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War Department First World War Narrow Gauge Layout O-16.5 WDLR

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Some holes!

Been a bit of a quiet few days on the building front due to a few days away at the rather brilliant Hay on Wye Book Festival. I can count some progress though as scoured the many book shops for suitable images for the buildings and have come away with several new books. I am really looking forward to recreating the images in model form and tying loads of images together to make my own little world!   Have done a couple of practical things though. I made up some actuators for the points out of
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Problem Solved - maybe!

Not a great deal of progress today as have been doing a bit of proper work for a change! Think I have come up with the solution for the hole though.   The CD box is 120mm and it just so happens that there is an adjustable hole drill that goes up to 120mm. It is worth a try but I am well aware that it will be at the maximum reach and may well make a hole that is not exactly round. Some scrap ply to start off with will be a good idea I think.   Anyway, one ordered for just over a fiver from Eb
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Hole problem - suggestions please

Here is one that has been taxing my brain all day.   So, I now have my traverser but on one of the run off roads I want to put a small turntable. I have got in mind a 10 pack CD container in some form but not sure how to cut a round hole for it fairly accurately. The top here is 12mm ply.   Any suggestions please!
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I've got a traverser!

Yes it does come as a it of a surprise to me but I have managed to create a traverser from a few bits of would and absolutely no experience of such things! As much research as possible from the wonderful internet has helped.   As you might be able to tell , I am rather pleased with myself!. It slides freely but positively, seems to be strong and is not too heavy. I used a ply sandwich for the ends the same as the other boards but made up a timber 'L' beam for the longitudinal edge which seems
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Most of a traverser

Spent all afternoon making this and did in fact get a bit further before I had to give up due to lack of wood. Something went a bit wrong with the height of the traverser table (hardly surprising really as I was making it up as I went along!), so the 12mm ply would be too high. Reckon some 9mm MDF will do the trick though so will be off to get that in the morning.   It all went together pretty well and seems flat, strong and not too heavy. Big question though is is it going to slide properly?
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Sliders

Made a start today on the final board which I have been putting off as it involves a traverser which is something new for me. Have finally settled on using key board shelf runners from Homebase. These are really solid and smooth running due to using ball bearings. First job though was to start hacking them about so they will slide both ways. To do this I cut back the end stop just enough to allow the slider past but not the ball bearing cage. I was not convinced it would work but it does!  
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Astonish!

Following some advice earlier, I tried Aldi today but no luck. Have had a bit of a search on the net and it seems that Poundworld might stock it. There is one at the Merry Hell Shopping Centre but I don't go there lightly! If anyone has a Poundworld near them perhaps they could take a look and let me know. If all else fails I can get some more from Ebay but my postman might not be too happy!   In case you are wondering what this is all about Astonish wood floor polish beats PVA hands down for
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It's got legs!

Although I have some cheap B+Q trestles to use while working on the boards I wanted to get the design for the proper legs sorted. Took quite a lot of thought but just an afternoon in the end to do. I used 2x1 (which of course is nothing like!), which fitted neatly into the gap between the ply sandwich. The legs straddle the baseboard joint thus giving support to two boards in one go. I fear I have made the protruding tang to long but this is easily sorted out.   The big controversy however is
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Points ready to go.

Three points ready to go.   One of the supposed advantages of the Peco points was that they are ready to go - Hmmmm..... Well I guess you could use them straight from the box but as I am placing such a high priority on good running I have followed the advice in Brian Lamberts excellent web site (http://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/ ). I am looking forward to the results but I have to admit to a bit of nervousness about hacking about perfectly good brand new points. Perhaps I am getting wise in my r
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First Track

First track is down and as you will see it is not on a traverser as intended. Couple of reasons for this; Firstly I realised that without some real mechanical engineering I would not be able to operate a traverser by myself from the other end. Secondly I had all the bits made up for a fourth standard baseboard so seemed silly not to use them. I will have to tackle a traverser for the steam end though. I could get away with plain sidings at the tractor end as most things will just go straight in
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Peco wins!

Peco and O-16.5 it is then.   I laid a short section, sprayed it then did a couple of tests with ballast and thought if it looks this good I can live with it! I can also live with the ease and speed of laying and hopefully the reliability. The cost is not so good although I do have sufficient plain track in stock but six new points were ordered.   I have used plain old earth from that garden as ballast which judging from most contemporary pictures usually covers the sleepers and sometimes th
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I've got some baseboards!

I am feeling rather proud of myself! OK, it has taken me a week but I now have three (out of five!), baseboards. A big thank you to Wriggly DIY in Stourport of a) supplying the wood at a fraction of the B+Q price and b) cutting it for me. It took a pretty long day to make up the girders and an emergency trip to Screwfix for more screws and some proper hole saws (found the sort with the series of removable blades to be useless), but then had a good looking kit of parts. I made a sandwich of 6mm p
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Design Criteria

A little bit about what I hope to achieve is in order I think. There are some very good WDLR layouts about (Willesdon Junction for example), but, in my humble opinion some real shockers! Over busy, unrealistic and just downright improbable. What I hope to achieve is a good representation of what life was really like for a Light Railway. Basically they were there to do a job and that job was to shift vast amounts of freight. The problem here comes of how to make this interesting for the viewer an
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Welcome to 'Up the Line - 1918'

You know in job adverts when it says 'need someone who works best under pressure and to targets and deadlines' - well that is me. Amongst several other directionless projects I have been gradually building War Department stock with the eventual aim of building a layout. For anyone who might not know there were extensive 60cm narrow gauge systems in use by both sides in the First World War. In February I noticed a request for military layouts to display at a special event at the Apedale Light Rai
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