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Further up the line? Booths Siding...

So after an enjoyable trip to ExpoNG with Tim and Grindley Brook Wharf, I found myself with some renewed enthusiasm and focus on carrying on my Creech Bottom empire...

I picked up the points required for the plan shown above at the show. I have another IKEA Lack shelf ready, and the MDF for the track bed and ground cover paint. I also have enough flexi-track for most of the layout and a few of the buildings, plus all the trees so it should go together quite quickly once I start work.

The recent book on the Furzebrook Railways from Twelveheads has been the final push to let me show the latest thinking - along with discovering some wonderful old drawings and sketches from Brian Clarke of Saltford Models fame. As the project develops I'll share progress on here and my other blog as well as the 009 Modellers Facebook group and NGRM Forum. More soon hopefully...

In the meantime, Creech Bottom will be at Rainhill upstairs in the village hall this Saturday from 10am.

Planning a layout...

Planning a layout is a topic often discussed on forums and in magazines, and everyone seems to have their own take on the subject...

Here I have tried to describe both the process, and some of the considerations I made when designing Creech Bottom.

Scratchbuilding a locomotive...

Producing a UK outline narrow gauge locomotive in 009 currently requires you to source a kit and ready to run chassis. There are European locomotives available in HOe from Bemo, Liliput, and Minitrains. In 009 there is just the recent Minitrains Brigadelok but nothing of a distinctly British outline...

We will look at assembling white metal kits, etched brass kits and 3D printed kits in other posts, however an important and often considered mythical skill is scratch building. This basically means using raw materials to produce your own model, however that does not mean necessarily building your own chassis, or fabricating everything yourself. As you will see in this article you can make use of parts in your 'bits' box, or specific detailing parts to finish your model. All of these parts in the model below, excluding the bucket and chimney, are scratch built or available from suppliers online.

Building a coach kit

An adventure beyond ready to run often starts with a rolling stock kit. When working with British outline narrow gauge in 4mm scale this has been a necessity before the advent of the Peco Lynton and Barnstable rolling stock...

Building a plastic kit is an excellent learning experience, especially if it's a well designed and explained example. The Meridian Models Talyllyn coach No.4 is a simple and well designed example that is cleanly moulded with little flash on the injection mouldings.