Dewchurch

[MrWolf]

A man walked into a bar.

 

Clang.

[Gopher]

28xx posing on the turntable at Dewchurch

[Gopher]

Clun Castle sitting in the Loco Yard.

 

Dewchurch may soon get dismantled.  I started the layout in 2007, my first venture into DCC.  I must have spent hundreds of hours building it and improving it over the years.  Best layout I have ever built, and the track plan is interesting to operate,  generally it all works well, and has been relatively problem free.

 

Problem is the layout is situated in a spare room. The room is long overdue for a makeover including a new window, new radiator, lick of paint, new flooring.   The room makeover cannot be achieved with the layout in place.  So it may be time to demolish it. 

 

When I built it, I never really intended it to be moveable/portable, or reconstructable.  For example my under board wiring is a sight to behold, very hard to work out wire runs, and which wires power the various elements of the layout and accessories.  I started off with good intentions, but had a big supply of yellow and blue wire so that was used for everything .   (Electrical fault finding is such fun, you can be sure the fault is in the yellow or blue wire somewhere,  and before now I have simply laid in new wire rather than try to trace and fix whatever is there) .   

 

So I think I will have to build a new layout  - Dewchurch Mark 3 (albeit with basically the same tweaked track plan, which works quite well in limited space).  This will give me the chance to rectify a few things  I am not happy with on this layout (including my confusing wiring), and I should be able to reuse the buildings, trees, hedges, signals,  bridges etc, and hopefully  the point work, point motors etc, and possibly some of the baseboards.   

 

Having said all that,  the thought of dismantling it brings me out in a cold sweat.  My previous layouts had to be demolished because we were either moving house or they were crap.  

 

I may still chicken out (I've been resisting taking this step for at least two years despite the occasional nudge from my wife).   I love most elements of layout building, especially the scenic side.  The thought of installing and wiring 28 Tortoise point motors,  does not thrill me however.   I also remember much head scratching trying to work out how to wire the double slips and three way points for DCC.  I managed it in the end, and probably still have my notes and diagrams somewhere, plus this forum is full of help.   I'll also need to build a new control panel as I do not use DCC to power my point motors and signals, but should hopefully be able to reuse the toggle switches from my existing home made panel. 

 

Have to stop now, cold sweat started.          

 

 

 

       

 

      

 

  

Edited April 2, 2021 by Gopher

[MrWolf]

That's not good news, but I suppose that we all think (unless we are builders of exhibition layouts) that the layout will be forever when we build it.

Even so, most of us have built more than one. I'm on number four and I have had a 20 year break. 

If you do have to dismantle Dewchurch, I'm certain that it's replacement will be even more impressive and entertaining along the way, as well as showing the rest of us some new modelmaking skills.

[Gopher]

9 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That's not good news, but I suppose that we all think (unless we are builders of exhibition layouts) that the layout will be forever when we build it.

Even so, most of us have built more than one. I'm on number four and I have had a 20 year break. 

If you do have to dismantle Dewchurch, I'm certain that it's replacement will be even more impressive and entertaining along the way, as well as showing the rest of us some new modelmaking skills.

Thanks Rob.  I keep looking at the layout and thinking I don't want to touch it.  Plus it is amazing how often I pop into the room to run a train (normally when I should be doing something else), so I'll miss not having a layout to run whilst the room is getting sorted.

 

I am pretty sure I cannot show anyone on here new modelmaking skills, but very kind of you to say that.  I normally find that my new layouts fix some of the known problems with the old layout but then mysteriously introduce some new problems.  The current layout is my fourth in 30 years.  I normally build them quite quickly, and then spend years trying to improve what I have done.   At the moment the layout is still intact but have started to accumulate some storage boxes (just in case ).            

[Gopher]

Robinson 04 parked in the head shunt at Dewchurch

[MrWolf]

Very nice indeed. I see that the weeds have gone mad while you have been away. 

[Gopher]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Very nice indeed. I see that the weeds have gone mad while you have been away. 

Thanks - yes they have.  Just can't get the staff to keep things under control.  From what I can see most figures on the layout are bone idle, never seem to move let alone tackle the undergrowth.   

[MrWolf]

I thought that there was only this bloke left running the station due to BR economies and he's too busy dealing with rumours that a gang of schoolgirls have nicked a train...

 

 

 

[M.I.B]

I have no idea how I ever missed this wonderful layout!   I am only halfway through the  posts and totally in awe of the buildings, weathering and figures.

 

Did you hand make the cleaners' platforms and steps for the shed?

[Gopher]

35 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

I have no idea how I ever missed this wonderful layout!   I am only halfway through the  posts and totally in awe of the buildings, weathering and figures.

 

Did you hand make the cleaners' platforms and steps for the shed?

Thanks so much for the lovely feedback.   The cleaners,  platforms, steps, static boiler are  all from white metal kits - I think possibly Roger Smith.       

[Gopher]

Model Rail/Rapido 16xx Pannier sitting in loco yard spur.  Lovely model  

[lmsforever]

It is a difficult decision to take ,breaking up a layout but look at it this way a new one can contain all those things you now want or new buildings etc.My own humble activities have seen quite a few creations that have been fun building but when operated crap hence my progress to my current thing that occupies the shed.I dont think I shall break this one up but it will be modefied now and again with new buildings rolling stock but not majorly changed.Your layout has given me great pleasure following its progress and the scenery has given me ideas as to how to redo problem areas.What ever you do thanks for showing an interesting and well built creation. Chris

[Gopher]

17 hours ago, lmsforever said:

It is a difficult decision to take ,breaking up a layout but look at it this way a new one can contain all those things you now want or new buildings etc.My own humble activities have seen quite a few creations that have been fun building but when operated crap hence my progress to my current thing that occupies the shed.I dont think I shall break this one up but it will be modefied now and again with new buildings rolling stock but not majorly changed.Your layout has given me great pleasure following its progress and the scenery has given me ideas as to how to redo problem areas.What ever you do thanks for showing an interesting and well built creation. Chris

Thanks Chris for your kind words.  I agree with you about the opportunity to improve the bits which make me cringe, and fix operating faults which drive me to drink.  Of course law of sod also dictates that the current layout is actually running pretty well at the moment, really has been behaving itself, almost as if it knows that I am thinking of dismantling it.   

[Gopher]

Kidwelly Castle also sitting in the loco yard spur awaiting next turn of duty  - rostered for the Cathedrals Express (engine change at Dewchurch). 

[Gopher]

One from the archive - 

[Gopher]

Sir William A Stanier receives some love and attention

[MrWolf]

I do love these atmospheric shots. There's so much going on, but it's created in such a way that it doesn't look cluttered, which I think is down to skill in observation of the real world.

[Gopher]

Couple of views of the Dapol Mogul sitting on the turntable road 

[Graham T]

I've got one of those on the way.  How do you rate it?

[Gopher]

2 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I've got one of those on the way.  How do you rate it?

I have two models of the Mogul, and have encountered some initial problems Graham.  First couple of models had to be replaced by the retailer because of a circuit board issue (I had a bit of a rant on the Dapol Mogul thread about this a few months ago).  I have also had problems with the front pony truck derailing on one model.  I fixed this by replacing the wheels with Alan Gibson replacements.  I also had some sound issues with the loco/tender connection i.e.  I had disconnected the tender on one model numerous times,  this seemed to lead to a poor connection which meant the sound tended to distort or disappear (speaker in the tender).  I fixed this by smothering the connection (Plug and socket) in electrical grease.         

 

Having said all that I love both models.  Both now run very smoothly.  I have one factory sound fitted version and another with a Digitrains Manor sound project installed.  Very happy with the sound and driveability of both.  I cannot comment on the prototypical accuracy of the models, but I think they look good (especially after I had weathered both of them).  They are climbing up the leader board of my favourite locos in my collection.   I think Dapol have done a great job.  

 

        

[Graham T]

Thanks very much for that, useful to know.  I don't have sound fitted to mine.  In fact, my layout is still in the very early stages - I'm still laying track and don't even have any power to it yet!  I'll be getting myself an NCE Procab, as recommended by a few others on this forum.

 

By the way, I should have said before - I'm very impressed with Dewchurch!  Lovely modelling.  And you've got quite a stable of locos

[St Enodoc]

54 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I'll be getting myself an NCE Procab

I hope you mean the PowerCab, which is the starter set. The Procab on its own won't do you any good - it needs other bits and pieces to make a workable system.

[Graham T]

Yes, you're right - that's exactly what I meant.  Slip of the brain!

[Gopher]

6 hours ago, Graham T said:

Thanks very much for that, useful to know.  I don't have sound fitted to mine.  In fact, my layout is still in the very early stages - I'm still laying track and don't even have any power to it yet!  I'll be getting myself an NCE Procab, as recommended by a few others on this forum.

 

By the way, I should have said before - I'm very impressed with Dewchurch!  Lovely modelling.  And you've got quite a stable of locos

Best of luck with the layout, and thanks for the compliment.

 

Locos -yes I think I have too many, and try to adopt a one in one out policy to keep the numbers down.  I am finding this increasingly difficult.  My wife asks occasionally how many locos have you got ?  The obvious answer less than the pairs of shoes you own (although I am not sure that is true anymore).