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Kleine Albula - RhB HOm


Crocodile414
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Evening All,

 

After a week of many evenings spent in the garage and all day Saturday & Sunday morning, I have finally reached the major milestone of a first test run following the completion of the wiring. 

 

There is still another signal to install, and lots of tidying up with cable clips and ties etc but this was just too prove everything worked as it should. 

 

I've uploaded a short video to YouTube, which hopefully gives you an idea of the layout - here is the link.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O78FacH4euI 

 

Regretfully there will be no progress for about a month now due to a trip to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, then the Ffestiniog Railway, and getting my other layout, St Kenvince (British OO Sectorisation - Cornish China Clay & Main line) ready for the Weston Super Mare Show in September. 

 

Hope you enjoy the video - any questions/comments gladly received. 

 

Cheers, Nick

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23 minutes ago, Crocodile414 said:

The link must have an error as it won’t paste but I found it easily, edit and the quoted one works!! :)

 

 

 

I see you’ve got the stock to run 80’s right through to 2000’s :) 

Edited by PaulRhB
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5 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

The link must have an error as it won’t paste but I found it easily, edit and the quoted one works!! :)

 

 

 

I see you’ve got the stock to run 80’s right through to 2000’s :) 

 

Thanks Paul -  I've got a reasonable mix of stock - it's based on the mid 1990's approximately prior to all the advertising liveries appearing on the Ge 4/4 III locos but of course I always allow modellers licence to run a few years either side!

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Looks great, good steady running. Given my sudden and unexpected interest in traversers, here is a nice twist for you - as you are using analogue, you don't have to worry about accidentally driving a DCC train off the end of it by selecting the wrong code! 

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  • 2 months later...

Hi All,

 

A long time since the last update - various trips away and a busy time in work have been the main reasons. 

 

The layout has continued to have some test running sessions and is performing well. 

 

I've been busy over the last month or so creating my own stock boxes - these are homemade wooden trays (ply and/or hardboard scraps) which stack as 3 layers inside a 9 litre 'really useful box'. I've made 3 boxes worth so far so I'll see how much of my stock fills them up - it's likely a 4th will be needed. I've included some pictures so you can see what they look like. 

 

My very helpful friend visited a few weeks ago and we re-checked our full size plan of the catenary would fit which touch wood it still appears to so an order for this will be going in very shortly and that will no doubt occupy me for a while. 

 

I'll try and update the thread a bit more regularly as & when progress dictates.

 

Cheers, Nick

 

 

 

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Edited by Crocodile414
replacing missing photos
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15 hours ago, Crocodile414 said:

 

My very helpful friend visited a few weeks ago and we re-checked our full size plan of the catenary would fit which touch wood it still appears to so an order for this will be going in very shortly and that will no doubt occupy me for a while. 

 

 

Stock boxes are a neat idea.

 

Depending on what you are ordering, I believe Blackwoods may be dropping the Sommerfeld range from their stock and are having a sale at the moment which sent me to seek out alternatives and found that the Sommerfeldt online shop was generally similar/cheaper than Blackwells even with the sale discount and allowing for postage.

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8 hours ago, JimFin said:

 

Stock boxes are a neat idea.

 

Depending on what you are ordering, I believe Blackwoods may be dropping the Sommerfeld range from their stock and are having a sale at the moment which sent me to seek out alternatives and found that the Sommerfeldt online shop was generally similar/cheaper than Blackwells even with the sale discount and allowing for postage.

 

Thanks, we've already discovered the Blackwells sale so hopefully the bulk of it will still be there, fingers crossed!

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Hi All,

 

The catenary has been ordered and the first consignment from Blackwells has arrived. I'm now waiting for a few pieces from Winco, and the last remaining parts from modellbahnlippe. 

 

More progress made on the layout today, the rails were all painted on one side and a start was made on some basic island platforms. These are only loosely in position at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do the other side of the rails and finish off cutting the other pieces for the platform.

 

More news soon (hopefully!)

 

Cheers, Nick

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  • 2 weeks later...

Really enjoying following this thread along with JimFins Neuburg as it's the sort of size I'd likely have for a RhB layout. I'm still toying with ideas but I'm pretty convinced I'd like a traverser but have no experience of one. Beyond that I'm keen to have some gradient change and maybe a loop but can't settle on a plan yet.

My current EM layout has a rotating/turntable type fiddle yard which I'm happy with but as it's end to end and a RhB layout is going to be a loop I thought a traverser would be more suitable and would hope to have around 8 roads.

It's good to see your progress just need to pull my finger out and get something running!

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On 20/11/2019 at 13:20, A4CML said:

I'm still toying with ideas but I'm pretty convinced I'd like a traverser but have no experience of one. Beyond that I'm keen to have some gradient change and maybe a loop but can't settle on a plan yet.

I was at Warley this weekend and Grainge & Hodder are shortly releasing a traverser in either 900mm or 1200mm length - the prototype was on display and it looked very good. Also, very smooth flowing. If I was starting 12 months later than I had then I would have used one! 

On 20/11/2019 at 13:20, A4CML said:

 

It's good to see your progress just need to pull my finger out and get something running!

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll try and keep the updates coming. 

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4 hours ago, Crocodile414 said:

I was at Warley this weekend and Grainge & Hodder are shortly releasing a traverser in either 900mm or 1200mm length - the prototype was on display and it looked very good. Also, very smooth flowing. If I was starting 12 months later than I had then I would have used one! 

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll try and keep the updates coming. 

 

I would agree with that, making a traverser was a PITA to get the alignment and smooth running - happy to let someone with a proven jig take the hassle. Saw a guy on e-bay making them but I have an aversion to MDF as I have had bad experience of it getting damp and distorting.

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On 25/11/2019 at 12:02, Crocodile414 said:

I was at Warley this weekend and Grainge & Hodder are shortly releasing a traverser in either 900mm or 1200mm length - the prototype was on display and it looked very good. Also, very smooth flowing. If I was starting 12 months later than I had then I would have used one! 

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll try and keep the updates coming. 

Thanks for the info, what sort of depths did they come in?

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4 hours ago, Crocodile414 said:

I can't remember precisely but I think the demo board was 400mm wide, but again I'm not 100% sure on that, sorry! 

Just found the rotating ones on their website, are they going to be doing linear ones too or have I misunderstood?

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44 minutes ago, A4CML said:

Just found the rotating ones on their website, are they going to be doing linear ones too or have I misunderstood?

 

Yes, the linear ones were on display at Warley. I don't think they're on the website yet though - they were expecting them to be available sometime in the new year.

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Evening All, 

 

Just a quick update this week. Two projects are on the go at present. The first is ballasting, and secondly I've begun to assemble the station building. This is the Kibri 'Solis' kit. So far I must say it's gone together exceptionally well with very little cleaning up of the parts required. I may do a partial paint of the main sides before completing it. 

 

Ballasting is complete on the two ends and station throat point work but I've yet to complete the station tracks until I can finally decide on the platform arrangement. I've cut out some basic surfaces in balsa wood but am wondering whether to use a different technique - I'll let you know!

 

A few pics below to show you what I've been up to. 

 

Cheers, Nick

 

 

ballasting 30.11 (1).JPG

ballasting 30.11 (3).JPG

Station building back.JPG

Station building front (1).JPG

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Hi All

 

A significant milestone was reached today with the installation of all but 2 of the catenary masts thanks my very good friend coming to assist and check all the measurements. The station building has also been loosely placed near to its final location but will require a notch cutting in the platform for the catenary post to sit. Ballasting is nearly complete - just a few bits around the platforms to finish off. 

 

Next job will be to acquire some foam or polystyrene and start carving various bits of the landscape. I plan to start at the Level Crossing end and work my way towards the viaduct which will ultimately be the more difficult part. 

 

I'll upload some more pictures as and when there is more to show.

 

Cheers, Nick

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  • 1 month later...

Evening All, 

 

Apologies for the lack of updates lately. Anyway, the latest progress to share with you all.....

 

I've started landscaping with quite a strong foam which I've struggled with cutting and shaping. However, following the purchase of a multi-tool this weekend this has now become a bit easier. I will stress that this is still a work in progress and this will probably have further work prior to having the plaster bandage over the top. I'm concentrating on board 1 first, although you can see that the basic layers are there for board 2. 

 

I've also been busy painting the station building which is well on the way. 

 

The next jobs after getting the basic foam shapes will be to make the tunnel mouths at either end and blend them in with the other 'earthworks'. The viaduct end will be particularly challenging so this is likely to be the last area to be tackled. 

 

Hopefully the next update will come a bit sooner.

 

Cheers, Nick 

 

 

 

 

 

 

start of landscaping (3).JPG

landscaping 3rd Feb (3).JPG

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landscaping 3rd Feb (1).JPG

Edited by Crocodile414
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  • 2 weeks later...
12 hours ago, cornish trains jez said:

Hi,

 

juat been reading through your thread. Very nice layout! I really like the traverser fiddle yard.

 

Looking forward to the next update.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

Thanks Jeremy, work is progressing albeit a bit slower due to several other things getting in the way (as they do!). 

 

As soon as there is some more visible progress, I'll post another update. 

 

Cheers, Nick 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Afternoon all,

 

Landscaping is still progressing and I hope to show you pictures of this shortly. However, one job that has been bugging me for a while has finally been completed today. One of the trains I intend to run is a mixed train dropping  off a few wagons in the siding and pick them up on the next trip. 

 

The standard Bemo couplings are somewhat unfriendly for hands free shunting. I use Kadee couplings on my British OO gauge layout but after offering one of these up to a Bemo wagon these were clearly far too big. I've been browsing the web for a while and came across the Dapol magnetic couplings which look and behave very similarly to Kadee's. I ordered a set of magnets and a pair of long armed couplers.

 

To cut a long story short, I've found that if you remove the Bemo coupler & drill a small hole in the Dapol one (which accepts a track pin through the centre) and also drill through the centre of the buffer beam this will set the coupling at the correct height. I've used a tiny drop of superglue with applied with a cocktail stick to secure the assembly in place. 

 

I've posted a short video on my YouTube channel to show the operation but there are also a few photos below to show the underside and their appearance once mounted. 

 

 

 

Hope it's of interest and more progress soon hopefully!

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Crocodile414
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Are they fixed or free to move sideways, how do they perform on crossovers fitted like that? I’ve used the Dapol ones on my HOm HSB because they fitted the NEM pockets but they can’t do delayed uncoupling like the Microtrains ones. I’ve done similar to what you did fitting them to the RhB container wagons I’ve ‘moved’ to the HSB but I kept the Bemo shaft so they are sprung to the centre. 

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