Astir648

Well, isn't it amazing how quickly time passes! I can't believe it's over ten months since I last posted on here. In my defence, I got married in that time, with the slightly challenging requirement of having to build the massive garden we got married in (2 pallets of brick edging, 62 paving slabs, 20 tonnes of gravel, a pond etc etc), so modelling had to be put on the back burner for a while (though I managed to squeeze a visit to Pendon Museum into the honeymoon!). Anyway, although it's been on the back burner I've still been dabbling away when time permitted and when I posted a video sequence on a couple of Facebook groups recently the response was so positive I thought I ought to get myself back on here! So, what have I been up to? First, I couldn't resist the new Heljan Class 05 in green livery. It's a little bit early for the layout, but it fits with a plan I have to make the layout date-variable. A quick swap of road vehicles will, I think make it possible to move it back up to 50 years, allowing for some fun (and excuses for new toys). It's a very nice model and runs beautifully at slow speed. It does have one significant problem, which is the height of the buffer-beams, which means that installing Dingham couplings will be challenging. The hook will be fine, but the loop end will be a problem, as there won't be room for the dropper crank to move far enough back. Any suggestions? My other purchase was a DCC controller. I've wanted DCC for a while, not because the digital system is particularly interesting, but because it allows sound to be installed. I invested about £200 in a Signa-Trak controller. It's touch-screen and I've found it very easy to use. Thus far I've simply connected it to the DC wiring. Re-wiring the layout and fitting decoders for the points etc. is coming soon! I also spent £28 on a hand-held plug-in loco controller for the Signa-Trak and that has proved very handy, though I have to say it's cheaply made, compared to the main unit. So far I have fitted sound decoders to three locomotives, all ESU Loksound v4.0. The Heljan 05 and Dapol 08 both have "legoman biffo" sound and the Ixion Hudswell Clarke has Southwest Digital sound. The latter has very convincing brake squeal on stopping, which I rather like! Sadly space for the soeaker on this engine is limited, so it's smaller and can't match the diesels. An interesting an unexpected angle on installing sound was he discovery that the Class 05s had what sound like a real beast of an engine - it sounds fantastic. Here's a link to the video sequence I posted on Facebook, which illustrates the sound from the Class 05 quite well: https://www.facebook.com/d.a.dodds/videos/10215210757408845/ Other than that I've been working on a brass Clayton (Class 17) kit, but that's a whole story in itself - a kit I bought without instructions, which has been fascinating to dabble with when I feel the need for a challenge, and probably will be for some time to come. I've also invested in some drivers and guards from ModelU - these are scanned from live people and then 3D printed and the detail is excellent. One painted I think they'll be much better than the whitemetal ones I've been dabbling with until now. Finally, I've made my first faltering steps into the world of weathering. I've used a variety of shades of rust colour to represent rust on a 16tonne open wagon. Just now it looks awful - like a sort of camouflage pattern, but hopefully the addition of a load of filth will tone down the grey of the bodywork and black of the underframes. Onwards and upwards David

Here's a link to a brief segment of video I recorded whilst the layout was set up with the fiddle yard. It shows the Dingham autocouplers working quite effectively. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6htw7ikre6uc3jc/MVI_0857.MOV?dl=0 David

Sorry I've been quiet for a couple of weeks, but it suddenly dawned on me how little time there is until the Tweeddale model railway show, so I've been hard at work fettling things in readiness. A lot of time has been spent on details like fine-tuning couplings, weathering track etc. There's lots more of that kind of thing to do and it won't all be done before the show, so I'm now focusing on the remaining essentials: extra rolling stock and the fiddle yard. I can come back to the small stuff once these are functioning. I've fitted my Heljan class 20 with Dingham couplings, though they don't work well on even the slightest curve - something to do with the length of the loco causing the couplings to move too far to the side. The Dingham hints and tips leaflet suggests attaching the couplings to a piece of stiff wire attached to the underside of the bogie but I'm not sure I want to muck about that much with a £500 loco. I've built a couple of extra wagons from Parkside Dundas kits. Not my ideal rolling stock, but perfectly adequate and very quick to put together. I've been promised the loan of a Little Loco class 15 (there was one in Edinburgh, albeit VERY briefly) and a Class 03, for whose presence there is no excuse other than that the layout needs variety and I like Class 03's! Neither of these locos have Dingham couplings so we'll either have to use a shunting pole or a barrier wagon (for which there probably isn't space). The biggest addition is the fiddle yard, which I'm rather pleased with. It makes a huge difference to operating the layout - I wish I could use it all the time, but it simply won't fit in the room! The fiddle yard is 5'6" long and has two tracks entering it: single track from the distillery line, with an isolated section and the main BR line. The latter splits into three sidings, using a section of flexi track to swivel into position, as required. At the far end a sector plate allows for loco release and run-round. I've added isolators to the three loops and the traverser, to give maximum operating flexibility.I took some pictures of it, whilst I had it set up in the living room for testing. I took Friday off to go to Modelrail Scotland and was pleasantly reassured at the sheer number of people I saw struggling with couplings or nudging locomotives! Actually I saw even more people fighting to overcome the complexity of DCC controls, which is one thing we won't have to worry about! David

I love the idea of a built in mug holder! Very civilised :-)

Thanks Pete - the link worked ok for me. That looks exactly right. I've ordered some and I'll let you know how it looks when it arrives. Cheers, David

Thanks to everyone for their responses - loads of food for thought. Happily the exhibition is noly 20 minutes from my home, so I can always nip home for something, but I'd far rather be prepared, so all the hints and suggestions are really useful. Having a trial run makes a lot of sense Peter - there's always something you don't thin of, regardless of how well you plan. In my radio ham days I used to do VHF contesting, where we'd set up a high-powered radio station, with a massive antenne array on the top of a mountain for 48 hours. That taught me the importance of very detailed planning and trial runs. Finding you were missing a vital antenna clamp (or worse, the tea-bags) when you're 100 miles from home on the top of a mountain was upsetting to say the least! Dave, you're point about track cleaning is something I hadn't really considered. Contact on Scotland Street is generally very reliable, providing I clean the track every 4-6 weeks. I hadn't considered the amount of dust and other contaminants that will be floating about at the venue. I'm quite concerned about the Dingham couplers - they're bound to get knocked a little in transit and it doesn't take a lot to misalign them. My plan is to set up early on the Friday evening and then have big operating session, fettling as we go. Hopefully that will give me the chance to iron out any niggles and show up what needs fixed at home later and what I've forgotten to bring (there's bound to be something!). Battery powered, radio-controlled DCC - that's I've been waiting for... David

Time to tap into the accumulated wisdom of RMWeb... I mentioned previously that Scotland Street is going to be at the Tweeddale railway Society model exhibition on 18/19th March. This is a bit alarming as I have NEVER exhibited a layout before. I've been to my share of Exhibitions, so I've an idea of what's what, but I have no practical experience whatsoever. So all suggestions, advice, tips. ideas, horror stories etc will be very welcome. One particular problem is that of the fiddle yard. At home Scotland Street lives in a fairly small room, so the fiddle yard is really just an extension of the two lines for about 20 inches. Fine for shunting about at home, but not really up to the job for an exhibition as I can't even get a train off the layout fully. So I have a heap of plywood and 2x1 (or whatever it's called now) to make a new fiddle yard with. But what to make? My carpentry skills are pretty much adequate, no more, so I don't want to go overboard, but it needs to work smoothly and easily for two full days. I want to avoid handling stock/locomotives as much as possible. A long fiddle yard with turnouts is attractive, but expensive for something that might only be used a handful of times. A sector plate for the front line, with a single line for the rear (distillery) line could work well, but may be a bit challenging technically? A set of cassettes? A longer version of the current fiddle yard - two lines that run off the layout and accept some handling will be needed. Easy to build, but probably not so easy to use? A traverser with loco release at each end is my current favourite idea. That way a train can move onto the fiddle yard , the loco can be moved to the front of the same or a different train and a guards van can do the same. Help? David

Hi John. The straight answer is I'm not sure. The only mention I can find of dumb buffers in the instructions refers to the short hooks and loops included on the etch "intended for fitting to industrial locos with short or dumb buffers." The couplers work better if not sprung, so I guess that means that the buffers have more work to do on curves. Scotland Street only has very shallow curves, but even on them the inside buffer seems to be compressing a little. I hope that helps, but I suspect someone with more experience/knowledge will be along soon! David

Doesn't time fly! I can't believe it's over a month since I've posted on here. I've been dabbling away at a number of things over the Christmas holidays, so here's a composite update... DINGHAMS First thing was the Dingham autcouplers. These have been a real learning curve. When I first installed them in some stock they worked ok, but with occasional failures, which was rather irritating. I went back to basics and throughly checked all the couplers, adjusting and testing as I went. What has become apparent is that every measure is critical: They must be the correct height above the rail - more than 1mm out will create problems. The hooks must be exactly the same length as the buffers - 0.5mm difference can be enough to prevent decoupling. The buffer springs mustn't be too soft, or they can compress and cause the loop to stick under or over the opposing latch. The hooks and loops must be perfectly horizontal. The droppers must swing freely, when passing over an electromagnet or decoupling either doesn't work or is jerky. The crank under the loops must be the correct dimensions, to ensure correct movement of the loop (this was especially challenging with shunters with deep buffer beams). The coupling mechanisms have to be well-made and move smoothly. The latches must be completely smooth on top or loops can catch on them. In my drive for perfection I replaced quite a few wagon buffers with Slater's ones - I found the springs needed stretching to get the buffer ends to sit at the correct 12.5mm. I also replaced a lot of the first couplings I built as I gradually got better at making them - I now find it quite therapeutic! I gave up trying to colour the couplings using gun blue, as suggested in the instructions and resorted to the alternative of a black indelible marker. This produces a more even and deeper black, but it does have a glossy finish. Nonetheless the loops are so fine that, once coloured black they are very hard to see, which is the objective. I've installed 5 electromagnetic decouplers, essentially one at the start of each siding and one at each of the two entrances to the scenic section. As DInghams work by decoupling as the train reverses over a magnet, then staying decoupled until the train is ready to pull forward again, this positioning seems to work well. The tops of the bolts which form part of the magnets sit level with the top of the sleepers, so are easy to hide with a little ballast. My final check was to unleash my partner's 15 year old son Daniel on the layout for some protracted operating sessions. He's more patient than me and each session produced a smaller list of minor fettling requirements on the couplings. Now it all works pretty well and is a joy to operate: no fiddling with mini shunter's poles and no "hand of God". It also means I can install details like point levers, telegraph poles etc without fear of them getting bashed. I just have to get better at remembering to decouple as a train backs into a siding, rather than when it's ready to pull out again - I occasionally have to resort to unprototypical reversing back to the decoupler because I forgot! TURNOUT FROGS I have finally got round to putting triangles of plasticard in the Peco turnout frogs, to "stop the drop". To begin with I didn't mind rolling stock wobbling and bumping as they went over the frogs - the real thing would have done the same, but it has gradually become a real niggle. It's not so much of a wobble as a crash into a pot-hole! it's much more subtle now. I've painted them black and they are virtually invisible. ROLLING STOCK & LOADS On the rolling stock front I've painted up a Ten Commandments pipe load for the Parkside pipe wagon and added some scale chain to tie it down. I also made a load for one of the 16 tonners out of closed cell foam, with Eziloads coal on top. They both look quite well I think, but I may be biased I've also started working on some extra rolling stock - a Slater's van and two Parkside 16t opens are in the works and I still have the Majestic lowmac to paint. I'd rather build etched brass kits, but Slaters and Parkside produce good, rapid results. Time until the layout's appearance at the Tweeddale MRS show in March is running a little short. Come to think of it, does anyone know of an etched brass 16 tonner other than those from Welcome Wagons (too many poor quality whitemetal castings) and MMP (fantastic, but so much detail it's a VERY slow build!)? Maybe I'm too fussy. DETAILING & WEATHERING On the layout itself I've been applying myself to some detailing and weathering. There are now lots of casks outside the bonded warehouse and a man having a fly cup of tea, sitting on the loading dock. In the coalyard I've weathered both the office and the bricked up tunnel-mouth (probably needs a bit more). I've also added some random heaps of coal and some coal sacks on the lorry. I've painted up a rather nice coal-man carrying a full sack on his back, but it looks wrong in isolation - I need to find a second man to put on the lorry, ready to take the sack from him. It's all quite exciting, watching the layout come together. There's lots more weathering and detailing to do, some more work on the backdrop and before March I'll need to build a much bigger fiddle yard. I also need a new year's resolution to update this thread more often! Onwards and upwards. David

Hi Paul. This is looking great. It's amazing how much can be squeezed into a small space, with some ingenuity. My micro, Scotland Street, is massive by comparison at 8' x1'! I'm keen to see how you get on with 02 kit. I haven't plucked up courage for a whitemetal kit yet - everything has been etched brass or plastic, so do please keep us posted. David

Hi Rich. Happy to help. As my layout is completely linear that hasn't been a problem for me so far. It would be nice to be able to use locos either way around for variation. The Dingham instructions do address that: "a loop and a...latch can be fitted at both ends of the loco...It is emphasised that the couplers will almost certainly not work as well in this set-up as in single-ended mode." Looking at the diagram (near the bottom of this page:http://www.dingham.co.uk/7mm_inst.htm) I think it would take some fettling to get both the latch and the loop to raise smoothly and drop back in place consistently. Might be worth a shot though. The alternative would be to simply use screw couplings on those locos and accept a bit of shunting pole work. David

Hi Simon. You're dead right - the shiny rims must go and they are an easy fix, so maybe that should be my starting point for wagon weathering. David

This is a little like NASA spending millions designing a space pen whilst the Russians used pencils! I just tried an indelible black marker and it worked perfectly. Thanks John.

Hi Rich. The Dingham couplers are still an on-going piece of work for me. I like them a lot but there are definite pro's and cons. On the plus side they seem to work well and are unobtrusive. The diagrams on the Dingham website imply they are quite chunky and obvious. Far from it - they are pretty hard to see. They also allow for coupling to normal 3-links etc, which is useful as the main downside is that they are a bit fiddly to make and fit - not a job to be rushed and you can continue to use existing stock with Dingham stock whilst changing over. The three difficulties I have overcome are: (1) getting them decently blackened. The instructions suggest using gun blue, but they end up a slightly patchy grey-black. At first I was dissatsified with this. Then I realised it camouflages them quite well - probably better than a pure black would (they can't be painted by the way - they are simply too fine). (2) some locos in particular are pretty awkward in terms of buffer length and height of buffer beam. However the etches come with several shorter hooks for use with industrial locos with short buffers. The magnetic dropper seems fairly forgiving of being re-shaped to allow for different buffer beam shapes. (3) Getting the height of the hook above the rails right. This is critical and Dinghams aren't very forgiving of this. I've made up a little height-above-rails gauge out of scrap brass, with the min and max centre height for the hooks scribed on. That has helped a lot. So on balance I like them. They're not perfect and not robust either, but I think in terms of visibility they're better than the alternatives. And they work! Here are a few illustrative photos. Be aware that the flash has washed out the couplers on several pics, making them seem lighter than they are. As it happens, when I saw your post I was wondering what to do next so before posting this I fitted Dinghams to the new Dapol 08 - see below. Good luck! David

Hi all. Time for an overdue update. I've been pottering about with several different overdue projects for the layout over the last couple of weeks and now I finally have some time to sit down and talk about them. The coal-yard wall is completed and you can see it in place below. It's a bit too bright but the weathering process will liberally cover it in dirt and coal dust so it should end up about right I hope. There's a small gap behind - hopefully enough to squeeze in the end of a coal-yard hopper, poking over the top. I'll have a play with some styrend and see if I can get it to look right - hopefully it will add a little extra depth. So much of this layout is about trying to create the illusion of space and depth. In the same vein there's a 5mm space behind the sleeper fence and I may try and squeeze in a washing line, though it may look like it's crammed up against the fence (which of course it is), whereas it needs to look like it's on a drying green between the fence and the tenement. Not sure how that will work out, but it's worth a shot. I'm keenly aware that this layout needs to be exhibition-ready for March and there's a lot to do. Never having exhibited before I'm sure there's something I'll forget - all hints and tips gratefully received! I'll certainly need more stock so I've been adding to the wagon fleet and doing some long overdue fettling of existing wagons. Almost all of my kit-built wagons lacked transfers (except the Parkside Dundas pipe wagon - the supplied transfers went on like a dream). I've been using the lack of transfers as an excuse to put off weathering the wagons and my lack of skill with transfers to put off putting the transfers on! I decided this prevarication must end! I read somewhere (apologies - I can't remember where) that Microsol and Microset helps to get waterslide transfers to fix cleanly onto models, especially when they don't have a gloss finish (mine are all matt). Well, I have to say that it worked fine and I don't know what I was worrying about. A drop of Microset on the model before applying the transfers seems to help them adhere very cleanly, followed by a thin coat of Microsol , to soften them and makes them conform to irregularities in the surface. I've been using Old Time Workshop transfers from the former Modelmaster range and their advice that the shiny varnish can be removed with low tack masking tape after 24 hours didn't seem to work for me, but it's not too obtrusive. Before weathering I'll apply a think coat of matt varnish, which will hopefully do the job. So now I am running out of excuses to avoid weathering the stock (and the incredibly bright and shiny Dapol class 08). I've invested in some Humbol weathering powders, as I'm not too keen on the air-brushed look (and I don't yet own an airbrush), but I'm open to any and all advice on the subject. I've seen some beautiful examples of weathering on here and in magazines, but a look through eBay shows some absolute horrors, so there are clearly plenty of things to get wrong! My other advance on the wagon front is a Lowmac, built from a Majestic brass kit. It's an NBR wagon, which in truth was withdrawn in the late 1960s, so I'll have to pretend it soldiered in into the late 1970s and also think up an excuse for it's presence on the layout. I think this will be the delivery of some specialist piece of heavy machinery for the bonded warehouse/distillery, hidden under a tarpaulin. The reason for this slightly tortuous excuse for the wagon's presence is that it has some family importance and so I really want it to have a place. My partner's late father, Bill Peddie was a railwayman all his life and in the later part of his life was a leading member of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society and played a pivotal part in setting up the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway. Sadly I never met him but a box of his O Gauge bits and pieces came our way, including this kit, which Bill must have bought some time before he died. Somehow it seems important to build it and have it on the railway. Knowing that Bill had a reputation for taking pride in his work and always striving to achieve the best standards I felt a need to do the best I possibly could with this wagon and it has sat on the shelf for months, before I plucked up courage to build it. However it actually turned out to be a lovely kit to build - excellent quality etches and clear instructions, plus of course a Lowmac is a relatively simple wagon structurally. The only changes I made were to replace the whitemetal wire-sprung buffers with some turned steel ones (only the shanks are present in the pics). The sprung wire would obstruct the Dingham couplings, which are my other change. The wagon has a very deep buffer beam, so the Dingham couplings will need a little fettling to fit. Onwards and upwards. David