Bomp

Busy getting more track bed ready, so I can get on when my parcel arrives. I should have enough done to have at least a horse shoe about 15 by 10 feet, if not all the way round to the problem section. The problem with that section is: do I make it removable/openable, or fixed so whoever goes through has to duck under? The sensible part of me says make it so it opens, but the one which wants to get the full circuit down and running NOW says just fix it and worry later.

The building has come to a halt while I get some more supplies in, but I have enough to run a loco or two back and forth. The good news is that I have laid the outer three of the four tracks on the curve, and the Pannier and Lady Macbeth go round the sharpest I have so far. So all is looking well.Saying that, there may be more kitbuilt locos to come, so it may be too sharp for them, but I will have to come up with some metal working skills to sort them as and when. I would post pics, but my laptop is without a charger, so I am borrowing Mrs Bomp's mini laptop thing.

To the detriment of anything else I should have been doing... Code 75 Track, Woodland Scenics underlay (underlay, Arriva, Arriva). Two boards down ready for track. Soon I shall determine the locations of the points. More by luck than judgement, I have managed to avoid under-board cross members where any point motors would need to go. I think my next step will be to obtain an airbrush from some source or other and generally mank stuff up once I have made sure I'm happy that it works okay.

I have now cut my first board and put up some supports ready for my dive under at the end of the station. The supports in place for three of the four tracks. Just got to put the front ones in. The board laid on to check. Not too bad, I think. The gradients are supposed to be 1 in 40, about two thirds gentler than on my last layout, so should be no problem to get trains up to the higher level. Looking along the board. That track coming up should look awesome when it's got walls and some of those girder things going across.

It was the local branch of Lloyds.

I have now sprayed the ceiling and I am now almost ready to lay track. Just got to build another few feet of baseboard supports and then I can get the track bed set up. I reckon that by the end of my nearly two weeks off coming up, I will have track down, and maybe even trains running. The other day, at the chemist, I got myself a new tool. Illuminated tweezers. I think they are supposed to be for cosmetics purposes, but they will be very useful for all manner of tasks I have lined up.

It seems that I have to decorate the kitchen before I can carry on with the important work. But it's all more thinking time so that when I get the paint sprayer off a colleague so I can sort the ceiling and walls out, I should be able to get track beds cut and the track down. I sometimes think my proposed track plan (which hasn't really changed from the masking tape posted earlier) is too simple, but I can always stick a siding or two in for a loco at the end. And any excitement I need I can get from a low level yard. The possibilities are endless. I just hope I don't get bored of what I do. I haven't yet, I think mainly because I like watching the trains go by. In due course, I plan to have computer control and some degree of automatic operation. Not sure yet whether to go for occupancy detection or that thing like Hornby have where you programme a set of movements in. All more stuff to think about while I am painting.

I have now mainly lined the walls and need now just to put expanded polystyrene sheet up in the gaps and spray the ceiling to stop the concrete from falling. The kitchen flooring has been turned over to give a nice clean surface for the floor to go on, but that leaves the unavoidable dust and debris from building an extension on the underside, and it falls off all over the place, leaving dust and mank everywhere. And today I got my last order of the initial bout of purchasing through ready to cut the boards and get some track down. Another 25 yards of track, six sets of point and some underlay. I have gone for foam this time out because last time I tried using cork or nothing and then ballasting with crushed stone and PVA it was so noisy as to be unreal. I am going for silence this time, ready for getting the most out of DCC sound when I get there.

2mm finescale? Awesome! If I hadn't got 25 by 10 feet to play with, I'd be tempted to go down a scale based on the quality you've got here!

<p>Last weekend I bought a pack of B&Q's finest layout planning hardware. A four pack of blue masking tape.  I can set out my track plan and see it as it will look in full size without making a single permanent mark on the board.  All I need now is to save up for my points.  I've decided that since I have the space, I'm going for nice long Tillig ones. The first photo is the view along the station throat.  The bendy route on the left will dive under to meet the right-most track.  Both of these will link to the lower level double track circuit, which hasn't made it to this plan yet.  I may have to invest in another colour of the layout planning hardware to show that.  Or blue but hatched in red. The other two similar pictures show other views of the same thing.

Thanks for all the naming suggestions. What I'd really like is something with a real but fantasy sounding name, involving dragons or similar. Also, in one corner is going to be a ground station for the UNSC fleet. My son and I are quite taken with Halo, and I am planning a train of vans in UNSC livery with a pair of locos named after ships or characters. Then again, I have spent the last 37 years with pretend scenery which exists only in my head. That way the layout can be anywhere. I once memorised the stations between Birmingham and Liverpool and followed the train on its journey. As it was my general trip to and from university, I had the scenery pretty well down in my head!

Pics as promised. Only four lengths of track and they don't meet at the ends (always an important point for my railways), but at least I've got something down to start the planning. No matter how hard I try, I can never plan only on paper. I have to have actual track in my hands and the board it's going on to plan successfully. Thinking as I do, I think that the double track branch will in fact join and leave the slow lines rather than remain independent all the way around. It would add interest operationally as well as saving space. Perhaps a single independent road through the station. I'll see how it goes.

Today I fitted the last section of board on this bout, and laid the first piece of track for the important test - can I fit my dad's kit built locos round the curve. Yes to the Pannier tank and Lady Macbeth, no to Saint David. However, I can push out to a slightly larger radius than 4'7" if I have to, up to 5' if I go above the bottom layer of insulatio board, so that's a result! The curve is gentle enough that I may even build the station on it, to an extent at least. I would post pictures, but my camera has run out of juice and I can't find more batteries straight away. I am off Monday, so I should get more done to show off. Finally, the bonus of over-engineering baseboards is that you can lie on them to get to the awkward bits (as there's no scenery yet).

Ah yes, the important details. OO scale, era is mutable to preference. I have the Midland Compound which I think is my oldest prototype thus far, and a good dose of Big Four, mainly LMS/GWR in origin, and an increasing collection of early British Railways steam, together with a good smattering of diesels. My favourite diesel era is large logo blue and the beginnings of sectorisation. I also have a Strathclyde PTE 156. On the more esoteric front I have a blue Prussian pacific because I thought it was pretty, and on my wishlist I have a Big Boy. As far as operating goes, I tend to go for internal consistency within a train/formation, and preferably I like to have consistency as far as the trains I have out at the same time. This is a little difficult at the moment as I try to juggle buying new track, wood, and decoders, as most of my locos are still in analogue mode. Area is a bit easier. Midlands for sure, Burton upon Trent for the town section. I am planning to merge a few stations to get what I want, and to keep the operating companies to justify the spread of stock.

In the beginning, there was a hole: Then, a mess: And finally, a frame: And next, I have to plan my track. I am planning on having several layers, the main one being a four track mainline about 6 to 8 inches above the frame, with sub-surface sidings and a town/industry scene above one end, both fed by a double track circuit. It may take some planning, but I have seven night shifts every five weeks for thinking...

It was my birthday yesterday. No trains (yet..), but I did get this: of course, when I say "this", I mean the wood not the people. They were already mine. Today, I have this: All the while I am thinking through a plan in my head. I am dithering over the four track mainline. I would like one, but my dad's locos require 5' preferably and 4'6" minimum radius (I have a few of his kit built locos: off the top of my head, two Saints and a Pannier, but for sure access to more), and my basement is only 10' wide at the narrower end. So... do I pair the tracks by use or by direction? That would get me at least 4'6" on the outer two tracks, but is it prototypical? It would also make it much easier for junctions, as I am having a separate double track circuit which will feed the under"ground" sidings and the above ground town. Tonight after I have finished the baseboard, I will read my books (okay, look at the pictures) to get some inspiration for my station. And tomorrow, I will build the frame for the other side. Soon, though, I will have to put track to board and make a start. That should be exciting, but first I have to get some track when I get paid. Code 75 for the actual circuits, and the old rerererecycled Code 100 for the sidings.

I am currently clearing the basement ready to set up baseboards for my proper layout. The image shows what I hope will be the basics of the station. I plan to have only the ends of the platforms visible, with the rest of the station implied while the tracks curve round to continue the continuous run. It is going to be wired with overhead at least in due course, as I want to run electrics. I have plenty of pictures of Crewe with steam under wires, so I can simply extrapolate that to match whatever I fancy. The double track at the top is a branch leading, amongst other things, to below ground sidings and a brewery/branch terminus on an upper level. Once I work out better how these planning software set ups work, I'll do more, or possibly just do several for the bits which need planning and just run the track between those bits. The four track mainline will run around the room, unless I run out of space, in which case it will be down to the two for some/more of the circuit. All this is in the long run, though, as I have tons and tons of rubbish to sort through and throw away. Any comments on my trackplan so far would be welcome.

We were over from the Channel Islands camping, so I looked around for an exhibition. May even coincide this year too if I'm lucky.

Only just found this, but need to say how much I liked this in the flesh at my first exhibition in 10 years at Truro last summer.