Castlerock

[davetheroad]

After many years of partially completed layouts and false starts I have recently had a conservatory built so there is now no longer an excuse for lack of progress.

 

Castlerock is a fictional modern image N-scale layout inspired by the west coast main line in north west England. It is portable with two main baseboards and two bolt on end sections to take the fiddle yard curves, overall 10'2" x 3'. I am using Kato Unitrack because I have buit up a considerable collection and have been pleased with the quality and the excellent points with built in motors.

 

Here is the track plan

 

The baseboards are supported on smooth conti-boards with provision for levelling built in

 

Initial checking to see that the return curves fit. The bendy MDF is used to save weight.

 

Testing the fiddleyard installation. Lego make excellent spacers!.

 

Checking the layout of the north end station throat

[Spannerman]

Looks like a great start, will be interesting to see this develop.

 

I assume the kato track has built in ballast and motors, i may have to investigate further as it looks like a much simpler system. Will you be filling between the tracks with conventional loose ballast?

 

Atb

 

Nik

[davetheroad]

Unitrak has built in ballast and as you can see from the photo it is reasonable in its original state. I am painting the rails with Railmatch Frame Dirt, Sleeper Grime would do as well. Woodlands Scenics fine ballast is being applied as a 'slurry' of PVA, water and ballast which is pre mixed and applied with a small screwdriver. It works well as the slurry actually flows into place and can be tamped just like wet sand on the beach! I try to paint and ballast as much as possible before laying the track as this can be done when the baseboards are in storage. final applications filling in between double track etc will be done later.

 

The built in point motors are neat and I hav'nt had any breakdowns yet. They use a Kato passing contact point switch but you can build your own if you wish.

 

[Kris]

Interesting looking plan. What is the surface material that you have used for the base board top, some type of ribbed MDF?

[davetheroad]

The baseboards have a Brilliant Baseboard core and the ribbed stuff is bendy MDF from your friendly DIY warehouse. On top of this is a 3mm cork layer. At 4 x 3 feet the baseboards are surprisingly heavy but the grooves help at bit. I have found I can get the baseboard onto the base without any problems by lifting in stages so no lift is more than about 18 inches. Luckily once erected the layout can occupy the conservatory for weeks without too much problem. The electric heating bill will be horrendous.

[birdseyecircus]

Looking good Dave. It will be nice to see how it turns out. There are not many Unitrack UK layouts.

What may be of interest to you and others is this US layout built with Unitrack along with weathering Info etc.. http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html

 

Paul

[Spannerman]

Thanks for the kato pic's, can definately see the benefits in its use. Look forward to seeing further weathering.

 

Paul:

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Nik

[Kris]

Thanks for the info on the BB's Dave. If the MDF is not a water proof variety make sure that you seal it well. You don't want it to swell up when you're adding scenery.

[davetheroad]

Good advice and I will ensure any surfaces are well sealed. Luckily the whole base board is covered with 3mm cork sheet and I intend to seal this where any moisture is possible. As designed there will be no fixed scenery above the level of the 70mm high ply walls on the back and sides of the boards. There will be scenery above this level but I want this to be either bolt on or drop in. Building the scenery this way means I can build it off board and store it anywhere.

 

some more photos

 

All this wiring will eventually be neat and tidy!. I am following the KATO colour code of white=feed, blue=return, black/red=points. I want to use a common return for the 4 Guagemaster controllers and will use larger blue wiring for this.

 

Track laying is complete on the right hand boards

 

66594 posing on the loco spur. A Class 57 will usually occupy this desirable location.

[Flying Pig]

There are not many Unitrack UK layouts.

Maybe this one will start a fashion: it's looking very promising indeed. The ballasting looks effective too and that's an impressive use of Lego by the civil engineer

 

Dave, one of the ballast glues du jour hereabouts seems to be Copydex: if you use that when you fill in between the lines you'll preserve the reusability of the Kato track.

[davetheroad]

Lego is wonder material, beautifully rectangular and at 8mm width the single bricks are exactly right for Unitrack spacing. I am considering using it for an armature when constructing buildings to ensure everything is square. not sure about building the castle out of it though.

 

I like Copydex and use it to stick the track down, except in some areas where a drop of superglue is better. I used Roket Hot and managed to become attached to the layout a couple of times!. When ballasting between the tracks Copydex will be ideal although I won't mix it with the ballast but use it to form a waterproof layer on the cork sheet and shoulders of the track. The ballast will use my normal PVA slurry which will dry rock hard but should be removable if or when Castlerock expands into a permanent location in the garage.

 

Meanwhile the baseboard joins.

I am using pattern makers dowels and cutting through the trackbed at the join. With 7 scenic joins I am carrying the power between the baseboard with electrical connectors but not sure what type yet. Here is the paraphernalia in action.

[unravelled]

Did you ever consider taking the wiring through the grooves in the mdf? Not so good for alterations, but could give a single sided board.

 

Dave

[davetheroad]

Did you ever consider taking the wiring through the grooves in the mdf? Not so good for alterations, but could give a single sided board.

 

Dave

I certainly did. You can fit a pair of wires in a single groove no problem and I was going to lead all the wiring to the front of the layout via the grooves. In the end I decided on the traditional method as the wiring was getting rather complicated. For simple wiring it would work just fine and for the traditional Unitrak layout built from scratch each time it would be good to have the wires hidden.

 

This photo shows the shelf at the front of the layout where all the wiring ends up. The switches will all live here and the controllers live on a bolt on table made out of a wooden tray.

[PaulCheffus]

There are not many Unitrack UK layouts.

 

Paul

 

Hi

 

The layout (Pontdefad) I helped operate at the recent N Gauge International Show at Leamington was built using Unitrack. It performed very well all weekend.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[shanks522]

Going to follow this with great interest, I've thought about doing something with unitrack for a little while. cant wait for more updates/photos.

 

 

Graham.

[davetheroad]

Tracklaying continues, meanwhile I could not resist seeing if the Pretendolino will fit in what will be the down main platform!

 

The train will be hauled by a class 90 in normal service

 

The DVT is a nice model and will always be at the rear of the train. The Pretendolino will operate on the north bound down line as I prefer to have my trains with the power unit pulling and this is correct for Castlerockland.

 

For complete satisfaction we just need Dapol to release a buffet car and while they are at it how about a Pendolino? it does not even need to tilt as of course the real thing does not tilt in stations. Meanwhile Castlerockland will suffer from a semi permanent landslip south of Berwick, allowing me to run a HST or two.

[Kris]

The Pretendolino looks good. From memory Dapol did announce a Pendolino as part of their magnificent 7 programme, so it's a matter of time until this arrives.

[davetheroad]

Track laying continues. This is the south end of the station. Left to right there are the 3 Whopping sidings which are still under construction. The main running lines are the branch/freight relief, down main and up main. The platforms will be;

No1 - Main relief and 'Scotch Branch' plus 'The Waverley'.

No2 - 'Coast Branch' bay

No3 - Down Main

No4 - Up Main

No5 - 'Fells Branch' bay

 

 

Looking southward the 3 running lines will disappear into a new tunnel with a supermarket built on top, hopefully it won't collapse.

 

 

Off board ballasting is more convenient. The ballast slurry is easy to apply with a small screwdriver. The fancy work surface is the top of the bread bin, just the right height, don't tell anybody!

 

[shanks522]

Out of interest what are the three sidings going to be used for? freight or passenger? cheers.

 

Graham.

[davetheroad]

Out of interest what are the three sidings going to be used for? freight or passenger? cheers.

 

Graham.

They are the truncated remnant of a former extensive goods yard and sidings which, because Castlerock is a signing on point for traincrew, provide stabling for several locos. These usually occupy the left hand shorter siding. It is also common to see a DMU or two plus a mixture of stuff including network measurement trains, engineering stuff and a snowplough. The left hand siding can hold 4 locos, the middle 2 x 3 car DMU's and the right hand longer one is simply split into 2 equal isolating sections. The approach line is also used for short term stabling to clear platform 1 for example.

[Revolution Mike]

The Pretendolino looks good. From memory Dapol did announce a Pendolino as part of their magnificent 7 programme, so it's a matter of time until this arrives.

Yep, part of the Magnificent 7 along with outstanding HST, class 56, class 26 and GWR 2-8-0. The B1 and 153 have come out.

[woodenhead]

It does look good and if I could get my hands on it at a reasonable price I might also consider Unitrack.

 

I saw something that you might want to bear in mind on Birdseyecircus' link to John Sing's ATSF_Arizona Peavine Line. He was talking about the longevity of his Unitrack connectors and what he would do if he laid another long term project in Unitrack, this is his quote not mine but I think I am OK posting this here, Mods will inform if not:

 

John Sing said:

"The layout's Unitrack continues to use the standard Kato Unitrack Unijoiners. From an electrical conductivity standpoint, after all these years, these have held up to an adequate level. The fact that they continue to work as well as they do is a testimony to Kato's engineering - no other non-soldered rail connection would have lasted this long.

 

As the layout ages, I do notice the Unitrack does 'age' in terms of electrical connectivity at the Unijoiners. As a result, today at the 8 year age mark for the layout, the four feeders at equidistant points around the loop are just barely adequate in order to maintain the voltage to be stable. In retrospect, the recommendations of major Unitrack users such as PowerSteamGuy1790 to solder feeders as much as possible, including every piece of Unitrack... is actually a good recommendation. If I were to do this layout over again, that is one recommendation that I would follow."

[davetheroad]

If the connectors last 8 years I will be happy!. I have installed 2 feeds/returns for each isolation section using droppers soldered to Unijoiners plus there are a couple of Kato 62mm feeds in there somewhere. Now if I was a rich man I could get my Unijoiners and track ends gold plated which might solve any problem?

[davetheroad]

The scenic tracklaying is now complete with Whopping sidings installed

 

 

Just did a quick photo session before removing the right hand board so I can turn round the left one to install the fiddle yard.

 

Some class 156's and the odd loco in the background.

 

 

some voyagers and a GNER HST

 

[davetheroad]

The tracklaying is now essentially complete and construction is suspended for the xmas period.

 

This is the left hand fiddle yard with 6 through loops and 4 storage sidings plus a fiddle yard fiddle siding for shuffling the DMU's as they come and go. The fiddle yard uses medium radius points (481mm) in contrast to the scenic areas where the large radius 718mm points are used. Five of the through loops are 1925mm long which means they can accomodate a Class 66 plus 14 EWS bogie coal hoppers. This still looks OK although short by 7 wagons.

 

After xmas the next task will be completing the wiring and installing the switches etc. I am not looking forward to this although I have already tested the track and seem to be getting 12 volts everywhere. As I have lots of 'em I am using Kato point switches and Peco for the electrics. The Pecos should do until I get round to building the solid walnut control panel with baroque carving!.

 

A few of the track feeds are switched between 3 controllers and this can be done with Peco switches by using a cascade