Scalefour North

Just a quick reminder of this weekend. The East Yorkshire Area Group will at Scalefour North this weekend presenting and we will be presenting a demonstration of 'Modelling a Prototype Location'.

We will have one of the boards from Botanic Gardens with us along with a selection of rolling stock and buildings. We will also show you some of the sources of information that have been used during the project. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what is involved to accurately model a prototype location.


If you have never been to the show before, it is worth the trip regardless of whether or not you model in P4. It has a lovely, relaxed atmosphere and is a real showcase with some wonderful modelling on show.

Scalefour North is at Wakefield College in Thornes Park, Wakefield. The map below shows Thornes Park and if you click on it it'll take you through to Google maps.

The Station Building and another Long Awaited Update

It has been a while since we updated the blog. Well, a while since I have!

So what's been happening? Quite a lot really! First things first, we will be at Scalefour North in April demonstrating how to 'Model a Prototype Location' - click HERE for full details. We were supposed to have had the whole layout there as a 'work in progress' but the ongoing uncertainty with the Hull clubrooms meant we felt unable commit as our working area may have disappeared. But we will have a presence at the show! There seems to have been a lot of interest in the layout over the last year or so so it will be nice to meet those who have asked about our progress.

Since the last update a number of project have come on in leaps and bounds, and we've even finished the odd bit here and there! The large numbers of hoppers required ultimately are slowly appearing. I have a batch of seven in primer ready for painting and lettering. Chris managed obtain a bulk pack from the club stand at the Wakefield show - he paid about two pounds per wagon!


Dave is continuing with the wiring and baseboard covers - he is also in the process of building an extention to the boards at the west of the station so we can ease the curve. He's produced various template on Templot which enabled us to decided just how would be best to achieve the result we wanted.

Chris has finished the station building and the result is stunning. I will let the photos speak for themselves (though I don't think they do his work justice).







Also present the other night was one of Chris' coaches which was rather nice - though it did remind that we don't have any passenger locos to haul it yet!


It was useful to determine if the trail length of platform would be suitable - the answer to this was a resounding yes! Chris will now be tackling the platforms as a whole and this first piece was a very useful trial.


One more view of the platform and you should be just able to make out the stepped brickwork just below the coping stones.


Finally my own little effort, a newly completed NER P1 - something to haul the first batch of hoppers!

Wires and Chairs

Work continues with the layout's track and electrics.


Dave is continuing his sterling work with the electrics, and the jumper cable in particular. We decided that we would have sockets at each end of the boards and a jumper cable to join them, rather than have a jumper attached permanently to the board at one end and a socket at the other. We felt that this hanging cable would be vulnerable during set up and knock down - plus with a clumsy person like me, the separate jumpers are much safer! We will have spares to account for any failures we may experience at shows. The law according to Sod says that with spares to hand we are unlikely to have problems, but if we have no spares available... well you know the rest!

Adding the droppers is often best accomplished as a pair, so as Chris was away sunning himself on a barge somewhere in East Anglia, I worked on a slightly different task.


Adding the half chairs can be a laborious job, but it can be quite relaxing - in the right frame of mind, I find it a rather relaxing task! So I made a start adding half chairs to the three way turnout following the completion of the electrical work.


It's very satisfying to see the difference that this process makes, even if it is on only a small part of the yard. Just after finishing this, I went off to work to play with the big train set!

There should be another update very soon.

Nearly there...

I won't apologise for this post being mostly pictures!

The station building is very nearly there now! Chris has just about finished the works now - the flashing can be seen in its raw state and the NER timetables and selection of enamel signs.


The brickwork has been toned down now and looks spot on to me - Hull still has a number of buildings in this type of brick which have provided an ideal reference for this final work.


And one final view of Chris' work - I'm sure you'll agree it'll make a marvelous focal point for the layout!

More Wiring!

Following the successful testing of the previous board, we moved straight on to the next board! The wiring on this one is very simple compared with the last one. Our first task was the removal of the old DC wiring, which we felt wasn't up to the job now the layout is DCC - the dropper wires were very thin indeed.


We installed new droppers for the two mainlines. We took the chairs off in strategic locations and drilled beneath the rail so the new droppers would be entirely hidden once the chairs have been reinstated. This has worked very well previously. We use an inverted 'L' to maximise the contact between dropper and the rail.

Dave is currently working on the jumper cables between the boards and our continued electrical work is progressing in unison so each will be able to back the other when it comes to testing.

Elsewhere work continues on the station building and various items of rolling stock all of which are progressing very well!

Station Update

Tonight we have another update on the station building!


The roof and chimneys are now fixed in place and Chris has started to add the posters which are all made using genuine North Eastern Railway posters edited in Photoshop. They really have breathed life into the building! The building will be one of the focal points of the layout and Chris has done a superb job with the building.

We had a very productive night tonight; the main 'yard' board has been thoroughly tested and it all works! We're very pleased and we can now move on and wire up the other boards which are plain line so should progress quite quickly.

The Station Building

The last two weeks have seen a good rate of progress - we've even had things running on part of the layout! Though a Class 60 isn't quite the correct period! It highlighted a couple of problems, including a dropper which had come loose, but nothing serious.

Chris has been working on the station building; since we last saw it it now has a full compliment of drain pipes and is starting to acquire the various enamel signs which once adorned the building. The major change has been the colour of the brickwork.


Mick Nicholson, who is the expert when it comes to the railways in Hull, advised us that the bricks were too yellow. He suggested sites and buildings in Hull which have very similar brick colouring to the station building at Botanic. One location was the Criterion on Hessle Road.


The result, as I think you'll agree, is much better. It is very hard trying to gauge things like this - colour photographs of the building tend to be at the end of the line's existence and its appearance by then is much dirtier and decayed, especially once passenger workings had ceased.


The building should provide a delightful centrepiece for the layout - we just need to keep up with this standard!