Useful Tools for the Building of Hadarford

These rather useful tools made by Proses, arrived in the post today. They are for applying then gluing ballast along the railway track. I became aware of them through my cousin letting me know about them via Facebook.

The device on the left is the glue applicator and the one on the right is the ballast spreader. The ballast spreader is used first by filling it with ballast then sliding it along the track, and it deposits ballast evenly between the rails and either side. The glue applicator is very cunning. The small red/white bar is placed over the nozzles to stop glue from coming out whilst filling. The small grey piece which is magnetically held in place is removed to expose the small filling hole, then using the syringe, the adhesive, which is diluted PVA glue, is injected into the applicator through the small hole. The magnetic piece is replaced which creates an airtight seal, which is vital in its operation. The red/white bar is removed and the applicator can them be placed onto the track, and whilst moving it along the yellow wheel is moved ¼ turn which thus deposits a small quantity of adhesive onto the previously laid ballast. These will save a lot of work in the building of Hadarford, especially as there will be such a lot of track to ballast. However I haven’t worked out yet, and there is nothing in the instructions on what to do with point work, I think some dry-run experimenting may be necessary.

Keith.

Another 2 Buildings

Another 2 buildings I bought on eBay arrived this morning.

This is a ladies toilet for the railway station.

And this is a village hall.

Keith.

Hadarford Station

Some more buildings arrived this morning, 2 station buildings. However I may not use them both on the station, I will decide once I start building. I can always use one of them as a house in the village.

I am also having a rethink on the design of the layout. I am reconsidering the long underground loop of railway track, which has no benefit to the layout, in fact it complicates it by needing under-baseboard access to it, it will use a lot of track which costs a lot of money, and it takes up a lot of valuable building space at both the front and rear of the layout. Space will become available also by being able to move the rail track and canal back to towards the rear of the layout, giving me more space at the front of the layout for these new station buildings. So I am thinking of removing this loop and just having a single track passing once through the layout.

Basically the track crossing across the hold on the right will now curve immediately onto the track along the front of the layout. The hill on the right was raised up to go over the railway tracks, and I needed 2 canal locks to achieve the height to get the canal over the hidden tracks, This hill will not need to be as high, and thus I will only now have 1 canal lock, where the top lock is. By removing the 2 tracks of the loop at the rear of the layout, I will now have more space for the station at the the front of the layout, and building of the village at the rear of the layout. I should also be able to make the farm area on the left of the layout larger because removing one of the locks and the pound in between the 2 locks will shift the quayside to the right and the canal can be shortened accordingly by the length of 1 lock and the pound, and leaving at the rear of the layout earlier. I will now have to make model version No. 5, and post it on here once completed, which will make it easier to understand these changes.

Keith.

Another eBay Bargain

I have today received in the post this out of production model of a thatched pub which I was successful in bidding for on eBay. As advertised on eBay it stated as follows:-

“This listing is for a used Bachmann Scenecraft Building (Pendon Waggon and Horse Pub) the item is in good sound condition but has been painted white by my son”.

These 1st two photos are of an original before being painted by the original owners son.

These next 2 photos are from the advert and show that the paintjob in question was not particularly brilliant.

This is a close-up of a part of the building to show the challenge I was faced with.

Firstly I removed the window frames and glazing to make it easier to repaint the model and to clean up the glazing and repaint the frames which was easier than trying to do it with them in situ. Some of the glazing was not reusable so I cut out some new ones. These are the repainted window frames ready to be refitted.

Then I repainted the building, touching up the white walls, painting the doors and window openings black, and touched up the small section of roof tiling behind the tall chimney, which had white paint on it.

And finally the glazing and window frames were refitted. I actually think, and Jo agrees with me, that it now looks even better than an original one which had yellow brick work!

All this achieved in a couple of hours. I doubt I will use it as a pub though as I already have a kit for a pub to build, but I will use it as a cottage, somewhere on the layout.

It should go rather nicely along side the thatched cottage I already have.

Keith.

Santa Needs a New Watch!

Santa Arrived early this morning and delivered this batch of goodies for Hadarford.

This is a hay barn for the farm.

These are a cart house & combined stable and the milking parlour, also for the farm.

This is 1 set of 2 sets of brick walls, and a chicken coup kit and garage kit all of which are also for the farm.

These 2 packs are pavement pieces for the village area, and a Royal Mail van and Arriva bus. The van will be outside the post office, the bus will be somewhere on the road.

Keith.

More Trees from China

70 more trees arrived today from China, which cost £3.81 free post!

There are 40 of these 9cm high fir trees.

And 30 of these 6.5cm high trees.

This now means I have 135 trees so far with another batch of 20 trees from China to arrive which should be enough trees, hopefully.

Keith.

4 More Buildings

4 more new buildings for Hadarford arrived today, the station booking office and waiting shelter.

And 2 line-side huts.

Keith.

5 More Trees

5 more trees arrived today.

Keith.

Buildings for Hadarford

5 more buildings for my new model railway arrived today, a thatched cottage, stables, a wash house, a pig sty and a cow shed.

Keith.

Trees Part 1

The first batch of 3 lots of trees arrived today all the way from China.

This group are ten 11cm high trees which cost £2.40.

And these are fifty, yes fifty 5cm high trees which also cost £2.40. Both lots were Free Post! That's £5.70 for 60 trees including postage from China. How can they ship these out at these prices? Especially by Airmail. Chinese postal costs must be extremely low, but I am not complaining. It would cost £2.80 postage just within the UK, let alone abroad!

That aside they are very good quality and I would recommend them especially in comparison to prices of ones for sale in the UK.

Keith.