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Dillmouth - desirable and achievable


O-Gauge-Phil
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Just found your thread. Lovely layout. Really nice to see 7mm in a bit of landscape (seeing railway in landscape is one reason why on my return to railway modelling I chose 2mm finescale).

Love the City and Brake Van, but then Great Western turn of century is my cup of tea :rolleyes:

Ian

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Thanks Ian, yes totally agree.  I wish though that I had gone for auto couplings from day one.  Then I could of added an extra foot on the width because the distance between track and backscene is very close.  Have had to use colour to add some perspective.  But hopefully we learn from our mistakes, I have in this case.  I hope the ratio between track and scenery is about right or operation could be a bit boring.  Time will tell. Anyway as someone on the magic roundabout once said " time fo bed" .  Hopefully you'll enjoy progress so far and help me with  a question or two coming up.

 

Thanks for comments

 

 Phil

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Hi 

First thing, back to the luggage van.  This was an EBay item again, etches only, thought it would be a fairly quick build, no compartments hence less door knobs etc. I have a Mallard D15 so I thought I could rob the bogies from that, as I’ve  already got some Slaters bogies.  Bought  some gas cylinders etc from EBay but then, I thought  fancy pepper pots and lined livery. So a tad out of period but it’s not a museum piece. It took ages to line!  Can’t see me doing another for a while particularly as I have two new layouts in my head when time and space permitting.

 

When doing the roof I didn’t know what size to make the rain strips and I  could not find a reference to it on these pages.  So I went to Didcot and measured one.  They are roughly 30 x 30 mm tapering to 25 on the top. This brings me to a tip. In 7 mm scale if you measure the real item in mm, 1 mm is approximately 1 thou.  Hence 30 thou square for the rain strips .  Now 30 thou is about the same size as square point rodding, Job sorted.

 

A few more pics.  from around the station area.

 

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The parcel office garden is made from one of my favourite materials, foam board.

You can’t see it but the loo is all there.

 

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And yes I do know,it is quite big.  I’m waiting for some platform lights, they should be available in the spring but we will see, always lots to do so no rush, manana.

 

Now this has been bugging me for some time.  Flowers.  Now I like this:-

 

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and I like this:-

 

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but I cannot decide on these:-

 

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The one above  was so bright I gave it a dusting with grey paint.  Is the lettering ok before I plant the sign or should I do it again?

 

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Now a bit better with some foliage?

 

If there is any of the pictures you would like to see in higher res. please just let me know.

 

cheers

Phil

 

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Thanks for the link to this thread, very nice - yes, the dead-end part is very reminiscent of Abbotsbury :-).

But I'm puzzled why you've got two lots of rodding running out to the engine release point, as IMHO there would not have been a FPL there in a GWR layout (hence no 'ramp' cover in the '4-foot' either).

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Nice layout Phil.  I too like turn of th century GWR. I rather agree about the coaches I have kits for some that always seem to be back of the queue. Some time ago I discovered Chris Bolton selling GWR coaches made to GWR diagrams at reasonable prices. Sadly Chris has retired now. But at least I have some coaches  for my locos to pull.

 

Don

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HAPPY NEW YEAR  :preved:

 

New year, new projects, new kits, more kits!

 

 

Hi Chris

Yes totally agree with you.  I do wish I had removed the three sleepers and box that encloses the micro switch on the point before I stuck it down and ballasted the track, but I didn’t.   Because of my medical condition I had to build something not too involved.  I would have preferred hand built track etc etc, it’s really really hard not to get distracted and keep to the goal but I couldn’t live with those micro-switch boxes  anymore.   I knew the FPL was wrong when I did  it but hope that you agree it’s better than that switch box and hides the gubbins underneath.  Trying to maintain a balance between a pipe dream and a finished layout Is not easy.  Hence desirable / achievable.  I know it looks weird to you but at a quick glance it looks in keeping with something you could see.  Really just in the spirit of a GWR branch line, not really a model of Abbotsbury, more in the style of.

 

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The point rodding follows a route a signal engineer would be shot for.  A straight run down on the other side of the track would be obvious.  In fact there is no rodding at all as far as I can see down to the loco release.

I don’t like platforms with joins and it runs over three boards (5’ 6”) so I made it in one.  As a novice I didn’t know what the gap would look like between the platform and ballast, so to disguise the gap I used the rodding.  One rod looked a bit too thin to desguise anything but two rods looked about right.  I used oiled kitchen foil to prevent it all sticking together, platform / ballast.  After repairing a few cave-ins it came out looking ok so I didn’t need the rodding after all.  Needed something to run the rodding to, so FPL.  Sorry to be so long winded.  I am really grateful to you, Joseph and The Stationmaster.  When I’m unsure what I am doing I tend to dawdle and it takes ten times longer.  Now I know I can press on with the uncoupling magnets.  I want to try and get this layout as finished as I can so the mistakes are on this one and not the next.

 

Thanks Ade. Nice to get a second opinion, I thought the lettering was a bit wonky, I should have soldered some guides on before applying the lettering.  Modelling is a lonely hobby, so it’s great to hear from like-minded souls. Seeing how others tackle a problem.  Nothing wrong either from good constructive criticism.

 

Don, thanks for the feedback. Coaches in all their magnificance do look good but require someone with a lot more skill than I have and a lot of time.

 

Many many many years ago I realised I had too many locos and nothing to pull behind them. So now I model trains, I find a picture and try to find some resemblance to the real thing, locos coaches, loco wagons.  Sometimes starting with a picture, sometimes from a set of coaches bought from EBay.

 

Anyway back to painting this crane and what account I mistakenly paid my water bill to.  Crane first I think.

 

Happy new year and thanks for everybody’s comments.

 

Cheers

Phil

 

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>>> In fact there is no rodding at all as far as I can see down to the loco release....

 

If you mean at Abbotsbury, no there was not 'cos the point was not worked from the box. It's been recorded as 'weighted', though it might have been sprung.

 

The trap marked 11 on your diagram ought to be worked from 10 also, as previously mentioned elsewhere, tho' curiously you seem to have a hand-lever there?

 

At least you have made the effort to have rodding, and nice looking too, far too many people omit it .

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi.  Just wanted to say that Dillmouth will be at the Witham show this Sunday, fingers crossed.  It would be nice to see other RMWEB-ers, so if you are there please say Hallo.  This will be its first outing away from home, so off we will go, travelling to Essex, wish us luck!

 

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i thought this might be of interest -  obviously the back of one of the boards.  Quite often you can see daylight  where the backscenes join, so I have run a strip, about 13 inches x 1 on one board, and at the other end a piece about 2 inches long x 1 in at the top.  Then when the boards are placed together the two pieces interlock, stopping daylight showing through and ensuring the two line up.  You can also see the small clear plastic pocket that I put notes to myself in on each board, so that as I think of things, or if something doesn’t work properly, I slide a little note inside.   Handy for dopey me.  

 

Again, hope to see some of you at the Witham exhibition on Sunday.  Then after that I can get on with another entry and video on the Fiddle Yard.

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Hi,

 

Well, it has been two week since I exhibited my layout and what an experience. In the past months I have been concentrating on finishing it but now I have realised that if I am going to exhibit the layout again I need to make some changes.

 

None of us is getting any younger and I think the average age of members in our club is over 70.  There are only two under 65.

 

It was a good experience, though. I had planned to set up with an hour to spare as the guys Sam and Roger are new to the layout and I knew we were at the beginning of the learning curve.  Originally there were to be two others helping us but they had to pull out at the last minute.  I was the only one who knew anything about the layout so I started to write a manual.  That was going to take a lot longer than the time I had available but still I think it will be a useful exercise for the future.  

 

 

Unfortunately the hall was an hour late at opening up, which cut into our time so we hadn’t finished setting up before the public came in.  This meant I didn’t have time to explain how anything worked as we were so busy putting everything together. I then had to operate it until Sam was on board and only then had the chance to explain how the Control Panel and DCC system operated. There were inevitable teething troubles; the Fiddle yard required levelling, some coaches just rolled to the other end and it was a while until we could catch up on some things we should have done before the show opened(levelling, test run).  Roger was really good throughout at engaging with the public, answering questions and handing out leaflets about our exhibition and so on.  Of course Mrs ‘O’ Gauge was helping out with everything, including lifting, assembling and talking to visitors, must say all the family are very supportive.

 

The stock is all arranged by train, (one loco and three coaches), in a Really Useful Box.   There are seven boxes, one for each road on the Fiddle Yard.  Each box is divided into four sections using foam board and dress lining is used to protect coaches and locos.

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It took a lot of time to assemble the boards and the Fiddle Yard plus lots of nuts and bolts, so I think in future I’m going to build a box to hold two boards. The third board will have legs pre-fitted and sit on top of the box, and the fourth board will be independently standing. The Fiddle yard will be already assembled and will just require lifting in to place it is very light for its size due to the hollow box construction. This will mean I will have to hire a Luton van with a tail lift. Hopefully this additional cost can be met by the exhibition, about £5. I would like to take it out again once I have made the box.

 

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What do you think? I would be very interested in hearing other people’s experiences and tips as there doesn’t seem to be very much written on RMWeb about exhibiting a layout.

 

We managed to pack up the layout in under an hour so I’m fairly confident but now more of us know how it goes together in future so teams of two will easily assemble it all.

 

 

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Photos by Mrs O.

 

All the best for now.

Phil

 

 

 

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Everywhere you look there are jobs to do.  So, now I know where I’m putting the un-couplers I thought I would do the one at the end of the platform, (signal end), two coaches down from where the loco’s are uncoupled. Then I can remove the odd van, etc.

 

Couplings are Dinghams.  When I started I didn’t know what type of coupling I was going to use but I was fully intent on using three-link.  However, I did install Spratt and Winkle magnets under the track just in case.  This turned out to be a good thing. They are all at the end of sidings where trains are unlikely to pass. The un-couplers on the main line are all going to be Dinghams electromagnetic, and I’m just starting to tackle them.  

 

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In the first picture you can see my revised method of mounting electrics.  As much as possible is fitted to a 10mm piece of ply, this piece is an off-cut from the tunnel mouth.  Luckily just about the right size.  One side has a piano hinge and the other has a magnetic door catch.  If there’s a problem I can simply pull it down rather than laying on my back in poor lighting - and without my arms aching.

 

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All points and accessories are controlled by a DCC system - this is completely separate from the DCC system for the locomotives.  Each board has a decoder and only seven connections are required per board.  The track power is two, plus one more for a point that is very close to the edge of the board; isolating the frog would have weakened the track.  Then there’s a 5-pin din plug that carries the DCC signal and a 15 volt supply.

 

In the picture you can see the eight-way decoder, (only one way used on this board), ringed in green.  When the yellow button is pressed on the control panel, a transistor turns on, starting the timer ringed in blue.  The un-coupler will stay on until you release your finger, it will then stay on for a further 6 - 10 seconds, giving you time to put your hand back onto the controller and drive off.

 

The power supply (yellow) has an On/Off pin - this is used via an opto-isolator (red) / timer to energise the un-coupler.  I bought lots of these from China, cheap as chips.  The timer is from an electronics wholesaler and is really meant for school children - again very low cost and convenient.

 

Also in picture two you can see 12v power supplies for the station building and an SD card player that plays nice, relaxing sounds of the sea - breaking waves and gulls.

 

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Total electric uncouplers four, marked with a green centre - permanent magnets are marked with a yellow centre.

 

The other job this week was to find a way to attach the skirts quickly.  The skirts were ordered by ‘Mrs O Gauge’ Julie, (her domain), specially made for the layout.  They have 2” Velcro strips at the top.  I had a corresponding Velcro strip on a 3” wide piece of ply that bolted onto the legs.  In my quest to reduce set-up time I have bought a pair of hinges - spring loaded, just the one pair for now, just to try it.  Seems ok, so I’ll order some more.

 

 

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Happy Modelling 

Phil

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Thank you for your kind remarks.  The point rodding stalls are MSE, now part of Wizard.  Bourton seems to be coming along very nicely, really like the buildings, station, signal box. I’m following with great interest.  

One more pack of stalls should see it done but I’m going to have to take a break for a little while as we are looking to move this year.

Cheers 

Phil

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Hi Phil, I did a lot of exhibitions some years ago with an 0 gauge layout you do sort out a sort of routine for exhibitions. At the time we used three links for coupling. They can be fiddly we found it easier to operte from the front and it seemed to suit the public too. For our club exhibiton layout we have adopted Dinghams' (it will be at Highbridge SEGGOG exhibiton next Weekend), these are best worked handed so each item of stock has to be the right way round. The fiddleyard uses cassettes so you cannot simply turn a train round in the FY. We adopted seperate cassttes for the engine and the train these plug together so once a train arrives the loco on its cassette can be moved from one end to the other ready for its necxt turn or  a different loco can be used. 

 

Don

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  • 1 month later...

Well, thanks to China we’ve got an enforceable modelling extravaganza, I’m expecting to see lots of fabulous models.  Some already within these pages.

We would have put our house on the market by Easter but that’s not going to happen now.  Following the exhibition I had to remove all my railway stuff so that prospective buyers could see the floor.  That kept me busy for a few weeks, that and wandering around other people s houses.  Still no idea where we want to move to.

Anyway as the great upheaval is on hold, got some modelling bits out.

First off I bought a railcar some time ago and the gentleman who sold it to me just put it in a big box and sent it by the great destroyer Hermes.  I’ve been putting off repairing it for some time now but as time is plentiful at the moment I had a go at it.  Then I thought I should put a few pictures on here so that some of the younger might be encouraged to have a go as a couple of the jobs are quite common and we do want some more under 60s.  

 

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First up was to replace a nut that holds the floor on. The nut is fitted upside down from the inside  A 6ba was placed on an 8ba screw, placed through the hole from the inside and held by a pair of pliers.  Then liquid flux was brushed on.  Next a blob of solder was picked up on the iron, this solder can be quite a low melting point as you might not get a lot of heat to the joint.  Now when the solder is applied to the nut the flux will burn off and the molten solder will be drawn in by capilliary action. Remove the iron and after a few seconds you can lower the screw. If you time it right the screw will not be stuck on the nut.  Then it’s just a case of re-threading the nut.

 

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Next was to replace the windows that had come out .  I like the deluxe models window glue.  In awkward  places apply glue to both surfaces, leave until tacky then hold in place until set. To get inside the cab I used a clothes peg, the rounded end on the glass , a spacer at the other end and a clamp in the middle.

 

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No spacer in picture but just something that wouldn’t damage the model.

Fitted compartments, cleaned motor and gears, added  driver and guard etc.

"

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Didn’t repair the shafts as I wanted to use an ABC diesel drive but they are closed until the end of May - does anyone know if they still make them?  Also any recommendations for a Zimo sounds file.

 

Next up 4000 gal Tender bought at the spring show.  Just got started on it.

 

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 Thanks Alan, I think that there’s quite a bit in common in some respects between our layouts but I would prefer mine to be a bit smaller. At the moment it’s stored away and I can’t see it until this Covid 19 is over.  Normally I can only get two boards out at once.

When I started I had a vision of looking through trees and bushes in the foreground, just like a picture I saw of a Great Western B.L.T.  This will have to be one of the last jobs, though.  Must say you’ve cracked on with Blakeney and very nice.

 

Hi Ade. I should have returned the railcar as soon as I saw the state of it but I think it is so GWR.  There’s a well known picture of a railcar at Dymock.  To me it just captures the essence of a Great Western Branch line.  Just had to have one.

 

Those bits I put in about soldering etc., are they any use or is it a case of granny egg sucking?

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Don, hope you had a good time at the exhibition, looks like you got in just at the right time.  As you can see I also use Dinghams but I didn’t want to use cassettes as the weight and length of a three coach train can be a bit precarious, so I have a fiddle yard that rotates 180 degrees.  With this in mind the locos for passenger trains have a hook at both ends, therefore not being uni-directional.  You only have to run round at the platform end. Some goods trains have the conventional hook and eye, so half the wagons in the yard can be shunted in the first half cycle and the others in the second half of the cycle.  

 

More on the fiddle yard later as it’s going to take me a little while to write it up.

 

Now, have you ever been driving when you’re a little low in petrol?  Well, I did that at the spring show - but not with petrol but solder. I wasn’t really going to get much but ended up buying a Tender, wheels and a decoder plus a few little bits.  So I thought I would be restrained and anyway I had enough solder to last until the next show.  Then of course the lockdown started and there were no shows!  The Post around here is almost at a standstill at the moment, our usual postman has been off for four weeks and the replacement has a bit of an attitude.  In any case there seems to only be a delivery every other day and usually only one item.  A 48 hour registered letter took 2 weeks - still, these are challenging times.  I have ordered some from a few sources and it won’t be wasted, I would expect lockdown to last a few more weeks/ months?  Bit frustrating, can’t house hunt, layout locked away and no solder but plenty of time - how ironic.  Always seems to be the same, if you have something you want to do you don’t have the time, if you have the time you don’t have the money, if you have the money you don’t have the solder!

Still we must keep soldering on.   Ooh that’s really bad but couldn’t resist it!

Ps.  I don't really speak so slowly. I think it's quarter speed ( the video) but you can see roughly how it works.

 

Phil

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