The Club builds and operates layouts in a variety of scales.
Kit building brass Mk1 coaches – before the RTR versions arrive
The Great Northern (King’s Cross) suburban services in the 1950s-70s were characterised by the ‘short’ Mark 1 non-gangway coaches – normally hauled by Class 31 diesels. The majority of coaches and trains were formed of compartment third/second class coaches, as manufactured for several years by Bachmann in OO, and these would have formed the bulk …read more.
Dec 28, 2023
Weathering Green Diesels
Since John completed work on EM gauge converting my class 16 (thank you, John), I have been working on weathering/detailing it and two more class 15s whose weathering I had not previously completed for our layout Orchard Wharf. The class 16 (D8405) was factory weathered, so there was not much weathering to do, but I …read more.
Mar 10, 2023
Orchard Wharf – fleet of 15s
James has been busy with his ‘late period’ class 15s locomotives. They have all been converted to EM gauge conversion plus had new couplings fitting. DCC has been installed including stay alive just in case our trackwork isn’t quite up to scratch. And of course the slightly fiddly pack of detail parts added. Now he’s …read more.
Aug 28, 2022
DCC installation – 4mm scale Heljan Class 15
I have been DCC fitting one of the Heljan class 15s that arrived to-day and that I had ordered for our late 1960s period Orchard Wharf, locomotive D8242, as depicted in real life here and here. Photographs of the finished article can be seen above and here: I have made some modifications to the …read more.
Mar 28, 2021
Orchard Wharf’s Trackwork bubble working party
This piece of trackwork was under construction for an eternity — long, long before lockdown had been thought of — and it was finally attached to the baseboards during an all-too-brief working session in early October. It’s the crossover at the London end of the high level lines. The plain track for the running lines …read more.
Jan 3, 2021
PGA – Repaint programme
Having satisfied myself that the adaption of the Lima wagon to EM works, I decided to move on to painting. I had a pretty wide selection of bodies and existing liveries, which would easily show through new paint. So first job was a good soak in IPA – not the Greene King from the bar, …read more.
Dec 29, 2020
Updating Lima PGAs – Suspension and Pedestals
I’m gently building some rakes of block freight that might run around the outskirts of London in the late 70s / early 80s, taking advantage of some of the more recent high quality releases like Accurascale’s PTA/JUA stone wagons, but also going back and assembling collections of older models as I find them cheaply. …read more.
Dec 26, 2020
A Long Welded Rail Train
Several years ago, a French firm that makes plastic sections (something like Evergreen) introduced plastic rail section in different sizes. The smallest is equivalent to code 80 and I bought some at one of the exhibitions in Germany. Moulded in dark grey plastic, it is flexible enough to be easily curved. So was born the …read more.
Aug 29, 2020
A Freightliner for Minories
Freightliners were a regular feature on the section of railway I overlooked as a child, running down off the WCML through Primrose Hill and Camden Road. The Hornby model is clearly very dated: and I could never quite convince myself to buy the Colin Craig etched kits that I have jealously watched on other layouts, …read more.
Aug 6, 2020
Regauging a Replica chassis to EM
The Replica Railways powered chassis is a good product, that makes building EMU and DMU kits much easier, with a good motor and drive system picking up from and powering all 8 wheels. It could be used for example on the MLV and Class 455 projects Chris has described. It come as three options, with …read more.
Jun 27, 2020
Minories Fiddle Yard Control Panel
Every layout needs a control panel – well all of mine do because I haven’t progressed from DC control as I find traditional DC control still works perfectly well and I’m not too bothered about lights and loco sound. The extension of the fiddle yard on Minories meant a new fiddle yard control panel …read more.
Jun 20, 2020
Track Building – Part 2
In Part 1, I outlined the plan to build new track and points in EM gauge for Minories for the expanded fiddle yard. Here’s how it went, starting off with how it ended up – the full sized layout up in the library at Keen House. Most of this track building work took place in …read more.
May 31, 2020