Small Inglenook

[Sweeney Todd]

Some may remember me from the older forum ...

 

Well i've not posted in ages because of moving from one house to another .... as far as train sets go , i've managed to salvage some of my old cellar layout and move it to a new "garage" space ..

 

Here's what i've set out to do :

 

1. Build a not so scenic "test track that goes round the garage with a couple of sidings and a run-a-round" just to run a few loco's and rolling stock

 

2. Build an Inglenook 5 foot by 1 foot light-weight layout to a high ( ish ) standard

 

Pictures are taken with a Nokia 2 mega pix phone so not the best quality .... note to self : must find the "digital camera"

 

 

Small Inglenook :

 

 

 

 

Thanks for having a look , i'll be updating as more is done soon .

 

Cheers Shaun .

[Sweeney Todd]

Thanks for looking ...

 

The classic Inglenook layout is now the main focus of my hobby

 

Can anyone help ? i'm going to try and make the GT plastic ready to run OO gauge flexi track look a bit more "real" by spraying it with a red oxide can of matt spray paint i bought today , but i'm not so sure about spraying it over the rather expensive peco points , i've done a bit of research and gathered that it's best to use red oxide spray for effect i'm wanting then dry brush the sleepers , if anyone can give me a few pointers about this before i go ahead then please do .

 

 

cheers Shaun

[kandc_au]

Shaun,

I would have thought red oxide would be more appropriate for track that is unused!!

Track that is used would be more a very dark grey from oils and brake dust.

Just my thoughts.

 

Khris

[Ragtag]

Someone posted a tip elsewhere on these forums regarding points - open them halfway and stick some bluetack between the switchblade and stock rail. When you're finished painting remove the bluetack and you should still have good electrical contact, as well as nicely weathered points.

[Sweeney Todd]

Thanks i will have a re-think about the colour to be used ,

 

That's a fantastic idea for protecting the point work , i have and old set that i'll practice on first , thanks for passing on the tip .

 

Shaun .

[Sweeney Todd]

Back again ,

 

Used the blue tac method today to mask the points off and it works really well , i did spray the track in red oxide and as Khris pointed out i also used a matt black over the top of the red oxide , also put some paint on the back drop , here's a few pictures to keep an on going update to progress , hope people enjoy looking at it .

 

So in pictures here's where it's up to ( still using a mobile phone to take the pictures for now but i've found the digi camera and batteries are on a list )

 

 

 

Throughout the spraying i kept wiping clean the rail tops

 

 

 

Blue (white) Tac over points

 

 

Red Oxide Matt coat

 

 

Matt Black light coat over Red Oxide

 

 

Another coat added and Back Drop painted

 

 

 

 

So here it is to date :

 

 

The base size of the Inglenook is 5 foot by 1 foot , and i'm using GT code 100 flexi track with Peco set track small radius insulfrog points .

 

Next pictures should be better quality and thanks for looking .

 

Cheers Shaun .

[Sweeney Todd]

A brand new Bachmann Class 20 arrived today , to be the workhorse for the layout , shunting a rake of old 16 ton wagons around .

 

As soon as the operater stops "testing" more scenic work will be done

 

Next job is to ballast the track , i'm going to be using some fine brown "N" scale ballast from woodland scenics range and the same from jarvis of stockport , both mixed together , as after some testing they seem to produce the effect i want , i did try fine grey granite ballast but it just didn't look right .

 

Holes are to be drilled for a mechanical points and de-coupling system thats going to be installed , using old coat hanger wire soon .

 

 

The Class 20 and 16 ton wagons

 

 

 

Bachmann are a credit to this hobby ( the digi camera shows off how bright the red oxide really looks .)

 

 

 

Thanks for reading .

 

Shaun .

[Sweeney Todd]

The Ballast ....................

 

Well got a little bit more done on this small Inglenook layout , a few things to said about this hobby .

 

1. it can be really frustrating

 

2. it can be really addictive and extremly rewarding

 

I'm ballasting the layout in a cold sub-zero February UK dreadfull winter detatched un-insulated garage ... grrrr it's so difficult to ballast wearing gloves .

 

But hey-ho it is kinda fun and by the summer i hope to have this little layout looking good ...

 

And another thing (rant) my digi camera "eats" duracell batteries for fun , so it's back to the mobile 2 pix camera photo's ... (sorry about the quality)

 

Update :

 

 

 

 

I'm using fine "N" scale brown ballast from the Woodland Scenics and Javis range mixed together .

 

Shaun .

[KevinWalsh]

 

Holes are to be drilled for a mechanical points and de-coupling system thats going to be installed , using old coat hanger wire soon .

 

 

 

Hi Shaun,

 

could you possibly expand on the topic of decoupling system please, i.e. how is it going to work? I ask because I want to add de-coupling areas to part of a club layout where we can't fit magnets.

 

cheers

 

Kev

[Sweeney Todd]

Ok Kev i'll be brief on this one ,

 

I have seen a solenoid de coupling unit i think its by peco, for use with UK stock ( like a half point motor ) to de-couple the standard uk coupler rolling stock but heard that it can catapult a wagon up in air if its slighty off line , in the U.S they use Kadee couplers , but i've found out it's a royal pain to fit Kadee couplers to UK stock even with using speacialist level tools , and then lifting track to fit the magnet under the sleepers , anyway..

 

I'm working on a manual system using the old fashioned coat hangers ( the ones that no longer seem available , i used several for my old "austin maxi" radio ariel when i forgot to push it down on entering a car wash )

 

I'm gonna try and keep it simple perhaps a bit of dowel and coat hanger wire bent round to create pivots and a hole drilled in-between sleepers with some plasti-card to push up the coupling hooks , will post as soon as i've had a go

 

Shaun .

[Jenny Emily]

I take it your uncoupler will be to act on the existing as-from-manufacturer tension lock couplings?

 

It's one area that I've been mistified how to do myself, so I'm interested to see exactly how it works. For me, money was a big issue, so whilst I looked at Gaugemaster's uncoupling unit (about ??9 a pop) I went instead for a home made device on a stick made of scrap plastikard and sprue that allows me to uncouple stock without me touching them. Trouble is, you need long arms to uncouple wagons at the opposite end of the layour and still reach the controllers!

[Sweeney Todd]

Yes i have tension lock couplers .

 

 

The idea is to make a manual uncoupler using dowel , wire ( coat hanger ) to be honest it's proving very difficult , even though when you think about it , it should be simple after all , all that is needed is a bit of platicard to lift up from the track to push the arms up .

 

I've been trying different ways but i think i'm beat for now , i've even carefully trimmed the "claw" part from the arms to make them release easier , but the problem is unless the big hand from "god" holds a wagon down they get lifted up and de-rail . I suppose weights on the wagons would help but i think they would then be too heavy .

 

So and i'm gonna put the idea away for now and perhaps brainstorm it later .

 

At the moment the cheapest way i've found is very similar to yours but using a paper clip to un-couple , i found a short clip on you tube , i'm using a larger clip and the tension claws trimmed on my Bachmann wagons .

 

I'm not sure how to add a link but to see the clip just put:

 

uncoupler

 

into the search bar on youtube and its the first video clip on the list .

 

Shaun .

[Ragtag]

Have a search around, there is supposedly a good method of uncoupling by fixing a staple to the arm of the tension lock in a specific way that allows them to be uncoupled via magnets. Haven't tested it myself, but I've heard it's very effective and I certainly plan to give it a go. Alternatively, Pete Harvey (PHDesigns) has replacement arms for tension lock couplers with the same idea in mind.

[Jenny Emily]

I've seen that staple method explained with pictures elsewhere, however it looked rather fiddly to set up.

[Ragtag]

Yes, I think PH's replacements are designed to make it a little easier to handle.

[David_S.]

I've seen that staple method explained with pictures elsewhere, however it looked rather fiddly to set up.

 

My Inglenook uses the staple method; to be honest, it was a doddle to set up, and works well. I can thoroughly recommend it, especially as it costs almost nothing.

[Sweeney Todd]

Thanks David i've found a thread on here explaining the method , it looks very good .

 

I imagine the link is ok to post as it's from this site :

 

http://www.rmweb.co....__fromsearch__1

 

Shaun .

[David_S.]

That's the one, Shaun, I used staples on the standard Bachmann couplings and magnets salvaged from door catches (as per the article I read) and they worked perfectly from the start.

[Sweeney Todd]

I had a slight problem with ballasting this "small Inglenook" but thanks to help i got on here i managed to save it , thanks to all that typed here :

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/9660-pva-glue-dried-white-and-not-clear/page__pid__84449__st__0&?do=findComment&comment=84449

 

so now the layout dosn't look that it's been painted with "gloss white" heres where it is indoors .....

 

 

more ballast "brown fine "N" scale mix" has been added

 

 

It all looks very earth like natural colours for now

 

 

the green foliage will soon start to grow .....

 

Thanks for looking

 

Shaun .

[trainsgeorge]

I had the same problem with my digi camera eating batteries - got it replaced once but the new one was no better. Then I discovered lithium batteries (which are, admittedly, more expensive) but I can now take more than 6 photos - in fact, loads - before needing to replace the batteries.

[Mike-Greg]

My Inglenook uses the staple method; to be honest, it was a doddle to set up, and works well. I can thoroughly recommend it, especially as it costs almost nothing.

 

 

I to saw that artical, and converted 5 wagons and 1 loco to give it a try

worked great,,, for the magnets i got some small rare earth magnets

i think they are about 1mm cylindrical they fit between the sleepers ( no cutting required)

resesed them down slightly,, so they are just under the ballast level ( cant be seen )

i can identifi them by placing a small marker post at the mid position,

 

the guy that came up with this idear deserves a medel,, saved me a fortune as i was

just in the process of going over to S&W or Kadee,

staples cost me nothing ( divereted from work) and the magnets i got a large bag for a fiver

not counted them but looks to be about a 150 or so there they are very strong

 

I put a small s bend in the tail of the staple to spread the atraction area as the magnets are very small

 

 

rgds

Mike

[Sweeney Todd]

Thanks ,

 

I got some re-charge batteries for the camera and they seem to last longer , some great uncoupling methods have been mentioned , for now i'm still using the manual paper clip method .

 

I have fitted some surface mounted point motors (peco pl-11) and put together a homemade control panel using an old soft cheese tub , with just a wire from the controller to touch/tap peco studs that are on the tub held by tag washers ( peco pl-18) works fine .

 

Surface mounted point motors :

 

 

The soft cheese tub :

 

 

The problem i'm having now is after i tone down the track work , i need to start thinking of a theme for this little layout , the front "idle" stand alone bit of track was (or is ) going to be the end of a station line to plonk loco's with a passenger carriges on or dmu's just to look at , i've been looking at the scalescene site and downloaded some retaining wall arches perhaps for the back of the layout , but i really am at a loss on what to do ....

 

 

The pictures are taken with warm lighting so look very red , the track and ballast however do need toning down , and some greenary will help .

 

 

any ideas would be appreciated .

 

Shaun

[Sweeney Todd]

Hi all ,

 

Over the last week the Inglenook has just been tested and tested over and over again to make sure there are no running faults .

 

I have decided that the front of the layout will be the end of a platform , and the Inglenook itself will be based on an loading and unloading mineral area .

 

To date i've been downloading sheets from scalescenes ( very good ) and i'm making up some retaining walls for the back drop and also putting together a girder bridge , all motivated by reading "Dudley Road" by Pete Harvey in the old forum archive .

 

The Hornby station platform is being altered to hopefully look better , first job i'm doing is filling in the pre moulded bits i won't be using for canopy's .

 

 

As the platform will be permanently fixed it's been glued together so i can also fill the joins , then the whole lot will be painted .

 

 

Shaun .

[Sweeney Todd]

Bit of an update , the inglenook is very slowly moving on ,

 

I've started at the back , by putting together some retaining walls using scalescene brick sheets , i did originally make the walls up using red brick but when they were finnished i sprayed them with Humbrol Hobby Spray matt varnish to protect them , warning do not do this as the spray left a white powdery finnish and spoilt them completely ( scalescene recommend "artist varnish spray" ) seems like the inglenook is being plagued by whiteness after the PVA glue set white and now the varnish!!!

 

Anyway i've rebuilt the walls this time using dark red brick , the bridge end is not yet complete , but heres a couple of pictures , the camera can be cruel but i think thats a good thing to see mistakes that can be sorted :

 

 

 

 

Shaun .

[Sweeney Todd]

Nearly finished the bridge end of the retaining walls at the back , took a couple of pics and now i know where i will have to add some greenary to cover the odd mistake .

 

As i said this part of the background was totally inspired by a layout called Dudley Road the authers name Pete Harvey , although my effort isn't to the standard , i am quite pleased with the way it looks .

 

Photo's are taken to try and show the worst ( for my benifit ) ;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next job , i'm going to attempt the free scalescene low relief warehouse to add at the other end of the retaining wall , that will pretty much full up the background of the layout .

 

Hope this gives some people interest .

 

Shaun .