joejab95 Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 I really like the tunnel approach with the Town scene to the left. Looks very effective! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 Good evening everyone. Just a little update on a little bit of progress. I have now built my low relief terraced houses to fit into the area in the photograph below. I have had to modify the terraced house at the end of the row to fit around the corner! For a while now I have had a packet of tree armatures and some fine leaf foliage so I have made two trees as a test using some adhesive spray to stick the leaves to the armatures. Not the best photos. They will need the bases disguising when I decide where they should go. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 9, 2018 Author Share Posted January 9, 2018 Good evening everyone. Last night I did a little bit of work on the station area of the layout which is beginning to resemble what I had in this area in the attic before we moved house. Whilst the missus took our daughter to ballet class myself and my son had a bit of a Direct Rail Services themed running session so I took some photos of the station area with the DRS locos in the shot. A Direct Rail Services hauled rail tour calls at the station. Whilst a DRS class 68 thunders through the station. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 Hi Peter, I do like your Station Buildings, and retaining walls, excellent stuff. The DRS looks superb, shame it's a bit new for me, as I love it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug002 Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 When was the last time you saw a 68 on the containers...? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 When was the last time you saw a 68 on the containers...?Probably April on the Tesco express but this is a fictional layout and like I say my son chose the locos and what they were hauling last night so what he says goes as he is the boss! Thanks for dropping in and looking. Much appreciated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 (edited) Hi Peter, I do like your Station Buildings, and retaining walls, excellent stuff. The DRS looks superb, shame it's a bit new for me, as I love it.Thank you for your kind comments Andy. The 68 is a smart loco and I prefer the modern stuff but I also love the older traction like your 50 and it wouldn't look out of place if I hauled a few coaches as a rail tour. Edited January 10, 2018 by Powerhaul 70 Pey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 Good evening everyone. A tiny bit more progress on the station area. I have glued down some tarmac sheets now, done some curbs and made a footpath for the bus stop shelter to go on opposite the station. The pavements need gluing down still and I need to add road signs and road markings at some point. I have also painted the bridge a similar blue to the bus stop. I have also placed a tree I have made in a similar place to the tree found at Wigan North Western station. I have loosely placed some shop fronts behind the arches to see what the area looks like. I made these shop fronts ages ago before the house move. I have also had these station accessory packs for ages that I bought for this area that need to be fitted at some point. For Christmas the missus got me a roll of Gaugemaster ballasted underlay to try. As I was in two minds whether to use underlay or just ballast the track straight to the baseboards I am hoping that this stuff will kill two birds with one stone and look half decent. Here are two photos of it below with a piece of spare track placed on top. . . . . It looks quite good I think so I just need to get round to doing it! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug002 Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Probably April on the Tesco express but this is a fictional layout and like I say my son chose the locos and what they were hauling last night so what he says goes as he is the boss! Thanks for dropping in and looking. Much appreciated. I've seen the Tesco express a few times round my way but always 66-hauled.My first 68 sighting took place on 13 August and was a complete surprise - my dad took me out to film a level crossing and 68016 turned up with a dozen blue & grey coaches. On your layout meanwhile I see there has been a lot of progress recently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 Last night after some structural work to the baseboards I laid some of the Gaugemaster pre-ballasted underlay. We ran the Pendolino and class 68 around the tracks to test it and the trains are definitely quieter when on the track that has the ballasted underlay underneath. Below are some photos and as you can see it definitely gives the track some height off the baseboard surface. Sorry that the photos are not the best. At around £20 a roll for 5 meters it is going to be an expensive job. Once installed under all tracks I need to fill in between the tracks with some gaugemaster bagged ballast and also ballast to the scenery etc. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Good evening everyone. I now have both main lines ballasted with gaugemaster grey pre-ballasted underlay and I am quite happy with how it looks. The track is pinned down again and after experiencing warped rails last year I have left a small gap between each rail joint after a few people offered advice on how to try and overcome this problem so hopefully when/if the weather warms up later in the year I will not have the same problem again. Below are some photos of the two main lines that are ballasted. I now need to look at some photos I have taken on my photography travels and get an idea how best to fill in "the 4 foot" where the ballast tends to be piled slightly higher if I remember rightly. Countryside section Freight only line leading to/from the yard and TMD TMD I have gone through 4 boxes (total 20 meters) so far of this underlay stuff and is between £20-25 so the remaining track will have to wait a month or two before I continue. At least in this time I can run more trains and more wagons around to check for derailments etc and also whether the rails warp again. I reckon I need two more boxes to complete the tracks. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack374 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Great progress Peter! Regarding the space between tracks, I’d say ballast it flat because I think the 'shoulder' of ballast is normally right next to the sleepers, but checking photos as you say will give you a good idea of what to put there. Thanks, Jack. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 Great progress Peter! Regarding the space between tracks, I’d say ballast it flat because I think the 'shoulder' of ballast is normally right next to the sleepers, but checking photos as you say will give you a good idea of what to put there. Thanks, Jack. Thanks Jack. I think I will construct a platform next. I have an idea in my head how to do it as it is going to be similar to Wigan North Western 6 platforms 2 of them bays to hold a 2 car dmu or light engine. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted February 23, 2018 Author Share Posted February 23, 2018 Good evening. There hasn't been too much happening on the layout. From the TMD will be a path to a crew mess building and I spied an opportunity to make some barriers using the waste pieces of plastic that comes holding the pieces of security fencing together. Here is a photo below More contours of the land have been formed to create some much needed relief using mdf, chicken wire and plaster cloth. Here is a photo below Last weekend I had a loco failure and as you well know I do like my class 70s both Freightliner and Colas. My Freightliner 70 has been playing up for a while and it finally gave up so I had not option but to strip it down to inspect the motor to find that some contacts had melted together and some plastic had been hot and melted. Despite my best efforts I could not repair it so I rang Bachmann but with it being weekend their service department was not open. I rang my local model shop but they no longer do loco repairs which I can understand. I looked on the internet but could not really see any replacement Bachmann class 70 motors or parts for that matter. On Monday morning I rang Bachmann who had a new motor in stock so for around £25 for the motor and postage and packing it was worth an attempt at a repair as I don't fancy buying another new Freightliner 70 for what would be around £140.00 brand new. I am pleased to say that tonight I have successfully installed the new motor and my Freightliner 70 has done a few laps of the layout with no problem although the new motor does sound slightly noisier that the old one. I did also order a soldering iron off the internet to carry out this repair but this was not required as the new motor came with resistors, capacitors and wiring included that just loops onto the PCB board with plastic clips pushing on making the contact between the two. So I would like to say that my first experience of Bachmanns after sales service was very pleasing as they had the parts in stock at a reasonable price, delivered and received quickly and my favourite loco back up and running hauling trains. I am still waiting for the release of Bachmanns Colas Rail class 70 which I have on pre order with Hattons which will be a great addition to my collection. I have also recently found myself looking at Hornby class 50 locos, although they are not really my era, they have rally grown on me since seeing one or two on mainline duties in the last 6 months and on the East Lancs Railway at Christmas. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 Good evening everyone. Here are a few updates of some progress recently. The photo below is the area that was covered in plastercloth in the photos on the last update. In this photo I have added some security fencing to the Tarmac site. Some locals have also done some graffiti on the brick bridge! In the countryside section I have made a start to fill in between the two ballasted tracks (the 4 foot) just cutting brown card to fill in between then scattering with matching gaugemaster grey ballast. Some extra vegetation has also been applied where appropriate and this will continue for some time yet. I still have not got round to pouring realistic water into the river bed yet and need to do it before Autumn otherwise it may struggle to set. Here is a photo of a coal train passing over the river. I have edited this photo to get rid of the clutter in the garage. A little relief has been added to the farm next to the track and I have started to apply vegetation to this area. My Freightliner 70 is running great after I installed a new motor. I quite like this photo as it passes the Freightliner TMD I have made from scratch. Thanks for looking! 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted July 8, 2018 Author Share Posted July 8, 2018 Hello everyone. Once again I am having doubts about continuing with this layout and whether to start again with an end to end 3ft shelf layout that could potentially be approx 8ft and 18ft and 8ft running around 3 sides of the garage. The two 8ft sides would be fiddle yards to hold stock and the locos would run light engine to one fiddle yard, couple to stock and then run the train to the other fiddle yard. This would ease my phobia of picking up locos and placing them on a train. That would leave me with a long 18ft length where I can do some nice gradual curving tracks and simplify the track with less points and junctions to eliminate potential derailment. Or do I continue with this roundy roundy which has plenty of operational interest but some tight and complicated track which incorporates the sidings and visible fiddle yard. Although once a train is on one of the circuits I can just leave it be and operate something else whereas the end to end shelf I would have to be vigilant of two trains running into deadends. This current roundy roundy takes up 1/2 of a double garage whereas a 3ft shelf would open up the garage again and I can store things under the shelf. Much to think about! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack374 Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Much to think about! Definitely! I think you need to have a long sit down with a piece of paper or digital equivalent, and have a doodle. I did the other day, and soon realised what I planned to do wasn’t right for what I wanted the layout for. I suppose the 'roundy roundy' effect is ideal just to leave things running and shunt too to add interest, whereas you have to concentrate more with an end to end. A possible compromise might be to do your end to end plan with two fiddleyards and then have one line which runs round, and could be removable, or could only be attached when the garage door is open (i.e when you’re running it). The possibilities are endless, but at the end of the day, what do you want from it? At any one time I’ve got about 7 layout plans I want to do, so your predicament isn’t uncommon! Thanks, Jack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted July 11, 2018 Author Share Posted July 11, 2018 So my Bachman Colas Class 70 finally arrived and 70805 is a beauty of a model. Here are some photos of it running in analogue before I install a DCC decoder. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 (edited) You’ve ballast the 4foot already The gap is the 6 foot Just leave it flat and levelish Good evening everyone. I now have both main lines ballasted with gaugemaster grey pre-ballasted underlay and I am quite happy with how it looks. The track is pinned down again and after experiencing warped rails last year I have left a small gap between each rail joint after a few people offered advice on how to try and overcome this problem so hopefully when/if the weather warms up later in the year I will not have the same problem again. Below are some photos of the two main lines that are ballasted. 20180131_185634.jpg I now need to look at some photos I have taken on my photography travels and get an idea how best to fill in "the 4 foot" where the ballast tends to be piled slightly higher if I remember rightly. 20180131_185558.jpg 20180131_185544.jpg Countryside section 20180131_190051.jpg Freight only line leading to/from the yard and TMD 20180131_190620.jpg TMD 20180131_191853.jpg I have gone through 4 boxes (total 20 meters) so far of this underlay stuff and is between £20-25 so the remaining track will have to wait a month or two before I continue. At least in this time I can run more trains and more wagons around to check for derailments etc and also whether the rails warp again. I reckon I need two more boxes to complete the tracks. Edited July 12, 2018 by ess1uk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 I have installed a Hornby sapphire decoder into my Colas Class 70 and it runs sweet as a nut. Very pleased to finally have a Colas Rail 70. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 Had nice catch up here!! more impressive modelling... cheers neil.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 (edited) Had nice catch up here!! more impressive modelling... cheers neil.. Thanks Neil, your views and comments are much appreciated. I have not done much recently as I am contemplating a new L shaped layout which would be around 18 ft X 18 ft and maybe 2 1/2 to 3ft shelf at the back of the garage. This way I can still get the car in the garage if needed and it will free up the floor space in the garage. Edited August 20, 2018 by Powerhaul 70 Pey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted September 6, 2018 Author Share Posted September 6, 2018 Good evening as I ponder over the future of this layout I am still buying locos for which ever direction my decision takes me. Here is my latest purchase, Hornby 50040 Leviathan which I can get away with running on rail tours as this loco and livery is not my era but having seen a few class 50s in action in the last 12 months or so, I can't help but be impressed by them. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerhaul 70 Pey Posted May 15, 2020 Author Share Posted May 15, 2020 Hello everyone. This layout has come to an end and I would like to thank everyone for their likes and comments over the years as it was very much appreciated. I really liked many aspects of the layout but some of the points were difficult to reach and track work a bit tight and complicated. I have a new layout under construction called Durrington Central which again is a modern 00 gauge end to end layout on a 2ft shelf so I can still get the car in the garage if needed! Here is the link and a photo https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/154559-durrington-central-a-fictional-town-somewhere-in-the-north-west-of-england/ Thanks again! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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