Thesmudge

I then started adding to the scenic between the bridge and the station. I also weathered the excavator - still needs a light dusting with the spray gun to finish.

Then I added some detail to the track...

I then started to build a station from some Wills kits and modify a Peco footbridge.

A fair few updates are required, I have found some time over the last few weeks to get back into the layout. I started work on the station, I created a jig to turn track into A frames.

Spent a little time on the bridge. Progress below, I'm waiting now on more English bond brick to finish it off, then I can start to paint it.

Not too much progress, today I started to build the bridge at the end of the station, I have used a Wills kit which is great quality.

The board is 1200mm deep, I have long arms. For the corners I have made the boards strong enough to sit/stand on them so it's easy to reach to the back.

Over the last couple of weeks I have bought some new points and started to fix the yard area down. I also added a couple of sidings close to the station, these are the programming tracks. We had a small running session this morning unfortunately not many pictures were taken but one of my new class 60.

Thanks for the kind comments, both of the helix have access for a person to stand in their centres and collect any stock. The gradient is shallow respectively, so far we have not found the limit, on the previous Badgers Cross we had ramps with twice the angle and these would allow quite large trains! As for work, I enjoy what I do and have always followed this ethos: Work hard, play hard.

It once was a bridge, for today it acted as a station front. I think I will be aiming for something more modern with the station.

Me and my brother have taken the day off work to crack on with the layout. I managed some time over week evenings to erect the back scene boards and paint them sky blue. The area and scenics around the station was just placed for today to gauge ideas and make for more interesting photographs. We heavily tested, tweaked and improved the running of the layout. There were a few issues that presented themselves during the testing, certain wagons or loco's would have issue at certain areas so we tried to test as much rolling stock as possible. (Issues ranged from ballast on a point caused derails, a small area of track was out of gauge tolerance and a carriage would ride up and detail and we had a couple of areas where board heights were a 1-2mm different and the track needed a bit of folded paper adding to help the transition.) pleased to report that the helix's were trouble free.

Great work, the platforms look excellent.

I have completed a little bit more this week, I took the old platforms from Badgers Cross, cut into two added a strip of extra material and then filled the gaps. I think the wider platforms look more realistic (or they will once the station has a roof and details added).

Hi, once ballasted the screws will be removed and the gaps filled with ballast.

We are looking forward to using it with freight.

I spent some working on the layout this weekend. I have added a couple of point motors to the lower section and then added thin boards to the upper level so that I could create a loop and test the track. In the areas where I don't need access to the lower level I have added the final boards and have started to lay the track and some scenery in this area. Also created a lift out section on the lower level to make it easier to get into the room.

I have worked hard on the layout this weekend and have acheived a lot. The structure for the base boards is finished and a few pieces of board have been laid. Before I can lay the rest of the base boards I need to first install all of the surface mount point motors on the lower level fiddle yard and secondly install a removable panel on the lower level infront of the door to make access to the room easier. This I can foresee being a time consuming and slow process, I plan to take my time to do it right, therefore during this time I plan to install a slim line track loop over the majority of the layout so that I can start to run trains and test the track and start work on a few areas of the scenics.

The two radius curves used are 3rd and 4th. There is space to run a third rail of 2nd radius. The board size is 4x4 (1220mmx1220mm) and the track just fits this board size.

Good spot! I love my bikes, plenty of trails and riding around here. What's your stead?

Thank you all for the very positive and warm comments. We plan for the layout to better Badgers Cross the original, it will be a larger layout with greater scenic areas that we plan to add greater detail to over the coming years. Tonight I manged a few hours straight after work with a beer in hand to help, the new track and screws arrived this week. I added the turn to the helix, screwed down boarding around helix and then started to lay the three tracks which will form the station.

I spent a few hours on the layout today, added a couple more levels to the helix and more boards to the top level. I ran out of track and nuts so I will wait for more to arrive in the post.

This last post now brings the thread up to the present day. This weekend my brother and I did some more work on the layout and this was the first time we have had any real trains running. He brought down a few to carry out some testing, at the same time I started to build helix number two.

With the lower level design fixed I started laying track. The helix's are made from 9mm MDF and all of the levels were cut then drilled at the same time so that they match up. I am using M8 threaded bar for the supports, this allows very accurate adjustment to each level. The helix is very sturdy once completed. I am soldering a copper bridge between the track joins on the helix to ensure continuity throughout its life.

The layout room base boards were completed for the lower level, the plan is to have two levels accessed by two helix's. The trains and rolling stock will be left out on the lower level fiddle yard, this will keep them out of the way from damage (and means it's easier to work on the scenics) and hopefully dust free. I have made a number of different plans for the layout, the design is still very much fluid and will change again once I start to lay the track. One thing that has already changed from the designs is that the helix's now are wider and therefore fit differently to the designs. The reason being I wanted to run third and fourth radius curves, there is room for second radius on them if I feel the need to add them in the future.