Big jim’s Garage conversion and layout thread

[big jim]

A little bit done this evening, had a clear out of wood from around the floor along the edge of the layout, put some more loco, coach and wagon  boxes away and had a general mini declutter of junk, I’m shocked about how much stuff I’ve got in the cupboards that I’d forgotten about! 
 

i cut the top board for the town from the last big sheet of ply I had 

 

gaugemaster/noch tunnel mouths, I might move the centre one back a touch to line up with the dual gauge track portal

 

Also fixed the rear bridge in place as its  been stood on a stack of empty Bachmann boxes for the last 12 months, as the laser cut bridges were a bit shorter than the gap I’ve had to extend the board a touch with a thin piece of ply screwed to a piece of baton which in turn is screwed to the existing base board, it’s slightly lower so the bridge deck sits on it with the top level with the existing cork trackbed, I’ll fill the gap between the bridge and board with thin ply or cork then run the trackbed cork over the top of it to the bridge edge so it’s a smooth transition onto the bridge 

 

I also sorted the castle area with a new piece of extended scenic board and a couple of extra legs for strength but forgot to take any pics, I’ve pretty much (currently) finished with the major woodwork parts now hence the clear out (to a dry area incase I do actually need it!) 

next up I’ll refit the track on the bridge, also around the back corner where I took the double slips out, add a point to the station toward the branch line, lay the branch line and the sidings at the back and then it’s wiring everything back up and hoping it works!

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by big jim

[big jim]

Another cancelled job today so back to the layout for a it more work this evening 

 

Fitted the point to the branch line 

 

I will most likely replace the Hornby platforms with something different at some point, probably Metcalfe stone edged to match the castle 

 

Also secured the plain line around the corner and the point to the siding 

 

Laid the siding 

 

Which purely by fluke fits two Bachmann TEA wagons on each road! 

 

Put a piece of wood across the bottom of the incline for the castle wall to run along 

 

This will be the dead end station in the castle, I may put a loop in there if there’s room or a release sidings so one loco can bring a train up and another take it back out 

 

Next will be wiring up 

[big jim]

In the mood for building something tonight so made the angled arch, a bit rough and ready and not quite finished, need to put the brick paper under the arch and the coping stones on 

 

 

Added a corner to it to join on to the tower 

 

And in place 

 

 

plenty of room for the trains to pass through

 

 

I really need to gear up to get the wiring finalised, won’t take me long but I’m not in the mood for it, need to do the obvious jumpers between lines and sidings etc as well as wiring the dual gauge crossover up, also need to makes a proper shelf for the controller with a programming track 

 

might do something tomorrow evening but I’ve got a load of decorating to do in the house first! 

[big jim]

Did a bit of wiring tonight, put the various jumpers in where I’d swapped points out and put new ones in, surprisingly not as much work as I thought it would be

 

I also wired in the gaugemaster live frog switches properly on the 3 way point in the station, everything runs lovely over it now, no stalling 
 

Also got the 009 mainline and loop bits live too

 

so now all the mainline, heritage line and 009 is live with just the heritage shed, oil sidings and 009 yard to wire up, I revisited the dual gauge crossover ready to wire that in with a pair of frog switches, I’ve got to get a live feed to the lower line but the easiest way of doing that is while I wire up the narrow gauge sidings and I didn’t feel line starting that tonight 

 

basically it’s going to have a pair of switches (one on each frog) which should work (I hope!) 

 

Back in work tomorrow but may be able to carry in with it on Tuesday, get the final bits wired up 

[big jim]

A shorter job than expected today so able to have a couple of hours in the shed, wired up the dual gauge crossover with the gaugemaster frog switches and gave it a test, works perfectly!

 

 

so now both parts of the 009 loop work and the standard gauge loading platform area toward the shed points, I’ve got to fit 3 more frog switches to that 3 way point to get the lines live from the mainline, similarly a couple more jumpers to add so the final 009 sidings are all live 

[5BarVT]

Pleased you got the dual gauge crossing working.  Much less faff with juicers rather than a switch.

Paul.

[big jim]

More procrastination in the garage today. Went in with the intention of wiring up the 3 frog juicers on the point next to the dual gauge crossing, get the final sidings live, fix down the new town area and have a clear up of wood, I managed none of that!

 

instead after painting down wagons (as seen in my workbench thread) I changed the Hornby resin platforms for Metcalfe examples, the reason being as they are solid resin I’ve got no real adjustment where coaches etc are catching on them, the curved part is fine but it’s the likes of the pointwork where coaches are swinging out and clipping rhe platform I can’t really adjust them so I thought I’d swap to card kits to enable me to cut the tops and curve the walls inward to suit 

 

I got my longest vehicle (mk3 coach and did the pen secured to the end and in the middle to see where the overhangs were, I then basically built the walls with it the clearance area allowing for the platform overhang 

 

island platform 

 
curve for the branch and heritage lines, neither will see MK3s but better to be safe than sorry with clearances, however the branch may see my 156 being used and that’s as long as the mk3

 

I was going to call it a day there but I realised I had enough bits to make the back platform too, the kit includes bits for a platform back retaining wall but as I’d not used it on the island there was enough panels for the 2nd platform 

 

The back platform is a simple straight affair so I cut the tops for it too, slightly over sized by a few mm ince I’ve positioned the platform edge properly I can trim them back to suit

 

Had a think about the retaining wall, it needs to be easily removable to be able to clean the track and remove derailments etc so I thought about using castle ‘stone’ brick card 

 

Added a piece of card on the back with another glued to that 

 

 

Which sits on top of the baseboard, it looks like it’s a retaining wall outside of the castle walls 

 

 

Using a bit more stone paper I cut an arch 

 

Which sits inside half of the steps/arch wall piece 

 

Just down one side for now as you can’t see the inside (I may well do it properly at some point

 

And that in turn sits below the tower 

 

the lower bit of wall will eventually have a slightly wider ledge to sit on so it’s not balancing on a beam! 

 

Bit more stone paper folded and trimmed to size 

 

And placed below the tower 

 

Really pleased with how it’s looking so far, swapping from the red brick platform to the grey fits in so much better with the castle, once it’s all properly in place it should look good, next for the station is cutting the platform tops for the island platform, before I fix any platform tops down I’m going to drill through the base board along them so I can easily add working lights in the future as I’ve got loads of Heljan station lights to use! 

[john new]

If it is any help Weymouth station platform has a prototype notch for clearance as you mention. The reason was nose swing on the Class 37s when the run round loop crossover was being used. The platform wall is set back far enough and the notch is only in the lip of the concrete paviors forming the platform edges. 

[big jim]

Chester’s the same on platform 3 where the points are to take you to and from the through main 

[ess1uk]

Coming along nicely Jim

[big jim]

Just a quick video of ‘Alice’ running on the narrow gauge bit 

 

 

I was going to do a bit more in there tonight such as the final bit of wiring but I don’t feel like it now, not feeling 100% 

[big jim]

No pics tonight but I got the 3 way point wired up with the frog juicers but I’m not convinced they are working correctly

 

running from the point to the dual gauge crossover is fine but trying to head into the shed from the mainline has dead spots but not all the time, it depends on which route you have used previously, sometimes the juicers click as they should but other times one May click and other make a shorting sound and the loco stops g the DCC power doesn’t go off though) , I’ve wired them the same as the other 3 way point with a piggybacked  (+ and - ) feed from all 3 juicers to a single track power pick up and individual frog wires, might have to have a look at them again 

 

also discovered that the dual gauge racer track splitting point has a dead rail on the standard gauge side, not noticeable with bogied locos or an 0-6-0 but i chipped up my 0-4-0 peckett this evening and discovered that once it reached the point it stopped dead (as the whole loco was sat on the dead rail) , it did however run fine over the other identical piece of track further round so I guessed there was an issue with the track rather than the loco being too small, a simple fix, just needs a wire running from the narrow gauge live line to the dead piece, i bridged it with a screwdriver to test and it worked so I know it’s that, I suspect the link tab below may have come adrift but I’m not wanting to lift the track again so I’ll just bridge it

 

other than that I’ve still got a couple of narrow gauge sidings to wire in as well as securing the town and laying the track for the branch line

 

ran some things I’d never run before this evening, sound chipped Baldwin with L+B coaches, southern c class and maunsell coaches, peckett 0-4-0 and accurascale chaldrons, got 8 spare DCC chips to fit to various locos over Christmas, just need to decide which ones to do, I also need to do an inventory of my locos to see which are already chipped, which have sound etc as it’s so long since I’ve run some of them I can’t remember what’s what! 
 

can’t see me doing too much over Christmas as I need to move my other bike from the dining room into the garage and I’ve got work most days, might get a sneaky few hours in later today though as my job is cancelled 

[big jim]

Carried on with the platform tops this evening, the back platform was simple enough as it’s a simple straight line

 

The island needed a bit of work with the various cut outs for the carriage ‘swing’ 

 

The curve isn’t fantastic due to the overhangs, doesn’t look too bad when a train is in the inner platform as you can’t really see the huge gap but you certainly couldn’t use the middle doors of a coach if it was real life, they are about a scale 10ft from the platform! 

 

Still have to add the card edging to the underside of the island platform and the self adhesive white line copings but I may well get some scale scenery modern tactile paving sheets for the mainline part of the station to make it look a bit more up to date

 

 

[ColinK]

Interesting layout  Jim, do you gave a track plan we can see - even if its jyst a rough sketch?

[big jim]

I’ve not got a plan but it’s basically a 2 track mainline in an elongated figure of 8 with the separate (but joined) heritage line running in the inside of it, that in turn shares a bridge with the 009 section for a short while, the 009 was originally going to run in a totally different area but it seems to have expanded greatly thanks to all the nice new Bachmann items being released, I’ve still got to finish the loop under the castle which will now run to a dead end station 

 

the only thing I feel I’m lacking is any sort of yard area fkr my engineers wagons etc, I did originally have one on the high level part for the MOD stuff but that will be replaced by the town, I’ll just have to chop and change wagons and coaches when I feel like I want a change of stock, thankfully all the locos are in the display cabinets so I can simply change them without having to unbox and rebox all the time (just need to see what’s actually got DCC chips in though!) 

 

I’ll try and draw up a basic plan at some point if I get a chance 

[CameronL]

25 minutes ago, big jim said:

I’ve not got a plan but it’s basically a 2 track mainline in an elongated figure of 8 with the separate (but joined) heritage line running in the inside of it, that in turn shares a bridge with the 009 section for a short while

No Broad Gauge?

 

Seriously, love it. The castle area makes me think of Conwy on steroids.

 

Best wishes 

 

Cam

Edited December 28, 2022 by CameronL
Added a bit

[big jim]

Couple of little jobs before work this evening, the middle of Lidl has a wall mounted ceramic heater for £45 so I bought one of those to replace the convection heater I’ve been using in the garage, same output, 2000w with a digital thermostat, timer, oscillating action etc, gets the room warmer quicker than the other heater, obviously noisier as it’s a fan but one less bit of clutter on the floor without the other heater in there 

 

fixed the chaser track, as suspected the jumper had come away from the rail, couldn’t get it to reattach electrically so had to run a wire along the outside instead, not fantastic but it works!

 

picked up ‘Charles’ and dropped off by broken ‘Alice’ with trident trains, Charles is a stunner and runs fantastic

 

 

here’s a video of it and the peckett running round the heritage part of the layout, I wouldn’t normally take the chance on running both at the same time incase they met on the chaser track bit but I timed it right to avoid each other! 

 

next up is a big clean up around the floor (again) try and sort out a couple of my stock cupboards to make more room for boxes that are stacked up around the edges of the room, then it’s paint the rear bridge black and refit the tracks over it to get the mainline circuit back up and running

 

going to have a big eBay sale of things like spare points, platforms, buildings  maybe even a few wagons and coaches that I’ll probably never run

 

 

[big jim]

Jumping about the layout again, had a think about the branch line bit and how to make it work better, instead of the single piece of wood I thought of splitting it so the line didn’t have to climb as much to get to the station 

 

found a spare piece of wood just the right size to sit above the heritage line where I could put the small station, mocked it up with some Hornby platforms 

 

once secured I ran a piece of wood over  the back and sat the original piece of wood on top of it at a higher level 

 

The original orientation had bits sticking out as it was originally the headshunt for the MOD sidings I was going to put in 

 

Turning it round makes it look better 

 

cut back and trimmed 

 

And with some buildings loosely placed 

 

 

And along the back wall, lots of low relief buildings and some normal ones, the church ‘plinth’ will be trimmed back and raised up a bit 

 

Got loads of buildings left over I’ve simply not got the room for so I’ll probaly end up putting them on eBay, I’ve listed a few definite non useable buildings already but there will be loads more!

 

Got 2 boxes full of unused buildings I bought as a job lot, shame there is no room as there are things like Metcalfe fire station, another church, farm buildings, barns, more mill buildings, industrial units and more! 

 

 

even ended up with 3 spare stations! 

 

these buildings are all scratch built my someone local, shame to not use them but again nowhere for them to go! 
 

aldi, I may find somewhere for

 

bannatines health club 

 

and this one is based on crewe leisure centre 

If anyone is interested in any buildings get in touch 

Edited January 1, 2023 by big jim

[Siggie in the east]

On 30/12/2022 at 21:34, big jim said:

Couple of little jobs before work this evening, the middle of Lidl has a wall mounted ceramic heater for £45 so I bought one of those to replace the convection heater I’ve been using in the garage, same output, 2000w with a digital thermostat, timer, oscillating action etc, gets the room warmer quicker than the other heater, obviously noisier as it’s a fan but one less bit of clutter on the floor without the other heater in there 

 

 

Hey Jim, how are you getting on with the heater? Looks like a great find and I'm considering one for my pool table room/bar but wanted an opinion on one first.

 

Cheers

[big jim]

It’s alright, used it yesterday again, was switching itself on and off with the thermostat when the room was at temperature so working fine, as I say it’s noisy but not particularly noticeable or loud, just white noise that’s ‘there’ compared to the silent convection heater, defiantly recommend it for the price 

[The Stationmaster]

Jim I love your layout - really good fun and put together with some great imagination.  But are you maintaining access where you've put in all these high level features?

[big jim]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Jim I love your layout - really good fun and put together with some great imagination.  But are you maintaining access where you've put in all these high level features?

yes, the side I’ve just done under the town will have access from the edge of the baseboard, the retaining wall along the rear lower town area will be removable (like I’ve done in the station area) 

 

the castle area I’ve planned that the scenic ‘grass bank’ that will go from below the castle to the spiral riser will be removable in one piece so I can reach in for cleaning and derailments, it’s tight but just about doable  

 

the only but I’ve not thought about is the rear right curve under the oil tank sidings, it’s only a short stretch so ill make sure the tunnel exit at the station end is big enough to reach an arm (or grabber) in for derailments or one of those rail cleaners on a stick for cleaning 

 

Other than the chaser track point I’ve made sure that any track in the hidden bits is plain line with as few joins in there on the curves as possible to minimise possible derailments on track joins

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by big jim

[Siggie in the east]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

It’s alright, used it yesterday again, was switching itself on and off with the thermostat when the room was at temperature so working fine, as I say it’s noisy but not particularly noticeable or loud, just white noise that’s ‘there’ compared to the silent convection heater, defiantly recommend it for the price 

Cheers for the review, unfortunately both Lidl shops in Colchester are sold out but ebay have exactly the same one so will order one from there. Just want to be able to use my mancave to play pool and not freeze 😆

Thanks again and happy new year.

[big jim]

 

9 hours ago, Siggie in the east said:

unfortunately both Lidl shops in Colchester are sold out

strange, there were at least 10 in the crewe store

 

job cancelled again today so I took the opportunity to sort out the cupboards and floor, shocking how much stuff I forgot I had, 3 packs of accurascale PCAs when I thought I only had two, 8 twin packs of GBRf box wagons when I thought I had 6, 10 silver bullets! 
 

seeing all that lot (plus other wagons and coaches I did know about) gave me the motivation to crack on with it so I can get hem out to have a play as soon as possible! 
 

oh to have a Time Machine to go back to 2012 when I bought these

 

 

 

This was the floor when I started!

 

and a few hours later, still need to sort out the boxes with scenics and tools in but I have a floor again

 

I also cleared the baseboards below the viaducts and in the corner 

 

@The Stationmaster was asking about access, to the hidden bits, this is the access to below the castle, I’ll shape a card ‘skeleton’ to sit on the top board to run down to the spiral with the grass verge on top that will be removable, i recon a wall at the bottom and a ditch at the top should conseal it a bit, that will be a long way off anyway! 

 

So with everything out of the way I had a chance to run some trains, 3 at a time, had to do a bit of fine fettling of the track just before the removable section as the rear 3 lobster wagons kept coming off, I had put a slight cant on the track so I had to remove it on that particular track to get it to run smoothly, still a few more bits to level up such as the rear bridge as you can see the trains dip slightly as they cross over it 

also gave the crossing matrix a try, works perfectly

really pleased with it, nice to see trains running at last, got to finish the branch line bit and do a final bit of wiring on a couple of 009 sidings and the oil siding on the high level bit, once that’s done I can start in the scenics I recon

quick heads up, as part of the clean up I’ve decided to cut back on stock, this lot will be going in the classifieds over the next few days

 

Dapol 121 loadhaul, 37057 green colas rail Zimo with sound chip, 67027 resprayed by Newbryford, 55002, 37419 professional respray amongst other bits 

 

rake of 8 Dapol pocket wagons, weathered (apart from 1)

 

7 x MEA various liveries 

 

also loads of code 75 points, double and single slips, buildings and more 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by big jim

[big jim]

Got the narrow gauge spiral up and running this afternoon, final bit of track on the spiral in place

 

I’ve not secured the station area yet but it’s all running, got to add the run round loop and it’s done, I’ve made the run round long enough for the two L&B coaches and the headshunt long enough for the double fairlie as they are my longest narrow gauge vehicles 

 

 

again, a touch of fettling to get it to run smoothly but it works ok

 

The only other thing I’ve done is stuck some of the platform edging down 

 

next up is the branchline track