60012 Commonwealth of Australia

Alright. I would like to get something running.... But the only loco I currently have that would be suitable for P4 conversion (my Hornby A4 is in pieces, as is my L1, and the Bachmann A4 needs a new chassis) is a Duchess. I'm hoping to get a Heljan 27 or 17 or something similar, as apparently Heljan locos are easy to convert. Either that or I'll get a Bachmann J72 or something as I would like one of them. As well as that I'm thinking of doing a small layout to exhibit next year at Caufield as I've recieved invites every year for the last three years, but the first year wasnt able to exhibit as I had other things on, and then my brothers subsequently decided N scale was as robust as wooden Thomas train sets, and I'm thinking of using the first 3 constructed Dunoon boards to make a small layout to exhibit, again based in Scotland, and use locos like the Bachmann Standards, Heljan 17 and 27 as well as my 108 and 128 if they are on P4 by the time I exhibit (if I do exhibit it). Will be posting about the exhibition layout when I've decided whether to go ahead and/or printed the track plan. Peter

Unprototypical was more in relation to either (or in this case both) being in Scotland! I knew the first few had a different MU code (wasn't it the first 3?), but didn't know the same applied to the first batch of 22s. Thanks for the info, that's quite interesting Post edited to avoid further confusion.

Have finally gotten around to reading the thread fully! I thought it seemed a bit familiar for the first few pages, and then embarrassingly found this... Real shame I didn't get around to finishing it sooner! It's a lovely layout, and it's a shame that it got damaged by the heat down here! But it's come back better than ever! I particularly liked a shot of a Cl22-Cl42/43 double header, one thing I would like to do is that (even though it's unprototypical for either, let along both, to be running in Scotland, Rule 1 applies) and a Cl23-Cl55 double header, to have a Baby Warship-Warship double header, as well as a Baby Deltic-Deltic would be somewhat amusing (to me at least ) Keep up the good work! Also I have liked the Facebook page, you probably noticed my comments a few hours ago. Peter Edited to avoid confusion re: unprototypical locos in Scotland

I'll keep an eye out then! I'm going on Sunday as I do volunteer work at Healsville on Saturdays assuming I'm not sick or away! See you then! Peter

I have a question for anyone reading this who may be able to help I currently have both a Heljan Class 128 DPU and a Bachmann Class 108 DMU I would like to convert these to P4 asap, but can't find suitable replacement wheelsets. Does anyone know if anyone makes replacement sets for one/both of them, and if so who? Along with this, four more Gresley coaches have been "purchased" i.e. Dad got them and they are going away until I earn them. At least this way I don't have to worry about the potential of them selling! So for now, I just need to earn the money for the Gresley's and then it's back to the layout and P4 conversions. Peter

Caufield would be a nice one. One year I had a layout to exhibit but didn't end up being able to exhibit it, have received invites each year since. The invites are sent out around February. Sadly said layout then got subjected to two younger brothers thinking it was as versatile as the wooden Thomas the Tank stuff so haven't been able to exhibit anything. I should probably get something together for next year. Peter

That order looks fine, go for it!

The BRMA form has subsequently been sent off to BRMA. Peter

A very interesting read and story! Has anything come about with the counter-claim to the Guiness Book of World Records? It would be nice to see it at an exhibition here, are there any plans to exhibit it sometime later this year or next year, maybe at Caufield or Sandown next year? Would be great to see another British layout, even more so given it's interesting story. Peter

Well I have the fully filled out BRMA membership form sitting on my desk to be posted tomorrow on the way to school! After quite a while of procrastination, I have gone and done it! Peter

Finally got through the thread! 3 days of thoroughly enjoyable (and side splitting) nonsense, banter, and even occasionally something to do with a railway! Very interesting/amusing to read, and hopefully a railway will start to feature more! Even if the railway does have funny looking green things... Peter

Nope but this is (sort of) It's P4 cause I pushed the (cr**py split axle) wheels out and then coated the axles and wheels in superglue because half the plastic part of each axle broke. It's waiting for a decent chassis and probably Ultrascale or Brassmasters P4 wheels. Subsequently, I don't think it runs... (Can't be bothered testing it yet) And it's sort of DCC because I shoved a TTS Sound A4 chip in the tender before I use it on another loco. No wires soldered though, just a loose chip which makes a lot of noise when I move it haha *Sorry for the thread hijack! *edit - It was converted after this photo, as can be seen it's on old Tri-Ang Super 4 Code 1000000 track!

O gauge MR? I have one of Johnsons 1Fs in pieces on my work desk (in 0 haha) awaiting me to be bothered to finish it! Also needs a motor and new wheels as I don't really like the cast wheels it came with given the unsightly gap in the spokes to allow for electrickery to take place! And then once that's done, and I've spend $????? on Dunoon (appropriate number of ? inserted ) I can get around to giving it a layout and some rolling stock haha. Enjoy playing around tomorrow (take photos!), and we all look forward to seeing the outcome of the fiddle yard conundrum. Peter

By car, using the most direct route, it's about 545 miles (877km) And yeah, it's way bigger than the UK! Although that being said I've travelled further in the UK than in Australia... The furthest I've been in Aus is Adelaide which is 727km, but in the UK I've gone from London up to Inverness which is 914km... Peter

Can I get work to do on a layout Need to wait for ages before I can get enough money to do mine! Sounds good, where's my invite! Look forward to seeing this progress, assuming you don't go 7mm on us! That being said, the same in 7mm would look amazing! Only been to Scotland once, last year, but having family come from there, along with the scenery, Scotland is by far my favourite place to model! And have already decided that once I have what I deem to be enough 50s and 60s stock for Dunoon, Ebay's going to run out of 26s and 27s, not to mention 08s, 20s, 37s and 47s, all in blue! Now when can I expect to see this at Caufield or Sandown?! About time we got a Scottish layout on the Victorian exhibition circuit! It's such a shame there aren't many British layouts, and when there are there are a lot of ones with Peco track, RTR stock, tension lock couplers, and no weathering (most of the time, there are a couple of exceptions)... I hope you go along with the original plan of handlaid track, as to me a lot of layouts have Peco track and it more or less ruins the effect of otherwise brilliant layouts, mainly due to the sleeper spacing. However, whichever way you do it (as long as you don't change from a Scottish layout!) I'm sure it'll look great, if Llanbourne is anything to go by. Peter

Just spent a very enjoyable hour reading through this (got distracted from SOS Junction) It's incredibly neat, and makes every layout (and indeed every wiring job) I've ever done look like it was done by a 6 year old (admittedly one or two of them were, but anyway ) It's not my region, but looks great and I really need to stop being tempted by the Hornby BR Blue Castle.... Must tell myself a blue A3 will suffice Look forward to seeing more progress, and the outcome of what will happen with the fiddle yard. Peter

Very nice shot! Only a few things for me give it away - the signal that's there in the model and not the real photo, the signal that is there in the real photo and not in the model, the fence, the lack of chimney, and window heights. Other than that, it's bang on! It's amazing how close the model vs real shots get on Peterborough North! The Hornby loco looks far better than my Bachmann version... Looks like a renumber of one of the Hornby Wild Swan Golden Eagle models is in order, as I particularly like the BR Blue ones even though they're a few years too early for my period. And after that to find a suitable green version as well! Peter *Edit - Hey, it's post 12000! And here's to the next 12,000! *Edit 2 - Not sure why I said Wild Swan... I meant Golden Eagle, the current BR Blue version.

Here is an adapted plan. There is now a dead-end siding for the colliery loco to take the train into to stop the need to go onto the main. There is now also a crossover at the end of two sidings to enable a short loco (0-6-0 or such, probably a J50 or J94) to put a brake van on the end of the train before the loco then brings the train back to Dunoon along the main. Peter

I hadn't actually thought of those I think what I'll do is put another single-slip on the under the first one, and then have it maybe as a loop joining on at the top of Dunoon North, or even going around it and joining on closer to where the MPD joins the main. A loop siding in the transfer areas will need to be put in, to enable a brake van to be put on. Thanks for pointing that out before I printed out the track plan! Peter

Well I've just finished counting sleeper lengths on Templot, and here's the data - I need 278.46m of 10" wide sleepers for plain track. In C&L packs of wooden sleepers (300mm long to cut to length), they are sold in packs of 50. I need 19 packs of these to make up the plain track, and maybe more to allow for offcuts etc. So make that 20 packs. I need 60.268m of 12" wide sleepers for turnouts. Again these are sold in packs of 50 with each length being 300mm to be cut to length. This means I would need a fraction over 4 packs, so I will be getting 5 packs. I will be making a jig for sleeper cutting (for plain track, turnout sleepers will have to be cut to suit the track plan), to enable me to cut either 5 or 10 sleepers (300mm sort) at once, depending on how wide I can make the jig. This means I can cut either 40 or 80 sleepers at once, as each length allows me to make 8 sleepers with .8 of a sleeper as offcut. I will figure out what to do with the offcuts, but they will most likely become sleepers on the side of the tracks or wagon loads. Overall, the cost of sleepers comes to 177.08GBP minus VAT (Inc.VAT is 212.49GBP), or $313.42 (AUD). Now I have done this, I can go through and calculate how much rail I need. And start saving! Peter

Been a while since any progress update. I hope all is well and that we will see some more progress soon! Regards, Peter

I totally agree. I have actually turned an old shelf into a small diorama, a railway on an embankment crossing over a river in the middle. I've also built a turnout in P4 and converted some wagons and coaches, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Peter

Yes, I agree! However to get the formation I want in OO, I would still have to scratchbuild the track. That being said... By my calculations I need a minimum of 203m of rail, so I'm saying 250 to be safe because the points won't be kits, they will be scratchbuilt over the templates... That means around 13,000 sleepers..... I think. Of course theres a high chance I'm really far out, as this is just an estimate. However. If that's 13,000 sleepers, I need to cut all of them to size (using C&L wooden sleepers that come in the 300mm lengths with 50 in a pack as is far cheaper than pre-cut wood or plastic), and I would also need to put down about 30,000 chairs taking into account the turnouts. Fun! Either way though, I'd need the same amount of rail/chairs/sleepers in OO so for the extra realism it's pretty decent. Again though, these are just estimates... Peter

And we're at Mk8! This time, the design is final, and covers the entire layout room, not just Dunoon. It measures 5m across and 7m lengthways. I now have 5 platforms in Dunoon, which will be covered by a (scratchbuilt) train shed. The goods yard is significantly larger, however I will need to widen the existing baseboards to fit it in (probably by adding another section on). Dunoon MPD now has a 3 road shed and a siding for loco coal wagons. As before there is a 70' turntable at the north (south in reality) end. Dunoon South (originally North) starts at the crossover to the north (south) of Dunoon MPD on the mainline, and continues around some of the curve. Then there are the Colliery Transfer Sidings. On these, the NCB loco brings the train over a bridge over the main lines, comes around and then shunts its train into the relevant siding/s for a BR loco to collect and take to Dunoon for shipment. ^ The Colliery Transfer Sidings ^ Dunoon Station ^ Dunoon MPD (Shed 65L) ^ Dunoon South and the Colliery Transfer Sidings ^ An overall plan of the layout ^ The station throat, showing the 11 curved turnouts required. All of these have been modified to suit the varying radius (between a scale 5 and 10 chains) The minimum radius (except on Colliery line, where it is 300') is 5 chains however the main curves are between 10 and 20 chains. Peter

Here is the plan of the station. This is very disproportionate, I only made a quick diagram to show it briefly. Black is the track on the model, and red is what it would be in reality. Peter