Garden Rail Saturday; Planning the Line

Time for another instalment...

This was pretty as well as far as the old garden line got, the 45mm incarnation of it anyway, in the garden at the in-laws. As previously discussed, for a variety of reasons/excuses the line ended up an overgrown ruin and was scrapped. With the new layout underway in 32mm scale at our new house, we've been building up stock to test with. We needed a concept and theme for the layout, and started thinking about something small in scale, and vaguely Welsh in theme.

This is the sort of thing we're thinking of; small locomotives and quarry/feldbahn-sized stock. This was a gala event on the Ffestiniog a few years back, photo taken up at Tanybwlch.

A trip to the Tal-Y-Llyn this Easter provided more inspiration; moss, ferns, and rock cuttings, and dinky little locomotives.

A bit of Photoshop jiggery-pokery; one of the shots from the visit re-touched to represent a loco and coaches surviving into British Rail ownership in the 1990's. One of the ideas being toyed with is a Corris-esque line surviving through Nationalisation, in a similar fashion to the nearby Vale of Rheidol. The Corris at least has the advantage of smaller locomotives and coaches (the above Kerr Stuart is an ex-Corris machine). 

In terms of space available for a layout, however, this was the size of the area we had at the in-laws...

...versus what we have now. Not hugely inspiring in terms of what we could fit in, even going for a compact quarry-type layout. In fact it's about a quarter of the room we had the 45mm line in.

Doodling the trackplans led to this; actually working full-size, though with Faller stock to test clearances. A layout for the garden, effectively in the space you'd normally do a large indoor layout in the smaller scales!

And here is the plan, though since this was drawn-up, it's changed again a couple of times. But then that was the point of planning it so thoroughly; the 45mm layout suffered for being too big a project, and needing constant revision.

Anyway, here it is in the current issue of Garden Rail magazine; more soon, focussing on actually making a start on building the line... Though the next instalment will probably be a trip to a garden railway exhibition this weekend.

 

Medical Monday; A Rash Undertaking

Something directly medical themed again for todays Medical Monday, and the production of simulated rashes to go on the high-fidelity medical robots.

When I became an NHS Education Technician, I didn't really know much about Sepsis. It was just a weird sort of infection you sometimes got, right? Pretty rare, a bit unpleasant, but there were bigger things to worry about. Right?

Well, now I've worked 3 1/2 years in Medical Education, I am f*cking terrified of Sepsis. It's bloody everywhere. We train the medical staff in Sepsis recognition and treatment in nearly every multi-scenario course we do, and for a good reason. Sepsis is a killer. You can get secondary infection with Sepsis through just getting a cut, hell, in the last week as I type this, a chap nearly died from Sepsis acquired after bursting a spot on his neck. If that isn't enough to scare you, I don't know what is.

Here's my Public Service Bit, as the bought-and-paid-for NHS employee that I am:

Symptoms of sepsis - NHS

Bluntly- the signs of Sepsis; a rash that doesn't fade when you roll a glass over it (the same as you get with meningitis), high temperature, confusion and slurred speech, difficult or shallow breathing, pale or discoloured skin. OK a lot of the above can be mistaken for other medical conditions, so if you've had an open wound and notice any of the above in the aftermath, if in doubt, go seek medical help immediately.

As you can imagine then, replicating Sepsis (and the similar rash you get with Anaphylaxis, the allergic reactions to things like antibiotics or bee stings) is a biggy for us. And quite tricky to convincingly do on a mannequin made of latex.

Since I joined, the technique (developed by my predecessors) was a quick one, for the tight turn-around times between Scenarios. See, we do a scenario, then the candidates go next door for a debrief, which gives us anywhere from 5-20 minutes to set up for the next one. So we have to be a bit speedy, especially if they've left the place covered in equipment or meds to tidy up as well.

Classic NHS-Issue Single Ply Loo Roll (with all the comfort and softness associated with the phrase 'Government Issue'), dotted with red marker pen if you're in a rush, or fake blood if you remember to do it the day before. Trying not to make the spots too regular or small.

Slathered in Vaseline, which helps it go transparent, with the noticeable downside of making the robot exceedingly greasy and unpleasant to the touch. Plus, if you've done the 'oh hell, I forgot I needed a rash, where's the permanent marker' technique it can sometimes bleed-through to the skin.  I rather felt a more detailed solution might have been in order.

Being as we were somewhat blessed with better budgets when I started, the robots were still under warranty, which meant when they'd had yearly services, the engineers changed the skins. And thus, there were a couple of old, slightly worn and marked, chest skins just otherwise doing nothing...

Creative solutions to a problem- I needed the chest filled to work on, but didn't want it on the robot (both because Sim Man is an absolute Unit, and a bugger to move around, and also because I didn't want to clumsily splatter paint on him). Luckily we had a beach ball I'd donated into the props box at work, so out that came to fill the chest.

For the effect of raised blotchy spots, after some experimentation I settled on blobs of superglue (second only to duct-tape, and one slot above Philips Screwdriver, in the Essential Technicians Toolbox).

Should I ever wish to shoot a shower gel or shampoo commercial with Sim Man, I now know the solution. And knowing is of course half the battle.

If only there had been a dispenser with 300 or so gloves in the room I was working in. The fake blood doesn't half stain. I used a mix of this, and Citadel acrylics. The chap in Warhammer (Leeds) didn't half give me a look when I tried to explain to him why I was buying a dozen pots of 4 different shades of blood-coloured paint.

So experiment one wasn't a great success. The raised blobs took on more of a blistered look, though worth bearing in mind for a possible chemical burn scenario.

We aren't made of spare chests, so I had to painstakingly scrape off all the raised blisters. Then, it was out with the paint... again... to try doing it all with just paint this time, no low-relief effects. Experiment Two wasn't bad, but it also didn't quite work, as the splatters were a bit too dark.

Various washes and dilutions later, I'd successfully toned-down the darker patches. Applying the rash by spattering the chest with a mix of blood and paint worked a treat... and also meant I had to spend an afternoon cleaning a wall, two tables, the floor and the tissue-fridge door. Wamp-wammmp.

Worth it though. Two of us working in concert can strip the 'regular' chest skin off Sim Man and fit this one (4 zips and a slightly awkward slot and tab arrangement in his groin) in the same time it took to apply the patented loo roll version. Faculty seem happy with this one too, though I may come back to it this summer to do a little more work on it.

And again, for God's sake, familiarise yourself with the symptoms of Sepsis.

 

Hornby: The Collector. His Lordship's Railway

Another project for The Collector, and another Micro Layout. Even with more space to work with at the moment in the new house, I really need to break this habit of making micro layouts and start doing more imaginative, larger projects...

The roots of this go back to last year, and the National Open Gardens Scheme- out Wressle way, there's a house where the late Colin Shutt decided to build himself a light railway on his land, in best British Eccentric Fashion.  If I had the land and more importantly the money, I'm sure I'd do the same!

A private preserved railway is something of an oddity in this country, there aren't many such lines, and the rare open day was bringing out the enthusiasts. Me and Elder Child called in as part of a grand-tour of small preserved railways in the area, getting fodder for articles.

Interesting mix of buildings- this 'fake' house alongside the line being a particular oddity.

Anyway, thoughts turned to making a micro layout inspired by this, and given Hornby make a lovely model of the Ruston 48ds, it seemed good subject fodder for The Collector. And then the house move happened, so it didn't get started for nearly a year.

I started by the usual method of raiding boxes and scraps for anything I could re-use; part of the aim of the project was to try some new techniques, and the Ready to Plant resin Skaledale models which I've not done much with before.

The initial plan, which was typically over the top. I was thinking in terms of making this a good micro layout with a lot of play potential. But I quickly fell out with this; not just the complexity of the folding board, which limited what scenic bits could go where, but also because it didn't capture the simplicity of the inspiration which had one loco, one set of points, and two wagons.

A change of plan saw a new board being quickly built to fill an underbed storage box.

More playing, to create a composition I was happy with. Yes there'll be a lot there, but I thought I could break it up with a few scenic features to disguise how small it really is.

I love having a water feature on any layout I do; this would be a small, shallow stream, using some more of the ripple-effect plasticard that I used for a seaside themed diorama.

More packing foam for landforms.

Simple, lightweight bridge from plasticard-covered foam and mountboard.

Lots of resin ready to plant walls, all bought second-hand. The tracklaying left something to be desired, though I'd be burying the majority under scatter and ballast. Basically the flexitrack was so flexible that I struggled to keep the sleeper spacing, and really should have re-laid it.

Static grass sheet, as a base layer for the final treatment. This stage of building a model always demoralises me, as it feels like it's never going to come together.

The real location; either side of the level crossing, the trackwork has a completely different character. Neat and tidy on the station and shed side, overgrown light-railway on the other.

I tried to replicate this on the model too, but then decided actually it looked a bit better with it all buried in scatter.

Using an ancient Hornby Dublo wagon with massive wheel flanges to clear troughs through the scatter, so the more modern Hornby models would run reliably.

I wanted lots of colourful flowers and plants around the layout, so broke up these 'flower hedges' into more manageable plants to put around the house and gardens.

Interior for the greenhouses. card shelves, and Javis hedges.

On the real railway, the shed is something of a lean-to.

Mine would be a little more ornate, just because I had a (Ratio?) platform canopy in the scrapbox, which I planned to attach to the side of the barn.

The real loco; a lovely Ruston 48ds, which is what inspired me to do the project. I have several of these awesome little Hornby models, but wanted a home for my first one that I'd bought.

I replaced the flat wagon however, adding benches to this one as a kind of improvised passenger vehicle.

The real railway has two wagons, but I thought that two would overpower my layout.

One of the views I really wanted, up the lane.  The idea I wanted to try and convey was this was an old railway which bisected the grounds of a small, Lake District farm, and when the railway closed, the home-owner kept the length on his property. I ended up with a whole backstory of him being a Londoner who'd made his money as an architect, he was a lifelong railway enthusiast, and he'd bought the property specifically because of the railway when it was open. Being both rich and a Southerner, he is known as 'his Lordship' to all the locals.

The real house at the inspiration is surprisingly modern-looking.

I used a slightly older-looking house, picked up in one of Hornby's new-year sales.

I also added a bit more colour, not least because I had loads of adults and kids in bathing costumes and summer clothes, leftover from the seaside-themed diorama I'd just built at the same time. It made sense then to set this diorama in summer, and presume that some of the old farm buildings were now holiday cottages.

The summer house, where His Lordship ran his successful consultancy architecture business from; it started life as a shade for a set of ornate Christmas tree lights.

Hopefully this shows my attempts to break up the scene and disguise just how small the layout is, cramming it full of small cameos and angles.

One of my favourite views of the layout. In fact, this might be one of the favourite builds I've done, just for how colourful and jolly it turned out. OK so its a bit operationally limited, but I really like it nonetheless.

...aaaaaand in print.

Hopefully, a version (with a bit of creating writing) should be appearing in the Micro Model Railway Digest too.