well filled baps The Sheep Chronicles. The adventures of a Sheep, the Works Forecat and the Works Apprentice, George.

[Captain Kernow]

Roubion

You can lead a sheep to Hattons but you can't make it buy a 14XX! 

[Porcy Mane]

You can lead a sheep to Hattons but you can't make it buy a 14XX! 

 

 

Oooh, I'm not quite sure about that. It's the Western way; the Great Western Way.

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by Porcy Mane

[The Johnster]

Girlfriends!

 

Ok, I'll get my coat.  My wooly, sheepskin coat..

 

In an homage to Rob's input, and his old 4575 which he sold me, I have decided that there will be at least one sheep visible in every photo I take of Cwmdimbath henceforth.

[sb67]

Hi Rob, just a quick question, what are the Ikea shelves you use for your layouts? I'm under orders to plan a trip there so I'm thinking I might use my visit wisely and look at some potential baseboards.

Many thanks.

Steve.

[NHY 581]

Morning Steve.

 

Splendid idea and a distraction technique I employ myself. I would recommend any visit is preceded by extensive research on the website as IKEA stock a number of items suitable for railway modelling. However, care must be taken so as not to alert the Memsahib to any potential hi jacking of the visit.

During the visit, I would advocate a a consistant level of interest is maintained throughout and avoid becoming overly excited when encountering items of note.

 

 

In summary;

 

Yes, the shelves are LACK floating shelves various lengths but all at 26cm width.

 

The scenic boards all utilise a 120cm x 40cm table top from a LACK ' nest of tables' in grey.

It comes with a second table 55cm x 40cm, another potential baseboard......

All are 5cm deep.

 

The beauty of these are the lightness and the cost. The main board and two fiddle yards came in at £42 plus another £9 for the MDF for the backscene.

 

Bleat Wharf was £31 for the baseboards and Sheep Lane used two shelves costing £18 in total.

 

The draw back is the fact they are solid on the bottom. Wiring can be threaded through holes drilled in the back and I am guessing points could be moved by wire in tube subject to the height of the trackbed.

The bonus of having a solid bottom to the board is that of tidyness and the ease in which a small layout such as these can be set up on, say, a dining table for playing with.......operating sessions.

 

Interally, they are a type of card board 'honeycomb' which provides the lightweight construction but maintains rigidity.

 

 

I have not tampered with this as it is this that provides the structure. Any fitting of point motors underneath would require a hole in the bottom and material removing. In theory if the resulting hole was boxed in, this may retain the rigidity. However I have not tried this so cannot vouch for the effectiveness or otherwise. In any event a route would have to be found for any wiring which could be tricky to route.

Any point motors fitted as such would need blocks added beneath to mount them on and they could not be more than 5cm deep as they would stick out.......

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Rob.

[westerner]

I've often wondered how do you operate your points Rob?

[Stubby47]

Holes drilled in the sides of the board ( rear edge) could have drinking straws poked in to the under point area. Wires could then be fed through for the point motor.

 

Drill hole - poke in long screwdriver to break through honeycomb cardboard, push in straw.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Stubby47

[NHY 581]

I've often wondered how do you operate your points Rob?

 

 

Hi Alan. The points on all the layouts are digitally operated.........Mk 1 pokey finger.

 

 

Holes drilled in the sides of the board ( rear edge) could have drinking straws poked in to the under point area. Wires could then be fed through for the point motor.

Drill hole - poke in long screwdriver to break through honeycomb cardboard, push in straw.

 

Hi Stubbers.

 

Exactly. I drill hole,( 10mm ) send in a cardboard disrupter( long screwdriver) and drop the wires in. I then hook them out using a wire hooker outer ( bent coathanger wire)

 

Rob.

[KNP]

 

 

Hi Alan. The points on all the layouts are digitally operated.........Mk 1 pokey finger.

 

 

 

 

Hi Stubbers.

 

Exactly. I drill hole,( 10mm ) send in a cardboard disrupter( long screwdriver) and drop the wires in. I then hook them out using a wire hooker outer ( bent coathanger wire)

 

Rob.

 

Well you do surprise me Rob, I would have thought you would have used a 'who-ja-maflip' or one of the new 'whats-it-ma-thingy'....!

You live and learn....

I thought I was bad enough moving my trains by hand?

[NHY 581]

Well you do surprise me Rob, I would have thought you would have used a 'who-ja-maflip' or one of the new 'whats-it-ma-thingy'....!

You live and learn....

I thought I was bad enough moving my trains by hand?

Nope, not at all, Kevin. I keep things simple and I like the hands on approach. It comes from Sheep Lane which was really a test track to see if I could have a passable stab at this railway modelling thingy.

 

I have exhibited a few times now ( Mutton and Sheep Lane) and no one has commented on me poking the points. I uncouple by hand using tension lock couplings so I guess people accept the point actuation for what it is.

 

With all the layouts I try to show what can be done with simple modelling.

 

I just try to have a bit of fun really. I am far from finescale in either my approach or the finished article and that's how I like it.

 

 

Rob.

[KNP]

Nope, not at all, Kevin. I keep things simple and I like the hands on approach. It comes from Sheep Lane which was really a test track to see if I could have a passable stab at this railway modelling thingy.

 

I have exhibited a few times now ( Mutton and Sheep Lane) and no one has commented on me poking the points. I uncouple by hand using tension lock couplings so I guess people accept the point actuation for what it is.

 

With all the layouts I try to show what can be done with simple modelling.

 

I just try to have a bit of fun really. I am far from finescale in either my approach or the finished article and that's how I like it.

 

 

Rob.

 

I agree, simple at times is best and there are days when I wish I had gone down this route with Little Muddle.

At the moment the tablet and Railmaster aren't 'talking' so nothing has run for weeks, partly I must say because my interest has been on other things but I must get some enthusiasm to sort it out.

 

Fun is the name of the game so keep up the good work

[Stubby47]

Holes drilled in the sides of the board ( rear edge) could have drinking straws poked in to the under point area. Wires could then be fed through for the point motor.

 

Drill hole - poke in long screwdriver to break through honeycomb cardboard, push in straw.

 

 

 

Exactly. I drill hole,( 10mm ) send in a cardboard disrupter( long screwdriver) and drop the wires in. I then hook them out using a wire hooker outer ( bent coathanger wire)

 

 

 

If you attach the Peco point motor to the base of the point, and cut a hole in the top surface of the baseboard, you could have motorised points, was what I was hinting at.  (Without needing to cut holes in the bottom of the baseboard.

 

But as you've said, you're happy with the manual aspect of operation so perhaps it's a rhetorical suggestion.

 

I did see a little inglenook layout at the Hayle show over the weekend, where the two manual points were hand / wire-in-tube operated. The point 'levers' were two vehicles, parked in the trackside carpark.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Stubby47

[The Johnster]

I am not a good, clever, or skilled modeller, but muddle (sorry Kevin) through.  Like Rob, I operate my points by hand, and use tension lock couplings; Rob's layouts are an inspiration to those of us modelling in this way.  This is done in the interests of simplicity of construction and electrical wiring for a DC system.  I use insulfrogs (though I'm thinking about re-laying in unifrog bullhead one day), and the points 'direct' the current where I want it to go without the need for switches, relays, or any other electro-mechanical jiggery pokery.

 

I have been in the game for 60 years now, and even a thicko like me picks up some experience in that time.  I've been involved in club exhibition big layouts, where control panel operation is essential to keep track (literally) of things, but my experience is that there is a lot to go wrong and I want to operate trains, not constantly repair a layout so that I can operate trains, or have to omit this or that movement because the point motor has failed, or whatever.  I once built a layout with a proper lever frame and wire in tube manual point control; it needed as much constant adjustment and attention as the real Clapham Junction.  Finger style digital operation is fine on a small BLT, for points and signals, and promotes a railway-like mind set; set the road, then clear the signals, then make sure everything is put back right afterwards before thinking about the next move.  It gives things a purpose, and if you operate a timetable in real time, you have to complete the work before the next auto is belled from the junction...

[Captain Kernow]

If you attach the Peco point motor to the base of the point, and cut a hole in the top surface of the baseboard, you could have motorised points, was what I was hinting at.  (Without needing to cut holes in the bottom of the baseboard.

 

Indeed.

 

But a bit of a beugar, if the motor needs attention?

[Stubby47]

Indeed.

 

But a bit of a beugar, if the motor needs attention?

Yes, but the motors are usually quite reliable and should outlast the layout.

 

If really necessary, a hole could be cut in the underside.

[westerner]

I operated both Wencombe and Kingsbridge Regis points digitally, normally my right hand index finger, but occasionally my left index finger.However on Louville Lane I have become more sophisticated and am using wire in the tube operated by switches to change the frog polarity, the points on all of the layouts were and are live frog.

[NHY 581]

If I were, and I stress the if, to add point motors to any new build using the IKEA basboards, I would cut a rectangular hole in the underside with a slot in the top surface for the rod.

 

The hole could then be boxed in and wires threaded accordingly.

 

However, this would be as unlikely as me modelling a small slice of a bucolic GWR branch line.....

 

 

 

Rob.

[Alex TM]

I operated both Wencombe and Kingsbridge Regis points digitally, normally my right hand index finger, but occasionally my left index finger.

I tend to find that digital format to be fairly reliable .....

[Stubby47]

 

However, this would be as unlikely as me modelling a small slice of a bucolic GWR branch line.....

 

 

 

Rob.

 

Go on, you know you want to….

[sb67]

Morning Steve.

 

Splendid idea and a distraction technique I employ myself. I would recommend any visit is preceded by extensive research on the website as IKEA stock a number of items suitable for railway modelling. However, care must be taken so as not to alert the Memsahib to any potential hi jacking of the visit.

During the visit, I would advocate a a consistant level of interest is maintained throughout and avoid becoming overly excited when encountering items of note.

 

 

In summary;

 

Yes, the shelves are LACK floating shelves various lengths but all at 26cm width.

 

The scenic boards all utilise a 120cm x 40cm table top from a LACK ' nest of tables' in grey.

It comes with a second table 55cm x 40cm, another potential baseboard......

All are 5cm deep.

 

The beauty of these are the lightness and the cost. The main board and two fiddle yards came in at £42 plus another £9 for the MDF for the backscene.

 

Bleat Wharf was £31 for the baseboards and Sheep Lane used two shelves costing £18 in total.

 

The draw back is the fact they are solid on the bottom. Wiring can be threaded through holes drilled in the back and I am guessing points could be moved by wire in tube subject to the height of the trackbed.

The bonus of having a solid bottom to the board is that of tidyness and the ease in which a small layout such as these can be set up on, say, a dining table for playing with.......operating sessions.

 

Interally, they are a type of card board 'honeycomb' which provides the lightweight construction but maintains rigidity.

 

 

I have not tampered with this as it is this that provides the structure. Any fitting of point motors underneath would require a hole in the bottom and material removing. In theory if the resulting hole was boxed in, this may retain the rigidity. However I have not tried this so cannot vouch for the effectiveness or otherwise. In any event a route would have to be found for any wiring which could be tricky to route.

Any point motors fitted as such would need blocks added beneath to mount them on and they could not be more than 5cm deep as they would stick out.......

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Rob.

 

Thanks Rob, have you braced the boards at all and how did you fix the backscene?

Steve. 

[NHY 581]

Thanks Rob, have you braced the boards at all and how did you fix the backscene?

Steve.

Hi Steve, no not braced at all. I place the board on a flat surface then screw the backscene etc direct to the sides and ends. This ensures they are all square and flush with the bottom of the board.

 

 

Rob.

Edited August 29, 2018 by NHY 581

[gwrrob]

However, this would be as unlikely as me modelling a small slice of a bucolic GWR branch line.....

 

 

Go on, you know you want to….

 

 

 

I think we can gently persuade him to model God's Wonderful.

[NHY 581]

I think we can gently persuade him to model God's Wonderful.

 

If I were to or not and I am currently unable to confirm or refute such matters, rest assured it would manifest itself as the Greasy Wet and Rusty......or not as the case may or may not be.....either way...

 

 

Rob ( TBC)

[gwrrob]

If I were to or not and I am currently unable to confirm or refute such matters, rest assured it would manifest itself as the Greasy Wet and Rusty......or not as the case may or may not be.....either way...

 

 

Rob ( TBC)

 

Horseboxes make nice traffic too.

 

 

[KNP]

Horseboxes make nice traffic too.

 

 

DSCN4317 (2).JPG

 

Very nice...…

Look like it's taking the Great Way Round as well...…!