Oak Road - 2013 to present (a fictitious place somewhere in Somerset) - Raising Money for Meningitis Research

[GWRPhil]

Wish I could have seen the layout this weekend. Unfortunately illness prevented it. Its a great layout. I hope whatever happens it has a bright future. What is making you think to sell it?

[Revolution Mike B]

On 23/10/2023 at 10:04, GWRPhil said:

Wish I could have seen the layout this weekend. Unfortunately illness prevented it. Its a great layout. I hope whatever happens it has a bright future. What is making you think to sell it?

No space to set it up Phil unfortunately….however…I may have a cunning plan! 

[Revolution Mike B]

I had such a great time at Taunton that it got me thinking……and after some (read as quite a lot of) help from Nicky, this happened….

 

 

The front room of the bungalow has literally been used as a dumping ground but after moving some stuff around we (Nicky) managed to make some space to get two scenic boards up. Now this isn’t ideal, and memories of building the layout in the kitchen at our last house spring to mind, but it does give me the chance to do some work on the layout. 
 

The plan is to replace the interboard electrical connections with something more reliable and easier to connect. So I’ve (read Nicky and I) put up boards C and D first and this will allow me to add the cottages, finish the farm track and add some road signs and hedges to board D, add the cottage, road signs, permanently fix the portakabins and container, add railings, more line side equipment and fix the track dip on board C, along with the electrical connectors. Then remove board D, and add board B to complete the scenics to the station and the electrical connectors. Then the same again with Board A and B. 
 

Although I’m itching to get on with the N Gauge layout, I still don’t have the windows fitted in the loft, and my right wrist is still pretty much useless so I may as well see what mischief I can get up to with the bigger trains for the time being, which brings me on to this. 
 

 

37418 got a bit of a going over earlier in the week as it looked a bit ‘brand new’! 
 

So until next time….stay safe folks and steer clear of any five a side football games! 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Revolution Mike B

[GWRPhil]

Good to see your inspiration firing on oak road. There’s almost always a way. Has oak road got anymore outings confirmed for this year or next?

[chriscleveland]

7 hours ago, Revolution Mike B said:

I had such a great time at Taunton that it got me thinking……and after some (read as quite a lot of) help from Nicky, this happened….

 

 

The front room of the bungalow has literally been used as a dumping ground but after moving some stuff around we (Nicky) managed to make some space to get two scenic boards up. Now this isn’t ideal, and memories of building the layout in the kitchen at our last house spring to mind, but it does give me the chance to do some work on the layout. 
 

The plan is to replace the interboard electrical connections with something more reliable and easier to connect. So I’ve (read Nicky and I) put up boards C and D first and this will allow me to add the cottages, finish the farm track and add some road signs and hedges to board D, add the cottage, road signs, permanently fix the portakabins and container, add railings, more line side equipment and fix the track dip on board C, along with the electrical connectors. Then remove board D, and add board B to complete the scenics to the station and the electrical connectors. Then the same again with Board A and B. 
 

Although I’m itching to get on with the N Gauge layout, I still don’t have the windows fitted in the loft, and my right wrist is still pretty much useless so I may as well see what mischief I can get up to with the bigger trains for the time being, which brings me on to this. 
 

 

37418 got a bit of a going over earlier in the week as it looked a bit ‘brand new’! 
 

So until next time….stay safe folks and steer clear of any five a side football games! 

 

 

 

Good to see you’re finding a way to get stuck back into it. Feel your pain on not being able to work on it all at once plus sometimes it’s nice to model whist watching the trains running.

 

your have to do what I’ve done for Ropley found it works quite well for limited space and easy to swap boards around 

 

 

hopefully not long till your back working on the N gauge 

 

chris 

[Revolution Mike B]

This has to be my favourite image from last weekend taken by surfsup (Rich).

 

A pair of Bachmann DRS 37s top and tailing one of our Revolution Trains FNA-Ds. 
 

*note to self - fix the capping stone on the retaining wall!
 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Revolution Mike B

[Revolution Mike B]

Time for a reliability upgrade! 
 

The interboard connectors have always been a little problematic due to them being easily bashed around, and because some of them connect feedback wires, I’ve decided to replace them. 
 

Here’s the original…

The hot glue had also failed and the terminal block was hanging in fresh air! 
 

The metal screw connectors seemed like a good idea at the time as it just needed one connector per board, but my dodgy soldering and wiring wasn’t really up to the task, so I’ve replaced them with these…

 

 

I can’t do it all with one connector but I’m happy to have something that won’t break when the layout is getting bashed around. To be fair, it worked fine at Taunton except for one plug causing an intermittent feedback signal but I’d rather fix it now than run the risk of failure later on down the line. 
 

It’s a similar set up to the previous one whereby there’s a lead an a plug on one board, and a socket on the other, or in this case two sets.

 

 

These are downlighter connectors that I’ve adapted to suit the purpose and it’s taken me nearly a whole day to do just one board due to my arm and wrist and still having to do everything left handed! Tomorrow’s job is to fit the sockets on the other board and check for continuity. If the job’s a goodun, then I’ll get Nicky to help me swap a board over for the next one in line. I also need to get my backside in gear and wire up the electrofrogs! 

[Steadfast]

They look nice and chunky Mike, should survive a few shows!

 

Jo

[Revolution Mike B]

Job done, tested and happy. The next one can wait until I’ve got more movement and strength in my wrist as wrong handed workmanship takes forever! 

Much easier to connect / disconnect and handle without fear of ripping the wires out or causing a short. These are a trial run for the N Gauge layout which has  16 board joints! 

 

[Revolution Mike B]

It’s that time of year when most of us down tools, eat and drink way too much, and watch constant repeats of the last twenty years worth of TV. 
 

Whatever you get up to…..Merry Christmas from me to you.