Building Elvenhome, an N Gauge layout

I have started to lay the revised track layout for the bottom section of the layout and I have also begun to finalise how I am going to change the plan for the revised area. In this video I take a closer look at laying Code 55 Peco track, including the tricky task of fitting rail joiners

 

I had so many helpful comments from subscribes after the last video that it has helped me finally settle where the industry will go on the layout, where the canal and its basin will be sited, and how I can tie the lower level to the upper by road. I also take a look at three 1:148 scale canal barges and compare them to a Coronation Class loco

 

There has to come a point when you stop planning what you are going to do and you actually start doing it. So all the items placed for the last video have been removed and the permanent way gang has taken possession of the line. You will see whether they have been successful in the attached video

 

I have lifted the 4' long platform at Weathertop with the intention of replacing it completely and also looking to increase the lighting in the station buildings. A number of more recent acquisition with wider cylinders and running gear have been clipping the platform at one end as they pass. A sudden pause for thought has made the process of replacement a lot easier, and also identified the reason for an intermittent problem I had bene having with some trains. Plenty of trains running in this video as I tested a number of things as I explain in the video.

 

My last video had a number of responses asking for more detail on the power distribution board and about Metcalfe platform kits (including how to work out how far to curve the edges). I respond to those questions in this video as well as showing the revamp of the main platform. I also finally reveal my cunning plan for working out where I can safely drill to retro fit street lighting into the two main rows of terraces.

 

Thanks very much Gormo. I do spend a good deal of time with a magnifying headset wondering why I chose this scale, but then you run a rake of Hawksworth coaches behind a Castle and you suddenly remember.

 

I have finally completed the task of retro fitting lights into the island platform buildings on my main station. I've also managed to find tables, chairs benches and shelving in N scale to fit inside so that there is something to see in the lit buildings. While I had the platform off the layout I also was reminded of a problem caused when water from the blasting leached up the wall on home printed texture paper. Thanks to Trackside Signs I found a colourful solution

 

As promised in the last video I reveal the lit advertising hoarding that I made one Saturday evening. I was able to get everything I needed at the Warley Exhibition to complete the lighting of the main station building and platform 1, and get them fitted and back on the layout in time for this video. I also have acquired some very nifty gloves fitted with lights which really help to direct light on whatever you're working, which I demonstrate. There was very little N gauge stock at Warely compared to previous years, but it made me look at the three carriages which suspect would have been overlooked by me if I had a shopping list. Finally we take a look at the Gasworks which will be the next piece of work and the two kits I've bought to complete the main components to make the works.

 

Thanks Gormo. It is such a pity that I was such a wuss when I first built the layout to think that lighting was one thing too many to think about. It adds so much. It also affects how to you go about building something to ensure minimum light bleed. I like the idea of using the straw I will keep the in mind.

 

With the lighting projects completed it is time to move on to re-sighting the town gasworks. I realised that in addition to the items that I already had I need a few other things to achieve a reasonable approximation of a small gasworks. I also thought it would be good to see if I could get some running shots in low light to show off the lighting work in the station.

 

Hi Gormo and thanks very much. It is amazing what you find yourself researching in the pursuit of a bit of scenic work. I've learned quite a good deal about the production of coal gas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you also Steve

 

Over the Christmas period to finally got around to building a Petite Properties kit called Harpers Yard. I wanted it to have a woodgrain effect on the exterior rather than using texture papers. I wasn't sure how to get that effect on plastic. Several YouTube videos later I started work cutting out some Evergreen styrene V grove to make the exterior walls and then creating the woodgrain effect mainly using weathering powders. In this video I show how I achieved that effect. I also , with the help of train cam, show the Jinty being turned on the turntable to be able to enter the Engine Shed smokebox first.

 

Thanks very much Gormo and Happy New Year. I have had a couple of people suggest chalk pastels and I will give some of them a go. I was so impressed with the effect. I am waiting on some white transfer paper to arrive to see if I can pull off the design I want for the tank but I have carried out some experiments with clear waterslide paper on different coloured backgrounds. With luck that should all be in the next video, if the postal service, which is currently experiencing industrial action, can get the paper to me. Steve

 

The Firth of Forth, a Britannia Class locomotive has arrived on Elvenhome. I also reveal the design for the tanker to remove the ammoniacal liquid from the gas works and show my early results from trying to make my own waterslide transfers. I have also stated working on the scenic work to complete the gasworks and the steam depot. Quite a busy few days one way or another

 

I have been making more progress on the scenic work around the depot and the gas works. An idea also came to me about a possible mechanism to allow amonniacal liquid to be loaded on the the tanker, and so I set to with strip styrene and other things I had to hand to make my own delivery gantry. Another A4 joined the fleet this week; the Union of South Africa. It is a nice model and it gets to have its first good run in this video.

 

I have been working on the scenery around the Gasworks, War Memorial and Church School. In particular I have been using various types of Evergreen Stripstyrene together with a lit bit of paint and quite a bit of WWS weathering powder, to create a wooden panelled boundary fence for the Gasworks. I show the steps I used to create the effect of a dirty wooden fence. I have also received the second of the two Britannia locomotives with the arrival of Firth of Clyde. I show both of them in action around the layout.