SeanNeedham

With this conversation, it feels more that I'm not building a layout as such (and still not turned a tool in anger, bar painting up stock), but actually creating a historical document or reference.

 

Whilst the weather is nice this afternoon, I'm taking one of the works cameras to go and do a research run of one of the old stations in the area; as even with the photos from the gentleman, and the only one I found on line (which is a scan of a postcard and can be found here), there are very, very few references to it at all. I think that the picture on the postcard is the only one that shows a track plan, and I think over the weekend I may nip round to the gentleman's house and ask him about the track plan, and then recreate a diagramme based on this reference and what his knowledge was.

 

This is the only shot of the station building I have in my collection which is online, even though I go past it every day (and this one was taken about a week or so after a road accident which damaged my shoulder and knee, so the only place I could balance a camera was on the deck). http://www.flickr.com/photos/catalafotografia/894101918/in/pool-21113710@N00/lightbox/

 

I suppose I really should take the tape measure and notebook as well, just to go and get some measures, as even though I have decided on building a street scene, I think that some time in the near future, I may end up building here as well.

 

Thanks for the comments, and I will try and keep the project updated, either as just a research piece, or to use as my main focal point and put the english on the back burner totally.

Pete, 2 projects? I've already got 2 projects on the go!

 

The things that got messed up were the ones that were out of the way, but when people come round it doesn't matter because I don't think 'No tocar', 'Prou', or just plain old 'No' are in the vocabulary and people will move them closer to the edge just so people can have a 'look'; though I've just ordered a small starter set for the kids to play with... At least it will keep them out of my 'MPD' for a while... Hopefully.

 

I did end up having a little spend when I was in town (got ten minutes between jobs), and spent 400€ on something that no-one will ever directly get to see...

 

As for the beer, sound's good; I'll let you know, even though my consume is about 5 bottles of wine a year! If you are ever up towards the Manresa/Berga area, give me a shout. Though I am trying to orgainse a photosession that you may be interested in as well.

Thanks Bill, I thought they were the ones you were talking about the other day.

 

I've found a company here in Barcelona that are going to be producing some coaches like this in N-scale, and also somewhere that has a few of these kits, so I may just have to buy them "just in case" I change the gauge sometime in the future.

 

Once again, thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

Thanks for that, devondynosoar118, I'll have a look to see if I can raid enough from the skip down the back of the bathroom showroom to get that underway...<div>However, in the time being, well, today, I found a little spot that doesn't require so much stone work, so with that and what you've mentioned, I'll have a look in to it!</div>

Damn, I wish I knew about that place last week! I was in Vic recently, and easiest way to get there takes me past Tona and on to Manresa...

I understand completely about that thought process vs actual modelling, Mike...<div><br></div><div>Good luck with getting things rolling, and try not to get distracted by too many ideas!</div>

Cheers, Bill but they're the wrong scale to what I'm going to be working in and maybe not the right part of the FGC either, sadly, as I'm working this as an N-gauge at the moment, on a 800x300mm board, and the company was made up of at least 4 individual companies (not including the parts taken over from the state) each with their own stock and in some cases different gauges... However, If I get the bug for the local flavours, then maybe I'll be on the look out for some.

Hi Missy, thanks for the tip. I think if I'm going to do the 2mm FS it's going to be an all or nothing thing, mainly for the geographical location I'm in and not being able to get the parts or nip to a show easily; but I'm thinking about the Model Rail Live event in July, at Barrow Hill (a cheap flight, stay at my mother's down the road, leave SWMBO here, and go out for a few nights with my mates!)

 

As I mused in the next post along, I think my rose tinted specs are on the blink, now with looking at the 80 I used to use and 'never seeing a problem', now it looks so bloody big compared to what it should do, so this is still floating round the head, but I'm also tempted by the local (and what the locals class as narrow gauge, which is UK Standard) lines. Suppose I could mash up both at once!

Chris, in answer to what class it is on the blog, that's a 04. The 03 had a larger fuel tank and a bulge at the back of the bonnet by the cab.

 

Nice looking work, again! I'm really enjoying looking at your layouts for inspiration and personal enjoyment!

Thanks for the further information, Ian, I will definitely be looking in to them for the next layout I'm going to build (only got one point on the current, and wire in tube works fine for it, as it's just a skills refresh more than anything).

 

I've a big box full of servos in the basement, so that's where the initial thoughts came from, so one of the set up boxes would put me ahead of the curve on cost to start as well.

 

Once again, thanks for the info and I'm going to try and put it in to operation sometime in the near future!

Thanks for this, Ian, I was going to pop the question on the board about using servos in place of point motors, etc, as point motors around here are silly beans and servos can be got for about 12€ and I was thinking about seeing if they were interchangeable in their roles.

Bon Dia Pete!<div><br></div><div>"The Ex-pat Model Railway Club?" Hehehe.... (sorry, just had too much caffeine in the bar this lunch!)<div><br></div></div><div>I've been thinking this a bit more, and at the moment, I'm just planning on using the bits and pieces up that I had in the Motive Power Depot (the box that was shipped from England with the locos in it), and for the time being I think I'm just going to stick with the code 80 that I'd got left from the last project in the UK, as after 15 years of not building a layout properly, I'm probably going to make a hash of something and end up scrapping the whole lot and starting again!  It'd also help keep the construction price down, so if I do make a complete and utter of it, I'm not really wasting anything.  In turn, I've eliminated that top set of points, so there is only one point on the scenic which I've got to route in, and it also means I don't have to make some form of 'pedestrian' access for that bay across the line or up the cutting; with the 'parking' being somewhere to the left in what is going to be the fiddle yard at the moment.</div><div><br></div><div>After all, if I can get this one looking reasonably good, then it would be easier justifying to the other half about putting myself a bigger layout down where I can go and do the 2mm finescale (which I would like to do), and also beef up the collection of stock a lot more.</div><div><br></div><div>Last time I was in town, I ended up in said model shops off of Catalunya, and the thing that really bit me about it was the 'import tax' they seem to drop on the price of anything English outline with all the stuff being twice the price of in the UK (and most of it seems to be shop added, for holding a special line of stock anyway).  At the end of the week, or the beginning of next, I've got to go to Abrera on a job (as if you're heading towards Lleida from BCN on the AP2, just before you hit the junction to head over to Montserrat, or R5 off Espanya), and the actual importer of UK outline is only a ten minute cable car hop from there, so I'm thinking about popping in to see if they sell direct to public and how much it would cost over actually shopping in the UK and paying postage to here.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks for the comments, and I'll keep that all in mind for the next build!</div>

Hi Ron,

 

I think I have fallen in to the hole of the Almost Non-existant railway scene over here (would help if there were actual railways round my part to acclimatise the younger generation, but as the Spanish/Catalan seem to live for their cars, the local lines were pulled in the 60/70's!)

 

Trying to work something through that has operational interest in a 4 x 1.5', is not the easiest thing, as I've found that with N, the layouts need to be a bit bigger than what you would have with OO/HO, to make something more 'interesting' and 'realistic' in terms of use; what with trying to put in a shunting yard, then comes the uncoupling problem (though I did have a bit of an engineering moment with a ciggy pack last night), also the timeline of what I'm working on dictated by the stock I've already got from before leaves a headache as there wasn't really any short trip freight, small private yards, etc.

 

Looks like it's time to go back to the drawing board, and decide whether to change the time period, do a 'what if' scenario, or contemplate things that I don't really want to!