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Savoyard

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Everything posted by Savoyard

  1. Hi David, I had an original thread on my move to O Gauge which had the background on how Ploverleigh evolved but as the photos were lost on that thread a while back when the server crashed I decided to start a fresh with this thread. Here is a link to the old thread. I decided on the name Ploverleigh as it is the village in Gilbert & Sullivan's 'The Sorcerer' and whilst playing a part in that opera in 2007 I met my partner and so I thought to name my layout after the village. I hope that helps. Peter
  2. Work has been progressing on the station area too to the extent I have put up the backscene and started ballasting the station area. The entrances to the branch line and goods yard from the main line, all the track is laid and the next job is weather the track. A closer view of the station area. The station cottages are nearly complete and the next job will be scenic work on the base on which they stand. I have started work on the disused tunnel entrance and the hill surrounding it. I have made some tweaks to the road bridge and the staircase down to the station, which originally had a brick base and I've changed to a stone base using slaters stone sheets to match the bridge and other buildings. Another view of the station area. A closer view of the station cottages. I hope to start work on the goods yard ballasting this week. A view from the station area towards the turntable and loco shed. More to follow..
  3. The exit on the passing loop is on the lift section of the layout and on the previous version I used a very much manipulated PECO curved point which led to bad running. On this revised version I decided to build my own point so I found a plan for a HO gauge curved point on the internet and rescaled it to O gauge and loaded the image in to Lightburn, the laser cutting software. I used it as the basis for the new point, I outlined all the sleepers and once I had drawn them all I took out every fourth sleeper and ten respaced them to similar spacing to PECO points. Each sleeper was joined with a thin webbing and then laser cut in three sections. Using various other points for guides I laid the track and after after some test runs and tweaking I have got good running over the points. One loco did have problems when running into the inner loop so I introduced an additional guide rail which I based on prototypical ones I had found on the internet. Here are a couple of photos of the new point. It is not so obvious on these photos but I abandoned the wooden sleepers and screws over the board joints and reverted back to copper clad sections as they proved better to solder to.
  4. At long last I've been able to get some photos sorted. The biggest development has been the completion of all the track on the depot yard side, I decided to disguise the fiddle yard as a depot yard, with a storage area for wagons and coaches, and more recently a diesel depot. I have also included a passing loop on the inner mainline track to give a little more flexibility in operation. This is the depot yard head shunt, originally it was going to be just be two tracks but I recently included the small diesel depot at the top left and a fuelling point, exact position to be decided. Another view of head shunt. Two views of the diesel depot are. Starting from the right is the up and down main line, then a passing loop, a coach storage line, and three goods wagon storage lines, two of which are hidden behind the diesel depot. Two views from the other side showing the two main lines, then the passing loop currently occupied by some wagons, then the coach and wagon storage lines.
  5. I was having trouble downloading my photos from my iPhone to my PC but it is working again so I will post some pictures of the progress so far, but today I finished the weathering of the track on the mainline through the station so I decided to put some ballast down. Here is a short video demoing the fairly quick and easy method I used.
  6. A video of a test run over the new curved points I did last week, it still needs a little fettling but works fine.
  7. It has been quite a few months since I posted anything, over the winter I ended up using the shed to make props for our production of The Mikado in April, not the P2 the G&S version! 😂 I had been working on a couple of things but nothing major, once the show was over and I had my shed back for it's intended purpose, the first thing I did was to lay some carpet tiles I bought a year or so back and what a difference they make, it now feels like a proper railway room. Jobs so far! - Gradually gluing down of all the track with Copydex, which was recommended by a friend, and if you can get over the smell it works fine, as it's latex based it provides an element of sound insulation. It is also very easy to lift the track when I needed to rework something. About 90% of the layout is complete so far. - Hand built a curved point from scratch on the lift up section to allow for a passing loop on the inner line. - Laser cut wedges to fit underneath the PECO sleepers for a cant on the mainline curves. - Complete reworking of the depot area, with aligning and spacing to allow for the new passing loop, a coach siding and three wagon sidings, also the addition of a three lane loco shed. The track laying is still a work in progress but should be completed in the next few days. I will post some photos and further details once I have completed the depot area trackwork.
  8. Now for a little quiz. I haven't said why I've named the layout Ploverleigh. Before I do, I was wondering if anyone recognises where the name is from? Answers not on a postcard! 😁
  9. I just use a stick to separate the magnets. I was going to do a video before I started rebuilding the layout, hopefully I'll get round to that soon and I'll post a link on here.
  10. I've completed the reworking to double track. Here is a video of the on of the test runs, Ploverleigh - Test run on the new double track section Now to work on the new Depot area.
  11. Another use of the laser cutter and the ever useful coffee stirrers is for the risers for the cant on the curve. Here is how I've used them.
  12. The most recent use of the laser cutter is to make some sleepers for the lift up section. Previously I've used copper clad, but the copper clad could separate and has to be replaced, I cut some sleepers using 6mm plywood to the same dimensions as the PECO sleepers and made two holes for brass screws to solder the track to. Here are couple of photos showing the new sleepers compared to the previous copper clad
  13. I recently bought a laser cutter/engraver and been putting it to good use on the layout. One of the first things I made using it were new point tie bars using some coffee stirrers. This shows the tie bars on a PECO point replacing the original plastic one. On the version above I have used flat head brass pins, I have changed to pin with a smaller head. This is the latest version of the tie bars on the Marcway points using the smaller pins, not only do they look neater they also make for better operation of the points.
  14. Hi Ray, The single track tunnel is from Townstreet , I am currently away till weekend but I will measure it when I get back. Peter
  15. One of the projects that I have been working on is a design of magnetic coupling that looks like a three link and not a big lump of plastic between the wagons. I did this video to demonstrate the work so far, it also shows how the layout looked before the visit of the model railway inspectorate! :) O gauge Magnetic Couplings I will cover the work on this project at a later date.
  16. As I've lost all the content of this thread and I haven't posted for quite a while, I decided to start a new thread and show the work I've been doing over the last few months and more so the last three weeks. Ploverleigh - An evolving O Gauge Layout I
  17. At the beginning of lock down I started my first O gauge layout, which was just going to be a shelf layout to run my O gauge stock. I covered the progress from a simple shelf layout to a full-blown layout replacing my OO layout and me moving completely to O gauge in the following thread: - My first O Gauge layout - Version 2 Unfortunately, after this site crashed all the content was lost so I thought I'd start this new thread bringing it up to date. For those who followed the thread above I haven't done a post since February, but I have been busy over the summer months with a number of projects of which I will share in this new thread. The layout is in my 20' x 12' shed and has evolved from a simple single track with a branch line terminus station to a double track mainline. Three weeks ago, three of us were going down to Stafford on the Saturday for Guildex, but before we set off, I shown them work on the layout so far. One of the friends who is an ex-railwayman pointed out the errors in my layout plan that were far from prototypical. So, we looked at possible options, set off for Guildex and whilst having some lunch redrew the track plan on a napkin for doubling the track all the way round, on our return we set about ripping up the track at the station throat to accommodate the new track plan. Here are some photos of the work so far. This shows the station with the through mainline, the branch line off to the left and the goods yard to the right. The line coming down on the left goes to the turntable and steam shed. After experimenting with sleeper spacing, I have taken the opportunity to modify all the track to more prototypical UK sleeper spacing (more on this at a later date). This shows the view from the station above, with the new double track in place and the turntable and steam shed, I will be altering the track around the turntable in due course. The track to the left is the head shunt for the goods yard and doubles up as a programming track. Two further shots showing the new double line section. The outer track is 5' radius and the inner 57". This is what will be the new entrance into the Depot Yard at the end of the new double section, the plan of which is still work in progress. This is another shot showing the Depot Yard area, the four lanes to the left will be changed once I've finished the main line. This is the lift up section and is work in progress for the realigning of the double track from the station. The bridge is scratch built and was intended to be the scenic break form the station to the fiddle yard, but I decided to make all the layout scenic as the fiddle yard is only really a depot yard. A shot showing the station area, the buildings to the left are the station cottages. To give the impression that the branch line continues another friend suggested a tunnel entrance, so this will be incorporated into the layout. A view from the station bridge showing the new sleeper spacing through the station, the track is also on a slight cant through the station. I've reached the limit of my file uploads on this post so more to follow....
  18. Tonight I mastered some new skills on iMovie producing the following video on my magnetic coupling system. I had managed to get it to work with twenty nine wagons over the weekend and then today I added two Ellis Clark Presflos and here is a video showing the test run and a little more detail about the concept. I did a little tidying up of my YouTube channel and deleted some older videos so apologies that they no longer appear about. O Gauge 3 Link Magnetic style coupling system
  19. Hi Ray, I hope this diagram helps, I outlined the actual arch. Regards, Peter
  20. Hi Ray, I used the PECO double track bridge as a template for the height, width and the curve on the arch. I'll measure it for you when I'm in the shed later. Regards, Peter
  21. On Friday I continued the weathering and darkening the bridge and wall stone, unfortunately I ran out of the brown washes I use and Modelmates has ceased trading. Luckily I found a source on Ebay and ordered the three remaining they have in stock, so whilst I wait for them to arrive I started work on the back of the station. The weathering so far. On Saturday I went to Doncaster and bought a few things for the layout, including a row of terraced cottages from Petite Properties for the back of the station. I realigned the back board to work better with the cottages at the side of the railway and rebuilt the raised area. I started building the cottages and this the work so far. Yesterday I started mocking up how the tunnel area will look, my new polystyrene cutter made this a lot easier and a lot less messy. This area will no doubt change over the next few days. The overall look of this part of the layout. I also bought the Petite Properties buildings that make up their Station Road set, this will go on the opposite side to make a street scene. I also bought some buildings from LCUT Creative including their country station which I think will work better on the platform, more on these later.
  22. The horse box looks great, I need to pluck up the courage and start making my kit up. Then again I've got a list longer than my arm of things I want to do! LOL!
  23. I started work on the back of the station. I had always planned for this to be a raised area to be the reason the track curving. So I mocked it up using using some spare polystyrene, I plan to have a pair of low relief cottages on the back to represent railway cottages, I placed the station building on it to get an idea of proportions. There will be a tunnel at the end of the station which is now disused and will be bricked up, I will resist the temptation for a link into the garden as I don't think I will get planning permission for that! I am off to the Doncaster exhibition today so looking forward to seeing what I can get for the layout.
  24. I started weathering the bridge and wall with Modelmates Moss Green, tomorrow I will darken it further with Mud Brown to give an even more mucky effect.
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