Fowler Driver Figure and Brake Column

Wirh the Christmas holidays just started after the last tasks were done on the job, I jumped directly to the worktable, cleared away the worst mess and began working on the driver figure for the Fowler and continuing work on the brake column. Christmas will be the time for cab interior on the Fowler!

Brake column needing only final sanding and cleaning before it can be primed and painted. The wooden blocks are test pieces to check what sizes and numbers of jack blocks can be fitted under the cab floor.

The brake column is a simple thing glued together from plastic tubes of different diameters set onto an (almost) eliptical mounting plate and fitted with bolt head imitations of sliced hexagonal plastic profiles. Not entirely prototypically, but good enough for its future hard to see location in the cab. 

Quite fast I decided that the driver on the Fowler locomotive had to be the standing figure in Modelu loco driver pack 11219.  The figure arrived in May among a batch of stuff from Modelu. The figure is almost a perfect fit leaning against the low rear wall in the cab. Initially I have adjusted the figure's height by trimming shoes and cap with knife and sanding sticks. Not much work but the pose improved and taking a milimeter or two of the figure's height also makes it easier to get it in or out the cab once its filled with levers etc.

First stage of 'building up a butt' on the driver figure. The in-progress brake column is just visible in the cab.

The most time consuming work on the figure was adding material to the back side of the figure. As the figure is designed to sit on a flat surface and I'm having my example sit on an edge I was in for some plastic surgery of adding 'tissue'. I used 'Green Putty' from Green Stuff World building it up in layers. I'm working on a good fit between figure and loco, to make the figure removable and yet being able to keep its position while traversing bad track (as all track is at Nystrup Gravel). Currently I'm adding the last layers of 'Green Putty' and smoothing out the surface before sanding begins.

When the figure arrived in May he was photographed leaning against the Fowler loco. After being 'tailored' to fit in the cab he will probably seldom be seen outside. Too bad actually, as it is a lovely scale figure.

With a good start on the holidays modelling wise, I look forward to some time at modelling table. It needs a more thorough cleaning. After working with vegetation and ground cover it is covered in fibres and gravel. Having started on the figure and cab interior I've an urge to finish as much as possible during all the other Christmas activities. 

A few printouts from the article kept safe in plastic chartecues in my 1/19 modelling binder. Easy to see I'm a modeller from the previous millennium!

Besides prototype photos the article by Bill Strickland in the November 1980 issue of 'Merioneth Mercury' is a good guideline for my work on the locomotive. I think it shows how good quality magazine articles are a lasting ressource in modelling. Don't throw away that kind of treasures!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is on its way! I wish all railway modellers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 2024 has been a good year for Nystrup Gravel. Tthe little layout has moved on with decent results and two major milestones met. 

The usual Christmas card from Nystrup Gravel: a tree and a train. The Baguley-Drewry loco was so large it barely fitted through openings in buildings around the Nystrup Gravel site.

As usual I'm going to celebrate Christmas with my family. This year's holidays will probably provide less time to scale modelling due to travelling. In the new year more challenges await me creating exiting features on the small layout in the large scale.  A large loco rebuild to finish and another to start and further detailing on the layout. I'm blessed with manageable challenges. Not everyone is so fortunate. As usual my thoughts go out to people with little time to design model railways; humans hit by powerty, unrest and war. If you are well-off and don't usualle donate to people in need, please make an exception during Christmas. Most people running a model railway can spare a sum for a donation to a good cause.

Merry Christmas!

Layout Ground Cover Finished

A major milestone has been reached on my small Nystrup Gravel layout: all surfaces are covered in basic, appropriate materials. After the petrol pump was placed and the area around it covered in sand and gravel, I got the remaining surfaces on the layout covered. Much better than the painted disposable kitchen rags (that themselves were much better than white foam blocks and plywood). I even made it before my set target by the end of December. The milestone places my little Nystrup Gravel well in the semi-finished category 4½ years after building the module frames were begun. 

A view along the tracks with one of Nystrup Gravel's structures in the background. Fowler loco reversing to pick up a train of skips.

My ballasting activities were almost brought to a halt due to supply chain disruptions. The amount of ballast needed on the layout almost outstripped my available material, but fortunately I could make the last batch stretch. Imagine a model of a gravel line running out of gravel. Humiliating!

Workshop manager Petersen looking at the shrubbery behind the brick shed.

In the proces of adding of basic ground cover I also fitted the petrol pump and test fitted some coarse shrubbery behind the fuel shed. The layout still need a lot of detailing. Some work, like vegetation and plants, has been started, some work is planned and other elements are still only in the 'I could also do that-stage'. 

In this north-easterly view it's clear how much better the layout looks with a basic ground cover added. The petrol pump also adds life and colour to the scene.

And to be completly honest: the layout still need a little ground cover material at the layout's edges. To avoid damaging the backscene or the floor of the room I'll be adding the ground cover along the remaining edges once I have the layout set up in a more appropriate work area. 

Close-up of the brick shed showing how the area to the front and right of the building still needs some ground cover and blending in. A model railway is never finished!

I'll now be clearing away the containers and bags with sand and gravel and clean up my worktable. The work in the coming months will focus on locomotives and road vehicles.

Embedding Petrol Pump

As part of the work giving the Nystrup Gravel layout a more prototypical surface, I have been working on the area around the petrol pump. I wanted the petrol pump to be removable, still not having its looks spoiled by gaps between ground and pump foundation. Not an easy task to accomplish.

In this view the Nystrup Gravel petrol pump towers above the flat meadows to the north of the tracks.

The pump is a cheap chinese toy model I bought back in 2019. I have been refining it a bit but am still looking for a finer detailed pump. By having the pump able to be lifted off the layout it is easily replaceable. When moving the layout, the risk of damaging structures and details is also much smaller when they can be lifted off separately. 

My initial plan was to mount a bolt in the pump and attach it through the layout with a nut from the underside. A bit over the top for an item that won't just fly off at the slightest touch and I settled for a simple piece of brass rod fitting tightly into a brass pipe glued into the foam baseboard.

Before scattering ground cover material around the pump's foundation I wrapped the pump in plastic cling wrap. The thin plastic material creates a good barrier between foundation and the mix of glue and sand for ground cover. Once the glue has dried, the petrol pump was carefully lifted off, the wrap removed and the pump fitted again. A few tufts of grass helped to blend the foundation into the ground.

A brass pipe buried in the layout surface to accept the brass part added to the petrol pump.

Brass rod fitted for keeping the pump in place on the layout.

Diluted white glue has been added to the sand/gravel mix around the petrol pump. The cling wrap prevents the white glue from cementing sand and pump solidly together.

From the front of the layout there is hardly any gaps to be seen even if the petrol pump is removable.

Adjusting Ballast In Turnout

As I mentioned in the previous post I had used foamboard inserts of a wrong thickness in a Peco turnout. Fortunately I discovered the problem before gluing the ballast in place. Making mistakes is an integral part of modelling and facing the faults always makes you a better modeller. My resulting remedial work to get back on track was quite simple: Once the surrounding ballasted areas were dry, I ripped out the three offending pieces of foamboard with scalpel and tweezers.  

The turnout has been reballasted after a faulty installation of foamboard inserts to save weight.

I removed most of the foamboard and only one insert was left in a cut-down state between the sleepers at the tongue fishplates. I gave the worked on areas between the sleepers some dark sand colour and poured a thin layer of ballast material. The ballast was adjusted with a brush and the turnout tested several times to make sure no sand obstructed safe working.

Three foamboard inserts before they were removed. I waited until the surrounding ballast was fully dry to avoid disturbing it and creating even more problems.

With the ballast positioned as wanted I added glue during a late evening work session before going to bed. Having fixed the mistake at the turnout, next task on my list is adding tufts and coarse grass to remaining ballastless track on the layout.

The turnout seen from above. I have missed a few spots where the foamboard show clearly between ballast and grass tufts. Perhaps caused by working too late in the evening?

Ballasting In Two Scales

Trying to get some simple modelling started, I have been ballasting in two scales and even painted and weathered four wagons. Some accomplishment - if it wasn't for the fact that the wagons are 1/87 scale and tiny!

Ballast and grass tufts are spreading around the brick shed for fuel and lubricants. Here in 'wet look' after application of glue/water mix.

In a previous post I mentioned my ambition of having the layout completly covered with a basic layer of ground cover and vegetation. Now only finishing work remains around the brick shed. At least for a basic 'almost finished look'. Adding small details and weathering will be an ongoing proces for a long time.

Having begun work at the right end of the layout I got the plastic sleepers painted grey and weathered before gluing foamboard scraps between the sleepers to reduce the amount of ballast needed. A method I have used with success before. In this phase I must have lost concentration as I used two types of board with different thickness. A few of the thickest type were unfortunately glued under the tongue section and didn't leave room for ballast. They will need thinning down before ballasting can continue. Apart from that everything went according to plan. Soon only a short section of plain track lacks ballast.

The original plastic sleepers of the Peco turnout painted medium grey before weathering.

Foamboard inserts being fitted between the sleepers.

Ballasting in progress. Obviously Nystrup Gravel wasn't bothered by the missing fishplates in the rail joint in the foreground. A proper industrial railway!

As a follow up from my summer's modelling I got four mine tubs in 1/87 scale painted and weathered. I glued two brass L-profiles to a piece of foambord, painted them rust and added a little ballast around. Foundations for the Soviet concrete fence added from pieces of plasticard. The tubs are gauged for 6.5 mm track so we are talking diminutive modelling here. A 9 mm track will be added in the foreground.

Four awfully tiny coal tubs painted and weathered. Capturing them on a photo almost more difficult than painting them. But a different challenge is welcome now and then.

It's good to be back modelling again, even if it is only adding ballast and grass tufts. Before too long my little layout will look a lot more harmonic with a full basic ground cover.

Little Progress

There has been little progress on Nystrup Gravel during the last month. Obligations in other directions have been taking up my available time. Fortunately things are now getting better as we move into the traditional modelling season. As a small appetizer I added a few additional broad leafed plants to the layout's right end front.

The front slope is beginning to look finished. Now the remaining surface needs some attention.

The right end of my small layout will be further developed in the coming weeks with the prospect of melting together with the rest of the landscaped part. Other projects on the list are cab interior in the Fowler diesel, and painting of a few small scale models that I didn't get to finish during summer. The major reasons for not being able to show more progress is two other railway events in my life.

As usual I attended the huge railway exhibition InnoTrans in Berlin during september. I knew the managing director of Nystrup Gravel was also going, but I didn't meet him (among 170.000 attendees it would have been no small wonder). As usual I was part of my company's staff manning our exhibition stand, but I managed some tours round the exhibition and even got to see some narrow gauge equipment. The exhibiting companies continue to use models to illustrate their products and is to a large extent using 3D printed models. 

The most detailed models were seen at the stand of Полтавський Тепловозоремонтний завод (Poltava Locomotive Repair Plant) from Ukraine. In addition to the 1/87 scale TjME3 above a model of a M62-locomotive was also exhibited.

The use of 3D printed models is becoming very widespread. Here the technology is used to show maintenance equipment complete with scale figure.

Shortly after a week spent in Berlin for Innotrans the major annual event for vintage narrow gauge industrial railway enthusiasts in continental Europe, the 'Feldbahntreffen' was hosted by the Hedeland vintage railway (HVB), where I spend a good deal of my spare time. Volunteers had planned and prepared the event for several months, but most of the work took place in the week before the meeting and during the four day it lasted. Four Dutch vehicles visited HVB, the first time the railway has hosted locomotives from abroad. Naturally I spent a lot of time planning, working and enjoying the meeting.

Visiting Dutch locomotive nr. 6 'Ijsseloord' from Smalspoor Katwijk Leiden.

One Dutch engine and two Danish resting after a day's work on the 5 km HVB.

110 European enthusiasts from Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Ukraine and Poland joined more than 40 volunteers from HVB for four days of networking, presentations, train rides and visits to usually off limits workshops and storage buildings.  

Wooden box with 'Nystrup Gravel' painted on top in use as illustrative load in a wagon during the 32. Internationales Feldbahntreffen at the Hedeland vintage railway 10.-13.October.

I now hope to be able to devote a few more evenings for modelling and hopefully breathe some life into this blog again!