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SRman
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Thanks for the compliments, Peter, but the Kernow one does highlight the things that are wrong with my kit-build/conversion!! My lack of flush glazing on the sides sticks out, and the fuel tank area and lack of spoke wheels also seem rather obvious when they are side by side. Still, I am happy with what I have achieved ... just aware of shortcomings too. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

At long last, I'll have some more Underground trains to run on DCC.

 

Spent several hours this afternoon soldering a TCS T1 decoder into my Harrow Models F stock driving motor coach, after receiving a second Black Beetle motor and fitting that with a home made plasticard adaptor arrangement. As I have already proved with the CO/CP stock, one decoder is perfectly able to cope with two Black Beetles. The operation took rather longer than I thought it would but it works perfectly on test.

 

Simultaneously, I have been building and painting an F stock single-ended driving motor (unpowered) and I still have to build two (or three) centre trailers to make a four car (or later, a five car) unit.

 

I am also going to do the same thing with the Q23 driving motor coach, likewise now with two Black Beetle motor bogies. The wiring will be less symmetrical in this one as I intend to hide the decoder in the end non-driving (guard's?) compartment. I have had this one running around on DC with its four other coaches (another Q23, a Q27, a Q31 and a Q38, to make a five car train) quite happily now for an hour or so. Will tackle the decoder fitting this evening.

 

While all bar the original double-ended F stock motor are not yet glazed it is an encouraging development for me. With storage or running space for five LT trains, I can now (or, at least, after this evening!) muster four full and one half LT trains on DCC: the five car Q stock, five car CO/CP stock (with a sixth trailer still in its box), two out of four or five cars of F stock, and two LT pannier tanks with assorted wagons.

 

Still to be converted to DCC are two motorised tube trains of 1938 stock (EFE).

 

Still to be built are an A60 stock train of four cars, 2 x C69 trains of four cars (Little Bus Company and Fleetmaster kits), while still to be motorised is a four car 1959/62 tube train (EFE).

 

Not all of these will fit on the layout at once but I am happy to be able to have a full roster on the LT lines whenever I want to now. However, until I get the high level tracks running, the LT lines will continue to host my main line stock as well.

 

Photos showing the results so far:

 

First two show one of two the Q23 motor driving coaches I have - this one is unpowered and the other has the two Black Beetles on board - and the 1938 CO/CP stock. The lack of glazing shows up badly here!

 

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These next two pics show all three passenger EMUs, Q stock at left with Q27 driving motor (unpowered) leading, Q27 trailer car next, then the powered Q23, followed by Q38 trailer and unpowered Q23 DM. The numbers refer to the nominal year the coaches were built. To the right, in the platform, are the two coaches of 1920 F stock, and on the right of the platform is are the two trains of 1938 CO/CP stock running in multiple to make a five car train.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Things have been a little quiet of late, due to minor illness - I get home from work and don't want to do anything else because of a cold hanging on.

 

I have achieved a little more today though. I countersunk the fourth rail a little further on the first experimental bit I laid and it is now level with the tops of the running rails so is no longer causing any problems.

 

I have now cut down and glued the retaining walls behind the station. They still need some work to blend in the joints between sections and then a bit of weathering and some top wall capping to complete them.

 

I have also loose laid some more ballast. It is still a little light in colour but will look better once glued down and weathered a bit. It still looks a lot better than having no ballast at all!

 

In the first two pics you can see how the retaining walls are before and after my mods; that to the right is in original condition. The top parapets that I have created are attached to the lifting section on the upper level and are not glued to the lower sections.

 

Note also that I have now cleared some of the stock off the front temporary lines that still show the approximate alignment of the upper level tracks to come.

 

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Below, the overbridge and its supports are temporary place-holders only so these parts are still to be done in their final forms.

 

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As can be seen in the next photo, the shorter length of LT stock lends itself to models with sharper curves!

 

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Edited by SRman
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Jeff a couple of things on how to get a better photo out of the Nikkon camera! Set the main wheel (top right to A, for appature which you need to set as high as possible F22) then put the timer on to the camera (switch under the main wheel) it is about 10 seconds. You will need to have a little tripod/ fix the camera on the layout. hit the shutter and wait.....about 10 seconds.... You will find that the depth of field increases massively. Have a bit of a play and every one will see the layout better!

 

Doug

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Thanks Doug. I haven't played much with those settings as yet. Since you and I have the same camera it makes the learning process a lot easier.

 

Ahhh, bring back the days where everything was manually set - I knew what I was doing then and there was no 'intelligence' built in to the camera to override what I chose!!!! :)

Edited by SRman
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Very busy layout. I'm glad it is you operating it and not me !! I do like the corner layout design, it's something I have taken akin too. Hopefully one day the layout I'm currently building will grow in length, or I'll have to build a second one !! (but this will depend on the mrs !)

 

Cheers and nice work.

 

Gary.

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Thanks Gary. I settled on the corner design for a few reasons, the main ones being that it was a good use of the available space while allowing me to retain some book shelves and storage on the other side of the room, and also keeping most of the layout narrow enough to be reachable from the front. Doug mounted it on the casters so that it could be wheeled out in the event that I need to get at something behind the layut in tunnel, although I have also left it open underneath so as to be able to reach in if needed. I can crawl under it occasionally but the design was intended to avoid the 'crawl-under' that had to be negotiated every time I wanted to operate my old layout.

 

There are compromises, of course, so the curve radius is smaller than I would like but is still no less than third radius (approx. 20 inches) for the running lines, a little less on that siding I added. The upper level fiddle/storage yard will be fully scenicked as it will be visible to viewers and also reachable from the front of the layout.

 

I had a call from Brian, the BRMA Victorian coordinator, yesterday, asking if I could host the August BRMA meeting, so if anyone is planning a visit to Melbourne around that time, drop me a line.

Edited by SRman
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AHHH the Brian Shanghi....

 

I think the balast may need to be toned down a little. The Barry Norman DVD you have at the moment he uses the leather:matt black mix very thined down to tone down the brightness. I think we could do that with an airbrush depending on what you are doing over Easter! Then there was the chocolate (very appropriate over easter... where is that bunny) to paint the sides of the rails and the Conductor. May be the leather/black mix might just tone down the insulators!

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Yes, I still have to paint the third and fourth rails and their 'pots'. The ballast very definitely needs toning down but that will have to wait until I actually glue it down! Even so, Doug, we may well be able to do something over Easter as I'm not planning too much away from home. :)

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Here I am again, reporting another small amount of progress on laying the third and fourth rail. I have now got to the stage where I am also gluing it down. I am using the Scale Four Society end ramps on the third rail only. There are several different treatments possible for the fourth rail depending on a whole heap of factors on the real thing, so I have chosen the simplest using photos as a guide. Even so, I need to file down a couple of bits of rail rather like a point blade, to merge with the centre rail to form a 'V' section in the middle of the points.

 

One thing I will say though: it is very tedious putting those chairs on to each rail individually!

 

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Edited by SRman
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You're right it can be tedious.

 

When I am laying the 3rd Rail on Bishops Park I usually do it in batches of four pots, cut, stuck in, rail slid across etc. Then rinse and repeat. The overall effect is very worth while, you're making me consider turning my 3rd Rail layout into a 4th Rail one as well! :D

 

Perhaps I'll just convert the bay platform... Keep up the good work its fantastic and inspires people like me to carry on with their own bits & bobs.

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

Edited by Matloughe
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Thanks for the compliment and for your inspiring words, Gary. In your case, doing just a bay platform would simplify things as you won't need to arrange any 'branching' bits of fourth rail as I need to do.

 

I have also just spotted that the Q27 DM needs its shoe beams fitted!

 

I'll look forward to seeing more progress on your own layout too, Gary. :good:

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The centre conductor rail - have you used standard Peco components to lay it down or have you got a custom set up? I am thinking of laying 4th Rail on the bay road of my layout however I am wondering if it'll be an issue with stock getting snagged on it thats all - have you had any issues with the centre rail? I am using Peco Code100 track, and was considering using the Peco Conductor Rail & pots but not using the spacers underneath the pots to lower the height of the negative rail but still have it off of the sleepers themselves - if that makes any sense. :D

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

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Gary, I have used the Peco components (pots and code 60 rail). I have not used the spacer washers and I have drilled all the holes the same size as the 'pot' diameter to allow the lot to be countersunk enough to make all the rail tops level, or very nearly so. This was to allow for track cleaning with a track rubber or with the Dapol motorised cleaner - if I left the third and fourth rails above the running rails, as per the prototype and Peco's intended use of their components, then only the third and fourth rails would have been cleaned and there was a serious risk of the Dapol machine getting snagged.

 

The wisdom of my decision was vindicated when I ran a Bachmann class 166 as a gauging train and it 'beached' itself on the bit of fourth rail that I hadn't sunk at that stage! The 158/159/166 units have a very low gear housing that will catch on the fourth rail if laid as Peco intended - no doubt there will be others as well, the Dapol/Hornby Terrier comes to mind, although I haven't tested mine yet.

 

Since the photos I have added the 'V' rails in the centres of the first two points. There will be a couple of refinements applied when I do the remaining seven points, as I learn better what needs to be done.

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Adding just a little more to the previous updae, I have now made the junction 'V' sections for the two outer points and added a short third rail section, this time eschewing the ScaleFour ramps because of the shortness of the section. I started painting the rails too but the rest will have to await gluing the ballast down - the loose ballast sticks to the paint brush, otherwise!

 

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Edited by SRman
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  • 2 months later...

Stepping back a little in time, back to February 2012, in fact, here is a video for your entertainment showing two Bachmann 2EPBs, 5765 leading 5770, running in multiple (a DCC consist) and my then new Dapol class 22 diesel-hydraulic, D6315, hauling a mixed parcels train - this loco is a limited edition weathered example from Kernow Models.

 

I have, of course, continued the ballasting and started the third and fourth rail laying since this vid was taken (see my pics in previous posts).

 

While there is still a lot of work to do, as you can see, I have managed to obtain good smooth running, notwithstanding the tight (for me!) curves.

 

 

 

th_Bachmann2EPBsandDapolClass22.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

A small update: yesterday I had a day off work (officially a day in lieu for work I did earlier). While I didn't achieve a great deal, I did some more loose ballasting of the remaining tracks for the LT lines, although there is still a bit of the siding to complete yet. It does make the layout look more complete, even though there is still an awful lot to do.

 

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Wow! Jeff for some reason I missed this thread - EMU's Underground and last but not least cats - It takes me back to when i built my first layout Pentreath with my sadly now departed 2 cats would spend hours in the room and happily sit on a stool watching the trains with an occasional gentle tap of an item of rolling stock!

 

It looks like you have hours of fun with the layout- what a busy place your station is!

 

I will follow this thread now - keep up the good work!

 

XF

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Thanks Nigel and Mark. Progress has been rather slower than I would like but, then again, I'm not in that much of a hurry! I will be happier once I can separate the BR stuff from the LT tracks though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Photos of further progress with the LT platform construction:

 

1. The home-made skrawking tool cut from a bit of scrap brass. The square edge runs against the platform edge and the two "saw teeth" each scratch a line along the platform parallel to the edge and each other.

 

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2. A platform segment (40 thou plasticard) with one edge skrawked and partially scraped to remove the textured paint.

 

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3. A pic showing the platform segments in both treated and untreated forms. The edges have been painted with Humbrol matt pale grey #64.

 

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4. Two pics showing the segments now treated but not yet glued down.

 

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5. Platform segments now glued down and aligned properly. there are a couple of joints to fill and level, plus the remaining paved section to complete, then I can level the buildings and canopies properly. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the way it has come out, though.

 

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The last thing to do after all that will be to add the corbelling - two courses of brickwork just below the platform edges.

 

P.S. I do know there are some anachronisms in that 'period' train with the LSWR M7! :D

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Hi Jeff,

Nice to see you gettinga bit done, I should be up for your meeting in a couple of weeks.

 

I see a problem though. Your fiddle yard isn't going to be big enough.lol

 

Cheers Peter.

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