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Hills and Meadows - N-gauge


Maurits71
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Evening all.

 

Finally able to finish this little project, thought it was an easy one but turned out to be rather complicated.

 

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It's removable if needed.

 

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Next stop is to start the branch line above the main helix ;)

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  • 2 months later...
Happy Sunday and Fathers day, apologies for the lack of updates. I have been busy with work and all sorts of other things so there was little time left for the layout.

 

Despite the lack of time I have done quit a bit but mostly not visible, have looked if I could use Itrain to run my layout, the answer is yes but I needed to change so many things that I stay to the current software which to be honest is still miles ahead of Itrain. have started to do some more scenery and last week finally found the mojo :) to start with the last bit of the layout.

 

Overt he last year I had various thoughts what I was going to build on this side. A big TMD was the original plan, a quarry was another but have now decided to have another station, one which looks a bit like Tormouth, although I keep it as a single branche line, the sea wall will be a bit like dawlish and there's a 2 track reverse loop. 

 

Picture shows the reverse loop, if my calculations are correct the inner loop is 240 cm long

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and part of the visible bit.

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Scenery wise as it's like the Dawlish/ Teighmouth area hills, a few big rocks and tunnels  ;)

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  • 1 month later...
Hello and a very good evening, my apologies for the lack of updates, the Missus decided that the whole house needed a re decoration which I finally finished last weekend. Not a great job down to the temperatures but hee, everytiing to keep her happy.

 

Did a nice run on the layout yesterday, good couple of hours without any issues, so need to find motivation to finish the last addition which I mentioned earlier, need a holiday first.

 

Did start on my impression of the Princess Risborough Signal box as I wanted a larger signal box as available, not done/ finished yet but first lines are on paper

 

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couple of more hours and than I can start printing, windows are already printed and they look great.

Edited by Maurits71
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  • 3 weeks later...

 

Happy Sunday and Fathers day, apologies for the lack of updates. I have been busy with work and all sorts of other things so there was little time left for the layout.
 
Despite the lack of time I have done quit a bit but mostly not visible, have looked if I could use Itrain to run my layout, the answer is yes but I needed to change so many things that I stay to the current software which to be honest is still miles ahead of Itrain. have started to do some more scenery and last week finally found the mojo :) to start with the last bit of the layout.
...
 

 

 

A very impressive layout from the pictures :)

 

You say that your current software is miles a ahead of iTrain and I wonder what it is you are using and what it is that you need to change to make it work with iTrain?

 

I use iTrain, but do get frustrated often with it and am always looking for good alternatives - that ae affordable ;)

 

Iain

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  • 2 weeks later...
Happy Saturday all.

 

weather looks lovely so it looks like that my original planning which was spending time in the train room is changed to a sun bed and entertaining the missus. which in all fairness isn't a bad thing to do as well  ;) ;) especially with the kids going to friends all day.

 

anyway back to train related stuff.

 

I have done a bit more work on the signal box, basis is more or less finished, need some painting to finish, just noticed them on the picture. will start with the inside now. will add some working lights and a full interior inside so quite a job to do. work is also started on the roof but that's a bit more straight forward.

 

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  • 1 month later...
Something to celebrate today.

 

a good 3.5 years after starting with Hills and Meadows, using a good 350 metres of track, around 75 points I have just finished the last bit of track laying.

 

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will try to get all points working and droppers done this weekend before the big clear up which is needed as the whole room is one big mess.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Happy Saturday my friends

 

After the joy and relief of laing down the last piece of track it was time to do all the software bits, not straight forward down to the single line and the return loop but all sorted now. This is how it looks

 

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2nd big project which I have started is to reduce the pile of faulty loco's which was getting bigger and bigger. The first 5 are fixed one needed a new motor the other 4 I just ripped the pcb board out and hard wired the decoder.

 

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Really happy that this one is back on track, it's for one reason one of my most favourite livrei's I have.

 

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Look forward to Monday as I have ordered a refurbised super powered desk top so hopefuilly that will give enough processor capacity to run all trains together instead of the limited amount I have now. stay tuned

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  • 2 weeks later...
Happy Saturday all.

 

Have let the trains out a lot recently, bought a new desk top to replace my laptop and this has improved speed, performance massively. Last session the layout was able to do an average of 750 km per hour compared to the 400 recently. with an average of rains simultaneously of 22 compared to the 12/ 13 I was used to.

 

The biggest improvement is that this computer is able to handle much more data compared to the laptop so almost all commands are followed up with a result of all points set as they are supposed to be and detection's are communicated back. so really pleased that I have taken his step.

 

on the repair front I can report that I have fixed so far 5 loco's with 1 waiting for a few parts, still lots to go , general conclusion sofar that it's nothing with either decoders or faulty motors but all failed pcd boards so hard wiring is the solution.

 

another thing I have started is scenery on the new part. as mentioned this part is imaginary located near the coast, so hills and even some rocks and a good nice town scene.

 

I normally start with a rough idea what I want, polystyrene is a nice product to help, bit messy but ok if you're careful.

 

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another product I use a lot is blue underlayer, like I have done here to form where I want roads and houses

 

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to cover bigger area's I use a fleece normally used to protect plants.

 

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once I have done all and I am happy with the looks I will start using plaster to strengthen the area's but as I am not the quickest it will take a while.
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:), It's the total average off all loco's per hour combined, but do understand you don't know this as you use itrain which hasn't got this feature.

 

but Happy Friday all.
Slowly it's coming together, once I am happy with how it looks I can start using plaster, but for now it's a big mess ;)
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My original plan to build something Dawlish style is binned, instead it will be a very small harbour thing
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people who know the Huntingdon cutting know it's quit a steep one, so justifies to do something similar
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hope to spend a few more hours this weekend as I can't wait to start with the scenery
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Don't think I want to go into a battle if Itrain is more sensible than the software I am using, looks to me that I am not able to explain properly to you that if you have 20 trains running at a scale speed of around 40k an hour that the total average of those loco's is 750 km per hour, which the statistics are showing. anyway back to modelling

 

 
 
part 1 of the cutting, just needs drying before I can start with plaster
 
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best regards
 
M.
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I am saying is that 'scale kilometres' for a stable of locos doesn't mean anything, sounds impressive but it is ultimately meaningless, what is important is knowing that Loco A has run for 8 hrs, Loco B for 6 hours, etc and also knowing that after 8 hrs (or your chosen interval) that said loco needs servicing - and that is nothing to do with the software your are, or are not running ;)

 

Prior to computers people used to do it with a pen and pencil - most till do and not one that I know keeps a record of how many scale kilometres, miles, inches or any other distance, they all keep a record of the time that the loco has run . 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Happy Sunday all.

 

done a lot over the last couple of weeks.

 

firstly , my own impression of Clayton tunnel as I felt this would be a very nice additions to Hills and Meadows.

 

it all started with a google search, after this I did a mock up from card board , once I was happy I started with the model using slaters plastic plates

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and a couple of nights later, the model was sort of finished, only need to do some minor details

 

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another big job I am doing are the cliffs and rocks on this part of the layout including the concreted goods area.

 

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looked really scary but once dried it looks so much better

 

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still lots of sanding and corrections to do but it needs to be completely dry first.

 

same for the cliffs it didn't look really well but after a couple of hours and a first try to create rocks it's much better

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really looking forward to tomorrow to see how it looks when it's completely dry

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Happy Monday all.

 

Came home sort of completely over the p.sss so the only remedy is me time ;) so air brush out., normally I paint rocks but when watching some youtube video's I decided to do it this time different and in all honesty it looks soo much better. 

 

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looking at the pictures I need to do some more dry brushing after that it's time for some green stuff :wave: :wave:

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  • 3 weeks later...
Happy New Year all.

 

The festive period was great,no work kids and missus hapily on ipads and laptops so lots of me time

 

Have started on both Gamlingay St Mary's church and the old Gamlingay station building, as per my usual methode I make a drawing on the computer, do a cut and build the mock up. sofar I am really pleased with the result so will start building them from plastic card and styrene.

 

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we had friend over a couple of days so a running session was mandatory, with a top of 27 trains at the same time and an average of 930 km an hour I was really impressed never achieved fhis before.

 


Edited by Maurits71
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  • 3 weeks later...
Happy Sunday

 

Last few Sundays are fully dedicated to the station building based on the old Gamlingay station.

 

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although is not a one to one copy I am really pleased with the end result, have shown it to the son of one of the old workers and he told me it is exactly as in his memory, next stop is the goods shed and the old locomotive workshop

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  • 2 weeks later...

Next little project the engine shed is finished

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also started with St.Mary the Virgin church, not a simple job as over the last decades there have been several additions build but up for the challange

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in the back ground the mock up I have made last year

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  • 4 weeks later...

Happy Saturday all.

St Mary the Virgin Church is getting there now, both North and South wings are finished and it's going to be a very impressive building.

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Currently I am working on the lead roof, before I start with a lot of details :)

Edited by Maurits71
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Guest CLARENCE
On 17/12/2018 at 21:27, Neal B said:

This is such an epic project! I wish i had the time and space to do something like it.

Wish had the ability!

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