Kingswood

[Western Way]

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  I have always had a keen interest in railways, just not the time or skill to build what I wanted.

My 'skills' if they can be described in such a way, are centred around figure painting, mostly 28mm historical. I have been lucky enough to gain a few loyal customers over the years so I decided to put the money I have made towards finally realising a long term dream, my own model railway.

Having never taken on just a task and not wishing to waste my time and money making countless mistakes, I decided to have the basic board, track and some greenery professionally built. I calculated (as it turned out correctly) that in the time it would take me to build the basics I could more than cover the cost by doing over time at work and painting figures to sell.

So I placed an order with Train Line Models for an end to end board, 10' by 18" this being the only space available to me, the plan being to keep it interesting by running very many different trains over it and allowing a couple of sidings for shunting.

The board arrived in September of this year and I have been adding details, making some improvements and sorting rolling stock since then. My skills are no where near as good as members of this forum and I feel very out of my depth here however I am keen to share my experiences and no doubt learn lots from you along the way.

John

 

[Western Way]

Arrival day

I am very lucky because my wife, Sue, is also keen on trains. She helped to unbox and set up the basic board and has added her views and suggestions along the way. The only thing we do not agree on is she loves Steam and dislikes Diesel, I am just as happy with either.

It did all prove to much for one of our Whippets, Aphrodite.

 

[Western Way]

Once it was unboxed, legs attached and bolted together I set about adding the buildings, trees, people, animals and all the other bits that make a model come to life.
I had been collecting things to add to the lay out for a few weeks and although not as easy as having the thing in front of you, I was far to excited to wait lol (yep I am 54 going on 5 lol).

I had a HUGE list of jobs to do, from detailing the buildings with gutters etc to painting boarding black and making cassettes for trains. I work in a factory and one part of it fabricates/powder coats Aluminium building products so I have a fair bit of 1.2mm Aluminium, shaped and painted now.

These photo's show the first additions, some of which have been since changed.