rouse2037's Blog

Time for a few more pictures and some details of the build please. Lovely atmosphere. I for one would like to know more please.

Thanks for interest, Hymek2. Here goes...!

 

PART 1 - PLANNING AND IDEAS

 

The layout is 47" x 12". I cut it to this size from the original piece of the foam which measured 47" x 20". It's really easy to cut and makes very little mess - although i did cut it outside just in case! I then sprayed the whole thing with "earth brown" acrylic paint. That took a while to dry and gave off a strong smell - beware!

 

Track is Peco code 75 which I had spare as well as 1 left hand, & 1 right hand point. This created the 3 sidings requred but I also added in a Y point as I wanted another siding at the front in which a loco could sit, ticking over while some shunting went on behind it. Model Trains International magazine had a plan for Dyserth and I liked the idea of an old, gated, private siding curving off to somewhere (a quarry in reality) but perhaps now disused & overgrown with a pile of old sleepers as an impromptu "buffer stop"..

 

So track was measured and planned out with the points until I was happy and had made sure each siding could hold the required amount of wagons etc The headshunt on the left had to be 20" long in order to hold a loco and 3 wagons. The headshunt ignores the fact that the Y point is there as the siding coming from it is purely for interest and is not part of the "puzzle" nor can it be used to cheat!

 

Using Mr Wymanns shunting puzzles website as a guide; 8 wagons are used, but only 5 of which need to form the final consist. A Tiddlywink computer or playing card waybill system can be created easily and used to determine the order that the wagons need to be placed in to "win"!

 

To be continued!

Roger

Don't know about "winning" the inglenook puzzle, but having seen this layout in the flesh, so to speak, it's a real winner in itself!

 

I agree that it has got a nice spacious feel, and has its' own atmosphere.

Like the effect of the earth covering too (glad I bought a pack @ Bristol the other week too)

 

Cheers

Marc

Oh, I do like that a lot ! Very nicely done, great atmosphere and fun too.

This layout just shows what can be achieved in such a small area. Fantastic!

Marc, Stubby47 & GWRfan - many thanks for the kind words!

 

PART 2 - BUILDINGS, BACK SCENE & GROUND

 

I had built the Metcalfe Brewery Kit some time back for an idea that didn't work out. At the time, I had actually wanted to get the Factory kit but it had been discontinued - now of course it is available again for either full of half relief build! Anyway, I bashed one building by cutting it in half and changed the roof, added gutters, down pipes etc and boarded up a few windows on the rest. I do like the look and "feel" of a run down old building.. www.derelictlondon.com is one of my favorite ways to waste hours on the internet!

 

Several hours later .... Must stop looking at that site!

So anyway, a low relief, flat roof building was also knocked together to fill the gap between the Metcalfe buildings. Bit more work needed where the buildings meet the ground.

 

The foam insulation board is a bit pitted in its "as bought" way so I sanded it in places and then painted it with "Yard Filth" textured paint and/or used some ground cover stuff by Treemendus - both were then weathered with powders and weeds planted. The area at front left was cut away at random to give some contours (i hope) and treated to a coating or three of static grass from a puffer bottle followed by some spray glue which, I didnt realise until after, left the grass actually looking a bit wet in places - which i dont mind at all. Weathering powders again brushed gently over the grass in places.

 

The back scene is good quality thin ply, painted off white. Using colour pencils and charcoal some "Welsh mountains in the misty distance" were (I hope!) created.

 

Am I waffling on?

Enough then

Roger

Its not waffle. Its what others consider detail as to how you achieved the "picture" you have created. It inspires others, gives experienced modellers ideas of different ways of doing things, and inexperienced ones information on how to get started.

Its not waffle. Its what others consider detail as to how you achieved the "picture" you have created. It inspires others, gives experienced modellers ideas of different ways of doing things, and inexperienced ones information on how to get started.

 

 

Thanks Hymek2

PART 3 - ELECTRICKERY & THE LIKE (keep it simple)

 

Having used DCC for some time now in OO and O (and with a tiny chip in a Dapol N gauge Hymek too) and with the wonders of modern science giving such great sound, slow slow running, lights etc to loco's, Neptune Road had to be DCC too.

 

On the last few layouts I've built, I have used 2 thin strips of sticky backed copper tape which i got on a biggish roll for £9 from Maurice at Osbourns Models ages ago. It's very thin stuff and sticks to wood, cardboard etc easily. I think it's used in dolls houses as a "mains circuit" for lighting etc.

Usually I solder dropper wires to the rail sides and the other end is fed down through the base board and soldered onto the copper making sure all the wires from one side of the track are soldered to one copper strip and wires from the other side of the track are soldered to the other copper strip making sure of course that the two copper strips dont touch!

I cheated a bit this time, as I had bought some pre-soldered rail joiner/fishplates and as each length of track was cut to the required length per siding, simply slid the rail joiners on the very ends and crimped them tight - they are now hidden by the buffer stops too.

As the foam insulation board is a good few inches thick, I simply cut some channels towards the back scene and drilled some holes for the wires to pass through and then soldered the wires to the copper strips.

With the points, I simply use an insulated rail joiner on all of the V's of the frogs. All points are electrofrog. Each siding therefore has it's own power feed.

Points are controlled by the "wire in tube" method.

 

A good excuse then followed to play trains for a while and all worked fine.

 

Cheers for now

Roger

Maurice, Osborns, sounds awfully familiar. I lived in Oxfordshire until a few months ago and knew his Abingdon shop well. I havent managed to visit him in his new shop yet.

PART 4 - BALLASTING WITH AN IPOD

 

Not actually using an Ipod to ballast with but like most, I'm not a huge fan of ballasting so listening to some music or a Rhod Gilbert podcast tends to pass the time.

I tend to hold the track in place first with a few spots of neat pva left to dry over night and weighted down if needed. Next day, spread the ballast with a tea spoon and work in with a finger and paint brush to get it all in the right places but leaving out the points for later. I made sure there was no shoulder of ballast as sidings and such are often neglected and i do like the run down look - and so often reduced to cinders and dust. (sounds like life in general!). When happy (am i ever?) i give it all a light spray of water and then the fun begins. Which is the best way to apply the diluted pva?? (with the old added blob of washing up liquid) hmmm??? a syringe? drip from a paint brush? or my new method, pour quite scarily in a slightly controlled way direct from a washing up type size pva bottle that had a quarter of glue left and topped up to about three quarters full with water.Well shaken and not stirred. Yum. It does tend to flood the track and looks a mess but quickly gets soaked up by the ballast which, i meant to mention, is n gauge in size.

Might need a bit of prodding with a tooth pick in places to tidy the ballast up but then leave alone for at least 24hrs. Same method used around the points but with much less pva flooding so as not to bung them up with glue. Nothing new and certainly not fancy but - it works.

 

Cheers

Roger

Maurice, Osborns, sounds awfully familiar. I lived in Oxfordshire until a few months ago and knew his Abingdon shop well. I havent managed to visit him in his new shop yet.

 

Yes the same. It was a great shop and Maurice is a great modeller. I have family in Bicester and a trip to Abingdon was always on.

 

Cheers

Roger

PART 5 - LOCO'S AND STOCK

 

I recently purchaed a resin Class 22 Silver Fox body kit and a Bachmann Class 20 chassis to run it on. Installing a DCC chip took a few seconds and the running is quiet and very smooth. Great.

Although the Class 22 body was of the disc headcode type, I wanted a tatty BR blue finish with full yellow ends - so thats what I did. Double arrows and numbers, data panel etc were added after painting and the body fitted to the chassis after some filing. The bogie side frames were removed from the 20 chassis and replaced. I didnt fit spoked wheels as i really should have done but it looks fine to me. Sorry to all those perfectionists - not really. Weathering followed and I am rather pleased. Looking forward to the Dapol release of the 22.... sometime..

So the 22 is the main loco in use, with a couple of sound fitted 24's and a 35 in the reserve pool.

 

Stock consists mainly of grotty 12t vans, a dogfish and a few opens.

 

Cheers

Roger

PART 5A - KADEE COUPLINGS

 

Although I'm not a big fan of tension locks, they work - and with my super uncoupling wand are ok. Having used DG couplings on 2mm finescale stuff in the past, the idea of hands free uncoupling and delayed action shunting sounded good for Neptune Road use.

 

I purchased No's 17, 18, 19 and 20 plus magnet and height jig. Changing over from tension lock to kadee was simple enough, using the jig was easy, fitting the magnet..yes fine. Pushing wagons by hand over the magnet, pretending to be the loco, the wagons all uncoupled fine... until... using a real loco (well, not an actual REAL loco) with kadee fitted to it and .... the same wagons refused to now uncouple.

 

Until .... i read on RMW about adding some resistance to the wagon via the axle and then also remembering my pal Al telling me how he had done it to his stock.

Great idea and it works!

 

I tend to find No 18's work the best for me.

 

More later

Roger

Been to Hay on Wye today and picked up "Branch Lines Round Britain - in the diesel era" for a fiver. Great stuff.

Also noted how dark green gorse bushes are.

 

On Neptune Road, more weeds have sprung up.

 

Roger

PART THE 6TH - SHUNTING

 

Taken from

 

The Diary of a Cambrian Spotter

"Friday 18th March

Bunked off school today, made 2 jam sandwiches and pinched some pop. Cycled off to the sidings at the end of Neptune Road.and saw some hectic shunting going on. A tatty 63'er had already arrived and the driver was having a fag with Dai over by the hut. I hid behind a pallet just in case. After a bit, the driver set to work shunting. There were a mix of vans and opens and Dai's dog Skip was sitting in the old PW wagon. He looked bored as he got shunted about a bit until the 5 vans had been gathered in the long siding. The driver and his mate shut the engine off and went off for dinner. I got stung by a wasp and went home.."

Hi Rodger,

 

Neptune Road is looking good. I'm pleased to say I've really got my butt into gear over the last few weeks and have made some excellent progress.

 

All track is now permanetly laid and wired up, some groundwork has appeared and now I'm back to working on my buildings.

 

Can it really take this long to build a micro layout!?...

 

If you fancy a look, the link is in my sig. Hopefully I'll see you at the next meeting.

 

Cheers

Did you complete the layout ?
 

And more importantly are there any photographs ?

 

Terry