Almost finished now, just a few more jobs to be done. All scenics have been finished and all buildings have been glued down. The next job to do after adding a few more details, will be a general blending of everything.

Further details include, People/Workers, Bicycles, Lights, Oil Drums and scattered Track bits.

I will do an update when finished in another few days.

Work continues apace on the scenics. The Coaling Staithes have been completed with a weighing machine, coal sacks and spillages. The first trees have been added to the grassy mounds on both sides of the track – under brush and grasses still to be added. The lever frame and rodding has been completed and glued down. The run of fence posts have been added to the front grassed area. I have ordered a loading gauge, some fencing and some bicycles, hopefully they will be with me next week.

I had a very busy day on the layout yesterday, All grassed areas have had a base coating, the basic back scene has been painted and the buildings have all been glazed.

I now consider the layout to be about 75% finished but the most important detailing will now start until I feel it is complete.

The layout has come a long way in three weeks or so, but it has kept my mind off he current Covid crisis and restrictions.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY SITE – VERY MUCH APPRECIATED

Again I have been quite busy working on the layout. The bridge is now complete and weathered. I have installed the magnets for the Spratt and Winkle couplings. The basic grassing has been started as has the painting of the backgrounds. The Coal Staithes have been glued down and weathered with spills etc. I still have some sacks of coal and a weighing machine to add.

Lots of progress over the last few days, the back scene is painted, all buildings etc. are weathered, road vehicles weathered, bridge cladded in blocks, coal added to staithes and the mounds are now ready for grassing.

Nothing is glued down at present. Next job, more work on backscene and paint and weather the bridge.

Below are a few photos but due to the dull conditions they are not great.

Due to bad weather yesterday I had to change my plans and continue with the layout as opposed to doing some Loco/Wagon Spraying.

The track and surrounds are now fully weathered with Railmatch Sleeper Grime and Matt Black, all hand brushed, The buffers have been top coated and weathered. The Coal Staithes have been painted but not yet weathered. The yard Crane has had a coat of Matt Black and will have some parts picked out in Red before weathering.

I have placed all the buildings on the layout and will paint them as I get time. I also intend to have some grassy mounds up against the bridge walls on both sides. I will also make some point rodding to the ground frame.

One of the worst jobs when making a layout is ballast picking and tidying. In other words removing any ballast that defies gravity! I have also given the ground cover a quick sandpaper to remove and humps and bumps. I will make a few puddles etc. in the ground cover later.

I have painted the Buffer Stops in undercoat and painted the track edges with Railmatch ‘sleeper grime’. When I weather the whole trackage area the edges will get further discoloured.

The dry ballasting is done – but how and why did I do it this way? The first thing to remember is what part of the railway you are modelling. This is a small goods yard, it probably has not been re-ballasted of tamped since it was laid, possibly 50 – 100 years, so it must reflect this. I have seen fantastic layouts in both O & OO and they look immaculate as they have been ballasted with mainline ballast. Some very old yards and goods facilities would not have had good ballast when new, let alone after many decades. I would think that some may have even been laid on cinders or similar.

For Little Sefton I am using N Gauge ballast and Childrens Play sand. The heavily used area is about 90% sand and only a sprinkling of the N Gauge Ballast. The less used areas are almost neat N Gauge Ballast.

I have to say I have used several methods of making well used areas look the part, this includes using DAZ Modelling Clay and adding Polyfilla to the dry Ballast – I would say both these methods worked, but I thought I would have a go at N Gauge and Dry Sand, we will see.

After wetting the ballast and using a dropper to add 50-50 PVA and water I will after drying hand paint the whole area.

Well, as you can see, I have chosen a title for the new pointless O Gauge layout. The title reflects a smaller form of a previous layout.

All the buildings are made and smaller details purchased. The position of the buildings has been decided and await painting. The only thing that may change is the yard crane, the one in the photos below is one I purchased for my station layout that is ‘paused’ at the moment. I have ordered the Peco variant and that is likely to fit this layout better.

I have also purchased two BR vehicles and a further small lorry is likely

Next step will be ballasting and basic scenics, fitting in painting buildings between ballast drying times.

After doing quite a bit of weathering over the Summer and Autumn, the weather is now turning cold and the airbrushing is slowing down in the Garage.

Still being in lockdown and self isolating, I really need to keep working on something to stop myself going into ‘couch potato’ mode.

I have several baseboards already made and after much thought I have decided to do a small village goods yard in O Gauge. I guess I have a few withdrawal symptoms after selling ‘Sefton Yard’ a couple of years ago.

The layout will hold 15 four wheel wagons and a small loco, that’s quite a detailed ‘shunting puzzle’

Track laying is now complete on this light and flexible little 5′ 6″ layout. I will post updates as things progress so that you can follow each step.