tigerburnie

Ran the Hornby A3 "Flying Fox" round a few times both to test the track and to run the loco in a bit(second hand purchase),it ground to a halt, tender motor still running? Inspection showed the drive sprocket had moved on the shaft coming away from the wheel drive sprockets, a dab of glue has done a tempory fix but this will need sorting, any suggestions, can I buy spares?

Both loops now completed and trains have run , some older engines don't like some of the points, my old Jinty I had new in the early 1960's seems to have fat flanges, it won't be running on the railway, so it's not a problem, but I will have to be aware when finding rolling stock I do want to run.

One more image of the station area image removed

Managed a full 8 hour shift on the railway today, nearly finished the ballasting in the station area, not started on the turntable/goods area yet and the "fields" side will also be ballasted as well, just the north and south ends will be just running on cork. I have put a spirit level on this, it's me that on the slant not the railway. The mess will be tidied up and scenic back drops will hide the background a bit, Additional legs/bracing to be added, but I just wanted the bare bones done and I've run a couple of trains round the up line just a pleasure to see something moving more than a couple of feet.

I haven't seen any reference to it on GC metals, indeed it's visual cousins were very thin on the ground too, I know of Silver Link once and I saw Mallard being towed down to London to the museum, other than that Eastern Region exotica seems to have been absent.

Hi James, yes that site is in my favourites, I'm using some of those images to try and build some shorter versions of the station buildings, I'll take some photo's. The station from the throat of platforms 1&2 down to 3&4 is just over 10 feet, I can just fit in the Northgate bridge going to Frog Island,but the south end is a tad stunted, I was hoping to get to the river, but no room for it.

Very late finding this thread, excellent modelling skills and a patience that maybe I lack demonstrated, it also illustrates the amount of work required in searching though the annuls to garner information to add to the reality. I thought I could just make a sort of facsimile and add a load of off the shelf stuff and I'd be happy, that is clearly changing as I go along. I am both motivated and perhaps a bit daunted in equal measure, but my bit of the GC will come along slowly. Thanks for the comment too Richard

Well this is fun!! very time consuming, but quite satisfying in an odd masochistic sort of way, but I will be pleased when this ballast is all finished.

Have you tried a polarising filter on your camera? might help shooting into the light.

Starting to ballast the station area, not done this before, so began at the extreme north end where the bridge will distract the eye if it isn't up to scratch.

I now have a Working Time Table that includes freight running as well, most interesting to read.

This copy of a time table of the period will help with some accuracy in the trains running, actually more than I thought on a line that was mostly freight running. I thought the "Master Cutler" was still running at this time, but this only mentions the "South Yorkshireman" as a named express.

Mostly doing electrical work and sticking down the track in the station area, the centre section of the platform is now built and I am scratch building the buildings for the platform. This centre section has taken the brunt of the compromise as I needed the middle dead end sections to accomodate a loco, tender and 3 coaches for local stopping trains. These platforms 1,2 ,3 and 4 are 50 inches long, so in order to fit into the space, this centre is only 20 inches long, consequently the buildings are now also shorter than they appear on the few photographs I can find to model from. I am pleased with the overall appearance and I'm sure it will make a good representation of the prototype.

Is this where we introduce FLC into the equation? Can we introduce a cascade starter into the circuit/motor?.............................

I have some bootlace ferrules, easy job to fit, so I will do that.

That short piece of flexible isn't fixed down and it's flexed a bit, it will be set correctly, it's due to get loops soldered across the joins first.

Soldered up the switches today and continued fixing down track, this image shows the individual loops power supply, I need to now whittle down some sleepers to fill the gaps, the new variable soldering iron is making the whole job so much easier. You can also just see the V2 kit built, that I made some 30 years ago, I really must finish it and give it a lick of paint.

Bit too hot up in the loft to do a lot but I am trying to progress along a bit each week. The panel is fitted to a hinge to allow easy access if required, the wires are not soldered yet, having done a continuity test, I will run locos along to ensure it is doing what I want it to do.

I need a better higher wattage soldering iron, that will help, need to get out and get one tomorrow. The Gaugemaster does control the voltage, I've checked as I bought the controller secondhand, I am thinking about using another controller for the goods loops and "countryside section\" that will be on the opposite side of the oval.

I will have feeds to every section, just the station area will have locos on most of the passing loops at certain times in the timetable, so having switches to turn off the supply means locos will only move when I want them to. The switches arrived yesterday and I've mounted them on a panel ready for wiring, I'll try and take some pictures that might explain what I'm doing.

This layout is continuing in phases, when it's too hot I sit in the garden drinking cider, however the nights are now drawing in. All the main lines in the station area are pretty much laid, goods depot and turntable not yet built or bought, so this area will be finished later. The platform has ended up being over 8 feet long which with the two end central tracks requiring to be 44 inches long to accommodate 3 coaches and a loco and tender(3 railcar trains were used towards the end of the railways life) for local stopping trains, compromises have had to be made. The first casualty is the north(down line) engine siding has had to be omitted, I just couldn't fit it in without seriously reducing the station length. I have also abandoned the idea of the custom made parallel double slips I had intended to use, again at around 20 inches long, no room, so the end result using points is actually closer to the prototype. Switches for the isolation for the passing loops should be delivered tomorrow so once the wiring is completed the railway buildings will be next along with lighting and station buildings and canopies. I am struggling to find some concertina sliding gates that were used on the goods lift, anyone any ideas?

No Andy, thanks for that, I should have known that, I first did a continuity test and then just put the power on and switched the tester over to voltage, I should know better really doh!.

Slow progress at the moment, but things are moving along, north end is now stuck and wired, but not all loops across the rail joiners are completed. Feeds at both ends from the controller is showing full voltage across the whole area, with out the switched feeds connected(waiting for miniature switches to be delivered). So the belt and braces switched feed to each track is at present not required, however taking on board what people advise regarding corrosion/deterioration over time, it's comforting to know I have a cunning plan in place to sort of future proof it a bit. Had a quick test running an A3 with coaches attached in all directions and after a couple of re-fits, no de-railments which is a bonus.

Nothing is fixed down yet, still adding connections, too hot to work up there today. Still a bit of jig sawing to do as well, so most if not all this track may be removed and final fitted. Maybe the blurry one would be better rotated through 90 degrees.

A rather blurry overview of the station track work, a lot of soldering and drilling to do, I am adding additional links now, that can be connected up later if required should the connectivity deteriorate over time. The large gaps will be dealt with after the soldering of the links is completed, so as not to melt the sleepers.