Tony Jarvis
Source: Gazette volume 20 number 6 - Feb 2018

Are you lucky enough to have a large railway room or workshop in the house? Or do you have to confine your modelling to an unheated shed like I do?

Photo 1. Tidy Tray and shelf as delivered…

My solution to winter construction is the use of items designed for other purposes. We have seen in a previous Gazette, ‘The O gauge portable workstation’ by David Straker, in Volume 19, No 2, where he proposed the use of a cutlery tray as a tool caddy. So here are three more tips that might prove to be of use.

…and Photo 2, with the shelf fitted in place.

Tip 1: The gardeners amongst us will recognise this as a potting bench that can be found in the vast majority garden centres and also on-line. It’s called a ‘Tidy Tray’ and this particular version is made by Garland Products (www.garlandproducts.com).

I think mine came via Screwfix, but similar items can also be found in B & Q and Suttons and possibly your local garden centre. Photo 1 shows the component parts, just two, and Photo 2 shows it ready for use to carry from the shed to your indoor work room. It is quite roomy measuring 24 x 22 inches and is seven inches high at the rear and the tray itself is about seven inches deep. The manufacturer’s web site indicates a cost of £12.25 for the tray and £3.89 for the shelf, but as always, it’s best to shop around as they can be bought together and probably cheaper at on-line stores. However Garland also produce what they call a ‘compact’ version

Tip 2: Does your fruit shop or supermarket supply apples etc. in preformed polystyrene trays? (See Photo 3).

Photo 3. In use preparing wagon components.

Rather than throwing them in the waste bin, I save a few and use them as shown as an aid to kit building. Most have six compartments. As each item for a particular section of the build is removed from the sprue or fret and cleaned up, it is put into the relevant compartment ready for assembly. Photo 4 shows this step for the underframe and brake gear of a Parkside wagon kit. At present I’ve only been able to find black trays, so I give each tray a quick coat of ‘all-purpose’ white emulsion. The black ones are used for brass or nickel silver items.

Tip 3: In true railwayman style everything in the house is put to secondary use. For example the ‘cutting mat’, seen in the front of the tidy tray, is nothing but a table place mat that is now in its third generation of use.

Photo 4. Everything's now stowed away ready for next time.