mallaig1983

My method for attaching the fishplates is reading glasses, a magnifying glass, one eye closed and lots of light. The first point I put six fishplates on in just under an hour. Trust me it gets easier once you develop a knack. For it's price it really is very nice track isn't it albeit very very delicate. I described it to a friend as trying to work with wet spaghetti. I'm really excited to watch this develop. Andy.

Just having another look at that photo it looks to me (although I could be wrong) that the ploughs are mounted to the chassis. Which prompted the thought that if the ploughs were mounted to the bogie via the NEM socket would they foul on a chassis mounted wider wire loop? Just a thought. Over to you Sir. Andy

I'm currently weighing up Sprat and Winkle vs Kadee magnetic couplers. I like the idea of the Kadee's but as they fit into the NEM socket this does mean that you can't mount the snowploughs here. However in reality the snowploughs were mounted on the loco chassis rather than the bogies. Also I believe it was practice to remove the centre section of the ploughs in the summer. No idea why due to the extra workload and if anyone knows why I'd be very interested, and if I'm wrong corrected. However, as nice as chassis mounted ploughs look off scene sections of my layout will have "trainset curves" so potentially this could cause problems. The Sprat and Winkle couplings reauire a lot more work as they are kits you have to put together and then mount to the stock. However the wide loop that you have pictured is still very subtle on the loco. Keeping the tension lock couplings isn't really an option for myself as I have a terminus layout and want to avoid hand of God operations. Much less of a problem for yourself. My coaches will be in fixed rakes using close couplings which I particularly like as there is also no slack to take up on departure. I'll be really interested to see what you go for but I do think that large loop if painted black would look pretty good and solve most of your wants and needs. Checking this thread for daily updates is really interesting. So not to much golf please Rob ;-)

As I have a week off work I've had a couple of days working on the layout. Well wiring the point motors to the panel to be precise. It hasn't always gone well and I have made mistakes but I'm happy to report that the job is complete. Well I have to cosmetically hide the wires that go from behind the panel to the back of the layout. I wanted the panel mounted above the layout but would of used a lot less cable if I'd of mounted it at layout level. Chuffed to bits with getting this job out of the way obviously I had to test everything (play) and all works well. The only connection from the controller to the track is at the buffer stop end of the layout. As I've mentioned before the unifrog points are pure witchcraft. However tomorrow I will be making a start on wiring the layout properly with droppers and a power bus as today I had a timely delivery from the good folks at Gaugemaster. A photo of the panel with the point motor switches all fitted in their respective place. The harness behind it is wired to a male/female terminal block. The cables can be seen making their way along the sloping ceiling to the rear of the layout. These will be covered. Andy

Thanks Rob. I'm loading direct from my phone and if I try and load two at once it does say about the 10mb. In order to load the second I had to come right out of the site and log back in. Andy

Thanks Tim, I enjoyed that .

Seems I can only load one photo at a time so here is the second. I just placed a couple of old Lima Mk1s on the grade to try and show it but the camera phone hasn't really captured it particularly well. It's more obvious to the eye in the flesh so to speak. The loop holds six coaches which is one short of reality but I've never seen any evidence that trains of the time were ever any longer than six. This is probably dictated by the length of the loops at Glenfinnan and Arisaig. I know that trains between Glasgow and Fort William were load 8 but I've never seen more than six on service trains on the extension. The scenic area is 14 feet on 3 and a half foot wide boards. I believe I could of done with 15 feet but I wasn't prepared to move house for the privilege and to condense the layout by a foot I have no problem with. The platform is six coaches long as per the prototype. Couple of set backs so far but ultimately I'm happy with progress. Andy

The last 3 Sundays have seen progress on the layout. Often 2 steps forward and 1 back but always learning and problem solving. Each of the points now has a slow action motor mounted underneath it and tested. The one fitted today was an absolute pig as it sat right above the join of 2 of the kitchen units that the layout sits on. I've been fitting them from below as although the layout is built on 3 boards this is really in case I ever have to move the layout once completed for whatever home maintenance reason that may arise. The rails will only be cut if it's absolutely necessary to have to move the layout. So I had to pull the layout out from the wall so I could work under the point while it was clear of the base unit. Luckily the 3rd board hadn't had the track laid so at least I could seperate that one. Having fitted and tested the motor everything was put back as it should be and track laying continued onto the 3rd board which forms the station approach. In real life there is a gradient as the line leaves Mallaig. This was achieved by layering cork strips, an idea borrowed from WHL4 (thread on this forum (thanks Rob)). It works out at 1 in 60. I don't know what it is in real life but to my eye it looks about right. Next job will be to wire up the bus wire for the track and wiring the point motors to the panel so time to brush up on my soldering skills. I'm blown away that I have tested the whole layout from just one electrical connection at the buffer stop. A sound fitted loco has traversed the whole layout several times, including the reverse sidings from this one connection. Peco unifrog is pure saucery and witchcraft I tell you. This has simplified testing but I will be doing the time honoured practice of running droppers from every rail length when I wire it up properly. Here are a couple of photos to show where I'm at.

Well yes but for years only in my head. Just started my layout recently. So recently in fact that I managed to get ply for the baseboards just days before lockdown! I will finish the track laying tomorrow and update my thread. I used to model 12 inches to a foot scale carriages at the Welsh Highland Railway at Gelerts Farm in Port.

Hi Nick. After chatting briefly on twitter this afternoon I thought I'd check your layout out on here. I love it. Nice to see something based so close to home. Great modelling. I'll follow with interest now I've discovered it Andy

Lol. I noticed that too. Absolutely perfect bit of drone filming at the end will help me hugely with gauging and siting of features and buildings. Really enjoyable program.

Thanks Bill

You're making great progress. This layout is an epic. I've never followed anything as big. Great standard of modelling too. I'm really enjoying following this. Keep up the good work and inspiration. Andy

Love these photos. I think that your tanks look great and your idea for the platform lighting is closer than I've come up with for my version. Try and unstall and keep going. Andy.

Bill do you have a link to your Glenfinnan layout? I plan on building that on the other side of the attic. Should add playability when folks come to play trains.

Thanks for the photos. I'm really looking forward to the scenery side of my build. Yes I will be modelling the signal box. Someone has very kindly sent me the plans they drew up for it. More track laying has been completed this weekend and I have resolved the point motor issue. The DPDT switches that I bought seem to blow the motors. I thought I had followed the instructions to the letter. For the next point I used an old tortoise motor with one of my old switches that I wired up myself back in the day. Worked perfectly. So I replaced the now broken motor on the point I installed on Tuesday with another Cobalt but this time I used one of my switches. Result! Worked perfectly. I have buggered two cobalts but I have a few tortoises so I will use two of those to replace them. I must order more cable tho. Originally I was going to lay the track and then fit point motors and do the wiring and test but it seems the way I'm doing it is to build a section, fit the point motor, wire and test. Im really loving the'unifrog' on the Peco bullhead points too. I'm wiring the frog with a dropper in case I ever need to use it but so far I've managed without. A sound fitted loco on speed step 1 crawls over the points with no stalling or break of sound. Well done Peco

Love these photos. I think that your tanks look great and your idea for the platform lighting is closer than I've come up with for my version. Try and unstall and keep going. Andy.

Slow and frustrating progress. Trying to run before I can walk. Cobalt point motor issue. Is it my wiring or is the motor a duff. We'll see but today I had to just walk away. Did manage to run a nice and noisy 37 up and down a bit tho. Stay chooooned.

It's very clever and looks perfect in the flesh. Gary I hope I haven't infringed any copywrite by screenshooting your image. Andy

Just come up for air from from a bit of wiring. Rob, more great photos of the layout. The prototype photo is great too and one I haven't seen before. Very very useful and a great view of the tanks so thanks for sharing that. Still wracking my brain as to where I've seen the 45 degree. Thinking it was possibly in the model shop in Warwick, sadly gone a few years. However if you check out Gary's (sixteen 12by 10s)Glenuig thread you can see how he's done it. It's a cracking layout and the platform is very realistic. Andy

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Ah yes, I know your layout. I remember talking to you at Warley a few years ago. Great layout. You've set the bar dauntingly high. Andy

An absolutely stunning beach to enjoy a sunset with a golden glow behind the Isle of Rum which is a dramatic island.

Thanks Tim. Really enjoyed watching that. Cracking spot you were staying in. Can see why you were going back there. I stayed a but further up the road once just beyond the high school. We also stayed at the former station master's house in Morar a couple of times. Lovely sitting outside at 22:45 with a dram waiting for the last train of the day to call. Also being disturbed by it first thing in the morning. Thanks again. Andy

And here showing the detail of the rail joiners / fishplates.