Little People

Fred, Gordon, Mrs.M, Nick, Nack, Stout and Porter.
by Modeltown

 

Coal Merchant

With all this coal needed to fuel the engines, N.Slack & Son moved in to the sidings of Giffers' End Station to supply the needs of HLR. The suppliers of the wooden hut were Modeltown and the builders were a local firm from the town.

Humbrol acrylics were applied by Homestyal Decorating Services, finished with a matt coating of varnish.

The staging/platform for the building was designed and built using Foamex.

After drawing the contour of the track on a piece of paper, the shape was transposed to the Foamex board.

The brick walls were created using two pieces of 5mm board stuck together and etched with the outline of bricks. Same for the under platform sections.

The coping stones slightly wider than the 10mm walls.

All platform paint used was Reeves acrylic. The platform edge was left, unpainted.

All finished off with a matt coating of varnish.

You can never have enough people

One of the railways IP Engineering coaches came into the workshop recently for some routine maintenance. As this included roof repairs, the team decided that it was a good opportunity to invite patrons of HLR to ride the refurbished coach.

So they needed their Sunday best, as well as Jane, who needed some new overalls, courtesy of Modeltown!

Katie joins the HLR fleet

Waiting for the signal at Giffers' End siding.

Pulling in to Giffers' End station.

Giffers' End.

Giffers' End.

Dramatic entrance!

After arriving from Yorkshire last week, Katie completed her service and pre-operational checks with HLR.

Low Level Signal Box

A signal box was commissioned for the operation of the high and low cross section. Modeltown was just the company to supply the building (Kit 12A).

The four walls were glued together squarely before they were primed, together with the one piece base.

Humbrol Blue Grey (79) was applied first to the slate followed by a heavy dabbing of Reeves Mars Black. The woodwork was painted with Tamiya X7 Red and Humbrol White 22.

In addition to the supplied internal bits and pieces, a shelf was fitted below the windows for Wayne the signalman, to rest his daily mug of coffee.

The name board is Plastikard with Slater's 5mm white lettering.

Two small soft white LED's were fitted to the ceiling with the wires routed to below the floor to the battery box.

A 5mm sheet of Foamex was screwed to the bottom of the model and painted Reeves Mars Black.

The whole model was then varnished gloss for paintwork and matt for stone and slate work.

Saxa Salt Wagon

Saxa Salt Wagon

HLR's latest addition to the fleet of rolling stock is this Timpdon wagon.

A really simple, yet well made kit to make.

The only deviation I made from the comprehensive instructions was to add three layers of fine tissue, individually glued with adhesive spray to the roof sections.

Colonial Railcar test run

Colonial Railcar

Purchased from IP Engineering with inspiration from The Goose, HLR instructed their workshop to create a unique railcar for their passengers.

Using the assembly instructions as a guide and with a little tweaking, HLR commenced the work order, late summer 2019.

Using Super 'Phatic glue for the wooden parts, the car walls were built and fixed to the floor. 

The internal cabin partition was added, together with "coffee stirrers" as floorboards. This not only looked better, but added a little weight to the model.

Then off to the paint shop for a two colour paint job.

Using Vallejo Model Air paints, the inside was masked off before a layer of light primer was applied.

"Aged White" (71.132) was sprayed to the top half of the car.

Followed by "Red  RLM23" (71.003) which was applied to the lower half after masking off the top half.

Whilst the paint was hardening the seats were constructed. The kit comes with plenty of seats but all very wooden. I therefore added some red felt to give comfort to the passengers.

The engine compartment was assembled, metal mesh cut to improve the engine grills appearance and the front buffer beam was painted. Before spraying the buffer beam, six miniature bolt heads were affixed to enhance and improve realism.

As I wouldn't be using the electrics included in the kit, covers were added to the switch locations on each solebar.

Steps were painted black prior to being added to the rear panel. Again miniature bolt heads were added.

The external walls were all satin varnished before the masking tape was removed from the roof.

 It was now time for the passengers to take their seats. Using Epoxy resin, their "bums" were permanently fixed to their seats. No getting off as once the roof is on, it's on for ever!

Mrs Black and Miss Brown sat opposite each other at the back so they could catch up with all the gossip since they last met. They were going away together for just two days, with their bags packed and placed on top of the railcar by the station's porter prior to departure.

Like most days Mr Hall travelled to town to the local Costa for a skinny latte, extra hot, and a read of the daily papers.

Unless he's on holiday, Bob is always the driver on this route.

After all were sitting comfortably the roof was fixed in position using IP Engineerings roofing jig.

Using Fosworks electronics, each component was loosely put in place to check for best fit.

Once I was happy with the electronics, wooden strip panels were affixed across the electronic components. They were all loose fitted apart from the switch and the battery charge point.

The luggage rack, air vent (Swift Sixteen), destination board, lamp brackets (Roundhouse), lamps (?) and twin horns (SLR Models) were the final parts to be added.

Colonial Railcar passengers

Waiting patiently for the new HLR railbus to leave the workshop, here are Mrs Black (F502), Miss Brown (F511), Mr Hall and Bob the driver, all from the Modeltown range of figures.

And so it begins (Part 3)

Photo 7

With the first loop virtually complete, it was time to lay the foundations for the second loop (Photo 7).

Photo 8

As this was much higher at the front edge due to the slope of the land, a third layer of concrete bricks had to be laid (Photo 8).

Photo 9

Photo 10

Timber half logs are added to complete the front edge (Photo 10).









Part 2
Part 1