GloryDays

@KNP If this happens and you need someone to adopt a Pannier, let me know. I'd only take one though... Unless they are like Gremlins. Be careful not to feed them after Midnight!

Are Panniers anything like rabbits?

After the show I stored the layout in the attic and didn't really look at it until yesterday. It's in such a sore state I am tempted to rename it "In Dire Straits". I have been tearing up all the bits that didn't work or were damaged beyond repair. For the moment I'm reducing the layout by 1/3rd, to 1m80 or about 6 feet. This should make everything more managable.

A few pictures of the damaged sustained in transport from last week's show. On both stairs, the railings are damaged with pieces broken and missing. As a result, I am going to scrap both. Sad news, but they will be replaced with something even more fitting!

Last weekend was the show at Alkmaar and -to no fault of the show's organisation- it was the weirdest show weekend I've had. It all started upon loading the layout Saturday morning. It... well, it fell apart. Literally. Let me explain. Mind the gap has three scenic boards that sit on two bases. These bases each sit on a pair of legs. These bases have seen a dozen shows by now and have been around the block. But this time, just about all of the glue joints failed on the left hand base. I was left with 11 wooden parts and a pessimistic feeling about erecting "Mind the gap" at the show. Without the base, the layout would simply not connect to the rest of the club. Oh dear, with only 2 hrs of driving and worrying between me and the show. Amazingly... the wooden pieces somehow supported the layout above, although it felt like assembling a Jenga tower. During the show "Mind the gap" performed well, even if I did forget to bring part of the roof on day 1. I then had to pack the layout and protect it from the rain after the show. Boy there was a lot of rain! Back at home, the final surprise was that the most vulnerable parts of the layout - the roof I forgot earlier and the stairs - had been damaged. The stairs are badly damaged but the roof can be fixed. Pictures will follow shortly.

A quick update. The layout is packed up into two 90x40x40 boxes. The front facia is painted in primer and should get its grey color over the weekend. I've had some spare time which I used to cover the coaches in satin varnish and they are now back together. Thry will need interior lighting and the brake coaches will need red oil lamps... but that's for the future.

Unexpectedly, the coupling was far too low. I've "borrowed" a coupling from Hornby coaches. Now all is well. Some minor touch ups of the brick paper may be in order.

It should, but I didn't notice. Perhaps the running rails in the point guide the coupling out of the way while the 4th rail after the point is more of a head on collision. But I think it is only a problem for one of the tracks... more playing with trains required! Edit: I took an earlier picture and I've marked the collision point. Perhaps the 4th rail didn't seat properly after ballasting.

A quick update as I've polished the tracks today. The layout performs nearly as it should with power available to all straight track and one of the two points. The other point is my first problem. as is, I've installed Electrofrog point but rely on the contact between the point and tracks for power. The points are completely stock Peco points. The broken point only provides power when the diverging route is selected. On the exhibition, the straight route is used. I've wired the Electrofrog to provide power for the straight route. This would cause a short when the point switches to the diverging route; this is fine for now. The points will be disabled at the exhibition. My other problem is bitter irony. The 3rd (outside the running rails) and 4th (in the center between running rails) are prototypical for London Underground. I was testing the Heljan Metropolitan Bo'Bo; also correct for London. You'd think that would go together... but no, it doesn't. As it turns out the couplings on the Bo'Bo are very low. They interfere with the 4th rail... interesting, as the 4th rail sits below the running rails to prevent this exact problem.

I can officially tick the box marked "woodwork". The layout is now framed as my module club requires. A coat of dark gray paint is next. Then, I've got to get Mind The Gap ready for the first exhibition in years in Alkmaar, a lot of cleaning and testing is in the future.

Yet another small step sees the layout coming out of the woodwork. Let the bad puns begin! I am also nearly out of wood so a trip to the DIY store is in order. I am also shocked that after building the layout for a few years, I have only new reached the stage of "empty canvas" ?

Another bit of progress. More street-level boards added and I am working on the third and final backscene. Next: fixing the new street boards to the tunnels below and painting the tunnels brown.

A little progress is still progress. Today I've managed to cut and fit two boards for the street level. These can stay in place when I need to take the layout apart. If there is a derailment, the tunnel comes apart. That's also a fun feature at shows!

I've been neglecting you in the holiday hustle... oh no! The attic / railway room has gotten new lighting, the old light only lit the staircase to the attic, but didn't give any light to work by. That has now been fixed. I'm also putting the layout up on its exhibition legs. It's been a while since our club has got together and I need to make sure everything still works. I have my work cut out, the cable management is very sloppy. I've got the oppertunity to install a background and a proper floor for the street level. I hope to complete the woodwork by the end of the month. Here's the current state of Mind the Gap.

The cut-and-cover stations are among the most beautiful Underground stations and I believe they offer more opprrtunities for modelling all sorts of railroad traffic; especially when you consider the Widened Lines. On the other hand, the deep level tube stations are icons of London Underground. In any case I've been working on the lighting. Loads of LEDs fitted to the layout today, only to discover I need loads more. Oh dear! On a happier note, I am happy about the lights I've got. The arches need two LEDs each, but they can be fixed to, and hidden by, the station nameplates.

While I am waiting to get transfers, I am cracking on with building the layout and station. The layout is gaining a back wall and side walls while the stations are getting lit up by 60 LED lights. Here are the first two LEDs in action. In the dark, their effect is quite pronounced, but it's more subtle under normal lighting. Notting Hill Gate provides inspiration for placement of the uplights. At Notting Hill Gate, the platforms are lit by lights hung from the roof. This is very fragily and I expect the layout to be moved around a lot. I decided to go with light posts on te platforms.

It has certainly been a while... a whole Summer, in fact! I'm happy to report the ballasting is all done. All of the 3rd and 4th rails are in place and painted so both me and my rolling stock is on track 😁. Above picture was taken with the layout in its stored configuration; divided in 90cm sections. In other news, I had a fleet of 8 ex-LSWR 58' from when I was modelling the Isle of Wight. These wore nice SR olive and BR maroon liveries. Alass, they had no place running on the Underground in these colors. With a little use of Rule 1, let's say London Underground happened to strengthen its carriage fleet with these 58' coaches. They are close enough to Dreadnoughts for me to imagine such a thing. And I happened to borrow an airbrush so I could have a go at repainting my fleet. Here is my result until now: The close-up shows the unfortunate struggles my camera has in limited light. Overall I am quite happy thus far. The brown appears a bit lighter on the picture than it does in real life. It might be a bit too light, but I'll run with it. In any case they play much nicer with my London Underground locos. Next steps are to arrange London Underground decals and put the coaches back together.

It's the Chamber of Chilling Out and Cinematography

I don't have much progress but I want to keep the momentum going. The running rails have now all been painted, there's 4 sections of rails to go. I would be quite happy when that job is complete and I can get on with ballasting. The platforms have been removed for this purpose.

Very true! Eagly-eyed viewers will note that the 3rd and 4th rail are incorrect on Mind the Gap. This comes down to the modular nature. Every once in a while -usually once every month or two- all of us will get together and link up all of our modules and run trains on the combined layout. There are no rules on what trains we can run. I had failed to remember this when installing 3rd rails and 4th rails on the sleepers as per Peco's recommendations. This resulted in a crash of a Javelin onto the 4th rail... For this reason, my 4th rail is now safely tucked in between and under the level of the running rails. The 3rd rail isn't mounted on the sleepers for the same reason. It is also aligned to the power pickups on the Metropolitan Bo-Bo. Edit: Here's a picture of the 3rd and 4th rails and their isolators.

The last section of tracks is due to be painted and ballasted. First step is to take everything apart.

I'm certainly not an expert but I've tackled another section before.

Thank you. I've had to do a bunch of research on the ballastin in the station area. It's certainly true that the deep-level tubes are built on concrete and have safety pits. I am basing my layout on the much older sub-surface lines (the Metropolitan Railway for example) which are built much like mainline railways. These have traditional ballast. Long story short, the track i the station will be ballasted. There is a join in the middle of the station which needs to be dealt with.

The roof is coming together nicely, so here's the view from under the canopy. Next up: painting and ballasting the remaining track. I also need to finish the wall to eliminate the light bleeding through from under the arches.

Some more glazing was added today with only 5 panels missing. Too bad I have to lasercut these parts first. Here is a view of the station a train driver would get: Wgile the bridge may accidentally resemble a ready-made product, this one is made to measure. Here's the view a passenger might have: