Kirkfield & Warmthorpe Railway

[IanR]

The Kirkfield and Warmthorpe railway is a OO gauge model railway that runs around my small, triangular back garden. It runs along the perimeter fences and onto a wall on the patio and crosses paths by means of removable sections. It is basically a single line with two long passing loops giving the impression of a double track main line on the long straight sections. The main station, Kirkfield Northgate, is on the patio wall and there are four tracks here. I call it an outdoor railway rather than a garden railway as it is raised about four feet from the ground and doesn't actually run through flowers and shrubs etc.
Assembly started in April 2008 by fixing aluminium greenhouse shelf brackets to the perimeter fence posts to support the baseboards. The baseboards are six inch wide sections of 18mm waterproof ply. This was treated firstly with a coat of bitumen paint thinned with 20% white spirit and then an undiluted coat was applied to the underside and edges. The boards have been stengthened using a product called 'Gypframe' which is a galvanised channel used for constructing partition wall frames and was obtained from B&Q. Besides providing strength it also acts as a trunking for cables. Roofing felt was bonded to the top using roofing felt adhesive and rolled flat using a wallpaper seam roller. Peco code 100 track is used and is pinned down using fine brass pins in the ends of the sleepers about every three inches or so. Track joints are bonded using layout wire soldered across the joints and a gap is left between the rail sections to allow for expansion. Points are operated by Peco point motors housed in weatherproof boxes which I made from plastic sheet.
The control panel, which is conventional DC, is built into an aluminium tool box and connects to the layout via a multipin printer cable.
Locos and rolling stock are all of the late 50’s early 60’s period.
The layout is now into its second year and has seemed to survive fine through the winter.
There are more pictures of my layout at http://photobucket.com/kirkfieldandwarmthorperailway

Standard class 5 no. 73069 crossing river bridge on a van train.

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Deltic D9017 "Durham Light Infantry on an express passenger.

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[mick]

That's really excellent stuff Ian and you display great attention to detail not just in your modelling but also in your methods of construction which puts some of my work to shame. I wish I'd read about some of your methods before I had made a start on mine as it would have made things so much easier.

The photo's are also excellent and the ones on your photobucket site are mind blowing. Your control panel is a work of art in itself! I love the twin girder bridges spanning the river which makes a great photo shoot position.

I feel like I have hurried my layout now and need to go back over it to correct the obvious faults. Thanks for some really great inspiration and terriffic motivation and please keep adding info and pics to the site.

Mick

[IanR]

That's really excellent stuff Ian and you display great attention to detail not just in your modelling but also in your methods of construction which puts some of my work to shame. I wish I'd read about some of your methods before I had made a start on mine as it would have made things so much easier.

The photo's are also excellent and the ones on your photobucket site are mind blowing. Your control panel is a work of art in itself! I love the twin girder bridges spanning the river which makes a great photo shoot position.

I feel like I have hurried my layout now and need to go back over it to correct the obvious faults. Thanks for some really great inspiration and terriffic motivation and please keep adding info and pics to the site.

Mick

Thanks for your comments Mick, I'm glad that you like it. You'll have to be more patient than me as you have to wait for your scenery to grow, mine was more instant, mainly in the form of scouring pads and a hot glue gun!

[IanR]

When I first built the railway it wasn’t my intention for it to be scenic. I intended it to be a track on a shelf but it sort of evolved! The first things to be added were a tunnel and then I discovered that scouring pads made acceptable looking bushes and trees and are quite weather resistant.
A few buildings have been added, these are mainly either resin or plastic kits from Skaledale, Scenix and Dapol. I have installed a few colour light signals, most of these change with the points and give me a visual indication that the points have actually fired. There are also two semaphore signals and these too work with the points. Don’t know if these things will survive as they are rather fragile for an outdoor layout but we’ll see.
This year has also seen the doubling of the track over the river and through the tunnel. This of course meant building more Dapol girder bridges and a new double track tunnel. The tunnel is a wooden frame with plywood sides, covered in roofing felt and finished off with scouring pads. (I have used hundreds of these things, thank God for pound shops).
This year I have also added the background that you can see on the photos. This is 5 inch wide lenghths of 6mm ply painted with two coats of Sandtex smooth “snowbird” masonry paint. I’m not sure how it will weather, just have to wait and see! I have stuck some low relief buildings on to this and also more of the good old scourers.

[mick]

The scourers look extremely effective and I would imagine they'll last ages! There are some very nice resin buildings and structures available. I have a small selection of Skaledale but I'm not sure that I'll be using any out in the garden. Perhaps when I get the proposed shed they'll find a home there. Likewise signals - I hadn't intended incorporating any at all but there are certain areas where a signal would be appropriate and give you a reason to stand a train.

I'm still going through your Photobucket pictures. I like the loco storage module. Are the cradles proprietery products or have you made them yourself? After seeing examples of your work aready I wouldn't be surprised to learn you've made them too but I do recall seeing something similar a number of years back.

Mick

[IanR]

The scourers look extremely effective and I would imagine they'll last ages! There are some very nice resin buildings and structures available. I have a small selection of Skaledale but I'm not sure that I'll be using any out in the garden. Perhaps when I get the proposed shed they'll find a home there. Likewise signals - I hadn't intended incorporating any at all but there are certain areas where a signal would be appropriate and give you a reason to stand a train.

I'm still going through your Photobucket pictures. I like the loco storage module. Are the cradles proprietery products or have you made them yourself? After seeing examples of your work aready I wouldn't be surprised to learn you've made them too but I do recall seeing something similar a number of years back.

Mick

Yes, the storage cradles are made by Peco and are called "loco lifts". The beauty of them is that you don't have to handle your locos as you just put them on the track and then they become live enabling the loco to drive off. I did make the boxes to hold them myself.
Ian.

[IanR]

It's been a great week for playing with trains! Makes a nice change to be able to get things out and not have to keep looking skywards for the next shower cloud to threaten.
You can't beat seeing the models in natural daylight, especially sunlight. I couldn't resist taking photos, here are a few of them and the rest can be seen on Photobucket http://photobucket.com/kirkfieldandwarmthorperailway

B1 no 61017 "Bushbuck" emerges from Back o' t' Shed tunnell with a parcels train.

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WD no 90200 crosses the river with a coal train

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2 car DMU calls at Sheddleton with a local service.

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[mick]

Agree entirely - nothing can beat natural light for enhancing the models and scenery which I guess is why indoor modellers with more portable baseboards bring their layouts outdoors to photograph them. I decided to build my viaduct as a spot for taking photographs but I've found that the section at the top of the garden with a backdrop of conifers looks far more realistic as it's usually dappled with sunlight (when we're fortunate enough to get some).

I really like the weathering on the B1 and WD in your last photos, in fact a lot of your stock appears to have undergone some degree of weathering. Do you do this yourself? My WD has the light factory weathering which I quite like but yours look like they've seen more demanding work and look even better.

Mick

[IanR]

I mainly use Carr's Weathering powders for weathering my locos and stock. These powders are best applied to a really matt surface so I give the models a coat of matt varnish before I apply them. Wheels and rods are painted with matt paints, usually a mixture of Humbrol matt black and dark earth. I have done quite a few locos and goods vehicles with this method. I do need to do most of the passenger vehicles and also most of my green locos are still pristine, this could be a project for the winter. I think an airbrush could be useful for weathering the passenger stock, I may have to invest in one.

[mick]

I'll have to get hold of some weathering powders and give it a try myself. I've never attempted to weather anything before but I've got a few cheapie loco's that I can use to practise on. There are some items of stock that I definitely won't be dirtying up - the MK1 Pullman's and Gresley teaks for a start - I don't think I could bring myself to do it. Perhaps a slight dirtying of the bogies and underframe at a push but certainly not along the body sides! They have very efficient coach washing facilities on the Selby Garden Railway and that's gonna' be my excuse!

Your loco's look excellent.