Davexoc

I have 15 tracks in 16 inches on my fiddle yard. Not ideal for getting fingers between roads though. I think the standard track spacing is only marginally more, so 2.5 inches for each two tracks is adequate.

Some people don't approve of them, but a Peco track rubber is what I use. Or you could use a very fine nail buffing pad, but buy one and don't borrow, otherwise you might end up in trouble.... I'd be very careful with a Dremel in case it snagged and pulled a switch rail out of the tie bar...

Depends on your scenery more than the tracks. You could run three straight and parallel tracks in as little as 3 inches....

I was thinking it was to get the infrastructure trains over HS2 to the other side, but did think the angle looked wrong. The road by the way isn't even classified as a 'B' road, its just the route from Buckingham to Kingham via Gawcott and Edgcott, so that is quite a large structure. Which makes me wonder if there is a plan to upgrade this route between Buckingham and Aylesbury. Alot of house building going on at both ends....

Interesting train, and a photo that also belongs in the prototype for everything thread.... Appears to be a Romanian class 56 hauling 12 empty steel carriers (BAAs ?) with what I assume is the ex Pullman coach (323) that went over to RTC Derby and is in use before it received their red/blue livery as RDB975427 Wren. As it was used for acoustics testing, they must be checking out that 'grid' scream, but not flat out and fully loaded....

I would say fully functioning, heres a zoomed in view ORM is nearly there for the layout, the others just show Swanbourne Siding....

Some time ago @Ron Ron Ron I think claimed the first bit of HS2 rail was laid at Steeple Claydon Infrastucture Depot. I think the reality was that it was Network Rail's run-round loop, but here we can see this is now definitely the crossing point from EWR to HS2.... And I think this is the current state of the rail bridge to access HS2 from the depot going northbound...

Looking back towards Verney Junction, another section of road that has been mainly resurfaced. I noted that the signals are labelled OBxxxx, I would guess that was short for Oxford Bletchley (or Bedford). How long before it all appears on the likes of 'Opentrains' or 'Traksy' I wonder??? And, anyone know what ROC it will come under the control of? Should have bought shares in whoever supplies the yellow barrier, there are miles of the stuff.... A quick look at the track side of the new Winslow station.... That is it for now....

Queen Eleanor Road maintenance access point for EWR. Signel with feathers for access to HS2 and LOS. Footbridge appears to be open nowadays, and some of the road network has been resurfaced as EWR contractors have departed. The road between this bridge and Sandhill through Middle Claydon is however a wheel destroyer, as I believe it was not officially an EWR access route.... Winslow comes next....

Three more shots to show the current track layout. Crossings off EWR into a run-round loop with loco sized headshunt at each end. Depot access curving off to the right at the far end of the loop... View other way next...

Looking the other way towards Queen Eleanor Road we can see the Bletchley-bound exit from the depot, all signalled and lit. Going around to that bridge and looking back the other way, which shows the Bicester-bound signalling. Two shots in the same direction looking beyond the new bridge. The lens accentuates the gradient a bit here, making it look a bit like the ski-jump on the East Lancs. Definite up and over HS2 here.... Even more to follow.....

So with the days getting longer I ventured over to The Claydons to view progress. Coming in from the Akeman Street direction you currently can't come through Calvert, so it was a duck under EWR instead of over, then past the new HS2/EWR access bridge, no photos from here as it is fenced off with nowhere to easily pull over. A right at the 4-way lights into Steeple Claydon then right again onto Addison Road. This is the new bridge over EWR, you can see the old road which show that EWR is already climbing to go over HS2 from here... Two shots looking over towards Bicester where EWR crosses HS2, then the road I drove up on (hardly apparent) and then the Charndon road bridge which is the upgraded brick arch... Note there is lots of drainage stuff littering the place, pre-cast culvert ends and pipes... This is the HS2 - EWR access point bridge that will allow the maintenance trains in and out of the depot... More to follow....

Not a great deal of progress recently to be honest, it has been either too cold to spend time in the railway room, or too nice resulting in other things taking precedence. A few wagon kits have been worked on though, and as I had a brief opportunity to play trains today, I thought I'd have a dabble on the phone to create a short video. So here it is....

I think you need to visit the Power, Control & DCC section for a browse. That should give you some pointers. I'm assuming you are using solenoid point motors as you talking CDUs. You should only need one of the right size, which depends on how many solenoids you are firing in one go. Have you decided on how you select changes? You could trigger using probe and studs, or momentary toggle or push button switches, or DCC command. Are you route setting or just looking to switch individual points? (two points in a crossover can be counted as one, because there is no point in changing just one...) Sorry I can't really help much more, but I went down the Cobalt slow action motor route with toggle switches for the mainline, manual rod push/pull for the yard and shed area, but PLC controlled full route setting with slow action motors for the fiddle yard.

There are a few on Railway Herald if you search 31418 https://www.railwayherald.com/imagingcentre/search/ Appears it left works without the headlight around '88, possibly not gaining that until the '90s

Doesn't really help there because Six Bells reports it as running with 47767 and was Kings X to Carlisle https://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/90s/960928_1.htm Also 47776 was flush front at No.2 end and ran a Sparkle Express from Cambridge to Minehead also in 1996, which then in 1997 ran with an HST from Peterborough. So The Sparkle Express name was used several times... http://class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=1129051020200 And 47767 doesn't fit the bill either as it had plaques above the nameplates which don't look right anyway. So all very confusing.... http://class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=1196023205000 So after much looking, I think it is this one.... http://class47.co.uk/c47_zoom_v3.php?img=1179051146200 Reason being, where the jumpers exit the front, you can see they appear to have been put over the old warning flashes, and it has the right combination of buffer shape, right nameplate style, ETH dummy socket position, cut bufferbeam style, single lamp iron, and the jumper additions including the cable clips are all painted orange, plus there is similar oil staining on the No. 1 end bogie and battery box. The only thing that isn't right is the warning flashes are still the old type, so possibly some time after 18th May 1996 they were replaced?

47592 was still all over blue in 1986, and comparing it with this photo on Martin Loader's site, I'd say 1992. No sign of the MEP railtour on Six Bells Junction.... http://www.hondawanderer.com/47592_Circourt_1992.htm

I was looking through some old photos, and getting to this one it struck me that we don't need to strive to plant everything straight and true. There are 3 lamp-posts, 4 signals, 3 wooden poles and a platform sign, which if any are truely upright?

Try letting it down with a sprinkle of Woodland Scenics Fine Turf Earth. It should knock some of the brightness out....

264 and 265 were working together two weekends ago, and they are both still in the old livery. Must be a 350/2 thing.....

Afraid not, as I was experimenting with a large zoom lens to shoot between the overhead, pallisade fencing and the undergrowth....

Yes, recorded on RTT as passing MKC at 15.12, camera time about an hour out though...

A fox runs across infront of 350256 and 350408, having run across the other way a few minutes earlier with food presumably for its cubs...

390130 and 390136 pass just north of Central Milton Keynes

Same location as last week, longer lens and with a Freightliner presence this week.... 4M87 Felixstowe - Crewe being passed by 390141 4M29 Felixstowe - Birch Coppice 6O51 Daventry - Dollands Moor 4M23 Felixstowe - Hams Hall 6E84 Stewarts Lane - Tunstead 4M47 London Gateway - Hams Hall 66715 also crept up and passed southbound on 4L05 Birch Coppice - Felixstowe. And all in just over 90 minutes....