The Baseboard

I decided the layout would be an 'end-to-end' style with no fiddle yard. This was to utilise every inch of the layout and maximise the longest run possible between the two stations being modelled. Given the space available in my garage, plus with the desire to have the layout in manageable sections for any future exhibtions, my design was for 4 x 4ft length sections at a width of 16 inches - where the last section width was actually increased to 18 inches to allow for the wider footprint of the Standon station goods yard and to accommodate the road.

My choosen material was 9mm plywood for the top and sides, with 6mm plywood used for the supporting crossmember supports that provides extra strength and reduces any warping.

The local timber yard also cut the plywood to all my required lengths and widths (milling charges normally apply) which really helped ensure that all the sections were pretty much spot on accurate when it came to construction but also maximises the most efficient number cuts required from large sheets of plywood.

The 9mm tops and sides were glued and screwed and the 6mm crossmembers were glued only, supported with 1.5 inch cut blocks of softwood, also glued. Before constructing I also cut 2 inch diameter holes in the section ends and crossmembers in readiness for the wiring. At this time I also made some temporary leg supports (six) for the whole baseboard length, held in place with temporary wooden fittings, for the duration of the layout's construction.

To make sure each baseboard section was aligned perfectly with the next, essential for ensuring the layout track is always level at the section joins, I used the following methods. 8mm brass alignment dowels were used across the section joins and then adjustable toggle catches (primarily designed for cabinets) where installed on each side of the section joins (see photos).

The combination of these measures helps to ensure a near perfect baseboard join that are fully locked in place, yet easily unlocked for storage or transportation as required.

Track Laying

With the baseboard modules and legs all in place, I began to roughly draw and measure what parts of the actual Braughing to Standon track bed I could accurately accommodate on the baseboard and what would have to be ‘modellers licence’. This meant using all available reference materials to hand, namely “The Buntingford Branch” by Peter Paye, detailed GER copies of station track plans and the BR&LHS photo collection.

I then used downloadable N gauge track sections which were printed, cut out and taped to the baseboard to give a good indication of how my track plan could work. As this was still a very rough calculation of track items required, I used a free track layout software programme to select all the correct lengths of track, curve angles and point types required to complete the track bed.

Using this method means  you can chop and change things at will until you get it correct for your desire baseboard size, then finally gives you a printed listing of all the track item codes and numbers of each needed. 

The required Code 55 track & joiners were ordered, along with some cork track underlay on a long roll (25mm x 10m x 2mm) which would form the raised shape of the track bed and was stuck to the baseboard using CopyDex fabric glue – great stuff as it dries really quickly, retains some slight flexibility and is easy to remove if mistakes or ‘changes of mind’ are made. I also used the cork underlay for various other parts of the layout ie. roads, station forecourts, platform surfaces, differing levels of station siding approaches, etc.

With the cork underlay in place, I then painted the whole baseboard & underlay in an earth brown colour. I'd recommend to do this now so that no ‘wood or cork’ will be seen later on when you begin ballasting the track and adding the landscape scenics to the layout. Next I laid out all the actual track on the raised cork underlay and joined it, pinning it all in place temporarily for two reasons - 1) to fine-tune the track position and make any alterations as necessary and 2) mark and drill where all the train electrical feeds and point motor feeds were required.

As part of the track laying process, I used Peco SL-300F Flexible Track lengths of track for the longer runs so these had to be cut and filed to fit nicely – the same measured cuts were also made where the 4 module baseboards join together, which is where the baseboard brass dowels come into play, ensuring as near perfect alignment as possible.

Track Ballast

After researching the ballast topic, I decided on using ‘Legacy Ballast Light Grey Blend’ which felt a good match for the GER/LNER type used (and seen still to this day in very remote places) on the disused old Buntingford branch line. The light grey blend also lends itself well to being faded and weathered to match the worn, tired and neglected ballast effect I was after. Ballast was therefore applied in sections and glued into place using the established method ie. wet the ballast using a spray bottle containing water and a dash of washing up liquid then apply a 50:50 PVA / Water mix using a pipette.

Note: I had already decided that with the track temporarily pinned, the PVA mix used for the ballast would also serve as an adhesive to firmly fix the track into place – two birds, one stone.

Once the ballast was dry (I left it for over 48 hours to be sure) I set about planning a weathering colour scheme. I again researched the best approach for my needs and for my layout. It is generally recognised that two key methods are used … manual brush weathering or investing in a good quality air brush & compressor. At the time I could not justify the purchase of a good quality airbrush so I decided to trust in my existing artist painting skills and went ahead and purchased some RailMatch paint pots for track weathering.

Below shows the left side with the initial 1:20 mix of base weathering and the right side with no weathering at all.

The actual paints used were simply Sleeper Grime and Matt Black - nothing more. After some paint application tests on my short stretch of ballasted test rail track, I noted and finalised the ballast weathering ratios as follows using the syringe measurements:-

1ml Sleeper Grime : 20ml water – used all over the ballast to form a very light shade of base weathering. Allowed to dry.

1ml Sleeper Grime : 14ml water – used only on the inside of the rails/sleepers and also on approx. 5-10mm of ballast on the outside of the rails, to form a slightly darker weathering. Allowed to dry

1ml Sleeper Grime : 10ml water – used only on the inside of the rails/sleepers to form the darkest weathering.

The finished effect give a nice shaded weathering; dark and dirtiest inside the rails/sleeper area and gently fading out towards the ballast edge. It also does not matter if the very edge of the ballast has some un-weathered spots - it looks more natural.

The last stage was to add some Matt Black weathering, to indicate oil dripping over the years, to the inside the rails at station platforms and sidings, where locos were often stationary, and also at point sections to indicate where maintenance lubrication had occurred for added realism.

Below shows the finished effect I was after; a tired, dirty and weathered track from many years of service.

Backscene

My backboards are 12” high; 4” fixed to the baseboard sides for strength and 8” forming the actual scenery backboard. They are made from 6mm plywood in 4 foot lengths and aligned across the complete 16 feet length of the layout. To give the layout a more ‘continual feel’ to the eye, I created curved rather than right angled corners, braced by top, middle & bottom curved edge supports onto which I glued 1.25mm Graduate Blue card to form the corner curve itself. To ensure the card edges were smooth where joining the plywood baseboard, I used fine Polyfilla.

I wanted a low horizon eye line to compliment the length of the layout & preferred a realistic photographic backscene rather than a painted one. After much research I opted for the ID BackScenes ‘Into the Town’ pack B which came in 2 sections of 5 foot x 9 inches and costs around £10. For my layout I needed two of these packs but they all joined together quite seamlessly. The quality is very good and they are printed on 180gsm paper so are borderline card.

After much aligning and measuring, the backscenes were trimmed at the bottom to reduce the height to 8 inches (leaving the small white border at the top – purely my choice).

I did consider just using PVA but decided on Deluxe Materials 'View Glue', which is supposedly designed especially for backscene adhesion. ID Backscenes recommendation is to apply your chosen adhesive to the backboards, use the least amount of glue you can and that it was not necessary to cover all the backboard area with glue.

In truth, I did cover most of the backboard but had to work fast because 'View Glue' dries fairly quickly and doesn't remain workable for long for backscene re-alignment. Here's what I did :-

• Brushed on 'View Glue' sufficiently across 12" of one 4ft baseboard section at a time, working quite fast.
• Lined up the backscene from the left, smoothing across to the right with the edge of my hand.
• Using a dry cloth, gently smoothing further from left to right checking that all alignments top, left, right, bottom were good.
• Checked the top, left, right and bottom edges had strong adhesion, adding extra glue with a small size artist brush if required.
• Repeated all the above until the 4ft section was complete, then on to the next.
• Any small bubbles were left – these disappeared overnight as the 180gsm paper dried and pulled tight.

Overall the results were very good but some small areas, where I must have missed adding adhesive, are not fully stuck but tight enough to stay firmly in place. It also helps that the ‘Into the Town’ pack B has a lot of sky and clouds which helps disguise any small bubbles or unstuck areas you may get.

Supplementry note:- my layout is stored in my garage and since completing the backscene 2 years ago, I've found that during the colder, winter months the backscene expands and areas which are not fully glued are more pronounced as bubbles, yet still not too obvious given the scenic clouds help hide them. During the warmer, spring and summer months the backscene stretches tight again and the bubbles all but disappear. 

Electrics - Track Wiring, Switches and Points

For me this was the scariest part of creating a layout - not only to understand the concepts of model railway electrical power supply, isolating track, point controls, avoiding electrical shorts and dead track, etc ... but also trying to master soldering.

These days Google & YouTube are a godsend so I set about several weeks of research on all aspects of model railway electrics and joined several forums to gain assistance from those more experienced. I luckily found a brilliant model railway electronics expert who helped to create detailed track electrical designs & circuit diagrams on my actual layout. As my confidence grew and my soldering practice began to pay off, I took the plunge and ordered all the electrical components I needed and once delivered, I made a start.

First up was to solder all the red and black ‘positive & negative drop feeds' directly to the underside of the track rails where needed – this ensured secure power feeds to the track but also catered for each ‘isolating block section’ of the track needed as the layout is running DC.

Also at this time I soldered the feeds to all the point section 'frogs' of the track and all the solenoid point motors (17 in all), including 2 CDU (Capacitor Discharge Unit) used for a boosting charge to flick the points. Took some time but all successfully done and the soldered track was pinned back into place. Next I worked on the underside of each module section of the layout and started connecting all the power wiring and point wiring to electrical connector blocks, screwing them into place and running the wiring neatly to the end of each module. This was in readiness for either connecting the wiring across the baseboards at a later stage or for connecting up to the two layout control panel switches.

Throughout the wiring stage I made sure everything was fully labelled with numbering for ease of identification in case of any troubleshooting issues, where the numbering can be easily cross referenced against my wiring diagram. Everything was tested upon completion of each layout section before beginning work on the next.

Electrics - Connectivity across baseboard sections

Last main task for the baseboard wiring was running & connecting all the wiring across the 4 baseboard sections ie. the track power feeds, the point switch wiring and the main power wires to  enable CAB Control from both/either control panels. The key to this task was to ensure full connectivity across the whole layout and yet still allowing them to be easily disconnected when the baseboard modules where spilt down for storage or any potential exhibitions or shows. After researching it became apparent there are various ways to do this - based on my own comfort and confidence levels, I decided to use male/female DB15 terminal breakout connectors, fixed to either side of the baseboards, and connected with 'home-made' male/female D-SUB 15 pin cables.

These were 'home-made' because I could not find the right connector cable with the desired pin numbers nor the quality I wanted. The main drawback of making these myself was much more soldering and neat wiring was needed for the track power and point switching connector cables but I simply took my time. As the layouts centre sections are mainly an uninterrupted run between the stations, these only needed a small pluggable connector block.

Control Panels 

As the layout is 16ft long and designed to be (mainly) controlled and operated by two people, I decided to have two control panels and two power controllers and therefore utilise, in DC terms, CAB Control. Basically this means that each panel independently controls the track power, points and isolating sections for each end of the layout, without impacting any train shunting or movements at the other end. In addition, this also means if all the points are set correctly and the control panel switches for power are all switched for ‘end to end’ movement of a branch line train, one of either controllers can move a train the whole length of the layout and back again.

To build the control panels I used 6mm plywood and softwood off-cuts to the desired size and shape, angled in order to be mounted onto the operating side of the layout baseboard. Using a template (in pencil), the basic layout outline and positioning of power and point switches was drawn and the required holes were carefully drilled, then carefully labelled on the underside as an accurate reference to the switch wiring.

The wooden control panel tops were sealed with PVA and then covered with white, adhesive, vinyl on a roll from B&Q and carefully cut out holes where switches would be installed. Final cosmetics were to mark on the vinyl the actual outline of the layout with black Nobo board adhesive vinyl strips sized to suit. Next task was installing all the track power/isolation switches and toggle switches for the points into the control panels, which were all pre-soldered with coloured coded wiring beforehand.

Lastly, all wiring from the control panels were connected up to specific connector blocks on the underside on the baseboard. The wiring was also neatly chased and labelled, making it easier for anyone to follow when troubleshooting or replacing components is required at any time in the future.

Bridge and Station Buildings

As the layout depicts real stations and other building structures that existed, I was determined to get them as accurate as possible. Buying anything 'off the shelf' and hacking them around was not an option ... so everything had to be scratch built and to scale. Luckily the road bridge and one station still exists, plus I had access to many reference photographs and drawings which helped enormously.

Starting first with road bridge 2062, I chose Daler Rowney ‘Graduate Blue’ card 1.25mm thickness. This seemed to offer relative ease of cutting and solid enough to ‘stay put’ when finally fixed to the layout. I also had some spare & sizable EPE Foam packaging material lying around which was easily shaped and is extremely lightweight. 

Moving on to the station buildings, these all followed the same process & techniques throughout. The photos show Braughing Station ticket office in various stages of construction.

The basic structures were built (in the main) using Daler Rowney ‘Graduate Blue’ card 1.25mm thickness, reason being it was sturdy and would not bend or warp over time but also because its depth lends itself nicely for N gauge scale window and door recesses. Only exceptions were the two signal boxes where 0.60mm card was used, being easier to cut all the many small window frames required. These were then braced internally with 1.25mm card for added strength.

Some of the smaller buildings or structures had roofs also made from 0.60mm card as it was more aestectic. Once all the parts of a building were cut out and tested for size/fitting, it was all glued using

Pritt All Purpose Adhesive. For the doors, as a rule, these were already recessed and were filled with card and painted to look as 3 dimensional as possible.

For the windows I decided to simply scale and print the window panes directly onto glossy photo paper – this saved time and also worked really well, giving them a ‘window shine’ for increased realism. The window technique also meant I could slightly adjust the window pane shades to give the effect of different reflection conditions.

All chimneys that are depicted are also set to scale and formed using various small sized balsa strips – these also need to be worked on further to add the required brickwork detail for realism.

Once all the construction was complete the last step was the cosmetics, where I used scaled down Scalescenes and Railwayscenics brick, slate and wooden plank printable sheets. Then followed all the other details such as doors, signs, chimney pots, window sills, guttering (Ratio), GER Green paint, weathering, etc. See 'Gallery' for the completed Braughing Station ticket office images. 

The Landscape - initial construction

The section of the old Buntingford branch line I am modelling was/is generally flat terrain but broken up somewhat with a road bridge cutting and gently sloping farmland. There is also the small River Rib meandering alongside it in part.

For the elevation of land surrounding the road bridge (and therefore forming the cutting) I used some honeycombed cardboard packing I’d saved and cut to the desired length and width. To further extend this, and also begin forming the gentle slope effect, I used many offcuts of EPE Foam packaging material sheets I’d retained from kitchen appliances or office desk deliveries. These were also shaped and stuck into place using Copydex to form the overall shape of landscape to support the road bridge and create the cutting either side.

The remaining gentle inclines along the layout were also made using 1-2cm thickness EPE Foam packaging material sheets, cut and shaped with a sharp craft knife to a very obtuse angle, where they abutted close the trackside edge.

These were also glued into place on the baseboard using Copydex. The section of layout that will host the small, meandering River Rib, I made sure I used at least 2cm depth of EPE Foam – this allowed me to cut out the desired river width and angled depth to form the river.

Once all the landscaping structure was in place, I began covering it all with plaster cloth sheets cut into small sections and smoothed to create natural rolls and shaped of the land. Although its a naturally messy process (where covering the track and ballast beforehand is highly recommended), I was very happy with the results and it only needed a second layer of sheets to complete the job. Minor joins of the sheets that were too proud were smoothed or ‘lost’ with some watered down Polyfilla added in places.

Once all completely dry to a pure white finish, I sealed it all with PVA and covered the landscape base in earth brown colour (Hobbycraft childrens art paint actually), which again is recommended as it forms an 'earth and dirt' base and hides any of the white plaster grinning through before adding the detailed scenics of grass, trees, hedgerows, etc . 

The River Rib

This small river ran alongside various parts of the Buntingford branch, notably in the part of the layout I was building, but for modelling purposes I moved it further north. As my layout only had a relatively small water scene to depict, I decided on using Deluxe Materials 'Aqua Magic' 250ml. This product is ready to use direct from the bottle and appeared to be pretty straight forward to use, however my layout placement meant the river would actually span two baseboards - not exactly a big 'no no' but probably best avoided if possible.

I made all the necessary preparations ie. river bed sealed with PVA/water (70/30), brown base colour on the river bottom and banks, variation of acrylic colours to give depth & realism to the river and banks, sealed the ends of the river with masking tape and a PVA seal. The first layer of Aqua Magic was gently yet quickly poured into the river and pushed gently into any nooks and crannies, especially around the support legs of the farm track bridge (pre-built, painted and stuck to the river bed in readiness).

I was as careful as possible to ensure the depth of Aqua Magic was only poured to max 2-3mm as recommended - all went well and was left to set properly for 24-36 hours. After just 12 hours huge disappointment - at various places Aqua Magic had split across the width of the river forming some wide 'gashes' at the centre as it had dried! 

Something had clearly gone wrong but rather than attempt any hashed repair measures, I carefully removed all the Aqua Magic as it was still quite pliable and rubberised at this stage.

Once removed it left the river bed and banks with a very different look and feel. In fact, this was one of those 'happy accidents' because the river bed looked really realistic in its colour and texture - as if it had been drained and revealed its slimy, muddy, rocky and stony appearance for all to see.

After some further research as to what went wrong, it could have been several things - Aqua Magic application deeper than 2-3mm, a reaction to the acrylics I used, PVA applied before painting the river base not sufficient ... and a few more possibilities besides. I admit I also ignored the product recommendation to seal the river base with a thin brushed layer of Aqua Magic before starting, based on various forum suggestions that this was not necessary if pre-sealing with PVA was performed!

I decided (guess work) that the PVA/Water 70/30 pre-sealing and an acrylic reaction was the combined cause - I tried again but this time using Humbrol Enamels (matt) for the river banks and pre-sealing the river bed with neat Evo-Stik PVA this time. Allowing 72 hours to ensure these where 100% dry and sealed, I set about using Aqua Magic once again making sure I was absolutely 2mm max at any given point and let it dry. After 12 hours so far so good - no splits across the width of the river and no 'drying gaps' at the river banks.

After 48 hours it was dry to touch and all looking perfect! With renewed confidence I added another

2-3mm layer to build up the depth and even used the 'blowing into a straw' technique to try and create some gentle water ripples - with only partial success.