SHerr

Not sure if this is a simple question or not, can you hardwire a DCC sound decoder in the same way as a non sound? I’m thinking of adding a TTS unit to a Lima 31 so no lights or other functions just straight forward loco.

Great news, I was wondering last week whether there would be any more 33s anytime soon. Looks like Burma Star will be on its way. I notice that there’s only Hattons advertising them - are they limited Ed’s or are they just quicker off the mark. Also of note (but no use to me) is Hattons listing 2 ‘Fawley Train Packs’ Class 33 with some class B tanks. Good to see someone do a pack that’s a realistic combo rather than the usual random mix of loco and coaches/wagons that seem to come out from elsewhere.

Has anyone experienced using these replacements from Diesel-Trains? They look straightforward and I’m tempted to have a try. It would be to fit a Lima 31 on a decent sized layout so would need to haul 5/6 Bachmann mk1’s. Also it’s a DCC layout so I presume I would need to hardwired the decoder - again anyone used them on DCC?

A while since I have updated progress. The station buildings are coming on well, although were delayed by a lack of Wills sheets for the second part of the station building. I have now re-started this building and completed all the roof frame sections. I have also now purchased the Langleys models columns, both sizes are perfect as some go down to track level and others stop at platform level - I had always intended to use these so sized the roof height accordingly. I have also been distracted by some rolling stock projects - some planned and others unexpected finds all at the Doncaster show. I am near to completing a Kibri Dynamic Track Stabiliser, and a chance find of a Dublo tank which looks perfect for the Octel Anti-knock tanks - more of those to follow. I have also purchased an L-Cut large signal box which looks a good representation of the box at Holyhead amongst others. Anyway, a photo session today and I managed to find my tripod so go the DSLR upstairs for some much improved shots over the iPhone. General View of station frontage 45133 arrives with a Trans-Pennine service from Scarborough, then draws forwards to run round. The L-Cut signal box so far The CCE Yard/Depot - general sidings and then storage/loading area accessed from headshunt. The buildings are a Walthers Cornerstone lumber yard, originally bought years ago for a China Clay facility but look good as general depot facilities. Finally the Speedlink Yard by the station area, I have added an extra turnback into a cement siding, partially to add some more shunting facilities but also I have the Skaledale loader that hasn't seen use for a few years and thought it would be a good addition (similar to Bangor).

Really looking forward to seeing this at York, great atmosphere.

I’m part way through building the LCut large Signal Box that I purchased at the Doncaster show. So far so good, goes together nicely, good detail and very sturdy. There’s not much in the way of instructions but to be honest you don’t really need them if you built anything before. A couple of piccies if the work so far.

Many Thanks for photo - wow that’s miles out, worse than the older Bachmann stuff by my reckoning. Unless you want a dedicated rake hauled by an older 40 or 45! Sadly that’s 3 or 4 that I won’t be buying. I will wait for the Dapol one and see if they can do better than decide between that and some Cambrian ones - I have one already but find painting the yellow is a pig to get the line straight with all the bracing, stiffeners and doors.

Am I correct in my thoughts that the NEM pockets are at the wrong height? - the couplings seem to have a very large crank from the photo. Can anyone confirm as I use Kadee's.

Having had layouts in both loft and garage at both of my houses some thoughts from me - it very much depends on your type of garage and how much you want to spend fitting out, this needs to be considered against how big a layout you want. Others before have mentioned extreme's of temperature, my current garage that I have just moved the layout away from is quite large and external. this means its quite difficult to insulate well as was also in use as a functioning garage, also being external it was single skin brick and needed to be accessed by going outside. I found this space nice in summer (when you probably don't do as much modelling) as garages seem to keep out extreme heat, but really not very pleasant in winter (when you probably do more modelling). In the end I found this too much of a put off and particularly entering a cold, slightly damp area you don't feel like spending much time in there. That said, if it were a dedicated/sealed off room it would probably be fine but uses a big space that most people probably have a better use for. My previous house had an integral garage, much easier to keep warmer and with access from inside the house, but much smaller. My current layout is being moved into the loft - I have not fully finished insulating and whilst I'm not doing a full spec conversion I have spend a good few hundred quid using the foil bubble lining and Celetex boards to box out towards the eaves. This gives plenty of storage beneath and keeps the draughts out. As I said, only one side fully insulated, but even on evenings with temperatures around freezing outside I have been comfortable for a good few hours in there with a small fan heater - remember heat rises so after an hour you get some warmth from below. I suggest the extremes are the opposite to garages - less good in extreme heat but more manageable in the cold. I've not yet experienced a full summer but before I built the layout it didn't seem too hot and I am likely to get a Velux window fitted. You mentioned you were unsure about getting pre-built sections up there. -I have just built my layout inset - if you want something to be fully dismantled a lofts probably not the best option. My current preference is the loft - 24ft x 9ft with storage beneath, but its a good sized house. It all really depends on your own space/areas available. Sorry not a great help but I'm not really sure its a black and white decision.

Having had layouts in both loft and garage at both of my houses some thoughts from me - it very much depends on your type of garage and how much you want to spend fitting out, this needs to be considered against how big a layout you want. Others before have mentioned extreme's of temperature, my current garage that I have just moved the layout away from is quite large and external. this means its quite difficult to insulate well as was also in use as a functioning garage, also being external it was single skin brick and needed to be accessed by going outside. I found this space nice in summer (when you probably don't do as much modelling) as garages seem to keep out extreme heat, but really not very pleasant in winter (when you probably do more modelling). In the end I found this too much of a put off and particularly entering a cold, slightly damp area you don't feel like spending much time in there. That said, if it were a dedicated/sealed off room it would probably be fine but uses a big space that most people probably have a better use for. My previous house had an integral garage, much easier to keep warmer and with access from inside the house, but much smaller. My current layout is being moved into the loft - I have not fully finished insulating and whilst I'm not doing a full spec conversion I have spend a good few hundred quid using the foil bubble lining and Celetex boards to box out towards the eaves. This gives plenty of storage beneath and keeps the draughts out. As I said, only one side fully insulated, but even on evenings with temperatures around freezing outside I have been comfortable for a good few hours in there with a small fan heater - remember heat rises so after an hour you get some warmth from below. I suggest the extremes are the opposite to garages - less good in extreme heat but more manageable in the cold. I've not yet experienced a full summer but before I built the layout it didn't seem too hot and I am likely to get a Velux window fitted. You mentioned you were unsure about getting pre-built sections up there. -I have just built my layout inset - if you want something to be fully dismantled a lofts probably not the best option. My current preference is the loft - 24ft x 9ft with storage beneath, but its a good sized house. It all really depends on your own space/areas available. Sorry not a great help but I'm not really sure its a black and white decision.

Wonderful evocative layout that just keeps getting better. I absolutely love the swing bridge details, particulariliy the rodding/end bolts etc. I have to say I wouldn't worry about the bridge jerking, catching or not aligning. Having tried to fix a few real ones I can assure you its nothing but prototypical!

More good progress with the station building, working out better than I could have imagined. Also I've got the proper camera out so so better photos than the usual iPhone rubbish I've been putting up. Building is now painted, windows fitted and most doors completed. I have also tonight taken the big step of attempting to assemble the first part of the roof - nervous affair but has gone together really well and easier to get square and level than I had dreamed (or dreaded!) I've also started the second building but have now run out of Wills sheets, but also built the truss canopy section between the 2 buildings. I can't really tell from photos whether this was open/exposed in the mid 80's or covered, certainly later on it was open - any knowledge or even photos would be greatly appreciated.

I've realised that in posting photos of the station building progress that I am making a very large presumption that everybody knows what Landudno station looks like as the basis for the station. I've dug out a couple of pictures off the web, the shot from inside the train shed roof is the modern post refurb station where as the external shot is the right time frame being 1985. As per the real location there will be a second half of an almost mirror image and a canopy over the main entrance between the buildings. As I have said its 'inspired by' rather than a copy.

As promised, pictures of the station building nearing completion after more time spent on detail brickwork etc. The building has now been painted concrete colour and will then receive brick red and weathering.

A couple of notable occasions over the last 10 days, firstly the final main station board was installed. This was followed fairly quickly with completing the last bit of loose/rough laid track to allow the first test run around the full length. Also I’ve started on the first part of the station building, loosely fitted up to check it and canopy sizes against track spacing. The station areas inspiration is Llandudno, roof sections are made up of Dapol canopy kits. I wanted something that was fairly robust but also to make sure I could get a repetitive shape/size, I will try to reduce some of the internal parts of the truss to look more realistic. The building is making good progress and I will post a few more pictures over next few days as almost finished the main shell.

Thanks for the comments, yes there will be DMU sidings, 3 where the 101 is and off the branch where the 150 is there will be at least 1 siding and a loop. I've currently got 2x 2 car 101's (1 a dummy), a 3 car 120 (DC Kits), a 150/1 and a 142. I'm also going to add a 108. Some services will be 2 car but also looking to run some 4 and 6 car sets as was often found in North Wales - particularly in the summer, hence the dummy set.

I've been looking at Kernows website as was wondering about ordering a couple of these. Is it me or does the NEM coupler socket appear to be the wrong height? the coupling appears to have a large crank. It doesn't appear to have been discussed on these pages.

I did look at a 2 track approach to the fiddle yard, but 95% of the time the layout will be operated by just me so limited chance of simultaneous moves at the fiddle yard. The arrangement I've some up with keeps a reasonable number of decent length sidings and keeps space down/maximises viewing area. I must admit to being a little underwhelmed by the big 2's announcements over the last 2 days, the new Bachmann 25 will no doubt find its way onto the layout and the 2 class 40's are looking forwards to their TTS sound decoders, but other than that not much. I still can't see how Bachmann continue not to listen to the regular cries for a sealed beam 45, or how it can be that difficult to produce when they already have 3/4 different nose arrangements in the tooling. Likewise I'm always baffled by Hornby never producing a Blue 31/4 or an original Railfreight 31 over their production period - both were always popular in the Lima range.

I’ve managed to get the fiddle yard tracks loosely laid over the last week, this is code 100 track as opposed to code 75 on the main layout, mainly because I’ve got lots spare. A couple of short radius turnouts will be changed to medium as I am trying to keep all track to large or medium radius - large, curved or Y only on the scenic sections. Today I finished off and got it wired up to start some testing, all still loosely laid but seems to run smoothly. Testing involves propelling trains back into the yard with a class 40!

I always thought your 912 looked superb, the weathering really sets it off which is essential for a 25 in 1986. I managed to grab 20 mins this afternoon and re-numbered her - I already had the Railtec transfer pack and decided to do the BR logos as well as the Bachmann ones look too heavy. Anyway - here she is on the workbench posing next to my first trial of an Octel Liquid Chlorine tank - more on that to follow!

Merry Christmas to all. Santa seems to have performed well this year with a little help from the Northwich Elf branch (S&J Models) where just in time this little beauty was discovered. Santa even managed to fit Kadees before going to Senior Management for wrapping. Will be renumbered to 912 when I need to escape the kids!

I managed to spend some time at the weekend working out station dimensions using some trial roof sections I have made. The roof sections are made from 3 Dapol canopy truss sections, I had made one larger truss but it doesn’t really bring any benefit so I think I will probably be settling on a 3 section roof. I will represent a typical neglected 80s affair with roof lights missing and the roof reduced in length from it’s former glory. The outer walls will be made from Wills arch sections. More to follow. Also I managed to rig up some temporary wiring and the first test train was pulled by the class 45 - best test of curves and track geometry. Everything seems good with no issues with curve radius and Kadees

thanks for all the positive comments so far, much appreciated. In terms of a carriage siding yes I had thought of one, the intention was that the bottom line on the plan would be either a parcels platform or carriage siding. I’ve still not fully decided which and whether it will be a platform line or a siding behind a wall or fence. Like the track plan, always good to see a decent sized terminus station. One question, have you thought about carriage sidings? There would likely be several rakes of stock stabled overnight and the parcels stock would need somewhere during the day. Or you keep then in the platforms or the release road and disrupt the general operation. Regards Nick

Well, after about a year of pondering, I've decided to bite the bullet and scrap my existing layout and start again in the loft. The old layout 'Abercaldy - 1980's Fife' was in my garage and in attempt to not take up the whole of the garage had some pretty tight curves. This was leading to a lot of derailments, difficulties in reaching the fiddle yard and the garage in anything but summer was not a nice place to be. Following an enforced loft clear out to sort a water tank problem I started thinking it was a better place than the garage for a layout and also much better temperature. A really good space was available with about 20 ft x 8 ft being available depending on precise shape. At the same time I was starting to become bored with modelling Scotland after 15 years of false starts on different layouts and so with better ranges of rolling stock available I decided to make the plunge and sell off my ScR stock. To my surprise quite a few items made some decent profits over what I had paid for them. After lots of research, I was heading down the lines of something that resembled Landudno Junction, but felt like I was forcing it in - partially due to a restriction of where the loft hatch was. However, I kept coming back to spending hours browsing the fabulous Llanbourne on this forum. Eventually it struck me that just because I had a good amount of space, I didn't have to had a tail chaser/circuit. A terminus would offer much more flexibility and I wasn't trying to bring 2 fiddle yard entrances around corners, this also gave me a longer running section. The layout takes it's inspiration from a combination of Holyhead and Landudno as well as Llanbourne - although didn't want to be just a copy of any. The year will be 1986, this allows class 20, 25, 31, 33 the odd 37, 40 (D200 and departmental), 45 and 47 along with a good selection of DMU's. I was fortunate in acquiring one of the Modelzone sealed beam class 45's at a sensible price for my early 80's Fife layout - it was numbered as a 46 but is a 45 which maybe why it slipped under the radar! This was the biggest gap in the RTR market so I'm happy to have at least one - Now come on Bachmann, surely you can't go wrong by announcing one - I need more. I drew up some essentials and realised I could fit them all in without feeling too cramped. Decent size station with at least 4 platforms and an overall roof, some reception sidings, a small Speedlink depot, an Engineers Yard, a branch line and a loco shed. The station will resemble Llandudno although compressed, the approaches probably more Holyhead around the shed/signalbox area. Operationally Llanbourne gives the best feel with all the main traditional North Wales services bound for Scarborough, London, Cardiff and Manchester/Chester and the branch seeing Nuclear flask, explosives and possibly chemical traffic as well as a DMU service. The Engineers Yard will ensure plenty of class 25 and 40 action in in the summer of 1986. The Following plan was eventually devised in Empire Express - I'm sure it will evolve but a good starting point: After what felt like forever boxing out the edges of the loft and insulating, I finally got some baseboard frames up and boards loosely laid out, now to roughly lay out some track and see if the plan looks ok in reality. Early stages but some photos attached and it seems to work. The rest of the insulation still needs finishing but I wanted to make sure I was heading in the right direction. Whilst playing with track plans and selling Scottish things, a few essentials have come up so I have started building up some new stock, the main purchase was a Trains4u original Provincial 150/1 and a blue 33, I already had D200 and a splitbox 40 that has been renumbered to 97405 along with 20, 25, 45 and 47s as well as a DC Kits class 120. I also managed to get a new chassis for my broken blue 31 that has been in a box for 10 years - hadn't realised it was dead until i moved house a few years ago, annoyingly just after Hornby stopped sending out new chassis. Progress is likely to be leisurely but hopefully there will be some interesting rolling stock projects.

Great news (apart from Bank Balance). it looks like 026 and 044 are water tank/boiler fitted and therefore presumably the disk headcode versions. I seem to remember that one of the original TOPS/Disk versions had Inverness headlamps as part of the detail packs, hopefully these will be part of the offering. From a quick search it looks like 044 carried a single central headlight.