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A cunning plan, well observed and beautifully executed. I particularly like your ballasting and ground textures - the variation from the main lines across to the loco sidings is really effective.

 

Integrating the fiddle yard with the imagined hinterland is a cracking wheeze and has freed up a nice length of main line. Bonus points for not filling it with platforms :)

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It definitely benefits from not having a station shoehorned in. What's the play value like?

 

Interesting point.  Ideally I'd like to have some form of shunting yard, oh and a station and some carriage sidings, and so on.  However, In the end I decided that I'd rather try and achieve one aspect reasonably successfully rather than shoehorn in too much.  The depot won the day as, like most of us I suspect, I've got far too many locos for the amount of stock!

 

In terms of play value, there is a rough sequence.  4 sets of stock are on the layout at any one time.  One going clockwise, one anti-clockwise and two in the storage loops. (two loops closest the main lines)  When you're fed up of the two trains going round, one is routed into the third loop from the main line.  It is replaced by whichever set has a loco on the right end from the two storage loops.  The newly arrived train has a loco dropped onto the opposite end from either the yard exit line or the headshunt at the other end of fiddle yard.  The line nearest the inside through the fiddle yard facilitates loco moves for this purpose.  You've now got a free storage loop for the next main line train to occupy, being replaced by the set you've just put the loco on the other end of.

And so it goes on.  I think I worked out that after 64 operations, each set has gone round in each direction with different locos each time.  To add to that, you can divert the speedlink trip into the depot yard to swap fuel tanks over and drop a stores van off, etc. 

 

Of course, all this goes out the window when anyone turns up with their new toy for a play!  It's a trainset at the end of the day!

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The plan doesn't do the layout justice.

 

Saw the plan thought meh but when you look at the pictures, totally different perspective on the whole layout and reading you describe how you loops it is really is effective for quite a small space,

 

Lovely work.

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I agree, great looking layout. But I've read the thread twice and you haven't as far as I can see (apologies and embarrassment if I missed it) explained the rather intriguing title.

Edited by Kiwi
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I agree, great looking layout. But I've read the thread twice and you haven't as far as I can see (apologies and embarrassment if I missed it) explained the rather intriguing title.

 

It's a long running bad joke between a few friends, partly based round the once important east Manchester junction of Guide Bridge.  All my layouts have been called Guide Dog Bridge.  This effort is GDB3!

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So, I'd got as far as the track being down and having extensively tested it/rewarded myself with a load of playing trains.

 

Next job, which I was dreading, was to start ballasting. The track was air-brushed with a mix of various humbrol and railmatch enamels first. I did experiment with a woodland scenics rusty rail pen but wasn't really convinced by the affect. I'd have wanted to spray it all anyway to tone down the plastic sleepers.

Next the ballast, a mix of various woodland scenics shades, was dry brushed into place. Great care was taken with this, particularly round the pointwork, leaving room for the tie bar to move freely. Once happy with this, the airbrush was used to spray on tap water. You must do this from sufficient distance that the air pressure doesn't blast the ballast out the way. But of course sometimes it does! With the ballast nicely soaked through, I carefully applied a watered down mix of copydex (with a drop of washing up liquid, just like everyone says!) using an eye dropper. This is the stage I find most tedious and leads to many a 'hobby review'. I found that doing a couple of feet at a time was about right to maintain sanity.

After leaving for a day or two, vacuum up the waste and move on. Can't remember where I got the copydex tip from, maybe it was in the C&L instructions for the chamfered cork? But it's proved to be an excellent method. Unlike PVA, it dries quite rubbery and allows the track to flex a little. I guess this must make it a bit quieter running too. Finally, when the whole thing was finished, out came the airbrush again to tone it all down again with a light dusting of similar colours used in the first place.

 

Once the railheads are all cleaned up and you've brought yourself down from the ceiling after all those fumes, it's time for another 'extensive testing session'.

Edited by birdbath
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