As from today I have put over 500 prototype photo’s on the below site – please have a good browse. If you want a copy of a specific photo, email me and I will send it free of charge, but please use for personal use only as they are copyright.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmalrailwaymodels/albums
I have several hundreds more to add – all taken between 1978 to date
I have now made bales of ‘fodder’ for the type R wagons. Fodder was an overall term for the horses feed, it could be made up of various plants. I have made hay bales cut from grass land. These were made from a softwood base with glued on chopped coloured hair and bound by wire. Not perfect – but they look the part.
Weathered
Now loaded with the removable bales of hay
Photo’s not taken on 4000 yards – area 5
I have now added the final detailing bits to Copsey. The layout now has CCTV Camera’s, Crash Barriers in four places, Stacks of pallets behind the Industrial units and lastly one ton Ballast Bags in the Engineers Yard.
Apart from a little blending and weathering the layout is now finished.
Below are a few cameo scenes and groups of people
Here are three class R wagons, used mainly for provisions etc. There were several different types made for the WD, but also quite a lot of commandeered ones from various sources. These three are generic, but are the correct length etc.
I purchased some 7mm hay bales and hope to set up a production line making some in 16mm – must feed the horses! They are varnished, but not weathered yet!
Also pleased to say we are now up to four Exhibitions in 2019 with the layout.
Photo’s not taken on 4000 yards
Its been a while since I updated this thread – anyway, Graham came to see me today and we added some signs, ammo boxes and rifle boxes to the layout. These were made by Graham and very good they look.
We also took a few photo’s of part finished wagons and posed the 18 pounder field gun that Graham is working on. We still have some more packing cases to add, mainly ammo boxes and .303 rifle boxes. I have also purchased some ‘hay bales’ to add to wagons later.
Even although it is not finished, we are likely to have at least three exhibitions with the layout next year. I am sure we will be ready for the first in April at Stowmarket.
Just a few photo’s after adding some people to the platform – I think this really brings the layout to life.
Still awaiting delivery of some more bits to add to the layout – then a bit more detailing and weathering in the yard.
Here are some passable photo’s of a few units running about 2002, with Railtrack signage in the yard. I will be populating the platforms etc within the next few days and adding a few other bits that are still to be delivered.
Well my three enjoyable weeks making this layout is almost over, it is nearly finished! The only work to do is add more people, mainly on the station, add a Gaugemaster track cleaner, add further fencing and a gate to the engineers yard and finally weather the track and buildings further.
I really hope it shows what can be done with a simple track plan, simple electrics and recycled bits and pieces.
Below are some hastily taken photo’s, using a cheap camera at night, with normal strip lighting. I will take further photo’s soon with stock and using some different era’s and Train Operators.
Thanks to Graham Minshull and Shaun Harvey for their help over the last two years – without them I would have given up Exhibiting.
During adding these photo’s I have noticed a few glitches that need rectifying, so the journey continues. I guess I should have split this post into several subjects but time is precious at present and I have a lot of friends O Gauge work to do before a meeting on Sunday – fingers crossed.
After much thought and the determination to pick a name that would be suitable for multiple era’s and companies in different parts of the country, I came up with ‘Copsey’.
To reinforce the variety of DMU’s that can be run in various era’s from about 1985 – to date. I have made up some ‘running in’ boards that will clip onto the station in keeping with the unit’s running. I have also made the boards for the engineers yard to reflect the company in charge of the track and most stations.
Firstly the Engineers signs (these are all that is needed for the period of the layout)
Now we have various ‘running in’ boards to reflect the DMU’s running
These are not exhaustive and others will be added. The Platform signage will all be in white with black lettering to avoid changing everything! This is not the first time I have done this. About 20 years ago I did removable signs for my then Exhibition layout – the sadly missed ‘Melford’.
‘Copsey’ is an old family name that has sadly died out. I picked it because I could find no Town or Village with this name in the UK, although I stand corrected if wrong.
Further work has been done on the DMU layout. It is now 100% electrically complete and hopefully the photo’s show just how simple the layout is. The ‘first’ DMU has run, sorry no pun intended, and all isolating sections were tested and numbered on the controls. I have really gone out of my way to make things as simple as possible – hopefully to encourage others to have a go!
I had originally made the layout to operate in Network Rail Era, 2002 to date. However I hope to design ‘plug in’ signs so that by changing the signs, cars and railway road vehicles I can get back to about 1990.
For the record, Network Rail – 2002 to date
Railtrack – 1994 to 2002
British Rail – 1990 to 1994 (for my purposes – actually from 1967)
Prior to this it was British Railways!
I have now finished the bridge over the railway and it awaits painting and weathering.
Ballast should be here tomorrow – so hopefully can be done over the weekend!
OR
Prototype ‘plug in’
