All in the 009 news...

Just a quick post to keep things ticking over here. Another issue of the 009 news has been found in my mailbox. I'd just like to say how much I look forward to receiving it each month. Good photographs interesting modelling articles just the sort of thing I need to keep the enthusiasm level ticking over whilst I'm struggling with inspiration.

Tumbleweed time...

You've seen those old westerns with the deserted towns and the tumbleweed blowing down the deserted streets...
Well such is the state of my mind at the moment when it comes to developing this layout.
If you've seen some of the posts on my 4mm scale agonies blog you'll know that I can see in my minds eye just exactly what I want to put over on a model.
Lately, here that has just not been happening for me. I know what I want to put over in the model I just can't see how I want to put it over.
Mountain streams, Dinas junction station building, trees, mountains, slate built buildings. It's all there. I just can't see how these features relate to each other.
To me that is of paramount inportance. I haven't done anything to my P4 layout in months but my enthusiasm for this layout remains undiminished because I can see how every inch of the layout will look when finished. Ergo, it must be the same for this project.
In the meantime I'm reading and absorbing lots of material on all aspects of the layout. I found a fascinating piece in an old issue of the Review last night "Feldbahn Theatre" it was called. The layout was 1:22.5 scale, circular, about 3' in diameter. There was a lot of rumblings about smoke generators and such like. But the overall presentation had things that made me think. The lighting, the seamless semicircular backscene. Who knows where that article will lead me, if anywhere.
I've also taken some inspiration from Neil Rushbys' circular 009 layout. I like the way it looks. It's almost, but not quite, sort of like, almost what I'm thinking of. It nags at my brain in a way that other layouts don't.
So nothing much happenning but its not for want of trying...

The mystery baseboard

I've posted this picture on my 4mmscale agonies blog and I thought I'd post it here for devilment...

It's a piece of wood some 5' long by 1' at its deepest point, that has been languishing unnoticed in my garage for several years now. Coming in from a 15 mile run the other day I saw it and was struck by the shape. Initially I thought the curved edge looked like a river bank. It could just as easily be a rocky fast flowing North Wales river as it could be a slow silted up East Lincolnshire river mouth. Like I say just posted for devilment it would be a pity not to incorporate those curves on a layout somewhere...

Mail Call

Yesterday on returning home from work my first mailing from the 009 society had arrived.
It's interesting to see the difference in society introductory mailings. The EM Gauge society sends a huge wodge of papers in its manual and a CDRom as well. The Scalefour society sends a nice thick folder of papers too.
The 009 is much lighter. Not that that is a bad thing at all. Just a magazine and a letter of introduction and a couple of pages of rules.
The big surprize though was a free Colin Ashby wagon kit! I wasn't expecting that at all. Unfortunately the wheels snapped off at the axles on the wheels and and one wheel and both axles punched their way out of the envelope and got lost in transit on my kit. But that's not an issue, send me replacement and the same would probably happen. I have plenty of Microtrains wheels that I will standardize on for my layout anyway. But I was really impressed with that little extra in the mailing.
So I now consider myself a 009 modeller and a happy one at that.

Paperwork

Spent the last week or so going through some old model railway magazines looking for drawings of buildings and rolling stock to get an idea of what things will look like. Found some drawings of Ffestiniog Railway coaches in some issues of the Review. But most importantly I found myself a station building. In issue 62 of the Review is an article about Dinas station on the NWNGR/WHR complete with drawings. It's a nice small structure with lots of character and given that if the line to Betws-y-coed had been built it would likely have been operated by the NWNGR. So the building is totally in character. Looking forward to starting that one soon.

Counting the cost

OK a quick rant here about prices of imported stuff in the US.
I was in my Local Hobby Shop on Sunday (Hub Hobby in Richfield - excellent place) and I bought some track for this layout. A couple of PECO crazy track point $12.99 each. Not too bad a price I thought.
Yesterday I looked in the Walthers website the same items were $23.99 each!
Daylight robbery!
I will be off back to Hub Hobby to buy the rest of their crazy track points soon...

Cricket, Running and Betws (not necessarily in that order)

First off England won the Ashes!
Those of you who read my 4mmscaleagonies blog will know of my summertime obsession with the greatest game. So yesterday I was pretty happy.
I have also alluded to my passion for marathon running and Sunday was my first 20 mile training run of my current training campaign.
Twenty miles is a long way to run and it takes a few hours 3:18:12 to be exact, so it affords me a good length of time to clear my mind and think about things with no distractions.
Things like scenes I'd like to feature on this layout.
Some kind of station with a small loop and a siding, perhaps two, so that I could shunt some wagons.
A small river bed strewn with rocks and boulders with the water wending its way around them.
A small scene with the tramway running alongside the road.
The layout need some sort of large central feature to hide one side of the layout from the other to help seperate the the scenes from each other. Belfield Hall used a large wall and Ganaraska used a large building. What I'll use I don't know. A tree covered Rocky outcrop perhaps? Mustn't look to contrived however.
This is all good. The creative cogs are turning, visions are forming in my mind . Doubtlessly some sketches will be forthcoming in the near future.