stivesnick

Michael There are many towns/cities in the US with english names. Nick

Some progress with the buildings I have painted the Artitic factory building. As can be seen from the photo, the roof is not a great fit so some remedial work is needed to fill in the gap between the roof and end walls. I also need to tounch up the piantwork and add signage etc. I have started on one of the large factory complex buildings. The length of the building just fits onto a A3 cutting mat, which is essential in keeping the modular wall sections flat when joining them togther. There will be a loading platform in front of the building which can take 4 box cars. The photo shows the building in it's intended location with the yellow paper shapes to represent the other buildings in the complex. Once the weather improves and there is no wind/rain, I can use a rattle can to spray paint the walls a basic colour and the window/doors before working out how to support the roof. Progress photos enclosed. Nick

Hi When did shunting of power station coal trains end? I thought the idea of the "merry go round" coal train was that shunting at loading points was avoided. Coal traffic is now very much reduced, but would be surprised if bogie coal wagons were shunted. Happy to be proved wrong. Regards Nick

Hi A couple of ideas: 1: An advertising hoarding on the interchange track side of the road, would not take up much space and could help hide the entry to the fiddle yard. 2: When required - simply park a large lorry on the road opposite the ships to achieve the same effect. If you build an engone shed or other building over the interchange track will that affect your ability to use that track for a decent length train? As someone who knows nothing about the area, please feel free to ignore. Regards Nick

Test running continues - found a small issue. I did not realise that the new Peco unifrog points do not self isolate. The layout has a mix of old Peco points and the new unifrog points, so some combinations of point settings mean that the isolation doesn't work. Will need to add a few section switches. Meanwhile work has started on some of the unbuilt kits I have. First up is a factory building from the Dutch firm Artitec. Its a resin kit so the walls are quite thick, but does make it easier to glue together. Adding to the coillection are some modular building sections from DPM for the large factory building in the corner plus some 3D printed tanks. Photos enclosed. Nick

The layout is looking really good and I look forward to see further developments. Nick

Hi If you are fixed on a 4 track WCML, how important is having some sidings or a freight terminal? It might be worth getting hold of a rail atlas or book of track plans to find a location that has some interesting operation. Nick

The trackwork in the GN depot area has been completed, wired and some temporary fiddle yards added at each end of the depot to allow for some test running. One of the advantages of having a fixed layout with manually operated points means that there are no wires across board joints or point frog wiring to get mixed up, so it all worked first time! Some progress photos enclosed showing some of the test trains. I must think about inproving the lighting in the room. The photo of the passenger train has some extra lighting from a fish tank light. This light has some blue LEDs included giving a strange effect. I did shoot some video but not able to load onto youtube but having not used for some time and fogotten password and not able to satisfy the youtube police, I am not able to load it up. Nick

Hi Andy I would go for some trees or buildings between the end of the platform at the backscene. A road bridge tight up against the backscene would create a hard interface between the layout and the backscene. If you do go for a bridge, I would move it an inch or two from the backscene. Hope this helps Nick

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All Tracklaying has started and the first half of the GN station track has been laid. To give an idea of what the future layout might look like, I have dug out some buildings from previous layouts and add some stock boxes to give an idea of what buildings might be required. The exercise was worth doing as I realised I had to move the track by the grain elevator over by 10mm to allow the building to fit. Mock up photos below: Nick

I had the same feeling. The wow factor comes from seeing a layout for the first time and then thinking "I wish I had thought about doing something like that and then thinking about creating your own version". Although there was a lot of excellent modelling, the wow factor comes from the setting and some intense or unusual operation - and that was missing. A lot of layouts had little if anything outside the railway boundry so difficult to get a sense of why the railway is there. So my wish list for next year's layouts will include: A large OO modern 4 track roundy-roundy layout with a suitable massive fiddle yard A layout based on the original Liverpool to Manchester Railway using the new RTR products A complex terminal layout with intense service A layout with 3 feet high scenery A layout based in an african or south american country So if your planning a new layout, please consider one of the above. Regards Nick

A few months back, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, communities etc Michael Gove make a speech talking about massive housing growth around Cambridge: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/long-term-plan-for-housing-secretary-of-states-speech It is not clear where all these houses will go, but creating new towns and enlarging existing towns is one option. Wisbech could be a possible site but it would depend on creating better transport links with Cambridge. It could be a case of watch this space with regard to the Wisbech line re-opening. Nick

The second baseboard has now been constructed and the track plan for the first stage of the layout marked out. Nothing is fixed yet and the layout is resting on temporary supports whilst I decide the correct height for the legs so that they clear the radiator, window cill and various book cases. As drawn the passing siding will take 2 locos, 15 trucks and a caboose. At the height shown in the photos, I will struggle to reach into the corner of the layout so the track to the large factory will need to be relocated to make it easier to reach. Progress photos enclosed. Note hi-tech strip of cardboard with holes used for drawing the curves. Regards Nick

All A similar view to the one in the previous post but now with added model railway stuff and the first of the new baseboards. My previous layouts, designed for exhibition use, used baseboard kits, but these are now getting rather expensive. So it is back to a standard softwood frame. As the layout is not intended for exhibition use, boards can be larger. The first board is 2400 x 600mm. Progress photo enclosed. I will use solid boards in the station area which is generally flat, but individual track beds elsewhere to allow scenery to drop below track level. Some of the timbers will need to be cut out to create a riverbed. Regards Nick

Hi Jason I was at the Nottingham show yesterday as a visitor. Anoraks Anonymous only had a little American stuff on their stall, the full stall will be at Warley. Nick

Hi The Club sales stand at the Nottingham Model Railway Society's show this weekend had a number of 40 foot box cars with roof walks for sale at £20 each if anyone is interested. https://www.nottingham-modelrailway.org.uk/?page_id=491 Regards Nick

Hope to attend the Nottingham show on Saturday and looking forward to seeing the latest developments. Nick

Wow! Great progress for a week's work. Look forward to seeing more progress. Any chance of a track plan? Regards Nick

The response from E-W Rail was that two fast and two stopping trains would not work, hence the option of closing some of the stations. Not seen a detailed timetable to check how true this is. Regards Nick

In the previous consultation, the options for the Beford to Bletchley section were: 1. Keep existing stations and an hourly stopping service between Bedford and Bletchley with two limited stop services. The stations would have to be closed for a period of time to make then suitable for longer trains. 2. Close most of existing stations and build a few new ones in between to create new transport hubs and run an half-hourly through stopping service between Bletchley and Cambridge plus the two limited stop services. The local rail user group appears to support the first option. The problem for the consultation is that the people who might benefit from the through service to Cambridge have not yet moved into the area as the houses have not been built yet. Regards Nick

Lee Great little video that explains what you afre trying to achieve. Look forward to seeing more updates. Regards Nick

Wow! This layout is starting to look amazing and very different. Are the buildings 3D printed? If so are they a single print or printed in sections that are then joined togther? Keep up the good work. Regards Nick

Nearly ready to move house The new layout room is 4m x 3m - junk storing and bodged baseboard building starting soon! Regards Nick

Martin Another question. What sort of space do you have for your layout? With loaded and unloaded wagons moving across the layout in different directions, it is worth thinking about how the layout will operate, especially if you are thinking of taking it to an exhibition. So, do you empty and load the wagons by hand in an end to end layout or have some continious run where the loaded wagons run in one direction and the empties in the other and are exchanged back in the fiddle yard. The later approach would also work on a shelf layout with some sidings behind the backscene. Regards Nick