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About this blog

New loft layout through all the stages of building

Entries in this blog

The missing link

Well I have no idea if this works, but I will find out later. I tried to link from my new google 6a to the blog and failed miserably. So now I'm trying to it on my PC, at least I have the link pasted in but I dont think this is anything like the most elegant way to get a video link even if it works.     https://youtu.be/VQk8MhyOU6g

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

Very very overdue for an update

I don't stop work completely on the layout in summer but on sunny days it's too hot in the loft unless I use the AC or go up very early or very late. I have other things to do as well.    But come September and track laying is in full swing. I have noticed that my track laying skills have improved massively which given how much I have laid shouldn't be a surprise but it's months since I drilled a hole in the wrong place.   So progress has been made and for me this means the t

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

Its easy to do

Said a lot of times in the Skills section of the site. And no doubt raised a smile a few times as modellers struggle to carry out some of the mundane jobs of modifying stock to fit the new purpose or layout scenario.   My own little cameo in hacking models about is a common one, the conversion of old ringfield tender drives to DCC. There a lot of stuff on the net about this, most of it horrible and unwatchable. And none appeared to fit my first case, a King Class unit, with electrical

Now is the Winter of our Discontent.....actually no, it isn't

Winter is a bad time to be in a loft. I could heat it, but that would be a bit wasteful, although not as wasteful as a Patio Heater, a Chimenea, or those radiant heaters that are so fashionable for cafes seeking to extend their outdoor comforts. On a windy day the place is draughty enough to be uncomfortable, and I might even be unlucky enough to get a nice dose of PM 2.5 via any of the woodburners installed in nearby houses. But still there are days. A good dose of sunshine and provided the air

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

Cold weather work

It's no use pretending I spend hours at a time in the loft in the winter. If there's any sun it's warm enough to spend some time there and milder days are ok anyway. I have now crossed to the second arm of the layout where I'm planning the most complex track laying I will have to do. It's a through station with 2 island platforms and a central relief line - 5 tracks in all.   As it's a through station I don't need to create access from all lines to all platforms - it's basically 2 spli

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

The illusion of progress part 2

After posting yesterday I realised that given the perspectives in the photos no-one would have any idea what I was talking about, so I have included two side-on photos that roughly line up.   The station approach comprises two parallel tracks with all platform access so in certain circumstances simultaneous arrival and departure is possible. The point at the left in photo 1 is a Hornby Express point and I used existing stock to maintain track gauge at Setrack standard, because of the S

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

The illusion of progress

The illusion of progress is what I should have called my last blog entry, quite a while ago. Summer in any case is a time when I temporarily abandon modelling for the outdoors as my allotment and specifically my plant breeding (Hemerocallis or daylilies) takes over. But in autumn there is a nice period when I only need 3-4 hours a week of gardening time and so it’s back to the loft.   What time I did have was spent sorting out the snags with what I had just laid. I did foresee some tro

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

How nice to report significant progress

It’s been quite a long time since my last posting, or at least it feels that way. I have reached a small milestone with the completion of what I will call phase 1 of the layout comprising most of one side of the loft, which is the top part of the track plan as I laid it out. If some of the track looks slightly out of line in the pictures, it is because alignment is only maintained by the droppers on each rail through the holes drilled in the baseboard. Where appropriate the tracks hold their gau

Two blogs in a week, whats happenning?

Having a relatively large area to work in means that when it comes to scenery a fairly industrial approach may be needed. This week I have been working on the backscene, which in MM comprises 3 sides of individually fabricated boards 60cm wide with cut-outs to accommodate the trusses. There are 23 along the sides - the long chimney wall element was saved from the previous layout although once I had removed it I could no longer get it back into position with the baseboards in place. For the origi

What a lot of track!

This entry is at the request of a couple of people from layout threads. I did post trial track plans last year and the one I have posted here is as near to what i am building as makes no difference. The blocks on the plan mark the position of roof trusses, although the plan assumed that they are in line when actually they are out, so as you move from left to right the real position of subsequent trusses is slightly below the last one, accruing a significant distance over 12 baseboard sections. I

Progress, mostly forwards

Well, winter time means cold, and that means difficult working conditions either in the loft, which is cool but tolerable on the warmer days, or in the garage, which seems to be colder than outside on the warmer days, but tolerable for building baseboards that can be left for glue or paint to dry and work done in stages.   Anyway, the last of the 26 baseboards was completed on 9 March and since then I have been tying the power bus connections together from board to board. Two buses, on

Coming along

Well a couple of weeks have gone by and I have managed to finish some more boards so that the 'Apex' of the U shape of the layout is now complete. However I ran out of batten timber. I am now approximately half way though the board building process - 23 required plus two 'bridging' sections at the base of the U. Each one has to be built and slotted in individually, and as the roof timbers dont line up neither do the boards when they are in place. More on that later.   The boards sit on

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

Board by board

So this is my first blog post. I returned to the hobby about 5 years ago and built a make-mistakes-and-learn DC layout using mostly the 25 year old track and rolling stock from when the kids and I put track together on the loft floor. The first layout had highs and lows. I built the main station across the centre of the loft and carried the main running lines outside the further of the two A frame structures, both of which resulted in massive access problems and were the main reason I decid

RobinofLoxley

RobinofLoxley in Layout building

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