AndyB

Hi Keith. First and foremost I hope all goes well with you and your's. Must be a busy time preparing for the move and it's good you're finding a bit of time to imagine what model-railway opportunities may present themselves in your new home. I like very much the slice of Ontario video. The builder had obviously thought about camera angles and settled on 3 or 4 places to capture the action. FWIW I think the space you might have would lend itself well to a section of line running through countryside, perhaps with an overgrown siding serving something like a rustic saw mill. There'd be possibilities for all sorts of cameos. If you do manage to get a cassette each end it would mean having to do a lot of cassette switching each time a train runs through the scene. I'd council against this and maybe stick to a fiddle stick at just one end. Also remember the rule of thirds; a cruel mistress when space is limited. But one loco and a couple of wagons is going look a lot more realistic than a 5 coach express train. On my own layout I'm thinking carefully about viewing points and angles then dividing those spaces into thirds and placing objects of interest at the intersection lines. This might help you map out your available space to create a visually appealing scene, too? All the best. Andy

For as long as I can remember I ran my layouts without a timetable. And pretty boring it was, too. TBH the attraction was to quickly to start to build "the next" layout. I'm now modelling Bentley station in the 1950s/60s when the branchline to Bordon was still in operation. And to make it hold my attention I'm planning to operate it to a timetable. Yes, I can also sit back and just leave a favourite loco circulating, too. Timetabled trains include a twice hourly branchline working, which arrives on the up platform and then has to move across the down line and in to the bay departure platform. There are also half or hourly services from Alton to Waterloo and vice versa. So far so good. But you can't let your branchline train impede these "mainline" services. I've also identified a daily parcels train (WOK --> AON) abd uccassional triop trains from Aldershot to So'ton. Again this kind of traffic has to fit within the mainline passenger services and the branchline (Bordon) train. And the more of these ad hoc trains I identify the more complexity starts to build up... A particular attraction of this line was that it acted as a diversionary route for mainline traffic heading to and from the south and south west via Basingstoke, e.g. when that part of the line was being electrified. So suddenly there are a lot more services that have to be squeezed in. And I think if I build in the variable speed of different train types and reasonable headway then it could get quite challenging. There's also the challenge of coordinating how these trains move within the Fiddle Yard! Not bad for a country junction station.

Automation...rather you than me. Sounds like hard work! Might be worth reading up on how the Farnham MRC automated their Wickwar layout? From memory it uses MERG technology with occupancy detection via a resistor on the axle of the last wagon/coach in each rake? All driven by iPad. Quite impressive watching trains shuffle forward in the FY. Like the idea of how you're combining hobbies by having the golf course holes on the layout.

@njee20 thanks for taking the time to read my layout thread and adding a comnent. I also found the Code 40 had a mind of its own. I did my best to straighten it using a thin steel rule. But it was a blessed relief to revert to Peco Code 55. For me the epiphany was seeing an N gauge layout at the Basingstoke show that used Peco Code 55 but with great care taken over ballasting. And I felt if my track looked as good as that then I'd be more than happy. I'm also very interested in @woodenhead's approach and would definitely like to hear more about that as I'd like to try it out on a micro layout sonetime. Re the Megapoints those are generally behaving. Although in the FY I could have simply used solenoids. Hey-ho, you live and learn. Andy

Time for an update, methinks. Radio silence over the kast couple of weeks has been whilst I finished testing watching trains go by, fabricating the removable backscenes and weathering track. Testing was very satisfying watching steam locos pull various rakes of coaches, branchline trains and wagons. This took longer than I thought as it was just nice watching them stretch their legs doing lap after lap.... (I really should investigate how to create some YouTube content). Backscenes were a combination of plywood with a frame to keep it straight and double layered mountboard where it needs to curve. Two coats of Gesso were used to prepare them for painting the backscene. Finally I've weathered the track. One coat of grey primer and 24 hours later a coat of sleeper grime. Thanks to everyone who has previously shared their experience of track weathering. As ever RMweb is a mine of expertise. Noting that the aerosols have "cumulative" detrimental effects I purchased a P3 protective mask. This one had a good seal and was really comfortable for the hour I wore it. I think my record is 48 hours in a full respiratory mask, so in comparison it's (literally) no sweat protecting yourself from the kinds of aerosol paints we use. I think a £20 investment to protect your health has to be the best money you can spend! So. What's next? With the Bank Holiday weekend coming up it's a great opportunity to start putting in the terrain profiles. Move over Slartibartfast! And I've not forgotten that the reversing camera needs to be wired up using the same 12V DC supply that'll power the semaphore bracket signal. So there should be plenty to show you on my next update. Thanks for reading. Andy

Thanks Paul. I found your link really helpful. I'll look forward to reading other parts of your blog, too. Cheers. Andy

When weathering Peco Unifrog turnouts do any parts of the turnout need to be protected from the paint? My understanding is that these points are all hard wired so not reliant on contact between the blades and stock rails to pass current....but wanted to double check?! It's a given the top of the rails will be cleaned up after spraying with paint. Thanks in advance for any advice. Andy

FWIW I think the way you've captured the scene is really well composed. In particular the rather subdued colour palette is very effective. Thanks for sharing. Andy

Hi and apologies for being late to comment on backscenes. Hopefully my recent exploits may help others. I've used 3.6 mm plywood on the straight sections of my backscene, which are 7" tall. Because I want to remove them to access the FY and make sure they remain straight I've put framing behind them. @stivesnick suggested a way of securing the backscene using small connector blocks which was really helpful. 🙂 To make sure they don't scuff and break up where they butt up to each other I'm planning to seal the edges with PVA. I'm going to use 2 coats of Gesso to prepare them for acrylic painting. Where the backscenes curve there was too much tension in the plywood so I've used mount board with two layers laminated together using Copydex. This was a lot easier to use than plywood! Again I'll probably seal the edges with PVA to reduce wear and tear. All the best. Andy

Well this is a first. I don't recall building a layout where I've got as far as thinking about a timetable.... As "testing" continues I've started to allocate trains into sidings of the FY to map on to a timetable service I'm hoping to run. So far... 1. Branch line service, aka the Bordon Rocket / Bentley Flyer. M7 + 2 coaches. 2 return trips per hour. 2. UP Hourly electric train service (AON --> WAT), stopping BTY. 4-CEP for now. 3. DOWN Hourly electric train service (WAT --> AON), stopping BTY. 4-CEP for now. 4. DOWN Mid-morning parcels train (WOK -> AON), N class Mogul. 5. Pick-up goods train. 6. DOWNTroop train Aldershot -> Southampton / Diverted express Waterloo -> Weymouth... Service #1, #4 and #6 Service EMU #2, #3 & FREIGHT #5 And already its starting to get complex. For example to save FY space for a more interesting train I'm only using one of my 4-CEPs. But that means for one of the 2 proposed services it'll need to propel a 4-coach train round some fairly tight curves. Hmm. Next, for each train that appears "on scene" there's quite a lot of points in the FY to be switched. On reflection I could have used the memory function on the servo controllers to set up routes for the most freque train movements. I could still do that as a future improvement. Also I could have put green / red LEDs into the mimic board to give a positive indication of point settings. Relying on the position of a toggle switch is not a long term solution. Again I can add these in later. One thing I read recently was a couple of peoples' pet hates of trains arriving at a terminus and instantly reversing with no consideration of what tasks the driver would need to do. I have to say on this layout it's taking me some time to set all the points correctly in between trains. So no danger of instantly reversing a train! FY mimic board - could do with route indicator LEDs. I've also got other locos to include which will fill up the FY still further. So much fun yet to be had!

I've occasionally wondered about animated backscenes and how to go about it. I think your solution is great. Kicking myself that I didn't think of it though. 😆 Like the fireworks display, BTW. All the best. Andy

It's actually quite simple. A mains wire to carry the ~13 V AC from the DCC power supply along the length of the layout and Fiddle Yard. Red and black twisted dropper wires to each piece of track. 3 wires to each servo motor going back to the Megapoints control board. A wire for each servo motor from the Megapoints control board to the mimic panel switch plus a 5V line. There's actuslky two mimic panels and two Megapoints control boards. For each servo motor there's a contact switch and 3 wires (red, black and white) to control the polarity of the frog. Various D connectors and push fit choc block connectors to take power and signals across baseboard joins. Still to do are wires to power and control the (future) Dapol junction signal. And also power and take a signal from the Fiddle Yard CCTV camera. That's the technical answer. The possibly more interesting answer is that it takes me back over 30 years to the lab bench. Happy days and great memories.

I started to write a piece on how I've been attacking the layout's snagging list. Suffice to say whilst running different locos I'm finding track where fishplates have not been fitted (by me) correctly, soldered joints that used too much soldered and cause rough rolling, the occasional short and fine plastic detailing parts snagging on servo wires. But instead here's a pile of wiring that needs a good tidying up! It's certainly a target rich environment with plenty of opportunities to shorten cables and fix them together and secure them in place. The servo control boards are particularly busy areas with cables for both switches and motors. I know this is the boring bit. But I think getting it nice and tidy will help with long-term satisfaction with the layout. Cheers. Andy

What's happening on the layout I hear you all ask. Well I'm glad you did. The last remaining fi escape point failed. And mixing and matching with Code 55 didn't work terribly well in terms of running smoothness. So I took the decision to standardise on Code 55 and ripped up the remaining track. A quick trip to my local model railway emporium I came vack with a replace replacement Unifrog point and 8 lengths of Peco. This was easily fixed and rewired over the last week. Testing was possible on the down line over the last few days and I've had the great pleasure of sering various locos circling the layout. There's a couple of shorts on the up line which I need to run to ground this week. But it's been great being able to run all my rolling stock in without having to press "reverse" every few seconds! Gratuitous shot of my UM B12 that recently came back from Coastal DCC for a Digitrax decoder fitting. And finally both point control mimic boards. Spenthalf an hour this morning chasing a dry joint down...but its that problem solving that makes the hobby keep the old neurons firing? Anyway, that's all I've got to show you at the moment. Cheers for now. Andy