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cromptonnut

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  1. cromptonnut
    I've been modelling for about 30 years. Started in OO gauge with a surprise layout straight out the Cyril Freezer trackplan book for Christmas 1976 - being an hour from the Peco factory I guess it wasn't too surprising.
     

     
    Over the years the layout grew, taking over a spare room, until the usual teenage years when other, less wholesome interests take over your life. All packed up, put in a box in the back of a cupboard, and forgotten about for about 10 years.
     
    One day, having a clearout of junk, I found the box. Curious to see if it still worked, I assembled a circle of setrack on the kitchen table, gave the track a quick scrape with some sandpaper to clear the rust off, and put my Lima '37' on it. Dusting off and reconnecting an H&M "Rocket" controller, I turned the knob and after a few stutters the '37' shot off round the loop as if it was 1976 all over again. Bite.
     
    A trip to Hendford Halt in Yeovil and a long conversation with Pete bought me up to date on all the latest offerings in the world of model railways. Armed with a copy of Railway Modeller, it was the first of many visits there that saw a number of projects start, and be abandoned, over the next few years. But I enjoyed myself, even when part of the layout collapsed as I was underneath it trying to make a hole for a point motor.
     
    Fast forward a couple of years, and living near the Waterloo/Exeter line, I was taken with the new Class 159 units that were running by, although I still had a soft spot for the older stuff such as the 50's, and as you may have guessed from my username, Class 33's.
     
    I found out that Bachmann were planning to bring out a model of the 159, so I asked Pete when it was due out. Every time I went in, there was "no more news" until, eventually, two years later, I noticed that Farish had bought out an N gauge version.
     
    I left the shop that day with two N gauge 159's, half a box of flexitrack, and some points. The OO layout was finally consigned to the scrapheap, track and stock put back into storage, and N gauge was going to be the way forward.
     
    Unfortunately for me, the usual story of N gauge being the same layout in a smaller space translated to a larger layout in the same space, with many ideas coming to mind but all being abandoned as being far more than I would be able to cope with operating on my own.
     
    About that time, the local model club had organised an exhibition, and I decided to go along, and having chatted with a few of the members on the day, decided to join up with them. I received a lot of encouragement over the next year or so, culminating in my first "exhibitable" layout, 8ft x 2ft, of a ficticious mainline station with 4 platforms, a goods yard and a small depot. This was shown at the club's next layout - just - as I was still painting the platforms 10 minutes before the show opened!
     
    It was a great day and I did receive a lot of favourable comments, although in comparison with many of the other layouts on show it was very basic. After the show I decided that setrack points really only belonged in a fiddle yard, and I started work on "version 2" which would be a little larger.
     
    Part way into that, a house move scuppered those plans, and although I wanted to start a new layout various circumstances just got in the way, and I was content simply pottering about with a few bits of track on the kitchen table.
     
    After a few years (and a divorce) later, I found myself in a new property with a spare room. About this time, DCC sound fitted locos were just starting to become available. A trip to Abingdon got me hooked, so having come away with a sound fitted '47' and a Lenz Compact, the N gauge was boxed up and a new layout planned.
     
    History began to repeat itself as all the plans I came up with either wouldn't work, were too big, or too complicated.
     
    I have skills (several articles have appeared in ModelRail over the years), the interest, but for one reason or another, I just could not seem to 'get' what I wanted.
     
    I'd tried N, I'd tried OO... and came to the conclusion that I really needed to work with other people to be able to build a layout that I'd be content operating, in a space that would suit it. My local club isn't terribly active as far as layout building goes so I couldn't do much there - although my sound fitted stock did have a good run operating a club layout at a show 2 years ago.
     
    A few weeks ago, I was at an exhibition and saw a lovely O gauge modern image layout. The penny finally dropped.
     
    You've tried everything else, why not give O a go?
     
    So I have. A couple of points, a brass shunter kit, a resin wagon kit, and a few buildings, and I'm ready to start work on building my first O gauge project.
     
    So why do I think I'm going to manage something this time?
     
    First of all, it's a fresh start. I have no choice but to be selective about what I buy, as it's all new to me.
     
    Secondly, it's much more expensive. That might sound odd but in fact it makes me focus - what do I want to achieve? It's very easy to pop into a model shop and walk out with another carriage for £20 - then get annoyed as I can't run a 10 carriage train on my 8ft x 4ft layout - whereas when you're paying £40 for a wagon kit, and £250 for a ready-to-run carriage, you have to think "do I really, really need this item".
     
    Thirdly, space is just as limited as it always was, so I have to be more creative. I also can't end up with a mega-project that's too big for me to cope with operating alone.
     
    Fourthly, DCC sound is much easier when you have more space to play with inside. You also have more options.
     
    I think all of the above is going to make an interesting challenge which I hope, through the format of an RMWEB blog, some of you may find helpful, or in fact be able to help me.
  2. cromptonnut
    Following on from my points in my first post about why O gauge was a good idea for me to try something new, I'm also wanting to try a number of new techniques that I haven't done before.
     
    My first part - albeit bizarrely - is to attempt a brass kit, something I've never done before.
     
    Having grown up near Chard Junction, and having fond memories of the Ruston 165 shunter pottering around the yard moving milk tanks around, it seemed a good place to start. I contacted Mike Edge, and after a few phone calls, the kit, some wheels and a motor/gearbox were all in the post on their way to me.
     
    A few years before this project was even an idea, I managed to track down the Chard Junction shunter. As a replacement for the Ruston 48 they had, the 165 was sold on in the mid 80's when the dairy abandoned milk by rail.
     
    Some enquiries later tracked it to the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway, who had then sold it on to the Mid Suffolk Light Railway, where it had been restored to working order. A few phone calls later resulted in a day out at the MSLR, armed with camera, where I took a number of shots "just for old times sake".
     

     
    When I knew the shunter, it was in all over bright (but grubby) yellow, with a flashing amber beacon on the cab roof for working in the concreted yard. But, she was still running, and although I regret not being able to video her in action and capture the sound, the 30 year old memories came rushing back.
     
    So, here I am, about to embark on recreating those childhood memories with some bits of brass.
     
    This evening, I made a start on the kit. I assembled the motor and gearbox (Mashima 1833 plus Branchlines 40:1 gearbox) - which I have never done before. One or two minor glitches, but it basically went together first time and ran sweetly. I'm quite pleased with it, although it's very basic.
     

     
    Next challenge is the chassis, and once I have got the chassis together and running sweetly, I'll be installing a German DCC sound chip I picked up from a trip to Digitrains in Lincolnshire. It's not perfect for a Ruston, but being a generic "small diesel" I reckon will sound about right when it's installed. It's been tested in a OO gauge loco and sounds fine to me. There's few people out there that'll be able to tell me it's wrong, and let's be honest, it's my layout so nyah!
     
    More to come. No burnt fingers yet with my nice new 60 watt soldering iron.
  3. cromptonnut
    After some deliberation I've finally settled on what I think is a suitable trackplan to capture what I am looking for.
     
    The layout is nominally based "early 80's", somewhere in SW England. It draws a lot of inspiration from Chard Junction, although very little of the actual prototype location can be seen!
     
    The scenic area is 12ft long x 2ft 6 wide, accommodated on three 4ft x 2ft 6" boards made using standard construction methods that I won't bother to detail.
     
    It is essentially a terminus station, with an industrial facility (at this moment a dairy, but that's dependent on being able to source suitable tank wagons or modify existing ones into the "TMV" variant.
     

     
    The trackplan is based on an 'island' arrangement, with a main platform of approx 4ft 6" length, and a "bay" of around 3ft length. Predominantly passenger services (when suitable stock is obtained) will run into the main platform, with DMU's simply reversing out, or a loco-hauled replacement service reversing to drop the carriages into the run-round loop, then pushing the stock back into the platform.
     
    Freight services, depending on their length, will generally run into the bay, with the factory's own Ruston shunter dragging the wagons (2 at a time) into the headshunt and into the yard. The uppermost siding in the plan is "inset" into the yard, and the lower siding just plain track, similar to that at Chard Junction. Chard Junction's Ruston was 'main line certified' for the immediate area, and I believe somewhere in the annals of history it ventured about a mile down towards Axminster to rescue a failed train and drag it into Chard Junction's (now disused) station - although I can't find a reference to that at the time.
     
    The "front" of the layout is the bottom, and a 4" scenic strip fronts the layout in order to protect stock from falling off.
     
    The left side - black - is a road, with small car park facility at the bottom. The grey part is the platform, which will contain the Kittle Hobbies station kit which is currently sat in parts on my kitchen table (and will form a later blog entry).
     
    I hope that this all makes sense to you, and I'd love to hear your comments, suggestions and particularly improvements.
     
     
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