Rob K

Hi there.

i have not been to Spain ( or on this site) for a while.... been moving house .

My brother is out there now and at my prompting he did Benidorm to Denia the other day.

He said the change of trains is now at Calpe and that there seemed to be a short stub if track leading away from Calpe station.

I can't quite picture this from my last travels... can any of you cast any light for me )

Cheers

Fintown

Donegal station

We are back from our Irish trip.. jolly good fun.

We managed a walk on the Burtonport extension, a trip on the Donegal at Fintown, a visit to the Donegal station museum and a trip on the Cavan at Dromod.

All recommended but hard to see any of them making great strides.

Fintown is a nice run in nice scenery. The staff were not that chatty . Quite well patronised on the day of our visit.

Donegal museum is good but very hard to get clear photos of the loco and stock. The very nice man in charge was talking up the prospects of laying a short line ( about 1k, through the cattle mart)

The C and L at Dromod was a bit of a let down. The loco and carriage are nice but the ride is very short and then it is just a wander through a scrap yard. Facilities were pretty poor and rather run down. .

I will  try and load some photos

I hear the underpass is complete ( last week ). Are train services re instated ??

16 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

Is there still railway stuff at the Guinness theme park museum? They had some NG stock when I was there in the 90s, including one of the narrow gauge locos. 

Yeah. We went there a couple of years ago ( weekend only) . Some good stuff.

Hi

I'm off to Ireland in June/July.

The basic route is a triangle; Dublin/Galway/Donegal/Dublin

Any particular recommendations for NG heritage sites or remains ? Any any last chances to see Bord Na Mona in action ?

Any suggestions would be very welcome

On 08/03/2023 at 09:58, JamFjord said:

 

I can't tell you for sure, as I didn't build the layout, but here's a photo from James' blog that shows one of the knobs that is attached to the rod - if you zoom in you can see it a bit better.

https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2020/06/pont-y-dulais-shed-progress.html

 

They just look to be glued to the end of the rod, and having operated the layout (it's now owned by my mum) that does indeed 'feel' like the case. As to where you get them, no idea - they could well be handmade from wood? I don't think it would be too difficult to repurpose something of a suitable size by drilling an appropriately sized hole with a pin vise that you can glue onto the end of the rod - maybe something like this?

Dolls house 3mm wooden door knobs

Dolls house 4mm wooden door knobs 

Dolls house suppliers have all sorts of interesting (out of scale) bits and bobs that can be repurposed.

 

Hope that helps a little - good luck with putting this together and I'd love to see whatever solution you end up using :)

 

Many thanks. I can see them now and get the idea

I will be posting some photos of my next stage before long. Just been gluing down the cork base and left a 1mm nick for the tube

I now need to pluck up courage and buy a Dremel

Hand held drill is in the post

On 02/03/2023 at 00:37, JamFjord said:

Mike has what sounds very much like the solution. I haven't done this myself (yet) but James Hilton briefly touches on wire/rod point control in the thread about his Pont-y-Dulais layout - brass rod and styrene tubes, with little pull knobs mounted in the view frame. Simple and effective. I have a fuzzy recollection that there's more detail on his blog, but here's a link to the thread: 

 

I can't see the " little pull knobs". Where would I get these, and how do I attach the bit of wire that will be poking out of the tube ?

I am a few weeks away from being ready to install some009  points and setting up wire in brass tube to operate them. It will be my first time.

Any general tips, please

Should i put the tube in a recess in the cork I am covering the baseboard in ? Glue the tube down ? Cover it with another layer of cork ?..and Finally how do I finish off the wire, can I get some sort of stopper or something /
Apologies if this question should go elsewhere or if it has been asked before

my model tech aligners arrived in todays post ! They look good and about my skill level. Just need points and a cutting tool thingy ( name escapes me) and I can make my next steps

51 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

All the Modulus kit is now installed, just needs some of the servo angle values tweaked and correct orientation of the frog relay switching.

Next will be testing, followed by uncouplers, followed by ballasting.

Meanwhile progress is being made on the 3rd section of the warehouse.

Scenically I need a goods shed of some sort, plus finish the station building & platform, plus low relief cottages for the backscene.

Please can you tell me a bit about your coupling/ uncoupling strategy?!

I am at the point where I need to decide what I will be doing.

4 hours ago, Rob K said:

My helpful neighbour ( retired carpenter) is making me some wooden clips to tie the three backboards together and also two extra side pieces to lead " off scene" into sort of fiddle yard areas. I will post some pictures when he fits them. I nee to decide on the layout before I go much further. My locos came last week and have been tested on a little circuit ( as suggested here)

Well.he did them today.

I now need to decide where they go and how large a hole to ask him to cut into them, so he can fix them securely

My helpful neighbour ( retired carpenter) is making me some wooden clips to tie the three backboards together and also two extra side pieces to lead " off scene" into sort of fiddle yard areas. I will post some pictures when he fits them. I nee to decide on the layout before I go much further. My locos came last week and have been tested on a little circuit ( as suggested here)

by happy coincidence my two locos arrived today  with an NCE powercab, and I picked up my starter pack of Peco settrack to make a test oval

I am currently running in Nesta...looks lovely.

Here's my question;how is it best to store these when not in use ? Putting them back in the hard plastic box doesn't seem very smart

I am at the early stages of building this as one of my first attempts to get back into modelling.I’ve run into a couple of dead ends when I realise more bits are needed ( track, points, a decision on power etc) but have had fun so far 

This story keeps running here and it seems that some people have lost their jobs because of it. Also got into Daily Telegraph in UK ( pay wall for full story and very much not my choice of paper !)

There was a story on the news ( TVE1) today that new stock bought in the north will not fit through tunnels in Asturias and Cantabria.

Sounded serious enough to get the president of the region on to discuss it.

I bought issue 360 today. Happy to bring it home and post it on if anyone wants it ( home to uk I mean )

On 31/01/2023 at 18:16, Rob K said:

The Volta a Valencia bike race starts tomorrow and will be screened on Eurosport ( last couple of hours of each stage)

Stage one finishes in Altea heading south so should run very near the railway.. worth a look. Sadly you won’t see Altea station with its turntable, loco shed and NG rail waggon crane.

If you do have a chance to see the coverage.. great views of one of the new viaducts at 12.9 k to go

Can I ask for some advice.

I ordered a couple of modular baseboards before Xmas but they never came.

I have asked for a refund and even suggested the supplier give the money to a favourite charity, but things have gone very quiet.

What should I do ?

The Volta a Valencia bike race starts tomorrow and will be screened on Eurosport ( last couple of hours of each stage)

Stage one finishes in Altea heading south so should run very near the railway.. worth a look. Sadly you won’t see Altea station with its turntable, loco shed and NG rail waggon crane.

We went on the line today. We did Costera Pastor/ Benidorm and then Benidorm/ Denia.

Unfortunately they have started more work between Benidorm and Benidorm Intermodal ( started 16/1 no indication of end date, so bus is needed for that little bit.

Rest is good. You change stock at Teulada, different height carriage doors and hence built up platforms.

A new viaduct is still being built somewhere between Calpe and Benissa so old one still in use.

Masks still required until this weekend.

a couple of photos to follow I hope 

On 28/01/2023 at 20:31, Roy Langridge said:

Do you know what chip has been used? I am struggling to get anything small enough. 
 

Thanks,

 

Roy

Sorry . No. I’ve ordered them from the model shop in Droitwich ( MPB ??)

I am sure they will tell you.

This is my first time back and first time with DCC and I am really in the dark!