Kirkby Luneside (Original): End of the line....

[robmcg]

Rob, forgive me if I'm missing something here. But can't you buy a box of SMP or C&L track and have it shipped out? I'm ordering 3 more turnouts from Marcway tomorrow and I'll need another box (my sixth) of 10 yards of SMP. Would SMP be good enough for you (it's bullhead). If so, why can't Marcway ship you a box, at cost?

 

Or have I (forgive the pun) gone down the wrong track?

 

Jeff

 

I think when I initially looked at this, airmail packets as long as 1 metre were hugely expensive, but I might be wrong.... in any event I thought the local supplier of C&L would be ok and I saw no great difficulty in assembling 10 250mm lengths of track.... how wrong I was! Again.

 

Anyway, waste not, want not...

 

half-finished pic... new packages arrived from Hattons B17 and Evening Star I think, so who cares about track?

 

 

Rob

[Mythocentric]

Bill - can I give you a hint? Phoebe gives the game away! Lol!!!

 

Hope the modelling's going ok.

 

Jeff

 

Darn fairies! Never do what you want!

 

Modelling? That's an interesting point! I spent this morning building the legs for the baseboards ready to start profiling the tops (three levels) when I finalise the track plan which I think I have, subject to uploading it on the forum for you gentlemen to give it the once-over. I'm putting the finishing touches on one building (a factory store) ready to start the next (the goods shed) which I'll start if, and when, the 7mm SE Finecast brick sheets I ordered arrive (promised within three days a fortnight ago) otherwise I'll be scribing plasticard or Das. In addition there are eight locos to renumber and weather with more to come (including a very nice L&Y Class 27 0-6-0, thanks to Richard at my local model shop), fifteen coaches and a very large pile of wagon kits in the offing.

 

So, to be honest, Bemused of Morecambe isn't too far from the truth just now! I get the horrible feeling I'm going to have to compile one of Jason's lists soon!

 

Ain't model railways fun

 

Bill

[Jason T]

Thread Hi-jack Warning!

 

Question for Sandside. What dilution ratio do you use? If it was PVA I would put it in a small container and add water. Is it that easy with Copydex as it is much thicker?

 

If you have explained it on your thread just say as I am slowly working my way through it.

 

Thanks

 

Hi Chris, I diluted it at a 60:40 (Copydex : water) ratio which seemed to work fine.

Rob, Copydex is made by Pritt by the looks of it (can you tell I'm looking at the bottle now ) and is a latex-based glue that looks a bit like PVA but smells like a urinal in a night club for poultry. Not sure if it is available abroad, the only places I could find it here were in DIY stores, although I didn't really look too hard it must be said.

[Rowsley17D]

Morning Jeff,I too like Sandside favour latex over PVA for ballasting. If you need larger quantities of the stuff, then DIY chains sell it for sticking carpet down. However, it's not as smooth as Copydex and needs to be thoroughly mixed with water. The Carrs ballast is made from a material similar to wood so helping with sound deadening.

 

[Andrew P]

Hi Jeff, the viaduct pics are on our clubs Coopers Dale Layout and in OO Gauge, it is 41ft x 12ft and is basically two layouts in one and stands in the middle of the room as an island. The viaduct side is a single track branch and the other side is double track. (see photos below) The grass is temporary for the open weekend.

The last pics is Coopers Dale station which is a passing loop / station on the single track side

 

The layout was started 18 Months ago and is probably a 10 year work in progress, the previous layout up there was Worthington East built 42 or so years ago and was in Railway Modeller about 1997 I think.

 

Cheers Andy

[Physicsman]

Morning Andy.

 

Being a scenic freak, that last photo of the club layout is just wonderful. Just the type of thing I love to see on a layout - the railway surrounded by the landscape. Now I know why you were asking me about rocks, earlier in the year! Smashing stuff!

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

Jason, Jonathan: Thanks for the Copydex info. It IS smelly, but it's not too bad. I will get some and try it out in some small scale experiments when I get to that bit, sometime early 2013.

 

I'll have a look at the Carrs ballast, too.

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

Bill,

 

It sounds like you've been doing lots of proper modelling, not stuck under a board fiddling with (seemingly) endless lengths of wire! Oh how I want to be building scenery, like that last pic in Andy's post.

 

Funny, but the things you're doing - weathering, renumbering etc, are the things with which I'm least familiar.

 

Peter (Western Sunset) once asked if I ever go to bed. You tend to post in the middle of the night, too - do you sleep! Btw, hope you told Phoebe off (she's very chatty!)...

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

Right, I've done my 3 hours of wiring duty for the day. Still a lot to do, but the last few days have cleared about 70% of the backlog, so I'm pleased about that. At least you can look at most of the under-board without seeing a jungle of droppers.

 

I'm going to order some 2mm and 3mm ply. Some of it for construction, some of it as backing. You can make your own mind up what I'm going to do with it....!

 

Jeff

[Mythocentric]

Hi Jeff

 

That’s funny; I thought it was you doing the proper modelling. To be honest, I don’t have the courage to do what you’re doing. Too much of a butterfly! I don’t know if it was because I spent so much time lurking around exhibitions but I’ve always tended towards smaller, portable layouts (club layouts excepted!). Easier to build and work on, and not being the most practical person, easier to wire.

 

I do love the scenic side though, especially the architecture. It’s very satisfying to look at a model and realize that it’s something you’ve researched and created from nothing, or in the case of locomotives change to recreate something I used to see every day, and unlike my pictures which depend on other people liking them, I’ve only me to satisfy. Probably explains why I spend so long on them.

 

That said, given the amount of effort you’re putting into KL, I doubt you’ll have many problems with the ‘artistic’ (!) side of things. The basics aren’t hard to learn and once you get them the rest is easy. All I did was copy people like Geoff Taylor, Paul Bason, Martyn Welch, etc (though I must admit to a certain amount of professional training with the airbrush). Hopefully that’s something I can help with at times.

 

Sleep? That’s something that happens when I’m too bored to do anything else! I’ve always been a night person and at my age I can’t see that changing anytime. I think there must be a bit of vampire in my heritage somewhere and frequently go to bed as the sun rises!

 

Phoebe duly reprimanded. Courteously of course. After all, it wouldn’t be wise to annoy a fae queen!

 

Regards

 

Bill

[Physicsman]

I can manage all the basics, no problem with the science and I'm willing to learn new skills as I go along.

 

But certain things seem to be inbuilt in us and, though you can train yourself to improve, beyond a certain level it's tricky. I can never understand why people find Physics difficult - especially basic electricity/electronics. So it's the same for you with the artistry. You don't feel daunted by spraying a loco or trying out combinations of paint on a backscene...

 

Always good to have a spectrum of abilities/talents - and great to have people around with a range of skills to "teach" the rest of us.

 

I've just concocted a curry for tea - it's soaking up the spices now. Then it's time for a bit more.........w----g!

 

Jeff

[Andrew P]

Hi Jeff, are you dreaming of wiring, or is it giving you NIGHTMARES, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is this the ghost of Christmas future? MORE WIRING, ho ho ho

 

Andy

[Physicsman]

Hi Jeff, are you dreaming of wiring, or is it giving you NIGHTMARES, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is this the ghost of Christmas future? MORE WIRING, ho ho ho

 

Andy

 

I've had enough for tonight. It's taking far longer than I expected. I shouldn't be surprised though, given the amount of soldering I've done.

 

I'm going to connect up the 11 latest turnouts to the new switches on the control panel tomorrow and see how the DC switching goes.

 

In the meantime I'm off to read A Christmas Carol and see what that damned ghost of Christmas future's up to. Last seen living in Derbyshire!!

 

Jeff

[uax6]

Cheers Dave - takes me back to when I was a lad. Must admit I misread the caption for a second - as 1980s rather than 1890s!! Don't think Andy (uax6) would be too impressed if he had to dress like that when he went to work!

 

Jeff

 

Actually I wouldn't mind wearing something smart.... (we get issued with polo-shirts and cargo trousers).. it would be the short back and sides I would abject to... My mid-chest length hair is not getting cut for work!

 

Andy g

[Physicsman]

Actually I wouldn't mind wearing something smart.... (we get issued with polo-shirts and cargo trousers).. it would be the short back and sides I would abject to... My mid-chest length hair is not getting cut for work!

 

Andy g

 

Go on then, Andy. Let's see a pic of you in your finery with your signal box in the background!

 

Good to hear from you.

 

Jeff

[uax6]

Funny enough SWMBO's dad did take a photo of me on the box steps back in the summer, now where is it?

 

It's nice to be back at work tonight, while I've had my monthly weekend off we have had the frame oiled along with the gates, it's so much nicer to use that it was last week!

 

Mind you its been one of those days today... The head gasket went on the van at 1030am. It did the usual BMC A series trick of burning through between the cylinders (in this case cylinders 1 and 2), but I still managed to get her home. I never thought I'd be happy to have a full 48bhp! Driving on 2 and a half cylinders was, errm, interesting and noisey!

 

Anyway, got the head off, and a mate drove me to a Minor specialist who happened to have a gasket in stock, and then put it back together. It took longer to drive to pick-up the gasket than to get it running in the end! Cost for the job? £10. Oh, and a day lost making mince pies ;-{

 

Have you finished wiring up that track bus yet???

 

Andy G

[robmcg]

Morning Jeff,I too like Sandside favour latex over PVA for ballasting. If you need larger quantities of the stuff, then DIY chains sell it for sticking carpet down. However, it's not as smooth as Copydex and needs to be thoroughly mixed with water. The Carrs ballast is made from a material similar to wood so helping with sound deadening.

 

Ah, can this be what we here call 'carpet glue'...? I used to use this for, um, gluing carpet, edging strips of back-lay mainly.. I had an old tube of it for decades and couldn't think of any other use for it...

 

But in mentioning possible use for ballasting, I find myself going into an inexplicable cold sweat. Back to making pictures of B17s...

 

Rob

[uax6]

Rob,

 

Would it be possible to use your track in the shed yard as it is, but with a thick pouring of black paint over it... ?

 

No I've not gone mad (Quiet at the back... I heard that!), but loco yards did have quite a lot of oil spread about. I realise you can't do it to all of the track, but you might be able to use it on some...

 

The answer to removing the rest of it might be a screwdriver!

 

Andy g

[Physicsman]

Hi Andy - don't mention the track bus. That's not even being considered at the moment. I'm wiring all the track droppers into terminal blocks and connecting the turnout droppers into the Cobalts. Taking ages...

 

Then, when that's all done - the track bus goes in, with attendant soldering etc etc. The good thing, though, is that when the bus is fitted I can start to run locos!

 

Oh well, we do what we can manage and I'm already 6-9 months ahead of schedule after only 6 months layout work. So overall it's ok.

 

What reg is that van of yours? You said I had a model that was similar on my last layout.

 

Jeff

[Physicsman]

Ah, can this be what we here call 'carpet glue'...? I used to use this for, um, gluing carpet, edging strips of back-lay mainly.. I had an old tube of it for decades and couldn't think of any other use for it...

 

But in mentioning possible use for ballasting, I find myself going into an inexplicable cold sweat. Back to making pictures of B17s...

 

Rob

 

It's a form of carpet glue, yes. I'd never come across using copydex for ballasting until I started reading this Forum about 4 years ago. It has its advocates and I'm going to do some small-scale trials before I commit to the old PVA method I've used previously. As Jason said, it has a bit of "give" to it, rather than the rock-setting properties of PVA.

 

Sorry if you've started sweating, Rob!

 

Jeff

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I think when I initially looked at this, airmail packets as long as 1 metre were hugely expensive, but I might be wrong.... in any event I thought the local supplier of C&L would be ok and I saw no great difficulty in assembling 10 250mm lengths of track.... how wrong I was! Again.

Rob

 

Rob,

Could you not get a friend to buy the track in the UK, cut it into 60ft (scale) lengths and then send it onto you?

 

Just a thought.....

 

Peter

[uax6]

You set very loose goals if you are 6-9months early after 6 months... We could do with you on the real railway, where everything runs at least 9 months late!

 

The van is NYW 884E, and is sounding (touch wood) much better now!

 

I feel very poor compared with all you oldies with money to spare! I am very much doing things on the cheap at the minute as I have to keep the rest of the family in the style that they have become used to. (SWMBO is an ex-teacher too, but sadly nowhere near to retirement age, and her pension (in 30years time) won't be able to keep me in squalour!

 

Andy G

[uax6]

Rob,

Could you not get a friend to buy the track in the UK, cut it into 60ft (scale) lengths and then send it onto you?

 

Just a thought.....

 

Peter

 

Sounds like a job for someone who is about to order his next load..... Jeff I think you are required here!

 

Andy g

[Physicsman]

You set very loose goals if you are 6-9months early after 6 months... We could do with you on the real railway, where everything runs at least 9 months late!

 

The van is NYW 884E, and is sounding (touch wood) much better now!

 

I feel very poor compared with all you oldies with money to spare! I am very much doing things on the cheap at the minute as I have to keep the rest of the family in the style that they have become used to. (SWMBO is an ex-teacher too, but sadly nowhere near to retirement age, and her pension (in 30years time) won't be able to keep me in squalour!

 

Andy G

 

My targets were entirely realistic until I decided to start this thread. The input, enthusiasm and encouragement of the contributors on here has meant that things have gone a little bit quicker than planned. You may not realise how relentless you lot are - in the nicest possible sense! It's fantastic - and a bit surprising to me - that anybody would want to follow my project.

 

Good luck with the van, Andy. Keeping a 1967 vehicle in working order is a clear testament to your mechanical skills.

 

Jeff

[figworthy]

That's a good question Adrian. And there's no reason why I couldn't have done just that. I just wanted to have the wires organised onto the bottom of the board via the terminal block. Bearing in mind that the red and black droppers from the turnout needed connecting to the track bus and Cobalt inputs I went for a block connection here, rather than a bit of soldering. I like terminal block as it provides a good structural support for key connections, rather than having the soldered wires hanging down.

 

For anyone looking at this, there is no need to use a block connection - just a personal preference!

 

Jeff

 

Edit: Another comment: The red and black feed into the Cobalt is a combination of 2 wires - one from the Stock rail, one from the Switch rail. Getting these two into the hole provided on the bottom of the Cobalt was tricky - another reason I went through a block. I did use copper wire to bond the rails on about 3 of the turnouts - due to their awkward location. In those cases I'd have had just the single wire to fit to the Cobalt. Just another reason I went by this route.

 

Such a simple initial question, Adrian. I had to think hard as to why I used the method I did. Cheers!

 

Thanks for the detailed explanations. I'm also using Cobalts (and an identical colour scheme, but with an additional pair of wires to provide feedback on the state of the turnout), so I'm curious as to how other users get to use theirs.

 

 

Adrian