Project IngleSnook - Lighting (Part 1)

This probably isn't worth its own post, but I was so pleased with this process that I had to document it. I picked up two of these lovely resin Bachmann buildings from Tony's Trains of Rugby. I also found a 12V power supply, a batch of reduced and mislabeled rocker switches, a distribution board and some yellowish LEDs from a certain union-busting online retailer which I will not invoke here out of shame. Great products though!

I painted the interiors of the buildings with a matt black acrylic, to prevent the light permeating the walls and roofs. I also covered the windows with baking paper to give the illusion of curtains or visual vagueness of a lit window viewed from far away. Finally, I drilled brass rodding into the corners of the buildings and baseboards and used superglue to help secure them. Have a look at the video below to check out the final effect. Later on I plan to add street lights to the same circuit. Enjoy!

Project IngleSnook - Landscaping

This post hopefully speaks for itself - there's not much I can say really. I used printer paper, polystyrene (which I fished out of the bins at Homebase in Leamington), cardboard, a hot glue gun and some all-purpose filler to form this hillside and tunnel entrance. It will represent the layout's connection to the main line. The tunnel entrance was £5 from The Model Shop in Northampton, picked up with the wires.

 

After this, I smoothed it all out with some DAS air-drying clay, and added some undulating ground towards the left side of the siding, I didn't photograph that, but you will see it later on. What you can see is that I also gave the ground an undercoat to start preparing the surface for texture application.

Project IngleSnook - Track Weathering and Ballasting

Next up (following the World of Railways series) was weathering the track. In the video, Phil recommended some Humbrol brown spray paint. I looked in my local shops but unfornately couldn't find anything useful. Even Games Workshop had no brown spray. So I went to Alcester's M&V models, knowing they stocked such things. Unfortunately, brown spray was nowhere to be found, so I bought a set of these Woodland Scenics Tidy Track pens instead. They worked just fine, and I also found very well-priced pre-owned Bachmann Branchline early BR wagons in Alcester Trains and Models.

Then came ballasting. This was quite intimidating, because I really didn't want to muck up my freshly wired and weathered track. My friend Paul (from work) very kindly donated the track ballast and a handy device for pouring it.. It was a multi-day process, with lots of pipettes of diluted PVA and spray bottles of water. After leaving the stuff to dry, it looked rather good! My girlfriend was also rather glad to have the dining table back!

Project IngleSnook - Wiring Point Motors

Before I did anything, I watched and rewatched World of Railways' videos on wiring a layout. I had not done anything like this since DT class at secondary school. Luckily, Phil is great at explaining things.

There were a few things I needed to do before I had operational points (or turnouts as I have learned they are often called) on my layout. The first was to source the point motors, CDU and wires, which I bought from The Model Shop in Northampton (while my girlfriend was in a Starbucks with some friends). I then bought a cheap Draper Tools soldering iron from Toolstation in Leamington. After this, I got soldering. 

As you can see, I managed it. It works well, and the satisfaction I had from this task was immense. Here's a video of me testing the layout with my old Hornby Collectors Club loco and a wagon I picked up in Northampton for a couple of pounds. At this point, I was really looking forward to more wiring!

Project IngleSnook - Track Laying

 

Next up was track laying. This was something that initally sounded simple, but which involved quite a bit of fiddling, cutting and testing. It was really enjoyable. I used a mix of Hornby track and Peco flexible track, the latter being donated by a very kind friend and colleague. I knew nothing about codes or different types of track at this point, so this might have not have been advisable - I guess we'll find out later!

I also purchased a roll of cork from my local (now deceased) model shop in Leamington, cutting the stuff to fit my track and smoothing the edges with ready-mixed wood filler. This was affixed with PVA. When dry, I gave the track bed a spray of Halfords grey primer before pinning it with track pins.

Project IngleSnook - Baseboard Planning and Construction

After attending the model railway show at Gaydon, and meeting my new friend Phil at his stall, I decided to build an inglenook layout using leftover 00 track and a locomotive from my childhood train set. Phil explained to me that this idea would be a good fit for me; I’m rather low on space in my living situation. He even recommended where I find the materials I needed - Torry’s Hardware in Warwick.

I took stock of everything I had, and then drew up some plans on a lazy Sunday morning. The design was original, but based on different ideas I had seen online. Later that week, I stopped off at Torry’s to pick up the supplies. While my girlfriend was rocking (?) out at a Yungblud concert, I got to work. Two hours later, I had my baseboard assembled and the outline of a layout was visible.

This are my first steps towards the building and ownership of a model railway. Onwards and upwards!