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Croydon North Street - NSE 3rd Rail 1980s/90s


Pete 75C

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Hi Pete,

Just caught up with the thread, I like the new idea, as you know I am a fan of urban 'dinge'. I'm not surprised 4mm won out on this occasion, after the results you had with Noth Street, more power to your elbow! Keep that 2mm urge under control and we will look forward to another classic layout with the new one. Do post details on here when you start proper as I will be watching with interest. (as an aside I'm personally doing well to resist that reasonably priced Farish 4CEP in the classified section...)

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Peter,

 

Just received the latest issue of "Hornby Magazine" and been reading your writeup of "Croydon North Street". Fantastic article, great pictures.

 

Must say that it is one of the best layout articles I've read for ages.

 

Congratulations on what you have achieved. Great!!

 

Keith

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Peter,

 

Just received the latest issue of "Hornby Magazine" and been reading your writeup of "Croydon North Street". Fantastic article, great pictures.

 

Must say that it is one of the best layout articles I've read for ages.

 

Congratulations on what you have achieved. Great!!

 

Keith

 

That was quick, must go out and get a copy!

 

I find it strangely satisfying reading about layouts I know in the magazines, even though I have followed the build from day 1!

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Thanks Keith. I don't subscribe and haven't seen a copy yet. I guess I'll have to pop down to W H Smith in the morning! I am pleased that you think the pictures have turned out okay... that was a worry as the house is still being renovated with no electric in what was already quite a dark room. I shouldn't have worried, as the guys from Hornby Magazine turned up with a van-full of extra lights. Also, you might have spotted that almost all of the stock is "borrowed" - I still don't have enough!

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I've just read the article in the latest mag and it's a great write up as well as the photos.

I was in the planning stage of a BR(w) themed layout but as well as following the your layout on here and now seeing it in print I'm seriously tempted to do something similar although in an earlier period.

Keep up the great work.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

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Pete

 

Just got my HM when I got in today, and was surprised to see that we had TWO layouts that I follow, not one - Longrem and Croydon North St both to savour in one issue - I do love seeing layouts that I've known for some time via RMWeb, and hence today I was doubly pleased - well done it came out well.

 

Regards

Stewart

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Morning Pete,

Hearty congratulations on the publication -looks like I'll have to put a chit into the 'accounts person' for magazine funds! Very well done, and while you have so much going on in your life!

Kind regards,

Jock.

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No secret Colin, I just didn't tell anyone...  :onthequiet:  I also didn't tell the guys from Hornby Magazine that the layout was set up in a room with no electric or heating. It's a wonder you can't see their breath in the photos! Haven't seen a print copy yet but I did download the digital version this morning and it seems to have come out well!

 

The guys from HM did a short video and that should be below (if it embeds properly):

 

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Thanks for the comments folks - got myself a print copy today and I'm pleased with how it turned out EXCEPT that I now know I throw too much brown paint at the track and ballast... it looks OK "face to face", but in the photos, the track just looks too universally brown. I think I need to experiment with different light and dark shades and maybe in the future go for some track with the "new freshly laid ballast" look.

As an aside, the Tillig large radius point arrived today and it is in fact around 40% longer than the Peco large radius point. I really do think it looks good. Shown below alongside some matching Code 83 threaded into C&L concrete "Costain" sleeper bases. I'll definitely try to "up my game" with the trackwork on the next layout. There is no spring fitted to Tillig points, so the one piece blades have a tendency to sit centrally in the 4 foot, so slow action Tortoise motors would be an obvious solution.

 

post-17811-0-11983800-1423762466.jpg

post-17811-0-33420400-1423762467.jpg

 

Edit: My pictures are a little blurry and were taken in poor light, so I've pinched a library photo of the Tillig ultra-large radius straight point. I think it looks great.

 

post-17811-0-77138800-1423762766_thumb.jpg

 

 

Edited by Pete 75C
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If you're going for non-sprung points, may I recommend the Minx Microdrives?

 

http://minxmicrodrives.com/

 

No connection apart from a happy customer, and I wrote them a little guide on how to link Cobalt switches up to operate them.

 

They do work out a little more expensive than a Tortoise but I have found them much easier to use, partly because you can install them above the board and just hide with a hut or foliage.  They can also be recalibrated easily, and have an 'alert' beep if something like loose ballast blocks it from throwing properly.  Each "unit" can control two independent points, or a point and a semaphore signal, or two semaphore signals (with independently controllable "bounce" too).

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If you're going for non-sprung points, may I recommend the Minx Microdrives?

 

http://minxmicrodrives.com/

 

No connection apart from a happy customer, and I wrote them a little guide on how to link Cobalt switches up to operate them.

 

They do work out a little more expensive than a Tortoise but I have found them much easier to use, partly because you can install them above the board and just hide with a hut or foliage.  They can also be recalibrated easily, and have an 'alert' beep if something like loose ballast blocks it from throwing properly.  Each "unit" can control two independent points, or a point and a semaphore signal, or two semaphore signals (with independently controllable "bounce" too).

 

'nut - I've had a quick look at the website - they look great, but I can't honestly say I've ever heard of them! Got your PM, I'll reply when I get a minute... I have to slip into Dad's Taxi mode and take eldest to Air Cadets. Cheers for that.

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They are a fairly new company - only a few years old - and they are starting to attend shows (I came across them at the O gauge show at Kettering 2 years ago) and get the word out, they're now advertising in some magazines but as you say, not everyone has heard of them.

 

Uk built, tested and supported too :)

Edited by cromptonnut
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Pete,

 

Cobalt point motors would also be an option,

 

Out of interest on the c&l sleepers what centres are the sleepers

 

Short answer is I haven't got a clue - they actually look a little too widely spaced to me, but that could be just because I'm too used to the narrowly spaced Peco sleepers. I'll measure the centres tomorrow. The sleeper bases in the pictures are years old and actually from the long-defunct InterCity Models range, which I believe were taken over by Exactoscale and then again by C&L, so they may not be quite the same as those currently available from C&L.

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Did a little RMWeb searching last night for Exactoscale/C&L concrete FB sleeper bases and apparently the spacing is either "too narrow", "spot-on" or "too wide". That wasn't very helpful... With a steel rule, the sleepers themselves seem to be 3mm wide with a 7mm spacing, so 10mm centres. As far as I can tell, even though the sleeper bases are years old and from InterCity Models, they look identical to those currently available from C&L. I think I might need to purchase some new stock to confirm this. Photo below shows a section of Tillig concrete sleeper base for comparison. The Tillig bases appear to be even more closely spaced than Peco.

 

post-17811-0-87416700-1423814285.jpg

 

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I was given the opportunity to compare c&l flexi with smp when I visited Marcway. Not sure if smp do concrete but for me their sleeper spacing was slightly better than c&l

 

I'm 99.99% sure all they do is wooden bullhead which for West Croydon as it is today is a complete no-no. Although I plan to run stock circa 1980>, I do want to model the track as it is today and it's concrete everything, as the shot below shows. Anyone know what those odd little yellow clips are on the sleeper ends? Also, the yellow shrouding alongside the conductor rail? Is that some modern take on the old wooden protection boards?

 

post-17811-0-59724600-1423817466.jpg

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