sf315 Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) Nigel Worsley works do a scratch builders pack for a 104 mine are done from them. Steve Edited April 2, 2020 by sf315 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted April 9, 2020 Author Share Posted April 9, 2020 (edited) On 02/04/2020 at 23:50, sf315 said: Nigel Worsley works do a scratch builders pack for a 104 mine are done from them. Steve Thanks Steve. At the moment I'm thinking of postponing the 104 project slightly. When I get to it I'll perhaps use some Mk 1 coaches as a basis, possibly with some etched sides and 3d printed cab. I have a 108 which is "spare" but the passenger windows are too low to be convincing so I'm going to try and convert that to a 108 with 4 character headcodes. So thanks, Worsley etches could help me out in the future. How did you create your class 120? I notice that there are 3D printed bodies for some of these DMUs these days. Thanks Nigel Edited April 9, 2020 by nharding99 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sf315 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 Hello Nigel The 120 is a BH Enterprises Kit and runs on a GWR railcar chassis but I’d use a shortened 170/158 chassis now. Good luck on the DMU builds. Thanks Steve. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted April 12, 2020 Author Share Posted April 12, 2020 (edited) I've put together a 3 minute video of the layout. It's in the style of a British Transport Film documentary! I couldn't bring myself to do a voice-over with clipped BBC newsreader accent but the captions help it along in their 1960s "Britain is best" style - obviously not meant to be taken seriously :-) https://youtu.be/cykPkZpRt_c Edited April 14, 2020 by nharding99 8 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 That’s brilliant! And really shows off the layout. More please! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 On 13/04/2020 at 07:57, TomJ said: That’s brilliant! And really shows off the layout. More please! Thanks, maybe I can come up with another (admittedly weak) story line and show off some other aspects of the layout. Maybe I'll check out Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends for some inspiration In the meantime I'm converting a Farish class 108 DMU to one of the later styles with 4 character roof mounted headcode box... The donor headcode "domes" are from a Dapol class 121 (complete roof ordered as a spare from DCC Supplies). Eventually the unit will be given a green livery. Onwards and upwards! Stay safe everyone! Nigel 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Having read through this and Lymebrook Yard during lockdown has inspired me to use a left over 4x2 baseboard and some spare track. I’m thinking more exGWR steam - but using the same track plan if no one minds. Having played with some template I’m having a bit of trouble fitting the yard and the head shunt. Despite your pictures I can’t work out whether the points into the yard are LH, RH or Y. Any tips? Thanks 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sf315 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 3 hours ago, TomJ said: Having read through this and Lymebrook Yard during lockdown has inspired me to use a left over 4x2 baseboard and some spare track. I’m thinking more exGWR steam - but using the same track plan if no one minds. Having played with some template I’m having a bit of trouble fitting the yard and the head shunt. Despite your pictures I can’t work out whether the points into the yard are LH, RH or Y. Any tips? Thanks Tom The points on Lymebrook Yard into the yard are a code 55 small rad L/H point to a code 55 small rad R/H point which splits again to give the two sidings opposite the station. A code 55 small rad point is the same nomenclature as a code 80 med rad point. Again on Lymebrook the end of the headshunt which is hidden fouls the running line as it comes into gauge so the rule is only park a loco/train where you can see it when leaving a train in the yard when returning to run a train around the continuous run. thanks Steve 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Thanks, that’s a great help. I think part of my problem was I was trying to run the headshunt parallel to the main track on a tighter radius curve Hope you don’t mind someone else pinching your excellent plan. Perhaps one day we could have a show just full of interpretations of Lymebrook Yard. Aware it might be a niche interest! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share Posted June 27, 2020 Steve has said it all really. This track plan might help you see what I did. I think that my mainline curves ended up being a little different to the original Lymebrook but it's the same sort of thing... I don't blame you for being inspired by and copying the Lymebrook plan. It's exactly what I did and Steve has always been encouraging and supportive of my efforts. Good luck with your project. I'd love to see how it turns out. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share Posted June 27, 2020 Also, further to what you were saying Tomj about layout interpretations of Lymebrook Yard, there are a few in progress as well as yours. I think there's definitely a "genre" of continuous small layouts with built up ends or disguised curves. For example Hedges Hill Cutting and Steve's slightly larger Tanner's Hill - and I'm sure that there are many others. There's definitely lots of mileage in the Lymebrook Yard plan. In the future I may connect up one of those outer storage sidings to the main line to create a loop in the fiddle yard. It's sometimes a bit awkward to reverse in a long train and for longer trains the front of the train can emerge out of the tunnel before reversing back into the siding. A loop would avoid that problem by allowing a train to run into it from either direction. I'm aware that the layout could easily be made into a double track layout but I have always resisted the temptation and kept my station as a point at which the main line singles. I think it's more interesting that way but others may disagree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJ Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 Thanks. That’s really helpful. I’m not sure I’d call mine - ‘in progress’ yet! I’m thinking same basic travel plan but with two side platforms rather than an island - might need to extend the front out by an inch or two. Island platforms weren’t so common on the GWR. With a road bridge crossing the platforms and hiding the exit. Gives the impression of longer platforms. I have pondered about doing it as a mirror image so the connection to the yard is trailing rather than facing? Once there’s something tangible to show I’ll start a thread 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted July 13, 2020 Author Share Posted July 13, 2020 I've created another short video focusing on some of the off peak movements on the layout... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 I seem to have been busier than ever with non railway projects during the Covid-19 era. Tonight I managed to get the layout setup for the first time in months. After giving it all a good clean I enjoyed what was mostly a freight night. The Brush Type 4 and Clayton are newcomers. The lack of buffer beam detail is noticeable. I have always avoided committing to a one way running loco in the past but for locos that are unlikely to be involved in shunting or running around I'm tempted to add the details now. Maybe it's a sign of modelling maturity. There are still one or two details on the layout that can and therefore will be improved when I'm in the mood. Things like a few more random patches of grass and bedding down some of the buildings a bit better. I'll keep you posted! 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Something a little different tonight... I've put together a cradle for my DCC programming track (rather than scratching around for some spare straight tracks or using the layout itself to program CVs as I have done on occasions). This will just hook onto the layout backscene. It's made from materials that I happened to have lying around, some of it is balsa, it's lightweight and it's certainly not over-engineered! It's arguably longer than it needs to be but I do sometimes have to program DMUs together. I've been a DCC user for some time. I'm hoping to hook up the layout to a PC using a DCC/USB connector in the near future which should open up easier options for CV tweaking and allow me to use my mobile phone an as extra controller. I'm probably not ready to consider digital points control yet but you never know maybe one day... Thanks for reading Nigel 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolongtoremember Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 1 hour ago, nharding99 said: Something a little different tonight... I've put together a cradle for my DCC programming track (rather than scratching around for some spare straight tracks or using the layout itself to program CVs as I have done on occasions). This will just hook onto the layout backscene. It's made from materials that I happened to have lying around, some of it is balsa, it's lightweight and it's certainly not over-engineered! It's arguably longer than it needs to be but I do sometimes have to program DMUs together. I've been a DCC user for some time. I'm hoping to hook up the layout to a PC using a DCC/USB connector in the near future which should open up easier options for CV tweaking and allow me to use my mobile phone an as extra controller. I'm probably not ready to consider digital points control yet but you never know maybe one day... Thanks for reading Nigel DCC point control, the slippery slope to DCC automation... Looks good what you've done! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 The goods shed was always intended to service van traffic and I recently recognised that there was a lack of box wagons on the layout... so I have ordered some kits from the N Gauge Society (always an economical way of arriving at a fairly decent end product). On the workbench you can see a Vanwide (with wide doors) and 2 BR standard vans. I have replaced the plastic wheels from the PECO chassis with metal ones. Just need to fix a bit of coupling droop and then it's off to the paint shop for these 3 specimens. The layout is now connected up to my PC via an NCE USB interface and JMRI. I've been having fun setting more realistic speed curves and trying to speed match locos of the same type. I'm not going to be obsessive about this (I won't speed match the entire fleet to a particular standard) but I do need locos of similar class to be well matched for the occasional double header. I'm going to use the "J" word, it's all part of the journey :-) Thanks for reading Nigel H 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 Just in case you ever wondered this is what the underside of the board looks like... I'm not the tidiest wiring practitioner! I'm going through the process of tidying this up, not least of all to support the wire and fix it to the baseboard so that it doesn't pull at all on any of the connections (I have some adhesive wire tidying clips on order). You can see that I have added some labels to the wiring and I do have a wiring document which details the connections. The red/black wiring is the track bus. In addition there is an accessory bus which runs power to the control panel then back out to the various accessories. The accessories include Cobalt point motors, yard lighting, a MAS sequencer to control the colour light signal and a USB track interface. I'm also putting together a brief technical manual just because I seem to always work things out and then forget how I did them! Getting a bit more organised just helps me feel a bit more on top of things and the idea is that it will help prevent future issues or at least make them easier to fix. I'm very open to any comments on wiring or any further advice... Thanks Nige H 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 It's half term week and the domestic authorities have been amenable to the layout remaining in situ for a few days. Following up on an earlier post here is a shot of the recent NGS van kits that have now been completed. The shock van and loriot had been previously built. The 3 latest additions (vanwide and 2 standard vans) came out quite well. Only the mineral wagon is not an NGS kit. Cheers Nigel H 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 Another layout project on the go... an AL6 in early rail blue with no warning panel. So, I have 2x AL6s for the layout. One (not shown here) was resprayed into early BR livery with small warning panel by Mercig Studios and they did an amazing job. However, I don't have limitless funds so thought I'd have a go at an early livery AL6 without warning panel (the loco on top of the paint pots). It's a straightforward colour scheme, sounds easy right? I was so confident that I purchased a spare body in case I made a complete mess of it!! That's what you see in the foreground. Anyway, I mixed the blue shade myself. It is brush painted, there are still a few areas to touch up. Transfers from Fox are on order, let's see how it turns out! I do think it's extraordinary that Dapol hasn't yet released this loco in its original livery but I'm not going to let that stop me! Although you won't appreciate it from this image I have inserted a sound decoder into each chassis (a bit of a squeeze for the speaker and I didn't want to remove the PCB or mill out the chassis so it is placed in the rear cab and won't be visible in forwards operation). These bad boys really have a roar now! Cheers Nigel H. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 Some progress on the early AL6 this week... The spare body shell shows the starting point. Maybe one day I'll try a version with spray paints but for now the newcomer isn't looking too bad. Onwards and upwards! Thanks Nigel H. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 (edited) As mentioned a little while ago some of the overgrowth and yard clutter have been built up. You can see how the grass has spread with weeds and grass closing in on the building structures. We now have some more goods packages on the cobbles and some odd bits of debris (such as by the boiler house). In its initial form I think that the goods yard was a bit too clean. More clutter will follow. Also the newly painted AL6 looks right at home on the layout... You can see that I forgot to refit a couple of the engine windows so that will be fixed soon. Thanks Nigel H Edited November 18, 2020 by nharding99 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nharding99 Posted December 13, 2020 Author Share Posted December 13, 2020 2020 has seen the addition of detail and hopefully more finesse to the layout. I'm now starting to experience that "layout is never complete" concept. I'll continue to improve things where I can. We are now in December and fifty years ago I'd be eagerly counting down the days to Christmas and be hoping I'd get a few Triang Hornby items; it must be around 50 years ago that I got an EM2 and AL1 (not at the same time!). It's pleasing to have 2 electric locos (2x AL6) on the current day layout. Here's a short image gallery with some comments to round off the year... It's all gone a bit Western Region on platform 1 as a visitor trundles through. Maybe it has been back to the factory at Gorton for some reason and has been pressed into service! This is an area that needs some more refinement. I have added Belisha beacons and a figure carrying an umbrella - this is south Manchester after all! - but I'm not happy about how that pedestrian crossing sits up. The road is too bumpy so I think that at some stage I will take steps to smooth it down. A BRCW type 3 passes through with an oil tank train, mostly made up of the excellent Revolution B Tanks. The control panel is illuminated and the fiddle yard is pretty busy. Increasing storage capacity with the additional long sidings has definitely made things easier. And finally, a class 04 on a short trip working. Thanks for reading! Nigel H. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sf315 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Great pictures Nigel like the last shot with the 04. Also good to see what you’ve done round the back. All the best Steve. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsontour Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Superb to see this one still going strong Nigel the hymek looks right at home there All The best Matt 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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