That Model Railway Guy

Thanks @rodshaw, the P Class is a good runner isn't it. Always very enjoyable shunting with it since it's so controllable at slow speeds and very rarely stalls - even if it wasn't particularly prototypical in this sense. Thanks for watching

Thanks for the info guys, it's very much appreciated. I've also found that after they stall some DCC locos have trouble getting going again because of the acceleration curve. They have no issues when running at speed but sometimes they just stall repeatedly when trying to set off again. Anyway that's beside the point. Thankfully I've mostly sorted this issue now. I adjusted some CVs on the J72 which helped a little bit but I also spent a lot of time running it over the points trying to identify which bits were most uneven. The worse bits have been stuck down in a more secure way so that they're no longer pushing up and for the most part this seems to have solved the problem. There's just one small section between two points that's still causing an issue so I'll just need to look at that in more detail but the reliability has certainly increased in the meantime.

Things have been a bit quiet on Pickwick Yard lately with focus now on the building of my new layout. However I decided to do a little running session the other day using the inglenook shunting puzzle rules. The layout was never intended to be used in this way but it works fine as long as you play using honour rules. Here's the resulting video: All in all it's quite fun and I've since been doing more inglenook shunting on the layout. I've found it's a great way to have a an intensive but short running session which is great for me as time is at a premium at the moment.

Testing has continued today with the J72 but during the process I snapped this quick picture on my phone. I'm not sure why but there's something about this photo that I really like. I think the angle of the loco and the height of the camera it makes it look quite realistic, despite the obvious lack of any scenery!

Ran a bit of an interesting experiment just now. As mentioned previously, a few of my 0-6-0s do not like some of the points on the layout - specifically the double slip and the points either side. Initially I put this down to uneven track and I do still think this is a large part of the issue. However, I've just been running the J72 which is by far the worse offender and was getting nowhere with it. I decided to take the decoder out and run it on DC instead and it's now a lot better! It does stall occasionally but a lot less frequently now, where previously it refused to run over the points without stalling at least once. I'm still quite new to DCC so I'm not sure why the loco is more sensitive when fitted with a decoder. Perhaps it's just that the minimum voltage the decoder responds to needs adjusting. Still at least I'm getting somewhere now!

Great stuff @Jonnie! Lovely photos and the extension sounds exciting. Looking forward to seeing the layout in person at Spa Valley Railway later this year if possible too. Keep up the great work

Before I forget, I've also made two videos of the layout. The first showing the trains in action... ...and the second just outlining the process of building the two new modules. They've gone down rather well on YouTube (with a combined 8,000 views between them already!) so though I'd post them here too in case anyone is interested. Enjoy

I have to admit there's not been much progress lately as I've just been enjoying having a proper layout for the first time in my life. It's taken a few months to get to this stage and it's really nice to finally be able to run trains - all the name of testing of course. On that note, running is very consistent except for the Bachmann J72 and the Hornby Terrier, which do not like the double slip and the points either side of it. I suspect the points aren't completely flat which is causing the 0-6-0s to rock on the centre axle slightly while the Peckett and Ruston will happily crawl through the same points. I've tried manipulating the track in various different ways as well as propping areas up with card but it's been a bit inconsistent so far as I'll think I've solved it then later I'll run the loco through and it'll stop dead again. Anyway to finish off on a bright note here are some pictures from a running session this morning... The Schools Class passes under the bridge... ...round the bend... ...and joins onto the new section as it goes past the shed. Meanwhile the J72 waits with some of Hornby's new 6 wheelers. (This was during a brief period where it was behaving!) In a far more prototypical scene for a heritage railway, an austerity waits in the station loop with a rake of Mk1coaches. While the bufferstop module is pressed into service here as the headshunt for the run round loop. edit - Looks like I forgot to add a caption to this photo! Anyway, this was just after the Peckett had shunted these wagons into the siding.

Hi everyone, I'll be doing a Live running session tonight over on my YouTube channel as "testing" continues on the modular layout. You don't need a YouTube account to watch along so feel free to tune in at 7:30pm if you fancy it. It's a very informal affair where we just watch some trains run and have a chat in the comments (and I try not to get too distracted!). Hope to see some of you there

Evening all, after a busy few days working on the layout the track is now laid for the two stations modules! Everything except for the inspection pit that is, as I've decided to leave that for another time. I wired these two boards up as I went and for the first time ever I have been able to setup all 7 of the current modules to form an end to end U-shaped layout as seen below. The two new modules looking from the station end towards the sheds. And a reverse shot looking from the shed end towards the station. In the distance you can just see the bufferstop module being used here as the headshunt. And just past the shed is where the scenery abruptly starts! An overview of the current setup, running from fiddle yard to the station terminus and then back out again. This afternoon was spent playing... ahem, I mean testing with various locos and rakes of coaches to get a feel for the layout and to iron out any issues. It does actually feel like a layout now as, while the curved modules look nice, there's not a lot you can do with them on their own aside from run a loco up and down. Hopefully this will inspire me to keep working on the layout but for now... more testing!

An exciting delivery earlier this week has meant I've been able to start work on the two station modules. The baseboards are built and track laying has begun so fingers crossed I'll have some progress to share over the weekend!

Thanks @Andrew D! I'm still surprised that such a large amount of people are interested in watching me play trains but if everyone enjoys it then I'm more than happy to keep on making videos.

My YouTube channel recently hit 1,000 subscribers so to celebrate I wanted to make a bit of a special video. In the past I've limited my running session videos to just a few simple movements to keep them short and sweet. This time though I decided to film an entire operating session, running through one of the longer sequences I do when the camera's aren't on! It takes about 20 minutes to complete and roughly shows the course of a day on Pickwick Yard. I've added some basic sound to this one and I've found it's quite nice to have on the background just to observe the trains coming and going. Enjoy

Hi there, just a clarify a couple of things quickly. I don’t think I ever said the teak finish was correct, just that I personally liked the way Hornby had done teak on previous coaches and that was why I opted for this version. Regarding the lining, I wasn’t referring to LNER practice of following the panels. Instead I was commenting on how Hornby have made a deliberate choice to go for square lining above and below the windows - apologies if that wasn’t clear in the video. Thanks for pointing out the missing colours in the numbers and lettering though. Not being an expert I wouldn’t have noticed that myself but then I suppose that’s why I’m more the target audience for these types of coaches. I agree the lining on brake coach isn’t ideal but then that's part of the compromise on these coaches and personally I’ve found that unless you’re less than a foot away and staring at it, it’s not really noticeable. That of course is subjective though which is why I try to provide lots of close ups in the videos to help people decide for themselves. Thanks for the vote of confidence chaps.

Hi everyone, my own set of the LNER 6 wheel coaches turned up yesterday so I've put together a video showing some closeups and a bit of them in action at the end. Pleased to report they ran very well even over the old dodgy setrack on my shunting layout. Posting here in case anyone finds it useful.

And for those of you who like to see the process actually happening, here is the video that the stills were taken from:

Hello everyone, hope you're all having a good weekend. Just realised I never posted my progress from over Christmas so here's a quick update for you all. Lately I've been working on the bufferstop module which will complete Phase 1 of the build. This isn't really a proper module, it's more of a diorama that just acts as an end stop for the moment. Eventually though it will be used as a headshunt for the station when the layout is setup in an end to end configuration. As a result this is the smallest and perhaps most uninteresting module on the entire layout. Firstly, apologies for the low quality pictures - they're all screenshots taken from the update video. Since I was filming everything as I was going I didn't think to take any photos! The bare baseboard ready to have track laid on it. With the track in position I built up the landscape around it using polystyrene and plaster bandage... ...Which was then painted brown to give the impression of a dirt layer. The track has also been painted and ballasted too. And finally the "finished" module - well at least for the moment. The static grass does make it look a lot more complete though obviously it needs lots of little details adding (as do all the the modules!) but the basics are there. The scenics obviously don't line up around the track very well but I'm not too concerned at the moment considering these two modules are unlikely to even be setup like this in a normal running session. Instead I'll spend my time making the end of the station module blend into this as that's where it will see most use.

Hey everyone, just another quick from the layout for you all. Having added coal to lots of my wagons back before Christmas, I've been doing lots of delivery trains where the full wagons come in and empties leave. This adds another level to the running session but I have found it gets a bit tiresome trying to claw the coal inserts out of the wagons especially if you've got a whole train of them. To combat this I've gone for the tried and tested method of adding magnets to all the wagon loads which has made removal much easier and means I spend much more time running trains now! On the off chance anyone's unfamiliar with this technique or just wants a simple step by step guide on how to implement it themselves, here's a quick video showing the process with a demonstration at the end.

Well it's my first post of 2021 so I thought I'd share this photo I took the other day for a bit of fun. I don't yet have a backscene so the landscape has been extended with a little bit of dodgy work in photoshop but I was pleased with how it's turned out (as long as you don't look too closely!) given I was just messing around.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you were all able to celebrate in someway, if not as much as we would have liked too. Following on from my last post about the bufferstops, here's a video that shows the whole process in case anyone wants to do something similar on their own layouts.

Thanks @Acklam, glad you found it useful and I hope it helps out with your own plans. So far I've found that it was worth spending the time I did on this area as it's made building the rest of the layout a lot easier in comparison.

Hi there, the endplates are my own custom design as I wanted something quite specific and I just send the computer file off to a company who do custom laser cutting for them to make. Anytime I need more endplates I just order some more using the same file and they come back identical to every other batch. The endplates are only one part of the puzzle though. You may have already seen it but a few weeks back I posted a video where I went through the whole process of aligning and joining the baseboards/modules, so if you're thinking about doing something similar it might be worth a taking a quick look

Thank you @Alister_G, I had a great Christmas. Hope you had a good one too and best wishes for the New Year!

A little job I did earlier this month was to "upgrade" the Peco bufferstops I've been using. They're alright but a bit basic. This is how they've looked on the layout for the past year... I glued them together and removed the peg from the centre of the buffer blocks and gave it a quick paint job - white on the beam with red blocks and then some matt brown on the sides with some rust dry brushed on afterwards. It's probably not prototypical but then nothing else on Pickwick Yard is! Finally here's how they look back in position on the layout. A nice addition in my opinion and it's really transformed this corner of the layout. I'm quite pleased with how the lenses on the lamps came out too.

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a quick attempt at a festive shot on one of the scenic parts of the layout