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The whole story


Ian Morgan

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Back in 2001, I was working in Luxembourg on a short term contract. I found the local model railway club (AMFL http://www.amfl.net ) meeting in the station at Walferdang, just north of the city. I started helping with some scenic work for a quarry and narrow gauge feeder for their large, permanent HO layout, but not being knowledgeable about railways of Luxembourg, there was not much more that I could do.

 

 

Then one day, they mentioned their annual exhibition, which was five months away. Before I knew it, I had volunteered to build a British layout for the exhibition.

 

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I found an offcut of fairly thick (1/2 inch plus) plywood about 2’x 6†and by the end of the evening it had a hardwood frame added underneath to leave room for wiring, etc, much to the amusement of the other members of the club. I then took it back to my apartment to work out what I could fit onto it. I model mainly in 2mm finescale, so I was reasonably confident that I could do something with it.

 

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Having previously spent many hours shunting the yard of Alresford at exhibitions, which only has two points, I knew that two points would be adequate for the new layout. I made use of the diagonal as the main run, to get precious extra fractions of an inch for the headshunt, and by using 2’ radius points (the smallest practical radius for 2mm finescale) mounted as close to each other as possible, I managed to get a reasonable balance between the length of the headshunt and the shortest siding. The headshunt will take a Class 33 locomotive and four 4-wheel wagons. With the yard track plan sorted out, there was obviously a lot of space left on one corner of the board, so I decided to add a dummy platform road. This is not powered, but it gives a bit of parking space where some extra stock can be shown off.

 

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I had already been contemplating building a small test layout, for use while I was working outside the UK, so I had my track making kit with me. Therefore, I was soon building the two 24in radius points I needed. Previously I have kept to a minimum of 36in radius, but with such a short length of board to play with, I needed every inch I could save. All track was of soldered construction using 2mm Scale Association components (http://www.2mm.org.uk) including chair plates which raise the rail above the level of the sleepers for extra realism. I also used the last of my stock of profiled sleepers to represent concrete sleepers on the platform road. The final track plan needed 4 buffer stops to be made, so a simple jig was made using pins stuck into a piece of wood to hold all the bent lengths of rail ready for soldering, one side at a time. Two such assemblies are mounted on sleepers, and joined with another sleeper to form the buffer beam. The headshunt and platform road are assumed to join up somewhere off the end of the layout, along with a run round loop and maybe some more sidings, so the tracks just end at the board edge. By positioning my Gaugemaster controller next to the layout, it acts as an emergency buffer stop when required.

 

 

 

 

When all the track was built, it was glued down very carefully using quick set epoxy, checking alignment, smoothness of curves and any height differences. Time spent at this stage is well spent. 2mm finescale track does not use rail joiners. Track sections are simply butted up to each other, leaving a small expansion gap. Each length of track is supplied with its own electrical feeds from below the baseboard.

 

 

 

 

Partly to save time, and definitely to save complication, I decided on 'Lo-tech' point control and uncoupling. I found some wire in nylon tube, and small toggle switches at a local model aircraft shop and some small right angle brackets in a hardware store. I fitted the toggle switches to the brackets, which were fixed to the edge of the layout. The switches provide plenty of movement to actuate the glass-fibre PCB tiebar of the point, and the electrical switch changes the 'frog' polarity. I drilled small holes in the switch toggles to pass the actuating wire through, bent to shape. The nylon tubing was pinned and glued in to place, partly in a small trench dug next to the point so that it could be easily hidden. See the photos for details.

 

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Once all the track was in place, the painting and ballasting was completed. I then spent a lot of time removing all traces of ballast, glue and excess paint from the inside edges of the rails, removing the paint from the rail tops and getting a smooth polished running surface using fine emery paper. Final rail cleaning was carried out using Slaters track cleaning fluid and pieces of old handkerchief. Initial testing is done with three of my lightest wagons coupled together. I do not add any weight to my wagons, so kit built open wagons can be very light indeed. I push the wagons slowly along with a finger behind the rear wagon while watching the front wagon. Any sign of sideways or vertical motion indicates an obstruction or a change of gauge that has to be fixed, usually needing attention with a soldering iron. When all the layout passed that test, I started slow motion testing using a locomotive. This shows up areas needing more work with the emery paper and track cleaning fluid. When this was completed, I could run from one end to the other, non-stop, in six minutes. This is a 10+ year old Farish Class 33, no flywheel, no Relco, and standard Gaugemaster controller. The only modification is that the Farish wheels have been turned down to 2mm Scale Association standards and then refitted. I believe that my mate Dave has managed 20 minutes end to end using one of his Farish Class 31s. Since the track completed this testing, it has only ever been cleaned using track cleaning fluid and cloth.

 

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I use automatic, delay action couplings from DG. These work very reliably if you only have a loop at one end of each wagon. Uncoupling is achieved using a simple magnet below the board. Uncoupling happens while the train is in fluid motion, unlike the annoying shuffle required when using Kaydee/Microtrains couplings. The coupling remains uncoupled as long as you keep pushing so the wagon can be left at any position in the sidings. In a layout like this, only one magnet is required, at the first point.

 

 

 

 

Normally I would use an electromagnet for uncoupling, but for my Lo-tech layout I thought I would experiment with a permanent magnet. I found a suitable magnet, about 2cm x 1cm x 0.5cm and found that it would actuate the couplings even through the full thickness of the ply baseboard. I just needed a mechanism that would move the magnet away when uncoupling was not required. I look around the apartment and the only thing I could find of any use was a spare blanking panel for a PC expansion card slot. It had a slightly odd shape, but looked to be about the right size for what I needed. I drilled two holes in it, and added a right angle bend. It was then passed through a slot I cut in the baseboard and two woodscrews were fitted through the holes and passing through spacers cut from an old ball point pen casing before being screwed into the underside of the baseboard. By leaving some slop, and aided by the countersunk head shape of the screws, the plate pivots a little on the screws. The magnet attached itself to the steel blanking plate, and its weight makes it normally hang down away from the baseboard. Pressing on the end of the plate above the baseboard brings the magnet up close enough to do its job. It is a Heath Robinson type contraption, but it is still working today.

 

 

 

 

The magnet operating lever came up between the two point switches, so I looked for a suitable building that could be used to hide them all. The solution was a small industrial building by Knightwing. I cut it in half with a saw, and butt jointed the two halves to form a longer low-relief unit of almost perfect size and shape. A Platelayer’s hut and weighbridge building from Ratio, and scratch built coal staithes completed the buildings for the yard area, which was finished off with paint, a little plaster, various pieces of fencing and some scatter material.

 

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The platform was formed by a triangle of plywood that also formed part of the forecourt. I could not find a kit for a station building with the small Southern Region backwater feel I wanted, but I did have a week or so to spare, so I decided that I had to scratchbuild the station building. This is based on the building at Northiam on the K&ESR but has been changed to represent wooden construction rather than corrugated iron. The majority of this model was formed by cutting up a CD jewel case. Plenty of these are available with broken hinges and they form a very useful modelling material. Having cut the pieces to size, windows and planking are scribed on with a shape knife. Extra plasticard details, such as window sills, can be glued on using solvent. The window bars have some paint applied, and then wiped off with a cloth, leaving paint only in the scored lines. The rest of the ‘woodwork’ can then be painted. I did add some interior detail in the central, public area, including a pot boiler at the bottom of the chimney, but nobody ever notices.

 

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Lots of odds and ends from the bits box have been added to give scenic interest, and more have been added since the photographs were taken. The layout was completed in time to appear at the Luxembourg show, and has also been exhibited at Euskirchen in Germany. Since then, it has been visiting exhibitions in the UK without me.

 

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Dave operating Brunswick at the Luxembourg exhibition:

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Me at the Euskirchen exhibition a short while later

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Brunswick was passed on to another 2mm Scale Association member, and was later seen for sale on ebay, so I have no idea where it is now. Here are some of the latest photos I have:

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And finally, an aerial view showing the full extent of the layout:

 

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Hello Ian

 

Yes, I was that proud owner of Brunswick. I took it to the Cardiff show in 2008 and spent a great weekend shunting the yard. It worked perfectly and had much interest. However, several months later the lure of larger scales and a move away from 2FS meant it went off to pastures new.

 

It was and I'm sure still is, a great classic micro.

 

Best wishes

Roger

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This is the first time i have seen this layout, its inspiring as they say small is more

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks for posting this Ian - I think it serves as a great inspiration for 2FS modelling...

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