Hornby Large Prairie R3723 R3723x R3719x R3721x R3725x
The first of the Hornby Large Prairies has arrived at the man cave. Firstly an apology, I’ve taken it out of its box and run it already. Sorry about that, but if you want to watch someone literally opening a box, you won’t find it here. A proper set of pics later, initial impressions are very favourable, expeditious dispatch from Hornby, nothing broken in transit. On opening the box (not here) the model finish is excellent, and on rollers it runs smoothly and quietly through the speed range in both directions.
It was around five years back that Bachmann brought their 64xx to market. Adding to the high and low cab variations of the 57xx family already in the range. I bought a couple for the Forest of Dean project, (still in planning!), and converted a couple to the top feed removed variety, one of which seen below.
Bachmann 64xx 31-638 31-636
The ‘problem’ with the 64xx for me is that they weren’t common in the Forest, 54xx were seen but that means a full High Level chassis conversion, and I’m not sure if I want one enough to do that yet. I’ve been fortunate to pick up a couple of the 64’s cheaply and had one sitting, slightly damaged, available to do something with. A friend wanted a 74xx, a late one, and this seemed a good opportunity to do one. 74’s were very similar to late 64xx’s, with a few easy to modify changes. The bunker to cab join is a right angle, a flush front and rear cab roof, a lever rather than screw reverse, no auto coach gear (74xx), different grab rails on the tank side, and for the later 74’s, open front tank supports.
OO Bachmann 74xx 64xx conversion
You can see the open tank support on this image, it was a task I wasn’t looking forward to but James Hilton had announced them in his range of 3D printed kits and components, no further thought was required, two sets ordered immediately!
James Hilton 3D print 74xx tank supports
The other detail on the face of the model to be addressed is replacing the rigid Bachmann buffers with sprung versions, note the removed auto gear housing too.
74xx Bachmann 64xx 31-638 31-634
One of the elements to bring an engine to ‘life’ is to give it something that sets it apart. My two usual areas are glazing and cab doors or shutters. Altering and improving those can give a noticeable difference really quickly.
OO gauge Bachmann 74xx conversion
In the two pictures above you can see the cab rear shutters have been removed for replacing, as has the roof vent. With this model I’ve also opened the cab door and removed the coal load allowing the bunker sides to be thinned and adding etched lamp irons.
Shawplan etched Western Region lamp irons
Yep, it’s 0.5mm drilled and pinned. And moderately ‘sweary’.
So the model is very much reaching that stage where it all comes together, or sits on the shelf doom in the man cave for a year or two, you know how it goes!
Today’s one of the milestones in getting Shelfie2 completed. With little breeze and good drying weather it was time to get the backscene completed. Using a technique suggested and highly effectively used by Chris Nevard, it was time to dig out the spray paints. I’d previously painted the sky and used paper cut outs as below to establish a horizon.
These help me get a feel for the final viewpoint, and establish a feel for a surrounding area ‘outside’ the layouts footprint. The woodlands needed more bulk, whilst retaining a visible structure. Without this background bulk the tree line concept doesn’t reach its full potential.
Five colours are used, a light blue, medium blue, leaf green, and primers of white and grey.
The masking is a strip of card torn to give a long gently varying line. The paints are then sprayed to give the effect on the heading picture, not forgetting a matt lacquer to remove any gloss finish.
Placed behind the trees and wrapped around the ends of the layout the backscene contains the viewer and bounces light back into the model, there’s quite a bit of reflection which helps light up the modelled section.
One element that needed careful consideration was how far the horizon should extend up the height of the backscene. The display is set for an eye level viewpoint and I often find that horizon lines on backgrounds are set too high.
If you were to ask me how high? My answer would be ‘not as high as you think it should’. The top of the tree line on Shelfie2 is always above the horizon line, this diffuses the join between backscene and model, and the tops of the trees outline against the sky giving a far more realistic appearance.
I’ll leave this backscene in place for a week or two, to decide if I’ve got the balance and colours right. If I haven’t it’ll soon stand out for me and be changed. At the moment it’s looking ok, but I do need to live with it for a while before finally buttoning it all down!
It’s interesting for me to step through the back catalogue of the images of this layouts (Shelfie2) development. The picture above was taken yesterday in natural lighting in our garden. The picture below shows the ‘concept’ I was thinking of and quite sobering that it was some three years ago…
The original idea being fleshed out.
These basic structures helped with the visualisation of the layout. Where I can I like to work full size, you get the real feel for the sight lines and physical volume of the model. One element of suggested plans both on line and in printed media, is that for the given space, the volume of the buildings and structures don’t work. This then causes issues with things like road width and street corner radii, where the bus that’s on the model would need a three point turn to get around a bend in the road! Obviously in the quaint towns, villages and cities of the UK there’s locations where restricted streets are very real, but not as frequent as they would appear to be on some layouts!
Core layout structure with the previous viewing side.
This is the far side view of the layout under construction. This view is actually the better side with this landscape and track configuration. What Shelfie2 has taught me this week, is that I should have moved the entire track bed to a different angle, and an inch or two closer to the viewer in the above image.
This is the viewpoint that works best, at this time I was using manual couplings, so a forward tree line wasn’t very practical.
Looking into the yard from ‘the wrong side’
After deciding the final orientation of the layout filling in the blanks as far as the scenics go was quite straightforward if a little drawn out time wise. The core of the woodland is still based on Woodland Scenics large tree armatures and the scenic break bridge is a scratch built model by Geoff Taylor.
A thought occurred whilst taking this set of images under natural lighting. Simply that with the Dingham auto couplings and a slightly revised track orientation, the surrounding woodland presentation had potential to have been much bolder. And using increased physical volume, far more intrusive into the scene, in a good way.
This magazine, this issue, is possibly ‘that’ copy for me. Many of us will have a favourite newsstand magazine and can recall a few issues that for them, made the difference, the one that got them hooked!
I remember this one and it’s stayed with me 40 years!, that’s sobering regarding time slipping past. The cover caught my eye, untypical at the time with an excellent representation of the Devon Coast, a Western Hydraulic with Mk1’s sneaking along the sea wall under the high sun. Forty years on that cover image still stands the test of time. In 1980 though, headlining the summer issue, it jumped off the shelf at me, and inside, for me the contents were even better.
Railway Modeller, August 1980, was the first Lochside article by Ian Futers. It was almost unique, I know, I know, shite grammar but if that phrase ever needed a non Murray Walker adaption this is it. At the time very few articles covered diesel operations and modelling, the mainstream firmly set in the ‘big four’ steam era. Ian depicted BR blue as ‘we’ saw it. A bit scruffy round the edges, weathered, and within largely steam era infrastructure. His diesels were detailed and modified RTR items. Lima Class 33’s used to make 26’s and 27’s, Hornby 25’s Wrenn 20’s and Airfix 31’s. Not only detailed but converted to P4, so they looked good on the right track too. That August article, (and following September one too) opened my, and a good number of friends eyes to what could be done. The back story had a good degree of plausibility to it too, and locomotives and rolling stock were appropriate for location and era, nothing out of the ordinary. Written in Ian’s captivating style it actually inspired me to look harder at the mundane, journeyman, or simply put, everyday life.
Shelfie3 is well underway in the planning, and a chance look back through some magazines reminded me of Lochside, and what it meant for me. Taking a leaf from Ian’s book, Shelfie3 will only have three turnouts, and a couple of catch/traps too. I’ve found a section of a CJ Freezer plan too, that works, and have found a similar prototype track plan too, so it’s starting to pull together nicely. I’m still undecided on the overall station terminus design, it needs to reflect down at heel, but plausibly open, and to have enough room for the trains to breath within the layout. Track is the Peco Bullhead code 75 and will be DCC/DC compatible. Fitting sound into DMU’s is already proving interesting to keep everything hidden!
Going back to eighties RM, if I can capture that era and feel of the crossover from the early seventies through to the eighties I’ll be well pleased. Back to the planning…
My last train out of Shelfie1 this morning. The layout has gone to a new home to primarily be a home layout and photo set. It’s been a nice layout to build and operate, for such a small layout it was very engaging and that came as a bit of a surprise, I genuinely didn’t think it would, it having started initially as a test track. It also seemed to capture people’s interest quite a lot, partly due to its simplicity, and compact size. (And a note of thanks here to those readers whom expressed an interest in acquiring it).
It appeared in Right Track 19 as the build example, three of the magazines, and did a few shows where it was well received. It taught me a lot, particularly in what ‘works’ in a small space.
The biggest lesson was what ‘toy trains’ can do to help people. A couple of years back I lent it to a friend who was terminally ill, no conditions. Whilst he was still with us he mentioned how much pleasure it had given him in some dark times, just being able to lay in bed and look at it illuminated in the small hours, or those days when he couldn’t physically get out of bed. His wife also mentioned how much just having a manageable layout meant in the difficult months to him too.
Albion Yard 
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