davidprentice

For info, successfully fixed my loco. The Dapol spares pack consists of: 2 x buffers (one LHS, one RHS) 2 x springs 2 x sleeves My only observation is that if when refitting you experience a problem of it not seeming to want to slide home, try spinning the sleeve around so it faces the other way. I think they are very slightly narrower at one end than the other.

So, I've still not entirely finalised an updated trackplan - but have managed to get AnyRail to print the last layout plan for overlaying on the board that arrived today and which I have matched up to the frame, and am pretty happy with. I can heartily recommend AnyRail. I bought the paid version as it is pretty useful and am sure will get lots of use out of it. It also makes clear how important, for making the scenic board of decent value, that having a decent off-scene fiddle yard extension (or loading point) will be, on the top right and on the left of the layouts. I'm intending to create some basic 6-inch wide and perhaps 2ft long boards, one for the top right and one for the left hand side, where I intend to be able to load up to a 2-car DMU into the scene. I have a number of 3 and 4 car D/EMUs... but that would mean adding about 3ft to both ends of the board to allow the odd bit of 'through train' action. But, to be honest, if I had space for 3ft on either side, I'd have built a layout twice the size anyway! And for loading locomotives onto the boards for entry to/exit from the layout, I have ordered some Peco Locolifts (SL-43) which seem to have favourable reports and are stackable, so can hopefully avoid the agony of loading locos out of/back into their boxes between running sessions. Looking forward to cork arriving soon, finalising the track plan, fixing the plywood to the timber frame, and getting cracking. The unwanted delay in arrival of Peco track may be a blessing in disguise. It is certainly causing me and affording me time to think hard about the trackplan... Though I do just want the track to arrive so I can start to get it laid!

Thanks all - since I think I need the sleeve and a new buffer, will just order the spares pack. Many thanks to all and @Andrew liszka for the offer too.

@Andrew liszka, I've also searched for 'spares' and found this page on DCC Supplies which describes a pair of spare: buffer, sleeve, and spring. I suspect the 'sleeve' is perhaps the c-shaped clasp you mention and the piece I have managed to disintegrate/lose?

Hi @lippy I've tried investigating the other buffers, but fear causing more damage. They do appear to be retained by something - whether a small plastic clip or glue or similar. @Andrew liszka the buffer is at the No 2 end and on the RHS if you face it head on, as per below photo. I was only able to recover the spring and the buffer. I think the c-shaped clasp you mention, if plastic, disintegrated/broke - as evidenced, perhaps, by the small black plastic fragments that fell out of the buffer end when I gave it a tap... Any further reflections/observations, most welcome!

Hi all I had a bit of a 'mare and ended up hitting the end of my Dapol Class 68 in OO and in the process managed to send one of the sprung buffers flying across the room. Amazingly, I managed to find both the buffer (stil intact) and the small spring that goes with it. However, when I went to reattach it, the spring fits inside the buffer easily enough, but I can't fathom how the spring and buffer re-attach to the loco? When I slide the buffer with spring back on to the buffer mounting on the chassis, it isn't retained. Anyone had any experience of this? I can't be the first to have done this! I assume either some magical tool is used in the factory, and/or there is some tiny piece of plastic i've managed to lose/destroy, or perhaps some glue is needed? Worst case, I shall do without the sprung functionality and just cement the buffer in place... ...but would love to try to restore it to full order! Thanks.

Thanks @sb67, will take a look at Buxton before I finalise the track plan. I've busied myself, making the basic frame (overkill, I expect with CLS timber) for the layout, but resisting the urge to fix the two additional supports until I'm sure where I will be putting the turnouts and any corresponding motors, or anything else that might need a hole and access from underneath the baseboard! The 12mm plywood top should be arriving in the next week or so, allowing me to print out the various track plans, lay them out, and see which design wins out! Here's hoping Peco's production of finescale streamline track has resumed, or I could be waiting a while before making any further progress, as it seems to be out of stock virtually everywhere! I'm pretty pleased with the Accurascale Rawie buffer stops I've acquired, the Guagemaster floodlights, and the DCC Concepts Cobalt Alpha Mimic Ground Signals - even though they've yet to come out of their boxes! Looking forward to getting them installed in due course too! But mostly, it feels good to have got the frame basically sorted, and to now be in a position to get cracking once the track arrives.

@mdvle: thank you for these observations - I'd not even thought about the 'safety' type argument you put forward, and nor had I considered the possibility of flipping the station to the rear and the fueling/stabling to the front. I very much like these ideas. I will be reworking things to reflect many, if not all, of your suggestions. @JohnR: thanks also. I think I'm going to flip the station to the rear... Thanks all for your thoughts on this - just shows how many heads are better than one, particularly in my case!

Thanks for the alternative view on this... You may very well be proved right on not having room to model it convincingly. Some of the best small layouts I've seen do K-I-S-S, as they say. I suspect that I shall end up making a call on whether to go station + yard, or just pure yard, once I've got the track down and have a better idea of just how little space I actually have! I'd be sorry to lose the station element, if only because I don't want the scene to end up being too 'industrial'. I like the idea of a small branchline station where perhaps the solitary member of staff takes pride in the station's appearance, with hanging baskets, and so on, and a similarly 'nice' station forecourt with arches. If the 'yard' only wins out, I would likely rethink the foreground scene, probably just using the space to enhance the yard, rather than add to an already ambitious trackplan. I think the heart says station + yard, but when laid out, perhaps my head (and reality) will rule in favour of 'just' a yard!

Thanks. Is it conceivable that in the scenario of this depot/fueling point getting busier due to a surge in demand, additional (new) track might have been added or reintroduced? I ask as I quite like the idea of having some old, well-worn elements, and then perhaps having 'new' elements (looped in red below) help explain the clutter? Would this/does this ever happen? And, if that might be plausible, would the pointwork at A and B be more likely to have long since been simplified/removed and thus also need to be 'new', or would it be plausible that they were retained (even if the sidings coming off them, looped in red, had previously been removed/left to corrode)? Thanks for your time!

Cheers Keith. I think that might be a nice idea - to model it in low-relief... perhaps just enough depth so that with doors open there's some of the 'inside' on show, but leaving as much of the track clear for locos etc. I will be scratch building it, so definitely an option and one I will likely pursue! Thanks!

I think you are right to try to enhance the station, perhaps I should aim for something along the lines of a branchline that gets busy in the summertime (hence the need for two platforms), but dies down significantly in the off-season and reverts to more of a once-hourly single car DMU service. I also think it might be a shame to 'lose' space (and sight of locomotives) to loco sheds. I do like the idea of keeping some sort of conflict between the locomotives and passenger traffic though - and I think the way to achieve this is to keep it pretty busy with locomotives using the 2-3 stabling points at the bottom right of the layout. In my head, this branchline and fueling point is perhaps just a few miles off a mainline, maybe near a container port or similar that has struggled with a recent surge in demand (or perhaps is being remodelled) and so locos are having to come here to this once-forgotten haunt to get some fuelling and light maintenance taken care of? Era-wise, most of my stock is late 1980s onwards to the present day - with perhaps the odd railtour making an appearance...!

P.S. An alternative design allowing for a bit more passenger traffic and perhaps more realistic in terms of space:

Hi all Owing to a change of circumstances, I'm downsizing my layout plans from a double garage to a 4ft x 2ft 'shelf' type layout, and the plan is to use Peco Code 75 finescale streamline trackwork. I have a draft track plan and would welcome observations and comments. The scene is basically 4ft wide by 2ft deep. The plan is to have the backscene made up of low-relief warehousing/industrial units and a low-relief signal box near the entry point to the scene. Entry will be from the top-right, with a casette or similar extension board acting as off-scene fiddle yard. The entry will either be via a tunnel, or perhaps more likely, be concealed beneath a road bridge or similar. From the entry point, we approach a small radius LH turnout, with one path leading to a fueling point siding that is long enough to stable two locomotives. I may have this path lead to a single road engine shed 'door' that can be opened/closed to reveal another off-scene fiddle yard extension. Continuing into the scene, from the turnout, will be a double slip, leading off into a two-lane scratch built loco shed, if I can get it to fit (just). Continuing on, it will lead to a three way asymmetrical point, and a one-car DMU platform, to represent a 'just about surviving' branch line. As you can see, coming out of the platform, allows access to a number of mostly one loco long stabling points. The train platform will connect to a stairwell/lift in the bottom right corner that takes passengers down to street level, where there will be a station forecourt scene, with some railway arches added for scenic interest, beneath the main trackwork. If space allows, I may also try to model a quayside or river-side towards the bottom right, as would be keen to experiment with water! In particular, welcome thoughts on what ground signalling might look like for such a layout. I have pre-emptively purchased Cobalt alpha mimic ground signalling x12 (modern style - white/red, 4 lights) and so would welcome thoughts on how one might place such signalling and how it might prototypically operate... I'd also welcome any thoughts on improving or tweaking the layout to either make it more interesting or just 'better'? For example, should I perhaps take out some of the track and adopt a 'less is more' approach? I've tried to get the balance right between the possibility of having some passenger traffic (1-2 car DMUs headed to the fueling point and/or platform; and locomotives/shunters turning up for maintenance and/or fuelling. Operationally, I feel like there is opportunity to develop a sort of timetable for passenger workings that could be quite interesting in terms of accommodating locomotive movements. For example, a passenger service arrives, off-loads passengers, but a stabling locomotive (prior to the passenger service return journey), needs to get from one of the bottom two stabling points to the loco shed, the fuel point, or exit the layout, and so on. The main hold-up at the moment is waiting for delivery of the trackwork since Peco halted production for a while, but everything else is either with me already or arriving soon.

Finally (!) another update as things take shape - having made progress on painting and generally finishing bits off. Looking forward to getting the baseboards started! I also received some display cabinets that I will look to hang on the walls...! Hoping that as the baseboard build starts, this thread may start to get a bit more interesting!

So, apologies for the delay but work and various things rather got in the way. So, I've finally made some progress on plastering and pushing the conversion onwards. Some more bits to fill, sealing to do, and then it shall be a good lick of paint and then onto the baseboards!

Hi Dougie What a cracking little layout! I must ask about the above platform canopy as looks brilliant - is it scratchbuilt or a kit? Fancy one or two of these!! Best Dave

Link for folks: https://railsofsheffield.com/products/35930/Hornby-r3685-oo-gauge-gwr-class-43-hst-power-cars-pack-43041-meningitis-trust-support-for-life-and-43005

As others have said - this is looking superb! I'm currently much closer to how things looked for you back in 2007 - so am sure will be taking real inspiration from what you have achieved here! Really great stuff! I am also minded to copy your drop down corner boards -- genius!

Thanks Clagsniffer. I'm pleased to report I've finished boarding and insulating. Need to finish up making good on the joins between the boards and a few other gaps, before sealing, and then painting. I've also procured a laser-level so that I can ensure that the frame for the baseboard is nicely level around the room, even if the floor of the garage slopes away or is otherwise uneven. Can't wait to get some baseboard frames in place, so that I might be able to get some track down and feel a little bit closer to being able to run the trains again!

Been able to make some good progress recently, building and fitting studwork into the garage door frames, and then more recently adding insulation and plasterboard on top. Looking forward to giving the walls and ceiling a good lick of paint etc. before setting to work on the baseboards themselves!

Hello Oxford Junction is a fictitious station, set in the environs of the real-world 'Oxford'. It is probably best thought of as an entirely rebuilt Oxford station. I intend for it to allow me to run GWR/FGW/FGWL/Thames Trains/Chiltern Railways/Virgin/Intercity/Cross Country passenger services and a decent mix of freight, plus the occasional steam-powered rail tour! It shall live in a double garage, and hope that it will naturally have a main 'Oxford' station, and plenty of scenic areas, with perhaps a TMD for good measure! I have made a start on turning the double garage into a more comfortable layout room, but have some construction to finish on it, namely putting some studwork in the door spaces, and to board these up, and generally make the place a bit more air-tight and insulated, ahead of the autumn/winter that will eventually roll around. Pictures of the garage to follow, but for now, a train set and some locos I've finally taken out of their boxes and run around a quick and dirty loop! Looking forward to sharing progress! Best Dave

Looks very good indeed - one question would be the grille on the roof appears to be bent or otherwise poorly fitted in many of the samples? Is this something to fix/worry about, or is it just a rush job by the factory and the focus of these samples is the paint job? Thanks.

Ah! I hadn't seen that area... I don't suppose a moderator could move it?

Can I second this! Very useful, and I also liked the suggestion of somehow splitting the terminus into potentially two parallel termini to give that to/from feeling. Very interesting!