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The past two years for little layouts have been a whirlwind with so many builds in so many locations and a trip to do a build in France, it’s left our show layouts being rushed and not totally what I wanted to build. Field view has been in my mind for a few years and after my amazing wife and family redesigned my workshop while I was working in France it’s given me an 11 ft space to play with. We have always built small layouts for shows and I guess in keeping with our name it showcased small layouts but Iv always wanted to go bigger , obviously not to big due to space transport and man power. But now we consider ourselves established it’s time to step it up a little. 
 

We decided to use Tim Horn for this build instead of our own boards, Tim has been a great Allie for us in the past few years with my father in law ( our carpenter) being unwell but thankfully on the mend. Tim’s boards are perfect for show layouts and we commissioned tim to build the 11ft x 16” scenic boards with full photo frames in 3 sections. The fiddle yard is in development. 
The scenic boards sit perfectly in the workshop. 
The scenic boards sit on a permanent frame while in the workshop and will have trestles when out at shows. So far we have built boards and fitted the backscene and positioned the control panel board. We are using a DCC concepts alpha central control unit for the points and a prodigy express for Locos. We are adapting a way to add extra ports for the prodigy to expand controller potential. 
lots more to do and lots of updates to follow. 
 

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Track laid this week using code 75 and Peco bullhead track. I do wish Peco world step up production on the bullhead system as it’s crying out for a 3 way. 
 

The water are has been cut out too I’m unsure if to wall this as canal or put embankments on it into a Dyke which there are lots around us even one runs under our drive but I think it’s a bit steep . Any thoughts always appreciated. 
also pictured are the splitters for the prodigy system. I’ve tested the front board panel on all 3 ports and it works with two handsets. Iv now added the rear triple port which I’ll test tomorrow. 
The point motors will with through the DCC conceits sniffer into the alpha box. I like to keep the wiring simple. 
There is also an overhead light system to go in which my brother in law who is a freelance electronics wiz Is developing to run everything in day to night with yard and buildings. Having worked in the spirit of Swindon layout I was so impressed with Wills lighting system I wanted to do something like that similar. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

More of a small update 

the canal/wash water section has been cut out and had wills walling added. Iv used filler to create a mud basin. Next is to blend some mud textures and colours in before adding the water.

the track has also been pre weathered before ballast is added in. 
On the electrics side of things the alpha central has gone back to dcc concepts with a fault so until then trains have been suspended. Hopefully get that back soon so I can fit the ground position signals on the left side of the layout. 
 

 

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9 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Hi Neil, Great to see you doing something for yourself and Shows again, I hope to catch up with you again soon before we move to the South Coast.

 

All the best.

Thanks Andy

moving to the south coast??  Sounds lovely where are you moving to. 

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11 minutes ago, mason said:

Thanks Andy

moving to the south coast??  Sounds lovely where are you moving to. 

Hi Neil, Just outside of Portsmouth and Southsea, over the Hill as they say.

 

It's where we moved up from in 2005 and all Dees 4 Children (aged 55 and 56 TWO sets of Twins 15 Months apart) 5 Grandchildren, and 6 Great Grandchildren are there. DON'T MENTION CHRISTMAS and BIRTHDAYS, haha.:o.

Edited by Andrew P
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6 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Hi Neil, Just outside of Portsmouth and Southsea, over the Hill as they say.

 

It's where we moved up from in 2005 and all Dees 4 Children (aged 55 and 56 TWO sets of Twins 15 Months apart) 5 Grandchildren, and 6 Great Grandchildren are there. DON'T MENTION CHRISTMAS, haha.:o.

Ah awesome sounds like you’ll have a house full then hope you will have a nice railway room to escape to 

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Just now, mason said:

Ah awesome sounds like you’ll have a house full then hope you will have a nice railway room to escape to 

Thanks, Yes I need a decent Shed / Garage as I want to keep Seven Mills Sidings and Argyle Street at the moment, plus I'm building Privett Green.

 

Last year I built and sold Bala Town in O Gauge, Kingsmill TMD, Mason Street Goods, and New Mills all in OO, and in 2018 I built and sold Pen Y Bont in O Gauge and Kings Moreton, a big roundy in OO, so I have been kept busy since my heart attack two years ago.

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19 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Thanks, Yes I need a decent Shed / Garage as I want to keep Seven Mills Sidings and Argyle Street at the moment, plus I'm building Privett Green.

 

Last year I built and sold Bala Town in O Gauge, Kingsmill TMD, Mason Street Goods, and New Mills all in OO, and in 2018 I built and sold Pen Y Bont in O Gauge and Kings Moreton, a big roundy in OO, so I have been kept busy since my heart attack two years ago.

Wow you have been busy 

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3 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Thanks Neil, Any new pics of progress?

Not yet the signals arrived today and my Alpha panel will be back in the morning so I’m going to concentrate on the electrics next week one evening 

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More of an update than the last

The alpha central is now back and refitted, DCC cobalt motors are now fitted and ready to wire and Iv now added the ground signals and exit signal on the left side. 
the right side will be on ground frame levers, probably not prototypical for a yard like this but I wanted to add a mixture of things. The signals are all traintech and look superb and are so easy to set up on the alpha system. The motors and signals all run off a separate accessory bus into an alpha sniffer which then has the alpha central plugged into that. Very simple.

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