Darius43

Alas no.

Possibly, but the helix plates are plywood and so a lot of new bracketry would be required to be fixed to the plates in a way that does not obstruct the track/trains whilst being strong enough to carry the dead weight, plus the baseboard “hard points” would need to be moved. This is not going to happen. Cheers Darius

Track laying starts - first the lower revolution of the helix and the helix approach. Powerbase applied to the inside “up” track - just in case... Tested with the Rapido APT-E which can manage the gradient but has too much of an overhang on the curves and thus will hit the helix support posts. The Bachmann GN Atlantic managed it ok, however. Next test will be with the HST. Cheers Darius

Living in Worthing I have visited Arundel many times and I think have been in the Cathedral Centre a few times. I recall it to be a Church Hall type building with a first floor gallery around the edge of the ground floor. Both the ground floor and gallery are divided up into “shoplets” mainly selling antiques. They will all have to be cleared out if a model railway exhibition isn’t to have any chance of fitting. Parking in Arundel is not easy. The best place is the main car park opposite the entrance to the Castle or on the adjacent road. It’s a long walk to the top of the hill where I think the cathedral Centre is located. The Cathedral itself is certainly located there!!! There is parking for about 3.5 cars in the yard in front of the place. Never heard of an Arundel MRS. Darius

Hi Mike, We are planning to maximise access to cope with derailments hence the central hole in the helix. We have a wheeled access trolley so that we (I) can get in there “Great Escape” style. Yes it’s 4mm scale and DCC using the Roco Z21 system. Given the size of things we will need a booster or two!!! The station area is being re-planned and will not be like the sketch. The station will now be on the upper of the two scenic levels with the lower diving under. This area is still “fluid” design-wise but this is our current thinking. The plan is to get the lower level up and working with the track on the helix tested for each revolution before proceeding with the next. Cheers Darius

To cope with any lack of pulling power the “up” line of the helix is being fitted with DCC Concepts Powerbase. Easier to fit now rather than later. The “centipede” plates are trimmed to size and glued to the helix segments using pva. The completed segments are stacked and weighted down while the glue sets. I used paper separators to make sure I don’t end up with a single glued stack!!! Cheers Darius

Return end of storage level:- Cheers Darius

Trial installation of the helix. This was purchased from a friend who was upscaling to O gauge from OO - I should have stated that our layout is OO gauge. The original helix used nylon threaded rods and nuts to clamp the risers in place and was a nightmare to disassemble - each nut had to be removed by hand. These have been replaced with 4mm dia. steel rods an Mecanno collars locked into place using grub screws. Two revolutions trial assembled to test the system. Cheers Darius

Lower level under construction Cheers Darius

Preliminary sketches:- Storage level Scenic level Cheers Darius

A friend and I are in the process of building a layout in a shed in his back garden. Having first built the shed we are now in the process of baseboard construction. The proposed layout is on two levels - the lower level being for storage and the upper being the scenic level. The two levels are to be linked by a helix. Preliminary plans were made using Sketchup - as construction proceeds new ideas arise and so these plans may not transfer to the finished layout. They do give a flavour of what is planned however. The shed is approximately 30 feet long by 10 feet wide. Cheers Darius

And the significance of the part plan of the DLR train was...? Darius

To be fair its’ starting price was below £100, which is not too bad and it is quite well made and finished. Darius

Looking at the interior photo it looks like they do. Uncomfortably numb travelling awaits more unfortunate souls. Perhaps Chris Grayling should spend eternity strapped to one of these seats... Darius

Interesting looking loco. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-STYLE-D-MODEL-Bo-Bo-DIESEL-LOCO-/302684322080 Cheers Darius

Chipmans train at Bristol TM in 1985. Cheers Darius

It would appear that the DfT is competing with the Home Office with respect to inflicting pain and suffering upon the British public. Darius

Looks like Blu-Tac has been used to make the “faces”. Truly dreadful. Darius

Starting to get enthusiastic I started to draft out some plans using Sketchup. I used to live in the Potteries in the 1970s (Newcastle-under-Lyme) and have always been interested in the local railways. One of my earliest memories is seeing a small industrial steam loco shunting on the Pool Dam branch. The current plans are loosely based on Hanley station on the long gone Potteries Loop line. Cheers Darius

The idea sprung from the purchase of an OO gauge double track helix a couple of years ago from a friend who was converting from OO to O gauge. The helix came ready mounted on a baseboard with legs. The helix is to be used on a 30ft by 10ft layout that another friend and I are to start building in a shed at the bottom of his garden and has been dismantled ready for later reconstruction in said shed. This leaves me with a pre-fab baseboard 1.66m (5.4ft) x 1.275m (4.18ft) which breaks down into four pieces and is currently residing in the entrance to my flat. In an idle moment yesterday I wondered if I could use it as the basis for a roundy roundy test layout... Here is the baseboard clipped together (minus legs) on the living room floor. Cheers Darius

Tried calling them a few times to pay the balance on the Stirling Single. Each time I got through to the voicemail that stated that they were only open between 9.30am and 4pm. On each occasion I was calling between these times. I left a message for them to call me back and to be fair they did do so and got my voicemail. The last returned message is that you can only pay the balance through the website. Cheers Darius

So we can have fun on RMWeb speculating on what the announcement might be Cheers Darius

The sliding doors are located on the outside of the body on this plan. Docklands Light Railway unit? Cheers Darius

I like the seller’s statement in the listing:- “I am a Hornby Thomas collector and I buy them at low prices”. Selling them is another story it seems. I suppose the rare “FACTORY ERROR” is the reason for the apparent escalation in value of this junk. Darius

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ID-218N-Backscenes-N-Gauge-Brighton-Docks-2-x9-x60-Rolls-in-Tube-T48-Post-/12162445796 Been to Brighton on many occasions but never stumbled upon the docks...? Shoreham Harbour on the other hand... Cheers Darius