LBSC123

Whatever the brand, I will be getting (at least) one of these!

Looks good, out of interest have you noticed a change in what rolling stock will negotiate these points as a result of making these changes?

Have done a bit more work on the boards and they’re now effectively complete, just in need of painting, wiring and lights which I hope to do next week. I’ve offered the track up which hopefully shows what I am trying to achieve, the cardboard box in the rear is to gauge the height for the coal shed. I would’ve loved to have squeezed a bit more height into the backscene but would’ve made storing the layout much harder, so I had to compromise in order to aide operability as per @James Hilton’s mindful operating principles. I also got a new arrival, a Dapol terrier in IoW condition, which will look lovely shuffling up and down with some wagons.

Many thanks, I think I’m going to use this sand designed for aquariums: https://www.trustleaf.co.uk/1kg-tub-of-natural-colour-medium-grain-silica-sand-7360-p.asp

Many thanks for this, do you know what brand you used? There seem to be a baffling array of choices!

Sorry to bump this old thread but does anyone have any suggestions for what would be best to use for 7mm scale shingle ballast? I am modelling the isle of wight and need to replicate some. Have got some sand from Swanage beach but initial inspection suggests it’s too fine and has too many black bits of sand in it to look ‘right’…

Well I’m now onto scheme number 3 but at least this has got past the design stage. As you might be able to tell, I don’t have too many problems coming up with ideas for model railways to build, my barrier is space and the time to build them. Both previous plans would’ve been lovely but realistically I don’t have the space to keep them up all the time and the costs of building them and then packing them away constantly puts them in the ‘too difficult’ pile. This means I’ve got nowhere to run my growing collection of IOW locos and rolling stock, something that must be changed! I’ve been a follower of James Hilton’s ‘Paxton Road’ blog for a while and was recently really struck by the ‘mindful operation principles’ whereby one thinks a bit more about when/how you’re going to use the layout, rather than only what you’re modelling. For a full summary you can read more about it here: https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2024/02/kohlenbachbruke-eastern-european.html?m=1 This really appealed to me, and I looked at doing something like this in 7mm scale, unfortunately if you use any point work the board rapidly grows in size, somewhat defeating the point. I’ve got a couple of shelves in the spare room that I thought would be good to be able to use to keep the layout on, enabling it to be used in those spare minutes throughout the day. The shelves are 120cmx30cm with a 20cm gap between them and the bracket for the one above, so that’s my space. I’ve opted to go for a scenic section of 90cmx30cm with a 65cm long fiddle yard (yes that’s longer than the shelf but I think a bit of overhang won’t hurt!). The layout will just be two sidings, with a Bembridge style coal shed at the rear, hopefully portraying the IOW location. It will be viewed through ‘letter box’ at the front hopefully controlling the angles you can get on the model and keeping it realistic. In terms of operation general idea is that there will be a few wagons on stage, a loco will come onto the layout with a Brakevan and then will build up a train before going off scene, the process will then be reversed with a train arriving on stage. I’ll elaborate about this more in another post. I’ve made a start on the baseboards and will be getting track down soon. Will keep you posted with more updates.

Thanks for this NHY 581, very helpful. I think there were some comments about ‘Sheepcroft’ a few pages back at Ally Pally show, I attach a photo of this for interest! It was a rather nice little EM gauge shunting layout.

Apologies if it’s been answered before @NHY 581 but how do you attach the fiddle yard sections of the layout to your IKEA lack baseboards? Keep up the great work.

Is anyone able to advise if this happened? I am after some BFW020 coach W irons (happy to join the society to get them!)

Which shop and which colour lined green? I’m on the hunt for one in Apple green

Following with interest as I have myself opened a bit of a Broad Gauge Pandora’s box. How hard could a little shunting plank with a possible transfer shed be? (Probably very…?)

Looks interesting, would be interested to hear what the largest loco you could get round those curves was!

Looks good, always enjoy seeing a layout built in one of these boxes, as a fellow small flat live-r I feel your pain!

Hi GWR, that’s definitely a good suggestion that I will incorporate into future plans. thanks, Will