BangkokPaul

Layout taking shape nicely thanks in no small part to Scalescenes and their range of downloadable kits. Invaluable for someone living far from the model shops in the uk. Next step is a to start looking at the ballasting along with a fair bit of electrical stuff to sort out.

Having been inactive for a while, i have now acquired a more permanent home for the diesel depot, sitting on top of a new layout in the early stages of development. I wanted a layout with a continuous running line so I took over the spare room and hatched a plan whereby the diesel depot would sit over the running lines. Track planning is more or less figured out so time construct the viaduct that will take the running lines around a large percentage of the layout.

Have found a temporary (but maybe to be made permanent with the help of some super glue!) method of fixing the conductivity problem when opening the points. I had some copper tape lying around which I cut a small strip off and rather crudely stuck to the inside edge of the rail. This creates a better contact when opening the point so no issues now with loss of power. I think will tidy it up and make it a permanent fixture. Can only assume some sort of issue with the heat and humidity here somehow expanding and or distorting the track in some way?

It's been a while since the last entry, well over a year to be precise but there have been a few developments on the layout between travelling and other commitments. Plenty of building work has taken place including a row of terrace houses behind what is also a remodelled stone shed in front. A disused local elevated branch line has been added at the break between the 2 boards to provide relief and to help to hide the joint between the boards. With all the buildings added including the bridge, it helps to create that feeling of a compact and densely populated inner city location. Still have some ballasting to do especially around the point work but these have been giving me some problems in that they seem to randomly stop conducting electricity across them when open. Only when some gentle force is applied to the point does the electricity flow. Not sure if this is due to location and humidity but seems to be an ongoing problem.

An overview of one side of the layout looking towards to modern diesel running shed with a fine selection of proper traction outside.

Hi Jon, The depot is simply the downloadable one from scalescenes. I have to admit to being a bit of a fan of these since living in Bangkok, getting hold of any kind of materials for scratch building is not easy. Some of the ready made cast buildings look good but are expensive and having them shipped here is a concern.

The layout design is intended to maximize the locos that can be on shed at anyone time with the original design attached here. Subsequent playing around with the track and points lead to a modfied version of the attached, albeit with the same overall feeling. I know the old adage of less is more in terms of running track but I wanted to create a busy and claustrophobic feeling to the depot and also to get as many engines on shed as possible at any given time.

Having been away from modelling for many a year, my interest was rekindled whilst browsing a retailers website and coming across a Bachmann class 37 in large logo blue livery. Not having a layout for around 25 years with the last 12 spent in Bangkok, I was still suitably impressed by the model to purchase and subsequently store in the cupboard. This pattern was repeated over a few years with a collection diesel models starting to grow. The models collected all hark back to the 80's and 90's which is the era in which I grew up. Having lived on the south coast, I was always intrigued by these mystery locos from Eastfield and Inverness with their strange markings and so this is how my collection grew of models grew. I finally took the plunge about a year ago to build myself a small diesel depot layout on which to put the models into context. The layout would be based on somewhere north of the border although this would not stop 'other' locos from turning up, as was the case back then. The depot layout is constructed on 2 boards 1000x500mm joined end to end and is a first experiment to see how much I remember for my modelling youth. I am still very much in the DC era and with not so much technical support available here in Bangkok, I decided to continue along this path.