nharding99

Steve has said it all really. This track plan might help you see what I did. I think that my mainline curves ended up being a little different to the original Lymebrook but it's the same sort of thing... I don't blame you for being inspired by and copying the Lymebrook plan. It's exactly what I did and Steve has always been encouraging and supportive of my efforts. Good luck with your project. I'd love to see how it turns out.

Thanks, maybe I can come up with another (admittedly weak) story line and show off some other aspects of the layout. Maybe I'll check out Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends for some inspiration In the meantime I'm converting a Farish class 108 DMU to one of the later styles with 4 character roof mounted headcode box... The donor headcode "domes" are from a Dapol class 121 (complete roof ordered as a spare from DCC Supplies). Eventually the unit will be given a green livery. Onwards and upwards! Stay safe everyone! Nigel

I've put together a 3 minute video of the layout. It's in the style of a British Transport Film documentary! I couldn't bring myself to do a voice-over with clipped BBC newsreader accent but the captions help it along in their 1960s "Britain is best" style - obviously not meant to be taken seriously :-) https://youtu.be/cykPkZpRt_c

Thanks Steve. At the moment I'm thinking of postponing the 104 project slightly. When I get to it I'll perhaps use some Mk 1 coaches as a basis, possibly with some etched sides and 3d printed cab. I have a 108 which is "spare" but the passenger windows are too low to be convincing so I'm going to try and convert that to a 108 with 4 character headcodes. So thanks, Worsley etches could help me out in the future. How did you create your class 120? I notice that there are 3D printed bodies for some of these DMUs these days. Thanks Nigel

In our strange new "locked down" world I haven't spent too much time working on the layout. I have prepared a black cloth screen to conceal the layout's legs. Of course the debut exhibition for Trinity Road (4th April N Gauge South East Show) is now cancelled, hopefully there will be another opportunity to exhibit at some stage. There are some rolling stock projects that I can work on (create a class 104 DMU from a class 108, weathering of stock, upgrade plastic wheels to metal, add EasyShunt couplings to more of the wagon stock to enable more shunting,). I have previously shown a few video clips, I may try to put together a more complete and more polished video at some stage with a variety of movements and stock. Maybe I can put together some sort of story so that might be fun. That's all for now. I hope that you are managing to stay safe and well.

Most of the ongoing work is aimed at making the layout more robust (both operationally and for transport) and adding of finer detail. I'm starting to see why modellers say that a layout is never finished. I thought I had reached a stage of completion but keep finding improvements that I would like to make. I'm not a perfectionist but will keep working it up to a better standard until I'm even happier with it all. The goods yard is even more overgrown now. I don't want to over populate it but I felt that a little of the open space needed breaking up so more overgrown grass has been added. I also fixed the yard lights which had ceased to work due to a loose wire. All wiring has been inspected and tidied up. I have started to add road signs. Some are printed out from Scalescenes sheets, others I have created by myself. They are stuck onto wire posts. The zebra crossing could ideally do with some belisha beacons. I've been ironing out some rolling stock problems. The AM4 was decoupling too frequently for my liking. I have replaced one of the bogies, added a new coupler and that is solid now. This set of suburban coaches has had some bogie problems fixed and had Easyshunt couplings fitted so this gives me another option for local passenger services. That's all for now and thanks for reading!

Thanks Steve. I think you've posted previously that there are a few other layouts that have been inspired by Lymebrook Yard. I'm aware of one. So your layout deserves alot of credit for that. It must feel like you are the CJ Freezer of the new millennium . But seriously, thanks for your encouragement. Lymebrook Yard is a great layout!

The refinements continue... I have added a layout name board (purchased from a trader at Warley) which is attached to the back scene using velcro. You will also see that I have added a couple of clip-on lights from B&Q at £10 each - the bulbs were almost as expensive as the fittings! The lighting is adequate, not professionally diffused but shadows are minimal, I think the lamps will do a job. Cheers Nigel H

Thank you and yes, they are the earlier Mk 1s (flat transparent plastic which were painted/printed on by the manufacturer) Cheers

And as I mentioned last time, here is the completed unit on the layout. Thanks for reading Nigel H

The completed AM4 is looking right at home on the layout (apologies that the sunlight is a bit harsh). This was one of the layout goals so it has been good to get it finished and I think it is an important characteristic of the layout. One the couplers needs to be made a bit more reliable but it runs nicely. With a new found confidence in creating DMUs and EMUs I'm thinking of creating a BRCW class 104. These units were very visible on routes to Buxton, Marple and so on. I have a class 108 two car set that could be used as a basis. I have N-Train 3D printed ends. I need to compare window arrangements and if they are similar then it could be a fairly straightforward conversion. But for now I'm going to enjoy the 304! Thanks for reading Nigel H

The model has been matt varnished now so the glossy sheen has been toned down and I'm happy about that. I'll maybe cap things off with a photo of the model in context on my layout next time I have an operating session. In the meantime I thought I'd share some lessons learned... Positives Using a Dapol class 121 for the motor chassis worked out very well. Perfect size and DCC ready. I didn't mess with the bogies although strictly speaking they should have been of the Gresley type. I checked plans of the real thing (I found an AEI manual with schematics) and the bogies on the motor brake coach are a bit different on the real thing, they have a spacing of 8' 9" as opposed to the 8' 6" spacing used elsewhere on the unit so I felt somewhat justified in my decision. The Electra vinyls do alot of the painting/livery work for you. Fitting sound (Loksound ESU with legomanbiffo sounds from DCC Kits) added alot of fun factor. I know that sound isn't everyone's cup of tea but for me the memories came flooding back when I heard those sounds. It was worth bringing forward the front bogies slightly on the driving cars. I compared with photos of the real thing and leaving the bogies in their default positions on the donor coaches wasn't quite right Glazing the cab front windows was definitely worth the effort. Things I'd do better next time There is a strong case for re-doing the trailer composite. I didn't really strip the paint from the donor coach properly and the windows were always a bit foggy. Spraying with varnish afterwards made this a bit worse too. There are some lumps where the cab ends join the donor coach bodies. These should have been prepared better by making the join completely flat. It's not too bad as is but I'd take more care next time. It was well worth fitting the hand rails to the cab fronts but some of them aren't quite square. I'd try to see how I could drill the holes more accurately next time. I just did this using my own judgement and I was probably a bit too cavalier. A few notes and observations that might help others For the 1960s green livery, some units clearly had white roofs above the cab. There are plenty of grey looking cab roofs too and it's difficult to tell from photographs whether that is down to dirt and grime or whether they were painted grey but I stuck with an overall grey for the roofs of my driving units. It drew less attention to the join. I did find photographic evidence of different yellow warning panel sizes. I went for a wider panel, some were clearly narrower. Using Electra's vinyls is a skill that does require some practice and my heart was in my mouth as I undertook each one. It all turned out okay and I think it was slightly easier than using brass overlays (which would then require painting and addition of transfers for lining, emblems and numbers). I wasn't too concerned about underframe details. I did remove diesel exhausts from the motor chassis but didn't go much further than that. There is scope for improvement in this area should anyone wish to tackle it. I'm quite pleased with the outcome and it definitely adds kudos to my layout! All the Best Nigel H

Further to this... E3163 has yellow panels by 8th August 1965 if this photographer has his dates right... So the livery without warning panels might have been very short-lived in some cases. I'm still really tempted to represent one without warning panels though!

Thanks very much for the info. Much appreciated. So it looks like that is a legitimate livery. All the Best Nigel

Thanks, an interesting point. I notice that Heljan have just announced this livery in OO but isn't there a bit of controversy about that? I'm not an expert but I think I've read and seen photos where they were used or stored at Crewe in that livery for acceptance testing but then received yellow panels in service? I think the AL6s were introduced in 1965 by which time you's expect them to comply with the yellow warning panel regulation. However I do have a spare N Gauge AL6 and it would be alot easier to repaint it into early blue without warning panels so I'd be more than happy to go down that route. That's definitely a possibility for the future. Cheers Nigel

Thanks Alan. I have been using Townscene backscenes, mainly the town roofscape, judiciously chopped up and used in various places. I do rate these backscenes, especially if you're after a grimy city backscene, perhaps a tad ubiquitous but very good. Cheers Nigel

Hi Gibbo, According to the Electra advice acrylic varnish is recommended. I've tried a test spray onto the backing sheet and that seemed okay (I'm using matt Humbrol Acrylic Varnish from a can). I'm a little bit nervous about the windows so may try just spraying one window on the model and see how that works out. For my test I did also lay out some scaps of plastic glazing identical to those I used to glaze the front cab windows. These pieces did noticeably fog so I'll need to mask those front windows when I do the spraying. Hope that helps. Nigel

Getting there now. You can see that a little bit of paint touching up is needed. As ever, close-ups can be cruel in this scale but at normal viewing distances the model looks acceptable (you can probably say that about all of my modelling!) There are plenty of imperfections but I hope that my efforts capture the essence of these units. Once I'm happy with the exterior then I'll apply a matt varnish spray to seal the vinyls. Thanks Nigel

This will likely be the last update of 2019. It's been a good year for Trinity Road. I thought I'd end it with a shot of the first run out of the class 304 EMU on the layout... Things to look forward to in 2020... Finishing the class 304 and then getting the layout ready for its (and my) first exhibition at the N Gauge South East Show on 4th April (see https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/146972-n-gauge-southeast-2020/) It should be fun! Thank you to everyone who has been a reader or made comments and may you enjoy a Happy New Year!

Please excuse the messy workbench but hopefully you can see that the unit has been coupled up and is running for the first time as a complete formation. The cab ends still need some work but you can see that I have used some guitar string (wire) to form the MU hoses and NBrass oval buffers have been added. Next steps will be to add the interior (probably based upon the coach interiors I previously removed, as long as its representative it will be fine for me) then I can glue the roof on and use filler to smooth out that gap between the roof and cab. Then I'll just need to add the vinyls and matt spray the sides to protect them. It runs okay on the straight section. I know that there's a slight loading gauge issue with the platforms on my layout and will need to shave off some of the platform edge to accommodate this loco but hopefully, early in the new year, we might be getting there. Thanks for reading and Happy Christmas to all! Nigel

Progress has been slow, I have cut out and fitted windows for the cabs and started adding the jumper cables. I always wanted to fit sound and so an ESU Loksound decoder has now been fitted to the Motor Brake Second. This is what it sounds like... Just a quick demo but you get an idea of the air compressor (the ticking sound) and the roar of the engine as it sets off. It certainly brings back some memories for me Thanks Nigel H

For me Modbury was a very appealing layout so thanks for bringing it along!

A sensible approach but I fear that you may need a more complicated algorithm to take account of shopping targets that might be rare or in short supply. You may need to do a preemptive strike on those based upon pre-show intelligence!

Here you go. http://thewarleyshow.co.uk/pdf/2019 Hall Plan.pdf Just printed it off myself so the page was still open :-)

Thank you Steve, that's very kind. The layout has moved on a bit since the article was written. Maybe there will be a "Return to Trinity Road" article at some stage. All the Best Nigel