Simond

Thanks Ian,

Just amazing.

I considered my self a pretty capable, and reasonably well-read model-maker 'til I found RMWeb.

There are some astonishing gems hidden in here!

Never stop learning!

Btw - your evening harbour scene - bliss!

Cheers

SD

Ian

That's just silly

And not entirely believable!!!

Don

Looks like another Gwynedd project...

Picking up on Chaz' comment about layout height - it is surely the case that a "home" layout can be lower than would be suitable for something that will go on tour - but nothing says that if you do take your layout out to exhibitions, it has to remain at the same height as at home! Indeed, it might even be better to use cupboard carcasses at home, and something much more portable, and higher, when out & about.

I looked at my loft with a jaundiced eye a few years back. The problem is the backscene, which, presuming it will be more than a wagon high, starts consuming your layout area at an alarming rate. This led me to conclude that the loft conversion money would be better spent on a large shed. This, of course means that I have a very small layout and a lot of rolling stock, until the shed can become more than a plan...

Sitting down seems like a good idea, but you still don't want the layout at knee height!

To be fair, I've never used cassettes, but I'm not keen. This is personal preference and a million miles from rational advice! A fiddle yard and a continuous run seem to be the stuff of dreams, even if the dust is an enemy - a Perspex lid sorts that one out!

Good luck with the project!

SD

Thanks Chris

Lovely bit of work on the 0-6-0, but I got distracted by Ivor....

Hope to catch up with you and your Fowlers at Reading - told you I needed a couple more shunters - I have a kit for a 1361 and the Fowler could easily have found its way to the back of beyond... Rule1 applies! (Although it might have been a lengthy journey)

I'm sure I could find room for some ex-Cambrian stock in due course...

Best,

SD

Hi,

Looking at some of the posts on RMWeb, and recent show guides, it seems that I am not alone in my choice of fictional scenario!

I've been researching Porth Dinllaen for a while now, as it is the scenario I have chosen to develop for my intended 0 ( or should that be O?) gauge layout.

Brunel seriously considered Porth Dinllaen as a competitor to Holyhead, the line would have surely come up from Barmouth, via Harlech, Porthmadog & Pwllheli. How it got there from the midlands without climbing Talerddig is another question (double headed Kings with bankers...? Would have been a sight to behold - and hear!)

Set in the early 30's, the pipe dream will, if and when it comes to fruition, comprise a garden room hopefully about 35-40' x 15-18' with a terminus to fiddle yard layout arranged as a wrapped oval - a quarry branch will connect to the fy to provide a continuous run. The station plan to date is based on CJF's "Minories", with two additional parallel goods reception roads which give access via a lift bridge to the goods docks.

I'm intending to be able to get 8 coaches in the platform, but will probably have to settle for 6. A loco shed, with t/t and coal facility will be provided under the fairly steep curving climb ( more bankers) up the cliff which lies alongside the present day golf course, towards Nefyn town at which the GWR will provide a small station and local facilities, and the junction to the quarry, before the main line departs in a south easterly direction towards the fiddle yard. There should be around 70 feet of visible double track before it dives into a tunnel. In 0, this will take a while, and cost a lot....

Ironically, there are some similarities with Folkestone, as a harbour at the bottom of a steep hill, single pier, bridge access, just without the interests of the local landlords preventing the seaside being polluted with a loco shed means I can put it at the bottom rather than the top of the bank! I could even use multiple 57xx's as bankers!

Traffic will comprise regular "Irish Mails", plus passenger services to & from London, the midlands and more locally. Outbound freight will cover cattle, sheep, milk & meat, fish & veg of various sorts dependent on the season, plus dock traffic from Ireland (which may comprise much the same profile), and block trains from the quarry. Inbound freight will comprise coal (for the ships and for Ireland, which I believe still imports it) and manufactured goods, and quarry empties.

So far, I have built most of the locos that will be required, from Martin Finney (47xx), Springside (Hall, 48xx, 45xx), JLTRT (King), CRT (1361) , Warren Shepherd (52xx), Acorn (57xx) and Scorpio (Castle) kits, bought a Dean goods, scratch built a 28xx and need a couple of 43/63xx and Birds/Bull/Dukedogs and a couple more shunters to complete the roster. They are all DCC fitted, the King & 28xx have sound, which I love!

I have amassed 50 plus wagons ( and will need another 50) and 20 plus coaches & brown vehicles, and the main thing I need now is the time & money for the garden building ( or a decent lottery win!!!) in which to start the baseboards and track laying. As that won't happen for at least three & probably five years (not counting on the lottery win here!!!) I will content myself with building more elements of the layout; there is a turntable ( see "stepper motor turntables" in RMWeb), and I've made some pleasing progress with a 7mm scale Stothert & Pitt 12t crane based on the original drawings of the crane at St Peter Port. I've also rescaled the manufacturers drawings of the Edgerton float bridge from Birkenhead docks from1/48 to 1/43.5 ( I hate Henry Greenly!) and am awaiting the opportunity to develop a set of laser cut parts for it.

Train operation will be DCC, points & signals will be mostly servo-driven, though I have a dozen tortoises that will get re-used. Aiming to keep driving and signalling separate.

I hope to rip up the Greater Windowledge Railway and start on the loco shed, it being the only bit of the grand plan that will fit in my lounge, some time early in the New Year. At least, by then I'll have a turntable, a coal stage /water tower and most of the locos...

I'm interested to hear the views of the multitude!

All the best

SD

a few references -

Phil Greaves Rhyd y Clafdy, (Model-railways-live .co.uk)

Trefor - LNWR approach from Caernarvon (RMWeb)

Porth Dinllaen (RMWeb)

Provisional coastal terminus idea (RMWeb)

Proposed London to Porth Dinllaen Railway Report

Pwllheli and Nefyn Light Railway Papers

http://archiveshub.ac.uk/search/summary.html?rsid=810768411&startRecord=1&maximumRecords=20&hitposition=0#rightcol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ansbaradigeidfran/Sandbox2

http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/tunnels/construction/purdon.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porthdinllaen

http://www.rhiw.com/hanes_pages/llyn_railway/Railway_llyn.htm

http://walks.walkingworld.com/walk/Morfa-Nefyn---around-Headland---Porth-Dinllaen.aspx

Steve

Thx for your note

Kind regards

SD

Thanks Ozzy, Steve,

Having read about Ozzy's beautiful workmanship, it seems the question I have is for Steve!

You mentioned the drive being very controllable with a small motor - I'm having some issues with mine (which being for a fictional location, does not need rebuilding with flat tops!) and would be very grateful for a description & any photos of the gubbins underneath - particularly the drive belt.

Best

SD

Might be being dim but I can't find OzzyO's thread on the turntable!

Would someone please post a link?

Thanks in advance

SD

Chaz

It has taken me the last several evenings to read the 43 pages of this thread - I have been captivated by your model, and the story of its build, and I think you have achieved a real masterpiece - well done and thank you for the inspiration!

Kind regards, and much respect

SImon

Robin, all,

There's quite a lot of discussion on the turntable project at "stepper motor turntable drive", my progress and some other lovely work !

Best

SD

@ Robin

yes, that's the plan.  I have a Metalsmiths O gauge GWR TT, all finished on top, but not motorised - I'd like to set up something that would allow me to push a button and it aligns with either a preselected track, or the next track - haven't quite sorted that in my mind yet.

The other attraction is that Arduinos will drive 6 servo motors - which cost something like half of a Tortoise point motor and also allow for the "prototypical bounce" if used for signals. 

So I see the Arduino as a useful bit of kit,. and one that I would like to learn more about

And then, as you say, you can convert a lathe or milling mc to NC control...  could add to the modelmaking arsenal too.

I'll keep you posted with progress!

SD

Robin

Thanks for the challenge....

But I think it is beyond me at the moment. I'm trying to sort out a stepper drive for the turntable I built in 2010, and finish two locos that I started in 2006 (ok, lived abroad for 3 years, but we've been home nearly 4 and they're still not done) and there are n other unfinished and unloved projects to do... And that's not even considering my competence, or lack thereof!

SD

Radio control sounds wonderful, except for the sounds.....

I just upgraded from DCC to DCC + Sound and I love it - and now you are showing me 009 loos driving silently on glass...

My initial attempts at "stay alive" capacitors seem somehow like wasted effort!

But I can't imagine not having onboard sound (ok, O gauge here, sorry) - I was planning on upgrading the fleet - which will cost the thick end of £100 per loco and there are 2 done and 9 to do, plus at least 3 to build, but the entirely glitch free running is gorgeous, so what should I do???

I'm well impressed, if you hadn't noticed

SD