Frankland

[chrisalddin]

man that looks good

[SouthernBoy]

hey, what are you using for grass? as in what make of grass? and how did you do it? because i bought some from a games workshop, the only place i could find in shrewsbury selling it, and they said 'just sprinkle it onto wet paint and it will work fine'...it didnt!
cheers

I used Noch grass and PVA. I found it much easier to use than I'd expected. Here's a link about static grass. In case you didn't know there are lots of useful links from the NRM Homepage. Hope that helps and good luck

[Blaqkaudio009]

ok cool, did you use that bottle or something else?

[SouthernBoy]

I used the bottle they sell - as a first timer I didn't want to take any risks

I'm thinking of buying a second one though, the reason is this ... I was thinking that it's often the case that (for eg) if you have a field of grass, the grass in the field will be one type - but where the fences are around the edge you'll sometimes get a longer grass. Now you could glue and static grass the field, then when it's dry, glue and use longer static grass around the edges ... but you may get a bit of an obvious border line between one and the other and so they don't 'blend in' very well - so I thought if I had two bottles at the ready then I can get the glue down and by quickly changing between one and the other bottle blend them in quite nicely... I don't know, just how I've been thinking on future applications ...

[Blaqkaudio009]

oh right, ok ill try that! it does look one of the best examples of grass ive ever seen! looks 100% real! cheers

[retroman]

| spent a lot of time on the LSWR routes out of Waterloo. You really have managed to inject the atmosphere of the SR into this layout - congratulations!

Any chance of seeing a green Warship on a Waterloo-Exeter??

[SouthernBoy]

Damn! You mustn't put thoughts like that in my mind: I must admit a fondness for Warships, even though they don't feature in my preferred era - but that wouldn't preclude them from a 'photo opportunity' guest appearance ... or maybe a few years down the line when I've got all the stock I 'really' want, I could extend stock buying into other eras.

[Zunnan]

Because I prefer Southern Railway I'm going to have a go at kit-building to create some of the stock I want.

Thought I'd bring it here, being as it's directly related. If you want any inspiration for kit building Southern stock, then I'd thoroughly recommend trying to get your hands on the December 1995 Railway Modeller for the "Porkington" layout, a N gauge BR(S) layout set in the late 50's.

The stock is almost exclusively kit built using B H Enterprise Bulleid stock with Ultima detailing parts, and the generic Farish coached are convincingly chopped to represent Maunsell stock as well. At the time, the locomotives were all Langley bodies too and it does a VERY good job at showing what was achievable in modelling the SR 13 years ago. With the exception of the Ultima range, it's all still available nowdays. Some of the Ultima parts are still available in small quantities through the NGS shop too.

It's the first N Gauge layout I read about which made me firstly want to try kit building, and ultimately build an N gauge layout. The finish you've managed on the scenery so far is a good indicator as to what you could achieve with the B H E Bulleid kits. Definately worth having a go at a short rake, or maybe chopping the generic Farish coaches if you can see how they did them on "Porkington". I still have the issue with it in, so if you want any images, let me know

[SouthernBoy]

Thanks for your post Zunnan, I appreciate it.

I've recently ordered a 4-Lav kit from Worsley-Works for my first attempt. It should arrive in three to four weeks. I must admit I'm quite nervous about it simply because I know I'm in for a very steep learning curve, not just the construction, but things like learning airbrushing etc which I've never done before. I've got myself a set of line drawings though ... so that's a good start.

I'd considered chopping generic Farish coaches - but thought that's probably even more complicated than starting with a kit - so ordered the kit.

The Porkington article sounds like it would be good inspiration and helpful so yes, I'd be quite grateful if you could let me have some images. Thanks again for your post

[GROTLAND]

Your layout has become a masterpiece in composition and depth!
Excellent stuff.

[Zunnan]

The Maunsell coaches (Farish chops) look very straightforward to do. I'd be tempted to have a go at them myself if I can source the donor coaches. They're the generic coach bodies with what looks like the Mk1 roof added but with the detail filed off and replaced with more prototypical parts.


The work looks like the corridor side windows opened out and carriage end windows filled at the top to give a good approximate appearance. Handrails, roof rain strips, battery boxes and SR outline gangways complete the transformation before a respray in plain green. The brake third looks a little more work in having to produce the duckets and scoring the doors neatly, but I wouldn't think it would be overly difficult, and as the picture shows, the generic Farish model can be butchered into a convincing model.




As I said earlier, the article states that the Bulleids are of B H E origin with Ultima detailing parts.

Images taken from the December 1995 Railway Modeller magazine of the Newton MRC layout "Porkington"

[SouthernBoy]

Thanks Zunnan, those really are inspiring pictures, not just the stock, but the layout too. The third image of the station is particularly atmospheric - especially the grand sweep of the lines mirrored by the gently curved platforms.

But returning to the original point, thanks for your suggestions and observations on conversions, much appreciated and I'll certainly have a go at some point, but be warned - I'll probably PM you for advice when I get stuck! If everything works out ok I can see myself building a mini-fleet of Southern Railway stock. I'm constantly thinking on my next layout, and extensive carriage sidings are going to figure large I'm sure. No hidden fiddle yard for me ! Maybe one day locos too, Lord Nelsons and Schools would be perfect to complete the picture.

Your layout has become a masterpiece in composition and depth! Excellent stuff.

Thanks Grotland, I've certainly taken my time to get the viewing angles just right to disguise how much is squashed into a relatively small space. It's nice to know you think I seem to have pulled it off !

[SR/ScR Fan]

Wow Southern Boy!. I too model the Southern (well Southern Region of BR and in OO but the feeling's there) and your layout is truely inspiring!.
The main road (nifty "smoke and mirrors" hehe excuse the pun) and the station just do it for me!.

Anyway keep it up. I can't wait to see it finished.

[SouthernBoy]

Frankland update No. 8:



The London Borough of Frankland is pleased to announce a refurbishment of it's railway infrastructure. Residents interested in commenting on the proposals are invited to do so here.

[SouthernBoy]

Hello all, time to elaborate on my update above ...
Frankland is to be reincarnated: A new home, a new layout, but same period and setting.

The area I have is 2,150mm x 950mm, (a little longer than previously).
The baseboard front is curved so it doesn't encroach too much into the room. The rear may be curved or square-cornered - I'm not sure yet. I'll use Code 55 flexi-track and electrofrog points, with Southern style third rail and colour-light signals.
There will be three track sections with cab control (inner loop, outer loop, and the branch/yard area).

Here is the plan: Lines in black are main line and those in red are secondary, or branch lines. The blue lines are carriage sidings and the green lines are for goods and engines. Trains will be a mix of EMU and steam hauled. But the finer details of steam hauled services such as 'running around' and turntable operations are something I'm happy to compromise out of the equation



My primary interest is passenger operations, so the station at the top has two sets of platforms separated by carriage sidings (like at Clapham Junction), and there's a second station at the bottom. This gives me three sets of platforms for trains to arrive at and depart from. Platforms will accommodate a five-coach train.

btw - I had two criteria in my planning which were important to me: no stations on anything but easy curves, and the widest curves possible elsewhere - I don't like the gaps between tightly-curved platforms and trains - and I don't like the 'sheering' of trains on tight curves - so I want to avoid these scenarios as much as possible, they just look so horribly wrong

I may add a siding at the very top right of the plan to service a power station, which of course will have to resemble Battersea ...



I've decided I quite like scratch-building, so I'm planning to base my top station on Wimbledon and the bottom station on Surbiton - both fine examples of Southern deco architecture. Check out the wonderful 'Southern Railway' lettering on the front of this side-entrance to Wimbledon station ...



And here is Surbiton ...



If anyone has references to other similar stations I'd be quite interested to see ...

I'm going to signal the layout (a basic set-up where point operation switches the lights). I'm not too worried about it being 100% prototypical, but at the same time it would be nice to have things generally in the right place. Here's the plan - any observations ?



I like the style of signal box at Woking - does anyone know whether this design is of '30s or '50s origin ?



I'm quite fascinated by the notion of Metroland - the big suburbanisation of the '20s and '30s for which construction of a (largely electric) transport infrastructure was a key component - so my layout scenics will be influenced by this, alongside more traditional London views. Here's the sort of images I'm using as inspiration: The first one is a 'before' shot - the sort of woodland or country area which almost overnight became a bustling London suburb. It's this period of transformation I'd quite like to get a feel for.



I'm planning that one end of the scenics will be higher than the railway to give me cuttings and a tunnel - the other end lower so I can have a viaduct - I'm not sure how this will all fit together yet - but here's a couple of variations I've been working on ...




Finally - what you really want to know about is trains!



For steam it has to be Schools and Nelsons - for electric 4-Cors, 6-Puls, maybe even a 5-Belle, plus more hard-core suburban EMUs, the only thing is that NONE of these are available RTR in N - so I'm going to have to make them from kits - which is going to take a long, long time But it'll be worth it eventually

Well, this has been a bit of a stream-of-consciousness - thanks for looking. It may be a month or so before I'm in a position to get this started - so don't expect anything too soon. Meanwhile, any comments, observations and feedback welcome

Mark