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ptrabant

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  1. ptrabant
    Scenic fiddle yards .
    When you think how much space a fiddle yard takes , why not make it look like the yard / carriage sidings?
    here is the fiddle yard or Edge Hill “Gullet” Sidings.
    TheLiverpool  North Docks traffic has historically gone to edge hill and the passenger services via Edge Hill , so might as well name the yard after the place. 
     
     
     
     

  2. ptrabant

    Liverpool Alexandra Dock & Anfield Marine - 1980s

    By ptrabant,


    BR Liverpool 1980s Layout
    Well it’s taken many years of dreaming , semi retirement , taking the classic car from the garage and a purchase of a second hand fantastic layout to make real progress . 
    it’s the spirit of Alex Dock and the traffic that was in Liverpool in the 1980s.
    I wish I could find images ( outside of the 2 steam rail tours) of Alexandra Dock LNWR before the 1980s but after 5 years of internet trawling I guess I have found about 20 . 
    Still here is an image of a freight trip on the layout . Lots and lots to do as I turn a rural  branch into Liverpool! 
    P

  4. ptrabant
    A second hand layout and a third hand modelling amateur.
    Still stock that had been stored for various lengths of time is finally moving as the layout is recommissioned in its new home. There is also a major change of location and era but we will get there slowly. 
     
     

  5. ptrabant
    So its a start and some fun but the fire station extension has started !!!
     
    By the way the plastic glue I have used sends you high in 2 minutes !!!!!!
     
    Is there a glue for plastic kits / general that is harmless and does not clog up ????????
     

    Latest pic , extention looks ok .
  6. ptrabant
    For those with lots of skill and I see amazing scratch built building and think wow !!! Sadly I am not in this league or the league below . My world is glue everywhere and I have to stick with plastic and cardboard kits ... Not everyones cup of tea but its better to have a go and do something , eh ?
     
    So here is the rather large "onion dome" church which has come together over the last week . For scale I put a train behind it !!! Now then in the real Oberaudorf on the edge of the village there is an even bigger "kloster -church" in this very yellow next to the standard gauge line . So for the German version of the layout its perfect and of course not out of place when running the Austrian stock ... It will be weathered at some point and I have taken pictures of the real thing and how the onion dome has weathered and the roof . So a tad more progress
  7. ptrabant
    So lots of jobs done over Christmas period .
     
    The kit building are all now built .
    Lots more to do but flower boxes now all added and it is coming on , slowly !
     
    Building Lighting will come from a battery powered string of lights from Wilkos - £2
    They will run in a channel in he underlay , with the batteries and switch in a garage building .
     
    The Ikea shelf has not had its base flooring cover of earth brown from a Wilkos £1 match pot .
    I know this is hardly Pendon but I have never finished a layout so its great to see this progress !!!
     
    The other imagine is the station loops at one end and the electric holding sidings .
    Again I am a shockingly bad modeller but the lines have isolation in place and soldering now in place.
    My soldering is dire but they are attached with massive blobs of solder !
     

    I have also set up a test circle with my new Roco HOe train set track and controller and whilst I am working various locos are having a long overdue test run !!!
     
    Next Up some pictures of my Snowy exhibition layout and that test track !!!
     
    Cheers All
    "Marine"
  9. ptrabant
    Well with the track going down , the stock is being sorted .
     
    Bemo German steam locos were never going to be part of the roster at £500/600 of our Uk pounds .
     
    However one older version came up at the 009 shop and whilst still £100 , the chance to have a stunning 0-10-0 was too much .
     
    So it will join the other steamer on the north branch .
  10. ptrabant
    UPDATE --- Track down and wires soldered !!!
    10 days after I started , 2 burn marks from forgetting about solder iron , 13 main fiddle yard lines , 4 holding sidings .
    18 isolation switches all in place
    (see below).
     
    --------------------------------------------------------------
     

    Ok its amazing how long these things take !!!
     
    So to recap ...
     
    Now we have a room , heating , security , lighting , power .
    Baseboards buit (not by me but by a great friend who did a stunning job)
    I added the dodgy woodwork that is the backscene and heath robinson cabinets underneath .
     
    Keeping it really simple like the real railway , points will be hand thrown (weird if powered on layout yet the real thing did not )
    Underlay was free again from a friend in in place.
    Track in place on the shelf terminal (see pic) then the main two boards (town and station)
    Now the 2 adjacent fiddle yards A &B .
    But when I measured up there is just enough space just to make the front yard look a bit more like a terminal station .
    If the first line of the rear yard is freight then it looks a bit like a yard behind the station .
    So run into the two yards as the track come close together I have split visually by a church between .
     
    So a cheap kit has been amended to look more Austrian (still needs more work ) but starts to split the two yards .
    The junctions are in place , now a lot of isolation switches to go in as all terminal roads .
    Wish me luck !!!!
     
    See the pictures ...
  11. ptrabant
    Really good to have a break and depart to a friends house not too far away for an operating session .
     
    4 hours running the timetable between 4 of us including the freight traffic so sort out .
     
    DCC was interesting .
     
    Good to use DCC but you really do need to know the stock numbers !
    Working signals to drive between operates are a positive and freight rules are needed (a brake van is on the back!)
     
    Certainly hours past quickly and showed (for me) why the system needs to be developed to operate .
  12. ptrabant
    Part 1 --- Electrics again !
     
    One way to create a diesel fleet in HOe / OO9 is to take a Roco 1099 electric remove pantograph cover recess add some form of exhaust port and you have a reliable mainline performer . Google some images and some when repainted look really good . Sometimes these conversations turn up on the 009 shop or Ebay .
     
    Here are a couple of images of some recently "rescued " locos that have been reconverted back to electrics by removing the diesel exhausts , cleaning up and adding pantographs . They look GREAT back as electrics again . What do you think ?
     

    The original fleet was 16 locos all on the Mariazell line in Austria and most have just been retired after 100 YEARS service by new units just 2 years ago.
     
    I am recreating the full fleet , well why not ...
     

    Part 2 --- Electric Holding Sidings - Lunzer See
    Well the track is going down on the home layout and the electrics come off at Lunzer See after coming from Mariazell (fiddle A) and replaced by diesels for the run to Waidhofen (fiddle B) . The electric goes into the electric holding sidings to await a return working , plus space for a spare loco stabled . The track is in place , isolation switches done and the posed photos of 2 locos in the sidings . Jay progress !!!!
    OLE will go up at some point ...
     


     

     

     

  13. ptrabant
    Somebody said to me always do some modelling , its all progress.
     
    So 3 seconds - added the timetables and the parking sign with a blob of glue (that is the back of Oberaudorf station )
     
    So 2 new Austrian tractors for sale in the shed attached to the Warehouse 'Lagerhaus" . The lean too is agin from the scrap box and just some left over parts . Its true a lot of Fendt tractors are sold from such locations and I have plenty of these bought cheaply from a toy shop in Austria .
    I still need to add drainpipes and all this detail and weather but you get the idea. The many reason for the shed is that inside it is the batteries for the lighting and so I can easy get to it to switch on the village lights , etc (that will feature in another exciting blog !!!)
     
    So 1 Santa hides on the balcony as track starts to appear though the station !!!!
     
    Cheers all

  15. ptrabant
    To build an operational layout , you need the system !
     
    This is the railway of the lower Inn Valley which is in Austia/Germany and most railways exist .
     
    The main line goes from innsbruck to Munich/ Vienna
     
    The narrow gauge goes from kierfelden to Wachel quarry , up the Wendelstein mountain and a steam tram to Chiemsee Lake.
    What i have done is join them all up and added an extension and a branch line .
     
    Then traffic diagrams , track plans , track layouts and with the aid of google earth the actual route has been plotted !!!
     
    All locos and stock are allocated to the depots on the system - yes its about ops !!!!
     

    The HOe track plan covers Oberaudorf and the branch to Taztlwurm , the 2 fiddle yards the rest of the system (and is also designed to also work for the Austrian version Lunzer See ) .
     
    I do have a full written up history !!!
  16. ptrabant
    So after decades of armchair modelling and 18 months after the home layout baseboards were built a start has been made !!!
     

    A start has been made on the small shelf branch line terminal . Track is down , isolation switches in place and its been test run. Backscene in place . But its a bit dark on the shelf as the shelf above has my OO diorama (one day that will work !!!) . So with the magic of the internet an under shelf mini PIR light arrived for above the shelf , see photos .
     
    The layout by the way will change a few buildings to be my imaginary German / Bayern "ITB" Inntalbahn , and also Austrian OBB Ybbstalbahn/Mariazellbahn layout.
     
    Key thing is its a big motive power and operations game . The Austrian version has the right locos and stock for those lines , when in German mode it has its own locos and stock in Bayern Blue .
     
    Lots more to do !!!!
  17. ptrabant
    With the line linking Mariazell system to Ybbstalbahn system at Lunzer See station it allows me to have all the 1099's narrow gauge electric locos . I also have a few in fantasy liveries ( you never really see this in UK modelling) . Here is a line up on my diorama backscene .
     
    These locos run from fiddle yard one to Lunzer and then into the electric holding sidings before being replaced by a diesel for the run to Waidhofen .
    They are also used in my small eletric terminal exhibition layout- Gusswerk.
  18. ptrabant
    With the line linking Mariazell system to Ybbstalbahn system at Lunzer See station it allows me to have all the 1099's narrow gauge electric locos . I also have a few in fantasy liveries ( you never really see this in UK modelling) . Here is a line up on my diorama backscene .
     
    These locos run from fiddle yard one to Lunzer and then into the electric holding sidings before being replaced by a diesel for the run to Waidhofen .
    They are also used in my small eletric terminal exhibition layout- Gusswerk.
  20. ptrabant
    So I have a station and good shed very close to the real thing at Lunz am See (most on Austrian narrow gauge are a variation on a standard design) but when the home layout will be in german model mode the station buildings need to look very different . I know what the real main line Oberaudorf station looks like and needed a scaled down version for the imaginary narrow gauge "Inntalbahn" . Then I found the Hornby Italian buildings on a second hand stall at a good price a few weeks ago and do you know whey look great and just need a bit of work to become German !!!
     
    At the same time I bought a small fire station for the layout but its really too small so needs an added extension . My modelling is poor but lets go to the scrap box get covered in glue and have a go !!!!
     
    So first images are the two stations the Austrian and the German..
    Still need weathering properly but made a start.
     
    Thoughts?
  21. ptrabant
    Well managed to go to the European Model Ex in Brum and catch up with a few friends and have a good beer.
     
    Time short to do anything else but someone once told me , just do a bit at a time its all progress.
     
    So the two images are of a small water tower and level crossing kit built today . they have just been plonked onto the layout for the picture.
     
    They are Auhagen plastic kits which are great value.
     
    But a little bit of progress ...
     

     

     

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