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One of the few good things about a wet Bank Holiday weekend, is the opportunity to get some modelling done! I've long been a fan of William Clarke's buildings, I think they have great proportions and just cry out to be modelled. Paul Karau's combined edition of "Great Western Branch Line Termini" contains a good drawing of Abbotsbury in 2mm scale so I used that as a starting point. I enlarged the plan using a photocopier to the required 7mm scale, I find it much easier to measure directly off a plan, rather than have to convert dimensions from one scale to another. "British Railway Journal" number 8 published in 1985 (I knew it would come in handy one day!), contains some really useful information and photographs of William Clarke's architecture, so this was also used for inspiration. I don't want to model one particular prototype station, prefering the freedom of being able to " cherry pick" buildings that I like, to develop a composite view of my proposed GWR branch line. To that end although the station building is based on Abbotsbury, I fancied a building constructed from brick, so there will be more than a dash of Fencote and Rowden Mill thrown in! I like using plastic card for modelling structures and find that as long as the sheet is laminated in odd numbers and braced with internal walls, then I have no problems with warping. Some of my 4mm buildings are now more than 20 years old with no sign of distortion, so far so good! I also like the posibility of scraping and sanding plastic to form bevelled surfaces on mouldings, something I've struggled to do when using cardboard. I've used a mixture of plasticard sheeting from Slaters and South Eastern Finecast. The later comes in bigger sizes which is useful for 7mm buildings and to my eye, the brickwork looks crisper than Slaters offerings. Here are a few pictures of progress so far, judging by the weather forecast there are plenty more wet modelling days ahead!

Interspersed with summer holidays, I've being trying to make some improvement in anticipation of the Shipley show on 8/9 September. One of the running issues at Nottingham was the performance of the coaches; mainly due to a hotch-potch of couplings and coupling bodges to try and get coaches closer together. To this end, I decided to make some semi-permanent couplings for the older Bach-Far coaches and utilise the Dapol NEM dummy couplings on the newer ones (as per the DMUs where this works nicely). The semi-permanent couplings are made with a strip of brass, drilled at each end. At one end I soldered a 12BA nut and at the other a 12BA washer. 12BA screws are then fitted to the end of each coach floor and the link is screwed to one screw nearly flush with the buffer beam, but loose and able to swing: The second coach then just sits over the link with its screw dropping straight through the holes in the link and washer. The whole is chemically blackened and seems fairly unobtrusive: The ends of each rake feature a B&B coupling (similar to DG) to allow auto-uncoupling of each rake:

Things have moved quite quickly in the last couple of weeks. This tends to be the way it goes, I find - slow progress from baseboards, track laying, wiring, backscene construction, and so on, then basic landforms go in and everything speeds up (before slowing down again with the slow process of fine detailing, which can take months or years as required). Maybe it's because scenic work is very much my comfort zone as a modeller, but I tend to just dive in and get on with it, coupled with having a big cardboard box full of scenic materials which means I don't need to keep nipping down to the model shop every few minutes. Unlike messing around with rolling stock, there's very little damage you can do in scenery that can't be reversed or undone, so there's no fear factor there for me, just sheer creative enjoyment. I've continued adding landforms, with card, foam, plaster and hanging basket liner, followed this week by an application of static grass of various shades, hoping to give the necessary texture and summery look. Once again I'm thinking back to the brilliant work by John (Re6/6) visible on the member's day in Taunton, as well as the fine scenic work on Ray Norwood's yard shunter. Yes, I know we shouldn't "model models", but if we can't take inspiration from such things, the hobby would be sadder for it, I feel. Anyway, as per the summer theme, I'm going for stronger greens than in the spring module, where muted tones were the order of the day. I really want this module to scream "summer" - blue skies, strong colours ... shading gradually into a more autumnal palette on the right side. Pretentious, moi? Going back to the railway infrastructure I've begun surfacing the first of the removable platforms using Wills sheets. Easy to work with, stable, rigid, and they can be cut neatly and joined fairly cleanly using plastic filler. Mindful of a comment by Captain Kernow about the possibility of warping, I've cut a hatch in the end of the platform which would allow it to be screwed to a sub-base if necessary. There'll be a similar hatch at the other end. This isn't too conspicuous in reality but if it shows up too much after the platform has been painted and weathered, it could always be disguised with a lamp hut or a collection of milk churns or some such. I think the tendency will be for the ends to bow up, rather than the middle, but if that's not the case a similar dodge can always be contrived in the station building area. Incidentally about 15 years ago my wife scavenged a huge number of surplus office calendars from our place of work. These huge sheets of quality card are glossy on both sides and have served me well through many, many modelled projects. Being calendars they are even "gridded" on one side which makes cutting out even simpler since there are ready-made parallels to follow. Sadly, I am now down to my last few sheets of this brilliant medium. Meanwhile, Abbotsbury station (we're going GWR with this set of removable platforms, but the S&D ones will follow) has been fitted into an aperture in the Wills paving so that it beds down nicely. This approach means that each set of platforms will be tied to a specific building but I prefer it to having a dark line around the base of the building. Spear fencing will follow. For a change from the usual light stone, I'm thinking of going black, which was by no means unusual at GWR stations during the company's reign. Finally, I've added detachable scenery beyond the limit of the module itself, so that there's a view through the underbridge. I made it detachable because there are some nice possibilities for photographic angles shooting through into the module, which I didn't want to lose. It's all very rudimentary but it does the job. This all sounds like a lot of work but it's surprisingly how few hours have been involved - just steady work and not too many setbacks, the way I like it. Cheers again...

Had half a day of to take my daughter out for the afternoon today, went to Sheffield, got conned out of £60 for a pair of Converse baseball boots (can't understand why anyone wouldn't want a decent pair of classic Adidas, but that's me showing my age), Then it got worse, called in at Olivias and came home with this......... Looks quite happy on the overbridge, one weathered EM1, god knows how this fits in with anything at the moment.......... MSW mini diorama coming up????????? Good job I ordered Mrs Red Devil a pair of shoes for her return of holiday,that's all the bases covered and me not in trouble.......(yet)

As mentioned in the last entry, it really was decision time as to take a saw to Grime Street or build New Grime Street, well decision made 'New Grime Street' is underway. This is going to be a rework of the original GS, perhaps using some of the buildings, but then again seeing as I have loads of assorted buildings either underway or on order, perhaps not! What it will have is junction at the right hand end with a view to any future expansion, probably along the lines of a previously abandoned route. It will also feature moving road vehicles, I've always been fascinated by the Faller system and the all singing and dancing derrivatives (way beyond my luddite capabilities!) So I was quite happy when a start set turned up from Germany today, ordered on Monday so full marks to DHL, I thought I'd try a truck first so an LKW MAN set was ordered, I'd no idea what I was going to do with it so whilst sat here tonight looking at various die casts on the internet I remembered I'd bought a Base toys Thornycroft flatbed, half an hour later we had this Pretty easy remove cab, fit Base toy cab base to Faller chassis, cab is a push fit onto the cab base so it's removeable for painting etc, so far so good, the wheelbase of the Thorneycroft is pretty similar to the MAN, but some of the rear overhang will be removed, I think it'll end up as either a flatbed with a sheeted load to hide the battery (which is huge) or less likely a Luton/Pantechnion type. Flushed with sucess I'm of to scour German Ebay for a bus chassis, I fany a Leeds City Transport PD2 or Regent 3............ More on New Grime Street soon............Oh and the original Grime Street, well it may become Grime Street West and be relocated to Gods own county, I've a few Manchester (plus SHMD, Ashton and Oldham) trams that may get a home..........

No, not flared trousers, kipper ties or mind-altering drugs, I'm afraid it's bad news for whistler fans; the 40 project has temporarily returned to the back-burner as the weekend threw up another opportunity to attempt the Class 60 engine recordings. I wasn't going to take any chances this time and with Paul Chetter's assistance, three mics were brought to bear; one in the engine room, one against the grille closest to the engine room, and another on the bodyside near the exhaust. The engine room track captured the character of the loco very well and also sounds great through a bass reflex speaker in a test-bed loco so we're now cooking by gas. The auxiliary sounds are all done so as soon as I've edited and programmed the engine sounds and completed final testing it's a runner. I'm guessing two or three weeks. It's worth highlighting the cost of recording trips such as this. On this occasion the venue was two and a half hours away from me and an early start was called for so I travelled down the day before and stayed in a hotel. Being a Bank Holiday everywhere was booked up and I ended up paying over a hundred quid including breakfast. Add an evening meal and a tank of diesel for the return trip and you're looking at close to £200. This is in addition to the cost of getting the rest of the sounds last time (same venue, cheaper hotel, perhaps £150 in total), and before you count the 40 or so man hours of editing and programming (and any fee paid to loco owners etc in other circumstances). It's tough work but someone's got to do it :-) In the photo, 60011 breezes up the Lickey on the 28th Feb 2012. With the loan of Hornby's latest 90 & 92 models from Charlie, the two sound projects have been tweaked to suit the modern mechanisms. Sound fitting is very straightforward on both and even with a standard speaker inside they sound really good.

Morning all! Most recently, I was thinking whether it might, in fact, be more suitable to change my approach towards writing articles about locos belonging to a type family, as I already have more than one Bombardier TRAXX and Siemens Eurosprinter type loco each. My idea would be to provide something of a "core" article with all relevant basic information about either family, in order to be able to offer this as a reference for all future model presentations. I'm going to begin the changeover to this structure with this slightly rewritten variant of an earlier entry on this blog, which I am going to amend with a few prototype photos I was able to take over time. In terms of product history, Bombardier rolled out the original TRAXX design in 1999, at that time initially offering only the F140 AC1 type which became known as class 185 in German service. It was derived from the earlier class 145 medium freight locomotive, which in turn had also spawned the class 146 regional passenger loco. Consequently, many of the following technical descriptions can also be applied to these forerunners. Along with the original 185, a "new" class 146 was produced as well, and designated the P160 AC1 type. As had been the case on the 145/146 product line, both classes were largely identical, with major differences including quill drive bogies on the 146, and nose-suspended motors on the 185. Of course, the 146 again carried some specific equipment for passenger services, including, but not limited to, destination displays above the windscreens. Production of this 1st generation ended in 2005, for a brief time being paralleled by the first 2nd generation locos built on the same production line, which were introduced in 2004. This production line is, in fact, being kept open as Deutsche Bahn are still holding an option for additional numbers of 2nd generation class 146 locos to be produced as required. However, the 3rd TRAXX generation - which but is designated by Bombardier as the "2E" generation, "E" meaning "evolution" - followed quite soon, with production commencing in 2006 and continuing till this day. As in the previous two generations, various configurations for either full electric and indeed diesel-electric operation are available, and outlined in slightly greater detail further down in this post. At this time, upcoming TRAXX versions include the AC3 type, which will be equipped with a "Last Mile" diesel-electric propulsion package to allow this fully electric loco independent operation at limited speed in non-electrified terminals and depots. With loco leasing enterprise Railpool being the launching customer, this type will be designated class 187. In addition, Deutsche Bahn have ordered an initial batch of twenty improved diesel-electric TRAXX locos, which will be equipped with four small diesel motors rather than one large prime mover. This will allow the loco to operate on one to four working diesel motors as required at any time during the trip, and thus offer reduced fuel consumption, reduced noise emissions and less pollution. These locos will be designated class 245, and are expected to be delivered beginning in 2013. Technically, all TRAXX locos to have appeared thus far share a large proportion of characteristics and design features, so I believe I can reasonably concentrate on these common items and point out differences only as required. The body is fully welded and includes the underframe as an integral part. The latter consists of two longitudinal beams, two outer transversal beams at the ends which double as headstocks, as well as two pairs of additional transversal beams serving to support the secondary suspension springs as well as the underfloor transformer. The latter pair also comprises the bodyside traction bar pivots. The floor is strengthened by a number of additional, smaller support beams. Meanwhile, the body sides and cabs are separate assemblies, welded to the frame, while the roof is split into three independently removable segments made of aluminium. The body is designed to withstand longitudinal forces of 2,000 kN, with all internal installations being capable of withstanding impacts of 5 g longitudinally, 1 g transversally and 2 g vertically. Ventilation grilles for the traction motor blowers and transformer and inverter coolant circuits are provided in the angled roof planes, with the grilles also including dirt and moisture interceptors. The bufferbeams feature the usual set of UIC-compliant buffers, chain link couplers and brake pipes as well as ETS and ECP sockets. Roofside equipment is quite different in complexity when comparing the various TRAXX generations. While the class 145 and 146.0 electrics - sometimes unofficially referred to as "Baby TRAXX" as they preceded the actual TRAXX design, but do share numerous details with it - had very little on their rooftops aside from one pair of Stemmann DSA 200 pantograph, overvoltage arresters, radio antennae and horns, changes to the body design on the actual TRAXX required that a greater proportion of items be located visibly on the roof. While the high voltage busbar could be hidden inside the roof on the Baby TRAXX, it had to be laid along the outer roof surface on the TRAXX 1 and 2 as the roof had to be lowered on these types to allow for operations in countries where the national variations of the UIC loading gauge required a lower roof height. Also, both these types were prepared for two pairs of pantographs to be installed - one with the knee joints facing inwards, and the other facing outwards and located immediately over the cabs. With the introduction of the TRAXX 2E, then, the requirement to accommodate equipment for AC and DC OHLE systems alike left the designers no other choice but to set the AC and DC busbars atop insulators. However, Bombardier were able to keep the circuit breakers inside the body. The fully electric TRAXX 2E locos are also designed to carry either two or four pantographs, though with the difference of AC pans generally being located on the outer positions, and DC pans on the inner ones. The bogies are suspended from the locomotive's body by way of one pair of helical Flexicoil springs per side, and were developed on the basis of those used on the class 128 prototype. One principal difference between TRAXX types primarily designed for passenger or freight work respectively is that the former have quill drives derived from the "Gealaif" design - this designation being a palindrome of "AEG", with the remaining four letters describing the assembly as a "Lokantrieb mit integriertem Fahrmotor", which translates as "Locomotive Drivetrain with Integrated Traction Motor." Here, traction motor and gearbox have a unified casing, with the pinion having bearings on both sides, thereby reducing mechanical stress on the rotor shaft. This applies to all class 146.0, .1 and .2 locomotives as well as the class 246 passenger diesel locos, while all other TRAXX locomotives have nose-suspended motors - the German term for this type of drivetrain being "Tatzlager" drive. Meanwhile, the bogie frame consists of two longitudinal and three transversal beams, two of these on the outer ends of the bogie and one in the centre,which also serve to carry the traction motors. The transversal beam on the inner end also has the traction bar pivot attached to it, with the bodyside pivots being located on the same beams also carrying the transformer. Finally, the wheelsets are held in outside bearings suspended from the bogie frame by way of two helical springs per bearing and levers attached to consoles located towards the centre of the bogie. Like all contemporary German-designed electrics, the TRAXX has both pneumatic and electrodynamic brakes. The former are a standard Knorr type with settings G, P and R, and laid out with cheek disks mounted on both sides of each wheel, with the disks being clasped by calliper-like brake units with double-sided pads. Meanwhile, the dynamic brake is set up to be able to recuperate energy and feed it back into the grid on fully electric TRAXX locos and as a rheostatic brake on diesel-electrics, and takes precedence over the pneumatic brake through most of the loco's speed range. One brake cylinder per wheelset is set up with an additional spring unit to serve as a parking brake. One screw compressor provides compressed air for all pneumatic systems on board, including the brakes, pantographs, circuit breaker, sanding units, flange greasers, horns and air conditioning units. There also is an auxiliary piston compressor able to run off the onboard batteries and provide sufficient air for raising the pantographs and closing the circuit breaker. The transformer is hung under the loco's frame and cooled by a polyester-based liquid. It is connected to the traction inverters ? of which there is one per bogie ? consisting of two H bridges, common intermediate DC link and pulsed inverter. They, too, are liquid-cooled. Additionally, there are two auxiliary inverters, one providing fixed frequency three-phase AC for items like coolant pumps and the compressors, while the other provides variable frequency three-phase AC for the traction motor and cooling tower blowers. The heat exchangers for the transformer and inverter coolant circuits are stacked inside said cooling towers. Backup power for the most basic systems is provided from lead-acid batteries. The traction motors are four-pole squirrel cage asynchronous three-phase AC designs with forced ventilation. The loco's control suite is based on the ADtranz MITRAC distributed control system, comprising two redundant control computers, connected to the various onboard devices by way of a so-called Multifunction Vehicle Bus. The system also comprises the "DAVIS" visual diagnostic interface to aid both the driver and works staff in troubleshooting. As stricter crashworthiness norms were agreed on at the EU level while production of 1st generation TRAXX locomotives was still ongoing, Bombardier went ahead and developed a modified locomotive body for their 2nd and 3rd generation TRAXX. Specifically, the cab sections were re-designed to allow for better impact energy absorption capacities, with other visible details in this area including the cab air conditioning units having been placed behind swing-up doors in the fronts, and the windscreen wipers having been changed from a radial to a pantograph type. The remainder of the 2nd generation TRAXX body is largely identical to that of the 1st generation. Inside, there are various other differences. With the Baby TRAXX having had a power output of 4,200 kW, 1st and 2nd generation TRAXX locos have been augmented to 5,600 kW ? though there is a plan to also upgrade the DB Regio 146.0s to provide the same output. However, 2nd generation locos were given improved inverters, based on IGBT modules rather than the GTO ones used on the Baby TRAXX and 1st generation locos. Several interior installations were rearranged as well, the pneumatic components being of particular notice. Finally, the 1st and 2nd generation TRAXX were given modernised cabs, with the MFA speed/tractive effort/train protection system display unit of the Baby TRAXX having been replaced by a third LCD screen. This, of course, was due to the locos having been expected to operate in non-German-speaking countries as well, where screens would make it easier to display information in different languages. The 1st and 2nd generation TRAXX locos have since proven to be very successful, with 372 1st generation locos and more than 300 2nd generation locos having been built for various operators both from Germany and from abroad. In 2006, the first 3rd generation TRAXX loco was rolled out. As previously mentioned, this generation is usually referred to as TRAXX 2E, and uses a slightly modified variant of the 2nd generation body, but has a largely different interior arrangement. These differences became necessary due to Bombardier having intended to also offer diesel-electrics based on the TRAXX design. While the general outline of the loco's body is mostly identical to that of the 2nd generation, the engine room sides are split into three independent panels on either side, with the 2nd panel viewed from the Cab 1 end being replaced by air intakes on diesel-electric TRAXX locomotives. Also, there is a recess for a fuel filler tube on both sides of the body, located right halfway down its length in the frame. This recess but is not blanked over on fully electric locos. The inverter package is now mounted on a central position inside the engine room rather than on either side of a central corridor, with diesel-electric TRAXX 2E locos having a combined prime mover/inverter package in this place. As previously mentioned, there also are specific type designations used by Bombardier for the various types of locomotives from their TRAXX family. These are the following: F140 AC1: 1st generation freight locomotive (e.g. German class 185) P160 AC1: 1st generation passenger locomotive (class 146.1) F140 AC2: 2nd generation freight locomotive (e.g. German class 185.2) P160 AC2: 2nd generation passenger locomotive (German class 146.2) F140 MS: 2nd generation AC/DC quad system locomotive (Swiss class Re 484) F140 MS2: 3rd generation AC/DC quad system locomotive (e.g. German class 186) F140 DE: 3rd generation diesel-electric freight locomotive P160 DE: 3rd generation diesel-electric passenger locomotive F140 DC: 3rd generation DC only freight locomotive (Italian class E.483 and Spanish class 253) P160 DC: 3rd generation DC only passenger locomotive (Polish class E.583) Note that there are no 3rd generation AC only locos as of yet. All TRAXX locos share the following basic specifications: Overall length: 18.9 m/62 ft Overall width: 2.98 m/9.8 ft Overall height: 4.39 m/14.4 ft for full electrics Bo'Bo' configuration Meanwhile, the following data depend on the exact type of loco: Power output: 5,600 kW/7,510 hp on full electrics and 2,200 kW/2,950 hp for diesel-electrics. Standard service weights are 85 tonnes for full electric TRAXX locos and 80 tonnes for diesel-electrics. Top speed: 140 kph/87 mph with nose-suspended motors, 160 kph/100 mph with quill drive. And here's the promised photo strip, showing a selection of TRAXX locos in their natural habitat, if you will... While the 145 is, strictly speaking, not yet a TRAXX locomotive, I should like to present you with one of these anyway. This here is 145 027 working light and running through Thekla Station in Leipzig. A 1st generation TRAXX, 185 096 is seen here rolling north at Riedstadt-Goddelau on 11 May. This is one of those numerous 1st generation 185s operated by DB Schenker which are equipped for working into Switzerland. Another significant batch of this type is configured for France. And this is 185 266, a 2nd generation TRAXX loco working through Frankfurt's Southern Station. At this time, parts of the DBS 185.2 fleet have running rights in Austria as well as Denmark and Sweden - the latter being due to their cooperation with Swedish freight operator Green Cargo. Another 2nd generation 185, 185 342 is seen here shunting at the Bischofsheim yard near Mainz. metronom are a TOC from the state of Lower Saxony, who are currently holding the franchise for various regional lines in that state as well as out to Bremen and Hamburg. They also operate the Lower Elbe Railway from Hamburg to Cuxhaven, where I snapped 246 002 "Buxtehude" standing by to pull out an ECS to the sidings. This is a diesel-electric version of the 3rd generation TRAXX 2E type. And here we have two Captrain 186s owned by leasing company CBRail working out of Bischofsheim.

Hi Blackrat, I'm undecided about the window surrounds! I might just try some 10 thou or thinner plasticard cut to shape and glued on top of the brick. If I bevel the edges slightly and blend it into the brickwork it might save me hours of cutting out! I think some experimenting is called for tonight. Best wishes Dave

Like you, i also have a fondness of William Clarke's buildings (the station buildings themselves rather than goods sheds, etc). Whether it is the ornate chimeys or not I don't know, they just somehow "look right". Sounds like the old Eric Plans that used to be marketed by Peco I think :-) Ian

This weekend I worked the Sunday of the SDR Rales and Ales event, which by all accounts has been as busy as last year, so thank you to all who attended and imbibed! There was a good variety of motive power running, with 2 panniers, the Collett goods, the 20 and the bubble car all running with lots of movement i and out o the station. Weather has been a bit changeable but this didn't stop people on the Saturday and more indoor space was available than in past years. Today has been very wet, so if you visited I hope you managed to stay dry and the beer supply held out! The calm before the storm, Staverton shortly after opening with the Pasty Carriage in the foreground! Contrast with this shot from about 4pm! The glamour of the railways- Sweeping the floor of the other buffet car! 6430, on its last weekend with us before it goes home, pulling the auto trailer for the steam shuttle service. Former Kingsbridge branch bubble car, 55000 Each time the class 20 and the Collett came in they were either backwards or I had to help visitors so I missed both. It was good to catch up with a few people in the short gaps between jobs, including Highlandman of here. If you would like to join a friendly and bucolic station then look here: http://staverton.net/ We always need new volunteers across the railway, regardless of interests or experience, the SDR association is here: http://www.southdevonrailwayassociation.org/ Professional pictures here, including some great night shots. http://www.steamcam.org.uk/ If you fancy helping out Devon Diesel Society or getting involved in their other activities, look here! http://www.devondiesels.org.uk/index.htm

Looking very crisp, Dave. I agree with you about plastikard, if I was doing mine now that would be the preferred medium. My old edition of the Karau book - not the combined volume - has the plans to 4mm scale on fold-out sheets, very useful. Flicking through it the other night it occurred to me that it would be fantastic to have an entire book of such plans, of all sorts of structures.

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I couldn't help myself - I had to upload a few photos of my latest ebay purchase. This is a model of GWr railcars 35 and 36 made from three Hornby railcars. Not my work I have to admit. Very well made and needs only a little bit of fillering and sanding to complete the bodies. I intend to replace the plastic handrails and install flushglazing and other details. I can now sell the Westward kit I bought of this train many years ago. So now my Brackhampton has a suitable train for its express service to Cardiff.

Like i said shunting is the theme of this one were back on the port road in BR blue and, just like the morning shuffle scenario Kirkcudbright is a hive of activity with oil traffic. you are to assemble a train ready for departure made up of full and empty tanks including a trio of aviation fuel tanks. Moving The Tanks Vehicle: BR Blue 08 + TTA's Route: Port Road Add On Packs Used: Port Road, Up The Junction, Class101 in this scenario you start off in the station complex at Kirkudbright and have to assemble a 14 wagon rake along with a brake van and box van at either end, theres not much traffic apart from a 101 that leaves in the early stages of the scenario and a 37 in the engine shed. once assembled in the right order you stable the 08 in a siding job done! bringing some tanks from the Petroleum plant Passengers are wondering why they cant get on this one behold the rake in all its glory! so Ten scenarios a milestone you could say - as previously mentioned Steam Workshop is coming soon so everything ive blogged will be available to download and ill be able to download other peoples work! 9im hoping someone makes the LTS route) i thought id let you know my steam username - lordbickerstaff - add me if you would like to download any scenarios or even if you just want to play a game or two - just got dirt showdown which is lots of fun! hope to see some of you online - Ash

Background: I am a GB expat, born in 1933 and have lived practically two thirds of my life outside the UK. My first memories of railway modelling go back to pre-1939 when I seem to remember an O gauge set up on top of the table with the rails plugged in direct to the mains and the locos had rods sticking out from the cab to control them. My father said you had to be careful not to get an electric shock. The next memories date to the 1942-3 period when I was invited with a distant cousin by a man in Batley to see his layout in his cellar. It was a large room with the layout going round all four walls with a sort of diorama in one corner. he had a steam engine but said we could not see it because it took to long to raise steam. The electric models were set to do just one complete trip round the track. During these years I also got to know a soldier posted to Pontefract and who lodged for a while with his family with my uncle and aunt where I was evacuated who had built is own steam engine, King John, which was a feature in a magazine which I believe was called Model Engineering. At the end of the war, my father asked us what we wanted him to bring us when he returned and I requested a tank engine. I was unaware that these things probably didn't exist in 1946 Egypt. Nothing happened modelwise for the next few years, I came abroad, got married and had children. Around 1972-3 we purchased a Lima kit for my son (alegedly for him), but never really had a decent place to set it up permanently. On a trip to the UK in 1975 I purchased a Hornby Track Plan catalogue, a Wrenn City class die cast locomotive and other items. On other trips I purchased Peco flexible track and, in the meantime, I had purchased sundry rolling stock locally. Now and again we put the track portions together on the floor but no serious layout was ever made. Up to 1991 we lived in a flat in Barcelona, with just enough space for six persons and although we had a second home up at the top end of the Costa Brava, with plenty of space theoretically, there was really no adequate emplacement. In 1991, we sold both places and moved into a detached house with a garage. Still now and again we put the track portions together on the floor or on the garden table, but nothing permanent. Then, in 2007 I saw the light (or the penny dropped) and realised that I could hang a layout from the garage ceiling. But I still had the fixed idea of a specific track plan from the Hornby Catalogue bought way back in 1975 and here are the illustrations. A closer inspection will reveal that the front cover photograph is a version of Track Plan nº 9, though, subsequently, for technical reasons, I had to make some variations. Here is where the costly improvisation started. I was in complete ignorance of what was to be involved. I had my own ideas, a lot of diverse material, but nothing else. So, I set about the job without commending myself to anybody. I had an aluminium frame made by a man who had installed several aluminium windows and doors and sunblinds in the house. I ordered a 244x122x6 mm plywood baseboard (I had no idea that a lighter material was available) from a local carpenter and installed a pulley system in the garage as per the following illustrations, using a blind roll-up drum and, originally, a manual wind-up system, soon to be motorised (the board obviously came down easily enough, but was a hell of a job to wind up) and Kevlar mountaineer's cord. In the meantime, I had discovered Hattons and placed a massive order (250 GBP). I was selective. I had made a study of the requirements for the above track plan and missed out what could be replaced with what I had got. For example, one Lima straight cut to size could do for four Hornby short straights, Peco flex track could be used instead of long straights and an odd Lime curve could be inserted. At that time, my idea of building a layout was you just stick the track pieces together, wire up the controller, plug in, place the material on the track and away you go. Poor me. A first impression of the future layout With my massive order I had not been able to obtain the ramp piers (out of stock) so I set out on making a number of scratch built columns with wood and also tried expanded polystyrene (recovered from the tip, since the standard models wouldn't do) and with fibreboard I did some makeshift ramps. Then the man at the local Model Shop, when I showed him the Hornby Catalogue, suggested that the slopes were too steep and that the locomotives would slip. It appeared that this was so. Change of mind (more improvisation), the plan had to be modified. The marshalling yard and one station were raised about 4 cms, whereby there were four gentler gradients instead of two steep ones (the original height difference was about 10 cms). But this required making more columns with improvised equipment. In the meantime, it was evident that while the baseboard came down easily (obviously) it was hard work to wind it up by hand. So an electric motor of the type inserted inside the drum of blinds was installed. Up to this time I had no idea that DCC had been on the scene for some time and with analogue control the system worked more or less OK. Then I discovered DCC. and since my son gave me the money to cover what I had already paid for the blind motor I purchased a PIKO starter set. Having installed DCC, I had to modify the layout once more. The isolating tracks and points had to be deisolated (if that's the word). More problems, some locos worked well, some didn't work at all, others with intermittent jerky running on the main circuits, but there was no way they would run into the sidings properly. At this time the layout was virtually only track and the platforms of a Faller station at the bottom side. And time was passing. Sometimes weeks passed between work sessions. Also, I had installed underfloor point motors only on the main circuits, but not on the sidings. Then I moved onto decoration and decided to modify the plan from what was shown on the Catalogue front cover, where there are buildings inside the circuit, but with no visible means of getting out (this fact was pointed out by my family). Here I could purchase very well made resin buildings but not cheap. Since I am a subscriber to Hattons weekly newsletter, I discovered the Metcalf card kits and opted for them. A whole row of six terrace buildings (two corner shops and four houses) cost a little more than one resin engine shed would have cost me here. So, except for the Faller station, still to be set up fully, the buildings are Metcalf. I will make it no secret that I have tried to relate the layout to my life in Leeds. I have at least six vehicles with Leeds registration numbers and one with no registration nº but a Leeds address on its side panels and other vehicles related with the automobile distributors where I worked. Yet other vehicles are related with other aspects of my life, namely a Morris Minor Traveller (brother-in law) Morris Minor Post Office van (my father) and a Ford Popular (a cousin of a cousin who once took me for a ride and the car was bouncing like a ball at 55 mph).

The mains electric trains used a light bulb to reduce the voltage. However slight problem when there was no current flowing no voltage dropped across the lamp hence 240volts across the rails. That would make those kids at exhibitions who cannot resist touching the lines sit up sharpish! Don

A quick update progress has been steady given we only meet a couple of hours a month, baseboard is down, Martin has been laying the tramway with continuous checkrails which has been tested, fiddle yard cassettes made by Lisa, a method devised for supporting the cassettes of the main run installed. The crossing I built installed which worked on test, Martin has manfully built a Versaline point and Valentine continues his quest to complete a Easitrac point. Points and plain track should be installed next meeting and then the fun can begin. Apologies for the photo taken via my phone although it shows the essentials ( the Coffee mug )