Davie Shiers sent us pictures of one of his latest projects. He is adding a colliery scene to his railway and built this with Plastruct parts purchased from Upstairs Downstairs and foam board covered in plastic brick sheeting. The wheels are a set of laser cut wheels but apart from that, all was scratch built. Click on the pictures to see them in full size.

Most layouts have lights of some description because they are such common features in real life, from platform lights to street lights, wall lights to floodlights. They are without a doubt a really nice touch (when we have enough time and money to fit working ones to our layouts), and the effects are brilliant too, but, what about those of us building layouts on a budget or simply don't want working lights preferring simplicity instead?

Fortunately, if you are in OO gauge, you have not been forgotten. There are many manufacturers producing very convincing portrayals of many different kinds of lights, lights that don't require gadgets and gismos or wiring and switches. They offer the good old fashioned paint it and place it models that still look great.

Ratio produces many great kits, including kits of lights. Their modern image concrete street lights will give a great finishing touch to a modern street scene. Their traditional looking swan-necked lamps are versatile and can be constructed as double or single street lamps or wall lamps that would be well placed on a country station. For a more timeless generic lamp, Ratio also manufactures a concrete double standard which again can be constructed as a street light or wall light.

One of our favourites is Peco's Model Scene goods yard lamps. It is impossible to not get excited about this product, they are so simple yet add bundles of authenticity and atmosphere to a goods yard scene.

Auhagen produce a gas lamp that would look great on a quiet suburban or branch-line station, but, where these lamps really come into their own is on a cobbled street, just look at our pictures and try to imagine one of these lamps without a few cobbles, they are like fish and chips or bread and butter or Ant and Dec!

Finally, and not forgetting signal lights. Peco produces a brilliant 3 aspect signal with route indicator. They require assembly, but that's a good thing because you can construct them with or without the route indicator, however, if you do decide to include it, you can attach it either way round therefore showing that a route is about to diverge either to the left or to the right, simply brilliant!

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Adverts are everywhere, signage too for that matter. We are constantly being told where to go, and where not to, and on the way there (or not there as the case may be) we are often bombarded by slogans, adverts, tempting pictures and shop posters all trying to make us aware of what shiny, tasty or desirable products we can exchange our hard-earned cash for.

If you are lucky enough to be at the stage on your layout where you have finished laying your track and installing your grass, trees, ballast, buildings and signals, you will be wanting to take it to the next level and install some finishing touches such as signs and adverts.

Signs are typically there to provide safety advice or information, in a station environment there are plenty of them. Whether your layout is a modern image or set in an era gone by, there will be lots of signage, so have a good look at some pictures to get an idea of what kind of signs your station and railway should have.

Adverts are an equally important finishing touch, not only do they add realism to your layout, but they help firmly plant it in an era making it come to life.

There are lots of signs and adverts on the market to help you achieve excellent results so a good search is always worth the effort. We have shown just a few in OO gauge to whet your appetite from Peco and Gaugemaster including a modern image hoarding (advertising what can only be described as a booze-cruise), another hoarding this time from the steam era, some southern travel posters informing travellers of all the wonderful places they can visit, some stick on platform signs for the LMR, a pack of plastic traditional station signs that you paint yourself and some trespass/board signs telling you firmly what you can and can't do!