RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted January 10, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2018 p.s. I'm now going back to coding the single-sided tandems in Templot, because I don't feel I'm helping this topic. Martin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 (edited) I'm sure both options can be made to work and will be fun to operate. One thing that isn't obvious to me is where the ash pits are. These are obviously a key part of "the flow". Cheers Dave No idea.... Looking at my shed books, Kings Cross had them near the coaler as did Hornsey. Hatfield were next to the turntable. Can't see any in New England, but they must there somewhere. Grantham appears to follow the coaling stage. As such there doesn't appear to be any hard and fast rules. Maybe others can tell me where to stick 'em...... Edited January 10, 2018 by gordon s Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 p.s. I'm now going back to coding the single-sided tandems in Templot, because I don't feel I'm helping this topic. Martin. You are helping, but I'm pretty confused by the whole thing now.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted January 10, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 10, 2018 In option 1 would a link line from the line by the water tower to the line from the coaler to the turntable help for locos not requiring turning or if the table failed. Sorry I can't do a sketch as I don't currently have an internet connection to my pc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 10, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2018 I have learnt to leave one half of the foot intact, and by using the EMGS switch rail filing jig, it has made it easier to file them up. The benefit is that it will makes the solder joint (whatever system you use) much stronger. Even without the jig its not much more effort doing it than not. Still each to their own, if we all did the same life would be very boring This has also been discussed on the Castle Aching thread very recently:http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107713-castle-aching/?p=2988754 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted January 10, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2018 Gordon, Possible slight simplification to option 1 - just a suggestion, but I do like outside single slip diamonds! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 (edited) 65 years ago an excited 5 year old woke up on Christmas morning and eagerly unwrapped his presents, After all that was done and the floor was covered in Christmas paper along with the obligatory orange, my late father took my younger brother and I by the hand to our front room. Of course in those days, the front room was reserved for special occasions so I wondered what was happening. He opened the door and on the floor was sheet of 8 x 4 hardboard with a figure of eight track and a couple of sidings. Unknown to me my father had worked long hours into the night making buildings out of odd scraps of wood and hardboard. They were painted in grey and he had patiently cut out odd signs and railway adverts and stuck them onto the station building.The track was three rail from Trix and the loco was a freelance 0-4-0 along with four wagons and a couple of coaches. The sheer joy that train set gave me was immeasurable and a railway modeller was born.Fast forward to today and I'm lucky enough to have my own home, a dedicated railway room larger than any room in my childhood house, far too many locos and a wardrobe full of unopened boxes of wagons and coaches bought whilst I was working in anticipation of retirement and building my dream layout, but something is missing.Railway modelling is a broad spectrum and whatever gives you pleasure is fine by me. None of the vast range of possibilities is better than the other, they're just different. I hate to do this, but I need people to understand where ET sits. At one end you have modellers who have their set track and straight from the box loco's and at the other there are those who take painstaking care to produce a world in miniature.There's nothing wrong with either of those ideals as we are all different and I can only repeat, if it goes someway to recreate the absolute joy of modelling as a child, then it's fine by me.I guess ET sits in the middle and I have tried very hard to build something I dreamed of all those years ago. This thread has run 10 years and I've had a lot of laughs along the way. There been numerous attempts to build something, most if not all of which have ended in failure for one reason or another.I've learned a lot from numerous people, but Martin has taught me a lot about track work and encouraged me to build my own. Mike has taken hours of his time to explain what happened on the real railway and I would never have got this far it wasn't for the help those two in particular have given, along with dozens of other contributors over the last 10 years.So what is this about? Try as hard as I can, I have failed to really put across where ET sits. I'm not at the Pendon End of the spectrum, nor am I at the RTR end. I stress again that all these forms of modelling are equal and I dislike intensely any talk of elitism or one is better than the other. If they bring joy to the builder, then that is all that matters.The last few days have seen me spend hours on Templot on track layouts and an equal number of hours spent on RMweb explaining what I'm trying to achieve and asking for help. I can't fault the advice I have been given, but being in the middle of a wide spectrum inevitably means I cut corners and don't follow prototypical practice. That's mainly because I don't have the skill to produce such wonderful models and my attention span is pretty short. I spent my whole working life in sales and those of you in similar professions will know exactly what I mean. No two days are the same and priorities change continually. I thrive on that, so spending months and months on a small element of a layout to ensure prototypical accuracy is not part of my make up.Unfortunately that means I am caught between a rock and hard place. The important thing for me is to build something myself that looks like a railway. It will never be that perfect and funnily enough it will never leave home. Those who actually come here and have fun will be my family, their children and close friends. I hope they will stand back and admire what I have built and get a similar level of enjoyment to that I had as a child. They will know nothing about track gauges or all the other elements of our hobby and perhaps their world will be richer for not knowing these things.I've tried on numerous occasions to explain this philosophy to all, but seemed to have failed. What starts off as a simple question inevitably spills over several pages as here are no simple answers. RMweb has been a joy to me and I've made numerous friends on here, many of which I have shared a game of golf with and then played trains on their own layouts. One day I will be able to return their kindness with something similar.Being in the middle as it were, I suspect it has brought considerable frustration to those who offered to help, as try as I may, I am only able to take on 50% of the requirement. I want it to look reasonable, but again will take short cuts or do things my own way, if only to see some trains run in my lifetime. I almost want to feel that excitement I experienced as a 5 year old. Of course that will never happen as we now see models in a different light. Our imagination has been overtaken by purity and often things that fall short, take away that enjoyment. I can understand completely our need for accurate models, but know I cannot achieve that level of accuracy in everything I do.ET has run 10 years and again thanks to everyone for your support and the enjoyable times along the way, but I am going to close this thread and hopefully that will give me time to build my layout. Of course I will still ask questions, but I believe posting notes about ET is now causing more problems for me personally than it brings in return.It certainly won't go to the skip and one day things will run. Who knows when that day comes I may well post some pics up for old times sake. This is nothing to do with anything or anyone that has been involved over the last few days. It's my decision and mine alone. It won't matter to me if things are not 100% as I just want to enjoy watching my trains. I want my imagination to open up again and have a smile on my face, rather than spending hours pouring over a minute detail that 99% of the public won't even notice.The late Dave Shakespeare taught me a lot in the year or two we talked to each other. I've said this in another thread, but he used Peco track and a lot of RTR stock. His enjoyment came from producing a wonderful scene where everything looked just right. His buildings were not of Pendon standard, but they looked great. He was very proud of Tetleys Mills and rightly so. He achieved the Holy Grail. A layout that brought immense pleasure in both appearance and operation, but he did things his way rather than trying to achieve the impossible. I'll never forget his generosity nor his invaluable advice in building a model railway that simply looked right even though it was not accurate in every respect.If I can get anywhere near that standard, I'll be a very happy man, but if I can live with the level of my own abilities then I will be equally happy.Thanks for everything over the years. I've really enjoyed your company and banter, but I want to get on now and do some modelling. I've lost count of the number of times I've said this, but one day a train will run..... Edited January 13, 2018 by gordon s 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 All the very best Gordon, and your reasons, are one of the reasons I went back to Code 100 on Kings Moreton and just got on with the Build that I WANTED. Go for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted January 10, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2018 Good man! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmax Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 All the best Gordon, sad to hear you're leaving, but not surprised, when a social media thread starts to take over your life, and what you want to do, its time to stand back, re-charge your batteries and start to enjoy YOUR layout. Look forward to the up-dates, and thank you for your inspiration. All the best. Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted January 10, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 10, 2018 Thank goodness for that. At least my email box won't be overflowing with new post notifications. Do post some pics when your 'simple oval' Is finished though. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2018 Decision time.... This has surprised me somewhat. Here is Option 1 with the same buildings in place. The first thing that struck me is how much more spacious it feels. Without the diesel shed I've gained the best part of two feet. The other pleasant surprise is that the coaling stage has a smaller footprint than I had allowed, so it should be possible to get a direct line from the coaling road, rather than the relief road. The same issue applies re the empty coal wagon siding. It doesn't need to be that long and that may free up even more space. There's loads of room between the shed and coaling stage and the shed itself has a lot more room for additional loco storage which will go some way to disguise the plain wall. DSCF9100.jpg DSCF9101.jpg DSCF9102.jpg DSCF9106.jpg DSCF9109.jpg Any comments on the layout? Would this be acceptable in terms of prototypical design? How do the diamond crossings to the coaling stage stand up to scrutiny? I thought this was clear cut, but this has surprised me, so I shall have to sit quietly and consider which is the better option of the two. Gordon (if you're still here, I hope) this looks even better laid out like that than it did in the original plan and I reckon it ticks every box including the one (ashpit) you might have overlooked although I do have one query and i hope it isn't a deal breaker. The depot will work entirely prototypically (should you want that) if engines come on depot on the right hand line - then go straight to the coaler, coal, ahead through the crossover and reverse, then over ashpits alongside the coaler, then back to the turntable, thence to the relevant shed/storage road having turned if necessary. The turntable position has, of course, more than a hint of Nine Elms about it so there's a hint of real worldliness if you wish to emphasise that point. I do hope you decide not to leave RM web although in the light of recent hectic events I can quite understand why if you do go. It has been a pleasure and inspiration following the story of Eastwood Town and I would love to see it come to fruition because of the way it can be seen to be able to capture various parts of the essence of the GN mainline as some of us once knew it; it would be a great shame to miss that. However if you do go through with your departure I wish you all the best in bringing Eastwood Town to its final form and providing a layout which you can enjoy and use to take a trip through some memories of a long time ago. All the very best. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junctionmad Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I dont read his post to say he's leaving rmweb, merely that he is getting on with building his layout and not engaging in endless debate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 11, 2018 All the best Gordon, with whatever you do, but I hope that you will post some updates on ET progress from time to time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2018 Why not just bend the pin and solder it to the inside of the switch rail, less obtrusive? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2018 All good wishes to you Gordon. As a fellow 'large layout builder' (although nothing as complicated as yours!) l can quite understand your decision. We've been building since 2008 and our need to finish is paramount. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold unravelled Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2018 Another thank you for this inspirational thread, I'll be sorry to see it go. As a regular reader, but not follower, I've always looked forward to seeing progress. I hope the modelling, and golf, go well. All the best Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2018 Crikey. ET has been one of THE layout builds on RMweb since I joined 9 years ago. I haven’t been a regular visitor, simply because Gordon’s beautiful trackwork needed no praise from me, and watching it being built wasn’t going to get me off my arse to become a track-builder. But I feel your pain, knowing that you have something that is almost there, but all the RMwebbers in the world, and Martin Wynne helping you squeeze every ounce out of Templot, can’t quite get you the last mile. I hope that stepping back a little, drawing breath and going it alone will help you find the leap of inspiration that you need. Bon courage, mon brave. But do let your admirers know progress from time to time. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aardvark Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I've been a lurker on this thread for a few years now, maybe since page 50 or so. Even though I'm not venturing into building my own track, there are many tips and tricks that I have picked up from Gordon that will hold me in good stead in my own meagre efforts. Gordon has more track in his depot than I have in my entire layout , and I wish Gordon all the best in getting something running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 (edited) When a layout thread becomes a chatline, it's time to give up in my book. Jeez, there's more to life than that. I wish Gordon well. We have parallels and it is obvious he enjoys track-building, but then hits a wall. My gut feeling was it would end like this. I hit that wall last October. I suspect Gordon will achieve a lot more 'off-line'. There is a lot to be said for having ones track-lifting sessions and changes of mind in private. Edited January 11, 2018 by coachmann Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freebs Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Wish you all the best Gordon. I'm sure we all know exactly what you mean I can nowhere near compare myself to you, but I started building my layout back in 2011 and it's nowhere further forward than from that first day I pinned the pieces of set track to a small layout board Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I agree totally that you can spend hours on the web and achieve nothing (a bit like the 19 hole). In the end it is pointless building something you do not want/like. Perhaps putting this part of the project on the shelf for a while is the best option at the moment and concentrate on getting the circuit completed to allow trains to run could be the cure to the issues you are facing It would be tragic if the ET thread was lost, however giving it a break for a while and restarting it after some progress is made to the main run is the best thing. Good luck and hope to see some progress prior to the golfing season starts in earnest By the way 2 years since I picked up a club, hoping to take a couple of irons to the driving range next week now the house building is nearing the end internally, outside still work in progress!! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chimer Posted January 11, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 11, 2018 Time to enjoy your railway under Rule 1 (and golf if you must). All the best, and thanks for the ideas I've nicked already. Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 All the very best on the future layout building Gordon I think your spot on with what your doing and I can fully understand the reasons behind your decision. It's your layout , money and time that you are investing and what you achieve is all down to your good self. I think that sometimes one has to be a bit 'thick skinned' when posting ones efforts for others to observe and offer advice so that you can keep focused on your goal. Their are some members on here who have been led astray by so called 'experts' on this and other forums and it can cause a lot of heart ache and soul searching ...I think the modern term is 'social media stress' ....all the kids are suffering from it so your not alone. It would be nice if you could post updates of your progress in the future as I for one have gained a lot of inspiration from the thread along the years and I wish you all the very best in the forth coming building process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffP Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 I, for one, would be very sad and feel I'd lost something if ET thread disappeared. I hope you can at least keep us up to date? Why not post updates and ignore all resondees unless you have specifically asked for advice? ATB, Jeff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now