Outwell Village (W&U Tramway)

Rippers

Western Thunderer
A month of various turkey and alcohol related diversions on we have still made some progress........
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As part of the upgrade the canal/river side has been remodelled to from brick to wood piles so as to reflect information shown in photos of the site that have come to light since the original build.
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Not the different pattern on the curved end of the site (as per the pictures). A created from individual wood sections. Those of you studying the changes might also note that the brick retaining wall at the other side of the waterway has also been upgraded with some interesting textured 'weathered' brick paper.
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Though much of the scenic work is still on hold at present as easy access has been needed to the underside...........

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......as the electricians are in wrangling all of the under-board gubbins into place as it has been decided to convert the layout to DCC as part of the upgrade as a test bed for the layouts future replacement (Wisbech East).
 

Rippers

Western Thunderer
Is that by any chance the material sourced via Ebay from a seller in Greece? A tyical example below:

8 SHEETS EMBOSSED BUMPY Weathered brick Slate Texture 20x28cm GAUGE OO | eBay

I am not sure to be honest but it does look similar to some I have seen advertised on there - though I can say that it isn't a self adhesive version.. One of the scenic materials pedlars at a local show last year waved a few sheets 4mm and 7mm sheets in various brick finishes at me last year for me to try.

Thus in the interest of trying it out I have introduced it here on Outwell to upgrade the very new looking brickwork the canal walling once sported...........or in other words I figured that as the layout isn't actually ours, we are ruining it for a friend!.....it is an ideal place to experiment!.;)

The material appears to be printed on the back of old textured wallpaper and I found that although the texture worked to my eyes in 7mm scale in 4mm it looked a bit rough. Thus the sheet I had was given a once over with an iron to lessen it a bit before use
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Sounds about the same - I have a few 7mm samples to try - although it looks a bit 'odd', visually it seems to be reasonably effective.
 

Rippers

Western Thunderer
A further two weeks on and with the wiring completed and tested (save for final track cleaning and programing the points), and with the ballasting completed the weeds sure have grown fast in the fens............
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Note how the new and updated riverside walling has been blended into the existing scene.

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So too the new scenery - spot the join where the new and old finishes meet.

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Incidentally the new roadway and yard surfaces were created from a mixture of grey tile adhesive, poster paint and PVA. Smoothed into place and then sanded down when dry.

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There are still many details to be added but we are please so far with the slightly overgrown look to the track work of the yard we have managed to create thus far.

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The infilled track of the ungated crossing and the yard entrance was also created using the tile adhesive mix mentioned earlier.

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Its once again starting to look something like a layout!
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Good stuff :thumbs:. I've always liked the simplicity and uncluttered look of this layout.

As a suggestion - rather than have a gap in the post and tube fence along the canal/river at the board join why not take that section out completely, rust up the broken ends on each post and have a new piece of rod tube in an iron colour laying in the grass (along with the broken pieces) waiting to be fitted. Perhaps even have a pair of workmen.
 

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
Looking great and look forward to seeing it at a show!

Will the entry through the board remain the same? I have very little knowledge/experience of scenics, but it's the only thing that stands out on a masterpiece..

JB.
 

geoff_nicholls

Western Thunderer
As part of the upgrade the canal/river side has been remodelled to from brick to wood piles so as to reflect information shown in photos of the site that have come to light since the original build.

Having seen your original brickwork, I had assumed that that was the way it was, and started to copy it for my (fictional) Aldeburgh Wharf. I only tore it up and replaced it with wood after seeing East Lynn's quayside, because wood was easier to model. It's quite easy to copy an unintentional error from a layout that otherwise looks just right.

Could we have a close-up of the woodwork please, is it braced with lengths of old rail?
 

Rippers

Western Thunderer
Another evening in the playroom and we are getting to the point now where the scenic are about done and the model is ready for the addition of the many small details that bring it to life.
Q2.jpg

The remaining vegetation around the quay at the layouts frontage has now also been added showing ur approach to the gap in the railings at the baseboard joint.
Q1.jpg

Plus a few really cruel enlargements showing the differing types of wooden facing we added to the riverside as part of this upgrade based on shots of the real location at the time for those that asked for more detail.

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The area where the former loading bank was located was vertical planking with 3 horizontal rubbing strips topped with some sleeper like planking.

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Whereas that on the curve has metal retaining strips and outside vertical piles topped with thick horizontal beams. Looking at different location in pictures found the metal retaining strips could be flat, U channel or indeed what appears to be old rail. I went for flat for convenience and speed!

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geoff_nicholls

Western Thunderer
That's two trips I'll be making to Biggleswade, the gauge 3 Society AGM and show is next door at the Weatherley Centre the following week.
 

Rippers

Western Thunderer
A productive afternoons work in the playroom (listening to the build up to Hull City no doubt coming second at Chelsea!) saw the installation of the now completed pill-box and a few other details along with the final completion of the grass work and shrubbery on the layout.
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Though there are still a few features such as telephone and electricity poles to install you should now be able to see the sort of overgrown look we were aiming for.

a1.jpg

We aren't really fans of 'frozen action' cameos (such as half unloaded wagons) on our layouts and thus hope that the installation of a few simple and far ore 'relaxed' details such as this selection of loaded fruit/veg crates awaiting the next train make sense to the viewer as the reason for the yards existence.

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As with many views on the layout...........a whole lot of not a lot going on and yet suggesting it is.

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Hopefully the finished areas will blend well with the original scenic so that many who haven't seen this will not actually know of the changes we have made in the interest of better running qualities.
 

geoff_nicholls

Western Thunderer
We aren't really fans of 'frozen action' cameos
Someone else said something similar in a layout article many years ago. His layout was fully populated, but the figures were 'in repose'. This looks better, as apart from the actual moving train, the scene is a diorama. Figures posed in mid-action look strange, like in those early French photos.
Looking forward to Biggleswade.
 

Dave Bowden

Western Thunderer
A further two weeks on and with the wiring completed and tested (save for final track cleaning and programing the points), and with the ballasting completed the weeds sure have grown fast in the fens............
View attachment 62959

Note how the new and updated riverside walling has been blended into the existing scene.

View attachment 62960

So too the new scenery - spot the join where the new and old finishes meet.

View attachment 62961

Incidentally the new roadway and yard surfaces were created from a mixture of grey tile adhesive, poster paint and PVA. Smoothed into place and then sanded down when dry.

View attachment 62962

There are still many details to be added but we are please so far with the slightly overgrown look to the track work of the yard we have managed to create thus far.

View attachment 62963

View attachment 62964

The infilled track of the ungated crossing and the yard entrance was also created using the tile adhesive mix mentioned earlier.

View attachment 62965

Its once again starting to look something like a layout!
Just to let you know I drove across that bridge twice today, going to get my car washed in Nordelph.
Dave
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
It doesn't actually need to work - it captures the slow pace of life around there to perfection as it is :D OK maybe it could do with a family of ducks powered by moving under-creek magnets...

Now the rebuilding of the Fens nears completion, how did you all take to working in a smaller-than-usual scale, with the inevitable loss of (albeit) a small proportion of fine detail which you might be accustomed to adding? Or was this the norm before 7mm?

Would you now consider 2mm? Of course you may already have creating something in that scale!
 

Rippers

Western Thunderer
Now the rebuilding of the Fens nears completion, how did you all take to working in a smaller-than-usual scale, with the inevitable loss of (albeit) a small proportion of fine detail which you might be accustomed to adding? Or was this the norm before 7mm?

Would you now consider 2mm? Of course you may already have creating something in that scale!

Actually. given how many 4mm layouts (OO and EM) we have built over the years we still think of ourselves as 4mm scale modellers. Hospital Gates was our first attempt at 7mm scale and thus not knowing what we were doing basically approached its construction by thinking of at as a as a 4mm layout.........only bigger!:confused:

No we haven't and I cant see us attempting fine scale 2mm given our clod-hopping approach to things. Though 3mm might be nice!:cool:

We were responsible for a pair of portable N gauge demo layouts for the boys and girls at Barwell in the past though. that are still seen on their stands from time to time.

Fun to do, But again, with no prior experience in the scale our approach was to treat their building as a 4mm ones ......just further away!

..........we really are that strange as a group.....!:))
 
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