Booking Hall

Hi Steve, I don't see why it shouldn't effect an improvement, but no, I use modern wheels on my rolling stock and found that ensuring the back to back dimension was correct (as mentioned by Simon above, and even new wheelsets are sometimes out!) and consistent was equally important in improving the running and reliability through the points. Good luck!

Well, that's the track glued down and first stage wiring completed - all three wires of it! Actually, this electrical installation will be slightly more complicated than the first three boxes. Firstly, for operational purposes, I need to be able to isolate the second siding into the fiddleyard, so a switch will be needed, and to make these three plus the original fiddleyard box able to operate as a standalone layout, I need to add a another switch to isolate the jack plug socket into which I plug the controller, otherwise a short would occur. As I was so pleased with the improved appearance of the Peco streamline track I used on my second cakebox diorama, where I cut all the webs of the sleepers and re-spaced them to a more prototypical appearance, I've done the same with the plain track on this build, at least where it will be in the open. I've also had a change of thought about the central road bridge. It just didn't work as such, as the road didn't make a logical connection with the backscene. Instead, I'm going to make it into a disused and lifted railway line with a fence of some sort at the back of the bridge, masking that part of the backscene. The bridge girders are being scratchbuilt from card and the deck will be balsa.

Really looks at home there.

All 'woodworking' on the boxes is now finished, including the recesses in the top of each end to accommodate the foldback clips I use to hold them together, and on which the bridge/fiddleyard screening sections attach with magnets. My home-made skyscene has been assembled and glued to the box lids, followed by the town backscene. This is sheet 2 of the Townscene series from Freestone Model Accessories, and complements the sheet 1 I used on the original boxes, having been painted in a similar style. In front of this the terraced house backs (also provided with sheet 2) have been mounted on card to give some relief and will hold in place with magnetic strip. The road bridge masking the box ends will be made on the skew to give more visual variety.

Learning from my mistakes on the first part of the build, when i found that locos particularly would jolt across the large gap between the switch rail and the crossing vee on these Setrack points, this time I'm modifying them BEFORE installing them - it's SO much easier! Some 20thou plasticard microstrip glued in the flangeways and filed to fit extends the switch rail, and similar pieces glued to the check rails keeps the wheels where they should be. There is still a slight drop as wagon wheels pass over, but it's very much better than before, and should be fine where larger loco wheels are concerned.

A session in the workshop today resulted in all the trackwork openings being cut and the box fronts disconnected from the sides. Next job is to make the scenic box lid support brackets, so the lids will stand upright, then the skyscene and backscenes can be applied.

That's great, thanks very much!

Well, that's it just about finished. Might just add a passenger enjoying the beauty of the Cornish scenery whilst waiting for the train to Bodmin North. I've tried to recreate some of the reference photos I used to build this model, and if I knew how to use Photoshop properly, I could put them side-by-side!

Refurbishing our bathroom put paid to most modelling for a few weeks, but some progress has been made recently. All the fencing and lights/lamp-posts are now made and fixed, and the track has been ballasted. My stock of fine grit from a path at Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire, which I use for ballast, had run out, and I didn't want to buy a packet of commercial stuff for such a small length of track, so I spent a couple of hours in the garden bashing a piece of limestone with a hammer and sieving the results! Just a lattice signal to make (I have enough parts left over from a Ratio kit), a telegraph pole or two to detail/modify and then it's on to the ground cover.

yep, and here's an inspiration photo I took of a former mill in Burnley.

Only just found this thread, but am really interested to see this develop. Building a dockside layout is high on my list of 'layouts-I'd-like-to-build' and I've been collecting pointwork and crane kits ready for just such a thing. There was also a North Quay at Great Yarmouth, and I can highly recommend having a look at some of the photos of that system for inspiration. The trains there actually ran down the public streets and appeared out of gaps between buildings etc. Marvellous stuff!

Thanks for those suggestions Stu. Overnight my brain must have been working on this whilst I was asleep as I've realised that these two boxes lack any real 'height' which made the existing ones so successful, so I'm going to change the proposed partly demolished workshop to an operational building 3 or 4 storeys high, with either a covered loading bay or having the line running into the building (which could also continue into the fiddle yard for exchange of full/empty wagons). Then I could use the as yet unallocated space for a semi-demolished building as you suggest! A result I think

I accepted an invitation to show Brierley Canal Road at our club's annual exhibition in November, and a few days later I remembered just how limited in operational interest the layout is, although chatting to interested viewers makes up for some of that. But it occurred to me that this might just be the impetus I need to add a few more boxes onto it. After considerable thought, this is what I came up with. Extending from the existing fiddle yard box (in which I had already installed a hole for future extension) the line will run through two more scenic boxes to another fiddle yard box, serving on the way a partly demolished workshop with a loading platform, a derelict canal wharf with a crane and a scrapyard which will partly take over the closed canal which at that point will be infilled. The joint between the two scenic boxes will be a road bridge with twin arches for the two tracks. I'm as yet undecided what to do with the space above the track to the right of the bridge. Now, the question is, can I get all this done in 11.5 weeks?

Looking forward to seeing this develop. Looks like there's loads of scope for scenic modelling.

That's looking really good, the colours work well together.

Looking better all the time. Looking forward to the next installment.

I'm really enjoying this build TechnicArrow, I do like 'hemmed in' industrial type layouts!. I used EvoStik 'Timebond' to glue my track down in my boxfile take on this idea as it doesn't wet the cardboard base so avoiding any potential for warping. You just have to make sure you've got the track in the right place first time tough, as it has very good 'grab'.

And let's not forget the British Water Tower Appreciation Society, equally deserving of our interest as railway modellers! http://bwtas.blogspot.com

Oh dear, what if, like me, you like both buses AND telegraph poles . . . do I have to look down on myself (summons up memories of Monty Python)?!!

The hot weather put paid to modeling activity for a while, but I got a bit done today, and Boscarne Junction platform is largely complete. I've had to shorten it a bit otherwise it would have taken up most of the front of the diorama.

The ground level platform is now fixed in position and awaits its fencing. Sketch drawing made for the more substantial Boscarne Junction platform on the Bodmin General line, again based purely on photographic evidence.

Design drawings for the ground level sleeper built platform on the Bodmin North line, based on photographic evidence; and most of the components for it cut and awaiting assembly.

Those distinctive W irons will certainly capture the look of the prototype.

I like the way this is developing. Are you thinking of putting two more pegs next to the other track, so you could move the fiddlestick between the tracks to create a run-round?

Track fixed down and weathered, ready for ballasting.