bigwordsmith

Funnily enough I suppose I enjoy the whole track laying part more than any other bit. The electrics are a bit of a mind twister, but my father taught me how to wire stuff up and he was I/C S&T for Monty in the post D-Day roll out across Europe. He taught me that if ever you have an electrical problem the first thing to do is 'check your ends'. Sure enough 95% of problems come down to bad connections!

Looking good David!

Rule 1 applies - if it looks credible it is!

Gosh I know Coulsdon well! Spent much of my mis-spent teens and early '20s living in purely and Coulsdon was very much on my stomping ground. Ah the Orchid ballroom, pints at the Fox and many other happy memories. One of my first longer term romances involved a very friendly young lady in coulsdon, but not to be discussed here! I now live in the wilds of West Sussex.

Thanks for reminding me - my current whole room would easily fit into one half of yours. My last one was 34' long though and I recall thinking it was actually a pain because I could't really see which locos were which at the opposite end of the room!

41 wagons plus brake van - you must have a huge fiddle yard!

They have a sticky back so it just stuck to the paint.

Apologies for the mess, but this shows the effectiveness of LED strips = I found they worked really well, as you can see its a very even spread of light with no odd reflections off the rails, and when we moved I just peeled them off without damaging the ceiling paintwork

I found early peppercorns were great pullers, until Until you close couple the tender go figure!

OH I am so chuckling at that one - just before we moved from the last house I ran one last 'Yard clearance special' - pic below...

I think you could be right...

I thought they were also called Cromptons as they were a similar shape to the 33, I didn't realise they had different guts! Shows the downside of living all your life on the backwater that is the Southern Region! An amusing aside - I see my autocorrect tries to call them 'Crampons'

I don't know if you;ve seen the rather Wonderful Waverley West layout - also on RMW- where Dave has done exactly that!. I did on the last line try to set out a homage to the East End of Waverley, which did look rather fine, but was of necessity somewhat truncated - it's definitely got some merit, especially as only a short stub of the platform sticks out from under the train shed roof!

Wise words Gilbert, and you sum up my dilemma well ! I could look at selling the shed off I suppose!

OK cat among pigeons time. I've just been watching trains on Gresley Junction and thinking it really doe look better with a station - it doesn't;t nee dot be Waverley, but there are lots of smaller junctions on theWaverley Route that could add interest. So, do I bin the engine shed and have a station, or do I bin the fiddle yard,? OR.... Given that the engine shed is already a 12' long self-contained board that hinges up for wiring access, would it be practical to have the fiddle yard at 4" below the shed running rail height so the Hand of God can get in if needs be, and if it gets too much we clear off the locos in shed and lift it up, thus getting clear access to the fiddle rods beneath? Obviously I'd need to stick down the various scenic bits that currently just sit on the board, but it is tempting...

Seeing a Crompton on the GN looked really odd to me as I always thought they were Scottish - until I learned differently from Gilbert! The Sound chip is very effective, but I'm still struggling at the thought of the thought of going DCC with over 100 locos to convert! The freight train doodling through is gorgeous as well. Annoyingly your layout is making me wonder if I'm doing the right thing at the New Waverley line by not having a station...

I'm toying with the idea of running a 'heritage' HST set on my line - no reason other than that I have happy memories of many work journeys, and I' playing with the idea of a 'through the years' approach to trains. The last one i had was Hornby which struggled seven up , so I'm wondering if there are better options? ATB Peter

Blooming'Eck David - looks great!

OK forget the idea of a loco lift - I just redrew it with a line from the loco shed diving under the mains than coming up the back behind the scenes - it works out as a 1:30, which any light engine should be able to manage, and lets me shunt locos in the fiddle yard. I've also done away with the third cassette spur - I've allowed two on the Up main, and if I want to run a train over to the Down main I can just flip it on the facing X-over on the RH side of the plan and re do the engine as a shunting manoeuvre. Thinking about it, if I wanted to achieve train symmetry I could simply detach the engine at the end of a circuit, send it off to shed and run another one out to put it at the opposite end of the train then go for a spin around the other loop! Lots to keep oneself amused!

The shed is already on hinges, the plan for the fiddle yard is to use my extensive store Of H&M point motors, surface mounted. Wiring will be fun. The cost of converting 100+ locos to DCC would be prohibitive, so I’m thinking of analogue, with up and down mains and up and down fiddle yard both having power. I’m thinking of a cab control option so you can drive a train in and out of a fiddle road, and be able to move trains in the yard while something is thrashing around the main I’m going to need sections at the end of each road so that I can hold a train, even if the points are set for through travel, and On the mains, so I can pause a train thereon I was also thinking last night about getting locos to/ from the fiddle yard, as I want to have the mains higher than the shed. I have it planned at the moment as an incline, but if I had a decent separation, say 3”, then this wouldn’t work. so I’m thinking about running the shed road under the main line, which I fancy on a long curving viaduct anyway, then using some kind of loco lift in the non-scenic section. I’ve got A Peco loco lift, the challenge now is how to make it go up and down without the Hand of God!

Hi Shaun I've just stumbled across this excellent thread, and was really impressed by your curved viaduct - have you explained how you built? Of not, can you share the secrets? Peter

Like many of my Celtic Brethren I have a somewhat Neanderthal frame - long body and arms but short legs. I'm a shade under 6'2 in bare feet, and the baseboards are at 4' above floor level, so reaching across to he back of a three footer is something I can do - provided of course my back isn't playing up!

Thanks Gllbert I remember many years ago being told never to judge someone without walking smile in their shoes - in this area i see you as having walked many miles, so am happy to benefit from your experience. I suppose the idea of having a big fiddle yard was it meant I could run a variety of trains and not have to fiddle about with putting them on and off the layout. As my health gets less reliable I am aware that I tend to find sitting preferable to leaping up and down, so was thinking about how I could create something that would allow me to spend an enjoyable hour or so watching trains trundle round with bit of modest fiddling around int he Engine Shed. Melancholy I know, but you do get to point when you have to start thinking realistically!

Ouch - it's a bummer - are you folks going into T2/3?