Brixington Town 2.0

[dale159]

Been back out in the garage on a couple of occasions today armed with the trusty paint roller.

 

Nothing really worth photographing but most board sides have now had at least one coat of black, quite a few have had two although there are a couple of areas yet to see any, I may be able to make one more trip out there later on.

 

As for the suggestion made yesterday about the board rotation I have decided to stick to the original plan for the following reasons.

 

• I would have to build an extra pair of boards like the pair that go across the back wall, which I don't really have space to store.
• The track ends on the outer ends of the main three boards would still need to be square on as the track would turn in opposite directions depending on orientation.
• Because of that the corners will be quite sharp, hopefully not tighter than Peco 3rd radius, so it would be preferable to keep them off scene. 

Dale

[sml1983]

What about removable backscenes? You could have half relief buildings either side then a backscene for each side of the board which you would apply respective of where the layout is being displayed. 

 

The home use backscene could be applied direct to the wall.

[dale159]

What about removable backscenes? You could have half relief buildings either side then a backscene for each side of the board which you would apply respective of where the layout is being displayed. 

 

The home use backscene could be applied direct to the wall.

 

 

This is the other option I had considered, and still not ruled out just yet. It does actually give me a lot more flexibility in terms of track design and as you say It would just be a case of designing the backscenes in such a way that they can be fitted on either side, the corners would need to be treated as a separate case.

 

As for fitting the backscenes to the wall for home use, the wall isn't quite straight especially towards the door end of the garage so they would be best fitted to the boards.

 

The painting is now complete and the layout put back up so the next stage is to start laying the cork which I should hope to do over the next 2 weeks or so.

 

Dale

[dale159]

Progress has been slow lately, mainly due to work as usual.

 

I have been gluing cork down in a few places, so far I have done the two front corners and the two halves of the lifting section.

 

After much deliberation I have made a tough decision about the scenic section, its out with the idea of the rotating boards, the main reason for this being that the layout simply isn't long enough for it to work effectively, 12 feet x 2 feet is quite a small scenic area considered the total size of the layout, I think if I had 20 feet or so to play with this would have been more feasible.

 

Instead here is my new plan. A half relief station with 2 maybe 3 platforms long enough to accommodate about 5 coaches and a loco and at least 1 maybe 2 bay platforms long enough for a 4 car DMU, the rest of the layout will be station throat leading into a tunnel or under a bridge around the corner at the other end, there should be some space left over for a DMU servicing/fuelling area of some description, but nothing is finalised yet. 

 

As for the back scenes I intend to design them so that they can be fitted to either side of the boards for home and exhibition use.

 

The cork in the scenic area will only be placed where the track will go so I will need to finalise the track plan before this can be done, this leaves me with the three fiddle yard boards and the back left corner still to have cork put down, I may start track laying in these areas before concentrating on the scenic side.

 

Dale 

[class"66"]

Nice plans you have...

[dale159]

Nothing really worth taking a picture of, but I've just glued cork down on the first two main boards, bottom middle and the one to the right of it if you refer to the plan in my previous post. These will be left to dry over the weekend with some crates of heavy things and a tool box placed on top. These will most likely revealed on Monday afternoon.

 

Note to self - laying a single piece of cork measuring 4 feet x 2 feet is a job best undertaken by two people! Or as I discovered with the second board its far easier to roll the cork sheet up, square it up at one end and then unroll it making sure its straight down at least one side, there will be a small amount of excess to trim off when dry.

 

Dale

[dale159]

As promised from Friday

 

The two boards have now been revealed from the glue drying stage, most of the rough edges trimmed off.

 

The PVA bottle perched on top of the board is weighing down a small corner that didn't quite stick properly, subsequently that half empty bottle was replaced with a full 5 litre bottle.

 

Hoping to do the next board along and the corner board tomorrow.

 

Dale

[dale159]

More glueing this afternoon.

 

I have done the third fiddle yard board along with the left rear corner and the second of the two exhibition expanding borads.

 

All should be revealed on Sunday at some stage as that's my next full day off, not including tomorrow.

 

Dale 

[Marcus 37]

Yep, concrete blocks aren't very kind on drill bits. Lovely bit of woodwork though. Looking forward to seeing this develop.

Marcus

[dale159]

Fiddle Yard Cork Complete

 

As promised from Wednesday afternoon the boards which I'd left glueing have been unveiled and the layout put back together.

 

I suspect the time is approaching to start laying track in this area while I decide what I want to do with the scenic side, more on this soonish!

 

Dale

[dale159]

Been playing around with XtrkCad again, coming up with a design for the fiddle yard.

 

This is by no means the finalised design, the two spurs that come off the forth road may be extended around the corners depending on clearances with other tracks. This then may be applied to the first and seventh road too.

 

My aim is to make the most of the available space, being as I have quite a few 2 and 3 car DMUs as many of these short sidings I can squeeze in the better

 

I have also been to the local model shop where I purchased a box of Peco code 75 flexi track and 8 medium radius electrofrog points (4 left & 4 right).

 

I am also waiting on a delivery of 250 brass screws which I should have tomorrow, I have decided that this is the best way to secure the track at the end of each board, having tried copper clad strip and not got on with it too well.

 

So its off to the garage then, maybe some photos later!

 

Dale

[dale159]

More track design ideas

 

Didn't really get anywhere with track laying yesterday as I didn't have the brass screws, which were delivered this morning.

 

Having posted an intended plan for the fiddle yard yesterday I tried to work out how the throats might work out on the boards, this proved tricky with the hardware I had so I resorted back to XtrkCAD.

 

First I designed the left hand end, with the intention of making the right hand end a mirror image.

 

However, this isn't posiible due to the addition board joint for the removable section at this end, I didn't fancy cutting a double slip in half!

 

The tightest radius is just over 39 inches, which is substantially larger than Peco Settrack curves.

 

The inner most siding at each end extend just over the centre board joins so that if the layout is exhibited in its expanded form these sidings too would each gain 50cm.

 

I also need to work out where the I need to drill holes for rail joiners, which I intend soldering the wires to rather than to the sides of the rail as I have found this can get quite messy.

 

Dale

 

EDIT: Ignore the two track diagrams in this post, I forgot to consider the layouts framework when placing points making this track design unfeasible.

Edited November 28, 2013 by dale159

[dale159]

Let Track Laying Commence

 

And so the first track has gone down today, You can ignore the two track diagrams I posted yesterday, its all changed again, I forgot to factor in the framework of the layout and so had positioned points too close to the edge given I intend to use Seep point motors.

 

So its back to one of the previous plans, nine roads which pinch down to three at each end to go around the corners.

 

Whilst at the local model railway club last night I carried out a modification to the eight points I'd bought prior to placing them on the layout.

 

For the uninitiated this mod improves reliability of running by connecting the point blade to the stock rail and removes the dependency of the physical contact between the two to make the connection, as some will testify this can be quite hit and miss with some points mainly due to dirt build up, especially if placed in hard to reach areas, best policy I think is to make the mod now while all the components are easily accessible.

 

First point located, You will notice I have also soldered the wires to the fishplates rather than the rails, I find this easier and more successful than soldering to the rail given my dodgy soldering skills!

 

Point laid in position

 

I shall be making joints between boards by means of brass screws, I could not put the point right up to the joint as there wasn't enough room for the point motor underneath.

 

General overview of the carnage, 1 point and 2 lengths of flexi track then I ran out of black wire so I couldn't lay the next piece, this will be rectified shortly.

 

Dale

Edited November 28, 2013 by dale159

[dale159]

No had a vast amount of time out in the garage recently, here's a bit of progress from the last week or so.

 

I have now laid 1 length of flexi-track for each fiddle yard road, of which there will now be 9 rather than 10, starting in the middle and working outwards,

 

The back road has been laid all the way to the end of the board into the point, which will feed the next 2 roads, with 2 further tracks feeding the other 6 roads.

 

Overview of the board joint, none have been soldered or cut yet.

 

Next job is to lay the next 9 lengths of track towards the door.

 

One slight problem I have encountered is the presence of one of the cross members under the layout (the two black lines) is directly where the motor for the second point should ideally go, unfortunately this is going to be the same for all three at each end. The only way out is to put the point right up to the first one and then slew the track across to it, that's a job for after the remaining roads are down.

 

Dale

[dale159]

Another afternoon out in the garage today.

 

As you can see I've got a further 6 lengths of flexi-track down in the fiddle yard. Was planning to do all 9 roads but it got a bit cold out there! Perhaps a job for tomorrow afternoon.

 

Dale.

[Swifty11]

Looks promising! Will be following with interest to watch this develop into an excellent roundy roundy!

[dale159]

Right then - now that the festive period has passed, hope everyone had a good one by the way, I suppose its time once more for me to brave the cold and go do something on my layout.

 

One of the things which slowed me to a stop before hand was a lack of track, I had about 5 lengths of Peco code 75 flexitrack from a box of 25 left in stock after laying the fiddle yard. Fortunately a second box was a gratefully received gift from my Dad.

 

One thing I did do before Christmas but seemingly forgot to photograph was lay the last 3 straight full lengths in the fiddle yard.

 

Then my attention turned to the throats, originally I had intended to make the 3 straight through roads the longest. Unfortunately as mentioned previously this put the second point right over a cross member underneath making positioning a motor a bit difficult. So I have changed the design slightly so that the second point was on the straight through road, making the third road the longest.

 

I then sized up roughly how the second and third roads would feed into the two points. I have not cut the track yet as I've decided I need to invest in pair of track cutters, I have used a razor saw on the one cut I've had to make so far, its far from the best way to do the job.

 

I also looked into the possibility of having a spur off the third road into a short siding, perhaps long enough for a 2 car DMU.

The third road will be long enough for a 2+8 HST, I placed 4 mk3s from the centre point of the road.

 

So I if do fit the siding the HST power car will foul the point but on the other hand I also have a few other trains which may prove longer than an HST so a spur to keep the back end out of the way is probably a good thing.

 

Dale

[dale159]

Been doing a bit of an experiment to see what will work better.

 

Basically at the narrowest point of the layout in the middle of the back wall there is two tracks, this feeds the 3 throats which then becomes the 9 fiddle yard roads.

 

I had intended use all straight points to get from two tracks to three, but I wondered whether I could use a curved point instead, using an old code 100 curved point I had in stock I gave it a try - this seems to work well.

 

the rough location of where the point will end up, I need to double check that this will work at the other end with the lifting section, it will be quite close to the toe of the curved point although looking at the top photo I think I could move it towards the board joint by about 3/4 of an inch.

 

Dale

[dale159]

More Track Laying

 

A visit to the local model shop produced a pair of track cutters, 4 seep point motors, 1 left and 1 right Peco curved point and a bag of new track pins, most of the ones I'd been using had been recycled from previous layouts so quite a few have been rejected as they were a bit second hand.

 

The curved points I mentioned earlier on, I measured to make sure it fits on one half of the lifting section, which it does - just!

The inner radius of the curved point needed a short length of track as a spacer to the inner point, initially I used a piece of flexi-track 4 sleepers in length, this was a bit too long so I cut both rails in half and lost all the sleepers, much better.

 

Now I have the track cutters I am able to progress with track laying and cutting pieces to fit, the loose point at the top will for an extra siding, all 3 of the longest roads will have one at each end.

 

Once I had the first pair down the next two quickly followed, the outer roads will be treated at a later date, I may even start working on the other end before finishing this end.

 

Dale

[dale159]

Another couple of hours out in the garage this afternoon,

 

I did indeed start at the door end and made it a mirror image of what I'd done at the other end.

 

Arty shot from the end of the layout

 

I also experimented with how the extra sidings will fit in, I decided that this worked well so made up the short straight lengths of track for all the other 5 roads

 

I then thought I ought to test a full length train on the back two roads, a 2+7 Virgin HST, unfortunately the two back roads are just a tiny bit too short by literally an inch, never mind, I will have to put shorter trains on them.

 

I think it might soon be time to tackle the daunting task of soldering the rails to all those brass screws, I've been putting it off for a few weeks but its getting to the stage where it will have to be done before I can do anything else.

 

Dale 

[dale159]

Nothing in terms of actual work until today on the layout over the last 2 weeks or so, also some of you will be shocked to hear that I've changed my mind on the track plan (again), but I think I've got it right this time!

 

As the bottom photo in the last post shows 6 of the nine roads were a gnat's whatsit too short to accommodate my Virgin Trains 2+7 HST, Given that I have several other HSTs all of which are 2+8, a rake of about 10 mk2d's and a couple freight trains which are longer I decided that this was no good.

 

Instead here is the latest idea, mirrored at the other end, the middle road of the 9 will be the shortest remaining about the same length as it is now, but all the others are considerably longer, however it does mean I have 6 tracks instead of 3 squeezing around each corner, the sharpest radius according to XTrkCad is the second one from the inside edge at 35 inches.

 

Whilst typing this I have looked again at the picture and I am now questioning the necessity of the crossover between the 5th and 6th roads! (Said crossover now highlighted green)

 

I added the second point to the outer track using one which was now surplus from one of the loops. There is just room to squeeze a right hand curved point on the inside track but its going to be right on the edge. I will sort out some sort of barrier to prevent anything falling off at a later date.

 

Then I did the same at the other end, I have also added the 4th point as per the other end after I took this picture.

 

Dale

Edited January 28, 2014 by dale159

[Swifty11]

Looking good!

[dale159]

3 minutes work on XTrkCad and................

 

What it would look like without said crossover, I recokon if I did this at both ends that 6th road would be about 17 feet long!

 

Its a tricky choice between operational flexibility and storage of long trains or maybe 2 medium length trains end on end plus its only accessible from the outside track unless I have a suitable crossover on the next board, which my original plan did have, opinions welcome!

 

Dale

[crossforth]

This looks like it will be fantastic. I am watching with baited breath to see each stage progress.

[dale159]

Trouble in store

 

Not to report over the last few weeks.

 

I have been out in the garage this morning tinkering around but have run into a few problems.

 

I laid the curved points I bought a few weeks back, the local proprietor only had 1 right hand curve in stock, but this is not a problem at this stage.

 

Then I started encountering problems.

My initial plan was for the length of track I have laid here to join to the point on the left of shot, however this is far too tight, I will therefore have to rethink my plans once more.

 

I reshaped the curved to a better profile, but I'm not sure where to go from here, the ends on the boards are starting to resemble bits of Swiss cheese given the amount of times I've moved various points.

 

Dale