luke the train spotter Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 (edited) So now that distillery yard is now finished after its exhibition, a rearrangement of the railway room has freed up a space 6x2ft so I'll use these dimensions to my advantage for my next layout. Also being invited back to the EBOR York show next year means I have a deadline but I'm sure it'll be completed early. So the plan is a 6x1 ft layout split into 2 3x1ft boards with one being scenic the other a fiddle yard with traverser. After learning from distillery yard I plan to make it operational from the rear with lower backscenes which will be painted/printed. I will continue to use wire in tube method for point control and DCC. I was inspired by the layout Port Penan which was in Railway modeller a couple years ago and I saw it at the York model railway exhibition a few years ago so have my own pictures of it. The layout also draws its inspiration from Thurso and Wick station hence the name. The plan is for the layout to only have 2 points, (both code 75) a small right hand one and a y point. Here is a picture of some ideas on a piece of 6mm marine ply. Feeling hopeful the headshunt should just clear a class 37. The big dark rectangles are under track kadee magnets I plan to use on this layout. Currently the class 26 (my largest loco) adds a bit of scale to the layout. The era of operating will be 60s to 70s so I can use all the same stock as on distillery yard. The only stock I'll need to get is a Gresley suburban coach but im sure I'll be able to source one at s later date. As usual thanks for looking. Edited April 24, 2019 by luke the train spotter Title change 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Can't beat a Type 2. 26 - Obviously Scottish themed? Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 45 minutes ago, Crisis Rail said: Can't beat a Type 2. 26 - Obviously Scottish themed? Ian Yep with inspiration from the far north line. A strong Scottish theme which I hope to reflect in the railway architecture and design too. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Rail Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Sounds promising - A fantastic area - i'll give it a follow Luke Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry1975 Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 sounds good, will follow with interest. Jerry. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steggy1990 Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Good luck with this mate looks a great idea following with intrested 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Alder Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Any Thurso or Wick info or pics just give me a shout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 7 hours ago, Ben Alder said: Any Thurso or Wick info or pics just give me a shout. Any photos of the station buildings/canopy shed would be very helpful if possible please. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Alder Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 I'll PM some later tonight. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Legroom Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Looking forward to seeing progress. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad-1 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 A simple question Luke, When does a layout cease to be a Micro ? I ask because I don't quite know where to post a thread of say a 6 feet by 3 feet scene ? Dad-1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted February 26, 2019 Author Share Posted February 26, 2019 18 minutes ago, Dad-1 said: A simple question Luke, When does a layout cease to be a Micro ? I ask because I don't quite know where to post a thread of say a 6 feet by 3 feet scene ? Dad-1 For me a micro layout has a scenic footprint of 4 square feet with a small fiddle yard attached but it's also agree with the definition that a micro layout has an overall footprint of 8square feet including fiddle yard. Personally, anything larger becomes a normal layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
south_tyne Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Luke, Your enthusiasm and speed of progress is staggering and puts many of us to shame! Look forward to seeing what you do with this new layout; I have admired a number of your past projects so have no doubt that this will be another cracker! Look forward to following. David 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted February 27, 2019 Author Share Posted February 27, 2019 Thanks David for your very kind comment. More progress with the layout. After work today I constructed the baseboard for the scenic board. To join this and the fiddle yard I'm using m8 bolts and winged nuts. The baseboard is made out of 6mm marine ply that was left over from one of my Dad's project (a canoe) which is screwed into pine bed slats which were reclaimed from an old bed now long gone. Here's a picture of it in the train room. I'm thinking of working on the traverser and traverser board tomorrow and also laying some track and probably doing a bit of wiring. Fingers crossed for a working layout by the end of the week. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 So maybe thinking that I would have a working layout built by the end of the week was a tad optimistic... Turns out after looking at my current track laying materials, my supplies for every aspect of it was running desperately low so I'll have to wait till Monday to be re stocked unfortunately. In the meantime I have finished building the traverser. The wood work isn't square or perfect but it works quite well so I'm happy. Here is an overall picture:As you can see I've got some track positioned to help with the positioning of the traverser. The method is it sliding is not the conventional draw runners but the unconventional method of using Lego trains. Yes, im using Lego trains. Prior to my shift of interest to oo gauge railways I was very much involved in Lego trains which I've kept since thinking that they'd come in useful one day and that day has come. 2 pieces of track were layed perpendicular to the motion of travel of the Traverser and bogies superglued onto some blocks of wood which keep the track level the same from the scenic section to the traverser. Here's a picture which should help my description.Apologies for the poor lighting. As I've not sorted out a lighting rig yet everything is in darkness. I also took my class 108 2 car DMU out of its box today. It may not be prototypical but it'll be nice to give it a run after it has spent so long dormant in its box. That's all from me for now. I can't really get much done until the track laying stuff arrives but I'll keep on developing the plan for the scenic section and maybe wire up some points. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
south_tyne Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 Luke, Ingenious use of the Lego trains for the traverser - very clever solution!! Hope you manage to get your supplies re-stocked shortly so you can crack on. Rome wasn't built in a day! David 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share Posted March 2, 2019 So being the slightly impatient person that I am I decided to lay the rest of the track I could instead of waiting for supplies to arrive to lay it all. Turned out to be not such a bad idea but as half term draws to a close I seem to have a literal mountain of homework which needs to be done.... Oh the joys of sixth form. Anyway, I have laid the headshunt and goods siding and also installed all the kadee magnets I need. I was slightly generous with the holes I drilled for them so I can feel some duct tape and filler coming out to do a bit of neatening up. Instead of using track pins or large amounts of pva glue I've just stuck the track down with a couple small drops of super glue to the underside of a couple of sleepers. Worked a treat I think. The points have also been modified to suit electrofrog frog control and I'll probably get round to wiring up wire in tube point control once the stuff arrives. Progress is slower than I would've liked but I'm still over the moon that my traverser idea works. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 Finally my supplies have arrived and I've made swift progress with the layout. The scenic board is all wired up and the points have also been wired up and the wire in tube point control method has been installed. To those who would like to see how I do it/what I do, check out my YouTube video below. I hope that's some use to you. I'm still to test everything but im confident that it will all work. Need to decide what loco will be the first to run on thurwick. Probably the 26 I'm thinking as it's the most prototypical. Here are some close up pics of the wired up points. Every thing needs a tidy up. The only thing left to do until the track laying is complete is to make some copper clad sleepers for the baseboard/traverser joints but I'm still waiting until the copper clad PCB board arrives. 2 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 Big but of progress today, I've finished laying and wiring up all the track. The copper clad PCB board still hasn't arrived yet (delivery date keeps getting pushed back) so I ordered some Vero board instead which has worked really well. I've also been able to run some test trains. Since I've also got this Friday off sixth form I should be able to progress a lot more with the wood work of the fascia and backscenes as well as maybe get round to filming a YouTube video. Here are some pictures of my progress. As you can see I have a baseboard joint then a joint for the traverser. I have a question/problem though, what can i use to line up the traverser and main baseboard. Currently I'm a bit lost with what to use . Some links would probably be helpful if you've got any please. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
south_tyne Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 Glad to see you are back to working on this Luke. In terms of the traverser, many people use lightweight 'door bolts' to lock the alignment into place. Alternatively, some brass tubing and stiff wire could do the same job in a more homespun manner. The advantage of these approaches is that it can also be used to supply power to the necessary traverser road too. David 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Just found this thread Luke, looking forward to watching the layout grow. I like the plan, I remember seeing Port Pennan in the RM, nice layout to be inspired by. Steve. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 Seems to be a recurring theme with me at the moment that I'm rushing into a project then changing my mind about it. The thurwick layout idea has kind of crumbled before me. The layout just felt too cramped for the facilities that I was trying to model and I don't think I could justify it. I like to have some influence of prototype in my layouts but thurwick felt just too disconnected from the real deal (well Thurso and wick). Instead I'm keeping the boards and track plan and probably going to turn it into a wharf/quayside shunting layout for small wheelbase stock and the odd visiting sulzer. I don't think it will really have a region though so it's more dependent on the stock to give it a setting. The era will be late 50s/early 60s so plenty of shunting and a nice mix of diesels and steamers. Still trying to visualise how everything will fit together but i feel that this idea suits the size better. The thurwick idea isn't dead it just suits a larger space so may be revived in the future. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Dont worry about changing your mind Luke, I 've done that many times! The plan is pretty sound and I think it would be great as a quayside, I like the multi region idea as well. Look forward to seeing it develop. Steve. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1722 Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 13 hours ago, luke the train spotter said: Seems to be a recurring theme with me at the moment that I'm rushing into a project then changing my mind about it. If I had a pound for every time I did that...! I've decided that, rather than rush in, when I get an idea I'll jot it down. I'll add it to the pot of ideas and then see if it stays with me enough to want to do it. I reckon that the one I really want to build will be the idea I keep going back to. Might be worth trying? 4 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke the train spotter Posted April 18, 2019 Author Share Posted April 18, 2019 8 hours ago, ModellerChris said: If I had a pound for every time I did that...! I've decided that, rather than rush in, when I get an idea I'll jot it down. I'll add it to the pot of ideas and then see if it stays with me enough to want to do it. I reckon that the one I really want to build will be the idea I keep going back to. Might be worth trying? Funnily enough I already do that! I thought that thruwick would be a a layout that really stuck with me so I bipassed that stage. What a mistake it was! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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