… with a new engine at Burton Phoenix.. If a bit ‘out of scale’.
Taking a break on the layout I put this rather cute wood engine kit together I got as a Christmas present…
.. I don’t think I could call it fine scale…
kevinf
Burton Phoenix Complete
Here are photos of the Curve section fitted for the first time with the complete layout.
I had a few wiring issues to resolve and wanted to run some proper testing as I am intending to informally display the layout during the year. ..For More details see ‘Work In Progress‘
Burton Phoenix – Back Out of the Ashes 2018-2019
29/01/2018
The new house has needed a LOT of work .. so after 4 long years I have been able to properly unpack some Model Railway(s) that have been living in boxes for the past 4 years. I even have a room ‘Just’ for the model railways. In our last house I had to ‘Borrow’ a lot of the dining room.
I had been spending some time keeping the old website at least a bit up to date… But that is not the same as having a Real layout.
During my ‘setting’ up I realised that I had made a further purchase during the ‘fallow years’ – I took advantage of a special offer to pick up a AC Cars Rail bus to join the Park Royal one.
It was not a random choice – The Park Royal Rail-bus ran on Midland Rails and the AC Cars one ran on Western Region. Midland and Western traffic being a common theme of the Burton layouts.
.
I fear though that everything will need to be packed up Again for phase ‘2’ of the House redevelopment…
11/02/2019
Burton Crumpnold All Packed away again…
As predicted everything is all packed away and buried behind furniture as we work on other rooms in the house… SO I’m, having to contact myself Playing Train Sim and Train Sim World…. With a bit of luck things will improve in the next few months..
27/05/2019
… After a few delays the house redevelopment is now complete.
A major upside is that I been able to ‘negotiate’ a bigger home for the existing and new Burton Crumpnold layouts.
And Burton Phoenix is now out again and ‘Almost’ Up and Running….
.. I am also in the process of extending the layout by adding a corner section to turn the end-to-end into an ‘L’ shaped layout which is easier to demonstrate.
For more details see ‘Work In Progress‘.
13/07/2019
Work Continues on Burton Phoenix.. The new corner board has been wired up and a ‘Test Train’ has been run to ensure all is well before more scenery work is done.
05/09/2019
The Curve section at Burton Phoenix is coming on well.
.. And I have actually have new acquisitions after a visit to a local Model Railway Show.
.. Including the long awaited Hornby Super Sprinter in the rather fetching RAF 100 livery.
Plus a true bargain from the model railway show – a Scaledale windmill – This is going to be a great scenic feature on the new ‘Corner’ board.
As Shown here.. I now need to make the river more realistic…
Testing the new ‘Corner’.
The ‘Basic’ scenery for the new corner board is done.. The track is ballasted and the general shape of the scene, including undulations and a ‘base’ colour is done.
.. It has also been wired into the rest of the boards – to make sure it all works – and the track transitions between the boards are OK.
As the Hornby GWR Parcels Rail-car was easy to get at – it had the honour of being the the first ‘Powered’ locomotive on the new track section.
Adding Scenery to the ‘Corner’
The new ‘Corner’ board is coming on apace.
In keeping with the original ‘Burton Crumpnold/Phoenix – a lot of the material was from the original layout supplies.
.. The track has been positioned and ballasted – and the basic scenery has been set up, and the first coat of paint applied.
Again – in keeping with the original layout – I have used the original ‘J’cloth/PVA glue and polystyrene foam bits construction method.
To add more scenic potential – I am adding a river/canal to the corner of the board.
Burton Phoenix – Adding a Corner…
To Recap…
Burton Phoenix uses the Old Upper Station and scenery board from the original Burton Crumpnold layout, onto which I added a fiddle yard section to make a simple ‘end to end’ layout.. as can be seen from this diagram below…
In order to make the layout more interesting, and easier to use for any exhibitions/shows I am adding a curve to the second board to convert the long end to end into an ‘L shaped’. As Shown below…
Here is the framework for the new corner board.
Most of the wood dates back to the original Burton Crumpnold layout. I actually carted it up here years ago when we moved here for this kind of use…..
..Next job is to add an MDF top to the frame – also leftovers from the original layout!!
The track has just been placed to show the sort of thing I am aiming for.
I am planning to ‘re-lay’ the track on both the fiddle yard and scenery board to ease the curve to use more of the new board.
Most of the space on the new board will mostly be filled with ‘scenery’.
Burton ‘Projects’ – home made static grass applicator…
As promised – an update of what I am doing at Burton Crumpnold now it is ‘Open’ again
… First was a simple project I have had the parts for for some time – a home made static grass applicator.
I got the idea for this by a chat with an exibitor at a model railway show and a bit of research on YouTube.
It is a simple device made from a pound shop electric fly zapper, a metal tea strainer and some wire.
… I will show the results of this in use soon.
New Room – New Ideas
After a year of very light running .. Time for an update..
Everything has been packed away as we embark on a major set of improvements on the house.
This is quite key to Burton Crumpnold as it should finally free up a room to build a permanent layout.
Good news that comes from this is that it will be larger than originally expected, which will allow for a much larger main station.. More details when the building dust has settled…
… Also to add motivation – I have been more than a little excited about the announcements at Hornby this year (Details HERE), in particular the New LMS Princess. The old (short) Hornby model was in my first trainset… It will be good to have a proper ‘scale length’ model in lovely crimson lake livery.
Bullied back into model railways.. and Toby
After an age away I now able to think about Model Railways..
I am starting to plan for a new home for a reborn Burton Crumpnold, using a spare small bedroom in our house – more to follow.
Plus I have finally spent time improving the website, Initially to make it display better (more responsive) on large and small devices (phones etc).
I have also updated the site navigation… There is more to follow.
… I must give credit to my good friend and follow model railway enthusiast ‘Ian White’ who has been constantly bullying me to finally deliver some updates to the website. .. Now to see how long it will take him to notice… 🙂
.. ‘Opening Day’ at Burton Phoenix.. And by random chance – the first loco I found it’s ‘Toby’. So it’s been busy testing that all the the power and point-work is working after a long time dormant
2015 – A Spark of Hope..
Again .. the year started well.
09/02/2015
‘We have just recently moved to North Wales, hence no updates for the last few months’..
The room where the layout will be located is currently being used as a ‘storeroom’ whilst the kitchen is being redone – so it will be a while before ‘Proper’ model railway work can resume..
23/09/2015
Great moment in our new home.. Finally dusted off and assembled Burton Phoenix in a room that now has space to run it. I also indulged in my first railway purchase for quite a while – A Heljan ‘Park Royal’ Railbus. I particularly wanted one of these as we used to live near the site in North London. .. After testing the layout electrics with good ol ‘Smokey Joe’ here is the new Railbus in action.
.. But again ‘Life’ and the challenges on working on a large House that is more of a ‘project’ kept me away from railways…