Everard Junction - 88 to 90 - BR Western Region

[Young60]

Hi Richard many thanks. There's so much to grasp and so many opinions, good to hear exoerience speak:).

Regards to you and all. Happy modelling.

Adrian

[Pete the Elaner]

Great to see a new video. Hats off to you if you do adjust the sleeper spacing, that's going to take some time and patience. 

 

I used the bullhead rail and was very happy with it, it does look much better.

 

I agree that bullhead rail looks nice, but FB track can be made to look as good when the sleepers are spaced out & costs nothing if you make the templates yourself.

Everard Mk1 was based around 1990 so had plenty of concrete sleeper track. I assume Everard Mk2 will be based in the same time period, so this will need concrete sleeper track too.

It took me about 30 minutes per yard to lay, including spacing the sleepers. Having seen the end result, I felt it was time well spent.

[Revolution Mike B]

I agree that bullhead rail looks nice, but FB track can be made to look as good when the sleepers are spaced out & costs nothing if you make the templates yourself.

Everard Mk1 was based around 1990 so had plenty of concrete sleeper track. I assume Everard Mk2 will be based in the same time period, so this will need concrete sleeper track too.

It took me about 30 minutes per yard to lay, including spacing the sleepers. Having seen the end result, I felt it was time well spent.

 

30 minutes? It took me an hour!!    Having said that Pete, I can lay it without spacers now!

 

I'm not sure I'd want to do a layout the size of Everard Junction though - that's a lot of track laying.

[richard w]

I've been flat out on the layout over the past week.  Happy to report that today the first train ran around the layout.  So far only 1 of the mainlines is complete but its a start!

 

Work included the following...

 

Making up two boards which will form scenic breaks to hide the fiddle yard entrances. 

Finish the final fiddle yard backboard

Adding plywood bracing to the sides of the track decks just to be sure they wont warp over the coming years.

Re-spacing the sleepers on 12 yards of track.

Laying 12 yards of cork base on the scenic deck and adding banking to the curves.

Soldering droppers to all 12 bits of track and finally gluing them into place.

 

Its taking ages but I'm very happy with the results.  The re-spaced track now has about 26 sleepers per 60ft and looks much better.  Takes me about 25 mins to re-space a length.  Just another 36 lengths to go!

 

The branch will be laid with the peco bullhead which doesn't need any extra work.  I'm going to save that for last after the main and relief lines are done.

 

I'm chasing the idea of smooth flowing track with no straights and minimal point work.  

 

 

 

First test train successfully made plenty of laps around with only 1 derailment which was down to an issue with the banking on the S curve which I've now corrected.  If you follow the stripes on the Mk3s you can see the banking transition from one side to the other.

 

 

It all looks nice a level as the 33 makes its way around.  I've noticed one small bump on the scenic part of the layout and thats about it.  Really impressed with the banking on the curves.  Watching the rake gradually settle into the corners makes all the work worth while.  

 

[CazRail]

Looks great! Looking forward to see your HSTs passing on these curves

[Deltic mad Dave]

Looking good Richard, can't wait for the next YouTube installment!

Cheers

Dave

[Revolution Mike B]

And I thought it was only me that was mad enough to add super elevation to the track!

 

Nice work Richard, the track looks great. It took me around an hour to re-space and lay one length of flexi track so I know the effort you're going to 

 

Keep the updates coming.

Mike

[Rhysb]

Great Work Richard, The spacing does make a great difference and looks great on your layout as well as Mike's. Looking forward to seeing how the branch line looks alongside the main tracks.

 

Bullhead code 75 for me everywhere being in the Wessex region in the early 90's!

 

Thanks

 

Rhys

[SparxD428]

Hi Richard,

Its looking absolutely fantastic so far. The open baseboards look like they are really going to work well enabling the snaking curvature of the track bed to stand out

Great stuff.

Cheers

Stu

[richard w]

Just finished the latest update video.  Included some running shots and I've also followed the train around the room which hopefully gives a better idea of the size.

 

 

Cheers

[Pigwife007]

Very,very nice Richard

It was accidentally find your you tube vids a couple of years ago that prompted me in to returning to the hobby after a 30+ year gap.

 

Now 80 locos and a large double garage layout I’m skint but very happy.

 

Thanks for making the effort to show/teach people like myself how to do it

Dan

[UnauthorisedCinnamon]

That 'S' curve is so cool 

[Rich Papper]

Fantastic work on the track - the spacing is definitely worth the extra time. Very excited for the next bit, but don't rush on our account we'll all wait patiently!

 

Rich

[Pete the Elaner]

This is coming along very nicely.

Dismantling the previous layout must have been a tough call, but seeing that train sweeping through those bends must have made it feel worthwhile.

[sub39h]

How did you space the track please? Manually or do you have some sort of jig? What do you plan on doing with the point work sleeper spacing?

 

Thanks and keep up the fantastic work. The layout is going to be immense.

[richard w]

Made some more progress over the weekend.

 

Almost finished the second mainline track with just another 3 yards to go before making a connection.  Re-spacing the sleepers is driving me nuts but I'm very happy with how it's looking.  I'd say it looks even better with multiple tracks.

 

 

Also took delivery of some bullhead points.  Really like the look of these compared to the flat-bottom range so will make use of bullhead in all areas eventually as the range is released.

 

 

I've had two of the new Dapol 121s sitting downstairs for what feels like ages.  Managed to get the first one running over the weekend.  Not very smooth despite running for a few hours in either direction.  I suspect it's because the controller is only hooked up in one place.  I've run the DCC bus wires but the droppers are not yet connected.

 

 

Also continuing to add the superelevation as I go.  I start it off gradually with plasticard and then switch to match sticks as they're much cheaper.  They also create a nice obvious bank to the curves.

 

 

Another two lines to go yet before I can start filling up the fiddle yard...

 

 

Cheers

[nicolasgreenin]

Great progress Richard, I really like the superelevation and the sleeper spacing it makes it look so realistic.

[Pete the Elaner]

How did you space the track please? Manually or do you have some sort of jig? What do you plan on doing with the point work sleeper spacing?

 

Thanks and keep up the fantastic work. The layout is going to be immense.

[Pete the Elaner]

I will be releasing some sleeper spacing templates through the Double O Gauge Association soon. I have some for both 8.5 & 9.5mm spacing (9.5 is the same as Peco's bullhead range but modern track often has them closer).

I am not surprised to hear that this job is driving Richard mad. It took me about 30 minutes per yard. The end result is well worth the effort though.

Pointwork usually has bearers closer together than the sleepers on plain track. BH pointwork with concrete track was a common combination.

[Revolution Mike B]

I feel your pain with the sleeper spacing Richard, I only had 30' to do and that was enough - you've got miles of the stuff! I worked out that the spacing should be around 7mm to compensate for the width of the Peco sleepers being too narrow, so I overcame this by spacing it by hand without a jig, giving a random but somehow realistic spacing. With the superelevation, I used paper strips combined with plasticard - the advantage being it was easy to fine tune the raising and lowering of the outside edge of the track to stop the trains lurching in to the curve. 

 

I'm so looking forward to seeing you progress further with this and whilst it was sad to see you dismantle the first layout, I'm sure this one is going to be equally as impressive 

 

Mike

Edited April 5, 2018 by scoobyra

[Pete the Elaner]

I feel your pain with the sleeper spacing Richard, I only had 30' to do and that was enough - you've got miles of the stuff! I worked out that the spacing should be around 7mm to compensate for the width of the Peco sleepers being too narrow, so I overcame this by spacing it by hand without a jig, giving a random but somehow realistic spacing. With the superelevation, I used paper strips combined with plasticard - the advantage being it was easy to fine tune the raising and lowering of the outside edge of the track to stop the trains lurching in to the curve. 

 

I'm so looking forward to seeing you progress further with this and whilst it was sad to see you dismantle the first layout, I'm sure this one is going to be equally as impressive 

 

Mike

I have about 25' of track with sleepers spaced. Having done it on the previous layout, I knew that the result would be worthwhile so was happy that the work was worth the reward. I am sure that now you have done yours, I expect you are satisfied with it.

 

I was sad to see the first layout go. I watched the video describing why & what differences that the new one would contain & I found this one of the most interesting. Some very honest self-crticisms & interesting ideas about what to do with the new layout.

I feel that most of us get to a point where we decide that there are so many things we would like to try, do things better or just differently that the only way is to start again & it was nice to hear someone else express this point of view.

Remember that the first Everard Jcn suffered from a warped fiddle yard which affected running, so this was a major issue & a lot of thought was put into the decision to re-build instead of repair

 

One trick which has not been missed is photographs. I often look back at photos of mine & friend's old layouts fondly. Everard Jcn 1's videos are a great way to remember it.

 

The new layout looks to be taking shape very nicely & I am enjoying following its progress.

[Revolution Mike B]

I have about 25' of track with sleepers spaced. Having done it on the previous layout, I knew that the result would be worthwhile so was happy that the work was worth the reward. I am sure that now you have done yours, I expect you are satisfied with it.

 

I was sad to see the first layout go. I watched the video describing why & what differences that the new one would contain & I found this one of the most interesting. Some very honest self-crticisms & interesting ideas about what to do with the new layout.

I feel that most of us get to a point where we decide that there are so many things we would like to try, do things better or just differently that the only way is to start again & it was nice to hear someone else express this point of view.

Remember that the first Everard Jcn suffered from a warped fiddle yard which affected running, so this was a major issue & a lot of thought was put into the decision to re-build instead of repair

 

One trick which has not been missed is photographs. I often look back at photos of mine & friend's old layouts fondly. Everard Jcn 1's videos are a great way to remember it.

 

The new layout looks to be taking shape very nicely & I am enjoying following its progress.

 

Totally agree Pete, it's how we get better 

[richscylla]

I really can't wait to see what Richard has been up to on the new Everard Junction! His videos are a massive help to me with my layout!

[richard w]

I'm still editing the next video which should be ready next week.  Everything except the branch is laid, wired up and working.  Currently running the first few trains and fine tuning the track in a few places.  

 

[CazRail]

Looking forward to it!