LDM34046

Absolutely incredible Rob. Having spent the last three days and plenty of coffee I've scrolled through all 365 pages of the progress of your layouts and I'm in awe of your modelling! Currently waiting on my baseboards to arrive but I'm excited to get started, having gained plenty of inspiration from your feed! Keep up the excellent work.

Thank you Adrian! That's helped me out massively. I may have to return the cork and get a slightly thicker sheet in order for the tube to sit flush on the layout. PTFE is new to me and seems more cost effective than copper tube. Thanks again Luke

Currently twiddling thumbs waiting for various orders to arrive and the baseboards to get finished with Tim Horn. I'm still in the dark regarding the wire-in-tube method for my point work. I've ordered 1.5mm thick cork underlay with the plan of running 1.5mm copper tube with a 1mm metal rod running through the tube to move the point blades. I'm struggling to find any clarity on a good thickness of copper tube and metal rod as the rod needs to have enough strength to push and pull the points. I'm not sure if 1mm rod is thick enough? Any advice would be highly appreciated as I'm very much in the dark!

Scrolling through from the start of the layout love progress and attention to detail! In some shots it's hard to think that it's N gauge! Well Done!

The baseboards have been ordered. Having seen plenty of happy customers on RMweb I ended up purchasing through Tim Horn Lasercutting. After various of messages backwards and forwards I decided on a baseboard design. Different from the original plan however a much more thought out design incorporating the original track layout. I'll hopefully have the boards in a few weeks to build and then an order will be placed for the track work and DCC system. Slowly but surely coming together.

Hello! It's good to be back! Excited to finally be back posting on this page after a hiatus of about 6 years. My dad and I started a layout in 2012 in the spare room, DCC, electric points and signals and a control panel that would have given Apollo 13 a run for it's money. However the joys of Sixth Form and University took over shortly followed by the freedom of driving and 4 years of modifying (and ruining in some cases) three cars. The layout grew neglected, unfinished and eventually put into storage in the garage. Fast forward to 2020 and half of the year spent in lockdown, like many modellers I found myself twiddling thumbs, scrolling through Facebook and many a Skype call. An interest slowly grew again and after fuelling it with a few visits to RMweb I found myself back down on the local mainline (socially distancing of course) photographing steam and diesel alike. The old layout room has since been turned into a home office so resurrecting the old layout was out of the question and to be honest I was slightly disinterested in it. Being the keen teenager I was at the time I had crammed more track than Kings Cross into a small L shaped layout which left space for scenic modelling much to be desired. Having learnt my lessons with the philosophy of 'Less is more' and dusting off the modelling knowledge of basic electrics, DCC and scenic modelling I decided to sell some of the old modern image stock and fund a new layout. 'Less is More' The new layout is much smaller in size (3' x 1') to fit on my desk and to be relatively portable and slide under the bed when not in use. The hope with a much smaller layout is the scenic elements appearing much less daunting and more achievable as with the old layout I never really knew where to start. Four turnouts and a few lengths of code 75 flexitrack should hopefully provide plenty of operating potential (feedback welcome) as well as offering room for scenic ideas with the philosophy of 'Less track work is more'. Being a photographer by trade the layout is hopefully also a good chance for me to try out a bit of modelling photography. The track plan is pretty simple, inspired by some of Chris Nevards plans. An arrival road in the middle hosts the incoming small freight trains with sidings to the top and a headshunt to the bottom for the individual freight wagons to be distributed as well as some light engine movements on my larger stock.. I'm hoping that the simple track plan will provide enough operating potential as well as getting to practice my scenic skills and model photography. My fix of steam will hopefully be provided by 57xx, Pecketts and 3MT and diesel for the later years provided by BR Blue Class 20's, 25's, 08's and 03's. I'm hoping to be able to run the layout in either steam or BR blue periods to satisfy my interests in both. The layout will be DCC, having used it in the past and wanting to run my old sound locos with point work potentially being done with the wire-in-tube method. I understand the basics of DCC wiring (droppers etc.) however the point work, ballasting and scenic elements will all be a big learning curve, something I'm keen to teach myself. Location, Location, Location! The inspiration behind the name is our house is directly below the flight path for the Spitfire Heritage Centre located at Biggin Hill Airport. During the summer months, 3-4 times a week we get the roar of the merlin engines as Spitfires flying overhead and in some cases rather low. Our housing development is also built on the old site of RAF West Malling, from where my dad did a lot of his RAF glider training hence the aviation theme to the name. Occasionally, a few years back we used to get the Avro Lancaster flying directly above the house and a lot of the local road names, in ties with the old RAF site, are named after aviation terms so Lancaster Lane was born. Still reading!? So what's next? The plan is to order the baseboards from White Rose Baseboards purely as I find the prices pretty reasonable for a small layout and I don't want to deal with the hassle of woodworking, especially with trying to get supplies during the pandemic. Having mocked up the layout on A4 paper this morning the plan is to order the baseboards in the next day or so. Once the track plan is finalised (again, any feedback is welcome) and the funds are put together the track and locomotives will be ordered, hopefully in the next week or so. I'm excited to get the ball rolling on this project and would greatly appreciate any advice or feedback to what I have planned! Stay tuned! Luke

Used to walk along that footbridge everyday on the way to school and I can say that you've captured the essence of tonbridge west yard very well!!! Well Done!!!

Nice to see Waton at Warley 2014!! Here are some of my best photos

Hi all Waton is featured in my Tonbridge Model Railway Exhibition 2014 video on YouTube Here is the link: Have fun watching !!

Is that 08 shunter a Bachmann model and is it weathered

loving the modelling and love the weathering on the 37!!!!

thanks for the info, I really found Exford Park an inspiration. I been looking everywhere and can't seem to find a class 50 in NSE livery, where did you get yours???? loving the layout and keep up the good work!!!! MurrayField Junction

cool, thanks. Much easier than a picture of spagetti wiring!! hopefully I will see you at the Tonbridge show next year, maybe with my class 25, DCC Sound!!!! cheers for the decoder wiring!!! MurrayField Junction!!

cool, do you know where you can buy Railmatch paints and are they expensive????

Do you know if they sell that book anymore, also have you recieved my PM I sent you?? thanks

very good layout, Always look forward to seeing it at shows and just shows what can be acheived when you have a dedicated modeller at the hands of the layout, loving the photos, If I remember correctly quite a lot of the locos are old Hornby and lima locos, which is very suprising when the locos have sound and lights and run so smoothly, In the progress of 'hard wiring' an old lima 33. Brought the decoder and lights, just waiting for the socket to arrive from ebay!!! spent an hour or two cleaning all the motor and wheels so a 30 year old loco runs like a dream!!! keep up the amazing photos and weathering MurrayField Junction!!

very good, loving the locos. the weathering is amazing. some of these photos look like the real think, Its nice to know that this layout will be hopefully be around for a long time to come!!

Your Layout has really inspired me, I'm a big fan of BR Blue diesel Depots and I am in the process of building one. I love the Photo of the Two weathered class 37's. Are they a Bachmann Models and how did you weather them??? :)