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Savoyard

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Everything posted by Savoyard

  1. Today I've been experimenting with the platform to see the effect of scoring the flags and painting. Here are some photos of the experiment, I am happy with the overall effect but the stone colour it is too light despite being weathered stone. Ironically when looking for some ideas for the station platforms the nearest I could get to my mock up was Longton Bridge Station which is the station I had started to build on my OO gauge layout which the O Gauge replaced.
  2. Today I started work on the station platforms. I had already used 25mm x 5 mm strips of pine wood for the platform edges. I then filled them in with 25mm deep polystyrene sheet. I covered the platform is 3.6 mm plywood which I had fun cutting to shape. I had been considering using laser cut sheets for the platform sides but in the end decided on Slaters stone plastic sheets with those bamboo sticks cut in half and used as the edges which I have mocked up here. The bulk of the platform will be tarmac colour but the edges will be stone and I intend to mark out the flags using a Dremel etching tool, you can see the first attempt on the bottom right of the last two photos.
  3. After sorting out the Depot/Fiddle Yard I wanted to sort out the single line section as there has been some running problems, also on this section I have a slight cant on the curve. I was so impressed with this on Ramchester I wanted to include something similar on mine, so I decided to have one on the single line section. This has been achieved by raising the track by just under 1mm using coffee stirring sticks and it seems to have the desired effect. Whilst doing this section after some testing with a couple of fussy locos I had to relay it as there were some not so obvious kinks causing running problems and derailing. It now works fine with both locos even though I had to reduce the radius on one half to 54". The track comes very close to the wall at this point so I plan to have a tunnel on this part of the layout to hide this, it will start roughly where the Woodlands Scenic is placed on the photo and will end just before the Engine Shed on the right of the picture. The tunnel mouths will be reduced in height.
  4. The goods shed is based loosely on the one on my Holcombe Brook & Tottington layout which was not too dissimilar and this was a real location. Here is a photo of the Goods Shed at Holcombe Brook Station, admittedly there is a little more room but not that much, the track is going to be filled in like on this photo.
  5. Last night I was looking at the pictures of the Depot/Fiddle Yard and I wasn't happy with the curves on the roads, so I decided to rebuild the small extension by extending it, the maximum width is the same. So a quick visit to B&Q for some wood and I got a 2400x1200x25 mm piece of polystyrene for use on the station and scenery. I should have broken it up in store because it was very windy and I was soon chasing pieces round the car park. Here is the new frame for the extension. And the new extension. I made use of lots of off cuts I had lying around. The new track alignment which l think look a lots better and I've given a slightly wider gap between each road. Now to get on with the curves and hopefully some work on the station platforms.
  6. Today was quite productive with quite a few modifications to some of the track plan. Firstly the Fiddle/Depot Yard, I replaced two right hand points with one of my Marcway three way points to give some extra length on two of the roads. Firstly I modified the Marcway point. I used some coffee stirring sticks to give the sleepers the extra height to match the Peco sleeper height, then I replaced the tie bars with my bamboo version. The revised Fiddle/Depot Yard with the three way point. I revised the head shunt on the Depot Goods Yard adding a second road. The left hand road can be switched to be a programming track. The next job is to make sure all the curves don't have any kinks. I started on the top single line curve (the section in front of the Loco Shed in the last photo), this has a slight cant but was a bit hit and miss so I've started working to improve it, all will be revealed in the next exciting adventure of Savoyard's Adventure in 0 Gauge!
  7. I've been working hard on the shed layout today and thought I'd have a little fun session to end the day, so I ran this Brush type in two tone green and the Hoover in Railfreight grey!
  8. I decided on a track plan for the goods yard based loosely on the one on my OO layout 'Holcombe Brook & Tottington' which allows a loco to run through and around the goods shed. It also allows for operation of an Inglenook Puzzle. The new layout. Views with the Goods Shed and Buffer in place, I bought the Goods Shed a few years back with a layout, now pleased to have found a use for it, but it needs some TLC. I think the platforms will be the next job.
  9. Yesterday I rebuilt the extension on the station goods yard area to allow more room for a better track layout. Firstly the completed new frame. And the new extension complete I got some ideas for the revised track plan which I will try today. To be continued.....
  10. It is the only entrance but the door opens outward and the flap easily opens and is also easy to get under. The lock you see is one of two on both sides of the door so that it is secure on both sides and cannot be forced open. Anyway I normally lock myself in so I am left in peace!!
  11. Hi Rod, The rebuild is looking good, rebuilding must be the order of the day as I've rejigged the track plan on my shed layout to improve operational flexibility. I've added some new photos today. I look forward to seeing it progress.
  12. I have been slowly reworking the track plan, here is the work so far. The Station The station is now double track, I hope to start work on the platforms soon. The goods yard may still change I am considering widening the extension board to allow a little more room for scenic items. The Fiddle Yard disguised as a Depot Yard I've introduced a passing loop on the inner track which will allow more operational flexibility. There are four tracks for the 'fiddle/depot' yard, the inspiration for this was Newton Heath Shed where parked locos and DMU's were very near the running line. The exit to the inner passing loop is on the lift up section. The Depot Yard Head Shunt There are now two tracks for the head shunt, which will probably have a cattle dock. In the background is a tunnel entrance, this will be used to create a short tunnel to hide the curve at the top of the layout where it is tight to the wall. I am hoping to finish the track over the Easter weekend and I can make a start on the scenery. To be continued.....
  13. I decided to modify the track plan to have a double track through station. This has meant a reworking of the goods yard which is still work in progress but here are some photos of the work so far. The revised track work to accommodate the second line. The new track layout through the proposed station.
  14. I've not been doing much modelling over the last couple of months, mainly due to the fact I decided the shed interior needed painting to make it brighter and less shed like, so the top half of the shed is now white. I added lights to my Bachmann Brassworks Class 101 using some bicolour (warm white/red) LED's for the headlights and some old LED lighting strip for the interior. It needs some further work but here is the work so far and you can see the new white walls in the background.
  15. I've corrected the lights and changed the nearside red light to a warm white one, it still needs some tidying up around the lights. I have also been working on my Darstead Mk 1 Suburban Coaches and used some old LENZ LE1024 to control the tail light on the guards van and a new tail light on the coach at the other end, they are directional so no more lights in the wrong direction. I have added resistors to reduce the brightness of the internal lights but I need some higher rated resistors for the red and white small lights for both the Warship and coaches.
  16. Having got all the lights working on D832 I thought I'd have a Warship fest and run my Heljan Class 42 829 Magpie and noticed that the right hand light is not red but white, so as the saying goes back to the drawing board or should that be the circuit board! Luckily the way the board is made it shouldn't be too much trouble to change it.
  17. I've been experimenting with surrounds for the red lights as the original metal ones didn't survive the drill. I found the left hand hole was drilled out too high so I modify the hole to be level with the right hole and filled it with some good old fashioned Milliput. I used some plastic tube drilled out to the width of the red lights and then cut to approximately 1 mm height, not an easy task! Here is the results so far, it is annoying the camera highlights all the areas that need attention that the eye normally doesn't see!
  18. Today I decided to redo the light board, making it wider and allow for a much better fit. I also used some warm white LED's and as Andi suggested I've filed all the sides. Here is a comparison between the original board (top) and the new version. The back is a little neater too. As you can see from the two photos above the red lights are now solid to the board which gives a solid fit in the loco. I've still to do one set of headcodes so here is the unfinished end. And the other end with the head codes temporarily fitted, though there is still some tidying up to do, especially around the red lights, but the warm white lights with the larger font looks much better. Now to think about putting lights on the Bachmann Brassworks Class 101! One day I may actually run some trains!
  19. Andi, Thanks for that, and it works well it was something I was wondering about certainly works. I will modify the current lights on the warship as can be seen on this photo the light is too concentrated in the centre. I increased the head code font size. I've found some warm white lights so I am going to give them a try.
  20. I have some warm white LEDS so worth a try. I live not to far from CPC Farnell in Preston and they have a wide range of LED's at very reasonable costs some lower than 10p each. The red LEDS I used for the tail lights are about 11p, there is someone on Ebay selling the same ones for £2.29 each £2.18 if you buy in bulk, a real case of buyer beware.
  21. The conversion of the PECO points is nearly complete, I've only three left to convert. I've decided not to convert the curved point on the lift up section for the time being as this is not intended to be a scenic section (yet!). The turntable now works on DCC as well as the keypad. I've been working on some locos. A couple of months ago I bought a DJH Warship from Ellis Clark Trains and this weekend I fitted headcode and tail lights. Today I fitted a Loksound V5 XL sound chip (thanks to Jeremy at Digitrains for the speedy service, I ordered it yesterday and it arrived today in the post). The headcodes on the loco were not suitable as they were on black plastic, so I made my own. I'd downloaded a BR Headcode font from the UKTrainSim site many years ago and played around in Corel Draw, to get the right spacing and have some with the separate blinds slightly off centre which you can do by converting the text to curves and then move the individual characters up or down as required. Here is an example, there is still some tweaking to do as looking at some photos of the real thing the font is a point or two too small, I will experiment further. I printed the codes on photo paper as it is thicker and seems to defuse the light better.
  22. The turntable is up and running, not on DCC as yet but I am looking in to the options. Here is a short video of it working. Turntable on YouTube
  23. Today I've experimented with an alternative to double sided copper clad. I bought some bamboo wooden sticks which are 400 x 10 x 2 mm long so I cut some 60 x 3 x 2 mm tie bars, 2 mm is a little thicker than the copper clad but here is the first proof of concept. I've also done a little mod and filed a grove where the top of the pins rest, this makes sure the track the blades are always the same height as the rail. I've also used PECO Indervidulay Wooden Timbers and chairs on the sleepers between the ties and it looks a lot better and accurate, I may replace the 3rd sleeper from the left if I can't tidy it up. I've ordered some coffee stirrers that are 1.5 mm thick and they arrive tomorrow so I will see if they look better before converting the rest which will also give me time to test this new wooden version.
  24. I wasn't aware of that, I just assumed they were just earlier production models, so another plus point to Darstead Mk 1's.
  25. Hi Simon, I should have made it clearer and I meant using servos for point motors, I have used them for signals and I have other ideas for their use, but I haven't been convinced from what I've seen when used for point so far. Peter
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