Kensington Olympia in n scale

[Chris M]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Chris, we are at cross-purposes. I was talking about the little plaque regarding the layout's appearance at the York NGS show, not the big plaque identifying the layout name.

Oh, sorry. I used to put my exhibition plaques on the pelmet when I had a pelmet because the baseboard facia is the mount for the layout to floor curtain and any plaques would be either in the way or hidden. For my current layout my plaques are kept on the wall in my railway room along with the pelmets from previous layouts complete with plaques.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Chris M

[acg5324]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Look good Andy. One suggestion if I may - the exhibition plaque looks distracting and will become more so as you attend more shows. If you need to have it at the front of th l ayout (and there's a whole different discussion to be had there) I'd put it on the baseboard facia rather than the pelmet.

Good point, it has a self adhesive backing which may take the paint off though.

[Steven B]

17 hours ago, acg5324 said:

The lighting rig is all bar done. Bottom of the uprights need their second coats of paint and the bolts need fitting.

First picture is in a dark garage with the layout lights on. The second all lights are on.

 

 

Those lights are bright! Have you seen what they're like from the operators side yet? Will you issue operators with sun-glasses? (or a welding mask?) 😀

 

 

Steven B

[acg5324]

5 hours ago, Steven B said:

 

Those lights are bright! Have you seen what they're like from the operators side yet? Will you issue operators with sun-glasses? (or a welding mask?) 😀

 

 

Steven B

Seems OK, but some nice mirrored sunglasses for each operator could be a style thing!

[acg5324]

The NGS plaque came off without too much of a fight…..a little paint needed. After stripping off the double sided tape I then mounted it on the RH end facia with contact adhesive. …..then realised that it would foul bolting on an end panel………..so after I cleaned off the contact adhesive with some white spirit,  it’s been moved round the corner to the RH side of the layout . I think this is a good compromise as the layout won’t be leaving home very often.

Edited August 21, 2023 by acg5324

[acg5324]

The uprights are now bolted to the legs…so all done. Once I tidy up the layout room the boards will come back indoors for the first time since the NGS show in May!

The last photo is of the lighting used. It came from TLC electrical.

[acg5324]

This morning the baseboards in the garage returned to their usual home. Not attached as yet…..I need to tidy up a bit….OK quite a lot!……….

[acg5324]

…….so instead we went to food festival at Malton and then across to Gilling for the Mainline running weekend. 

[acg5324]

Yesterday saw the last run of the season for the Scarborough Spa Express. I managed to capture it on its return to Carnforth with Galatea / Sierra Leone / Alberta up front as usual.

[acg5324]

Kensington Olympia is now back in its room, all bolted up and powered up without any issues. The five unpowered cars of the 6B got a run to see if any coaches fouled each other on curves. A RMB was also added with traction supplied by a class 25 propelling it at decent speeds around the layout, without issue.

[acg5324]

Once the power car is up and running it will be back to buildings! The Hotel / Bristol cars showroom building needs some TLC so I’m going to take the opportunity to clad it in brick plasticard. The temporary stand in building at the south end of the layout will get replaced with something similar but larger.

[31A]

18 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

Galatea / Sierra Leone / Alberta up front as usual.

A triple header!  Oh no .... 🤣

[acg5324]

1 minute ago, 31A said:

A triple header!  Oh no .... 🤣

I guess it’s only like numbering locos differently on one side to the other. 

[31A]

Just now, acg5324 said:

I guess it’s only like numbering locos differently on one side to the other. 

 

Reality follows model ......

[acg5324]

The 6B power car finally got a run yesterday, a slightly spluttering start, it’s largely held together with double sided tape, but it completed several circuits of the layout. I’ll now fix everything permanently and add some weight to it. The rest of the coaches can now be attached to their chassis permanently. I was going to fit an interior to them but as you can barely see in that’s not going to happen apart from to the TFK as the compartments will be visible.

[acg5324]

Some running repairs to the layout as the hot weather has closed up some joints on the fiddle yard causing a couple of issues……so out with the mini drill and cutting disc. A test run to check if everything was OK showed up a point motor rod was foul when the class 25 passed. Not anymore. 
 

It’s a Yorkshire area NGS meeting tomorrow so the 6B will get some final attention and hopefully a long run.

[acg5324]

The 6B stretched its legs today at the YAG meeting, with a long run around the T-Track modules. Propelling there appears to be a rotational issue with the TSO next to the powered car. The bogie adjacent to the power car derailed on every curve……it doesn’t happen on Olympia, so it might be the top of the bogie catching the body, much larger radius on Olympia of course.  With the power car leading no issues.
 

My modules have finally been ballasted and sprayed so I took them along too. Lots more to add to the module. I made some walls up to go around the tanks as bund walls. These need weathering and then cutting to length.

 

Its currently 92F in the layout room.

[acg5324]

Like much of the country it’s a bit of a wet day here in York…..so I’ve made good progress re-cladding the RKH/Bristol cars showroom. The photos show how badly the brick paper has faded. Once finished the brickwork will be painted and fresh facia signs made.

[acg5324]

Not much done to the layout this week, I have got all the buildings back on and a fair number of road vehicles too.

There has been some progress on my T-Trax modules. PECO security fencing being added, a road overbridge is under construction. More tanks and pipes to add. 
I’ll get some photos at Saturdays NGS York area meeting.

 

In other news I’ve ordered the sound decoder and speaker for the 6B…….watch this space….or maybe it should be listen?

Edited September 20, 2023 by acg5324

[acg5324]

The sound decoder has been fitted, it was a bit more of a struggle than I expected but it all fits….and after a  CV change to match the decoder to the motor it’s all up and running….and very nice too.

[acg5324]

The 6B had a trip to the NGS York area group meeting today, where it successfully had a circuit or two around the DCC layout. I’ve also finally made a start on weathering it. Four coaches done.

[acg5324]

A pleasant surprise when I got home today, my Class 128 parcels DMU had arrived from Revolution Trains. Luckily I’d bought a suitable decoder for it at work today, along with my blue/grey Mk2Fs and some Evergreen plastic H and L girders. 

[acg5324]

One of my former work colleagues had posted this picture on FB.

Photo by John Atkinson.

 

This looks like a nice little project using a Farish Bulleid open 3rd……..what colour do we think this is, weathered Olive? It almost looks like Sleeper Grime colour.

 

This is the opposite side. The coach has been preserved at the Swanage Railway. Photo by the Swanage Railway.

Edited October 12, 2023 by acg5324

[Davexoc]

3 hours ago, acg5324 said:

This looks like a nice little project using a Farish Bulleid open 3rd……..what colour do we think this is, weathered Olive? It almost looks like Sleeper Grime colour.

 

Looks like very flat, faded but fairly clean olive to me. Touch of white and the mattest of matt lacquer you can find, probably even on the windows.

I quite like the Halfords offering....

[alangdance]

ANY REVIEW ON THE Class 128 parcels DMU