Schooner

Welcome to Victoria Quay (working title) m'Lords, Ladies etc Sorry fam, no time to move house. Busy. Got trains to play with! Awesome stuff @Tricky, thank you for all :) Crane by the most talented also @airnimal. Steam coaster (R/C, woop!) by a nice but unknown gentleman who did a grand job of the build and fit out and then sold her (R/C gear, batteries, controller etc included) for less than the price of the kit. Deeley tank as discussed previously. Inspiration, information and general good juju from you lovely lot. Otherwise it's all my own work!

Dunno if I'm qualified to call @Tricky a genius... ...but he's ruddy good! Peekaboo! Now, I must remember to pack the house up before the move on Thurs... ...ooooor I could just quickly get a controller hooked up... :)

Fun!

Or, indeed, below: Just a little tickle the Twig Line Teminus...which now looks suspiciously like a through station! The yard poinwork hs been rearranged to take wasted siding length from the quayside road and giving it to the shed road; the loop has been altered for max length and a cheeky little crossing put in...because it's a formation I like :) Keys to the new place on Thurs, and there is zero chance I'll be getting into this layout build! But there is some immediately accessable space in the loft...perhaps a layout of a series of linked scenes between the frames...have we come full circle and returned to the MER?! :)

Just a little inspiration, to show the sort of 'maximum winkie' train the above layout could/should handle: An outside-cylnder 2-4-2T and a rake of three bogie coaches? Eat your heart out GWR Pannier-and-B-Set BLTs! All readily available as kits and prints in 7mm :) ...obvs there's a version of this in my mind headed by a Beyer Peacock 0-6-0 or SS 2-4-0...or two...

Have a good weekend Chris, take it easy buddy :)

I know it takes all sorts to make a world, but...! Fingers x'd for you Graham. I'm just off to the solicitors to sign on the dotted line and confirm all's good to complete by the end of the month, so I'm with you in spirit!

Hahaha, fair! But it would fit in rather nicely with the rest of the family*... Updates in 7mm due soon, though :)

Just waiting for @rapidoandy to announce a 'generic' proto-literate little BP loco... 😇

Better, or no? Station view: 'Works' view:

Thanks all, much appreciated :) It is overkill (and yes @bluestag, probably over spend!) but I think it's probably the best balance of compromises for me. I also appreciate the element of future proofing, as the distant future may hold 'proper' layouts either in a room c.16'x14', or the 40+x of loft space... Thanks again

Nope! Just duckunder access to that cutout triangle...which is why I'd rather hoist than cassette, as at least that can be managed from the middle. The currently plan has a single 7'* siding curving (with an acceptably wide radius) round behind the carriage shed and line of trees (and backscene) for this reason - any shuffling of stock/shunting can take place, hands off, on a storage level of 2 sidings, loop and TT large enough for a tender loco (which the on-scene TT is not). *Ideally, to take a summer excursion/special/rule 1 of smallish tender loco and 5ish short bogie carriages. Yes, I really liked that the 'railway company infrastructure' had a proper scene of its own in the former...and if the scenic run isn't long enough to be worth it then is definitely the way to go :) ...but if it is long enough then I think it would make the layout feel larger, I think.

Thanks for that, sorry for tue glacial reaponse, and...uh oh, she would fit perfectly... :) Needless to say, v much looking forward to watching V3 come together - godspeed!

So...I've decided I don't like the recent update to the track, nor the groundwork around it. It's had all the usual 'have a cup of tea', 'sleep on it', 'go away and come back again later' etc, and still doesn't fill me full of the joys of springtime so up it comes. New track and turnout ordered. It also turns out a point motor is U/S...but that's not really an issue cos so's the whole layout! Somewhere along the line either track power has been lost, or is shorting across somewh- Ah. It's possibly shorting across the new whitemetal bufferstop at the end loading dock. Right anyway, that's a future-me problem! By way of cheer ups, I thought I'd have a crack at some modelling - popping together a couple of Mousa Models' Midland pre-diagram low sided wagons (with a high awaiting wheels before completion). These are a delight, though not perfect*. I also forgot to take any pics, so obvs had to hit another project - the Diagram 3D O1 (4 wheel) Siphon, in 7mm: Giving the PVA a day to set firm (and, again, some wheels to turn up) before finishing up the plastic bits. D3D do not maoe the most detailed kits, perhaps, but I always thoroughly enjoy putting them together, they are not too expensive, and there is no reason they could not be the target of a super-detailing spree. If anyone is able to provide decent evidence of the actual strapping arrangements, I'd appreciate it! Trying to squint at 120y/o photos on a phone screen is not the ideal research approach. Apparently. Who knew?! Next up is this: ...once I've found someone else's build to follow :) I have it on good authority one can never have too many D.299s** and so this Slaters offering is to compare/contrast with the metal ABS kit of the same, built a few months ago. I also stripped and re-painted the varnished stock for Ingleford *** ...and began the process of upcycling the first kits I ever made for this project so that they will might be fit for purpose! Away for another spell but it's only a short stint, so more soon hopefully :) *Lovely individually sprung buffers, lovely individually sprung wheels, but the latter foul the former and so can't really spring much at all. ** He says, certain that he could indeed have too many D.299s for an LSWR coal-and-clay wharf. But it's good to have some semi-expendable kits to muck about with as I learn the pros and cons of the different 7mm kit makers. ***Dunno about you, but I reckon I absolutely nailed the colours this time... PS. Stock looks more plausible than anything else at least!

The space I had: The house move is imminent, however, and so by way of daydreaming, a first go at: The space I have: ...and an attempt to shift the balance away from the C&W works and loco facilities and more towards the little scenic run: i won't bang on about what it's all meant to be for the umpteenth time - I'm sure you all recognise what's going on! This time, however, both hemispheres rely on Peco setrack curves of 1020mm radius (IIRC) which is probably fine for the intended services, but not ideal. So, questions: the usual what-am-I-missings, what could be tidier etc...but I'd love to hear from those with more experience of 7mm about whether the whole '3 x train length' idea holds true for a scenic section. I've just about managed it above (max train length 1200mm, run from C&W to bridge in the top left corner 3600mm)...but not entirely sure it's worth it! Wotcha reckon, you lovely learned lot?

Tandem envy!

Sorry for asking a question that probably has an obvious answer, but searching Google and RMWeb has come up short. I have my eyes on a DCC controller for a tiny (c.5'x2') 7mm Inglenook* which puts out: "3.0 Amps of Power to run multiple trains. Booster outputs 13V DC for safe operation in N and HO scales." I'm all for safe operation in N and HO, but is this enough beans for O gauge? Thanks :) Schooner *So one loco in steam, nothing bigger than a B4/Terrier or trains heavier than 5 kit wagons. It's fitted with some bells and whistles, but no lit rolling stock or anything like that. Future plan would be to use the same controller on a similarly sized 4mm layout too, if possible.

Oh I dunno: 00, EM, P4, 009... 😇

They should've offered a higher reward: she's still going strong! I jest, of course: Boadicea CK213 was only launched in 1808...! See here for more, or Google of course :) The Bank of England suggests that £500 in 1782 is about £70,000 nowadays, although another online calculator gives almost double that for the modern value. Seems an awful lot, and in fact I'm pretty sure that the poster is not entirely pukka, so perhaps we shouldn't read too much into it...but... :) You're right that the sailplan shown (what we'd call a cutter today) would've been at the front end of tech in the late C18, but certainly not improbably so. I suspect it's an East coast boat, as in the West Country greater use was made of what were essentially nippy fishing boats, which were typically lug rigged in the period. Shown below is Alert a 'replica' built to the ethos of these boats c.1835: The revenue service used luggers also, in the 1780s something like the replica Grayhound but were better known for developing the cutter rig for their counter-smuggling patrol vessels, something like the French replica Renard which were cutting-edge tech in their day! However, there's a bit of a trap in looking at these and waxing lyrical about the wonders of traditional knowledge. You're right that powerful predictive tools were lacking, so everything depended on the learned practice of some very smart and skilled characters. However development was slow, piecemeal and undirected...there had already a been about 5,000 years of continuous activity in an incredibly taxing and high-risk domain, which helps! Did the Norsemen set out to use what we'd now call an Air Lubrication System (cutting edge stuff to increase the fuel efficiency of big cargo ships today)? No, but their designs drew air bubbles under the hull to drastically improve performance, and still work rather well: If failures result in death of a swathe the community, or their entire fortune, you can see why conservative but consistent progress was desired! So, I wrote the above earlier this afternoon, but thought better of posting it. However, I've just seen a brief bit of second-hand interview about these early cutters with a square topsail. The argument, which I find persuasive, is that although an archaic feature for normal working, a square topsail is an invaluable tool in close-quarters manoevering, including giving the ability to reverse, in an era before engines. Later cutters (like the famous Bristol Channel pilot boats) could do without it by being exceptionally fine and light by earlier standards and so were generally handier vessels, but it's a nice little reminder that there was nothing extraneous on these nature-harnessing man-machine interfaces. If it's there, it has a use. If it has a use, your life may well depend on knowing about it in depth. Right, anyway...trains... :)

Thanks for the update. We'd all rather it was better news, but it's good to have some information to aid planning decisions. I hope a way through can be found, but by your tone it seems this wouldn't be likely in the near future? Again for planning purposes - that 7mm micro isn't gonna animate itself, sadly!

Just when I thought today couldn't get any better...!

Popping this here for safekeeping, as just popped some celebratory prosecco. What a game! Even if you're not super into rugby, today's Italy-Scotland was a brilliantly entertaining match and well worth your time as general entertainment. Strapping in for England-Ireland...

Came across this on my shelf the other day, and thought of you: eg. https://www.waterstones.com/book/shelf-layouts-for-model-railroads/iain-rice/9780890246900

While investigating Sheds (misc.), just stumbled upon this: Locomotive shed of William Doxford & Sons Ltd, Pallion, c1928. Sunderland has a remarkable history of innovation in shipbuilding and marine engineering. From the development of turret ships in the 1890s and the production of Doxford opposed piston engines after the First World War through to the designs for Liberty ships in the 1940s and SD14s in the 1960s. Sunderland has much to be proud of.Tyne & Wear Archives cares for tens of thousands of photographs in its shipbuilding collections. Most of these focus on the ships – in particular their construction, launch and sea trials. This set looks to redress the balance and to celebrate the work of the men and women who have played such a vital part in the region’s history. The images show the human side of this great story, with many relating to the world famous shipbuilding and engineering firm William Doxford & Sons Ltd. While I'm scattering layout inspiration about, who's to say the clay chutes aren't being fed from a railway wagon? :)

Not at all, it's a rare pleasure to see some modelling going on in this thread! Also old luggers are a particular favourite.