RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted August 21, 2010 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 21, 2010 After a break for a couple of weeks, work restarted on the layout last night. Whilst our working weekend was mainly involved in construction, last night was destruction. Two main changes involved the removal of the UK-outline loco shed and the start of some track remodeling. The track nearest the front of the three in the loco area will remain unchanged. The middle one will now serve a fuelling point of some sort (until we change our minds of course ) and the third track - nearest the wall) has been cut sort. The remodeling is due to a number of factors. The loco shed was not suitable for Japanese prototype - certainly in UK modeler’s eyes as we have been using the PECO shed which is very well known here - and we are seeing a general reduction of loco-hauled train, therefore reducing the need to stable engines between duties. Originally there were plans for a regular loco-hauled diagram terminating in the station. This would have resulted in the need for several extra loco movements. Now all terminating trains will be units, so all we need the loco yard for is stabling freight engines...and even then we are only looking at about three locos maximum. This entire area is going to be improved over the next few weeks... At the opposite end, the very European brick arches behind the station area have gone; 009Matt has been gunning for these for quite some time now! These will be replaced by a more Japanese concrete will, with a few advertising hoardings for added interest. Also added are two of the new Kato office blocks, in the newly created town area behind the station, they do look a little drunk at the moemnt though...too much sake! The intention is for these two to dominate the scene, and they certainly do that! In addition to this, I also had a chance to run a few new bits. The two mainstays of the lines local services were put through their paces; a pair of Kato 115-1000 units, as well as four (!) new EF64s. two of these were new Tomix releases, another Micro Ace example – EF64-3 – arrived due to me using some of my Hobby Search points and the Kato brown liveried EF64-37, which seems to have gained the nickname ‘Profiterole’…on account of being chocolate brown and operating the Chuo(x) main line….groan! It is the Chuo line pet loco, and I suspect will have the same role on Yamanouchi Oshika. These additions bring my Chuo fleet up to six EF64s and 1 EH200… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ste234 Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 Hi Claude, it's coming on well. Good decision to dump that Peco shed in my opinion, too British I would love to see my series 885 running on a layout like this, unfortunately it probably won't happen! Keep the updates coming Ste Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted August 28, 2010 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted August 28, 2010 Another successful session at the club last night; at least in terms of the scenics... Two main areas were worked on in terms of scenery; the station area and the carriage sidings. The carriage siding change has been quite simple...the lifting of the outer siding. This has never been fully wired up, and apart from a couple of static displays during shows, has never been used. It is in the way, as the carriage sidings will be coverted to engineers sidings with a number of buildings included. You can see in this view where the siding on the extreme left has gone. I would like to keep some evidence of its previous existence as the buildings are planned to be at the end. Also evident here is the fact some tarmac surface has been added to the industrial estate to the right. The train in the distance is a Kato C62 4-8-4 (currently the only Japanese steam locomotive I have) heading a full rake of Tsubame express coaches... A better view is below... Moving on, the main change has been to the station area. To start with all the platform furniture, catenary masts, passengers and lights were removed and the surface sanded down. We will be adding some filler next week to hide the joints between the Kestrel platforms. Also added, for siting purposes, were some Kato platform canopies. These have come off a number of standard Kato Unitrack platform kits (see our blog for more of the reasons behind this). Also added was a standard Kato footbridge. A Kato EF58 can be seen heading through the station leading a barrier carriage. This standard Kato brake carriage is fitted both with Knuckle and the standard Rapido couplings to enable the Knuckle-fitted Tsubame set to be hauled by the rapido-fitted Micro Ace Locos. What can also be seen here is the removal of the far platform ramp. We have done this on all the platforms; to be replaced with a fence and some steps for staff access. The hole will be plated over with some plasticard or suchlike... In addition, all the platforms will be given a slightly lighter coat of paint, as well as the addition of yellow lines etc. The footbridge looks a little lonely at present, however the plan is for a covered walkway to be constructed linking the bridge with the station building. There are a coupel of very interesting plans afoot for the station area that will significantly change its appearence further...the canopies have already made a significant impact with this. Finally investigations are ongoing as to why the branch has stopped working. Our electrical guru (John) is currently working away through the mass of wires to get us an operating branch again... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie the Cat Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 Nice photographs Claude. Japanese camera? Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 This is turning into a lovely layout, quite a transformation! Kato buildings really are excellent. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 Our electrical guru (John) Ughhhh???? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted October 5, 2010 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 5, 2010 Post on this thread have been a little sparse, as the day-to-day updates take place on the club's blog...however we have made quite a bit of progress in seemingly going backwards! Complete havoc now greets the casual visitor to Yamanouchi Oshika as a number of significant improvements are taking place. Trains are not running at present owing to major civil engineering on the main line; the builders are in around the station area and the landscapers are putting in some new hills behind the yards. So the question is, why is this taking place? Well to start with the balance of the layout was wrong; at least to me. It is quite long - 16' in length - with little variation in height throughout that length; it follows the traditional pattern of a level central foreground with raised scenery along the back and sides. It is also a very open layout, with lots of areas that are empty or with low buildings. Whilst this is not a bad thing - indeed I have long been an advocate of the 'less is more' approach - many areas of Japan (particularly urban) do not conform to this. I wanted to convey at least a hint of Japan that was more workaday, away from the temples and pretty country scenery (cherry blossoms et al) or massive skyscrapers and busy cityscape. Yamanouchi Oshika is a medium sized town, stuck in a valley in the Japanese alps. This means we are away from the crush of Tokyo and the other big cities, but still in an area where decent building land is not readily available. Striking the balance is tricky as we don't want to go too far the other way and absolutely fill the layout. Part of this is to bring the landscape in a little more. Originally the yard area was designed to be as open as possible, a relatively flat area dominated by the dual carriageway on the flyover. In addition the road running along the back was partly intended as a scenic feature and as a decent stretch to show off a number of interesting road vehicles we had at the time. As the layout has evolved, so the road seemed to have less of a purpose. During the conversion the road no longer ran the entire length of the layout...now stopping in the station area. Although no doubt plausible, especially if we did not fill it with vehicles, it looked wrong. It was also hampering our attempts to blend the backscene into the overall layout a little better, so we decided that the road would have to go from more or less where the branch line passed below it. To break up the huge openess of the layout, it was an ideal opportunity to swing the road over the tracks creating a viaduct. This would give more visual interest to the layout as well as conveniently getting shot of the road a lot earlier! There had been the intention to rationalise the carriage sidings for quite some time. We were no longer running loco-hauled trains into the terminus platforms, so there was no longer any need to stable spare stock...art imitating reality? One of the sidings has now gone, replaced by vehicle parking and a block of railway offices displaced by the hillside encroaching into the yard. Another has been cut short and is now in the hands of the engineers department - for now. Hopefully the result will be a far better balanced, and more convincing layout visually. Also, around the yard end there has been some track relaying. A number of trains have been derailing at the top of the incline due to some suspect track-laying on my part . Now has proven to be a good opportunity to both relay and realign the return loops, and hopefully this should be complete by this weekend. Still much to be done around the station and town area, in particular the new car park section, the tram stop and levelling work under the station and the two large office blocks. We have a club open day in a few weeks time, so that should give us a full day to carry out some meaningful work on the layout...fingers crossed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted October 6, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 6, 2010 Wow, some major changes going on. Looking as if it will be worth it though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br-nse-fan Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Been watching this with interest... love the layout, and I like the look of things to come with the changes in the works! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7APT7 Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Been watching this with interest... love the layout, and I like the look of things to come with the changes in the works! I Total Agree... I also have been watching with interest and have to say... this foreign layout is excellent and I dont normally look at these layouts, but have to say is brillient... Keep the Photos coming... Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted October 14, 2010 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 14, 2010 Thanks for the comments.... Further to the previous chaos, some order is starting to show with the road overbridge... Hopefully the bridge will be more or less completed in the day or so, and work can continue with the backscene and the hill side behind the frieght yard... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted December 11, 2010 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 11, 2010 Update time...as it has been a little while. In fact the changes from the last pictures posted in this thread have been quite significant. For more details, see our club blog which gives a few more of the whys and wherefores - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/blog/100/entry-5314-hillsides-and-cliff-faces-part-2/ - however I will post a couple of pictures on here too, update on progress so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 21, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 21, 2011 It has been quite a long time since anything was posted on this thread; so it might be worth just adding a couple of extra pictures to chart the latest progress. Anyone interested in seeing the layout 'in the flesh' look no further than Abrail 2011 on 5th March... The station area and car park. The high-level industrial estate. A rather indifferent picture of the town... Another picture of indifferent quality - the room we have been using for these pictures has fairly poor lighting - showing the station area with the newly extended platform canopies and the addition of the catenery to the station through lines. A Micro Ace DD51 sits in the centre road. An EF64 in JRF livery (a Tomix model) approaches Yamanouchi Oshika with a mixed freight, mainly formed of bogie box vans. A general view of the yard, plus some of the lower industrial estate. Both of the locos in this view (another EF64 and a DD16) are Micro Ace models. As ever, for more indepth idea of the comings and goings of this layout check out the club blog... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 ....I also took the opportunity to get a couple more photos... Town; It occurs to me that the traffic lights and pedestrian signals could be made to work.... It has been done before - loads of videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chcw5tG6o4g Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 22, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 22, 2011 It occurs to me that the traffic lights and pedestrian signals could be made to work.... Indeed...and these are some of the improvements we would like to make in the future. There is a wide range of street accessories that light up...I especially like the vending machines with the flashing lights that are available; those currently on the layout are the standard Kato offerings. Adding these may not be that difficult as the main part of the town is removable and there is a large amount of clearance above the tracks. Additionally, it is still the intention to wire up the tram line...as well as add the missing catenery. On a more general note, there are a number of accessories that were not added to the layout for the most recent session; for example a couple of buildings in the yard area. These will be in place for the show... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Pegasus Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Well! I must say that I am very impressed with this layout - it now really looks the part! I normally shy away from Japanese models (I don't want to be converted!) but these are very tempting! Academic, I suppose to ask how well everything runs? Bye, Harold. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hi, I just posted a few pics in the prototype gallery of some trains in the Tokyo area. If you want/need some street scene pics, let me know and I can PM them to you Thanks John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 23, 2011 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hi Harold, Thanks for your comment... As you would expect, all the Japanese offerings are to an extremely high standard, both in terms of appearence and performance. The biggest problem is, as you point out, once you start getting into Japanese trains it is difficult to wheen yourself off! John P: I have noticed a few of your pictures in the gallery; and they have been very interesting...the image of the divided class 215 EMU carriages is particularly noteworthy; althoguh I am a bit of a sucker for all things Japanese railway-like and firmly believe that there are not enough photos of Japanese railways on here....although plenty may disagree! Street scene pictures are especially useful, as the town area may well undergo some redevelopment in the middle-term. Any pictures you may wish to share would be gratefully received... Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hi Harold, Thanks for your comment... As you would expect, all the Japanese offerings are to an extremely high standard, both in terms of appearence and performance. The biggest problem is, as you point out, once you start getting into Japanese trains it is difficult to wheen yourself off! John P: I have noticed a few of your pictures in the gallery; and they have been very interesting...the image of the divided class 215 EMU carriages is particularly noteworthy; althoguh I am a bit of a sucker for all things Japanese railway-like and firmly believe that there are not enough photos of Japanese railways on here....although plenty may disagree! Street scene pictures are especially useful, as the town area may well undergo some redevelopment in the middle-term. Any pictures you may wish to share would be gratefully received... Thanks I'm uploading pics of Japan to Shutterfly. When I'm done I'll PM you the link (this weekend) Thanks John P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 15, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 15, 2012 Well, it has been nearly a year since I updated this thread, and a fair amount has taken place on the layout since then. First up was the appearance at Abrail last year. The layout performed pretty well and certainly gained a lot of positive comments. It was clear, however, that some areas still needed some work; especially at the country end of the layout. I also liked the idea of the layout being set more into the landscape, providing greater visual interest towards the front of the layout and the area behind the motorway flyover. Therefore the decision was taken to add a new scenic section here, giving considerably more height in an attempt to provide the layout with more of a sense of place. This did lead to some careful thought, as the layout boards face each other scenically when packed away. There needed to be space along the new section to give clearance for the back scene of the board it was packed with...hence the noticeable 'valley' in the hillside. The superstructure was made from a fine wire mesh fixed to wooden braces. The usual modroc was added, before being finished with a product called 'scuplta mould', which is an American product very similar to papier mache. This new arrangement meant that the access to the yard was obliterated by hillside. Therefore a new access was constructed at the opposite end of the yard, filling in some more empty space, as well as providing a little more purpose to the road along the back of the layout. Once some colour was added to the hillsides, it looked a little less severe. The area to the front of the layout consisted of part of the former loco shed...now only marked out by the turntable pit, and an industrial estate. All this went as the ground level was raised and a couple of apartment blocks were added. This area was not completely finished and will form part of the next project. The apartment blocks are from a company called Skynet and are available from Japan. September saw the layout exhibited at the Gaugemaster open day. Following some initial gremlins, not helped by the floor being extremely uneven and a higher degree of humidity than I would have liked, the layout again performed well. A month later was our club open day, which gave us a chance to have another play... So, this more or less brings us up-to-date. Things are presently a little quiet for 2012 with only one show confirmed, which is Eurotrack on 25-26 February. Anyone attending please feel free to say hello! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Is eurotrack the one in Eastleigh? If so, I will pop along to see it! David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 16, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 16, 2012 It is indeed. Hope to see you there! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
7APT7 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hi Mate Love the Road contruction, didn't look to much Health & Safty procedures were in hand to do it... Haha (Joke)... Love the Snipits on youtube.... The OLE make the whole thing look great, do you have a track plan for this layout for us all to see.... Keep up with the excellent work... Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 16, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 16, 2012 I don't have a particularly good plan at the moment, however here is an indicative diagram... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Claude_Dreyfus Posted November 1, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted November 1, 2013 As reported elsewhere, Yamanouchi Oshika will be appearing at Wycrail tomorrow. One or two things to get sorted - including replacing a damaged point in the fiddle yard - tonight before packing up. Early start tomorrow methinks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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