Painting figures

Currently I am unable to do too much scenery or heavy work on the layout due to just having a knee operation from Football, so have decided today to put off the inevitable. Yes painting figures. I have always struggled with the part of the work until the treasurer of our model railway club put me onto a good thing.

It has always been hard to avoid touching the figures when one colour is trying to dry and spoiling the look. By glueing them to a balsa stick (in this case I have used kebab sticks from your local supermarket -$2 a pack) you avoid too much man handling of the little person. I used a latex glue and let them set for about 10 minutes. Latex glue is better because it doesn't eat into the plastic and it is flexible.

I find that the odd figure comes loose, but the reglueing is worth it.


I tend to do one colour at a time therefore I might be working on a number of figures at once. The beauty of using the skewer sticks is that they are pointed at one end and can easily be poked into a peice of polystyrene as you wait to paint other figures and it is good for allowing them to dry.


The finished product is definately better than if I had tried to hold onto them with my hands.

Thanks Trevor.

The Union Pacific Big Boy # 4005

I have always enjoyed this locomotive and ever since I was a kid have always thought that it would be cool to own one. About 4 years ago I purchased a brand new Athearn Genesis 4-8-8-4 Big Boy from United States # 4005. Big Boy was the name given to the Union Pacific Railroad's twenty-five 4000 class 4-8-8-4 articulated steam locomotives built between 1941 and 1944 by Alco.

In total, 25 Big Boys were built, in two groups of ten and one of five locomotives. All were coal burning, with large grates to burn low quality Wyoming coal from mines owned by the railroad. One locomotive, #4005, was experimentally converted to oil burning. Unlike experience with the Challenger types, this change was not successful, and the locomotive soon reverted to coal. The cited reason for this failure was the use of a single burner, which, with the Big Boy's larger firebox, created unsatisfactory and uneven heating. It is unknown why multiple burners were not employed, though with dieselization in full swing after 1945 the company probably lost interest in further development of steam.

The Big Boy is one of the best represented and preserved model of steam locomotive in the United States, due to its legendary reputation and late survival in service to 1959. Eight of the 25 still exist:

The backhead (controls) of 4017 at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI

• 4004: Holliday Park, Cheyenne, Wyoming 41°08′12.30″N 104°47′59.4″W / 41.13675°N 104.799833°W / 41.13675; -104.799833 (Big Boy 4004)
• 4005: Forney Transportation Museum, Denver, Colorado 39°46′37.38″N 104°58′13.8″W / 39.77705°N 104.9705°W / 39.77705; -104.9705 (Big Boy 4005)
• 4006: Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri 38°34′19.73″N 090°27′40.0″W / 38.5721472°N 90.46111°W / 38.5721472; -90.46111 (Big Boy 4006)
• 4012: Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, Pennsylvania 41°24′26.96″N 075°40′10.8″W / 41.4074889°N 75.669667°W / 41.4074889; -75.669667 (Big Boy 4012)
• 4014: Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Southern California Chapter, Fairplex, Pomona, California 34°05′01.44″N 117°46′14.44″W / 34.0837333°N 117.7706778°W / 34.0837333; -117.7706778 (Big Boy 4014)
• 4017: National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin 44°29′02.70″N 088°02′55.1″W / 44.484083°N 88.048639°W / 44.484083; -88.048639 (Big Boy 4017)
• 4018: Museum of the American Railroad, Dallas, Texas 32°46′58.32″N 096°45′49.4″W / 32.7828667°N 96.763722°W / 32.7828667; -96.763722 (Big Boy 4018)
• 4023: Kenefick Park, Omaha, Nebraska 41°13′49.03″N 095°54′54.3″W / 41.2302861°N 95.915083°W / 41.2302861; -95.915083 (Big Boy 4023)

All except numbers 4005 and 4017 are currently stored in the open without protection from the elements. The dry air of Southern California has helped #4014 to remain the best preserved of the survivors, assisted by care of the local chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. The Steamtown example is also said to be in good condition, though the harsher weather of the northeast has taken its toll. The Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver moved the 4005 to a renovated building in January 2001. Thanks to considerable fundraising and volunteer efforts, number 4017 now resides with other pieces of railroad equipment in a climate-controlled shed at the museum in Green Bay. Number 4023 is the only known Big Boy to move by highway since preservation, to the new Kenefick Park in Omaha, NE.

This information was collated from Wikipedia.com

Original track plan

Although we have had another layout at our old place which was not as extensive as what we have now, we have not included it in this diary of events as this Blog relates to our Diamond Point Railroad.

My brother, who now lives in London came up with the initial plans, which you see here. This plan was made in 2006 and the initial construction was made from this draft.

The layout was composed of three main lines which were all connected via turnouts. So with some careful driving you could move your train from one main to another. It did not have any reversing loops, which we thought made it quite immpressive. The entire layout (L shape)
was 23 feet by 23 feet. The reason we had to change was that we underestimated the gradients and the fact that we wanted to run long trains we found that our long trains could not make it up the gradients. We have learnt lots since this intial construction and we decided to refine our thinking and skills to do a better job next time.

I have included in this post some other photos of the original construction.

The layout as it is now takes up the same area but instead of having crossovers and a number of duck unders, it only has one duck under and is a walk around layout. This has the advantage for guests to observe the operation and see it from a number of different vantage points. It makes it a lot easier for operation too. We have found that there is far less derailments. The disadvantage is that it has taken away a bit of the mystery of knowing where trains are coming from or going. This should be overcome when we have finished constructing our mountain ranges and tunnells.

The blue wall you can see in this photo contains the layout to make its own separate room. This keeps the garage where the cars are away from the layout. The layout is now fully connected as per the video in a previous post. We will continue to update as we go.

Trains in acton

There is something to be said about playing with trains especially when you have created the scenery and land forms and structures around them.

My son was playing with his still camera which has a video feature. He placed the camera on the front of a Gondola Car which was in front of the Big Boy (UP #4005 Athearn Genesis 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive). This is the result. As you can see from this video the track has been laid and now we are working on the scenery and structures. You will have to excuse my son's sense of humour, although I think it's funny.

The engineers

Hi, We are keen model railway enthusiasts. A Father and son partnership. We have a large layout in the process of being developed. We had almost finished but decided to make some changes, which we feel will make it more fun to operate as well as being more realistic. We are concentrating on American HO scale. I hope as this blog develops I will have photos as well as act as a bit of a diary for us and others who may get something useful from it.