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Waddlemarsh - somewhere southwest of London sometime before today


Gwiwer
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The ballasted area now extends to cover most of one board though the ground is not yet weathered. 

 

Representing the transfer-goods theme of the location is SR steam and ER diesel traction in this view. 

 

 

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On 10/06/2019 at 23:53, SRman said:

That's coming on nicely, Rick. I'll really look forward to seeing it the next time I get over there. :)

Thank you Jeff.  And we are very happy to show you when ever you can get here.  You would be, as things stand, only the second person to see my full-size layouts in both hemispheres in the flesh.

 

Plan A is to keep extending the ballasted area alongside soldering up the required switches.  The latter can only be done outside due to the risk of dropping something hot onto the carpet indoors (even if it's protected it might be damaged and it isn't ours) and given the current weather all outside jobs are on hold.

 

67mm of rain fell on Monday.  So far we have had another 12mm today.  And we were without water for 9 hours yesterday owing to a "major burst" in the Hampton pumping station.  Ah the irony.  

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A similar view but with Midland and Western motive power. And a NPV former Insulfish van behind the rat of a type nominally allocated to the Eastern Region but used on the York - Aberystwyth overnight trains which ran mostly in LMR territory. 

 

All these items wear my own weathering with D600 having recently been used as a demonstration piece at Hayle MRC exhibition. And right under the eyes of the Kernow stand as well. 

 

 

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Ballasting and ground cover has commenced on the corner board which has given all sorts of issues with regards to radii and smooth running. The joins have not been easy either since the layout is supported on legs which have to rest on carpet. The consequence of this is uneven board joins which require some creative bodging to ensure smooth enough running. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

Could you not fit screw adjustable feet to the bottom of the legs? Some have adjustment to about 75mm or 3 inches in real  money.

 

 

 

Maybe something like these ?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Baseboard-adjustable-brackets-levelling-feet-/200567785979

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Crudely cut and fitted foam board panels were fitted with some difficulty between the board and window. 

 

This will prevent the net curtain dragging over the hidden pair of sidings on the “electric” line and will mean the backscene can be fixed into place between these sidings and the goods yard. 

 

A somewhat dusty 4TC sits in No.2 electric siding. 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Crudely cut and fitted foam board panels were fitted with some difficulty between the board and window. 

 

This will prevent the net curtain dragging over the hidden pair of sidings on the “electric” line and will mean the backscene can be fixed into place between these sidings and the goods yard. 

 

A somewhat dusty 4TC sits in No.2 electric siding. 

 

 

D6807167-FB78-49F7-88CA-0E8A3F8B23B5.jpeg

6D17384B-1847-44F7-9E62-3556EAA79C1B.jpeg

I thought you'd end up with something like that. You read it here first...

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135688-waddlemarsh-somewhere-southwest-of-london-sometime-before-today/&do=findComment&comment=3279275

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1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Is that what is known as "sage advice"?

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It’s thyme for a video. Hardly mint though thanks to a hand-held phone and normal room lighting. 

 

A 33/1 hauls a 4TC set around the outermost curve without difficulty. A 2Bil, which will feature regularly on the passenger service, just gets around the inner “electric” line. These Hornby units have inferior bogie-swing when compared with many other types which has necessitated some adjustment to all the curve alignments around the corner. 

 

 

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Also of note to the eagle-eyed is the presence of a brand-new Morley Vortrak controller. 

 

The earlier one has seen 15 years service outdoors in Australia. While three of four circuits work perfectly the fourth does not and the general condition of the item is best described as “weatherbeaten”. 

 

The new one is of the standard British design not incorporating the cooling fan that their Australian controllers do. This makes it silent in operation. I was pleasantly surprised to find the current Morley range also includes a centre-off click on both main controller and the included remotes. This was absent on earlier models and was perhaps the only negative to working with a Morley. They remain superb and very responsive controllers. 

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2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

It’s thyme for a video. Hardly mint though thanks to a hand-held phone and normal room lighting. 

 

A 33/1 hauls a 4TC set around the outermost curve without difficulty. A 2Bil, which will feature regularly on the passenger service, just gets around the inner “electric” line. These Hornby units have inferior bogie-swing when compared with many other types which has necessitated some adjustment to all the curve alignments around the corner. 

 

 

 

I have two Heljan 33/1s which will both haul 8TC around my helix, which runs at 1 in 70.

 

The problem with 2Bil sets is the couplings between the coaches. I removed them and replaced them with upside-down Kadee 17s after removing the trip-pins. The coaches are a bit further apart, but there is no more trouble with the bogies.

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19 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

Has something happened to the video?. It doesn’t play and shows as 00.00 minutes long.

It works for me and shows 1:02 long. On some devices it may be necessary to click on the still image to play it and not all devices will show an arrow icon to suggest this. Limitations of technology, eh?

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19 hours ago, Budgie said:

 

I have two Heljan 33/1s which will both haul 8TC around my helix, which runs at 1 in 70.

 

The problem with 2Bil sets is the couplings between the coaches. I removed them and replaced them with upside-down Kadee 17s after removing the trip-pins. The coaches are a bit further apart, but there is no more trouble with the bogies.

On something approaching train-set curves the motor bogie swing is also slightly restricted. 

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The ballasting is coming on at a decent rate.  I was, on another site, once known for producing little "How to" videos and have today created a 10-minute clip showing the ballasting of the latest length of track.

 

This is certainly not a definitive "How to ballast" nor even a "How I ballast" but more of a "How I ballasted this bit today" item. Some ground cover is also included for good measure and the effect after just ten minutes work is quite remarkable.  There is no editing here - what you see is the live recording straight off the camera and shows that around a metre of plain track and surrounding land can be effectively ballasted in just a few minutes.

 

If it inspires and de-mystifies the often-bemoaned ballasting process for anyone then it's been worthwhile.  It might even find its way into its own thread though I don't wish to be accused of teaching the senior generation to suck eggs.

 

Sound on.  And in case it isn't obvious you click on the image to start the clip.

 

 

 

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Another little clip (click the still image to play it). You are allowed to ignore the stuff around the place and the couple of bits of temporary wiring to allow this to work before everything is fully wired up. It’s also a bit “freehand” because unlike the ballasting video this was done holding the phone in one hand and a controller in the other. Plus changing points manually. 

 

Two 33s help each other into the yard.   A Q1 and a class 33 diesel both of which carried 33xxx numbers for some of their lives.  You can decide for yourself which one might have failed. 

 

At the far end of the most distant siding M7 30108 has arrived with empty wagons which are drawn out to the headshunt by the duty diesel shunter which is a class 03. 

 

This shows the ballasting and greening done over recent days and goes some way to illustrating how far the layout has advanced. 

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A very important hole has just been bored. 

 

Why so important?  This marks the start of signalling the layout. With ballasting well in hand I need this signal fitted before completing the groundwork. 

 

It also marks another event. Tomorrow SWMBO goes into hospital and when she comes home I will not be allowed to make noises such as hammering or drilling while she rests. 

 

 

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