Booking Hall

Tracklaying is now finished, as is the wiring up, followed by testing and correcting wiring mistakes! I wouldn't have thought it easy to make a mistake with only about six wires to deal with, but yes, it can be done!! I managed to get the sector plate tracks the opposite polarity to the main board, which was interesting . . . Having got trains running, I can now see that full length stock running over the reverse curves I introduced leading from the fiddleyard looks a bit ridiculous. The short 45' clerestories don't look too bad though, nor does a loco and single 64' coach. I'll play a bit more before deciding if I can live with this, or bite the bullet and relay some track.

As a bit of light relief from track laying, I decided to build the water tower which will stand alongside the 'shed' road. Instead of the oft used Dapol, Hornby, Scalescenes, Bachmann etc. models I opted for a new laser cut kit from Model Railway Scenery. This is more unusual in that it depicts a concrete framed tower which I though looked more 'light railway-ish'. The framework goes together very nicely and I painted it with another tester pot from Wilko's, called 'Storm Cloud', which looks a reasonable match for concrete.But I hummed and harr'd over the tank itself. The wrap provided with the kit was OK, but it looked 'flat' compared to the supports and the beautifully made walkways and railings which will go on top. I glued them on the tank shell, but after a lot of thought pulled them off again! I've now clad the shell with 20thou plasticard to which I've fixed microstrip flanges and shapes cut from a crafters petal punch to represent the pressings often found on sectional water tanks. I know I'm going to be much happier with this.

The culvert arch has now been toned down and installed in place, and the last few days have been spent tracklaying. Although I've used the PECO Streamline points 'as is', I've re-spaced the sleepers on the plain track as despite the underscale track gauge and sleeper length, I think it looks better with more prototypical sleeper spacing. This is quite a time-consuming business however, as every web has to be cut away, several sleepers removed and the remainder adjusted accordingly. I don't use a jig for this, preferring to rely on 'rack of eye'. It also produces a LOT of waste plastic - just think how much plastic PECO could have saved over the years, if only they had made the track in this way to start with!. As of today, all the track on the scenic board is laid, with only the sector plate to do and wiring up to complete. Then I can see if any trains actually run!!

Insulation carving finished, and I can reveal that the type I've used (Recticel) crumbles almost as badly as expanded polystyrene, (see posts 6 and 7 above) although it is easier to cut. That done, I gave it and most of the rest of the baseboard a coat of brown emulsion paint. Whilst that was drying I made a start on the stonework for the culvert. This is made from a piece of the styrofoam base which Morrisons pizzas come packed on. Although not good for the planet, I collect these and they make very useful structural modelling material. Easily cut and carved, it can be embossed with a sharp pencil to simulate stonework, cobbles, bricks etc. and it takes paint very well. I've even made buildings out of it. I've daubed the finished item with a mix of three shades of Wilko's emulsion paint, Java Bean, Nutmeg Spice and Supernova, with a few tiny dabs of yellow and orange acrylic paint dotted in. Although it looks a bit garish at the moment, it will dry darker, and then I'll give it a light wash of diluted Supernova which will dull it down and highlight the mortar joints. The flat surface on the far side of the cutting is for a stone retaining wall which I'll also make from the pizza base.

Thanks, that's nice of you to say so, and obviously I'm not going to disillusion you by saying where I made a mistake in this one

It's been a while since much work was done, due mainly to detailing some rolling stock for the club layout, but a little progress has been made with Far Wittering in the last few days. The profile boards have all been installed and the land around the layout exit has been built up to form a cutting. At the front of the layout, a stream bed has been dug out and some gentle land shaping carried out.

No, just cleaned up with an old toothbush and soapy water!

Wheelsets refitted to the motor bogie. I added 0.6mm brass washers to the axles and when refitting the wheelsets, made sure that the washers were in the gear wheel slot. This limits the sideplay very effectively to a total of about 0.5mm. I found that the original pickup still worked as it nicely rubbed on the inside of the steel tyre of the new wheels. After a bit of experimentation, i resolved the issue of the earth return by soldering a couple of pieces of phosphor bronze wire to the steel oil pad retainer clips. The modified bogies ran well on my test track, but my plan was to run a two-car and a three-car DMU coupled together on the club layout at an exhibition this weekend, but on trial derailments were common. I think this is due to the fine flanges and code 100 track, together with a lack of weight in the non-powered units, which, when being propelled, liked to jump off the track with a depressing regularity. So just a two-car set ran. But I will persevere and I have a lot more work to do to add and refine the detail I want on these.

Thanks for all the alternative suggestions. There are so many ways of achieving what I want. However, having invested in a dozen or so Gibson wheelsets I'm going to pursue this route for the time being, and feeling that it is easier to turn down the ends of the axles (which, by the way, are parallel all the way relaxinghobby) than get several wheels all to the same profile without a wheel profile tool, I tried it out on one axle. The steel is quite tough, and slightly magnetic, which was a bit of a nuisance, but I got there, and you can see the result. I'm pretty happy with this, and it didn't take long to do; but guess who forgot to put on the sideplay control washers before pressing on the wheels, AND added a drop of superglue because there was just a hint of free movement . Today I'll do a second axle and test out the motor bogie to see how it performs.

A big thanks for this information Mick. Their website is an Alladdin's cave of useful stuff!

Thanks Mick, can those be bought, or have you had to make it?

Thanks for adding to the conversation Mick. Did you make a tyre profile tool to turn them with?

Thanks for the recommendation RedgateModels. The Myford was one of the best investments I ever made. How does anyone manage without a lathe??!!

As part of a project to detail the old Triang Hornby MetCam Lightweight DMU I would like to change the 'steamroller' serrated wheels for something a bit better. The units I have use the early motor bogie with the brass gear wheel on the 9/16" axle. Now I know I could buy Ultrascale drop-in replacements, but a) I understand these take a considerable time to come, and b) I'm a cheapskate who happens to have a Myford lathe! Having bought some Alan Gibson 12mm DMU wheelsets for the non-powered bogies, I've been wondering if I could use the wheels for the powered axles too, and as far as I can see there are two ways of doing this. I could turn down the ends of the Triang axles to 2mm and press on the Gibson wheels, or I could open up the plastic centre of the Gibson wheels to 9/16" and press them on to the unmodified Triang axles. I can see advantages and disadvantages in both methods. The first method would ensure (assuming I get the machining right!) a precise back to back dimension and the shoulder created on the axle would help to ensure perpendicularity of the wheel. If I was a bit out on machining the 2mm stub the step would also give a bit more surface area to use some bearing lock on. The disadvantage of this method is that if it doesn't work, or if I muck it up, then I can't refit the Triang wheels, and I only have enough axles to finish the project! The second method preserves the Triang axles, but I'm not as convinced that I will be able to drill and ream the Gibson wheel centres accurately and concentrically enough, and I think there would be less surface area for the wheel to grip on. I realise that with either method I'm going to have to re-arrange the pickup and earth return as both sides of the axles will be insulated from the rails. Has anyone done this mod before and can offer me any advice please?

The last couple of weeks have been spent (slowly) working on the sector plate. This is nearly finished and awaits its side panels and tracks. My preferred method of indexing the tracks is to use miniature brass ball catches and a spring steel keeper, and by soldering a feed wire to the keeper and separate feeds from the bottom of each ball catch to the tracks, it automatically connects the power as well. A common -ve bus connected to the other rails takes care of completing the circuit.

I've never seen those cleats before. Must make a mental note of them for future reference. Thanks!

I've now fitted the end board to the scenic section of the layout where it abuts the fiddleyard board. This has a timber block set into it to give additional support the the trackbed at the joint. Also arrived are the handscrews and Tee nuts which will clamp the boards together. The fiddleyard board will 'piggyback' onto the main board and I've added a couple of steel shelf angles to support it. I'm also thinking that I could use these to carry electrical power between the boards if I add some contacts to the FY board where it rests on them. I only need a +ve and -ve supply, nothing fancy. I decided against building folding legs into the layout, as being so narrow it wouldn't be very stable, but having nothing else to stand it on I went to Homebase and bought three of their £4.99 timber trestles. These are a bit too wide for this layout, but I can always use them under another one as well. They're also not quite high enough for me to operate at (I'm quite tall), so I might add some raising pieces to them. Finally, some kits for the layout have arrived from Scale Model Scenery, so I've got something to do in the evenings now!

They're often to be found on that well-known internet auction site. I was looking for some myself last year.

Looking forward to seeing this develop. I'm doing something similar.

Made a start on the fiddle yard board. Once the glue has fully set on the top/sides I will add further bracing and mark out the sector plate for cutting.

The last few days have been spent installing the point operating rods and sticking down cork underlay. Before I can put in the section from the first point to the end of the board which will mate with the fiddle yard board, I need to make a sheet material endpiece to protect the insulation board, and whilst I'm about it I might as well make the finisher for the other end and the profile board for the front.

We've used similar on the club layout we're currently building, and that seems to cut and carve nicely, but whether my stuff is the same I will find out shortly!

I'd always wanted to motorize one of the railbuses, and got my chance when I won an old EAMES motorizing kit on Ebay. The interior was scratchbuilt.

I made a three box layout (2 scenic boxes and a fiddleyard box), but at exhibitions operational boredom quickly set in, so I added another three boxfiles (again, two scenic and a fiddleyard). Now I can operate the layout as a three-box one, a four-box one, or a six-box one! My link below to 'Brierley Canal Road' will take you to the thread.

Thanks for following David, I hope progress will be more regular in future! Got a bit more done yesterday. Having decided on which backscene to use, I cut the boards from some spare hardboard. I didn't have a long enough piece so had to joint it. The backscene print is 9" high, and before I glue the print to the board I needed to drill the holes for the point operating rods. These will be manually operated using a home-made 'wire in tube' system, comprising 2mm OD brass tube from B&Q with 1mm dia brass rod from Albion Alloys. I've cut grooves in the insulation to inset these into and marked out the hole positions on the backboard before drilling. The timber rail glued and screwed to the rear of the backboard is there to give some protection to the protruding knobs which will be fixed to the ends of the wires, it also stiffens up the hardboard. In another burst of activity, I cut some cork underlay for the points and trackbed. Next up is fixing the point operating tubes in place and laying the underlay.