Cement Quay on location at Astolat MRC's annual exhibition on Saturday 17 January 2009. This was Cement Quay's 5th and best show.

Cement Quay on location at Astolat MRC's annual exhibition on Saturday 17 January 2009. This was Cement Quay's 5th and best show.

Cement Quay on location at Astolat MRC's annual exhibition on Saturday 17 January 2009. This was Cement Quay's 5th and best show.

Cement Quay on location at Astolat MRC's annual exhibition on Saturday 17 January 2009. This was Cement Quay's 5th and best show.

What to do with all those bits left over from a Walthers Cornerstone kits - scarp of course! The barge is from an Artitec resin kit.

What to do with all those bits left over from a Walthers Cornerstone kits - scarp of course! The barge is from an Artitec resin kit.

The other view is one not normally seen of Cement Quay showing the lighting rig from behind (due to requests). If I was less lazy I'd box it in! The crowd in the background is Warley again as CGI to block out the untidy room! The mix of flu and energy savers appear to work, allthough it is no good for photography it looks OK to the eye. Energy savers are too yellow and flu's too cold, this draws a balance with bulbs that are easily available in the local supermarket.

Cement Quay - all geared up and ready to hit the road in just over a week at Guildford. OK, I admit, shooting this in the middle of January I wasn't going to be able to get a nice shot of the layout out side, so there's a little CGI here in the form of the Wey Navigation replacing the rather untidy spare room that the layout is temporarily set up in!

Cement Quay in exhibition mode.

How the Cement Quay cassettes locate. No additional electrical connections are required. The copper clad may wear out in due course, but because this layout doesn't get used all the time, this is a small problem. Replacement will be simple enough. Note the nice soft fiddle yard surface to rest the cherished stock on.

Plug and play - so simple. Engineering types will shudder at my grotty work - it works though and so far has been 100% reliable with no derailments! It's much bigger on your screen here than in real life - so be kind!

Cement Quay: A bit of fun with a Noch Grass Master 2 earlier this evening on Cement Quay and Catcott - Woodland Scenics my ar@@!

In preparation for Cement Quay's outing in just over a month (Astolat 17/1) I'm slowly converting my modern image stock to Spratt & Winkle autocouplers. Initally I made up the magnet attracting 3 link dropper from the mild steel wire which works fine. The problem is that they're a pain in the @@@@ to make up and they fall apart too easily due to the softness of the metal.

Thinking back to Addiston South I photographed during the summer, I was very impressed with the simple, quick and hugely effective idea of replacing the 3 link dropper with a simple bent staple. A splash of black paint or chemical blackener in due course and they'll be perfect - thankyou chaps!

Picked up at Wycrail, a die cast Case 4 wheel drive tipper, in due course it will receive a coat of limestone dust and grime.

Picked up at Wycrail, a die cast Case 4 wheel drive tipper, in due course it will receive a coat of limestone dust and grime.

A subject to test a 55mm Micro Nikkor out on. The chap with the radio or cellphone, is one of those ready painted out of the box ones jammed in the open door of a Hornby 08. He appears to be jumping for joy judging by the fact his feet appear a few inches in the air (just as well he's wearing that yellow helmet)!

LMS 'Jinty' 47276 sits in the quarry road on Cement Quay. This engine is represents one based at Radstock in the 1950's & 1960's. It started life as a Bachmann offering, purchased shortly after they came out towards the end of 2004. At last I finally got around to re-numbering and weathering it. Its main use will be for goods traffic on Catcott Burtle. In real life the 'SDJR Jintys' were used for banking freights up over the Mendip Hills, though they did occasionally make the odd trip along the Evercreech-Highbridge line and thus through Catcott.

With just 5 days to go before RAILEX and we have a bit of vital work to do..... best get off this computer and pull mythumb out I suppose!

Cement Quay

D2298 with a couple of PCA's. Note that the ugly Peco latchings have been removed with Seep self latching units now underneath.

D2298 with a couple of PCA's. Note that the ugly Peco latchings have been removed with Seep self latching units now underneath.

D2298 with a couple of PCA's. Note that the ugly Peco latchings have been removed with Seep self latching units now underneath.

D2298 with a couple of PCA's. Note that the ugly Peco latchings have been removed with Seep self latching units now underneath.

D2298 with a couple of PCA's. Note that the ugly Peco latchings have been removed with Seep self latching units now underneath.

47145 emerges from under the stone hopper/loader.

Bachmann MFA wagon.

bachmann 47145 & MFA wagon.

08630 eases a PCA out from the cement silo loading area.

47145 emerges from under the stone hopper/loader.

47145 emerges from under the stone hopper/loader.

The new crossing, Sunday 14 Jan 2006.

The new crossing, Sunday 14 Jan 2006.

Close up showing how the Silfor and hanging basket liner can be blended with a bit of post colouring (PVA, poster & matt emulsion mix - dabbed on with a stiff children's art brush.). Bachmann VKA/VGA

The new weeds after a tidy up, Sunday 14 Jan 2006. Bachmann Class 20 Model Rail special.

Aerial view looking down after a tidy up of the weeds, Sunday 14 Jan 2006.

New weed and grassy vegetation around and between the rails. Good old PVA, hanging basket liner and a dab of paint.

New weed and grassy vegetation around and between the rails. Good old PVA, hanging basket liner and a dab of paint.

New weed and grassy vegetation around and between the rails. Good old PVA, hanging basket liner and a dab of paint.

New weed and grassy vegetation around and between the rails. Good old PVA, hanging basket liner and a dab of paint.

New weed and grassy vegetation around and between the rails. Good old PVA, hanging basket liner and a dab of paint.

New weed and grassy vegetation around and between the rails. Good old PVA, hanging basket liner and a dab of paint.

41248 shunts a couple of ex GWR gunpowder vans over the newly constructed crossing.

D2298 (repainted and re-numbered Bachmann, could do with re-wheeling at some stage) on Cement Quay. I recall the wagon is an Ian Kirk kit I put together in the early eighties. The barge is from Artitec.

41248 on Cement Quay. Bachmann 2MT with extra detail (from an old Kays kit), renumbered and painted, finished off with actual S&D coal found on the trackbed near Shillingstone.

41248 on Cement Quay. Bachmann 2MT with extra detail (from an old Kays kit), renumbered and painted, finished off with actual S&D coal found on the trackbed near Shillingstone. The brake van is a Midland Railway Parkside Dundas kit that has been poached from Highbridge by the looks of it.

'Preserved' 20064 passes the silos with coal for the furnaces.

A modified Artitec 'Art. 50.102 Flat-bottomed boat', for this little model I have added some corrugated sides. This one sits nice and low in the water too. Behind the raft is the new jetty made up from another foray into the scrap box. The pipe from the building behind is sprue with some little strips of masking tape wrapped around to replicate joints, just quite what the pipe carries I am not quite sure. Though it doesn't really show, the buildings behind are around a foot from the wharf edge.

A modified Artitec 'Art. 50.102 Flat-bottomed boat', for this little model I have added some corrugated sides. This one sits nice and low in the water.

The almost complete barge to remove surplus aggregate (Artitec, 50.123 European freight ship 'Spits') moored up on Cement Quay. The model is around 18" long.

The almost complete barge to remove surplus aggregate (Artitec, 50.123 European freight ship 'Spits') moored up on Cement Quay. The model is around 18" long.

The almost complete barge to remove surplus aggregate (Artitec, 50.123 European freight ship 'Spits') moored up on Cement Quay. The model is around 18" long.

'Google Earth' type view of Cement Quay. You can see all the tatty bits behind the buildings that the eye cannot normally see. Just noticed that I forgot to put the removable chimney on.

Cement Quay - layout in a box (or coffin if you are a Goth). The fiddleyard goes on the left. The lower flap on the front folds up for transit to protect the layout. It also negates the need for a tatty old bit of rag attached with drawing pins which is often the norm at shows. For transit the nameboard folds back out of the way too (as do the legs). From running trains to car after the first show took 19 mins including packing up the stock.

How the water is done, easy as falling off a log (has anyone really ever done that though?). Simply PVA wood working glue over greeny/grey paint. No smells which is good for brownie points at home (ie you can buy that new engine with little fear from 'She who must be obeyed'!). Hopefully the glue dries almost clear after a few hours. 3 or 4 coats should suffice. You could use varnish but IMHO it always looks like best bitter rather than salty water, stinks for days and shows every little bit of dust. I idea of PVA is not mine but from one of Alan Downes' features in Model Rail mag.

Cement Quay

Bemo HOe (009) loco on some Roco tipplers

Bemo HOe (009) loco on some Roco tipplers.

Bemo HOe (009) loco on some Roco tipplers

Cement Quay looking through from the fiddleyard

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay taken with a small camera rather than the usual SLR (ignore the EXIF below, Fotopic appears to have taken the cam data from the sky image which was shot on an SLR). The advantage of this type of camera is that it can be placed actually on the layout. The short focal length due to the tiny sensor allows an enormous depth of field. Whilst an SLR will produce a higher res images (nothing to do with megapixels), the full res from this shot should be OK for most applications. Layout's own lighting was used combined with skies from a spring day in Buckinghamshire. Shame about the wonky buffer!

Cement Quay taken with a small camera rather than the usual SLR (ignore the EXIF below, Fotopic appears to have taken the cam data from the sky image which was shot on an SLR). The advantage of this type of camera is that it can be placed actually on the layout. The short focal length due to the tiny sensor allows an enormous depth of field. Whilst an SLR will produce a higher res images (nothing to do with megapixels), the full res from this shot should be OK for most applications. Layout's own lighting was used combined with skies from a spring day in Buckinghamshire.

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Cement Quay

Close up of the La Farge sign on the silo roof.

80043 (re-numbered and painted Bachmann) on Cement Quay. The cement wagons are from some ancient Airfix kits.