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“Highland Sulzers” - Inverness TMD in the 80's - P4


Indomitable026
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12 hours ago, Rochdale Road said:

Hi Damian,

Just spent an enjoyable couple of hours reading through the thread.  Always enjoyed Inverness the four times I have been there, although all were AFTER Sprinterisation unfortunately.   But your layout is really coming on well and the track work looks great.

 

I am just starting out in P4 and have never built track before, so would you mind if I asked a couple of questions?

 

 

Is that one of the Scalefour Society 'vee' rigs - I forget the actual name for them?  I presume they allow you to simply place the rails in position and solder them?

 

On this image (from Saturday afternoon) on the road to the right of the pit, the straight track has black chairs, where as the points, as well as the approach to the left hand pit road have brown chairs - is there a reason for the difference?  I presume your plastic sleepers are the C&L thick variety?

 

Also on your check rails that you've pictured this evening, how do you know where to put the bend at the ends?  Does this come from the Templot plan - which thanks to a friend I am learning reasonably well - or is there another marker?   

 

Final question (sorry for it being like Mastermind!) I note reference to the fishplates, but I assume these are prototypical ones in brass or plastic that fit within the web of the rail, rather than the Peco style?  I don't think you've actually added them yet, but if one section of track needs to be electrically isolated from its neighbour, how do you do that with the fishplates?  I assume fishplates can be acquired from the Scalefour Society?

 

Apologies for hijacking your thread, but the way you've photographed the stages and the work makes it really easy to follow for a newbie like me, so thank you!  I have bookmarked it in my browser now to try keep track of this topic, a) so I don't lose it and b) so I keep up to date with what your achieving.

 

Richie

 


Yes the Jig for the ‘V’s is from the Scalefour Society stores, there’s also one for filing the switch blades. As you say you can use the the jig to both file the ‘V’s and also then to hold them while soldering as shown below.

 

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The ‘ready to lay’ sleepers for plain line have grey chairs already moulded on - the brown ones are the separate component ones used for the Switch and crossings (points). I’m unsure of the origins of the plain line sleepers - all the other components are Exactoscale. I’ve just ordered new sleepers and by chance they’ve just dropped through the letterbox. Below is a photo of the Exactoscale sleepers on the left and the others on the right.

 

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In terms of rail bends - yes it’s from what ever plan you are using. Mark Forrest very kingly drew this up for me in Templot to get all the nice curves. Other plans are available such as from Exactoscale - they also show you what chairs you should be using in what position...

 

Fishplates - yes. I keep getting chased up to fit these - one of the benefits of ‘on line quality assurance’... I’ll be fitting cosmetic ones when I find them. Most of the rail joints are already where I need them but I can cut more if required.

 

I’m really pleased you’ve found this useful. There are two reasons I post; 1) hopefully to pass something on and 2) it motivates me to get on with stuff!

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, Mark Forrest said:

Your plain track sleepers with moulded chairs appear to be Exactoscale “FastTrack” bases, presumably you’ve carved the chair off where you needed to fit checkrail chairs.


Ah - fast track - that’s it!.

 

Yes cut off where I put the check rail in for the tight curve into the wash road shed.

 

There’s also one or two odd ones where I’ve had to replace damaged ones - don’t ask...

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13 minutes ago, Rochdale Road said:

Thanks for the responses Damian, much appreciated. I presume the fishplates are plastic ones, so if you have a rail break they don’t give electrical continuity?

 

Richie


You can get either plastic or brass, so yes if you need the rail break you need the plastic.

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Having pretty much run out of track jobs on the main board I’ve put the fiddle-yard up as well. I’ve made up the last to 1 in 6 crossings, so they’re ready to fit. So really the next job is make a start on the remaining track in the fiddle-yard and across the board joint - which requires a bit of special treatment.

 

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From this view is apparent what an interesting layout this will be to operate. I envisage using a card system effectively setting up puzzles to shuffle everything around. If anyone has any suggestions on card systems I’d be interested to hear.

 

I think also there may be the possibility of a further point from the left hand track in the fiddle-yard in to the left hand bay of the shed. Something for the future perhaps? Originally I was just going to put a dumb track there that was connected to nothing and stand some stock on as a sort of mini backscene.

 

We’ll see...
 

 

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7 minutes ago, Indomitable026 said:

 

From this view is apparent what an interesting layout this will be to operate. I envisage using a card system effectively setting up puzzles to shuffle everything around. If anyone has any suggestions on card systems I’d be interested to hear.

 

 

I recently had the pleasure of operating a colleagues layout using a card system to shuffle wagons around and I will admit I thoroughly enjoyed myself.... It keeps the grey cells active. I'll get him (Ray) to drop you a line.

 

Puzzel Yard - O gauge in 2.745m x 0.5m

 

Jim

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I've tried two different systems.

 

One is as Jim said a card based system. A card for each wagon with said cards held in a stack wherever there are vehicles to be left or uplifted. The maximum number of cards taken from the stack are limited to the maximum number of vehicles the train can convey, depending on length restrictions or what the loco can handle. The stack is shuffled immediately before cards are drawn for the train concerned - they could easily be shuffled when cards are added to the stack for wagons just arrived. Intermediate stations do likewise although they're not allowed to add more wagons to a train than they train's maximum capacity.

 

The other is based on small coloured & shaped tags carried on each wagon - one either side (the wagons being turned when they return to the fiddle yard). The layout runs to a sequence and prior to the start thereof the colours are associated to specific locations on the layout indicating which station they are due to be dropped off at. The shapes of the tags determine whereabouts in the station sidings the wagon is to be positioned. The fiddle yard also has a colour associated with it so out-stations form up the return working by adding wagons with the appropriate tag colour. Outbound trains from the fiddle yard are limited in length but the return workings aren't - the return working don't call anywhere intermediately so there is no length limit.

 

Wagons that arrive back at the fiddle yard are removed from the train, turned and placed on a shelf ready for their next turn. There are seven shelves and the outgoing trains from the fiddle yard are only allowed to come from a single shelf and (obviously) can't include wagons that have tags of the colour that applies to the fiddle yard.

 

I've adopted this as the main layout is OO and my ageing eyesight makes reading wagon numbers much harder than on O gauge.

 

A more recent development on my small O gauge layout - and probably the one Jim was speaking about is inputting every wagon's number in a spreadsheet so they can randomly sorted. Each berthing location - some of which are also used for access to other berthing areas - is allocated a specific capacity. The sort randomly allocates wagons to berths - there are several more berths than wagons - and generates a sheet detailing where each wagon should end up - wagons can be positioned in any order in sidings.

 

I have over twenty wagons (all of which are on the layout) and 37 berthing locations in 5 sidings and a couple of traverser tracks. Each time I run the spreadsheet I get in infinite number of lists of which 20 have recently been laminated. The layout requires two locos to get everything sorted as there's no run round facility. The lists aren't stored or kept in any specific order and I'm contemplating putting a time limit for all the cards such that if all the placements on a card are not achieved by that time, the rest are forgotten about and the next list started.

 

So far it's managed top keep me amused without the novelty wearing off!

 

I don't know if any of the above is of use.

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Just a steady number to finish the day today. I’ve just prepped some sleepers for the two tracks crossing the board joint. They’re not stuck down yet - I will thread rail through one side to get the correct curve before sticking down. I’ve got metal (brass?) chairs to go on the copper clad - this gives extra strength at the board joint.

 

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My shuffle system for Span Yard is dice based, I have 5 possible destinations and I only need 6 wagons of varying types to keep things interesting enough, roll die 1 = siding, roll die 2 = wagon, IMHO far simpler than cards, and if you lose the dice ask somebody for a number from 1 to 6!

 

Mike.

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1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

My shuffle system for Span Yard is dice based, I have 5 possible destinations and I only need 6 wagons of varying types to keep things interesting enough, roll die 1 = siding, roll die 2 = wagon, IMHO far simpler than cards, and if you lose the dice ask somebody for a number from 1 to 6!

 

Mike.


Interesting, although I’m going to need something pretty snappy in an exhibition situation.

 

I mean - I’m not sure how tolerant the public will be with nothing moving while I have a quick game of Ludo down the way?

 

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1 hour ago, Indomitable026 said:


Interesting, although I’m going to need something pretty snappy in an exhibition situation.

 

I mean - I’m not sure how tolerant the public will be with nothing moving while I have a quick game of Ludo down the way?

 

Do you have to throw a six before you can come out of the shed?

 

Andy

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Now I’ve got all components threaded on the right hand stock rail including (from the bottom up) ; standard chairs, check rail chairs with check rail, standard chairs, a gap for later insertion of slide chairs, two more standard chairs and finally two and half panels of ‘fast track’.

 

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Having got the rail anchored down at the bottom end I’m now gluing down the top end ‘fast track’ sleepers making sure the rail lines up with the plan below. Note the rule at the top stuck down to the board with tape - this aids getting the track straight. Templot wasn’t used for the fiddleyard - instead I established the curves/ centrelines and cut up point plans in to sections to follow the curves - a bit of old school...

 

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