Old Warren TMD - The Final Curtain

[cmeonthemove]

Stuart
LED bulbs will be the way we go eventually when the incandescent ones are banned totally. The energy saving bulbs give Claire migraines and don’t do my eyes much good either. At least with LED bulbs they should last a long time as thousands of hours is their usual lifespan.

The backscenes were being sold off cheap in Great Eastern Models and are International Models sets. I settled on an 00 set as it was long enough to do the whole layout and being taller they have a better effect overall. Once blended in with more trees the scale difference should be even less noticeable.

Work continues apace on the timber wagon commission project. I now have the first four built and painted as per the customer order. I really like the way these have come out so have decided I will do some for myself to run behind 66841. I’ve been offered 10 mk1 coach chassis for £3 each - a lot better than £20 for a Dapol Cargowaggon, when I’m making 10 of these!




The ordered wagons has now been changed to 16 timber wagons and four track panel wagons, and this is how the track panel wagons will look when completed. Again I may make some of these for myself too as this is a very simple construction.



As part payment for the timbers I took delivery of a DRS 57011 which is to become WCRC’s large logo 47580 “County of Essex” to go with my WCRC railtour & 57601. 47580 has always been a favourite of mine as she’s based at the Mid-Norfolk Railway most winters so one I get to see regularly.

The donor:



Being a 57 the exhausts needed modifying back to 47 standard, so the 57 exhausts were filled in and sanded off, then the 47 exhaust cut out with a knife, before the repaint was done. Note 47580 doesn’t have full yellow cabs, but BR blue style, as per the original. The numbering is now done so just leaves cantrails and nameplates to do before the bufferbeam detailing and weathering is done.

[champion]

Superb updates as usual chris and again those backscenes make it look so real.
A really good job on 47580 mate.
richard.

[NSE DAZ]

Hi Chris,

Excellent back scenes they blend really well your scenery and really transform the appearance of Old Warren (for the better)

47580 also looks like another winner I can not keep up with you loco repaints, I take my hat off to you as you really do capture the detail in N very well.

Keep up the good work,

Darren NSE DAZ

[cmeonthemove]

Thanks Richard & Daz.

A bit more to report. I've actually done something with the layout! Yes I've added a few flange greasers. Very simple to make - just some offcuts of round plastic rod painted yellow then weathered, and pipes added to the track using core wire. I got the idea for these after doing some railway photography at Whitemoor yard (and also from Newport in Wales)




170270 is now fully lit. In the end I used 0603 SMDs that I obtained ready wired. These were installed onto plasticard cut to fit inside the 170 cabs, with holes drilled for the LEDs. These are then wired to the powered chassis by means of resistors and feed wires. I've only wired the 170 for one way lighting, with the powered car leading, and rear lights in the dummy.






I'd liked to have lit up the interiors but alas this is not possible on the powered car as the chassis block fills the body, and it would look a bit odd with one car lit and the other in the dark!

47580 is now complete apart from nameplates:



Now onto the commission jobs. The four track panels are now complete:



And I now have 11 of the 16 timber wagons built and painted.



And that’s about it for now.

[tractor37]

Top quality work as always Chris. Good job on the lighting. Thats on my list for the HST rake. Carriages with smd strips.
The timber rake looks excellent by the way.
Jas...

[cmeonthemove]

Cheers Jas. The customer was certainly one happy bunny, so much so that I now have another project to do for him, this time a Royal Mail HST - one of those fictitious ideas that could (and should) have happened!

The donors were a pair of Farish Poole IC 125s and 6 BachFar GNER mk3s.



The buffet is to be a crew lounge / mail storage unit, with the other five coaches becoming the mail sorting vehicles. This is the design we settled on, created in Photoshop:






This is how far I have got, although I have now converted four coaches:





47580 is now complete, including the Duck Controller decal which I reproduced with acrylic paint under the nameplates:




The mk1 coaches are all now fitted with Commonwealth bogies, using converted bogies from Pullman coaches. These coaches have the coupling boxes built into the bogies, whereas the new mk1s’ couplings are mounted to the underframe. The couplings were therefore removed from the commonwealth bogies, and the pin holes widened to fit over the new mk1 mount, with spacers added to gain the correct ride height.





The coaching stock is gradually expanding thanks to some bargains at my local model shop who are selling off some of the new mk1s at £12. I also have a couple of the new RMBs on order from Rails, one in maroon for the WCRC rake and one in choc & cream for the D1015 tour rake. They should arrive mid-week.

Part of the payment for the timber wagons came in the form of some HEA & CEA hoppers, which will eventually form a rake to go behind Dapol’s new EWS 56 when released, and a couple of BYA steel coils. I have three Dapol VTG telescopic steel carriers to go with these then will get a few more BRA/BYAs to complete this rake, which will be hauled by 66250, which now reutilises the chassis originally from Colas 66841.




Finally for now more trees have sprouted up on the layout thanks to another pack of Woodland Scenics trees:




On a separate note, it now looks like Old Warren’s future is secured thanks to the request by a member on another forum for first dibs at the layout when I decide to sell it off to fund my planned exhibition layout. This is unlikely to happen before the end of 2013 though!

[tractor37]

Looking good Chris.. The Royal Mail HST is a cracking concept item. Love the look of that. Amazes me everytime I look at this layout, always forget its N gauge...
Absolutely top flight pal. Still one of my favourite layouts..
Jas....

[thebritfarmer]

Great updates to the layout and that HST royal mail set !! What a great idea looking forward to seeing the updates for that.

[markh]

that new stock looks great & the royal mail hst looks great .good work

[0121modeller]

Fantastic work, great realism

[cmeonthemove]

Thanks again for all the comments. It's been a couple of weeks since I updated this so here goes...

Current status of the now infamous Royal Mail Parcels HST. The Mk3s are now painted up, and the power car bodies only require the yellow section added once the grey is fully dry. 66250 & 66008 took the mk3s for a test run in top&tail mode:





My GNER HST has now arrived:



Currently this is a 2+7 set, but will become a 2+9. I also plan to add LEDs to the power cars and light up the coach interiors once I've fitted interior mouldings.

Another commission repaint for a fellow member - a class 150/1 which is going into original Provincial livery as 150107. This is the donor:



So far the bodies have been stripped, then primed and sprayeed white. Once this is fully dry the blues will be masked and sprayed.

Finally for now here's another of my dubbed videos.

[spongie]

looking awesome!!!

[cmeonthemove]

Jeez – can’t believe it’s nearly a month since I updated this – boy have I been busy!!

Firstly, an update on the Royal Mail HSTs. Firstly, the Parcels variant is nearly finished, just requiring cantrails and varnish. Due to the small size of the Royal Mail logos it was decided to fit these in the guard area on the power cars, and add ScotRail decals to the body sides, as the customer’s layout is based in northern Scotland.






Work has also started on the TPO version, with the coaches being painted. The power cars so far only have the red applied. When this dries the grey and yellow will be masked off.





I took delivery of a non-running, part converted Farish class 20 which will become a dummy DRS loco to go with one of my 37s on nukes. This is how the class 20 arrived:-




My stripped out class 37 now features open roof hatches, and a dummy engine block:-



The sprinter repaint was completed and delivered to its owner:-





Finally for now, another video, featuring the GNER HST as a full 2+9 set with lights fitted:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUEMj3vbv9w

[montyburns1982]

Great stuff, that Royal Mail HST is a fantastic fantasy special!

Keep up the good work mate!

[tractor37]

As always, excellent work squire... Loving the mail HST still... Nice to see you posting again.