vjoneslong

The loco sure does look like a blank template. Any chance of a photo of the underside when you have a moment? Would be curious to see if it is re-gaugeable if possible... If you can I would go round the back as it would make a nice scenic break. However, try and maintain access to allow maintenance and recovery. Trains always derail in the most inaccessible of places.

You had better decide on a color scheme quick before SWMBO has it. Might I suggest something Western?

I suspect you are right. I was considering a DJB engineering loco as a first. I was chatting with Paul about maybe having a re-run of the "Emma" kits he used to do in a couple of years - I need to save up first!

Afternoon chaps. Thanks for all the kind words. As promised, here is a video of last nights playtime. Enjoy!

Lovely engine there Phil. I have often drooled over the coal fired engines. Perhaps one day.

Have you still got all your teeth Pinzer? I didn't think you could make Warrior look any better but bl@@dy hell you've only gone and done it. I doth my cap at you sir! I take it that is good news? Will keep fingers crossed.

I run out of puff just walking it!

Hmm. Not sure. I know I bought 6 yards of Cliff Barker and a box of Peco which is half used, plus around 15 yards of brass track, plus whatever I had over from the previous line. I did start making a Dynamometer wagon, perhaps I should finish it and try and measure up the entire line. Would be good to know. When I left Chattenden running round at a scale 15 mph approx it took 4 and a half mins to do a complete circuit. So I guess pretty long?

Thanks chaps! It did feel like a huge milestone had been reached last night. I'll be even happier once I have proved the steamers get round. Of course, if anyone is in the area, you are more than welcome to come and visit!

Great stuff Tony, good progress so far. And thanks for the useful tip re circular saw and aluminium channel. How steep is the gradient from the car port onto the main station modules? From bitter experience if you are planning on running longish trains the combination of steep grade and curves can be a bit too much for the engines. If you can I would make the curves as slack as possible, might aide the situation. On my previous OO I (though mostly a friend) built our own pointwork. We used plans (can't remember where from) which we photocopied. Sleepers were made from PCB and the rail was soldered to the sleepers. The frogs were also electro-frog, so we had to isolate the v, with switches to flip the polarity depending on which route the trains took. Mind you, our points were left outside all year round so they had to be pretty robust. I don't think we were ever brave enough to try a double slip outside. Curious to see how you get on. In other news I managed to complete the main circuit on my line last night. Means I can plonk a train down and let it pootle round to its hearts content. Having something running is a great motivator to getting stuff finished. The great globe is out again. I can't decide if its the sun or the moon....

Good news everyone! Last night saw the completion of the main circuit. Here is SWMBO driving the "golden spike" so to speak. IMAG0923 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0924 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0926 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Looking up the line over the bridge to Much Camping station IMAG0927 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr Over the lift out bridge and the curve entering Toryhurst IMAG0929 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr I didn't get to run a steam engine, but managed to run Chattenden for about 2 hours while I tidied up the garden a bit and a couple of chores. IMAG0928 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0933 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0934 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0935 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0936 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0937 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr I had forgotten how much pleasure to be had from just plonking a train down and letting it go about it's business while you do your chores. There is still a lot left to do, most of Toryhurst to lay, and a couple of bumps and kinks to ease. I had one slight issue with my home constructed gauge widened track. One small area appeared to be very spread - not sure how that happened. It was quickly corrected. IMAG0930 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0931 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr I purchased and laid some Cliff Barker track on one curve, since he does gauge widened flexitrack. I have to say I was very impressed with it. Dead easy to dismantle and run through the rail bender. Guess we will have to wait and see what happens now with the steam engines. I promise something will make an appearance tonight and some video will be taken.

Great stuff Pinzer. Both locos look fantastic, but the Katie/Peckett cross is magnificent. Perhaps you should enter it for the model of the year competition at P'boro next year? They have a specific category for Roundhouse builds. Sorry to hear about Baby Deltic. Hope she is okay and nothing too serious. Will keep fingers crossed!

I think it might be a bit big for the OO. Good stuff Andy, looking forward to seeing it run.

Hi Phil. I'm using some plastic packers which we bought for building the kitchen and other building work. They come in various sizes (yellow is 1mm high, blue is 3mm high, and brown is 5mm high). They are similar to these. http://www.screwfix.com/c/screws-nails-fixings/shims/cat7290012?cm_sp=managedredirect-_-screwsfixings-_-shimms Still using a rail bender to bend the tail to the correct radius. Otherwise it would still be a load of 1 inch kinks!

Hi Tony. Concrete bridge sounds good. I have thought about a water feature in the garden eventually. You can get solar power water pumps which would be a cheap way of pumping the water to the top of the waterfall. Would be very curious to see your jig for the circular saw. I've managed to lay some track on mine. The issue I'm having at the moment is that I am using up some wooden sleepered track with the rails pinned into the sleepers. Its useful as it allows me to widen the gauge on the curve, but is very time consuming to put a panel together (around 1-2 hours for a single yard of track). However, I've only got enough for one more curve so one more push and that bridge will be out the way. I think you have sent all the warm weather to us. I'm sat in shorts in my office sweltering and its not even quarter to nine. What is this great globe in the sky - don't think I have ever seen it before!

Well the combination of nice sunny evenings and free time has meant some more track has been made and screwed down. Here are some of the curves I had put together (gauge widened of course) for the loop in the station area while waiting for the varnish/wood preservative to dry. IMAG0917 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0920 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr By end of play last night I had gotten 5 lengths down. IMAG0918 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0919 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr IMAG0921 by Matthew Jones, on Flickr I was quite surprised just how well the curves were going down, they look as if I knew what I was doing. I should have the run through loop completed by end of play tomorrow, and dependent on when the track turns up, maybe a complete circuit by the end of the bank holiday.

A question often asked when starting out is whether to opt for track or battery power. A very helpul chap (Ge Rik) has done a very interesting and informative video giving his experiences with both. Perhaps it might be useful for anyone who is considering what to do. Enjoy!

Absolutely brilliant!

I was watching one of my railway DVDs last night Pinzer and a thought came to me. Perhaps you should paint the front of the smokebox and saddle tank and rear cab with the wasp stripes. You get some idea from this photo. https://thetransportlibrary.co.uk/image/cache/catalog/K/T/0/0/KT000345-1000x1000.jpg I'm afraid I'm not having much luck finding more. Found one! http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4369386565_26d1f0204a.jpg

I suppose anything is possible - it just depends on your skills and how far you are willing to go. Perhaps you could ask roundhouse whether an alternative chimney (e.g. the one on the bunderberg fowler) could be made to fit the Bertie smokebox? I know what you mean about Williams. I know one chap had about 3 of them at one stage, talk about hogging models. SWMBO quite fancies a read one with straight chimney, but they seem just as rare. I wonder if Roundhouse will ever bring them back?

Sounds good. I like that you can keep it all under cover. Will make cleaning the track alot easier. My one abiding memory of the old line was spending half an hour/45 mins cleaning the track with wet and dry before each running session. Having said that, I was putting paraffin down and this appeared to keep the rail head clean for around 72 hours. Keeping loco wheels clean was another job as well. 3 day running session - love it. Over here there was someone who would do a dawn till dusk day on the longest day in June, with a train constantly running. Mixture of steam and diesel I think. Might try that myself one day. Sounds like a good idea. I bought a cheap Chinese keychain camera which is small enough to be mounted either on my carriages/wagons or in the loco cab itself. I got the idea from this video: Its probably a little big for your purpose, but I'm sure I have seen miniature cameras advertised in Railway Modeler for driver eye views. I will investigate my old copies to see if I can find any info.

I know that feeling NM. June has gone from being free to being totally booked up. Thats why I have set myself the target to get most of the track laying done by then. I'm a little behind, but thats because of last week and the lack of enthusiasm. I'm hoping that the fine weather this week will get me outside. I had to admit I am slightly frustrated with the brass/wooden track. It takes ages to make a panel (my current fastest record is about 1 hr 30 to make one panel, but most take alot longer than that). This makes it feel like I'm making no progress whatsoever. Hmm, I am tempted to purchase some to try on the other curve. I will have to peruse the bank account. Oh and get well soon Pinzer!

Indeed. I have been feeling a bit lack lustre as of late, so it was nice to make some progress, however limited.

Well the past weekend was a little successful in that I got Sunday on the railway, but Saturday was a write-off. Still, I managed to make 5 track panels (roughly 5 yards) which means I should have enough to get part of the station down. I have just enough brass/wooden track to make one more curve (probably the one beyond the bridge) and then I'm back to Peco Squirty-Two. Photos will appear tomorrow hopefully. Having said that, I have been looking at this chaps offerings. http://www.cliffbarker.talktalk.net/NarrowGaugeTrack.html Has anybody had any experience with him?

Looking good Tony. I'm looking forward to seeing a train traverse the layout. Please make sure you take a video! Out of curiosity how long does it take you to dismantle/setup the layout?