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Very impressive joining! Lovely train shed too. I hope we get to see some more photos of it.

Will call by on Sunday

No wishing to add to the high jacking of this thread I have started a new one entitled “WWII tank transport by rail”. Links to all three of the films listed above are published there.

Just a quick update. The railbus had a few issues with intermittant electrical pickup. The 4-wheel Model Power chassis on which it runs has a traction tyre on one wheel which only gave reliable pickup from 3 wheels. To get round the problem, an extra contact direct to the track was added on the side of the chassis with the traction tyre. This simply consists of a piece of brass rod with a short length of brass tube on the end that rolls along the rail - a great improvement. As this is on the side of the vehicle away from the viewer, it's not normally visible.

Heading for a dirty weekend.

Dry run and it's changed now thanks to a few on the Templot forum. it's now looking like this as you can see I've made a start 🙂

Thanks for your kind comments also Steve. I expect there are a number of us all spread around who Mr Futers changed our lives! I also liked his dry sense of humour when describing Lochside in the Modeller!

Glad you liked it, we had a fun day out. David

Great weathering gwrrob Steve.

Observations, not to be taken as criticisms and the benefit of having been there, done that, washed the t shirt. There's nothing wrong with a mistake if you are willing to learn from it... Looking at the photos, the thing that immediately strikes me is that several of your track joints near turnouts are not smoothly laid in respect of adjoining the next piece of track. This means that stock entering the turnouts, especially from the facing direction, will not 'attack' the crossing vee at the correct angle and be prone to derailment, especially at speed or propelling. A similar issue is caused by the proximity of the high level trailing crossover to the top of the incline of the 'inner' track, which may cause derailments at the turnout because longer stock my 'lift' a little. Buffer locking may be an issue at these locations as well. This is particularly noticeable at the '01' and '11' positions, with an odd little curved piece that does not align properly with the turnouts at each end of it. Track laying is fundamental to the successful running of the layout, and it is best if possible to use a single standard geometry, especially in continuous circuit tail chasing layouts; flexible and set track do not mix in this respect even when the profiles match. Check that the baseboard is level and rigid, then relay the track ensuring that all the pieces are flat to the board (or the risers on the high level sections) and that there are smooth vertical transition curves at the top and bottom of the gradients; this can be tricky on curves as it easy for them to adopt a slight twist. You also need to ensure that the pieces are laid as smoothly linear to each other as possible, and that the rail ends are close or joining in the joiner/fishplates. A gap that a wheel can drop slightly into can cause problems at the other end of a rigid long wheelbased loco or vehicle, and on the loco pickup is compromised if a pickup wheel lifts off the rail. You might be having problems with your couplings as well. Tension locks are in theory a standard and compatible form of coupler, but in practice there are differences in hook and in bar profile, materials (and hence flexibility), distance protruding beyond the buffer beams, and height above rail level, sometimes even within one manufacturer's range and even in one case on my layout in height between the NEM mountings on each end of one loco! The bars are supposed to act as buffing plates and hold the buffers of adjoining coupled vehicles apart to prevent buffer locking, but if they override, especially at the tops and bottoms of gradients, the vehicles will be prone to derailment both from buffer locking and from incorrect weight distribution. My specification is that all locos must be able haul and propel all stock in any formation anywhere on the layout without stalling on dead frogs, which they can and do, but my layout has easier curvature than yours, and is a fiddle yard to terminus affair which does not have the same geometry issues as a closed circle having to line up perfectly. It is also dead flat. Smooth operation and gentle driving technique in itself helps to prevent derailments by not jerking the stock about needlessly, so as well as well laid smooth track it is important to ensure good pickup to avoid stalls. Regular cleaning of rail heads and pickup surfaces, and the interface between the turnouts' switch and closure rails that act as electrical connections, is strongly advised. You may wish to consider wiring across these connections to avoid problems; I haven't found it to be an issue if things are kept clean and carbon deposit buildup cleared with a file, but your layout has more turnouts than mine. Make sure that debris does not accumulate in the flangeways of the turnouts, between the running rail and the plastic check rails (especially after you've ballasted the track!), as this can lift flanges, causing pickup problems or derailments as well. I have a set of pound shop kiddies paint brushes which are u/s for painting anything because they are too stiff and coarse, but are excellent for this job! Can't help much with the wiring mess, sorry; mine's probably just as bad, and it's a rat's nest under the boards. As the layout is permanently erected it sort of doesn't matter much until things go wrong, when it's easier to replace the wire than attempt to dig it out for a repair; this is not recommended practice and very lazy! But there is less of it as I don't use point motors and hand change my turnouts, all insulfrogs. I do have Dapol operating signals, though!

Nice work Rob. I haven't tried the Lifecolor range but might give them a go if I can find any here. Their names alone ("warm light", "wood cool") have a definite feel-good factor about them