RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted October 5, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 5, 2016 Showing the differing level platforms. A solution to making the crossing working? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 1-2420.jpg A solution to making the crossing working? That looks like a rather permanent road closure. Where was that second one taken, Mike? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted October 5, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 5, 2016 That looks like a rather permanent road closure. Where was that second one taken, Mike? Adjacent to Alfaz del Pi station. The line was realigned when the N332 was updated, the crossing is on the old road from Alfaz to the N332. The original station building still exists towards Denia, although the line no longer goes through it. One for a visit in a couple weeks? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 One for a visit in a couple weeks? Maybe, assuming I can disable the electronic tag my wife fits to my ankle to prevent me wandering off too far. A bit like those devices that stop you taking a Tesco trolley out of the car park... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted October 6, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 6, 2016 Maybe, assuming I can disable the electronic tag my wife fits to my ankle to prevent me wandering off too far. A bit like those devices that stop you taking a Tesco trolley out of the car park... Can you run faster than her? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 (edited) A little progress on the road. I used to use cut vinyl graphics for road markings, but I have a new favourite... half a mile of Tamiya 6mm masking tape and white primer/Humbrol "Trainer Yellow". I think the yellow cross-hatchings over the railway line have turned out well. I have no idea what the little yellow boxes are on the traffic islands (seen below on the Streetview image) but I've included them on the layout. Anyone have any idea? It's not an exact copy, just a "flavour". The cutout in the pavement (top left) is a copy of the road immediately beyond the level crossing in Benidorm. This will be planted up with various low-level shrubs and the odd dusty weed or two. A few streetlights and a couple of palm trees will be added eventually. I also need to add the letters "P" and "N" inside a white cross just prior to the level crossing barriers on each carriageway. Again, I've no idea what that means, but all Spanish level crossings have them painted on the roadway. I haven't done anything about ordering the level crossing barriers/warning lights yet. I can't find a UK stockist, so will no doubt be shafted for duty and handling fees if I order them from the US of A. I doubt I'll do much more before heading off to Luton Airport on Saturday morning. 17 days of cheap beer and maybe a goat burger or two. Yum. Edited October 11, 2016 by Pete 75C 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted October 11, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 11, 2016 Goat burgers are off, we have no further use for donkeys, prepare your taste buds! Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
branchie Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 Loving the work Pete. Going by your usual work rate you should have this completed by the end of the month! Christian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 (edited) Goat burgers are off, we have no further use for donkeys, prepare your taste buds! Donkeys! That's something I haven't eaten before. First time for everything I guess... Going by your usual work rate you should have this completed by the end of the month! Thanks Christian, but no chance. After the holiday fact-finding trip to Benidorm, I have to crack on with Darren's "Upton Parkway" layout which is more within my comfort zone of 1980/90s NSE third rail. That build has been plagued by problems (some, not all of my own making). I wasted five weeks ordering some Tillig points from Germany. Some arrived broken and had to be sent back. Also, can I strongly advise everyone to mark out their trackplan BEFORE installing baseboard cross-members? I'm sure you all do, maybe I'm the only idiot that doesn't! Every single point straddled a cross-member and no amount of jiggling with the trackplan made any difference, so I had to rebuild the board, so I'm just having a little break from it. Duh. Sorry Darren! This little plank is just to give me something to do (and let off steam) and somewhere to run and test some stock. I see no reason why it shouldn't eventually get the full scenic treatment though. On a more upbeat note, I've always had a suspicion that the camera DOES in fact lie. The pavements on "The Plank" (I must come up with a name) are from Evergreen sidewalk sheet. The grooves in the sheet make it a doddle to "snap" sections out to go around obstacles and splice more than one sheet together. To the naked eye, there's no visible join, but boy, was the join obvious in the pics (above). A 30/70 mix of water/magnolia emulsion into the grooves and then wiped off immediately has made it all seamless again and it looks so much better. It's also had the added bonus of toning down the bright red tiles to a more weathered "pinkish" shade typical of your average Spanish pavement. If I get a chance to add the "P N" markings to the roadway, I'll take another picture and add it to the thread. Thanks to Andy (McGomez) for telling me the letters "P N" stand for "Paso a Nivel" and, translated, mean "Crossing on the Level". You really do learn something every day! Edited October 12, 2016 by Pete 75C 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 OK... Back from the land of sunshine, delicious tapas and ludicrously cheap fizzy lager so that means "boring holiday snap" time. All in the name of research, ya know... Some shots of Altea on the Benidorm-Denia section of the FGV which is diesel-operated. I took a wealth of detail shots showing signalling, point motors, relay cabinets etc but they're not hugely interesting. Not a train in sight, either! I have no idea about the history of the crane which sits on a little disconnected stub track leading to the turntable and shed. More importantly (for me) are the shots I took at Benidorm itself, which "The Plank" is based on. I'll add those to another post a bit later. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Round 2. Welcome to Benidorm... These pictures were taken last Thursday, just before meeting Mike (RMWeb's "Enterprisingwestern") for a very pleasant coffee or two. Beer was not involved as I had the hire car parked at Altea station. Maybe next time! I'm still captivated by the compact nature and the track plan of this station. A through station, but it's the terminal for the trams from Alicante in one direction and the diesel trains from Denia in the other. Some general shots... One of the pictures shows quite clearly the height difference between the train/tram platforms as Mike pointed out earlier. I also wanted to get some shots of the buildings in the immediate vicinity of the platforms... A crude copy of some of these will feature on the layout. And finally the level crossing which I've attempted to make a copy of, although minus one lane of traffic due to space restrictions. Still haven't got a clue what those little yellow boxes are... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 5, 2016 Share Posted November 5, 2016 A few shots of the road now that the barriers are in place. The closest match I could find to Spanish prototype, the barriers are by NJ International and are of the "cabinet" type. Not available in the UK, I ordered these from the USA a few days before travelling back to England from Spain. Amazingly, the barriers beat me back to England and a note from the Royal Mail was waiting for me. They were holding my level crossing barriers ransom until I paid £14.17 which included an £8 handling charge. Bugger. Ah well... I've tested the lights but need to buy a "flasher" relay to get them working correctly. I'm not going to bother automating the barriers, as I'm quite happy to have them permanently down across the road with the lights flashing. That little bit of track (when extended) is effectively a headshunt anyway. The palm trees and lamp posts are removable as they'll no doubt get damaged as work continues, and the blue background is just an offcut from the Ripple Lane layout, just for effect. The Renault Twingo is a lovely little model by Herpa and will get some work down to represent some peeling lacquer on the bonnet and general grime. A Seat Altea in Policia Nacional livery by Rietze will complete the scene. A few details still to add, but I'm really in no rush with this one. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 This is probably the longest a model of mine has existed without a proper name. Zooming in on Google Maps and looking at street names near the station in Benidorm hasn't thrown up anything I liked. Trouble is, some features of the Benidorm FGV station are present in the model, but it is supposed to be fictitious and standard gauge RENFE, not metre gauge FGV. Favourite so far is "Playa de Levante" but that's maybe a bit too Benidorm... which also takes "Disco Benidorm" (the next station up the line) out of the running. Shame. Suggestions welcome! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGomez Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Were you, Peter Lighthouseman, on the 23rd October or thereabouts stopped by the Guardia Civil, in a rented Renault 16 (you old tight wad) after being spotted suspiciously taking photos of mysterious yellow boxes and level crossings in the vacinity of Benidorm? And on a more serious note, what about "Beni Gil" for your station name? Ps. Those level crossing barriers look spot on. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Firstly, to set the record straight, I can confirm that between 15th Oct and 2nd Nov, I was driving a black Seat Ibiza* and on the day in question when I was to be seen lurking at Benidorm station, I'd caught the train from Altea. So not guilty. Nice cameo btw. Bizarrely I rather like the Renault 16! * Seen below lurking beneath the storm clouds with Benidorm in the background. When choosing the Seat Altea in Policia colours, I had wanted a Renault Trafic in Guardia colours, but it was rather more expensive and out of stock anyway. I don't actually have the luxury of placing too many vehicles on the layout. If I model the barriers closed to traffic, the lanes ahead of the barriers will need to be empty and that leaves me with room for about 4 cars! Also, it's the first layout I've ever built without a bus on a bridge... for that to work, I guess I'd need a bridge. "Beni Gil"... that's a possibility. Does it actually mean anything or pure imagination? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGomez Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Hi Pete. I wanted to put a smily on that name proposal but my mobile wasn´t playing ball last night!! It does mean something and here it is. (Cue the music!!!!) Sorry. Couldn´t resist. Benny Hill was adored in Spain. The mayor of Marbella (and owner of Athletico de Madrid), Jesus Gil used to bring him to Spain to do television appearances and shows. It is just coincidence that the surname "Gil" is pronounced the same as "Hill" in english. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold colin penfold Posted November 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 7, 2016 How about El Tablon (there should be an acute accent on the O) Spanish for "the plank" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted November 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 7, 2016 How about : "El Ruidoso" - The Noisy One "El Pequeño" - The Little One "Pequeño y ruidoso" - Small and Loud Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Benny Hill was adored in Spain. I was a bit slow there, wasn't I? I have heard that our Benny was more than a little popular in Spain! How about El Tablon (there should be an acute accent on the O) Spanish for "the plank" Thanks Colin. Funnily enough, La Plancha (which I had thought was "The Plank" in Spanish) was frontrunner for some time! I've been looking at the Route Map for the FGV's Line 9 from Benidorm to Denia and have hit on a possible solution. Taking "Cap" from "Cap Negret" and adding Llevant which was the street in Mascarat (Calle Llevant) where we stayed recently = "Cap Llevant" which personally I think has a decent ring to it. It's either by design or coincidence that Llevant is similar to Levante which anyone who's ever been to Benny Hill Benidorm will be familiar with. In other news, the Seat Altea arrived and has already been cruising the streets looking for public disorder... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 "El Pequeño" - The Little One I quite like that Stubby. It has a nice ring to it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) Time for a quick update. Nothing physical to show, as I've been beavering away on another layout getting track laid etc etc. I'd like to spend a day or two working on this one now so as not to lose momentum. I have all the Evergreen styrene tile sheets needed to crack on with the platforms. The "slab" effect is rather typical of Spanish platforms, but having used this for the pavements, I'm going to use a slightly larger slab for the platforms and mix this in with some flat tarmac. The tiled area of the will be a weathered sandy beige colour in contrast to the faded terracotta/pinkish look of the pavements. There is a foot crossing between the main platform and island platform bang on the baseboard join, so I need to figure out how to deal with that. I also need to mark out exactly where some of the signature buildings will go. I had a discussion with Andy (McGomez) a while back about signalling, but tbh I'm nowhere near that stage yet. Having played around with the sound-fitted DMU, another sound-fitted purchase is on the cards. I'm thing of a Renfe Cl.333 by Roco. There is a rather nice YouTube video detailing the range of factory sounds and it is quite appealing. As this is just an 8ft plank (but with the possibility of future extension), I need to keep things short and I'm quite captivated by some short diesel-hauled passenger workings I've found via Google images, one of the better pictures linked below: http://www.railpictures.net/photo/203717/ The loco I have my eye on is this one (below) but it may make more sense to pick it up in Taxi livery as shown in the picture above. Edit: "Cap Llevant" is still favourite as a name but assuming "Cap" refers to a rocky coastal outcrop, maybe I should ditch the coastal reference. Still not sure. Edited November 23, 2016 by Pete 75C 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Having a couple of DSB MZ's (same as the Renfe 333's), the later versions have much better sound. In hindsight I'd have purchased a non sound loco then fitted a ESU Loksound v4 decoder and then uploaded the latest ESU sounds to it which is in my opinion a much better option, as you will get more sounds that way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neils WRX Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Having a couple of DSB MZ's (same as the Renfe 333's), the later versions have much better sound. In hindsight I'd have purchased a non sound loco then fitted a ESU Loksound v4 decoder and then uploaded the latest ESU sounds to it which is in my opinion a much better option, as you will get more sounds that way. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so here's a quick vid of the 2 MZ's I have starting up etc https://flic.kr/p/NhKACb 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 In hindsight I'd have purchased a non sound loco then fitted a ESU Loksound v4 decoder... Thanks for the link. I am quite astounded at the difference. The 333 I was tempted by does have the earlier factory-fitted v3.5. Forgive the ignorant question as I'm very new to DCC sound... If I purchase the v4 decoder, can it be uploaded with the correct sound at point of purchase or do you have to buy the decoder and then source the sounds somewhere else? I'm guessing it all depends where you purchase the decoder from? Thanks again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGomez Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so here's a quick vid of the 2 MZ's I have starting up etc https://flic.kr/p/NhKACb I´ve got a Roco original RENFE 333.0xx with the same sound as your earlier example. The transitions aren´t the best in the world. There is now a new player in the Spanish sound market. http://carlosnunez.org/ He does his programs for Doehler & Haass chips and seems to be getting rave reviews. I haven´t got one yet so cant vouch for them but I have heard one of the newer 333.3xx sounds and they are much better. They have that hunting sound that is a characteristic of these engines. The other plus point is that the sound chip is priced at around 60€. Note to Pete. Roco have just released a new version of the 333.0xx at long last. Same as before in the Taxi livery but with just the "333" in large numerals on the body side. I´ll have a look for a video of my 333 later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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