Echoes of Shifting Sands

Thinking back to the picture of 'Shifting Sands' I posted last week one of the things that struck me was how I got a lot of end-to-end run in a small space. To get that same level of operation in a linear format you would need 6-7 feet of length, I know, because every time I think I can recreate the loop to fiddle yard operation (and include hands-free running around behind the scenes) in less space I find that I can't...

Since completing 'Odsock Corner' I have found myself wanting to plan something new, something that can provide some operation. I wondered if another common plan could be fit into less than its usual linear space, the 5-3-3 "Inglenook". It just so happens that another cork board (23.5" x 15.5") was to hand to try it. I've spared you the workbench clutter!

The other thing that struck me is that by going across a deep board at an angle you get a little more length to the run, essential where space is at a premium. If the main platform road didn't run at that angle up to the head shunt, and just went straight across the board, you wouldn't get three carriages in the loop. Looking again at that photo I was rather taken with the idea that the area I have outlined here in red is about 25" x 19", not far off the board I mocked-up the extended inglenook on.

I had been thinking recently about 'half-station' layouts, where you see one end of the platform and the head shunt, maybe a siding, but the rest is off under a bridge or overall roof and trains are represented by only some of their length.  They are perhaps not really my cup of tea but potentially offered a way of running the 'Shifting Sands' stock in a smaller space. As the idea grew in my head I mocked up this 3/4-station idea (with just the station throat off scene) that essentially gives a mini version of 'Shifting Sands'. It was late in the evening so the area was marked up on my desk!

Obviously it needs a workable fiddle yard to the right, with the ability to facilitate hands-free swapping of locos around stock as per the original layout. The main issue I foresee here is making that not too much longer than the layout (for balance) but still useable. With the tracks to the front it would be easier to operate this scheme than the inglenook, sitting it on the workbench without having to reach around the back as per 'Shifting Sands'. But in some ways 3/4 of the station isn't enough, I do like the act of running around a train, changing the points etc. Could I sacrifice a carriage length and actually have a fully modelled loop?

Food for thought...

Colin

Pop the Cork(board) - a 20th Anniversary

This photo popped up in my OneDrive "Memories" this week, from 14th October 2005. The creation of 'Shifting Sands' was underway with the cork board strengthened underneath and the turnouts and oddments of track loosely laid out in the original planned formation.

So here it began, taking nearly a year to become the layout featured in many of the static pages of this blog. To read more from October 2005, go to Shifting Sands: Baseboards and Track.

Back in 2025, there is a little modelling work going on, nothing spectacular but I hope to share some progress soon...

Colin

Take Three

Having managed a very minor refresh on my recent scratchbuilt i/c loco, I was enthused to carry out some rebuild work on another older O9 loco and after some thought the Shifting Sands workhorse, No.3, has emerged from the workshops resplendent in yellow livery for the first time in about 20 years.

I outlined No.3's history (Come in number 3) at the time of her last overhaul 12 years ago (The New Look No 3). When I first completed her in 2004 she was painted yellow and I always felt that at some stage I would restore that colour scheme, despite all the subsequent changes over the years. Back in January I dismantled the locomotive back to component parts and gave everything a bath in Dettol to begin the paint stripping process. 

After nearly 48 hours in the Dettol bath, the majority of the paint was gone. As the 2012 paint job was applied over the 2005 one, from outside in there was a layer of Dullcote, Citadel acrylic, primer, Railmatch varnish, Halfords topcoat and primer - it is hardly a surprise it took so long! One victim at this stage was the Black Dog casting used as a handbrake lever in the cab, an old break that had been reinforced with brass wire. I could have fixed this but...

...my intention was to enclose the cab and you wouldn't really see it, therefore it was removed, fixed, and used where it could be seen in the newer locomotive. The whole of the door-opening cab side was removed from the cab and replaced with a new fabrication. This did not follow the door position of the 2005 cab side but looked "right". At this stage I also shortened the main frames as the long front overhang always had the effect of making the bonnet look thinner than it already was. The cab and bonnet were moved forward and adjustments made within the cab. Where necessary all joints in materials were re-filled and sanding ready for a fresh coat of primer.

A coat of grey primer was followed by masking up for a coat of white primer in the areas to be painted yellow. The yellow was sprayed with Halfords 'Broom Yellow' and touched in with Vallejo Flat Yellow where necessary. The underframe was sprayed matt black and then over-painted with Vallejo Black Grey, the same colour being used on the various grilles on the bonnet. The cab interior is a lighter grey and a new brake lever has been added, created from an Airfix/Dapol mineral wagon handbrake lever.

Painting was concluded with a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish from an aerosol, after which the task of adding the smaller detail parts was carried out, including an open sliding window on the cab side, a nod to the original 2004 model. The exhaust, headlights and air horns retain their original finish and the number plates were cleaned up prior to refitting with matt varnish. Lead window strip weights, removed prior to paint stripping, were reinstated to both body and underframe, where the primer from the previous rebuild was still visible as seen above.

I'm really happy that I have made this much progress in just two months. There is a little weathering to do to complete the model, this will largely be around the underframe area and the plan is to be as subtle as possible, although a workhorse it is still a miniature railway locomotive rather than an uncared for industrial machine. 

Colin

An Oasis of Calm...*

As you may have guessed from the lack of real updates over the last few weeks, the summer period has far too many distractions to allow any modelling to take place. The latest is some 1:1 gardening/minor civil engineering occupying a fair chunk of the bank holiday weekend. If only I could get the grass to be as efficient as hanging basket liner!

The next task in line should be ballasting 'odsock Hall and I must not put it off too much longer as September will probably provide the ideal conditions in the workshop. In the meantime, here's a delve into the archives to a gloomy morning in Somerthorpe as the locomotives are prepared for the day...

Colin

*not affiliated to any 90's indie-rock group

Chasing Rainbows

Well what an extraordinary couple of weeks it has been. We joked before the Lincoln Newark exhibition that it might be the last one we went to in a while... and making the decision to miss Narrow Gauge North it turned out to be so.

I contributed a few pictures of 'Shifting Sands' to a Facebook "virtual exhibition" last weekend, nothing new but enough to generate some interest, conversation and feedback. But one in particular bugged me, seen previously here, the white sky was a result of a lack of suitable software skills at the time. I have now had a further play and have finally added some decent looking sky to the shot. As the kids are sticking rainbows in the windows as something to spot when they get a trip out of the house, so I thought I'd push the photo editing skills a touch further!

Stay safe.

Colin

Shifting Sands on Show

The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association 40th anniversary show at Burton went very well with 'Shifting Sands' getting a good reaction and causing many conversations. There was a wide range of layouts on show including several that are set to become well known on the exhibition circuit.

I didn't manage to take any pictures myself, so I'm grateful to Andy Jagger and Andrew Young for the two below:

Courtesy Andy Jagger

Courtesy Andrew Young

The layout is now back in it's box and back in retirement, with thoughts for the future being processed...

Colin

Burton Bound

'Shifting Sands' is packed up and ready for transit to Burton upon Trent tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to meeting O9 Modeller readers at the 7mm NGA convention - please do say hello!

Colin

A Different Corner

Here's a corner of Shifting Sands you don't see very often, the "hole in the sky"!

'Flower of the Forest' was in the process of checking the clearances under the new Funland tree. Despite it being clear enough a bit of extra clearance was made by a miniature tree surgeon equipped with a pair of nail scissors!

Not long now until the layout appears at the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association exhibition in Burton upon Trent - 8th June.....

Colin

Making plans for Burton

With 'Shifting Sand's trip to the 7mm NGA exhibition at Burton-on-Trent on 8th June getting ever closer things have swung into action to ensure it is ready for action. Having extracted the layout from the storage box and noted a few jobs that need doing, the first job was an electrical "test", the newest O9 stock having a quick run around before I managed to snatch this picture on my phone...

One of the noted jobs was that a seagull had apparently attacked the chap in the blue coat...

Short bursts of work were then the order of the day over the last week or so. Having proved that everything worked, I opted to do all the required scenic works before a final clean up, track clean and re-graphite, and then and extensive test-running of all required stock, pencilled in for bank holiday Monday....

Work completed includes:

• Replacement tree and scrub behind the 'Funland' fence (top left) - the original tree snapped off at Cleethorpes last year. This may need some clearance work once test running commences, the new tree is (quite a bit) larger and overhanging more.
• Minor rework of the gorse bushes, some additional sea foam pieces and extra ground foam then more yellow paint dabbed on, plus a more orangey shade to look like older flowers.
• Extra textures in the grass using hairspray and ground foam.
• Re-attaching the seagull and a downpipe to the shed structures.
• Removing the sea from the backscene as it was becoming detached, then re-attaching with an acid-free glue stick.
• In progress at the time of the picture - curing the de-lamination of the station platform (thin card over thin ply) with PVA glue and weights.

It doesn't really look any different, but at least the niggles are being ironed out!

Colin

The Day we Caught the Train

"You and I should ride the coast and wind up in our favourite coats just miles away,
Roll a number,
Write another song like Jimmy heard the day he caught the train"

So the scooter has arrived at Shifting Sands... and of course parked up in the least photographically accessible place!

I think I will have to revisit the registration plate on the Harley using the method used on the scooter as it really looks lacking in comparison.

Colin

The Modern World

Shifting Sands is preparing for a one-man "Mod" invasion as I complete work on a 3D printed scooter I bought from Shapeways. This has proved to be something of a labour of love, the print actually snapped across the bottom of the front dash panel early on and despite being superglued back in position it went at least twice more during print preparation.

The last time was after the final coat of primer and I resolved to use Araldite to fix it in place, then hid the crack the best I could. Having almost given up I decided the quick way to a decent finish was to spray the using a Halfords 'Ford Meadow Green' aerosol and painting in the details afterwards rather than try and brush paint it all.

The only modification I have made to the print is to remove the folded-up stand and replace it with two pieces of wire bent around to use as a securing point on the layout. Plastic rod drilled out made new feet for the stand.

Registration and 'L' plates are printed on matte photo paper. The reg plates were created online from a plate generation site and reduced in size for printing. These are the full weight of the paper and marked around the cut edges with a black pen. The 'L' plates were carefully reduced in thickness by peeling off the back layer of the paper. Both are stuck in place using an acid-free glue stick. I need to add some weathering to complete the job but overall I'm a lot happier than I was with it!

Colin

Flower of the Forest - at last!

It is 13 years since I completed my first 'scale' locomotive in O9, constructed from drawings  of the Ravenglass-built tram locomotive 'Flower of the Forest'. These were published in the only copy of the 'Ratty Modeller' newsletter I ever got my hands on, obtained when Owen Ryder exhibited his 'Boot' layout at Wakefield many moons ago. It's all his fault...

Construction and finishing are covered here - the basic finish was all I felt I could achieve at the time and the name 'Cumbria' chosen as I had the plates and it seemed appropriate. As I reached one of those round number birthdays this year I decided to investigate what might be possible to commission re-finishing the loco to more closely resemble the real thing.

She arrived back on shed at Shifting Sands this morning, seen here raising steam with 'St Edwin'.

The model has been expertly re-finished by James Hilton Custom Model Railways with the green repainted to a more appropriate shade, and custom lettering on the sides and "smokebox" end.

I chose James for this work as I needed someone who could not only refinish the locomotive in the desired colour, but also to create the artwork for the lettering and plates as a one-stop shop. James took great care working from my reference photographs to get the lettering to look right, especially as the real thing is hand-lettered to no standard font.

Whilst the etched plates are not legible they do have the correct pattern of lettering, the real locomotive is dedicated to the memory of Ian Fraser, the Ratty supporter who commissioned the real locomotive to run in his garden.

Having the model in this condition is a great reminder of the time the real thing spent running at Cleethorpes, and the influence it must have had on Shifting Sands!

Some readers may be wondering why I chose to take the unusual (for me) step of contracting this work out. Well, my own time is presently quite limited and quite frankly I decided to treat myself!

I'm really pleased with the outcome and can recommend the service James provides, even working around existing paint finishes and details is no obstacle....

Colin

Cleethorpes Coast Celebrates at 70

As mentioned in my previous post 'Shifting Sands' attended the 70th anniversary weekend of the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway over the weekend of 14th and 15th July. This turned out to be a very enjoyable weekend indeed, aided by the visiting locomotives, frequent service and other attractions.

Star attractions were of course Katie and Sian, I was lucky enough to persuade the driver of Katie to line them up for a shot at Kingsway on the Sunday morning.

Alongside 'Shifting Sands' in the Griffin Hall building were displays from the local model engineers, G scale models and two narrow gauge layouts that were great examples of small space modelling. Firstly, in 009, was 'Dolwyn', based on the Glyn Valley Tramway and featuring some superb scratchbuilt structures based on examples in the locality.

(Photo courtesy Billy Hanner)

In O-16.5 'B.A. Cookes Engineering' was a busy industrial scene featuring a little standard gauge action alongside the narrow gauge. The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association was being well promoted too.

(Photo courtesy Billy Hanner)

I will admit to lurking by 'Shifting Sands' and listening to comments from viewers, I suppose it would have been nice to have operated it but the logistics might have proved difficult, as would keeping the right balance between playing trains and family time. I did however pose for a photo....

The eagle-eyed will see that the backscene is almost at the back of the glass case, in actual fact the fiddle yard was sticking out of the back of the cabinet and the back was actually a specially installed bespoke piece of hardboard in place of the usual glass doors. Fitting it all took a bit of pre-planning and creation of some adaptor pieces, taking it all apart again only took a few minutes!

I have uploaded my pictures from the weekend to Flickr here, my thanks to Billy Hanner for the pictures of the model railway layouts as I seemingly forgot to take any.

Colin

Sian, Katie and Shifting Sands

I'm pleased to confirm that 'Shifting Sands' will be making a static appearance at the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway as part of their 70th anniversary celebrations this weekend.

The layout will be on static display in the Griffin Hall building at Lakeside station, there are other working model railways promised and of course the lure of visiting locomotives working on the main line. 

If you haven't been to Cleethorpes for some time the event will offer a chance to view some recent developments on the railway.

Colin

The Road to Hull (alternative title: Keep You Motor Runnin')

With less than a week to go until Shifting Sands appears at the Hull club's Summer Show, I thought it worth showing off a few new details that I have added to the layout for this appearance.

The first is a Harley Davidson 'Heritage Softail' motor cycle. This is from a range being sold at shows by A1 Models, moulded in plastic and if I recall correctly are left-overs from a promotional collection. With a little work to lessen the appearance of mould lines on the chrome parts, some touching-in of paint, a coat of matt varnish and a gentle touch of dry-brushing it is ready to go on the layout:

I have added the pins underneath to enable it to locate on the layout, you may also just see that I have flattened off the base of the tyres so that it sits more easily on the ground. On the rear I have added a licence plate from Tower Models 4mm scale bus decals, with a little tinkering a 1970s mark becomes something that the DVLA has made a little money from:

This isn't the only scenic addition. I have also added and moved around some of the items in the shed area, a bit like real life really! In the workshop can be glimpsed some new items in the form of the wheelsets and pillar drill I made last year, plus a coat hung from the shelf bracket that dates from the same time (the drill sits on wooden blocks awaiting further use, they aren't using it on the floor!):

Another item created last year was a locomotive cab, which has been added to the area of junk near the front of the caravan, along with one of the containers displaced by the new items in the shed:

I look forward to meeting O9 Modeller readers at the show on Saturday 3rd June.

Colin

Shifting Sands - North of the Humber

You may have seen mention last time that I needed to get Shifting Sands out of storage and wondered what on earth for....

Well, our friends in the Hull MRS have given the opportunity to show the layout in public on June 3rd at their 'Summer Show' held at the their clubrooms at the Walton Street Leisure Centre - details here. As usual I will need to check everything over, test the stock, make a couple of scenic tweaks before the show and find all the bits to make it look like this:

There is the prospect of some visiting locomotives on the day, and the usual real-life 15" gauge problem of non-matching couplings...

Colin

Carriage and Wagon

Winter maintenance occupies a lot of miniature railway's time at this time of the year, and it is no different in O9. The carriage and wagon department for 'Shifting Sands' has been busy (despite the railway not operating this 'season'!) with a few bits of catch-up work.

Coach 15, one of the scratchbuilt Exmoor-style fleet, has received a new roof. It is in fact the second new roof on just over a year, as the thicker one that it had last year looked out of place compared to it's stablemates. The new roof is formed from 20 thou styrene, heated in boiling water and reinforced underneath with various sections of Evergreen strip.

Meanwhile, one of the open wagon fleet has had something of a transformation. This is based on an example from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway and originally built upon a Black Dog 5' chassis that dated back to my early O9 days. The chassis was robbed for another project and the body initially put to one side, until I decided to add a new chassis based on a Peco chassis, styrene section and axle boxes from Wizard Models/51L.

This has lowered the wagon a little and got rid of the slightly 'tip toe' look it had before, here is it when first built by way of comparison.

I have to say that both of these projects have created a fair bit of frustration in the paint shop, must be the time of year....

Colin

Ten

Reflecting on 'Shifting Sands' appearance at the Sheffield Model Railway Society’s annual exhibition yesterday I realised that it is ten years since the layout made it's début at the Retford show in November 2005. Whilst not the most prolific of exhibition layouts previous appearances have been notched up twice each at Retford, Burton-on-Trent (for the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association) and the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway; once each at 7mm NGA and 009 Society members’ days; plus an 18-month residence at the ‘Rails to the Sands’ display, also in Cleethorpes.

Going back to over ten years ago, modelling in O9 was only ever supposed to be a brief distraction from (what were then) my 4mm scale activities, so a small layout requiring some coaches and 3/4 locos was envisaged. From there of course, it snowballed into 'Shifting Sands' and then to modelling actual 15" gauge equipment (the original designs were all freelance). Inevitably 4mm scale went to the sidelines and although there have been some distractions along the way, most of my modelling in the last decade or so years has been in O9.

Part of me wonders if it is perhaps time for a change? But a change to what? What will time, space and resources allow… 

Thoughts in this direction were further prompted by the 'Talking Point' article in the October Railway Modeller, an interesting account of that most mundane but essential modelling standard, the workbench.

Every modeller has a different view of what environment they prefer to work in, from the kitchen table to the fully-equipped workshop. As readers of this blog will know, personally I’m closer in reality to the former in my walk-in cupboard 'Tardis' (because there is more in there than could possibly fit!). However, there have been some nagging doubts for a while now that the railway cupboard workbench isn't always getting me the best results or at times the most comfortable environment to work in. I have wondered about alternatives, but so far I've taken no action.

Perhaps the answer is a change of ethos, to do things differently to suit the environment? 

Allons-y, as the Tenth Doctor might say....

Colin

Of Lamp Posts and Phone Boxes

Just a quick update of progress in preparing 'Shifting Sands' for the Sheffield Model Railway Society's Annual Show on October 10th. As previous posts have shown, my long-awaited aim to have lamp posts on the layout has been achieved, and they were 'planted' yesterday.

The posts have been located using some lengths of the same 3/32nd tubing that forms the centre section of the pole.  Lengths of this tubing were cut to match the distance from scenic surface to the underside of the baseboard and Araldited into a pre-drilled hole. Underneath the board, once the posts were in position, enough of the 1/16th tube that runs the full height of the light was showing to add the inner working of a chocolate block electrical connector to clamp the post in position, allowing removal if required.

Another scenic addition that has been made has only been planned for a short time, from the day after Peco announced their 7mm scale plastic kit for a classic red telephone box. This has been built as per instructions (and when they say paint before assembly, you really do need to paint the inside back wall first!), sprayed with red oxide primer and finished in Vallejo red acrylic, varnished with Testors Dullcote and lightly weathered.

The phone box has taken the place of the bench that previously stood here, with a little adjustment required to slabs and some extra grass added to hide the surgery. The previous inhabitant of the bench, assumed to be the long-suffering partner of the photographer lining up his shot, has taken up residence outside the rock emporium where she continues to read her magazine!

With the layout outside for photography I couldn't resist having a play and created this image, although all attempts to digitally add the sea in the background have so far failed!

Colin

Illuminating Progress

Just a quick update on the new lamp posts for 'Shifting Sands'.  They have now been primed with etch primer, with the lamp base and top touched in with off-black.  A finishing touch are the asset numbers created from 4mm scale vehicle registration plate numbers.

On the top of each shade I have added the little sensors that appear on top of each light, these are from a Ratio 4mm scale swan-necked lamp set.

With a little weathering they will be ready to put in place on the layout ahead of a forthcoming appearance... details here!

Colin