North End Road - WCML in N

[DavidMcKenzie]

25 minutes ago, Steadfast said:

Hi Dave, 

Nice work on the 37.

Hope you don't mind me fiddling with your picture. I've done the same mod by removing material from the area indicated by the yellow arrow. The PCB can be slid upwards and material removed as indicated by the dotted line, allowing the PCB to sit lower in the chassis. May be less filing involved than taking the top edge down?

Did you remove any material from the bottom of the cab interior?

This is how mine sits, think it's similar to yours?

Multiple ways to skin a cat I guess. And as I type that,  the cat had literally just flown out the cat flap!

 

Jo

 

Jo that looks a much easier way to do it👍! I wish I had thought of this before trying to file the profile on each end 😅. I didn't realize the PCBs came out so easily. 

No I didn't remove anything from the cab interior (should I have?). It was hard to judge, but I didn't think it was contacting anything. 

 

All the best,

Dave 

[Steadfast]

6 minutes ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

No I didn't remove anything from the cab interior (should I have?). It was hard to judge, but I didn't think it was contacting anything. 

I have no idea Dave! I'm sure I read someone else filing down the base of the cab a while back, not long after this era of 37 first appeared. Scarily that's probably 10 years ago! It does make the cab floor very flimsy though. Basically I sanded mine to get the lower face of the floor flat, removing the drop down section.

 

Jo

[DavidMcKenzie]

The workbench looks like a NSE depot at the moment 🤣

 

 

And although it's not the most interesting post, the layouts developing, with a double layered fiddle yard taking shape slowly. 

 

 

All the best,

Dave

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by DavidMcKenzie

[DavidMcKenzie]

Christmas came a little early this year. The new 90 is a brilliant model and a joy to weather. The un-touched model in the background will become 90025 at some point, but I will try and clear the EMU backlog on the workbench before starting any other new projects......just couldn't help myself to get stuck into one before putting the rest of the boxes away for a later date.  

 

 

 

 

All the best,

Dave 

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by DavidMcKenzie

[shanks522]

Fantastic! 👌

[87023Velocity]

Hi David, 

 

That looks spot on, the weathering certainly highlights all the detail. You could easily be fooled into thinking that was the 4mm version.

Need to get mine done but got quite a queue in front to get through first.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

[cornish trains jez]

Fabulous work David!

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

[DavidMcKenzie]

Slowly working through the NSE backlog on the work bench has been very enjoyable. The 319 is the first of the backlog to be finished.

 

The first step was toning down the base colours. I don't seem to be able to get this picture inserted the right way up, but hopefully you get the idea and can see the difference to the untouched one below 🙂.

 

A number of details were picked out and different washes were applied.

 

 

Redundant couplings from an 8 car class321 set added a lot to the look of the model.

 

 

And finally some dry brushing and last detailing. 

 

 

 

 

 

All the best,

Dave 

[DavidMcKenzie]

Most of the work lately has been on the fiddle yard and the spirals, but I stopped for a while to see how the new 90 looked out on the layout. 

 

Stabled waiting for action 

 

 

Waiting for the lights to change

 

 

 

All the best,

Dave

[shanks522]

Very atmospheric Dave. 👌

 

Any photos of the fiddle yard?? 
 

Graham. 

[Gloucester Road]

that really does have a "feel" to it, 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Gloucester Road

[Steadfast]

12 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

Stabled waiting for action 

 

 

 

I love the desolate loneliness of the stabled loco waiting its next job, fantastic!

 

Jo

[DavidMcKenzie]

Thanks for the kind comments. 

Graham the fiddle yard is far from finished and please excuse the mess, but hopefully you get a feel for the basic idea from the picture below.

The fiddle yard for the slow up and down lines is in the process of going down and will be 13 lines when finished. The fast up and down are not started yet and will be directly above and a similar size. Finally the shuttle line will go in the middle of the spiral at the other end......that's the plan at least 😅.

The scenic section of the layout is above the spiral level (and the fast lines will only go through 180deg). In the future a longer and deeper layout could make use of the same fiddle yard (if I ever get that far), without too much modification. a scenic section of the same baseboard size could swap in directly. I like the scenic side of the hobby more than the wiring etc. So hopefully once this is finished it will do me for a while 🤞.

 

 

All the best,

Dave 

[shanks522]

Thanks for sharing the photo Dave, looks great! I love the scenic section but always fascinated by the unseen sections, very nice indeed. 
 

Graham 

[porkie]

Hell's Bell's David, that fiddle yard set up is awesome. 

The previous class 90 shots are amazing.

 

Not sure if I have asked this question before. How far apart are your mast's?

As trying to work out how many I'm going to need

 

Phil 

[DavidMcKenzie]

14 hours ago, porkie said:

Hell's Bell's David, that fiddle yard set up is awesome. 

The previous class 90 shots are amazing.

 

Not sure if I have asked this question before. How far apart are your mast's?

As trying to work out how many I'm going to need

 

Phil 

Hi Phil, I hope you are well. Thanks for the kind comments. I've got roughly 30cm between the masts. I think (from very crude online measurements from Google earth) in reality something more like 45cm might have been more realistic on open stretches without Pointwork etc. But a combination of Pointwork and the fact that the whole layouts compressed a bit compared to reality meant that the 30cm spacing gave the rough feel I was hoping for. 

All the best,

Dave 

[03060]

On 24/02/2023 at 13:01, DavidMcKenzie said:

Thanks for the kind comments. 

Graham the fiddle yard is far from finished and please excuse the mess, but hopefully you get a feel for the basic idea from the picture below.

The fiddle yard for the slow up and down lines is in the process of going down and will be 13 lines when finished. The fast up and down are not started yet and will be directly above and a similar size. Finally the shuttle line will go in the middle of the spiral at the other end......that's the plan at least 😅.

The scenic section of the layout is above the spiral level (and the fast lines will only go through 180deg). In the future a longer and deeper layout could make use of the same fiddle yard (if I ever get that far), without too much modification. a scenic section of the same baseboard size could swap in directly. I like the scenic side of the hobby more than the wiring etc. So hopefully once this is finished it will do me for a while 🤞.

 

 

All the best,

Dave 

 

Hello Dave,

 

I've been studying this photo for a couple of days now (not continuously ...LoL) and would be interested in your thoughts regarding the helix incline / decline spirals that you've built. Did you use a kit to form them or are they home grown ?

 

I have come to the conclusion that the only way that I can achieve 'the N gauge layout of my dreams' is by incorporating a helix system somewhere in the plan to achieve multi level running so I would appreciate any thoughts or experience you've encountered regarding your build ie. stability, practicality, incline percentage rate and just generally how successful they are in use. I appreciate that you are running mainly electric and odd diesel locos which have good haulage capabilities.

 

Whilst 90s electrics are maybe not my thing (80s maybe) I do enjoy seeing what high standards others and yourself are achieving with modern N gauge in creating interesting layouts which really capture the feel and atmosphere of the time period in which they are set ... so keep up the good work, I hope that I can also achieve this goal with my own layout in the coming years.

 

Kind regards,

Ian.

[DavidMcKenzie]

On 05/03/2023 at 00:14, 03060 said:

 

Hello Dave,

 

I've been studying this photo for a couple of days now (not continuously ...LoL) and would be interested in your thoughts regarding the helix incline / decline spirals that you've built. Did you use a kit to form them or are they home grown ?

 

I have come to the conclusion that the only way that I can achieve 'the N gauge layout of my dreams' is by incorporating a helix system somewhere in the plan to achieve multi level running so I would appreciate any thoughts or experience you've encountered regarding your build ie. stability, practicality, incline percentage rate and just generally how successful they are in use. I appreciate that you are running mainly electric and odd diesel locos which have good haulage capabilities.

 

Whilst 90s electrics are maybe not my thing (80s maybe) I do enjoy seeing what high standards others and yourself are achieving with modern N gauge in creating interesting layouts which really capture the feel and atmosphere of the time period in which they are set ... so keep up the good work, I hope that I can also achieve this goal with my own layout in the coming years.

 

Kind regards,

Ian.

 

Hi Ian,

 

Sorry for the slow reply, had a busy few weeks this end. 

 

The spirals are a kit from (German) eBay, but they are not overly complex. 

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/353762968912?var=623124624155

 

The spiral has an O.D of 95 cm and I.D of 75 cm. 

The twin lines have rough diameters at the track center line of 87.5 cm and 81.5 cm. The internal line has a rise of ~ 1 in 21 and the outer ~ 1 in 31. 

As for the question about long term operational stability I am afraid I just don't have enough experience yet. But even older models (Farish 90s, 87s, 47s, 37s or 08s from the late 90s) seem to be able to pull 8 coaches up the incline without issue. The main thing I've noticed in operation is that I need to keep on top of track cleaning more than I've ever needed to on the flat sections.

I had a go with a new tooling 37 and it managed a funny mix of 18 mk1, 2 and 3 coaches without seeming to struggle. I'm never going to run something that long in reality, but it was interesting to see what was possible. 

 

I have added some plastic builders edging strip to catch anything which details. I haven't actually needed it yet. But hopefully it will work as a catch fence if anything ever details on the spiral. 

 

Hopefully this helps, let me know if I can help with any further specific details.

 

All the best,

Dave 

[DavidMcKenzie]

A little break from work on wiring and automation of the fiddle yard allowed a little time to weather another 90. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm looking forward to getting it out running on the layout at the head of a rake of mk3s now.

 

All the best,

Dave 

Edited March 18, 2023 by DavidMcKenzie

[87023Velocity]

Hi David,

 

That 90 looks spot on, as does your RF one!! Will look great running on the layout. Need to get around to doing mine (along with about 90% of the locos I have 😂).

 

Cheers

Simon

 

[03060]

12 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

 

Hi Ian,

 

Sorry for the slow reply, had a busy few weeks this end. 

 

The spirals are a kit from (German) eBay, but they are not overly complex. 

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/353762968912?var=623124624155

 

The spiral has an O.D of 95 cm and I.D of 75 cm. 

The twin lines have rough diameters at the track center line of 87.5 cm and 81.5 cm. The internal line has a rise of ~ 1 in 21 and the outer ~ 1 in 31. 

As for the question about long term operational stability I am afraid I just don't have enough experience yet. But even older models (Farish 90s, 87s, 47s, 37s or 08s from the late 90s) seem to be able to pull 8 coaches up the incline without issue. The main thing I've noticed in operation is that I need to keep on top of track cleaning more than I've ever needed to on the flat sections.

I had a go with a new tooling 37 and it managed a funny mix of 18 mk1, 2 and 3 coaches without seeming to struggle. I'm never going to run something that long in reality, but it was interesting to see what was possible. 

 

I have added some plastic builders edging strip to catch anything which details. I haven't actually needed it yet. But hopefully it will work as a catch fence if anything ever details on the spiral. 

 

Hopefully this helps, let me know if I can help with any further specific details.

 

All the best,

Dave 

 

Hello Dave,

 

Thanks for the detailed reply, great information for me to work with, much appreciated.

Your IC liveried 90 is certainly a fine looking loco.

 

Best wishes,

Ian.

[DavidMcKenzie]

The class 90 got to stretch it's legs. Bachmann have really done a great job producing this model.

 

 

 

All the best,

Dave

[DavidMcKenzie]

The 321s made it out onto the layout as well. Another lovely model released recently. It feels like a little golden spell for modelling the wcml in ngauge. 

 

 

 

 

 

All the best,

Dave

[DavidMcKenzie]

Getting started on these is perhaps a good way to ensure swallow liveried MK2fs are in the next round of Farish releases 😀.

 

 

All the best,

Dave 

[DavidMcKenzie]

Jumping around a little with the modelling unfortunately. I just got stuck into the mk2 coaches before realising that I am missing the correct transfers for the 1 on the side of the first opens. 

 

I decided to switch to attacking the RES class 90. I am still undecided if this or intercity is my favourite livery on the 90s, they both suited the loco very well in my opinion.