bit more effort than it's worth so I'm leaving it as it is here, with the idea that the ramp is off the edge of the board :lol:
There'll be some sort of information board near the end of the platform. I believe Bachmann sells these but I can always make my own.


I've also done some more work to make things easier when it comes to making the roads out of card - I've made a basic level crossing:
View attachment 101744

Long-time readers of this thread will now that the barriers have been in place for ages now, but there's not been a proper road across to actually make it a level crossing. Now there is! The pieces are made from a card box, and have been measured to be accurate enough without spending too much time on it. Now when it comes to making the road out of grey card, I can just take these off the layout (they're not glued down) and use them as a template!


I've also added in the level crossing gate at the entrance to the railway centre:
View attachment 101745

I found this gate in a tin a few days ago and it's just right for this area. It's a Hornby plastic one - from the same box as the level crossing barriers in the previous post actually. I might build a platform for the gate posts to sit in, and thus allow it to open more easily, but at the moment the post the gate's attached to is stuck in a hole in the board.


And here's today's work so far - the workers' cottages in Oldmoor:
View attachment 101746

This building came from the same kit as Little Piddling Manor and has been sitting around on the layout for some time. This morning's work has been to do the garden, and I'm quite happy with it. As with Little Piddling Manor, it uses that really fine ballast for the gravel in the driveways on either side and then static grass from Gaugemaster for the main garden area. The greenery is a mix of a couple of Woodland Scenics products. The shed is a Hornby Skaledale building with some greenery added to the side facing into the middle of the board. The walls around the edge have been glued down, and some greenery's been added on the railway-side to break up the brown.
I've not done much with the front yet - I'm not sure if there's much which can be done.

Thanks for reading. :)

-Peter

Wow what a difference a bit of greenery makes. That’s looking really good.
How did you find doing the static grass? One thing I do is sprinkle a little soil dust over it just after I’ve done it in patches, because I quite like the extra texture (hmm, extra texture. That’s quite pleasant to say actually…) that it gives.
It doesn’t all stay when you Hoover it afterwards, but a little bit does.
 

Peter C

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Wow what a difference a bit of greenery makes. That’s looking really good.
How did you find doing the static grass? One thing I do is sprinkle a little soil dust over it just after I’ve done it in patches, because I quite like the extra texture (hmm, extra texture. That’s quite pleasant to say actually…) that it gives.
It doesn’t all stay when you Hoover it afterwards, but a little bit does.
Thanks very much! :D
The static grass was actually a lot easier than I remembered it being from when I've done it in the past. I used a very simple Gaugemaster plastic bottle I bought maybe two or three years ago (amazingly, I've not had to refill it in that time!): the grass gets its static-ness (there must be a proper word for that) just by shaking the bottle.
I might try that soil dust technique - could be quite useful to fill in some of the gaps around the edges too. I haven't bothered hoovering up the excess as it looks good enough as it is really!

=====

I finally got around to starting work on the final building for the top left-hand corner of the layout yesterday. It's a pair of terraced houses, and the kit's been sitting around for ages. Here's the finished result:
Building.jpeg
I've tried to vary the look a bit by adding a porch for one house and the bay windows for the other, as well as adding different amounts of greenery for either half. The left house here has less greenery than the right.
The greenery up by the chimney serves a useful purpose - that being to hide the gap between the roof and chimney itself:
Chimney.jpeg

The gates are quite nice - they're laser-cut and finish the look of the front off nicely:
Gate.jpeg

Now you might be able to see in that photo that the bay window doesn't actually look straight into the inside of the building. In fact, the bay window is simply a façade (triple word score) - it's simply been attached to the front of the building:
Bay Window.jpeg
The upper bay window is a bit better as it's got some curtains to hide the reality of what's going on:
Upper bay window.jpeg

And finally, here's the building on the layout:
On the layout.jpeg
It's not a perfect fit, but it's close enough. The kit comes with three different ways of 'paving' the front - a set of self-adhesive slabs (also available in a separate pack, from which I have three further sheets), the sheet I've used, and another sheet to mimic cobblestone paving. I used this paving because I'm trying to save the self-adhesive slabs for the rest of the layout (although I expect I'll have to buy more anyway).

In other news, I bought some new stuff for the layout today. The main thing is actually five sheets of grey card for the roads on the layout (thanks @Cowley for that suggestion!). I also picked up a corrugated sheet of card in brown, with the intention of maybe making some small allotments out of it, as well as three new craft-knives to help with kit-building (the one I'd been using was bought on holiday about three years ago and it's good, but not amazing). Finally got some of that Tamiya masking tape too, so that should be helpful when I finally get around to painting some more engines.

Thanks for reading :D

-Peter
 
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