Wednesday 19th September

Worklist:
Review the new floor
Water tower position
Lorry repaint
Backscene
Figures

A full house again and the first thing we had to look at was the new floor. Although years of contention with the neighbours over the growth of one of their trees under the workshop had been resolved and the tree removed, the roots had caused some awful damage to the concrete floor slab. Geoff had removed the chipboard flooring, timber battens and insulation board. The roots had cracked and lifted the centre of the slab by 20mm (almost all of the 1" battens). New battens, tapered to suit, were fitted and new water-resistant chipboard laid on top. Geoff intends to have a paint finish applied before next week.

The trestle legs were put-out and re-levelled to suit the new floor, then the layout was erected.

First on the agenda was to discuss the position of the track-side water tower. The requirement was to allow a train to arrive, stop, uncouple and move up to take on water, without fouling the headshunt. The current position (light grey base) required the loco to back-up for water after uncoupling over the magnet at the end of the platform and we had decided not to move the magnet. Two typical-length loco's were positioned at the end of the platform, with a coach. The Decauville and Hunslet had different water filler positions, but a suitable position for the down pipe wasn't too difficult to agree.

The next question was whether to retain and extend the exiting tank base or create a new one? Stephen squeezed an old chisel under a corner of the base and with minimal pressure, the whole unit popped out. A few cuts with a large knife and a new hole for the base had been created. After a bit of cleaning up, the base was sitting solidly in its new location. A bit more cleaning and the square of 'ground' had been fitted into the old base hole - voila! Stephen glued the parts in their new locations and filled the gaps with plaster. 

A final test showed that it all worked fine - a worthwhile exercise - thanks Chris!

Geoff created a tin-foil tray and with some Nitromors, tackled the lorry paint strip, which worked very well.

After lunch, Laurence scrubbed the parts with soapy water and an old toothbrush. Once dry, a final rub-down with a fibreglass brush left the metal parts ready for painting - next week.

Geoff and Stephen had been to the Woking MRC show over the previous weekend and were very impressed with Gordon Gravett's 'Arun Quay' layout. Apart from the layout itself, the minimal backscene and LED lighting had stood out. The latter is a mixture of warm and cold LED's which we will probably try and replicate.

Geoff had some leftover sections of the Gaugemaster backscene sheets and these were mounted on some foam boards. Geoff likes the strong blue and white panels, whereas Stephen preferred a less 'blue' background and suggested a plain white base sheet with applied areas of pale blue and wisps of cloud. We'll have to experiment further.

Geoff had purchased some Preiser 1:43 figures and set about painting all of the flesh areas. Apparently, they are scanned replicas of real people and there are some very interesting shapes, poses and clothing. Geoff had circulated links to some YouTube videos of 'life in the early 60's', in order to get a feel of the fashions of the day. We await the outcome of the painting, with interest.

Laurence misinterpreted the reason for Geoff's 60's videos and thought it was a suggestion to turn up in vintage clothing. He duly arrived with his 'Cottesmore West' sweatshirt, first worn at the 1978 MRC show at Central Halls Westminster.

(Shirt courtesy of Stephen's brother)

Wednesday 12th September

Worklist:
Caravan detailing
Lorry dissection
Flowers and paths
Water tower consideration

Just Geoff and Laurence this week and there was a ghostly silence in the workshop.....

Geoff finished detailing the rear end of his caravan, adding tail lights, indicators, reflectors, number plate and light. There is some lovely furniture in the caravan including a sumptuous armchair, but they are impossible to photograph!

Laurence was tasked with dismantling the yard lorry ready for repainting. It was not as easy as first expected, as the wheel/axle assemblies were directly over the rivets holding body to chassis. After failing to remove the wheels from the heavily knurled axles, the axles were cut-through. The metal castings were all removed from the plastic components ready to be stripped.

Geoff had purchased a pack of plants and flowers, which were applied all over the layout. The steps and path around the water tank above the gas holder were weathered and copious amounts of weeds applied which toned the area down nicely.

Finally, a detailed discussion took place about the comments made by Chris Holmes the previous week regarding the position of the water tower. However, it was decided to wait until all three group members were present, to make a decision.

Wednesday 5th September

"A change to the scheduled programme....."

Laurence was on holiday, so it was going to be just two this week. However, the morning of the get-together, Geoff got a call advising that Chris Holmes, a long-time associate of the Cottesmore group, was planning to visit that day. Geoff and Stephen had little time to spruce-up the layout, but it was up-and-running in good time. It was mainly John's stock plus the new mineral wagons on show.

In the hey-day of Cottesmore, Chris had built a small terminus layout called Stoke Goldington, which had a standard Cottesmore interface - just in case. At the Sandown Park show in 1985, when every piece of Cottesmore was put into use, his layout extended the overall layout to 65 foot long. We hope that Chris will be joining us at the Burton exhibition as a guest operator, so he was immediately pressed into duty to get a taste of what he has in store.

Geoff had completed the painting of his 0-6-0 O&K brass kit, which, although in need of a good wheel-clean, was pressed into service.

We had also asked Chris to cast a critical eye over the layout and an interesting discussion followed the running session. The suitability of some items for the period being represented was queried, but they passed muster. Lack of signage and people - agreed. He picked-up the lack of 'passenger facing point locking', something Geoff had been seriously considering recently. Geoff's solution of door bolts (as early Leighton Buzzard) was countered by Chris's suggestion of a small ground frame at the end of the platform serving the three adjacent points and one a little further down the mainline. A simple solution, worth serious consideration. He also queried the relative positions of the water tower and the uncoupling magnet in the platform which didn't allow for a prototypical operation. Another one good one for the next meeting. Was the public telephone box out of place? No, explained Geoff, as the road was public and led to the prevailing right-of-way path around the goods shed (as detailed in the local area plans - yet to be released!)

Murphy was clearly in attendance as two track-joints failed that had to be repaired, for electrical continuity. Annoying, as we hadn't had any for many many months. Stephen did manage some work - he painted the workshop floor (but didn't manage to glue the anvil in place). The 'skinny' cows were also 'beefed-up' with some strategically applied modelling filler, to bring them into line with the others.

Finally, the local taxi service pulled out 'all the stops' to get Chris to the station for his return trip.

'Stanley' - Standard 10

Tuesday 28th August

Worklist:
Review platform lighting
Tidy-up lighting generally
Water tower hose
Compressor painting


A different day this week, to ensure full attendance. Geoff had finished the two platform lamps and fitted them.

The whitemetal hoops had been replaced with carefully curved brass channel sections, with the miniature LED wires glued to the outside. Just as the sign board and seating made the platform 'real', the lamps have made it even more so. The wire ends were terminated on pieces of vero-board  where the resistors were mounted. Stephen adjusted a new voltage reduction unit to 12v and fitted it under the lamps. He then fitted a new slide switch in the frame under the hill behind the generator room and wired everything up.

Stephen then moved on to the workshop. Months previously, he'd made a test rig of four LED's that had been coated in wood stain to 'age' the light. Happy with the light 'quality', he now made spacing adjustments to the LED's to spread the light more evenly.

With the workshop lights finished, the layout lighting was complete. The room lights were switched off, the window blind lowered and all the layout lights were switched on together, for the first time.

The tunnel lights were deemed to be a little bright and will be toned down. One set of miniature LED wall lights weren't working and will require investigation, but the overall effect was very pleasing. Even if the public never get to see it in the same, dark environment, the building lights do allow the detailed interiors to be viewed easily.

When the lights were on, Laurence worked on the water tower feed pipe he'd started the previous week. However, the combination of fabric wrapped around plastic tubing had proved to be too large in diameter for a NG tower (according to Geoff) and a new pipe was started.

After completing his lighting connections, Geoff moved on to painting the Ingersol-Rand mobile compressor kit.

Geoff's O&K brass 0-6-0 loco, nearing completion. With the control panel fitted to finalise the lighting, he was able to give it a test run. A few minor tweaks were noted, but it was lovely to see it running.

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Lighting schedule:

Tunnel walls - Wilkinsons 3v LED warm white string cut to required length.
Workshop - 4 standard white LED's coated in wood stain.
Workshop brazier - single 3v LED from flickering tea light.
Generator building internal - 8 x 12v warm white filament lamps from old Christmas light set.
Generator building external - proprietary miniature LED wall lights (eBay).
Goods shed internal - 2 Wilkinsons 3v LED warm white from string cut to length.
Goods shed external - proprietary miniature LED wall lights (eBay).
Main building - three rooms switched separately - standard warm white LED's

We use a 19v DC laptop power supply feeding all 3 boards and adjustable step down power supply units for each 'project' - eBay - various sources. Typical supplier

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Where Stephen spent a lot of the day.... in his rightful place, Laurence would say!