Douglas G

Hi Andrew, I had a look at the Conrad UK site after you mentioned that you were using the Conrad point motors this morning. They look very attractive given they cost about the same as Peco or Seep solenoids, whereas other slow action motors are 2 to three times the price. I was a bit puzzled that a single one cost less per unit than the "saver" pack of three. I also wondered from the description if the saver ones lacked the built in switch for frog polarity, in which case they seem even less VFM. I think the big thing about using these with Peco Code 55 points with the spring removed is that you are committed once the spring and associated webbing between the sleepers is removed, and you can't go back, except to swap to a Tortoise or Cobalt motor at great expense. I would be interested to hear your experiences once the Conrad motors are in place in your layout and have been in use for a while. The seem to be some questions in RMWeb and the reviews on the Conrad website about their robustness. Douglas

Hi Andrew, That does look a lot better - I don't know why you say it is poor! Once ballasted, it should look great and is what I am aiming for, although at present I am planning to keep the return spring so I can use Seep motors. Othere options for slow motion point action would be expensive with 14 required for the station at Dulverton. I suppose you could add in an extra sleeper next to the tie bar. Westerner, thanks for your message. I have to admit I have been an armchair modeller the last two or three years - somehow my modelling mojo just wasn't there. I think I had got a bit tired of doing buildings without a layout to put them on. Now the boards are on the way, it is proving more fun doing the platforms and starting to develop my ideas on how to create the landscape, so hopefully with that structure in place, I can go back to the buildings refreshed. I have decided to get some proper photographic lights recommended to me by Andy on another thread, so hopefully I can get some more pics posted soon and show how the buildings are constructed. Douglas

Hi Dave, Nothing that ambitious! I think the way the bottom of the rail is embedded within the sleeper base of the Peco Code 55 track, it is going to be impossible to adjust the sleeper spacing. Or has anyone managed to do this on the points? What I am intending is to remove the webbing between the sleepers (designed for direct fitting of the Peco point motor). Also, in versions of the points I have bought recently, the bottom plate that retains the point spring does not pass right across from one side of the tie bar to the other, so there is some webbing that can be removed in the middle next to the tie-bar. I may also try to narrow the tie bars and will certainly remove the "knobs" at the end designed for manual operation.. One other mod I intend to try is to cut into the rail base to allow the straight points to be curved slightly - the late Andy Calvert showed this was possible with the finescale points. Douglas

In reply to Andrew's post, I have had a go at a quick hand-drawn track plan added to a plan I did in Word that shows the drops in the land to help in the planning of the baseboards: As the land dropped at the back of the station and at the Taunton end dropped to leave the track on an embankment (the right-hand end of my model), I needed to think very carefully about how the boards should be designed. I decided the best solution was to have the right-hand board dropped below the left-hand board, and then build up the track bed as required. This is shown in the attached drawings in Word: Baseboard Dulverton.doc Model Railway Solutions were really helpful in meeting my requirements for the boards. In the front of the layout the land rose up above the cattle dock towards the road. I plan to do this with Knauf pink insulation foam to keep the weight down. However, the platforms, cattle dock, horse-box siding and land from the station to the hotel are raised on a single layer of Sundeala board, with plastic sheet platform facings and surfaces from black Slaters plasticard. I wanted to be able to include the station loops on a single board to avoid joins, but it would be too long to carry. So I decided to make a split into two boards along the line of the point rodding coming out of the signal box, which includes the tunnels under the main and island platforms and also follows the left-hand edge of the access road down to the goods yard. By following existing lines such as the point rodding, joins in the platform surface and road edge, I hope to disguise the join as much as possible. Douglas

Hi Tom, The buildings are all from plastic sheet. I used Ratio 2mm stone, slate and tile roofing for most of the buildings and the bridge also used Ratio stone. The sheets are quite small, so I welded them together with solvent after filing to get a good join. The corrugated roofs and sides of the Silcocks store are Evergreen sheet. Where necessary, e.g. on the roofs, the sheets were filed and sanded to be much thinner. I then painted up to 12 different colours of stone for each building using a wide range of greys and browns in Humbrol enamels. The windows are etched, some from suppliers such as Ratio, Modelex and Scalelink, but most were specially made for me to fit the buildings. Douglas

Hi Andrew, Thanks. At present the only plan I have is the 2mm scale plan that I had blown up on a photocopier from the 1930s GWR water supply plan, with certain modifications drawn in such as the extensions to the loops done just before the WWII. I will need to get something smaller drawn to plan the wiring sections when I reach that stage. The station was on a long arc, and the model will extend beyond the ends of the loops at either end of the station, with the tracks curving foward to the front at each end. My intention is to have no modification or shortening of the station, so it is exactly as the prototype. This means the two boards are 10' 6" in total. Douglas

As at long last I am starting to build the actual layout, I thought it time to start a thread to chart my progress in building my planned N gauge model of Dulverton. I posted some images of buildings on the old RMWeb and have copied some of those here to get things going. The main spur to starting the layout is the arrival (at long last) of the Peco Code 55 three-way point, which is almost an exact match for the one at Dulverton. I have toyed with going 2mm finescale, and the plan and buildings are in fact to 2mm scale just in case, but have decided I can live with Peco Code 55 with modifications to the points to improve their appearance. I have been researching Dulverton for over 15 years and have hundreds of photos and lots of other material, including a GWR plan of the station showing the water supply from the late 1930s. I also did a photographic survey of the station site around 10 years ago, before the neighbouring Carnarvon Arms Hotel closed and the station site was split up for a new house and the sale and conversion of the station building and the goods shed to private houses. Dulverton was an intermediate on the ex-GWR Taunton to Barnstaple line, and also the terminus of the Exe valley Line from Exeter. My model will show Dulverton looking from the south, with Taunton to the right and Barnstaple to the left. It is dated circa 1962, when steam in the form of Churchward Moguls and 14xx tanks ruled on the two lines. BR Standard 3MT tanks, Southern Maunsell N Class moguls, panniers and the odd 45xx prairie tanks were also seen, and unrebuilt Bulleid light pacifics were apparently permited in emergencies .I also plan to be able to shift time forward to circa 1964, when bubble cars (Class 121 and 122), DMUs (Class 120, 117 and 119), Class 22s and (allegedly) the odd Hymek appeared on the Barnstaple line, with the Exe Valley line having shut in 1963. An interesting feature of the Taunton-Barnstaple line that I plan to model was the through trains on Summer Saturdays to Ifracombe via Barnstaple Junction from Manchester, Cardiff, Wolverhampton and Paddington. These trains could be 6 or 7 coaches long and brought in LMS, BR Mark 1 and even Eastern Region stock to supplement the usual B sets and GWR corridor coaches (and occasional Southern Region set provided from Barnstaple Junction). However, weight restrictions on the T-B line meant these trains were pulled by the usual GWR Moguls, with the locos being changed at Taunton. I have the two main baseboards for the station site on order from Model Railway Solutions, and am currently making the platforms and loading docks ready to put them in place and start building up the landscape around. Below are some shots of some of the buildings I have been building over the last few years: Front of the main station building Rear of the main station building Goods shed Pumphouse and lamp huts Carnarvon Arms Hotel (still needing more work) Island station building (windows still to be added) Road bridge Silcocks agricultural store I have broken the light I made to photograph my models, but hope to sort this out soon so I can photograph the layout itself as it progresses. Just waiting now for the boards to arrive... Douglas

It's nice to see people doing some 2mm and N models of real locations. They always seem much more convincing to me than most of the invented N gauge layouts going the rounds, which tend to have too much crammed in. After many years of planning, I am making a start on Dulverton Station circa 1962 in N gauge, though with the layout and buildings in 2mm scale (in case I want to go finescale). Dulverton had a three way point that is an exact match for the new Peco Code 55, and the appearance of this and getting my railway space insulated and decorated is the spur to get started. I have the station baseboards ordered from Model Railway Solutions and should get them the next week or so. I am currently working on the platforms using Sundeala surfaced with plastic sheet, and can't believe how long and curvy these actually were in the prototype. Douglas