betehumane

Here's some shots of my attempt, it seems to work ok so far. I've tested butanone on some offcuts so will use this to weld the sleepers in the final assembly, then probably add a little filler if needed. The resulting "6 foot" is actually something like 28mm but it looks ok to be and seems to give adequate clearance.

I've bought two Peco EM gauge points with the intention of using them together to create a crossover, however I now realize that without surgery they will create a wider than prototypical scale 6 foot between the two lines. Before I embark on chopping up my new purchases I just wondered if anyone else has gone through this and has any suggestions?

I've been unable to find a copy of this anywhere! Does anyone know if it's sold out?

I model preserved railways because I've worked on them. It was dirty, hard, hot and gruelling, and without a doubt some of the most enjoyable and fascinating experiences of my life, shared with some of the most engaging, erudite and entertaining people I have ever met. Why would I not want to recreate such beautiful vivid memories in some small way? Isn't that exactly what Tony Wright, Roy Jackson and countless others have done with such skill and artistry? Oh, and sometimes it rained - I don't remember not turning up for duty when it did...

Ray Pope's "Model Railway Men" series were a huge favourite of mine.

Hi Tony, You've probably covered it before, but would it be possible to walk through how you've applied the live chassis technique here? I'm trying to trace it through in the photos but keep coming up with a short! Presumably the wheels on the "lower" side (bottom pic) are all non-insulated and power the frame. Maybe it's an optical illusion but it also looks like the bus bar off the pickups touches the front axle? Thanks, Andy

I worked as a volunteer cleaner on the DVR in the early eighties, and was lucky enough to spend time with Dave. He made a huge impression on me, as a steam-mad 15 year old it was like hanging out with a rock star, teacher, raconteur and comedian all rolled into one. His stories about life on the old railway could fill volumes, and his obvious love for and dedication to the preservation of steam were truly inspiring. Not to mention his sense of humour - I will never forget Dave shunting two tank engines into the shed, merrily singing "I'll be your rubber ball baby" in broadest Devonian as he bounced the buffers of one off the other. Thanks Dave, you were one of a kind. I bet there's a Castle charging up a bank somewhere right now...

Come on Tom,own up - you've been modelling in 7mm all along haven't you! Superb stuff.

Interesting to see what you'll do with the smokebox door as I seem to remember it being a bit flat on the Lima model?

I've got one too - I remember at the time just being over the moon to have a small prairie, whatever the shortcomings. I think you could be inspiring a lot of people here...

Lucky you didn't build one of them in P4 ;-)

Any chance that Dave's sketch could be shown here? I've always struggled with the springs vs pickups condundrum and the "leave em out completely" solution shown here was going to be my excuse from now on!

I can't wait to getting round to building one of these. Have you decided on pickups yet? Always interesting to see how people approach this.

This is at the edge of the park known locally as the Quomps, from the pictures its the area now occupied by a splash park and the rowing club.

This, for me, is what modelling's all about. More power to yer!

Well I've just watched your Youtube clip and I think I might have a roundabout compliment for you here - I've trawled back through your other blog entries to work out if your Y7 was built in S7 or not!! Now that I know, from one EM gauger to another, well done!

If you can source a figure of a bloke in a kilt, you can replicate Prince Charles waiting for the sleeper while plainclothes police hold back the great unwashed from the platform entrance. Happened to me a couple of times coming back late! The other scene I would like to see would be JK Rowling legging it out the back of the promotional train that came up for one of her book launches. Do you fancy doing the red-painted West Country class which was supposed to be Hogwarts Castle at the time?? :-)

Hi Dave, Having spent the best part of 2 days catching up on your thread when I should have been working, I just wanted to join everyone else in adding my congratulation and admiration for your amazing work. I lived on Jeffrey St and worked on Princes St for a few years at the end of the 90's, so your model pretty much represents my walk to work! I particularly like your passenger and platform cameos and wondered if you do much in the way of customising your figures? Cheers, Andy

I've been searching round the forums looking at the various threads for and against modelling a preserved railway, with a view to pitching myself in with a long treatise firmly in the "pro" camp. In this one post and with these pics you've totally saved me the bother - far more eloquently than I could ever have managed. Good on you - this layout is really going to be something special. I was volunteer on the MHR back in the 80s, too young to see the end of steam, so for pure nostalgia modelling, this is as pure as it gets in my book.

I'm sure there have been thousands of these things built, described, photographed, analysed, discussed, praised, dismissed, rebuilt, relaid and thrown away by the good members of this fine community and the great wide world of railway modelling beyond. But none until now were made by me and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to a huge sense of pride and achievement in finally being able to say "I've built some of me own track". Not to mention relief. So here it is in all its glory, one down 4 to go for the quay. Droppers and fishplates to add, ballasting, weathering and the small matter of installing it so that trains can run on it. But right now if I put a wagon on and hold the blades to one side or other, it rolls through in the appropriate direction, switching tracks just like it ought. Who'da thought it eh? If you happen to come across this entry while searching for advice and inspiration on how to get started (like I've doing for a long time now), all I can say is give it a go - I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. Oh - and get Iain Rice's book on the subject, it is absolutely brilliant. The loop-to-quayside road is hereby dedicated to him.

Wow! Very pleased to have discovered this blog - I've had a model of Ropley on my "to do next" list for a long while, unfortunately a long while is exactly how long it will take to get to the top of the list! I'll be very interested to see how this turns out for you as I think you've hit on the perfect candidate for a "serious" (??) interpretation of the preserved railway theme.

Thanks for the comment - great to know someone else is interested, now I'm just worried that I'll have to produce something sooner or later! As I said before, this train might take some time to arrive... I don't know about the warehouse yet - my thinking at the moment is that if a branch had actually been built down to the quay then something a bit more substantial than the real-life boathouse might have been built (or replaced it). I've been gathering pictures of some of the quayside building at Looe for ideas of what might have come about. Having said that I was down at the quay a few weeks ago (first time in years!) and took a few snaps, and it inspired me enough to try out some scribings on a pizza base to see if I could replicate that distinctive narrow stonework. We shall see in due course I guess. The layout plan at least assumes a building in roughly the same position, I'm trying not to take too much licence with the geography (for now).

The board is 4" deep under the track, dropping to 2" for the quayside. The diagonal cross braces are 1" (I think - need to go and measure!) I was very pleasantly surprised with how much rigidity the cross bracing added, certainly in its original 5' 6" form the board went from being completely twistable to something where there was no discernable "flex" when lifted from one corner. Since cutting it in half I've added the end joining plates and side sheeting, 6mm and 3mm ply respectively. No track laid yet but with repeated assembly/disassembly in preparation it seems to be holding together so far.

I'm heavily indebted to Chris Nevard's excellent blog on Catcott Burtle for inspiration on using foamboard as a baseboard, not to mention the various threads on this site where the topic has been discussed - very usefully - at length. So here's my contribution for what it's worth. If theres anything worth noting its this... 1) I used ordinary 5mm foamboard from Hobbycraft. I got 5 sheets at a 10% discount as they were very slightly scuffed at one corner. So far I've used 4 and a half of them 2) Cutting and construction, using PVA to bond, was quick and easy, I think I acheived a lot more in the time than I would have in wood. 3) With cross bracing the whole thing seems pretty rigid, and very light. 4) Despite being very light, and despite my "kitchen table" constraint, I ended up cutting the whole thing in half after construction! At 5ft 6in by 2ft it was intended to be carried up the stairs and stored in the box room, within a very short time I got tired of maneouvring around bannistersa and lamp shades... So - I got an unexpectedly early entry into the art of baseboard joins - not got any photos to hand but 6mm ply end plates, M8 bolts and tee-nuts, and C&L dowels seem to have done the trick. I don't think I'll be building individual boards bigger than 3ft by 2 ft in future.