Leaderboard

I've now finished (I think) the first of the eight pavilions required for the viaduct, except for the painting which can wait until they're all done. I'm always supercritical of my own work (aren't we all?) but I'm quite pleased with this given there were no drawings available and access to measure was not a practicable option. It's not as detailed as the real thing, but in view of the scale of the whole model and the distance from which it is likely to be viewed I think it conveys the essence well enough. When painted I may use pencil lines to suggest some of the other panelled detail, we shall see. There are 69 individual pieces in this structure, made variously of MDF, limewood, Rowmark and other species of plasticard. The fiddliest bits by far were the decorative coving around the tops of the pillars, made from Evergreen 1.5 x 1.5mm angle with 0.5 x 0.5mm section set into it, then mitred to form a 90-degree L-shape. I hate roofs, and made this based on longitudinal and lateral plasticard formers underneath, but I still couldn't get a perfect join for the four sections - so I filled the gaps with more 0.5 x 0.5mm strip to make it look neater even if it's not authentic. Also there is a piece of 2mm angle on the top to represent a final ridge tile and hide the unsightly join of four pieces of Slaters! I might try a wraparound one-piece card substructure for the next one. And, to show that I know no fear, once again the real thing B) Another experimental item is this representation, again based on Evergreen sections of various kinds, of the decorative brick detail at the tops of the piers. We haven't ruled out resin casting entirely for this (decision tomorrow when we have a get-together with the Eridge team) but it is at least an achievable option.

Hi All Last night I completed building my own workbench, up to now I've been working on the kitchen table. Currently I get the power supply from a extension lead on the top of the bench, hopefully I will soon have the 4 way attached to the side of the bench instead. I also need to fit a side and back to the bench to prevent items and tools from falling off, and getting lost. Lisa

Hi All Today I have been building the new cassette location and electrical connection for the train cassettes on Chagford. Despite the new electrical system being much more straight forward, on the first attempt I got the wiring cassette wiring reversed and found a complete short when I tested it. This done I next wired up the section of track to the left of the cassette which had previously been unconnected. Then did some rectification to the point wiring and added the point tie bar. Then I ran the first train around the whole oval including over the cassette. 2nd_Train.mov Building points that are not built in a 2mm Association jig is an artform. I am learning fast and hopefully my next point will be easier to build and have the need for less rectification before a train will run over it without derailing. Lisa

It's bee a while since my last post, mainly due to lack of photogenic progress - and that hasn't changed really. However, I have made some steady progress with the wiring of the station board (board No. 4 in my scheme of things). This is now complete with the jumper cables, plug/socket for connection to the control panel, which will be mounted at the end of this board. Due to the position of the panel relative to the bulk of the pointwork and signals, lots of the wires just run from one end to the other but makes the wiring look more complex than it is. Nevertheless, there's certainly plenty of it under this board! I've tried to keep it all as neat as possible. There are two jumpers to the panel, one terminating in a 25 pin plug, the other in a 25 pin socket - not that there are 50 wires, just more than the biggest plug i could obtain (37 pins). The following under-board shots show the tag strips with wires attached to the outer ends from the board and the inner ends to the jumper cables. The cables can be seen clipped in their transport positions, tucked out of harms way. There may need to be a separate ribbon type wiring and plugs to carry the loco number describer info from the cassette fiddle yard to the main panel display - I think you need something like this when driving DCC locos from hidden sidings (loco address and forward/backward info) In order to gather some scenic information, I visited the remains of Delph station yesterday to measure up the roadside retaining walls and try to get a feel for the types of trees/bushes, leaf colours, etc., as i intend to set the layout in April/May time. It's sad to say that the whole station area, with the exception of the station building, has been decimated since my initial visits. I was fully aware that a housing estate had been built on part of the goods yard and in the coal drops area, but I hadn't appreciated just how much collateral damage had been done to the old infrastructure. All quite sad. Still, some very useful information and photos were obtained, which will be a help later in the project. Cheers, Dave.

Hi All Having no car it is an important consideration that the layout should be convenient to transport by public transport. The packing system consist of two components, these are a plastic box, to keep it dry and a bag with a strap that goes over the shoulder to make the carrying easier. In doing the measurements to check the maximum height for the backscene, which is 55mm, I decided to redesign the positioning of the overcentre catches to fix the cassette board to the main board. This change simply makes the layout packing easier. Lisa

I've not updated the blog for a while, mainly because there hasn't been much progress to report (the weather has been too nice for modelling!) The bits for the 02 arrived from the 2mm shop last week. Unfortunately swapping the spur gear hasn't improved the running much, and following a comment on an earlier blog entry, I checked the stub axles to make sure they were running true. There was a slight wobble on one axle, so to be on the safe side, I removed all of them and threaded some plain axle steel through to see if that cured the problem - it didn't! I really want to get the chassis working properly, but it's irritating when I can't pin down the root cause! I have set the chassis aside and will have a good look at it when I have a spare evening (and a stiff drink handy! ) Yesterday I spent a day on the 2mm Roadshow stand at York Model Railway Show. As well as being my local show, it's usually one of the better 'non-specialist' shows, and this year was no exception. I usually take along a few projects to fiddle with - mainly as a talking point when people want to come and have a chat. Getting anything done is regarded as a bonus, and on some of the best days at shows I have come away with very little done at all! Yesterday's projects were a coach bogie and a station seat. Pennies come in very handy when photographing 2mm models! Both are for a forthcoming project that I will say a bit more about in due course. Another project moving forwards steadily is a bogie bolster E. This is being built from a Stephen Harris kit, and will form part of a freight train that I've promised to build for a friend to run on his rather large 2mm layout 'Fence Houses' (more details here). The debut public outing for the layout will be at the Blyth show in late August. I think I'd better get my skates on! Andy

Hi All Once the final layout size was determined, I then started to design the track layout. At the initial stages I had decided the the main line curve would be 190mm radius. An arc of this radius was drawn on the front of the baseboard, using a ruler type compass. Templates for the various points were produced, complete with sleeper centrelines, using templot. The point templates were laid out as shown in the photograph above. This allowed the lengths of the loop and sidings could be checked using actual wagons. I knew that my length of my trains would have to be shorter than on the prototype but I feel that a train of 4 wagons and a brake, in BR days and 5 wagons in independent days would capture the correct feel. The tramway company did not believe in using brake vans, and because it was a tramway the Board of Trade could not force their use! I had decided early on that I would decrease the distance between parallel lines from the generally accepted 12.5mm between the centrelines. This has the effect in making the layout appear larger than it is to the viewer. Sidings on the model will have well very severe curves, but the only restriction on the radius of curves was would the wagons go round them without coming off. The station is a terminus, despite the layout being an oval, the line after the loop and the platform becomes a private siding for the Dairy, and on the prototype there was a baulk bridge over a stream just beyond a white gate. My intention is to include the bridge, but to leave this until I have laid out the loop and sidings. At this stage the layout was checked to see if the proposed operation sequence would work. Initially I had intended not to have a carriage siding, but the early part of the sequence would have required excessive shunting if the carriages were left in the platform overnight. It is much easier to check the sequence using real rolling stock rather than using paper based methods. The track in the area where the bridge will be installed is not glued down, but is held in position with screws for ease of removal. Once the track has been removed the baseboard will be able to be cut and carved to represent the stream channel and a link piece will be screwed and glued beneath to maintain baseboard integrity. Lisa

Hi All When making sharp curves, i.e. sub 800mm radius I have found that the standard way of producing 2mm track by using the track jig to produce a herring bone does not work. I output the template from the track design package without the sleepers showing. This is because the package does not work correctly when the radius of the curve is sub 400mm radius. The template was cut out and fixed to the baseboard using masking tape. I marked the mid point between the rails at each end and then with a compass set to the radius of 190mm I then fund the centre of the circle, using simple school girl geometry. Then I drew in the arc, the centreline of the track. Standard sleeper spacing is is 30†which scales to 5mm. Using dividers I divided up the track centreline. Then it simply a case of drilling a 1mm hole at the centre of the centreline arc, placing a pencil in the hole and then placing a straight edge against it and positioning the other end on one of the divisions on the track centreline and drawing the sleeper centreline. Construction can now commence! Lisa