mjcampbell

Looks a very natural formation. Just a thought, but narrow gauge railways avoided expensive earthworks. Bridges were not uncommon (though less likely than on busier lines), but tunnels are rare - and only where the landscape really dictates them. On the left I think thick woodland would disguise the track exit well enough, without need for a tunnel. That would look more natural. Some black paper forming a tunnel behind the backscene helps too. If you don't believe me, look at the top track exit on this layout!

A close-up of my ballasted and weathered track, for well-used but not neglected look: There's a thread on here somewhere but it's not been updated for ages, as NG doesn't get much interest on here. More on the blog though: http://michaelsrailways.blogspot.co.uk/p/awngate.html

After a few doodles, I spent some time this afternoon with some of Kellog's best quality cardboard and a pair of scissors, creating a mock-up for Hexworthy's station building. It may be the only significant building on the layout so it has to look right, and it has to fit the constrained and odd shape site. IMG_3861 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr As the end of the line the station building looks relatively large for a narrow gauge line, I imagine it would need living accommodation for the station master (who was probably also booking and goods clerk, and possibly signal man too). It's not grand though, and I've used dormer windows to keep the height moderate and give a Dartmoor style. The line near the bottom marks the approximate platform height. IMG_3862 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr At one end is a small goods shed, in the preservation era setting this will become the cafe with a glass french door in place of the wooden sliding one, hence the siding stopping well short. I'm also planning to add a canopy to the front of the station building. IMG_3863 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr From above it fits the site quite well, though I wonder if it is a little long. I may see if I can shorten it about 10%. IMG_3864 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr This view shows most of the layout with the building sitting in place - quite comfortably I think. IMG_3861 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr

Narrow gauge railways are all different. Even those of the same track gauge may have different loading gauges, couplings, track construction, and ballast styles! They vary from main-line looking through to earth and weeds. So it all depends what you want to portray. For a well-kept (e.g. preserved) line use N-gauge ballast. For a less well kept line I've used a mixture of sand, plaster, and powder paint before, and I've known people use DAS clay.

Not me!

Go for brick, but maybe a different colour.

That's come out nicely!

Luke, welcome to 009! It's a great scale with so much potential. £100 is a tight budget challenge in any scale, but I see you are up for a bit of scratch-building so I reckon you should be able to do it, just make sure you have fun along the way. Like many others I did a "pug-bash" in my early days, it's a great starting point, and yours is coming out well. The Kato chassis is not only ridiculously cheap, but is a surprisingly good runner - it can be a little fast, but add a little lead and a good controller will make it smooth and controllable. (I got a bag of roofing lead off-cuts free from a builder friend, so ask around! Use impact adhesive e.g. Bostik or Serious glue, or even superglue, but as said Not PVA). There are lots of kits for it too, from simple 3D prints through to etched brass. Despite the tight budget don't get a crude controller like a H&M clipper, it will overheat the small motors. Anything from Gaugemaster will be fine. I use an AMR or KPC hand-held (neither still available but appear on ebay), or I've heard a Trax is good, but they need a separate transformer. A cheap option is to get a cheap speed controller off ebay and add a DC power supply and reversing switch, but some have a minimum speed. Small locos and short coaches and wagons will manage a 6 inch radius (12" diameter) curve, but it will be limiting and can cause problems with couplings. 9 to 10 inch radius is much better and will allow mid-size locos and smaller bogie coaches to operate, though for larger/longer stock go for 12"+. Go for the biggest radius you can of course, if nothing else it looks better! For couplings if you are mainly using N-gauge chassis you can save money and effort using the N-gauge coupler. The Bemo / Peco type is more widely used, but many use the Greenwich coupling which can be compatible, but can also be made to uncouple over a magnet, and works out cheaper - but you have to fold them up from an etch. There's not much narrow gauge on here but try the NGRM forum too where you will get loads of advice and inspiration. I'd also heartily recommend the 009 society - there's a great magazine, extremely useful sales operation, and local area groups. There are also narrow gauge shows around the country, often attended by the 009 sales.

No toilets on the first floor then? Seriously, that's great work. I'd have built a plain building, but that has so much more visual interest and character, and is so 1920's.

So the idea was to make a slimline, low-profile shelf with a couple of sidings, enough to run the layout at home but being much less intrusive (that is, suitable for the lounge) than the large exhibition-friendly fiddle yard I'd built for my previous layout, and will use with this one if it ever gets exhibited. As is often the way with my projects though it got a bit... fiddly. So as you've seen it folds up and over the layout - but to clear the ceiling when doing so it's length would be limited, which mean using a point would have meant shorter trains than I'd like. So I've ended up with a traverser, the bonus being there was space to squeeze in a third siding, but at the cost of more complexity in construction. IMG_3573 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr I recently came up with a design for a latching fiddle yard and built a mock-up for a club layout. For various reasons a different approach is to be used there, but it seemed ideal to use the idea here. At the end of each track a 2.5mm brass tube "pin" was pushed through a slightly undersized hole in the deck (PVC foamboard in this case) on the track centreline, and a piece of PCB with a matching hole fitted over it with enough proud to solder them together. IMG_3567 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr You can also see (as shown in the last post) that the end of the traverser has a strip of foamboard underneath it forming a reinforcing lip, it fits under the fixed deck preventing the traverser rising - or in this case, falling when upside down. This means the brass pins go through 10mm of foamboard, then protrude about 4mm below. From underneath the curved strip attached under the lip of the traverser is clear (helped by the printed face of the foamboard - it came from the marketing department at work!), with the three pins protruding. The latch lever is on the left not yet fitted. A piece of aluminium about 3mm thick has been cut and shaped to a "D" with a notch in the centre of the curve and fixed to the end of the wooden lever, note the red wire attached to the aluminium. Also visible is the spring (from an old pen I think), the bolt for the release lever, and the paperclip that joins the release lever to the latch lever. High tech stuff you know. IMG_3568 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Here's the lever in place, bolt pivot at the bottom (with locking nut), and held by a piece of foamboard at the free end so it can slide. The foam wedge attached to the lever presses on the spring so the aluminium latch is pressed against a brass pin or the end stop, the screws allow some tension adjustment. IMG_3569 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr A close-up of the latch, here it's being held just clear of the brass pin compressing the spring, by holding the release lever (pivoted by the bolt seen on the left) which pulls the latch away. IMG_3570 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Above the board with the traverser swung clear the latch can be seen beneath. The traverser is simply moved until the latch catches a pin, and a track is aligned. The release lever is next to the track, pushing it left pulls the latch away from the pin so the traverser can move without jerking (it can be moved away from the latched position with a little force, the release makes it smooth). The PCB not only retains the track at the end of the traverser, but as seen from the position of the isolating break, feeds the near rail, the far rails being connected together via a flexible cable at the pivot end of the deck. IMG_3572 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr With all track laid a works train prepares to leave the centre track. I reused some track recovered from a fiddle yard years ago, though after spending time removing unwanted solder connections and cutting various bits to length I wished I'd just used a couple of new lengths! IMG_3571 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr So another over-complicated fiddle yard is complete, but it should work well and does meet the aim of being compact and discrete.

I've been building a "domestic" fiddle yard for Hexworthy. If I exhibit it I'll use the large 5-track traverser/turntable I built for Awngate, but while ideal at exhibitions it is big (and frankly, ugly), and the Household Authority has made clear it is not welcome as a permanent addition to the lounge! All I need at home is a couple of sidings, as I don't really do serious operation. The layout fills the bookcase so the sidings need to overhang (over the printer and hamster cage!). A slimline, low-profile design was needed. IMG_3380 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr This is the result - a discrete tapering shelf, which attaches to the layout using the same split hinges. OK, the shelves need tidying, but the layout is reasonably neat. But if that is still too intrusive, simply lift the end up... IMG_3383 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr By use of some paste-table type hinges (left over from a previous incarnation of my son's trainset) the fiddle yard swings up, and over... IMG_3379 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Until it is stowed over the layout. When I've made a lighting pelmet for the front of the layout the stowed fiddle yard will be largely hidden. OK, I'm going to get a reputation for over-complex fiddle yards. And that's not all. I had planned to make this a simple deck for a point and a couple of tracks, however this would have meant very short trains if the board was not to hit the ceiling! (yes, I did check). The front edge track entry position, and tapering front edge, also made a useful arrangement of tracks tricky. However I realised a sector plate would work well - albeit, is more complex to make, especially as it has to hang upside down! IMG_3382 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr The deck of the fiddle yard is a double thickness of PVC foamboard, the top layer forming the sector plate supported on the lower deck. As seen here a lip was fitted to the rotating edge of the plate in a slot in the deck, supporting it when upside down - and hopefully ensuring no vertical movement of the deck tracks relative to the entry track.

The best track cleaner I've found is a fibreglass stick bundle. However these days I never use it... I use graphite instead. Get a soft fat pencil, or better still a graphite stick (any art store) and rub it over the rails. Then run your trains a while, which spread it around, and coat their wheels (make sure both track and loco wheels are clean first). The graphite acts as a conductor increasing the contact between rail and wheel, and displacing any dirt, making for super smooth running. I've used it on 009 and O14 layouts and not cleaned track for a couple of years - including several exhibitions! Just an occasional rub with the graphite stick. Loco wheels need far less cleaning too. A lot of people ask how I get 009 to run so smoothly and slowly As a bonus the rail head takes on a "steely" appearance rather than the golden Nickel-Silver, at one exhibition someone asked if I used steel rail. The obvious down-side is it can also act as a lubricant. I've no issues with lack of performance, but if you ran long trains or steep gradients it might be a concern.

Here's a not very good picture of mine, but in an unusually tidy state! It stores neatly in a cupboard along with my tool-box and some boxes of modelling materials, and is used mainly on a folding TV-dinner type table in the lounge (allowing sociable modelling in the evening) or on the dining table - I don't have a dedicated workshop or workbench. It's made of MDF and has an A3 cutting mat. Note that there are no sides to the right or front, allowing sheet materials, ruler, etc. to overhang and be moved around easily. There are storage areas to the rear and to the left, and tracks on a shelf at the rear (OO and 009 in this case) - these are un-powered, and mostly use to check free running, set couplings, etc. It could be powered, but I'd choose a separate plug-in controller or at least transformer to save weight. Other key features include a small vice - useful for cutting, bending, soldering, and a swivel plate with a vee in it - used with a fine bladed saw (what's the right name?) e.g. to cut out windows in thick plastic. Portability beyond the house is not necessary, nor is power or light. I have a lamp-stand next to the sofa, and an extension lead on the floor - my mini-drill is tucked down the side of the sofa! A soldering iron lives in my tool-box which sits next to the table when I'm modelling. Any more bulk or weight would, for me, defeat the point of it!

I like the concept. Please post some pictures of your progress! I would suggest that the road bridge is not appropriate for this kind of light railway - they avoided them at all costs where possible, so one would not have been situated so close to the end of the line. As it's not needed to hide the exit I'd remove it, or replace with a level crossing which is more likely where a road must be crossed.

That's correct - or at least, I've been told the same thing by someone who would know for sure! The bi-colour LED's can have different current consumption for red and for green, so for some LED's you may even need a different resistor for each leg.

I'd not thought of using a 2-pole non-latching switch to set a relay as well as throwing the solenoid. Makes a lot of sense. For our club layout I'm experimenting with bi-stable latching relays - for a slightly different purpose with different point motors - but I expect that's what these circuits use. A pulse to one coil sets the contacts one way, a pulse to the other sets them the other way, and as they latch a short pulse is all they need. It wouldn't be hard to make your own circuits with them and incorporate the LED's. If you're interested the relays I'm using are these. I always use the point motor switch to switch the point frog - I use live frog points and small rail section. So a separate circuit for LED's makes sense. A thought on stud contact - why not replace the studs with push-buttons? It saves having to find the dangly bit of wire when you need it!

I don't do a wiring diagram, but I do plan out the wiring before I start. The key is the track plan, with track feeds marked, and a "code" given to each feed, point, and indeed each wire. The wires are connected from switches to track and point motors, via terminal blocks, following the codes to label each wire. Hexworthy has just four points, I've labelled A to D. Each has a feed to it's frog (in this case, the wire dropper from the PECO points) which is switched by the point motor, and I've labelled them Af, Bf, etc. There are 5 switched track sections labelled 1-5, I put the feed into the rear rail (as the wire is less visible) and only gap that rail, so fewer "common return" feeds (labelled R) are required. Because of the live frog points breaks are required in both rails of both joins between the red and green sections. HexworthyWiring by Michael Campbell, on Flickr The switch wiring schedule is pretty straightforward, the table above shows the wire codes for the input and output of each switch. "T" is the controller track output, and "P" is the point motor power from the capacitor discharge unit (CDU). Note that the sections may be fed from the adjacent track, so for example section 5 is only live if section 4 is switched on and point C is set to the siding, as well as switch 5 being on. Wiring to and from the switches is via screw terminal blocks that make the wiring easier to follow, make joining wires easier, and providing a point to de-bug if needed. There are terminal blocks for the incoming power supplies (from a 6-pin DIN socket), the connections to the panel, and as shown previously - one for each point motor which includes the frog switching as well as the motor connections. From the track plan it can be seen which rails are being switched, so the inputs come from the section, return, or previous frog feed - this saves extra wires to the rails. Example terminal block connections are shown above, the colours indicate the wire colour used. IMG_2990 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr This is the result with all the wiring in place - surprisingly complex for such a simple track plan! At the top of the picture the control panel is lifted out to access the switches at the rear, below it the terminal block feeding the switches can be seen. On the right are the connections to the power socket, note that the return wires are linked over two terminals to make room for multiple connections. Below and left can be seen two of the point motor connections. All terminals are labelled with the wire code denoting the connection to switch, point motor, or track, so wiring up is simply joining the dots. IMG_2991 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr The other end of the board is a little less busy. All that remains is to tidy the cables, bundling together with tie wraps or a twist of wire, and securing where necessary. You can see I've cut a slot in the foam-core, that's a hand-hole. I was finding it difficult to find places to grip when moving the layout around! IMG_2989 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Up top the markings for the feed wires can be seen - and if you look closely, the wires can be seen soldered to the rails. I feed the wire through a hole in the board and form the end into a "7" shape, tin the end, and hold it against the rail web while pressing a soldering iron against it until the solder flows - hopefully giving a neat and secure join. The loco is on a test run. I'm pleased to report it all worked first time! The careful planning has paid off.

Never come across those indicator circuits before. Neat, but with 4 points on my current layout, I can probably live without on this one! So, the motor is wired from the switch? Do you have to toggle back to the centre off after throwing the point?

Next, the control panel. The schematic is laid out on the computer - I use Word, which has simple drawing tools that allows objects to be drawn to a measured size so the printed size is known. The drawing is duplicated, one has the switches drawn in place - ensuring there is space between them, and marking the centres. This print-out is stuck on the aluminium panel, and the centres of the switches punched. IMG_2940 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr I then took the panel into work and used a pillar drill for the switch holes, and not forgetting the screw holes in each corner. These took a bit of cleaning up with various files. IMG_2941 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr On the back of the panel I also drilled a small hole part-way through above each hole, this is to locate the tab on the keyed washer that stops the switch from rotating. The second print-out (without the switches drawn on) is cut to fit, including switch holes, as is a piece of clear plastic. I used a piece of packaging, but anything clear, stiff, and about 10 thou thick will do. The switches are mounted through the three layers. IMG_2942 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr With the panel screwed in place the result is a neat, easy to follow panel for surprisingly little effort. Recessing the panel means the edge of the plastic and paper layers aren't seen or vulnerable. I've added coloured rubber grips to the section switches to match the diagram, while point motor switches are left silver. IMG_2992 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr

I'm pretty much at the same point with my layout that I started about 5-6 weeks ago, and that's much smaller and only has 4 points, so I think you're doing fine! Wiring takes a while, but I quite enjoy it. It's kinda therapeutic, just connecting wires up. What are the point indicator circuits? It looks like a relay is involved. And are you using passing contact switches? Why 2-pole?

I gave some thought as to which point motors to use. Slow-acting motors have become popular, and we're using Tortoise motors on the latest club layout, which seem well designed and made. However they are very deep, and even the 3.5" depth of the Hexworthy base-board is insufficient, so they don't suit shelf layouts. They are also pricey, and I've heard mixed reviews of cheaper versions, even though I only need four I find it tricky to justify £10-20 per point. The thing is, I don't really see the need for slow acting motors - whenever I've seen a real point move it's with a "clang" that takes less than a second. OK, so solenoids go faster and with a "Thunk", is that worse than a 2-3 second "whrrrrrr"? It's never bothered me. Servos have become popular in recent years. They are cheap, but need a mounting arrangement, and a circuit to drive them - while there are various options for this (including from PECO) they do push the cost up and they aren't simple. I've also heard reports of them "jittering" or moving due to voltage spikes or noise from motors. These things can be resolved, but... Solenoids are relatively cheap, reliable, and simple. My choice are SEEP motors, they are easy to fit under the baseboard with no extra fittings, and have the necessary built in switch for frog polarity switching. Those on Awngate were salvaged from a previous layout and so are probably over 20 years old, I admit they're not used intensively but I've only ever had one failure - and that was repaired. I already have the Capacitor Discharge Unit (CDU) in my power-pack to drive them, and a simple passing contact switch or push button is all that's needed to operate them. The one problem I have had is that the motor requires enough movement to switch the switch properly, but on Awngate with a 6mm baseboard the movement of the 009 point tie-bar was barely enough, requiring some careful set-up. It struck me that the solenoid motor travels further than the tie bar as the pin invariably flexes a little, so if the motor was further from the point the excess movement would increase, and the need to site the motor perfectly would be reduced. IMG_2811 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Firstly a ruler was set along the tie-bar and a pin pushed through the foam an inch or two from either end. Underneath the board the pin holes were joined with a pencil line marking the line of the tie-bar, the point motor should align with this to work effectively. Next the hole for the actuator pin was opened up from below with a scalpel, wider at the underside than above, ensuring the pin cannot foul on the foam-core (which is double-thickness, so 10mm deep here) even if the motor travels further than the point tie-bar. The hole was later painted black. Note the wire in the centre of the picture, which is the dropper from the point crossing vee/frog. IMG_2810 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Previously I've glued the SEEP point motor base directly to the underside of the baseboard. I figured it would make them easier to change in the event of a failure if they were screwed in place, so I made some mounts from 9 mm ply. The big hole clears the actuator pin and the motor is attached with a couple of small screws, a couple of pencil lines mark the centre-lines. IMG_2928 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr From above the points were wedged to the centre position with a couple of strips of plastic behind each blade, I think they were about 30 thou but it was whatever fitted. The blu-tak holds the wedges while I invert the baseboard. IMG_2927 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr The motors were held centrally by a piece of plastic cut to fit between the coils, and a hole for the pin. The pin was pushed into the tie-bar hole and the ply stuck in place (PVA is fine), aligning the centre-lines as it sets. After the glue is dry the plastic pieces are removed, the excess pin is marked, the screws were removed to release the motor, and the pin cut down. They're tough steel so a slitting disc in a mini-drill is best for the job. IMG_2944 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr While the motors were out I soldered wire tails to the contacts - much easier on the bench. I've added these the same to all the motors, long enough to reach a 6-way terminal block connector, which you will note is sited so that the wire dropper from the point frog connects straight in. The grey wire is the switched (frog) output, the white pair are for the stock rails, the green pair are the switched motor feeds to the solenoids, and the black is the return from the solenoids. In theory I'll be able to change a motor with 8 screws - two holding it, and 6 wires - provided it has the same length pin and wires pre-attached, so I may prepare a spare for exhibitions. If you are paying attention you may have noticed that the motor is now about 19 mm below the point, which gives plenty of movement to the solenoid. As expected this means the switch is thrown all the way reliably, in fact the actuator pin hits the coils, so is moving much further than the tie-bar.

IMG_2805 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Track laying started at the join to the fiddle yard - which I connected with the split hinges, and aligned the track to. A piece of copper-clad PCB was stuck firmly down and the rails soldered to it to keep them aligned to the FY track. IMG_2799 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Tools of the job. I use Xuron track cutters which are quick, quiet, and clean. Do watch for flying off-cuts though, and a file is used to clean up the end of the rail so a fish-plate fits. A razor saw is useful to mark the rails where to cut them with the cutters, the scalpel is for trimming or separating sleepers, or opening up the chair to take a fish-plate. It's also used to cut holes in the foam-core board. The 12" radius tracksetta is a useful guide that curves are no sharper, though there are few curves on this layout, for bits that should be straight a steel ruler along the rail is a useful check. The track is the new "Mainline" type with 18" radius points, the first time I've used this. It should represent the neat track of a preserved line well. However the front siding is laid with a length of "Crazy" track with the irregular, worn sleepers, representing a less well maintained siding. You can see the difference below. IMG_2806 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Track is glued down but first all the pieces are cut to size and laid "dry", held in place with track-pins beside the rails and sleepers - this is enough to hold the curves and position. You can just see the pins either side of the curves here. These pins are Gaugemaster or Hornby and are reasonably chunky - not the flimsy Peco ones. Track laying starts with the "main" line and loop, with sidings positioned later. Much time was spent carefully checking and adjusting the position of the points and curves so there is sufficient clearance, the loop is just long enough for 3 Peco L&B coaches (not that all trains will be that long), while at 5 inches the release should take any loco I anticipate. IMG_2803 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr With the track cut and positioned holes were cut for point motor actuator rods, and for the point vee/frog wire that comes pre-attached to these new Peco points. The track was then inverted and PVA glue run along under the rails (keeping clear of moving point parts), then carefully positioned on the marks and between the pins, being weighted down (tins of beans did the job) while the glue sets. The pins can then be removed. IMG_2802 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr While most of the track is the neater "mainline" style, the front siding uses the older "crazy" irregular track for an older less well-kept effect. Track feeds (arrows) and rail gaps (orange lines) were marked out before sticking the track down. Where gaps were at a join - such as at the loop release point - insulating rail joiners were used. However where gaps fall in plain track I prefer to cut them later. IMG_2809 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr I used to use a slitting disc, but having found these useful disc saws at Squires I've found that, with practice, they can make a neater cut, and with less risk of shattering. I'll probably run some epoxy glue into the gap at some point to make sure it doesn't close up if it gets warm.

Yes. You can lift one end of layout and the whole assembly will lift with no flex at all. You'll see that they are offset vertically which helps, I don't think there is a more rigid way to join two boards. Alignment is perfect every time too.

Hexworthy will need a control panel, and like my last layout Awngate, the best place seemed to be the front fascia. The layout will sit on a shelf and be front operated, and the fiddle yard adjoins the end, so other than the hassle of a separate control box, it's the only logical place. The panel is a scrap of 2mm aluminium from the guillotine at work, which happens to be an ideal size, but normally I'd fit it to the rear of the fascia for neatness. Here though there wouldn't be space for it to be removed from behind for access to the switches, so it had to go in from the front - so to maintain a neat appearance I decided to recess it into the fascia. 2017-04-14 17.50.11 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Here's my piece of aluminium, with some trial printouts of the panel layout. These aren't yet final, but show it will all fit. The fascia (bottom) has had a suitable sized hole cut out, with two other layers cut too, one to the size of the panel, and one a little smaller. 2017-04-15 15.07.04 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr The two layers are glued behind the fascia creating a 6mm deep recess which the panel just fits, and a support which it will eventually be screwed to. These two layers also reinforce the thin ply edges so this is not a weak point. Meanwhile, the foam-core board is cut away with a knife to make space. 2017-04-15 21.18.29 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Fitting it together, you can see how the foam-core structure and the timber reinforcement conspire to make access from the rear so tricky. I've also added a socket for the power connections at the same time. 2017-04-15 21.17.55 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr All fitted together. I need to drill the panel for the holding screws, when I drill it for the switches too. I've also cut and fitted the "wings" that frame the sides of the scene, and hide the untidy bits like split hinges and back-scene framing. 2017-04-15 21.21.47 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Talking of the back-scene, I've used some offcuts of the thin timber strip to brace it. These are screwed to the lower reinforcement, glued to the ply back-scene, and stapled through from the front. The ply back-scene is much stiffer now, with no tendency to bow. 2017-04-15 21.22.34 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr So there we have it, one tidy looking, solid, yet surprisingly lightweight base-board. I do need to add a lighting beam - when I've decided what lighting to use - but for now I can proceed to track-laying!

Phase 2 of the baseboard construction involved 5mm foam-core board, this is the stuff made with expanded polystyrene sheet between two layers of thin card. It's easy to cut with a knife and can be glued with PVA, or more quickly and strongly with a hot glue gun, making baseboard construction easy and flexible - and relatively quick. I've used the technique for Pen-Y-Bryn Quarry a number of years ago, and more recently Thakeham Tiles, with the former I learned it is easily damaged so needs a protective layer, with the latter I clad it in 3mm ply which worked well. Hexworthy is a much bigger board, and the need to connect it to an existing fiddle yard led me to make the outer ply "skin" first as seen above, and then make the foam-board core to fit. It seemed to make sense, but maybe it was a harder way to do it... IMG_2630 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Anyway, the first task was to mark out the "deck" including transferring the track plan from the paper plan, which was done with the highly technical method of using pins... Now I forgot to photograph the construction phase, but it was pretty similar to that of building Thakeham, so here's a picture of Thakeham's board being made showing the tools and method. For Hexworthy I doubled up the foam-board under the track, not because I think it needed the strength, but to increase twist resistance and to enable cuts (e.g. drainage ditches) to be added to the top surface later. Bracing was cut and glued to the underside at about 9" intervals, interlocking where longitudinal and cross bracing met, like an egg-box. Some diagonal bracing was added too. IMG_2631 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr A complication was the river along the front, which is set about 1" lower than the track bed, polystyrene sheet was glued in the gap to firmly join the two layers and will be cut to form the river-bank in due course. There's also a stream under the tracks, which has yet to be fully cut out but the base is ready underneath. The front will have a thin ply fascia, though this has yet to be cut and fitted. IMG_2633 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Underneath the bracing can be seen. Due to the length of the board I was concerned about flex or twisting, being much longer and narrower than Thakeham, so I decided to box in the rear part of the frame to make a "torsion-resistant" beam. There's little track over this part, and if I need access to wires etc I can cut access holes. Once the board was glued into the ply outer shell (with PVA) it turned out to be surprisingly stiff. The strip-wood runners along the base are more to protect the foam and bear the weight onto the supports, than to add strength. The resulting board seems pretty strong, there's no bending and no end-to-end twist unless significant force is used. There's a little flex in the back-scene, which is unlikely to be an issue but I plan a couple of diagonal braces. It's certainly easy to move about on my own despite it's length, at around 4 kg I think.