Another day working on Bowford, platform tops painted, more ballast glued, more grassing and an alternative Goods Shed measured up and placed in position. I think about 60% of ballasting is complete and glued in place, with about 75% of the grassing complete, another day should see these completed.

Over the weekend I hope to paint on the road and then the first coat of light blue on the backscene.

I have started to grass the part of the layout where the ballast glue is dry and also blending some pre-made resin buildings with static grass. The light earth down the sides and in the middle of the ballast is mainly for texture and will be partly recoloured later.

About 50% of the track is ballasted but only about half of that is glued down. No weathering has taken place yet. The river (stream) needs to be gloss varnished and then reeds added.

I have now painted the embankments and undulations with a slightly diluted coat of earth coloured Emulsion paint, I use this paint as it accepts PVA well and there is no reaction with Enamel paint.

I then painted the Pond and the River with a dark green enamel -BR Green in fact!

I have started to ballast some straight track using a dispenser designed for the purpose – the points I will do by hand. I am using Noch N Gauge Granite Ballast. Next step will be wetting an area and then with a dropper add 50-50 PVA and water, plus a drop of washing up liquid.

I have carried on with the scenics today and have applied a filler to shape the pond, river and embankments. I have sanded everything for a smooth finish. I could add another layer and repeat the process but all the points need to be easily accessible as they are manual operation so will likely remain at the current height.

I have positioned the cut down station building and the ‘cut off’ rear portion on the station for further deliberation.

Next Jobs are ballasting, backscene painting, embankments and river/pond painting.

I have spent the last two days starting the scenics. I have made a pond and a river, as well as starting on some small embankments – I emphasise this is just the first layer, to be built up with other layers and then filler to form the small to medium embankments.

I have also made the Station Building fit the platform, I removed an inch off the back, making into a 3/4 relief. I also reduced the canopy so that all Locos and coaches can pass the full length of the platform – this was a resin casting and took a lot of sawing and filing.

All the electrics have been done on the layout and the tops of the platforms have been added. The whole layout has been electrically tested and declared working as required. All clearances on the platforms and buildings have also been checked. I still need to sort out the Station building, it needs to have the razor saw taken to it to reduce the width.

Ian T has decided to name his OO layout ‘Bowford’ after a combination of two places he has lived. I have now finished the Platform Edging and gluing the track down permanently. I have managed to get another siding into the goods yard, that’s makes four in total and should give much more shunting opportunities. I am awaiting the plasticard for the tops of the platforms, but the next job will be the electrics, four isolating sections and the control through a DPDT switch that changes between two feeds. The track over the baseboard join have been cut and this will be joined by a 10 way electric plug.

It looks like I will need to turn the station building into half relief as in its current form it will not fit and when put on a Peco platform – the canopy is to low and fouls the coaches. I have to say that I am not that impressed with some of the resin buildings – for example the cattle dock has no way to bring cows down to ground level unlike the Ratio kit I have used in the past. I have already taken the razor saw to make the level crossing and the weigh bridge more acceptable for placement on the layout. The yard crane on a platform also seems very contrived and not realistic.

I have temporarily tacked the track down and added some buildings and fitting in their potential final position. The layout is moving to phase two, when approved the track will be glued down, the platforms made when the slopes arrive and the electrics added. I am hoping to be test running within a week. Some of the Castings will need trimming slightly to fit into their intended position.

The first phase of the new OO layout is finished. The second hand baseboards have been completely refurbished, the tops have been corked and the back boards added. I have put a 2″ edge on the fiddle yard for extra safety. All vulnerable corners have right angle protectors fitted.

The second hand baseboards have arrived from my friend Ian T, I have refurbished them as best I can, added an extra section to one board and started to cork the first board. I have made the fiddle yard by making back boards and fitting them. I hope the below photos help understand the work done.

The layout overall is 9′ 3″ x 1′ 6″ and made up of 1 X 4′ and 1 x 5′ 3″. The aim is to make a Terminus BR (WR) small branch station and goods yard.

Photos in chronological order.