"Caleta" semi-fictional Costa Brava in N

[Guest]

PS.  Anybody fancy contributing to a Spanish SIG?

 

I did ask Andy Y if he'd set up a special interest group for "Railways of Spain" about a year ago and he was all for it. He was away from the "office" at the time and I think he forgot! I should have reminded him but I forgot too... Send him a PM Mike and it shall be done.

Stuck in Norfolk, I don't have anything to contribute but the subject is more than appealing. Re: the 58s, Andy's yer man. Check out his flickr photos. Excellent stuff!

[McGomez]

PS.Anybody fancy contributing to a Spanish SIG?, like others I'm trying to learn about my adopted homes railways, eg, I'll be attempting to find the class 58's soon which I believe are/were in the Alicante area.

Hi Mike.

I´d be up for it.

PS. If you need info on the location of the class 58s, drop me a PM.

[Enterprisingwestern]

I've PM'd our fearless leader re the SIG, awaiting response, I presume he's sat around twiddling his thumbs waiting for something to do!

 

Mike.

[Guest]

He may need a prod with a virtual stick, Mike.

 

Not at all related to the thread title, but possibly slightly somewhat related (a little bit) to the idea behind a SIG, I'm off on a flying visit to Alicante. Well, obviously it's a flying visit as I'm not planning to swim or go overland. Prior to selling, SWMBO and I have released a decent chunk of equity off of the Victorian pile (of junk) that I've spent 4 years doing up. Destination: Les Fonts dé l`Algar, near the town of Callosa d'En Sarria which is about 8km inland from Altea. Houses + land + business opportunity. Hmm. Worth a look. Although we may not be able to make the move full-time just yet, one eye is always on the near future. Daughter will be 16 when we move and is keen on the idea of doing A levels in Spain. Apparently, there's a rather good college in Calpe which isn't a million miles away either. This one ticks all the boxes. Wish me luck.

 

 

Edit: I could live with that on my doorstep. The area would appear to be stunningly beautiful. We'll see.

[Jason T]

One of Sofia's friends from Elche lived in that area for a while and loved it, although complained that it rained quite often. As it only rains on about 30 days a year in Elche (and most of them are a quick shower), 'quite often' has to be seen from the perspective of a Spanish national and not someone from the UK

 

She then moved to Crevillent, which was much drier but a craphole so hated it, and now lives back in Elche (which is where I imagine we will end up in a few years time)

[Enterprisingwestern]

He may need a prod with a virtual stick, Mike.

 

Not at all related to the thread title, but possibly slightly somewhat related (a little bit) to the idea behind a SIG, I'm off on a flying visit to Alicante. Well, obviously it's a flying visit as I'm not planning to swim or go overland. Prior to selling, SWMBO and I have released a decent chunk of equity off of the Victorian pile (of junk) that I've spent 4 years doing up. Destination: Les Fonts dé l`Algar, near the town of Callosa d'En Sarria which is about 8km inland from Altea. Houses + land + business opportunity. Hmm. Worth a look. Although we may not be able to make the move full-time just yet, one eye is always on the near future. Daughter will be 16 when we move and is keen on the idea of doing A levels in Spain. Apparently, there's a rather good college in Calpe which isn't a million miles away either. This one ticks all the boxes. Wish me luck.

 

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Edit: I could live with that on my doorstep. The area would appear to be stunningly beautiful. We'll see.

 

Guess where I'm currently temporarily domiciled, yup, you've guessed it, Callossa D'en Saria!

Although I sign for the new house in Orxeta next tuesday.

When are you coming over Pete?

 

Mike.

 

PS. We now have Spanish SIG.

[Guest]

One of Sofia's friends from Elche lived in that area for a while and loved it, although complained that it rained quite often...

 

Oh dear! I thought the area looked a little "green" on Google Earth! As long as it rains a damn sight less than coastal Norf Norfolk, I'll be happy. Thanks for the info.

 

Guess where I'm currently temporarily domiciled, yup, you've guessed it, Callossa D'en Saria!

 

On the 1-10 spooky scale, that's an 11... I'm not stalking you, honest. I'd never heard of the place until the estate agent's details arrived in my inbox.

Hoping to get a flight out of Luton or Stansted Monday or Tuesday but plans could go t*ts up as Louise has a brief hospital admission tomorrow for a minor procedure. If that overruns, it'll need to be later next week.

[Enterprisingwestern]

He may need a prod with a virtual stick, Mike.

 

Not at all related to the thread title, but possibly slightly somewhat related (a little bit) to the idea behind a SIG, I'm off on a flying visit to Alicante. Well, obviously it's a flying visit as I'm not planning to swim or go overland. Prior to selling, SWMBO and I have released a decent chunk of equity off of the Victorian pile (of junk) that I've spent 4 years doing up. Destination: Les Fonts dé l`Algar, near the town of Callosa d'En Sarria which is about 8km inland from Altea. Houses + land + business opportunity. Hmm. Worth a look. Although we may not be able to make the move full-time just yet, one eye is always on the near future. Daughter will be 16 when we move and is keen on the idea of doing A levels in Spain. Apparently, there's a rather good college in Calpe which isn't a million miles away either. This one ticks all the boxes. Wish me luck.

 

001.jpg

002.jpg

 

Edit: I could live with that on my doorstep. The area would appear to be stunningly beautiful. We'll see.

 

Bring your thermals Pete, it's mountain water and bloody cold .

 

Mike.

[Guest]

So I've heard, Mike.

Good luck on Tuesday, btw. Is that when you pick up the keys and are in, or another paperwork hurdle?

[Enterprisingwestern]

So I've heard, Mike.

Good luck on Tuesday, btw. Is that when you pick up the keys and are in, or another paperwork hurdle?

 

From as much as I understand about Spanish bureaucracy, (my estate agent chappie has done all my running round and sorting out, even down to sorting my NIE number out, top bloke), tuesday is the day that I turn up with 1), the seller, 2), a wheelbarrow full of money, 3), any other interested parties, at the Notaries office and sign papers etc and walk away with the keys as the official owner of el casa Espana.

 

Mike.

[Guest]

From as much as I understand about Spanish bureaucracy, (my estate agent chappie has done all my running round and sorting out, even down to sorting my NIE number out, top bloke), tuesday is the day that I turn up with 1), the seller, 2), a wheelbarrow full of money, 3), any other interested parties, at the Notaries office and sign papers etc and walk away with the keys as the official owner of el casa Espana.

 

I've done this twice now. Twenty minutes at the Notary, Mike, assuming everything is in order. It is tradition to shake the Notary's hand vigorously and beam at him like he's the best thing since sliced bread. He will no doubt give off his perfected bored look throughout. Cue much rejoicing then enjoy your new place!

[Guest]

A little multi-era N gauge layout set on the Spanish coast was never meant to be anyone's idea of a "layout of a lifetime" but it does still appeal to me in a strange way, more so than any of the OO end-to-ends that I've built. probably because it takes me totally out of my little comfort zone. It will most definitely be making the trip to Spain with us eventually and is currently mothballed, but I'm struggling to resist the temptation to do any more work to it here in the UK. Once other layout projects and commitments are completed, this layout doesn't really take up a lot of room so should make a nice little project to keep modelling withdrawal symptoms at bay. Plans are in hand to relay the track to a slightly different alignment and perhaps superelevate the curves at either end. I do wonder if it should become double track... there is zero operating potential so watching two trains go by might be slightly more interesting than watching one train go by! Definitely something to tinker with in the future.

[Guest]

OK, so "Caleta" has been brushed off, stared at and then stared at some more. Some headscratching took place too. My OO Ripple Lane layout has officially come to the end of the line (pun intended). I have a commission to build but it won't be done in a rush, so inbetween various bouts of DIY and suchlike, refurbing/altering Caleta will give me something to do away from episodes of Eastenders and "America's Next Top Skinny Twig" which seem to dominate the living room at the moment.

I'm definitely going to relay the fiddle yard but have decided to stick with the single track scenic section, although relaid with a little bit of superelevation at each end. There's something about a meandering single track coastal route that captivates. I have discovered some N gauge RENFE-pattern catenary but it's a wee bit expensive. If I decide to add "knitting", not too much will be needed so it's a possibility. The catenary is by a company called N-Train and I don't think I'd ever have discovered it online before learning that "N Gauge" in Spanish is "Escala N"! The line through Calella (which the Caleta layout is loosely based upon) is electrified, so...

A few rolling stock bargains have also recently been snapped up... a 6-car Arnold Talgo set plus the 2-car addon pack and, bargain of the century, a Class 308 in Tecsa livery by Startrain from a model shop in Spain. Brand new, it popped up online "oferta" at 54 Euros but reduced itself to 33 Euros once added to the basket. Go figure? At that price, I should have bought two...

 

Two lessons have been learnt... the lure of N gauge (and roundies in particular) is very hard for me to resist. Secondly, I do have a fascination with all things RENFE. I would hazard a guess and say that with regard to non-UK European prototype, German railways in N gauge are probably by far the most popular with modellers but although the quantity of Spanish stock in N is small, the quality is terrific.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to a brief lull in non-modelling related chores, I've found the time to rebuild the baseboards for "Calella Caleta". I was never very happy using the bi-fold door frame. It was pressed into service to make this a cheap project, but was already showing signs of a slight warp. There's now an extra road in the fiddle yard, the points are motorised (a bit of a needless luxury) and I'm just about to slightly realign the visible main line. I've bought some new stock and now have a fleet of 10 bogie tankers to run behind the Class 308. The Talgo set has been boosted to 10 cars but doesn't really have anything suitable to pull it, so the 308 may be pressed into service, however inappropriate.

Inspired by the town name visible on the rocks to the west of the beach, I made something similar for the layout. This is destined for the rocks by the road bridge at some point. Pics soon.

 

 

[Guest]

Quick update.

The two new boards are now complete and joined together. Basic construction with plywood tops and I'm happier than I was using the original bi-fold door. I've done away with the high-level fiddle yard supported on those threaded rod risers. There was nothing wrong with that, but all I've done is drop the height of the scenic board by just over an inch and the way I see it, there's less to go wrong. Always a good thing!

I've recycled the Gaugemaster solenoids from Ripple Lane and mounted them above the baseboard in the fiddle yard. Ugly, but who cares - it's a fiddle yard. There's little difference between the Gaugemaster solenoids and the original Peco ones... they're an exact fit on the Peco adaptor bases. The screw terminal connections are a bonus though.

The cut-out you can see is for the storm drain, which has been moved further along to the left from its original position at the mid-point of the scenic section. Once the trackbed has been built up on this board, all it takes is a couple of lengths of Peco Code 55 to get an oval. Alignment of the single track will be similar to the original, I just wanted to move a few scenic features around.

The extra road in the fiddle yard is handy and there's even room for a couple more but I think 5 is ample. Capacity is just a smidge over 4 feet, which I think is more than enough for a layout like this. You can see 10 bogie tank wagons and a Talgo set in the pictures and there's even a bit of room to spare.

I had a heart-fluttery moment when assembling the Talgo set. They are incredibly close-coupled and it suddenly occurred to me they may have issues with the Setrack geometry in the fiddle yard. Luckily they don't and the rake negotiates the pointwork with ease. I think I may avoid running them through the reverse curve into the road closest to the backscene though.

Talking of backscenes, I think I'll go for a dead straight one this time rather than the curved previous one, but that's for the future. Next job is to get the scenic track in place and actually run something.

I still see this as little more than a portable scenic test track. Pure DC... no DCC here. I do keep getting drawn back to N, but not British outline N, strangely enough. I'll see how I cope with the scenic detail in the smaller scale and if the eyes don't give up, maybe N is the answer for the permanent layout. The potential for full length trains in the landscape is a powerful draw.

 

 

 

 

[Zomboid]

Does RENFE typically run those locos long hood forward?

[Guest]

Does RENFE typically run those locos long hood forward?

 

Haven't a clue. I'm not entirely sure the 308s are seen outside of a yard that often, being shunters. Startrain rather usefully provide spare buffer beam cowls with and without the coupler with all their locos. In this case the loco itself comes out of the box with one coupler and one cosmetic cowl fitted. The cosmetic cowl just happened to be at the "long hood" end, and I haven't got around to changing it yet! It only takes a few seconds though.

 

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

[Zomboid]

I guess for shunting you'd want the cab to be near the action...

 

You need a 316 by the way. Classic ALCos in Europe (looks like an FA at the pointy end with an RDC cab at the other, fantastic stuff!).

[Guest]

You need a 316 by the way. Classic ALCos in Europe (looks like an FA at the pointy end with an RDC cab at the other, fantastic stuff!).

 

A coincidence, I'm sure. Either that or you're spookily psychic. This should be dropping onto the doormat by about Thursday. Brand new by Arnold, £50 in Comsa livery... a bargain I couldn't resist. Like the Tecsa Class 308, perhaps not entirely appropriate for the area though. It will be used to haul the Talgo set until I can find an AC electric in the white Renfe livery.

For anyone that's interested, I've bought a lot of stock at knock-down prices from DM-Toys in Germany. They specialise in nothing but continental N gauge. They seem to be having a huge clearout on ebay which has been going on for weeks now. Everything starts at less than a Euro and rarely gets bid up to more than 50% of retail. Today (for example) they've had near to a thousand items ending on ebay, everything from locos through to freight stock by Arnold, Fleischmann etc. Not a great deal is Renfe, but a few things are. I would post this on the "Bargain Hunters" thread but everyone would say... "That's all foreign stuff".

[roundhouse]

Pete

 

How does our Telgo set run on Peco 55?

 

My Amtrak one had pizza cutter wheels until recently when I found out Farish wheel sets make a good replacement.

[Zomboid]

Not psychic, just Googled renfe locos and saw one that looked like an ALCo, and I'm a fan of ALCos, so looked a bit deeper...

[Guest]

Ian, the Talgo set's wheels could be of a much finer profile, that's for sure. I've seen worse though. In all fairness, this isn't exactly a recent model to the Arnold range and is lacking a lot of the fine detail we've recently come to expect.The set runs over Code 55 without any problems though. It certainly doesn't bounce over the chairs like old Lima OO stock used to when asked to run along Code 75. Good to know the wheelsets are an easy swap if I need to, thanks.

[roundhouse]

Ian, the Talgo set's wheels could be of a much finer profile, that's for sure. I've seen worse though. In all fairness, this isn't exactly a recent model to the Arnold range and is lacking a lot of the fine detail we've recently come to expect.The set runs over Code 55 without any problems though. It certainly doesn't bounce over the chairs like old Lima OO stock used to when asked to run along Code 75. Good to know the wheelsets are an easy swap if I need to, thanks.

Pete

 

Just remembered, its Atlas code 55 that they dont like.

 

But if you do wish to swap them then the Farish work well.

 

Ian

[Guest]

Forgot to mention... The reason for re-siting the storm drain (that *could* also be used for vehicle access) over to the left is that I also want a pure pedestrian underpass more towards the centre of the scenic section. An alternative way to get to the beach without having to use one of the multiple foot crossings along the line. 25mm underneath the track should be more than ample if vehicles don't need to use it. At the moment, I'm wondering if one of the excellent Woodland Scenics culvert kits could be made to work. I just need to make sure it doesn't look like some grubby UK underpass complete with dodgy hoodies and their staffies. Having just got back from a short stay in a very non-touristy hotel in Benidorm's old town*, the number of Spanish holidaymakers that loaded themselves up with parasols, picnic boxes and folding chairs and then made their way to the beach about 8am every morning was staggering.

 

BTW... if anyone spots one of these on their travels, do let me know. It's a RENFE Class 252 AC electric by Arnold, long discontinued. It occasionally pops up in other liveries but would appear to be the holy grail in this livery:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/74422116@N04/8451239806

 

* Benidorm's old town is nothing like the image we have of Brits in Benidorm which is centred around ugly 1960s high-rise all-inclusive hotels as far as the eye can see stretching back from Levante beach. Far from pretty and hardly quaint, the old town is quite vibrant though. I also think it may be the drag queen capital of Europe after dark! I really have seen it all now...

[Guest]

Having bucked the trend and joined the two boards along their longest length, instead of across their width as you would with an end-to-end layout, I didn't give much thought to laying the track across the baseboard join. I had simply assumed that I would solder onto copperclad. Being somewhat paranoid about the possibility of slight warping when the layout eventually makes the journey over to Spain, I wasn't so sure this was a good idea. A quick "Google" intoduced me to some adjustable straights in the Fleischmann Piccolo range. The solution has been to secure the two curves about an inch and a half in from each baseboard edge and then insert the adjustable straight "collapsed" to its shortest length. It then takes just a moment to extend the straight out a little and connect using the Fleischmann fishplates. Fleischmann use Code 80 rail, but to a slightly different profile to Peco. Peco's joiners won't work but the Fleischmann joiners are an easy snug fit. Having abandoned DCC in favour of traditional DC for this little test track, relying on the joiners to provide conductivity between baseboards doesn't bother me too much... it's not like every section of track in the fiddle yard had its own droppers. There will of course be a feed either side of the join. Time will tell if the solution works or not. If it doesn't, I feel a "Plan B" coming on...

 

Where the railway line crosses the storm drain, a simple plate girder bridge would seem to offer the best solution. I had a Kato item left over from previous dabblings in N and it's nicely detailed. A little work to pop off the built in track section and file the securing lugs off, it should work well and happily take the Peco Code 55 flexi.

The backscenes have had a coat of sky blue and this is where I normally go all "Blue Peter" and start dabbing on fluffy clouds. I've never liked backscenes with hills, towns, villages etc. I always want the backscene to be as simple as possible and not detract from the foreground, so I always go for plain sky. I'm genuinely not sure whether to leave the backscenes all-over blue or add a little cloud cover. Hmm.