Thaxham light railway. A Great Eastern Railway themed terminus, in O gauge.

Cheer's Toto, I have done a little more and hopefully will be back in the shed later to do some more

Pete.

 

Thanks Paul, the original branch was defo off the beaten track. I'm hoping that Thaxham gives a little of that effect.
The station building was possibly a flat pack and assembled on site. It appears to be made of flat panels that may be of sheet asbestos but at some point the end walls were either replaced or covered with wood cladding similar to "Shiplap" planks, as I haven't found a photo or uncovered any info as to when this happened I have imagined it was prior to when my layout is set. Plus as its an imaginary branch terminus, rule 1 is in force!

The two end walls have been planked and the front panelled. The rear wall won't be seen so I've not bothered to detail it.

This is a poor photo of the station building in LNER days.
And my interpretation.

Still got the doors to build but I will give it a spray with grey undercoat and hopefully make a start on assembly.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Going forward a couple or three days, I have given the panels a dusting of grey primer. While I waited for the paint to dry I made a start on the doors. I should have taken some photos of how I made them but the battery was flat so a rough description follows.
I cut out a couple of pieces of clear plastiglaze the same size as the openings. Builting up the detail directly onto the glazing with plasticard. Once the solvent had dried, overnight, I painted the lower panels and glazing bars. I have included a photo showing one of them finished.
The end panels are painted green as Peter Smith of Kirtley Models suggested in his book, Station colours. The Lner after taking over the GER painted all the stations by 1937, around the time frame my layout is set. So green and cream it is.






Any way this is where I am at now. Once the windows and the other door's paint has dried I will fit them, paint the wood beams on the front panel and then hopefully start the assembly.

Cheer's for now Pete.

 

Right. As Karen is still a bit poorly I haven't done much these last few days. However, I have been so bored I decided to go in the shed this afternoon. I still kept checking on her, she's been spending most of the day in bed so I know shes safe.
Anyway I have finished painting the doors and windows, the timber work on the front of the station and I have glued the parts together.
As I'm not going to detail the interior I have made a start on painting the inside black. Before I finish painting the inside I've put some lights on the front as per the prototype station (though not the same design, I've not seen any remotely similar.) they are wired to a 4.5volt power supply as they are rated 6volt, at that voltage they look a reasonable brightness.





I have knocked off for now. Tomorrow, all being well, I will paint the rest of the interior, make and fit the roof and finish the corners.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Today I have mostly been doing the roof.
I started by cutting some formers from foam board and gluing the card top on to them.


The bargeboards I cut from the same card and fixed them with some packers behind to give a bit more strength.


A trial fit and all is hunky dory!


The real station has, (it still exists) a tar paper roof covering and always has.
To replicate this I cut some strips of masking tape and slightly overlapped them as per the original.


And after a coat of paint and the barge boards painted it is nearly finished.





Next comes the bit I like the most. Details. Guttering, drain pipes, chimleys, posters then weathering, not too much. The era I'm aiming for is late 30's, early 40's. As the LNER painted their stations in 1937 it should be in very good order.

Anyroad thats for later, I need to find some better photos than those I have now.
So more to come later.

Cheer's for now, Pete.

 

Had a few days off as Karen had one of her "funny turns" that has knocked her for six. However I did manage to knock up some guttering and fit it in place, then today I have made the down pipe.
Now from the few photos I have seen, the downpipes seem to be hidden within the valance but as I'm not sure and as my station building is an imaginary place though based on a real location I have gone for my interpretation.




I'm hoping to get some painting done tomorrow and install the chimney.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Down pipe painted and chimney made, fitted and painted.



I need some door handles if anyone knows if they are available.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

I hadn't thought of using those Rob, I may have some short ones in my stash somewhere.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

At last a small update, not a lot done as I have been working on other projects, Lazarus etc. But I have been pondering how to proceed with the layout.
I have decided that in its current design it just didn't work for me. Try as I might the fiddle was all wrong.
Anyway I have bitten the bullet and where the fiddle was to be, I have raised it to the level as the rest of the boards and am going to build another 4ft board to house the fiddle yard. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to have a trip to the timber yard and get the new wood.



Thats it for now.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

After a few weeks of being inactive 'cos of health prob's, I have got back in the shed and I've made the new fiddle yard.
I have gone with the cassette type as it is pretty simple (just like me ) next job is to lay the track and make the cassettes.




I have filled and sanded down the screws and around the edge where it didn't quite fit tidily, looks much better.

Now, do I paint or leave the mdf plain? Its pretty slidy as it is so moving the cassettes will be easier, but it doe's look a bit untidy. And what to paint it with? Modern paints are usually water based, and will that cause the mdf to swell? Any thoughts folks??

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Not done anything about sealing the mdf yet but I have laid the track. It isn't my finest work but I'm happy with it.


The astute among you will notice there is a 3mm difference in the level between the two boards, this is because the original board bows upward at the end in the middle. I thought as I was building it, it was flat and level wrong!! still it all works as it should and hopefully won't be too obvious when finished.

Once I had finished laying the track to the fiddle yard I thought it only prudent to check that my rolling stock and locos would run through the curves ok.
First I ran my 08 as it is a 6 wheeler, that went ok. Then I tried my little Andrew Barclay... While laying the first lot of track and points I installed some magnets for the Spratt and Winkle couplings I intend to use. The first one's I tried were the small ones left over from my old Lockoford Yard layout. That was a 4mm shunting plank and the magnets worked fine. However, in 7mm and using the auto couplings they were useless.
So I bought some longer, stronger ones which, when installed work a treat!!
What I didn't expect was my little Barclay doing wheelies over them!!!!!


I think I may have to swop the bottom link on the coupling for a brass one.



Cheer's for now. Pete.