Alan Kettlewell Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Ha ha, I like it. Better price up a 10 day InterRail pass instead! Cheers ... Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brittannia Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 On my visits, I have found as Dutch_Master recommends early start, lots of touring buses call at MWL for brief visits, so if miss them at the entrance you have decent chance of a fastish entrance. The large "airport scene" is usually very busy, but plenty of other attractions, Hope you manage to get all your visits in and can recommend rail journeys, last year I went to Chur by rail from Manchester,[Virgin, Eurostar, TGV, SBB] 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 If you can, also try and get an afternoon 'train spotting' at Hamburg Harburg. On my last visit in May, I counted 124 LOCO hauled trains/movements in four hours. That's one loco movement of some sort every 90 seconds! Some where 'Metronom' services cycling through the diagram but it was rather better than about 20/22 loco movements in the same time period at Acton Bridge on the WCML. Cheers, John. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 If you can, also try and get an afternoon 'train spotting' at Hamburg Harburg. On my last visit in May, I counted 124 LOCO hauled trains/movements in four hours. That's one loco movement of some sort every 90 seconds! Some where 'Metronom' services cycling through the diagram but it was rather better than about 20/22 loco movements in the same time period at Acton Bridge on the WCML. Cheers, John. Thanks John, If I have enough time I might do that. My first draft of an itinerary looks something like: Darlington - Hamburg - Zermatt (get the Glacier Express) - Chur - (then Bernina Express) - Tirano - Chur - Lucerne - Salzberg - Darlington. If I time it right I could also take in the beer fest at Munich on the way home. That would take in 3 fabulous model railway layouts (MWL, Lucerne Transport Museum, Peter Porsche Museum) and two great train journeys in the Swiss Alps. I may also go for an overnight sleeper train on the trip down from Hamburg to Zermatt, haven't decided on that yet. Could be a busy week and some mileage covered! The InterRail Pass for 7 days travel in a month should cover it and at £259 (senior rate) is excellent value. Would be a great field trip for my layout research. Must get my plans fine tuned. Cheers ... Alan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brittannia Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 (edited) At Zermatt you have got two mountains , rack train [or if you fancy it 10,900ft hike] to peak of Gornergrat,[33minute journey ],and great views of glaciers and view nearby Matterhorn [ approx 14,000+ft] from the excellent peak restaurant on Gornergrat. Zermatt itself is worth sightseeing ,only electric vehicles or horse and trap allowed. in Zermatt itself, plus sightseeing planes hauling freight from chains,if you fancied staying would recommend the Butterfly Hotel Also if going to the Munich beer fest, I can recommend the BMW museum as worthwhile going to visit, also has its own restaurant. If you do go your holiday have a great time. Forgot to mention the journey from Zermatt to Chur is a real treat follows the the Rhine from Zermatt to Disentis , you may see some kayakers coming down the river, onto to Chur, look out for the steep narrow waterfalls and the high bridges between the mountains, Last year i managed to get on a steam day return from Chur to Disentis Edited August 27, 2017 by brittannia 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 At Zermatt you have got two mountains , rack train [or if you fancy it 10,900ft hike] to peak of Gornergrat,[33minute journey ],and great views of glaciers and view nearby Matterhorn [ approx 14,000+ft] from the excellent peak restaurant on Gornergrat. Zermatt itself is worth sightseeing ,only electric vehicles or horse and trap allowed. in Zermatt itself, plus sightseeing planes hauling freight from chains,if you fancied staying would recommend the Butterfly Hotel Also if going to the Munich beer fest, I can recommend the BMW museum as worthwhile going to visit, also has its own restaurant. If you do go your holiday have a great time. Forgot to mention the journey from Zermatt to Chur is a real treat follows the the Rhine from Zermatt to Disentis , you may see some kayakers coming down the river, onto to Chur, look out for the steep narrow waterfalls and the high bridges between the mountains, Last year i managed to get on a steam day return from Chur to Disentis That's great, thanks for the info, much appreciated. Alan.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DIW Posted August 29, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 29, 2017 ... the journey from Zermatt to Chur is a real treat follows the the Rhine from Zermatt to Disentis ... Ooh, I don't think that is right! There are several lumpy bits in the landscape between Zermatt and Chur! From Zermatt the river is the Matter Vispa, which joins the Sasser Vispa at Stalden to become the Vispa. The Vispa flows to Visp, where it joins the Rhone (also called Rotten in German). The Rhone flows towards France, where it emerges into the Mediterranean between Montpelier and Marseilles. Your train to Chur turns upstream here and follows the Rhone as far as Oberwald where the train enters the Furka base tunnel. The old Furka track (now in preservation) continues up-river past Gletsch (where the Rhone glacier starts the Rhone river) to the higher Furka tunnel. When the train emerges from the Furka base tunnel at Realp, it follows the Reuss downstream to Andermatt. The Reuss is a tribuatry of the Rhine, but first flows through Lake Lucerne to join the Aare near Brugg. The Aare joins the Rhine on the German border at Waldshut At Andermatt, the train climbs up to the Oberalp pass, passing the Oberalpsee just before the summit station and tunnel. Once through the Oberalp tunnel, the train is at last in one of the valleys of the upper Rhine (this one is the Vorderrhine). The Vorderrhine is followed downstream to Reichenau, where it is joined by the Hinterrhine to form the Rhine itself. The train follows the Rhine now to Chur. At Chur, the Rhaetian railway continues with the Rhine as far as Landquart. At Landquart, the RhB follows the Landquart river eastwards, while the Rhine itself flows north - forming the Swiss-Lichtenstein border, then the Austro-swiss border, then becomes the Bodensee (Lake Constance in English), then the Swiss-German border, then the German-French border, then entirely in Germany until the Dutch border where the name becomes the Waal for the flow into the North Sea at Rotterdam. So, the journey starts alongside a stream which eventually flows to the Mediterranean, while the journey ends alongside a river which ends in the North Sea. The dividing line between the two is the Furka pass. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OBD_76 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Hello Other places in switzerland are also beautyfull...visit the Haslital, maybe Meiringen, one of the place were the Zentralbahn has a depot.The best way from Lucerne to Interlaken with the Lucerne-Interlaken-Express https://www.zentralbahn.ch it's also a narrow gauge with rack. From Interlaken East to Spiez, and with the BLS to Brig/Zermatt to start the Glacierroute. Regards Daniel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Many thanks for all the additional info on Switzerland. I'm having to postpone my trip due to a clash with a hospital appointment - another case of life getting in the way! Cheers ... Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 After more or less competing the scenery on the East Spiral mountain I thought I'd better have a clean up day. There, everything back in its place, at least I can see the floor now and find stuff. I'm keeping all those offcuts you can see under the right hand side to use as formers for scenery. Looking down the length of the layout shows that the scenic work I've just finished down on the far left is just a fraction of the work still to do. Next - some more ballasting! Cheers ... Alan 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brittannia Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Great photo, better get in touch with Miniature World team, it just shows the scale of work you have done and yet to complete. Trust the hospital visit will be a short and minor event. Thanks for sharing your layout with us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 More Ballasting I want to continue the scenery from the East Spiral mountain all the way along above the station area on level 2 and 3 of the layout. But before I can do that I need to get the ballasting done on that section. I was in two minds about whether to post up pictures and a story about ballasting the layout as I'm assuming it might be boring to read for those who have experience of this. However, there may be members following who have not built a layout so might find it useful to see a method of laying the stuff. So here goes, please feel free to tune out if you find the topic boring. I like the Woodlands Scenics medium ballast, using a mixed grey on this section. This is my basic ballasting kit - I find the little ballasting gadget speeds things up quite a bit. The piece of card folded in a 'V' shape is handy for applying small amounts of ballast where needed, and of course a small brush to move it around as necessary. Position and fill up the ballaster ... After running the ballaster along both the tracks - one fill covers about 50cm - some ballast is left on top of the sleepers and needs gently brushing along ... I find a small block of wood is useful to tamp it down nice and flat between the tracks .. And there .. a bit more tidying up and knock a few more of those loose bits off the sleepers and it should be ready for gluing down .. More to follow .. 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Ballasting - continued ... Where there are gaps where the track joiners are fitted, I need to add the missing sleepers before covering with ballast .. Cut the ties off with a sharp knife, push under then ballast over. The glue will hold these bits in place.. .. got some more track painting to do there. I don't mind painting the track either before ballasting or after. For the track sides I use a small paintbrush and an appropriate colour of any from rust, brown, dirty grime or even black - often a mixture and depending on where the track is. More of that later. Cheers ... Alan 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Even more on ballasting .. Just for interest here's two pictures of different areas of my ballasted trackwork - one with no shoulder and the other with a high shoulder. I find both of these methods look ok on a model railway and so have no preference whether I ballast with or without a shoulder. If I was modelling a real place I'd attempt to model it as it is. Also when looking at modern ballasting done by today's machinery, the ballast sometimes seem to go all over the place, uneven edges, piles left here and there and so on. Well, none of that shoddy workmanship here! lol .. Low shoulder .. High shoulder .. So, good progress yesterday, this was about 3 hours' work .. got the full length down this side of the visible part of level 3 and level 2 laid, ready for the glue today. For the station area seen below right, I'll ballast using a mid brown shade. Cheers ... Alan 8 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Hi Alan, I too have found the ballaster a very useful tool, it does spread the ballast a lot quicker and especially in your situation. Whilst looking at the above it made me wonder ( for no apparent reason ) how much you will have used and the total weight of it all once it is laid. Bit of a blow with the hospital appointment, I hope all goes well and you can re-plan your proposed trip in the not too distant future. Grahame Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Hi Alan, I too have found the ballaster a very useful tool, it does spread the ballast a lot quicker and especially in your situation. Whilst looking at the above it made me wonder ( for no apparent reason ) how much you will have used and the total weight of it all once it is laid. Bit of a blow with the hospital appointment, I hope all goes well and you can re-plan your proposed trip in the not too distant future. Grahame Hi Grahame, On a previous layout, similar dimensions but only single layer layout, I used 6 tubs of the Woodlands Scenics ballast. This layout has more track but there's quite a lot in hidden yards and tunnels so I'm reckoning on around the same amount of ballast will get used. On the subject of weight, I do think about that sometimes and I've kneeled on top of my base boards on occasion so I think all is safe and sound. I try to keep the scenery as light as I can - balancing the heavy plaster covering with light supporting structure (wire, cardboard etc). The layout's supporting legs are 2 x 1 timbers but they are fairly closely spaced with plenty of supporting cross beams - which was quite tricky given the amount of point motors there are, especially on the station area. Hopefully then, it'll all hold up! Could be a mess in there if not! Fortunately this layout will not be moved anywhere, otherwise I'd have had to do a whole lot of things differently. Cheers ... Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Many thanks for the comments regarding my (ill timed? ) hospital appointment. I'm off for an angiogram to see if they can sort out my angina - hopefully they can fit a stent. Only a day's visit but comes just a few days before my planned trip (typical! so I thought it wiser to postpone the trip. Cheers ... Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 It'll be two years since I built my big shed prior to starting on this project so I thought it might be a bit of fun to look back at where it all started. So, here's my shed... The base of flags laid on a sand and cement mix, lattice framework made from 2 x 4 tanilised timber, built and levelled ready to start ... Floor laid - yours truly posing in the distance ... Made a start on the walls at one end ... A few hours later ... A few WEEKS later. All done, insulation fitted, plaster walling on, painted, lighting and electrics done.. Ready to start.. A big thank you to all who are following and for all the encouragement. Cheers ... Alan 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmotrutta Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 It'll be two years since I built my big shed prior to starting on this project so I thought it might be a bit of fun to look back at where it all started. So, here's my shed... image.jpeg The base of flags laid on a sand and cement mix, lattice framework made from 2 x 4 tanilised timber, built and levelled ready to start ... image.jpeg Floor laid - yours truly posing in the distance ... image.jpeg Made a start on the walls at one end ... image.jpeg A few hours later ... image.jpeg A few WEEKS later. All done, insulation fitted, plaster walling on, painted, lighting and electrics done.. Ready to start.. image.jpeg A big thank you to all who are following and for all the encouragement. Cheers ... Alan VERY impressive! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted September 8, 2017 Author Share Posted September 8, 2017 Many thanks for the comments regarding my (ill timed? ) hospital appointment. I'm off for an angiogram to see if they can sort out my angina - hopefully they can fit a stent. Only a day's visit but comes just a few days before my planned trip (typical! so I thought it wiser to postpone the trip. Cheers ... Alan Well, spent a wonderful day on Wednesday in hospital - 2 stents fitted to help my ticker along. It better not pack in I haven't finished my layout yet! Anyway, I'm supposed to take it easy for a week so no crawling under baseboards or anything strenuous. Instead I've had a day sorting out and stock taking the load of second hand catenary I bagged on eBay. I won't bore you with the actual list but here it all is: I reckon there's nearly all that I'll need - maybe a few more pull off masts and more tall masts and I'll need to make up the cross spans for the station area. I've already completed most of the catenary installation on the East Spiral Mountain which I found fairly easy as I got used to it, so I'm looking forward to doing the rest of it as the layout progresses. It needs careful planning but adds another interesting aspect to building a layout. Onwards.. Cheers ... Alan 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted September 8, 2017 Author Share Posted September 8, 2017 Some catenary installed on the East Spirals mountain already (and yes they are vertical). The tighter than prototype curves we do as a compromise on model railways make the masts necessarily close together and doesn't look as good as it could. However, it'll have to do. The overhead wire on straight sections zig-zags which is achieved by fitting alternative long and short carriers (arms) on the masts. Interestingly on curves, the masts on the inner curve carry long arms and short arms go on the outer curve. It's logical really but something I'd never thought about. Enjoyable really. Cheers ... Alan 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted September 8, 2017 Author Share Posted September 8, 2017 Started this a few days ago. I'd been looking for a better layout solution for the main station at the west end and when posting a picture following a ballasting session I spotted the answer: The western and of the station is shown here on the lower right: I realised I could enhance the layout of the station throat here: ..by doing this. An extra slip and turnout are placed loose over the top here.. The revised layout from the west end. An additional platform has been created making 6 platforms plus a bay now. I've already amended the plan in Train Controller and ran some simulations to test out the new track plan. It's all much better giving smoother (and more busy) traffic through the main station so I'm quite pleased really. I just need to get it laid, correct the dropper wires and fit the 3 new turnouts underneath. Having a computer based layout diagramme instead of a mimic plan on a board is a great advantage when it comes to making changes to your track plan. Thanks again to Train Controller. Cheers ... Alan 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted September 11, 2017 Author Share Posted September 11, 2017 Due to being a bit bored as I can't do a lot just yet, I thought I'd do a little post here showing fitting a double slip with Tortoise motors and how to set that up in Train Controller. I've laid an additional double slip on the station throat at the western end of the station, making a single slip and a double slip in that formation:. My two Tortoise motors wired and ready to go. Note that I don't need any of the middle terminals wired as I only have insulfrog turnouts (Peco 100s all left over from a previous layout) so no need to power the frog, and I don't need to run wires to power signals as I can do all of that automatically in Train Controller later (when I get some). So all I need are the two wires to drive the motor. These are awkward to fix under the baseboard so I use two strips of double sided tape to hold the motor in place upside down while I get some screws in: Now, imagination is required of me lying on my back under the layout fitting these. Next, setting them up in Train Controller ... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kettlewell Posted September 11, 2017 Author Share Posted September 11, 2017 .. setting up in Train Controller. Luckily I have three available inputs on the nearest module at the rear of the layout. You might just make out the three empty inputs on the furthest LS150 in this picture, so I'm going to use two of these, number 22 and 23: I've opened up the set up dialogue screen - the arrow at the left is pointing to show the particular turnout selected on the layout diagramme. You can see where I've circled that I've selected address no 22 for the first motor. When setting up a turnout with two motors, Train Controller (TC) automatically selects the next number in sequence for the other motor. You can overwrite this if you're not using sequential numbers but I am so no need to change it. The picture shows this double slip before I started setting it up so there's work to do yet: The fun part is setting up the correct sequence for motor 'firing' to set the routes through the double slip. In the large circle (above) you can see there are four outputs and each has its own positive and negative polarity setting. This is very much trial and error to set them up but once you get one right it's just a logical process to work through the others until all the motors move the correct way to set the routes. I'm experienced at doing this now so I spend just a few minutes setting them up - at first it took me ages to figure it out! Here's one I did earlier - Double Slip 44/45 on another part of the layout: Note that from sequence 1 to 2, both motors need to change, but from 2 to 3 only one needs to change so I kept the polarity the same for the right hand motor - and so on. Incidentally, if you find the motors are not actually mounted left to right as shown in the dialogue box, but right to left, then you have a couple of options. You can do this with everything reversed in your head - imagine a mirror image, so whatever you do on the right side is actually happening to the left hand motor, and vice versa. You could swap the motors round under the board (not a good solution, far too much effort), you could swap the two over at the LS150 terminals so no 22 and 23 are swapped, or I think it would work if you swap the numbers in the dialogue box so the first number would 23 then 22 - haven't tried that yet. When it occurs I leave it as it is and do it in my head - a good bit of mental exercise (I know - I'm nuts). There you have it. All set up without changing any wiring. Cheers ... Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgman Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 Hi Alan, I will take all of this in when I return from Cyprus ( my daughters wedding ) and give it more time but for now it's looking really excellent! Grahame 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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