dougidle

Well... the update for the end of January is well overdue.... so here it is. For January, I planned to fit the final 2 points, experiment with delayed action couplings and complete a couple of wagons. One of the things that delayed this update was the points... I managed to get a couple of tortoise motors and then ran out of layout wire. Once I had the wire and had them fitted the layout developed a short circuit which I had to completely rewire it to find (it was a dodgy bit of soldering on one of the older point motors). It's now working... and here's video to prove it. I also wanted to experiment with delayed action couplings. I bought a trial pack of sprat and winkle couplings but found them a pain to put together. In principle though, I liked them and decided to persevere. To make life easier I bought some straight wire and some mounting plates and want to use them later this month. Lastly, I wanted to build a Bloater and Cattle wagon. Both of these got done but the paint on the Cattle wagon didn't dry well - it was thin out of the pot and dried shiny. It looks ghastly and I assume the pot is a dud. I'll wait until I have some more ready for painting and buy a fresh pot. The Bloater came out well and makes a nice change from all the grey. For February I planned to: - rewire the layout so it works (done) - fit delayed action couplings to 4 wagons - Make up a shopping list for the platforms which I want to have a look at building in March Thanks for reading, Doug

Your station is looking really good Roger. I'm hoping to get some platforms put down in early February and then do a bit of ballasting. I'll probably get around to the station after that. I'm planning on making it out of card and scribed DAS clay which will be an adventure as I've not done it before. I'm lucky in 4mm as Oxford made a 6 wheel toad - although it has a few errors. I've got one which I intend to correct and repaint as the Bridport one at some point. I bought another 4 wheel one too which I'll letter up as Weymouth van. Cheers, Doug

That's a great looking Toad Roger and thanks for the update on nets traffic. I also didn't make much progress in December... My plan had been to fit the final 2 point motors, rebuild the gearbox for 4803 and have a play with delayed action couplings. Sadly, none of these things happened. I couldn't find any tortoise motors in the UK at all - there was a restock just before Christmas at Coastal DCC and I bought 2 so hopefully they will arrive in early January. I did play with 7th gearbox for 4803 but it wasn't going to be a quick job so I decided to put it on hold for a while. I didn't get around to experimenting with couplings either. Over the same period, the 14xx detailing kit came back into stock at Wizard so I picked up one for use in 2021. I also ordered a trial pack of Sprat and Winkle couplings to experiment with. Santa brought a couple of items for the layout too - a Coopercraft cattle wagon and a Parkside Bloater. the Bloater is outside my time period unfortunately but it's a nice looking wagon so I can live with it. I was also given a couple of nice Dorset based wagons - a Dorchester based grain hopper and a Hall & Woodhouse brewery wagon. For January, I plan to - Fit the final 2 points - Experiment with delay action couplings and made a decision about whether to use them or not - Complete the Cattle and Bloater wagons

The layouts looking really good - it's nice to see the whole station in one shot.

Hi John - I'm enjoying watching your build which is progressing a lot quicker than mine! I was curious how you're getting on with the couplings as I'm thinking of trying them out too. Do they just clip into pockets to replace the stock ones or did you have to do anything special to fit them? Thanks, Doug

It's the start of a new month and that means time for an update on the layout. Very early in November I completed work on the control panel and fitted it under the layout. It was relatively straight forward and everything is in place to add the wiring and final two motors so that everything works. It's the first time I've built a control panel and I'm pretty happy with it. To prove it all works, here's a short video of it in action: I didn't get a chance to rebuild the gearbox for 4803 as I'd intended but I did get a new chimney for her after a fellow RMWeber kindly turned one for me on his lathe. I hope to redo the gearbox this month and do a bit of work to tidy the chassis generally. I found a good priced 45xx in GWR livery on ebay and got that too... so now I have 3 locos. I have plans to convert her to EM in the new year. Bridport had a number of 45xx locos at various times and I'll renumber her to a time when there would have 4660 would also have been there. With all the work I've done on the points I'm now thinking that it would be nice to have some delayed action couplings so that I can actually shunt. the 3 links look great but they're a bit of a pain to operate. Plans for December: - Fit the final 2 point motors - Rebuild the gearbox for 4803 - Have a play with delayed action couplings. Thanks for reading, Doug

It's fine Rob - I trust you :-)

Hi Rob, At the moment I don't have any chimney at all - if you're able to turn one for me that would be great. Feel free to PM with me the cost and I'll sort it out. Many Thanks, Doug

That would be brilliant - thanks!

Hi! While I wait for Wizard Models to have the 14xx detailing kit in stock again I thought I'd see if anyone has one cluttering up a storage box that they'd like to move on? Right now, I'd settle just for the chimney! Thanks, Doug

That's a beautiful model Gerry, thanks for sharing it. I love your book too - it becoming available was a big factor in deciding to model West Bay. Although in hindsight there are so many other models of it maybe I should have chosen Abbotsbury! It's a shame to have missed the exhibition. I've only been to West Bay twice - last Christmas and on a cub camp in the eighties! I have an old copy of Railway Modeller which has a plan of the station and descibes the DAS method which I was planning to try out on my own model. I doubt it will turn out as nicely as yours but I'll give it a shot. Thanks for reading, Doug

October saw a lot of progress on the layout with track laid and train actually running. In the second half of the month things slowed down a little - although I did build a couple more wagons and also find a Weymouth based PO wagon that I'd been looking for for ages. The two Minks are from Coopercraft kits while the PO wagon is a limited edition from Bachmann In November my goals for the layout are - Wire up two more points (the tortoise motors arrived today) - Build a control panel to switch the points - Rebuild the gearbox for 4803 so that the loco moves. 4803 is a loco that that I built a chassis from the High Level kit - the kit was really good but I made a bit of pigs ear of it. After several months of fiddling a friend in the EM gauge group on Facebook rescued it for me - the main problem being the gearbox. He built a gearbox himself but I now want to rebuild the gearbox myself before the loco sees service. I want to be confident that I can build one before I go any further with loco construction. For the control panel I've made a diagram and printed it off. I plan to mount the switches on the diagram and mount the whole thing on some 2mm plasticard. Thanks for reading, Doug

After WIMorrisons post about the Roco Z21 I've been looking at that and it's a strong contender just for the nicely laid out interface on my phone. I like the idea of a secondhand LH100 and am keeping an eye on eBay so will have to see what comes up first. I do like the idea of a decent screen which was the only downside of the LH100 when I had it. It did work faultlessly though and that's a big plus in my view!

Thanks Both - I am hoping to get the Pannier Papers book for Christmas - good to know that it has a photo of her in. I've also had a poke about the gwr.ork.uk and greatwestern.org.uk sites and they're really useful. Thanks again, Doug

It'l be in EM. I'll be following your build as I don't think I'll get much done on mine until coming up to Christmas. I have a 57xx and 48xx in O gauge for the garden but no Autocoach yet :-(