A new start! BR 1990ish.

[rob D2]

No actually , I’ve changed my mind, because your headhunt would allow locos to clear the loop, and shunt clear of the line into the depot.

 

I tend to look on google earth, or quail track plans and copy sections of the real railway. But you’ll find there is a prototype for everything out there

[fishytrains]

An interesting layout. I will be keeping an eye on your progress.

 

Mike

[dogbox321]

Hi - just been reading about the layout - looking good.

 

Regards the "squeak" on Hornby Locos - try removing the belt drive to the fans to see if it stops it.  They may need lubrication.  Some people have said in the past that the fan belt drive can cause problems.

 

Regards,

 

C.

[dogbox321]

Good point!

So your suggesting remove the two points into the fuel point/headshunt and instead replace it with one point straight into the two fuel point sidings?

Hi, if anything I'd say you don't need the trap point between the fuel point and headshunt, as the headshunt protects the mainline.

 

Regards,

 

C.

[Jim76]

Will follow with interest. I liked your Woodhead Electrics layout. What did you do with all the stock?! Cheers, Jim

[40 058]

Hi - just been reading about the layout - looking good.

 

Regards the "squeak" on Hornby Locos - try removing the belt drive to the fans to see if it stops it.  They may need lubrication.  Some people have said in the past that the fan belt drive can cause problems.

 

Regards,

 

C.

 

 

Hi,

Yes, I’ve actually removed the belts from a few of them. On some it’s made all the difference, others not. The ones it has, the belts had gone hard and were just slipping making the noise.

The ones that it didn’t help, turned out to be the little gear on the bogies. A clean out of the old crud and a few spots of oil into there did the trick. Some needed oiling then running, followed by another oiling but it’s doing the job. Only one 31105 now is still occasionally making the irritating squeak!

 

 

 

Will follow with interest. I liked your Woodhead Electrics layout. What did you do with all the stock?! Cheers, Jim

Thanks.

I’ve still got it all! Some 16 EM1’s and 2 EM2’s.

Don’t ask what I’ll do with them now! Maybe just get them out for a run now and then?

All the other stock from that layout I’ll be reusing on this one, anything from the blue or green era I’ll use should I fancy a change of running era from time to time.

 

Here’s the stock storage...

 

 

All these are Locos. Plus a few carriages at the end.

 

 

And these are all wagons/freight stock.

The black things under the old towels are actually mk2 Ford Capri seats!! Removed from the car years ago and I’ve just had them fully retrimmed ready to go back into my restoration project. Another staggeringly expensive hobby of mine!

[ba14eagle]

This looks to be a great layout in the making.

I like your track arrangement into the depot - too many depots spoilt by daft track layouts and poorly planned entry / exit lines.

[40 058]

I’ve also done a bit more track altering.

This is why I never lay track then immediately start fitting point motors and ballasting! I almost always leave things a few months at least, run the layout, then find I want something different or something else works better and change it. Much easier done without relocating point motors and scraping up new ballast!

 

Here’s the current state of the track...

 

Station area now has the dead end bay platform looped in instead. Giving two main lines through the middle with two loops either side.

 

 

I’ve removed the headshunt and now have the fuel point access from one point only, accessed from one of the loops. This loop then joins the branch around the curve into the hidden storage area.

 

 

Seems to run (and look) a bit better now. The aim with the station end and the two loops is so the half relief station appears bigger than it actually is. The loops don’t really do anything in reality but since you won’t see one end of them it will look from the scenic side that they continue on for a greater distance.

Only thing I might add is a crossover from the inner loop line (nearest the fuel point) back across the end of the platform onto the inner main line? Just so trains can get from the inner loop back onto the main and aren’t forced to go down the branch. Is it worth bothering though!? Maybe I’m overdoing it?

Edited October 21, 2018 by 40 058

[rob D2]

Wise man , not committing to ballasting or cutting holes till 100% happy !

 

Looks pretty good , some nice runs for the stock

 

A further thought - the line by the shed , can it be extended 1 loco length to give you stabling for five locos ?

 

And the refuge siding over the other side has engineers written all over it - will it take a round number of wagons - say 4 seacows ? I’ve made the error before of not considering what will go in and ending up with an odd length

Edited October 21, 2018 by rob D2

[40 058]

Wise man , not committing to ballasting or cutting holes till 100% happy !

Looks pretty good , some nice runs for the stock

A further thought - the line by the shed , can it be extended 1 loco length to give you stabling for five locos ?

And the refuge siding over the other side has engineers written all over it - will it take a round number of wagons - say 4 seacows ? I’ve made the error before of not considering what will go in and ending up with an odd length

The siding next to the shed will extend. It’s current length was simply the length of the piece of flexitrack I had to hand!

 

The refuge siding was intended for a headshunt for shunting the two sidings into the ‘industrial site/warehouse’. However, it’s not actually needed for that as the loop serving those sidings can hold the full train I intend to use for this site.

At the moment it can take two 31 sized locos...

Using it for engineers use is an interesting idea!

[rob D2]

Could be used at weekends then , when not required for shunting ?

 

I’m envious of the possibilities In your shed as I’m restricted to 10’x6’ spare room!

[40 058]

I’ve not had a great deal of time for this since the last update, but I have been doing a few bits & bobs...

 

Firstly, I was still (yes, still!) not satisfied with the track layout!

The more I used it the more I felt it just didn’t really work for me. Adding the extra loop through the platform seemed like adding track for the sake of it and a few other things weren’t ‘right’. So I’ve altered things again, made it a bit simpler but retained the basic running lines.

 

 

 

 

This looks better to me and it works well too, so I’ll stick with this. I think. Maybe!

 

The next thing that was proving a bit restrictive was the storage area.

There was plenty of length to each of the loops but not quite enough of them so I’ve added a bit of extra girth!!

 

 

Doing this has added a few extra loops and better used the space available.

 

Here’s a few pics of some trains running for now.

 

 

56 hauled steel train. This train sounds the part too thanks to a squeaking axle on one of the wagons!

 

 

 

Pair 31’s on the oil tanks.

 

 

Local service using old mk1’s including an ex NSE brake. A 31 with a short rake of mk1’s were common at the time for more local services around the north west until DMU’s replaced them.

 

 

Trans Pennine service using a mix of RR and older blue and grey mk2’s.

 

 

RFD 37 on a train of vans.

 

 

Heljan 58 with an mgr train.

It’s nice to be able to run decent length trains!

 

Hopefully this weekend I’ll get the point motors fitted, assuming I can find where I’ve put them, and maybe dig out my ballast and start that too.

[vulcan product fan]

Nice work wish i had the space for a yard like that bet it works well watching the different train go buy the station without having to change the train on the track each time you want to run something different .

[40 058]

Nice work wish i had the space for a yard like that bet it works well watching the different train go buy the station without having to change the train on the track each time you want to run something different .

That is good being able to do that but the storage area’s still not big enough! I’ve got way way more stock than I’d ever be able to put on this layout. But I suppose that’s probably true of most people!

 

 

Yesterday I dug out the salvaged point motors. I took them off the old layout and kept the best ones.

Sadly I’m a few motors short for the ‘scenic’ side so I’ll still need a few more. So far I’ve fitted 4 of them...

I knew there was a reason I’d been putting this off!! Royal pain they are!

 

My method of fitting them is to use a track pin through the hole in the points tie bar, give the nail a tap to mark the baseboard then slide the point into the opposite position and repeat. Then lift the point out. That should leave two small marks on the baseboard. Then use a drill of suitable diameter to drill through the board using the centre between the two nail marks as a guide. As long as both of the nail marks are drilled away then the point motors pin will clear the baseboard and operate the point.

The motors are then held in place under the board, operate the points by hand to ensure the motor will move freely and the point blades move fully and properly. Once that works screw the motor mount base onto the underside of the baseboard ready for wiring up later.

Sounds simple but getting the motors lined up so they operate freely takes a while sometimes and I’m not a fan of working upside down under the boards either!

I hated this task the last time I did it on the old layout!

Still, it’s got to be done before I can start ballasting.

 

Hopefully a few pics later...

[danstercivicman]

Nice shed

 

Here’s a few extra pics of the shed itself, for anyone thinking of attempting similar.

 

9DD30B99-4E28-4779-9C94-75353648E404.jpeg

 

846F59AF-3C04-4213-96F3-EE8E141BDEFD.jpeg

 

02D01477-9716-48B1-AE5A-6FA2DAAC7CC2.jpeg

 

1DA94E21-52E2-41D5-A203-68FCAFAC86C6.jpeg

 

I think the hardest bit was getting the floor level. The concrete base is very old and was a hard standing for cars many years ago. The next base along to this actually had an old inspection pit in it. It’s extremely thick concrete but wasn’t exactly the most level so I had to even everything up varying the height of the brick pillars the shed sits on. This was a bit of a pain really and could have been avoided if whoever built the base bothered to level it out.

I screwed up with the electrics a bit though too, when fitting the consumer unit I had to knock the knockouts through to feed the various wires into it. They wouldn’t knock out so I decided to drill them out instead. Worked a treat until I pushed too hard on the drill and the drill bit went straight through and into the bottom of one of the mcb’s completely destroying it!

The lights are twin bulb LED jobbies, one 5’ and two 2’ lights. I was a bit sceptical about them at first as I like the old yellow glow of proper bulbs but these things are much brighter and eat virtually no power too. They came from eBay, as did the brown miniflow guttering and fittings.

Longer term I’d like to replace the felt roofing (all bonded down and together on the top surfaces - no nails to potentially leak) with roof shingles.

The felts fine for a few years at least though. I’ve also layed a layer of underfelt over the roof first, then the gritted felt, just to be sure.

[40 058]

Got a few more motors fitted today.

 

 

 

 

Marked out the two positions of the hole through the tie bar, then drilled out a suitable sized hole for the motor pin to move through. These 3 points are the most awkward location wise so I thought I’d get them done! I’ve got a bad back which makes this task pretty unpleasant sometimes leaning over or trying to squeeze into awkward places under baseboards.

 

 

 

 

Motors in place, lined up properly and move freely with the point blades moving fully in both directions.

The point motors I’m using are just normal Peco solenoid motors, nothing particularly extravagant! I’ve also used the ready made mini wiring looms just for speed and ease.

 

The third point in this location is in a place where there’s a baseboard cross member directly beneath where the motor would need to go so obviously it can’t be mounted below in this instance.

 

 

This one has to go above the baseboard using an extension bar to one side of the point. Unfortunately you will see the extension bar even once the scenery and ballast is down but it’s unavoidable. I’ll just try to make it as invisible as I can with painting. The motor can be hidden inside a trackside hut or similar.

The point motor pins will be trimmed down later once they’re all in place and working ok.

 

With those ones sorted I moved on to the two on the crossing points from the loop/headshunt onto the outer main line. While I had the track up I took the time to move this crossing up towards the platforms a little further so as to extend the loops length a bit. At the same time I’ve extended the headshunt slightly too as mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

 

 

Both point motors are now fitted here and track work relaid permanently.

I’m short of two motors so these have been ordered and I’ll try to get the last four fitted over the next day or two. I don’t think I’ll have the outstanding two before New Years unfortunately but I’ll make a start on the ballasting at the completed end of the layout if they don’t turn up.

Edited December 30, 2018 by 40 058

[ess1uk]

Looks good so far

[40 058]

Progress has been leisurely at best with this! 

However, since the last update all the point motors have been installed, followed by wiring in the switches and motors. This took some time!

 

 

 

Ive stuck to doing this the simple way, and used standard Peco solenoid motors with Peco switches and switch consoles. There’s many more sophisticated methods and makes of stuff to use for this but I’ve stuck to doing it the easy way!

The wiring took much longer than I’d wanted it to, but it’s all now tested and seems to be working well.

 

Next job was to start the ballasting.

Ive used some fine GeoScenics ballast, same as I used on my previous layout. I still had loads of it leftover so that saved me a bit buying more!

So far I’m about halfway round the scenic section.

 

 

 

 

It takes time to get it all neat but it looks good so far. Once it’s all down I’ll start painting and weathering it.

I haven’t decided exactly what I’ll do with regards to the ballasting in the fuel point area. I think it needs finer ballast than the rest?

More soon, hopefully!

Edited March 3, 2019 by 40 058

[cravensdmufan]

All looks great - tracks nicely spaced.  Very neat wiring underneath.

 

 

[vulcan product fan]

Great work the wiring looks way to neat mate keep posting the progress photos pal.

[saxokid]

Looking forward to new update on here now...

 

 

cheers neil..

[40 058]

Slow progress again (sorry!). I’ve been restoring a car at the same time as doing this and now the good weather has arrived the car has been eating up much of my spare time.

 

However, more ballasting has been done. I’m almost finished with this task now, just got the platform straight to go.

speaking of the platforms, These were loosely clipped together Peco platforms just placed to get spacing etc right for the track laying. I’ve decided to use them permanently, so they’ve been taken apart and dressed up with a file to get the sections to fit better. Then they’ve been glued together permanently and had additional bracing added and some extra plastic glued underneath all the joins in the top surfaces just to add rigidity.

now they’re straighter than before it has shown the track work on the inner track to be a little bit far away from the platform edge in a few places leaving a rather large gap between the train and platform. Any passengers would need to take a bit of a leap out of their carriage to get off! So the track here has been lifted and realigned to get rid of the gaps.

 

 

 

 

I also had a new loco delivered...

 

D600 arrived from Kernow last week and is seen here on the fuel point! 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely model it is too!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by 40 058

[jonny777]

Nice work. D600 might stretch the 1988-90 time frame 'a little' but looks too good not to try a Rule 1 exemption. 

[40 058]

2 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

Nice work. D600 might stretch the 1988-90 time frame 'a little' but looks too good not to try a Rule 1 exemption. 

 

Just aswell! D600 has some hydraulic friends too...

 

 

 

The next recent arrival is much more in keeping with the time period though.

 

37142, the Bachmann regional retailer in engineers grey.

 

 

 

 

I really liked this model when it was first announced, I had a Lima 37 in the same livery years ago and always liked that so now Bachmann have done one I couldn’t really resist!

[40 058]

I’m not terribly good at updating this thread am I!?!

 

Very slow progress again I’m afraid. This summer has been car restoration weather so almost all of my time has been spent on my Capri, however now that’s nearing the end and autumn is coming I should hopefully be spending more time on this instead!

 

Since last time I’ve built up a few building kits I’ve had sat for years awaiting a suitable layout for them. Some of which were old Hornby ‘modern house kits’. I’ve had the unmade kits years but I think they’ll go well on this layout in a corner. I’ve added interior walls and they’re in primer now waiting to be painted.

Ive also made a high level section for one corner of the layout. This is just spare ply with softwood supports underneath then polystyrene blocks glued around the edge to create a hill. This still needs finishing and the polystyrene carving to shape. The high level area has a retaining wall around it too which I’ve painted, they just need a few weeds etc adding here and there to hide a few gaps! They’re cast plaster so the fit isn’t brilliant in a few places even after filing and altering they’re shape to fit.

 

Ive also built a road bridge across the tracks and a hill on the opposite side of the track. Again, this is mostly polystyrene carved to shape and needs a coat of plaster on top. A length of ply and softwood off cuts made the bridge. The road surface is a length of modelling card stuck into place with double sided carpet tape.

 

 

You can see the walls here. A few are still in bright red brick paint and need toning down and cement adding yet!

 

 

 

 

 

Just ordered a load more brick sheets and other bits and bobs to continue the retaining wall ‘backscene’ section. The retaining walls height will drop slightly (for the length under the shed windows) so I’ll be using Wills brick sheets for this bit. Also got some corrugated plastic sections to build the freight sidings warehouse in the corner too. I’ll probably build a quick cardboard mock up for this first and see how it looks before cutting plastic!

As usual I had the best intentions of only buying the plastic sections etc I needed and that’s all, so I can get on with the scenic work...

 

...I was tempted by yet more rolling stock though! I couldn’t help myself despite best intentions! So I ended up buying five Bachmann TTA tanks in the unbranded grey livery. I’ve been after some of these for a while but they don’t seem to come up very often. I think they’re an old Kernow models ltd edition? They should look well behind one of my 31’s though!

then because that wasn’t enough I spotted a nice Bachmann 47 Id been after for a while too! It’s the parcels LNER 47522 ‘Doncaster Enterprise’ special edition. Again, I couldn’t help myself! 

 

Anyway, hopefully the plastic sheet etc will be here soon and this afternoon I intend to get some of the hills finished off so with any luck I’ll be updating a bit more often!