Story of a Plank - Part 6: Completion

The long running saga of ‘The Plank’ is now more or less complete, so I recently set up some photo sessions to illustrate the model. The idea behind The Plank was to build a model that could be used during exhibitions to discuss and demonstrate scenic modelling techniques; primarily, however, I required a diorama that could be used to display models for Ten Commandments products in photo sessions.

The diorama has been christened ‘Truckstop’ by virtue of the fact that it is essentially a model of a layby that runs adjacent to a railway line. In this layby is located a restaurant that specialises in catering to the logistics solutions supply chain facilitators, as management consultants in Audis like to term lorry drivers these days. Think I’m making this up? Take a look at the sides of lorries on your travels – trucks that carry chilled and frozen foods used to be called Fridges. No mistaking that, eh? Now, they’re called ‘Coolchain Solutions’. I used to drive a car-transporter; now it’s an automotive logistics solutions provider. And I’m, apparently, an automotive logistics solutions facilitator, because, as some spotty 12 year old oik in Human Resources (Personnel Dept) explained to me, 'I facilitate solutions to the automotive retail business.' Do what? I don’t facilitate anything; I drive a car transporter to a dodgy Arfur Daley dealer with a backstreet car dealership that’s always one step ahead of the VAT man, and tip a load of highly questionable cars that are sold on for cash only to Lithuanians who don’t ask any awkward questions about guarantees, mainly because they don’t speak English. That, predictably, went down like a lead balloon. Or should I say it descended in a manner more accustomed to a helium filled device that had been injected with quantities of a ferrous substance of higher density than the surrounding atmosphere. Two can play at that game - bloody upstarts.

But I digress, and return to the mainstream of this evening’s symposium. Since the last update, which seems to my mind to be eons ago, landscaping has progressed to provide plenty of bushes and vegetation growing wild; a detailed and illuminated café known simply as ‘Truckstop’ and based on one my favourite haunts on the A1 near Stamford. True to life, a Portaloo has also been erected here, and equally true to life, I don’t recommend paying it a visit …..


Accessories on the diorama include a much loved Gatso speed camera, a flashing warning sign advising of a lane closure ahead, working streetlights and various assorted details that I’ll cover in more detail later. The model has been built specifically to demonstrate products manufactured and sold by Ten Commandments, so naturally there is an emphasis in this direction. Nevertheless, the diorama shows how carefully sourced accessories and models can create realism on a layout and add some pleasing finishing touches. For anybody with a serious interest in scenic railway modelling, I can thoroughly recommend taking a visit to Iain Robinson’s modelling blog; there are some amazing scenes that are exquisitely detailed and provide great inspiration. Iain also features the work of other respected modellers, and illustrates his articles with superb photography.

The Café

This is simply a Knightwing portacabin kit, an ideal model to use as so many roadside diners originate from such buildings in reality. I added a detailed interior to add a bit of life, and illuminated the café with a couple of bulbs. The entrance step into the diner is provided by an old pallet, an arrangement we happily used at my old job for many years – without incident – until Health & Safety banned it on the grounds that it wasn’t secure enough, and we might slip on it, or the pallet might give way underneath us or something might … something might … something might …. Ah yes, the thoughts of those who never leave their air conditioned offices, and for whom the most dangerous object in their working life is the cuddly toy that sits on their computer terminal. We had to have a proper brick based step constructed with stone slabs on top, all cemented together at great expense – and the first time we had a touch of frost, one of the staff slipped and fell off it, breaking an ankle in the process due to the hard landing. I rest my case. Behind the café is small portable generator, used to power the cooking equipment. Another accessory is the extractor fan, located next to the entrance door above the window. This might seem to be a strange place to locate such a fan. Well, here’s the reason, and once again, I don’t come out of this too well…..


I installed lighting, as I mentioned – two simple bulbs. Then I wired it all up to test it, using my old Gaugemaster Combi. This allowed me to control the brightness of the interior, normally just a pleasant glow. For the photos, however, I wanted plenty of light to emphasize the detail, so I whacked the power up to full and went to set up my shot. I got more than I bargained for, because through the viewfinder I could see that I had in fact set fire to my new creation! What a total ... well - plank!!

The orange glow at the top of the right hand window set alarms bells ringing - literally! I was busy setting up this night time shot, and didn't realise that the glow was actually the overheated bulb beginning to melt into the plastic of the walls and roof. In fact it wasn't until the roof began to buckle and smoke a bit that I realised something was amiss. The driver and his mate who were at the cafe seem quite unpeturbed by events - doesn't matter if the cafe is on fire; we'll have take out.

The wall was a bit distorted, and the roof was a write-off. We’ll put that down to an ambitious chef doing a flambé, then. The roof was discarded as it was beyond salvation – thankfully, I had a spare kit handy for another project, so I borrowed the roof from that. The damaged wall needed covering up, hence the need for a fan to disguise the area. I think I just about got away with it – one of these days I’ll learn not to be so stupid ….. doh!

The portaloo also counts as part of the café, so I’ll include it here. It is the Ten Commandments etched brass kit, and makes up into this extremely realistic model. To add some authenticity, the interior was detailed with some left over newspapers; some to read and The Guardian to … well, do I have to draw a picture?! Relevant signage is also displayed, but true to form, the toilet roll is empty. Now the significance of The Guardian becomes apparent!

"I'd give it ten minutes if I were you, mate."

I'll cover other areas of Truckstop in due course.

Story of a Plank - Part 5: The Green Green Grass

Don't worry, there is no chance of Boycie or Marlene appearing anywhere in this article!

With recent expeditions to visit the real railway in action, my modelling has not surprisingly taken a bit of back seat. However, I have added a few bits to The Plank, so let me tell you where I’m at, as they like to say on Dragon’s Den. Since the road was laid and the track ballasted I’ve turned my attention to the natural areas of vegetation – the first green shoots of modelling, you might say.

The area around the layby is fairly flat land, so there was no need to build up any significant height. If I need height, my preferred method is polystyrene ceiling tiles to keep the weight down, as used on Exeter Parkway. Ceiling tiles are easy to work with, albeit messy, but cheap – although mine were free as the local McDonalds was having a refurb and threw hundreds of them into a skip. Without the need to build up the land, I simply used a supermarket own-brand of Polyfilla, and I worked this in to the required areas accordingly. One reason I like using this type of filler is that it is flexible to use, and can be watered down to any consistency to suit the terrain being modelled. It takes a long time to dry, and this gives plenty of working time to sculpt the area exactly as you would like to have it. This is useful in countryside, for example, if you wish to create a well-worn footpath, sheep trail or stream. Simply run a finger through the filler to create the path, taking it steady and lightly all the way. This photo from a visit to the Peak District earlier this year clearly shows a well-used footpath, and inclusion on a model can help break up large areas of greenery.


While the filler is drying, I create the sites for such footpaths and scenic features. As this model depicts a layby, there was another feature that needed modelling – the rutted earth and tyre tracks at the entrance, caused by lorries cutting the corner. This can clearly be seen here:


The easiest and quickest way to replicate this is to use the exact same method as used in real life! I took a spare vehicle that had good tyre treads, and rolled it over the affected area several times. I didn’t do this all at once; I did a couple of runs and then allowed the filler to dry out a bit more before having another go. After a few of these sessions, the earth is now looking realistically churned up, but with clearly defined and overlaid tyre tracks. This shows up on this module I made for demonstration purposes a while back:


Here is the entrance to the layby itself once this week’s work was complete:

If you're wondering why the tree has a large '3' on it, the reason is simple. While the filler was still damp, I 'planted' each tree into the area I wish them to be located in when the model is completed. By pushing the tree into the ground, it appears as though the tree is growing out of the earth, rather than daintily sitting on it - one of my pet hates. As the trees won't be glued in just yet (they get in the way) I have numbered them simply so that I know where they're going. Okay, there's only 3 tress and 3 holes - how hard can it be? Well, you don't know me like I know me.....

I allowed the filler to fully harden for a couple of days while I played with my recent video footage in the evenings. Then I returned to The Plank to begin creating Mother Nature. The first step was to paint all the earth brown. Soil is rarely a uniform colour, and I used six shades of watercolour artist’s paints that come in squeezable tubes, rather like toothpaste – although I’m not recommending that you clean your teeth with them. An artist’s palette is useful here, as various quantities of paint can be squeezed into each compartment and then mixed together as appropriate. Add water, a little at a time, in order to create the required consistency. I give the whole area a basic coating to build a foundation before going back and highlighting areas that require more colour. For most types of earth, around half a dozen shades of brown, such as Vandyke Brown, Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber from the excellent Windsor & Newton range etc work nicely – if lightening is needed I use Cadmium Yellow. A good artist's supply shop is the best place to find a decent stock of such paints, and in my experience, the staff in these shops are invariably friendly and knowledgable about their products. For distinctive colour such as the cliffs at Dawlish, several shades of red need to be gently worked in as well, so I’d recommend having photos to hand of your preferred location on such a project. As with most modelling projects, add a little at a time and work it in slowly. Overdo it, and you inevitably end up back at square one. Been there, done that.

Recreating these famous Dawlish cliffs can be quite a challenge. I have previously had a bash at these with Sam on Exeter Parkway, and will write up the experiences later on. This photo is one of many I took during visits to Devon between 1999 and 2002 whilst engaged in chasing the last years of loco hauled operation in the area - I really must write some of those trips up, too...

With the earth complete, basic flocking can begin. I do this in stages, starting with a basic covering of grass, then working up to thicker grass, weeds, small shrubs and then onto bushes and so on. Currently I’ve got as far as the basic grassing stage. I painted watered down PVA glue onto all the areas that required grass, and sprinkled Woodland Scenics fine grade flock onto the whole area. As with earth, grass is rarely a uniform colour outside of well-tended areas such as lawns and golf clubs etc. So I mixed around four different types together and sprinkled this onto the areas needing it. Don’t forget small individual areas where grass is clinging to life – even in the rutted earth of the tyre tracks, some hardy grass manages to grow!

I left the grass overnight (to grow?) and hoovered up the following evening. Put a Jaycloth over the end of the nozzle and this saves all the expensive flock ending up in the bin – I put it all back into the flock tin I keep for this purpose. Before beginning any further flocking work, such as scrub and small bushes etc, I added in the lineside fencing. I discovered the hard way that if you leave this until later, when bushes and trees are in position, then it is difficult to get the posts to run in an orderly line parallel to the railway. Also, it is an absolute nightmare to thread the wire through the fence posts!

The fencing in this case is from Ten Commandments, and a pack consists of 25 whitemetal posts, pre-drilled with holes for the wire that is included in the pack. This will make around three feet of fencing. The posts require painting, which can be a tedious process. I simply stood all mine up in some blu-tac and sprayed them with several coats of Halfords white primer. Holes were drilled out alongside the railway track at 27mm intervals, then the posts firmly attached with Superglue. These were left overnight, before the fiddly job of threading up the wire began. There is a technique here that I’ll pass on, but if anyone finds a better way, please let me know!

I start with the first post, and significantly, the lowest line of wire to install – don’t work from the top down, believe me! Cut the wire to the required length of the fencing section – in this case I have a continuous run of around four feet, so each strand of wire I used was cut to 4ft plus a couple of inches overhang as my ‘just-in-case’ margin. Using a pin, insert a small blob of Superglue into the fencepost hole, and gently thread the wire into the hole. Then leave it – several hours at least, if not overnight. It is absolutely crucial that the glue has hardened properly, as a fair amount of pressure will be placed on this joint. (N.B. It is a good idea to repeat this process all the way up the fence post, so that the four of five strands of wire will then all be ready when the time comes to move on. Just be careful not to get the wires tangled up).

Once the glue is hardened, give the wire a firm tug to check. If it doesn’t hold, repeat the gluing stage, as it must be secure. If it is firmly in place, you may now start the enviable job of threading it through the bottom hole of each fence post all the way along to the other end of the run of fencing. It is fiddly, and best done with a pair of tweezers which may be found in your good lady’s make up bag when she’s out (don’t forget to return them, and don’t bother to ask if you may borrow them for a modelling project. You will generally receive a hard glassy stare).

Once the wire is threaded all the way through to the other end, there should be a couple of inches of excess wire. I attached a bulldog clip onto this excess, and then pulled the wire tight to ensure that it is taut all the way through the run of fencing. A couple of spare lead weights were put on top of the clip to ensure that it doesn’t go anywhere. Then again using a pinhead, I dabbed spots of Superglue into the hole from which the wire is protruding. It is also useful to dab a spot of glue every foot or so down the run as insurance, but by no means necessary to do every post. I repeat this process with every strand of wire, always working up the posts as this makes the threading so much easier. Once the last bit of wire is threaded through the final hole, secure it with the bulldog clip and Superglue method, and relax. So what next? No, before a coffee and a Hobnob? Yes, return the tweezers.

Don't say I didn't warn you ...

The whole thing may be left overnight again, and when you return to the project, simply take a scalpel blade to the excess protruding wires and remove them. There should now a run of realistic and taut lineside fencing.

A note on Superglue – it is well worth investing in a good Cyanoacrytate glue from Eileen’s Emporium or a similar specialist. Avoid the cheap stuff from the Poundshop or supermarkets, as it is generally very poor quality.

Story of a Plank - Part 4: Roads & Rails

Well, now that I’ve got my holiday sorted out and all the photos blogged, uploaded, sorted and filed, I think it’s time to get back a bit of modelling. I pottered about a bit yesterday with The Plank, and have got the road sorted and the railway started. This is where I’m at:

Starting with the road, previously I’d got as far as laying and painting the surface. This was too pale and clean to create the right look, so I gave the entire surface three colour washes to tone it down a bit. I simply used three very watered down coats of black paint to achieve this effect, and I’m pleased with the results. It’s a common misconception that roads are black – this only occurs when the tarmac is fresh and recently laid, but roads weather and lighten very quickly, and those that have not been treated for years on end become a very pale grey indeed.

In addition to the general weathering, I also placed some splodges onto the road. This wasn’t a case of being careless, well, not all of them at any rate. As this model is depicting a layby, it is common for vehicles to drip oil and fluids onto the road surface, particularly lorries, and especially the lorries at my place of work that are maintained by our alleged, but totally incompetent ‘service provider’ who wouldn’t recognise a blocked filter if it hit him in the face. No, it’s not nice, but that’s just the way it is.

As with the road surface, these oil spills will also weather and fade over time, with only the most recent drips showing as nearly black, with a slightly glossy sheen to them. This photo shows a typically weathered layby:


The next stage was to add in the drains and manholes. I used the etched brass versions from Ten Commandments, which I painted dark grey. They should fit flush with the road surface, unless you’re modelling Grantham town centre, in which case they should sit proud of the pitted road surface in order to gouge great lumps out of your tyres. The Council absolve themselves of any responsibility by saying that because they reduced bin collections to fortnightly, there are now less heavy lorries churning up the roads and causing the manholes to stick out of the road. So it’s our fault – well, as long as we’re clear about that. The problem can be cured, but it would mean a 225% increase in Councillors expenses as they would need to jet off en-masse to Barbados for a Road Surface Strategy & Solutions Conference.

But I digress. To make the drains sit at the correct height, simply insert some spacers – I used offcuts of balsa, and painted them black to create an impression of depth when looking down the drains. Believe me, at every exhibition I’ve been to, there is always someone who will make a point of looking down drains. They must lead full and exciting lives.

This now completes the basics of the road surface, so while it all dried, I began on the joy of tracklaying. As this is just a static diorama, I don’t have to worry about any of the usual tracklaying headaches; all I’m after here is the appearance. Two lengths of spare Peco flexitrack did the job, no need for wiring or anything else. I painted the sides of the rails a weathered rust; this is a long and laborious job but absolutely essential. The base is more cork mat cut to shape, glued into position and painted dark grey in order to provide a good foundation for the track.

The next stage is an important one – if you are modelling MAS then cable trunking will be required, and must be fitted prior to ballasting in order to look right. It can be retrofitted, as members of Perth Model Railway Club found out on their excellent Almond Bridge layout, but it’s a long and boring job chipping away at all the ballast in order to lay the trunking before replacing the ballast. They did it, but I understand that they drank the bar dry afterwards, and bear in mind we’re talking about Scotland here.

Cable trunking can be scratch built from Evergreen Strip Styrene, which is an excellent product that I use for all sorts of projects. Modellers Mate, Inter City Models and Modelex stock the full range to name but three – other suppliers can be found at certain shows. In this case, however, I’m taking the easy way out and using Ten Commandments cable trunking, as this diorama is being built to demonstrate their products at exhibitions.


Packs come in Four-Foot or Ten Foot versions, with various extra junction boxes. A nice feature is that a number of covers have been removed to expose the wires underneath, as can be seen frequently in real life. Spare covers are included in the pack, so that they can be realistically placed by the lineside during, or after, some PW work.

Real cable trunking is made from concrete sections, for modelling purposes I simply gave it all a coat of grey paint, as most of it will be hidden with ballast, and the surface will receive weathering once the track is complete. I laid the cable trunking snug up to the cork mat; this means it runs exactly parallel to the railway, which looks good. The trunking is made of a bendy plastic, so it follows the contours of the trackbed very nicely, and can be glued into position with PVA adhesive. Naturally my task was made simpler because I only have one running line, and things get considerably more complicated at junctions, yards and stations. The Ten Commandments cable trunking pack includes various T-junctions and 90° turns for these areas, and I can demonstrate this on a mock up I created for the trade stand a while ago:

This example shows how the cable trunking crosses the tracks – this would be required if the Power Box that controlled the signals was located on the other side of the permanent way. The cables can be made to ‘turn the corner’ with a 90° block, and then cross under the tracks in one of the distinctive orange tubes that protect the wires from damage. For this use a narrow drinking straw, or any suitable piece of narrow tube in your bits box. I think that this set-up is pretty much correct, if not, I’m sure James at Eastmoor can put me right! It is also useful to use a T-Junction piece to feed cables into lineside relay cabinets, a feature often overlooked during track laying. I have designed one of these into the diorama.

I’m leaving all that to settle, the next job is ballasting – oh, I can hardly contain myself!

Story of a Plank - Part 3: Road Building

Progress is coming along nicely on the plank. The road surface has been laid using the cork mat, which was cut to shape and affixed to the board with PVA glue. Large pieces of the cork mat are inclined to lift and peel up once laid, so it is essential to place several large items that will not move for several hours onto the mat while the glue is setting. I use heavy books for this purpose, but any large inert item, such as teenage offspring for example, work equally well.

Once the glue has dried overnight, the books are lifted off or teenage offspring are removed. This is easily accomplished by waving a £10 note around. There is now a lovely flat and smooth surface upon which to work. The task now is to plan the road, and cut holes into the cork wherever a gap is required – this can be for drains, manholes, and roadworks. This job is far easier when the mat is glued to the board rather than the seemingly obvious method of cutting the holes prior to fixing. By using a sharp scalpel, the required portion will simply lift out without tearing.

With the holes cut, the road can now be painted. I used textured tarmac paint from Green Scene; this is an excellent product in a range of textured paints for a wide variety of surfaces. Some of these work better than others – but the tarmac is a winner. The paint has extremely fine grains of sand to provide texture, and by mixing before use an even coat of texture may be applied. For a new main road, I’d suggest stirring very lightly so as not to make too rough a surface. For an older country lane, lay-by, or any road in Grantham I’d recommend a really good stir to get plenty of the sand mixed in and provide a rougher surface. The paint itself is quite thin, and I use three coats to get some colour onto the mat itself as shown here:

Currently the grey is far too pale to be totally convincing, but that’s no problem as the next stage is weathering, in order to tone it down. Should you wish for a darker grey from the outset, add some acrylic black paint to the jar. Any holes that were cut into the road earlier should be touched in with a drop of black paint; this will show through drain covers etc, and give depth to the finished model.

Since I last did some work on The Plank, I’ve had a change of heart about the café. It was really too close to the railway tracks, so I’ve moved it to the far end of the lay-by. The concrete plinth is all ready for it – again, just cork mat with textured paint.

The last job in this phase is to drill holes adjacent to the main carriageway – these are to accept the working streetlights I plan to install.








A close up of a section of road shows the texture in more detail, to my mind this gives a very realistic impression of tarmac, especially once weathered and detailed.

Transporter of Delight

Whilst digging around for materials to use on ‘The Plank’, I came across this car transporter I purchased a while ago from Contikits. It bears similarities to the vehicle that I drive at work, so it is an ideal project to work on.

However, in order to replicate my own vehicle, I need to change the Mercedes Benz cab to that from an Iveco Cargo. Fortunately, I just happen to have a tractor unit of an Iveco lying around, so I have now earmarked these vehicles for a bit of ‘bashing’ during the summer, and aim to have the completed lorry ready for display at Peterborough exhibition.


As well as a cab transplant, the bodywork needs a respray into our company dark blue, as well as creating a set of decals for the logo using the techniques in my previous post: A Crafty Way to Create Waterslide Decals. To complete the effect, a load of second hand cars all ready to go to auction will be loaded onboard – and if I use Herpa cars, the value will be around the same!

Story of a Plank - Part 2: Foundations

Work has begun on ‘the plank’ – I need a name for this project. The first basic step is to lay out the positions of the road and railway. For the road I’m using a roll of cork sheet cut to the required shape; I’ll also be using this ubiquitous product for the railway track bed. Using cork mat for the railway is a popular technique, but I’m a huge fan of using it for roads too, for the following reasons:

The surface is textured, making a realistic base upon which to work.
It is easily cut to shape; ideal for any road layout that is required – bends and junctions are no problem.
It gives depth to the road, so holes may be cut into it to allow manholes, drains, roadworks etc to be easily recreated.
The mat is available in several thicknesses, and in sheets of 6sq foot – a good workable size.
It is cheap – my holy grail.

Cork mat used to be widely available at shows, but sadly these days many retailers only take along piles of Hornby & Bachmann stock, because it is seen as the sexy side of modelling. They then leave the boring mundane modelling stuff (the essentials, in other words) behind. Try getting ballast, fishplates, paint, glue or buffers at most shows, and generally you’ll struggle. But if you want a Hornby class 60, you’ll be faced with every other stand offering them in 18 different liveries. I got all my cork mat from Modellers Mate, who specialise in the unglamorous stuff – but they have just about everything a serious modeller who actually builds things could ever want.

For ‘Plank’ I’m using 1/16 inch thick mat. The first step was to draw the outline of the road and lay-by onto the surface, followed by a guide of where the track would go. As always, there’s never quite as much space as you thought you had! For this reason, I’m scaling down from double track to single track; otherwise the scenic break between road and railway will be too compressed.

With everything marked out, the cork was cut to shape and everything laid out as I plan it – road vehicles and a train were positioned so as to see how everything will fit into place – and here we are:

The strip of cork along the front of the board represents the edge of the main road, with the lay-by set back as in the photos from the A1 on Monday. The rectangle behind the coach is the base for the café, which will be based on the portacabin design. The single-track railway will be positioned behind this along the backscene.

So far, so good. To be continued …

Story of a Plank - Part 1: Ideas & Inspiration

If the title of this article leads you to think that I’m writing my autobiography, then think again. And thanks. Martin Luther King had a dream. I have a plank. I suppose we all have to start somewhere – and look what happened to Martin Luther King. Anyway, down to business. I do have a plank, or rather, a shelf (3 in fact) that have been discarded at work. I retrieved these shelves from the skip; they’re far too nice to throw away – and the timing is perfect. I need to build a scenic diorama for the show season when it kicks off in September, and now I have, at absolutely no cost to myself, the base on which to build one.

The idea for the diorama came to me a while ago, when parked up in one of my favourite lay-bys on the A1 near Colsterworth. I need something that depicts roads, railways, basic scenery, lineside detailing and scenic lighting for buildings and streetlights – in other words, a cornucopia of everyday facets of modelling, but they need to be brought together in a realistic manner in order to look convincing and plausible.

I have decided that this shelf provides sufficient space to create the impression of a large layby set back from the road, and includes a roadside diner at one end. A railway line will run along the rear. Here is the basic plank, with some stock to show the space available (working in 4mm scale)

The Inspiration

These photos of the prototype show the effect that I’m looking to recreate, based on the southbound lay-by, which is set well back from the road. The trees provide a natural screen from passing traffic on the A1, so you're not likely to get spotted if you shouldn't be there ... perish the thought.

Entrance to the layby, with churned up earth from repeated visits by trucks cutting the corner – a good modelling challenge.


The café, typical of many such roadsides diners. It has been created from a portacabin, and will make a great model. Plenty of opportunity for detailing here, especially if illuminated. I always enjoy working on building interiors. This particular café is located on the northbound A1 in the layby about 7 miles south of Colsterworth, and serves a cracking Bellybuster Breakfast for £4.80. I have made many visits to this layby, in the interests of modelling research, of course.


A general view that highlights the weathering of the road surface, discarded litter and wild, unkempt vegetation at the roadside.


The reading room, available at the more classy Truckstops. Also makes a great layout cameo. Smells not included.


The railway – I actually took this on the Boulby branch near Middlesborough some years ago, but this is the sort of look I’m after – a secondary line, still regularly used, but a little rundown with weeds growing in the trackbed and lineside vegetation encroaching onto the tracks in places. I'll be adding cable trunking to my model, as this is a detail that is easily overlooked until the ballast has been laid - and retro fitting is not easy or pleasant!

So that is the plan. I’ll keep you updated on progress, and hope to have a presentable model ready for an appearance at Peterborough Exhibition. So, it’s not just Martin Luther King who has a dream then …