stu s Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hallo All! Having left home at 17 to go away to uni I ended up staying in North Somerset and thus left my beloved 00 layout behind at home Last Christmas my interest was re-kindled when my incredibly generous parents surprised me completely by giving me a Hornby Mallard passenger set!! Even at 34 my childish excitement got the better of me and within minutes the "trakmat" was laid out on the carpet and the Mallard was wizzing round and round with its rake of Pullmans swinging around wildly The last year has seen regular lurking visits to RM web, studious reading of Railway Modeller, watching of Modelrailway.tv and many man discussions with my dearest Wife about space and the possibility of putting a 6x4 layout in the spare room. Last week the dream became a reality and I began work on a pair of 4x2 boards to make an 8 x 2 shunting layout which is a happy compromise between my wife and myself! During my lurkings I was hugely inspired by Hugh L's et al's trackplans and followed the thread avidly to see what fantastic designs would appear next. The one below from Hugh is the chosen one. Thanks Hugh!! Base boards are somewhat over-engineered (read HEAVY) as I had 12mm ply in-stock down at the workshop so thats what was used. 12 mm tops glued and screwed onto a 2x1 pine block and ply sandwich "beams". The boards are joined at 4 foot using wooden dowels for alignment and loose pin hinges underneath to secure them together. I will be adding a piar of loose pin hinges to the front and rear skirts at the join to stabilise the joint as it is prone to opening up when one end or the other of the boards is weighted with the legs in the W formation. Legs are 2x1 pine and can be utilised either way up depending on the surface they are resting on. Slippy floor sees them used in a W formation and a grippy floor sees them in an M formation. The entire surface has been covered in 1/8" cork sheet which has been PVA'd down and weighted to ensure a firm bond. The boards look curved in the photo above but that is solely due to shooting on extra wide angle and thus the barrel distortion of the lens. Apologies for that. Track laying is progreesing apace (steal the odd hour here and there of an evening to maintain a high Browny Point balance ) And this is the stage this morning. Holes are drilled for point motors and points are pinned down. Rest of track left loose for the moment pending a test run, straightening and final shaping/positioning. The backscene boards are an integral part of the side skirts/beams. I thought it would be a good idea to make them extend 300mm above the level of the baseboard surface so the would afford the proposed yard light tower some protection when folded for transport. However.. I now have a 22 metre high wall towering over the layout!! I suspect I will end up cutting it down by half or there abouts or thinking hard to come up with a suitable scenic solution for it! I have a mixture of steam and diesel stock mostly bought in the early 80's apart from the Mallrd and the 08 Shunter. This is leading me towards a yard based on a ficticious large preserved railway which will allow me to use all of my stock. Alternatively it could be yard on the mainline somewhere nearby to me given that from March to October we have steam locos running the main line every Sunday. Due to the new start I am wiring it for DCC and have bought (possibly misguidedly) a Bachmann Dynamis controller. Progress will be slow but hopefully steady allowing for financial and time constraints. Feel free to comment. Cheers, Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwrman Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hi Stu, layout's looking good, my layout thread is called Tolgarrick Road which I must get back to. The name came from a road name near where I live, just an idea. Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Depot Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hi Stu Watching with interest, you have a bit more space to play with that what I could get so plenty of options to add more track if required I guess.. cheers Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu s Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hi gwrman, I think I may have just come up with a name... thanks for your idea I will mull it over for a couple of days before I decide for definate.. Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu s Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hi Stu Watching with interest, you have a bit more space to play with that what I could get so plenty of options to add more track if required I guess.. cheers Keith Hi Keith, Yep.. pretty fortunte with the 8x2.. Just out of interest where would you add more track? I would be interested to know your thoughts... I have mused about adding a siding from the line that leads to the forwardmost side of the proposed locoshed heading into the curved space in the centre front of the board. Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Depot Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Hi Stu Could You add an extra line between the shed and fiddle yard wall to make two sidings? I am not sure i would have had the shed at the front of the board either, may get knocked easy? If you could add the extra siding, why not put the shed on the back two lines against the fiddle yard wall and have two sidings infront? In some ways the more track you have the more options/movements you can make.... either way watching with interest to see how it works out.. good luck Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu s Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 Hi Stu Could You add an extra line between the shed and fiddle yard wall to make two sidings? I am not sure i would have had the shed at the front of the board either, may get knocked easy? If you could add the extra siding, why not put the shed on the back two lines against the fiddle yard wall and have two sidings infront? In some ways the more track you have the more options/movements you can make.... either way watching with interest to see how it works out.. good luck Keith Well after I read your post Keith I went and stared at the layout for a good while this morning and came to the same conclusion.... and duly added an extra line. I'm now debating shed positions and also having a second bigger unit for possible wagon/coach repairs... Bought a couple of pit kits today so now working out how to cut the 15mm slots in the board to take them. Cheers all, Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Depot Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Its a job and a half making the holes for the pits but they look good in place! I just wish I had looked at the options of adding lights in them when I was building the layout last year! Anyway good luck, will keep an eye on your thread for updates... cheers Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu s Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 Its a job and a half making the holes for the pits but they look good in place! I just wish I had looked at the options of adding lights in them when I was building the layout last year! Anyway good luck, will keep an eye on your thread for updates... cheers Keith I think I am going to have to wait until I get the service shed before I cut the slots and finalise the track position.... set my heart in the Bachmann one so hoping Father Christmas looks favorably on me Hoping my jigsaw will make short work of the slots when I get to that stage. Regarding lights Richard at the shop sowed that particular seed in my head today.... he mentioned putting grain of wheat bulbs in to light the pits but i am wondering whether cold hite led's might be better as it would mimic the fluorescent tubes you normally find in pits. The question in my mind is how on earth would I install them?? Any ideas gratefully received Stu Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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