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Llamberg Railway


Andymsa
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Well I have taken the plunge and decided to post my exploits with my current layout, but how to keep it interesting without going into every detail so your feedback and thoughts will be my guidance here into what you like to here about. There will be photos posted as I have taken many over the years and a picture speaks a thousand words as they say.

 

Some history first and my objectives for the future. As a child I had a few very basic layouts they never really came to much and as most teenagers I moved away from the hobby for many years with occasional dabbles here and there. Eventually I said to the boss one day how about a scalextrix set, I had fancied one for many years but the boss said a railway was better a decision she came to regret that one lol. The first layout was in our spare room but I was not happy with it and soon it was dismantled, I have a pitched roof above my garage and a move into there and another layout was started but still I was not happy. Both these layouts lacked one thing, size. I had always wanted a large railway and get all I wanted on it, it had to be big.

 

 I decided to build a purpose built building for the railway so started plans to build something. This was a huge undertaking as I decided to build it myself from scratch and took 11 months from start to finish and had to be inspected by the dreaded building inspector who was in fact very helpful and is built to such a standard that you could live in it. The size of the new layout would be 32x12 and a basic plan was drawn up, this was somewhat of an error some would say as no definitive plan was done it was just a concept and it just grew which is the case today which is why there have been so many changes to it over time. The Original concept was drawn from a continental modeller article about a Canadian who had a German layout which had the rule that when a train entered a tunnel you could not predict where it would re-appear from again, largely to this day I have achieved this to a degree. From the first layout I built in the spare room I took the route to go continental as I wanted to do something different from the norm as at that time uk trains were somewhat grey compared to European models, today that’s not the case and if I was starting out again I would go the uk route. After some years I extended the railway building to its current layout size. An L shaped layout 32x32. As part of this extension work the room was fitted with air con for several reasons and is relatively cheep to run, and it certainly saves the track in those very hot days although I do build expansion into the track anyways for backup which certainly came into its own when the Aircon developed a fault and was not working for a couple of weeks during a very hot period.

 

I did much research on how to construct the base boards, after I found a book by kalbach about base board construction. I adopted a method used by our friends across the pond, that was the L girder method, I found this method very adaptable and lends itself to changes very easily. The track baseboard is made up from 9 or 12 mm plyboard with Sundela board screwed and glued to it, i know there are those who don’t rate sundela that much but I like it. It has proven a good strong track base and reduces the amount of bracing needed. 

 

I have used 3 different track manufacturers, for all the hidden stuff it’s our old friend Peco code 100. For the viewed areas it’s Roco and Tillig, all the points are tillig. Tillig points have a nice feature that they are flexible and can be adjusted to fit most situations. I pin my track down onto a cork roadbed of 1.5 mm, one of the best places I have found to get the cork is 4d models as they sell it flat and not in a roll and is generally much cheaper than the railway shops. Additionally the sundela sheets are about £10 a sheet.

 

The layout is built on multiple levels and is based on a commuter station with a branch line serving a terminus, at this time I was hoping to have a massive goods yard but I may have to scale this back, more to come on this as I have yet again decided on big changes. This latest change I had been pondering about for some time but after seeing a video by Charlie bishop and ducking under layouts I have taken the plunge to get rid of a duck under, even although it destroys a somewhat finished area that only needed grass and ballast applied.

 

The layout is controlled by a Digitrax DCC system and is controlled by a computer for full or semi automatic or full manual control this is quite a subject in its self and will be covered at a later date. Additionally there is overhead catenary by sommerfeldt which does take some thought in planning.

 

I will stop here for the time being. Oh the title of the post is Llamberg which happens to be the layout name which translates from German as sheep mountain.

 

I hope this has not been to boring and hope to upload various photos in time with updates on progress. And I look forward to all or any comments positive or negative if I’m lucky to get any to guide how this thread develops.

Edited by Andymsa
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Two methods for terrain are used. One is a card lattice method. After the lattice is laid builders scrim is glued with pva. The scrim acts as a temp support for the mod roc. The other method is something new I have tried where a frame of foam board is made and expanded foam is used and modroc applied on that. Both methods have worked quite well. After mod roc has dried its then painted if grass is being laid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Andymsa
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27 minutes ago, simonmcp said:

Very impressive, some stunning modelling. Is that the Faller Bietschtal bridge? I have the kit and intend trying to make it with the curved deck like the prototype, do you think that would be possible?

 

Simon

Hi simon,

 

I have seen a you tube video of just what you want to do if I can find the video will send a link.

 

andy

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On 12/11/2020 at 14:15, Mick Bonwick said:

Love those trees!

 

The bridge looks impressive, too. How much modification did you have to do?


in all I now put over 800 trees in and have twice as much to still put in.

 

not much was needed to add the overheads, I used plastic I beams and square tubed plastic tube. The threaded part of the mast was inserted into the square tube and the deck it sits on. It is screwed onto the deck. There is a crossbeam that connects both sides also underneath if you can see it in photo.

 

 

Edited by Andymsa
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54 minutes ago, simonmcp said:

Very impressive, some stunning modelling. Is that the Faller Bietschtal bridge? I have the kit and intend trying to make it with the curved deck like the prototype, do you think that would be possible?

 

Simon


found this

 

 So yes I think you can put a curve

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New loco depot west end, east end not finished yet, I’m not quite happy with the colouring of the hard standing. There is more work to be done adding detail. The loco shed doors are fully operational as well as the traverser which  can either be manual or automatic control. There is also catenary installed. The concrete effect is flexible tile grout which is further coloured which I’m not quite happy with. Lightning towers are installed but not wired at this time.

 

 

 

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Edited by Andymsa
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  • 2 weeks later...

Andy

 

some of the photographs look like they are of real places - makes me rather jealous and the completed layout - assuming that ever happens :) - will be truly amazing!!!

 

on the subject of the steps the answer would be to think about a real platform  and I think you get the answers - would passengers be expected to walk along a platform a couple of feet wide with trains on one side and a big hole on the other side? If the answer is no then the steps need to be narrower or the platform needs to be bigger - perhaps sticking a couple of model people on the platform will help you visually?

 

Iain

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10 hours ago, WIMorrison said:

Andy

 

some of the photographs look like they are of real places - makes me rather jealous and the completed layout - assuming that ever happens :) - will be truly amazing!!!

 

on the subject of the steps the answer would be to think about a real platform  and I think you get the answers - would passengers be expected to walk along a platform a couple of feet wide with trains on one side and a big hole on the other side? If the answer is no then the steps need to be narrower or the platform needs to be bigger - perhaps sticking a couple of model people on the platform will help you visually?

 

Iain


thanks

 

good idea about the figures 

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