Andrew D

Thanks Neil. I’d never heard of the Junction Box until now, and my goodness that is a dangerous website! ;@) I have enquired after the 03 and also a Hornby Jinty. I just hope they will agree to mail order. Cheers!

This looks really interesting! Looking forward to following your progress.

Hi folks, I’m after a Mainline, or early Bachmann, Class 03 split chassis in BR Green with wasp stripes - in fairly decent condition with tension lock couplings and a good runner (yes, I want jam on it too!) The smooth running is more important than the cosmetics, and I know it’ll be growly like all Mainline locos! If anyone has a nice example they looking to rehome because they are going DCC or something please let me know. Many thanks.

Cheers Kevo. I have built and tried the Budget Model Railways PWM controller but it didn’t seem to do very well at the locos moving off smoothly. I’m already looking at building Version 3 - a closed loop controller. I think if I were DCC I’d be ‘Stay Alives All The Way!’

Deffo prefer the lower pic building as the brick matches the houses on the back scene and it all looks way more co-ordinated.

Hi Steve, yes I’ve had a look at the Scale Model Scenery baseboards and they look just the ticket. I will certain use them for any future small builds that I do - this boxfile layout is very much a skill builder. I believe delivery of SMS boards to the islands might be an issue though. Likewise, I had to buy 10 box files when I got mine, and now I have to work out what to do with the other 7!

There now follows a statement from the Ministry of the Blindingly Obvious: “If you wish to build a small layout where smooth and interesting running is key, a box file IS ABSOLUTELY NOT the the thing to use.” As you can tell, it’s been a trying week. I have on occasion considered giving up and taking another approach, but I have decided to press on and work at some ‘work-arounds.’ Like fellow RM-Webber @kevo I found I had real trouble with the connection between the boxes, because they do warp ever so slightly. When testing my controllers I found that the carefully constructed joins looked like this: Not good. I decided something needed to be done, so I ripped out the connections and have spent the weekend replacing them with ‘bridge’ pieces of track. These will eventually sit on Plasticard or something like that when I ballast, so hopefully when they are slotted into place you won’t see much of a ‘join.’ The upside is that as they use fishplates, the wiring is simpler: However, this has not addressed the issue of poor running with certain locos because the track isn’t dead flat. It’s the same over certain points - some locos stall over one, some over another... It was at this point I thought about packing it all in, but I have decided on just trying to work around it. First off, the star performer is my Heljan Class 26 which is as smooth as silk, but it’s a little too big for frequent use. Next best performer is my ancient Mainline J72 with its split chassis. No hesitation whatsoever! Like all Mainline locos it is growly, but with the Prototype version of my home made controller it also runs beautifully. The Hornby 0-4-0s are the problem, and I have 3 steam and a diesel. It was always my intention to build a pick-up tender for my two Caley Pugs. I bought a scrappy 3 plank wagon off Ebay for that very purpose. But of course, that doubles the space taken up by the loco, and space is tight. However, trials with the tender-to-be and the 4 wheeled coach chassis (the bodies are off for repainting) shows that yes, I can fit a Caley Pug + tender + coach + brake in the station area and still operate the points so I can propel the stock back to the ‘passing loop’ then run the loco + tender round using the traverser: So it’s all workable. Not ideal, but worth progressing. The Hornby Railroad Bagnall diesel will be unusable on this layout, but I hope to snag a Mainline class 03 in excellent condition when one comes up on Ebay. There is just one elephant in the room. This boxfile was meant to be a setting for a Hornby Peckett. I now don’t believe it’s going to serve its purpose because I don’t want to whack a tender behind a Peckett, and being 0-4-0 it will stall. But it is teaching me HEAPS! And I’m liking the theme of ‘slow speed on a budget.’ Finally, here is a wee video showing the Prototype of the home-made controller in action. You’ll see that the modern Hornby motor struggles compared to the Gaugemaster Combi, but the Superstar Mainline J72 loves it! That J72 was the best £15 I ever spent. I’m waiting for a new Bridge Rectifier to see if that helps when I get to fitting it. Plenty to be getting on with. I had no idea that such a tiny layout could be so involved. Thanks for reading.

Thanks Ralf. I was inspired by fellow RM-Webber Jim Read who produces a PDF which he kindly sends FOC on request. Check out the page on his blog: https://ogaugemicro.blogspot.com/p/the-jonathan-scott-mk3-controller.html. My electronics engineer friend suggested that the diodes are not doing their job properly which is why I have a bridge rectifier with integral capacitor on order from Ebay, but it’s taking its time to get here. Meanwhile I’ve just caught @mikesndbs’s excellent video on YouTube (Model Railways Unlimited) where he builds a feedback controller using a different method, and his circuit does appear simpler. I also like the way Mike has used vero board as opposed to the plain matrix board that I have used, which means you can make it smaller and neater. If you’re tempted to have a go, I’d recommend watching CodeNMore’s Beginner Electronics series on YouTube and Mike’s 3-part series on building a controller. I’ve just set up my own YouTube channel for my model railway endeavours and it’s my intention to make a video about building a controller for people like me with zero knowledge of electronics and don’t know one end of a diode from the other. That’s a few weeks away yet as I obviously want to get something that performs flawlessly first. In his build on YouTube, Mike appeared to have a similar problem to me to start with, but being a clever stick he worked out it was (I think) wiring the transistor the wrong way round or something like that, so I’ll be checking mine over again later today. Like I’ve mentioned, I knew diddly squat about electronics 4 weeks ago. So I’m really excited to keep plugging away with Jim’s design and also have a go at building Mike’s design and seeing which one works best for me. I’ll be updating the thread soon, but despite spending many hours working on the layout progress is glacial. However, I am having a lot of fun doing it, I’m learning heaps, and I’m so pleased I’m doing this before attempting anything ‘decent’. Cheers!

Very useful, cheers Kevo!

Cheers! I’ve ripped out the current connections and have decided on a ‘bridging’ piece of track. Will update the thread when it’s done, but will check out your colliery boxfile in the meantime. I’ve also decided that when the time comes for a serious code 75/electrofrog layout comes, it’ll be on proper baseboards - and the traverser will be built first

You’re very wise to design the box file around the traverser. I’m having terrible trouble trying to get a smooth track connection between my box files and the fiddle-box. Keep the updates coming please! Cheers.

Like many of us, I am like a coiled spring ready to pounce as soon as I can, and visit every Heritage Railway I can find to make up for lost time. I normally travel with the caravan or sometimes with a tent, and I wondered if folks had recommendations of campsites and/or caravan sites that are within walking distance of Heritage Lines? I'll kick off with two that I know of: EAST LANCS RLY Burrs Country Park Caravan and Motorhome Club Site. Non-members admitted. No tents. Walking distance of the halt sharing the same name NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS RAILWAY Pickering - Mount Terrace CS Camping and Caravanning Club Members only - search via Sitefinder Walking distance from Pickering station. Does anyone have any others they can share?

Time for a wee update. Over the past couple of weeks I have been spending what little spare time I have educating myself in the world of electronics so that I might make Jim Read’s slow speed controller. Having ZERO knowledge of electronics two weeks ago, I have since managed to cobble together this Mark 1 Prototype - DON’T LAUGH!!!!! Yes, I know it looks like something done on the Generation Game. Imagine my joy when I first tried it and IT WORKED!!!! However, my modern locos don’t run very well at low speeds, whereas they do on the Gaugemaster Combi. The pre-historic Mainline J27, however, runs amazingly well at slow speeds on this controller, but isn’t so good with the Combi. Under the counsel of a friend who is an electrical engineer I did some troubleshooting, and it appears that the Bridge Rectifier I made from the 4 diodes is leaking a lot of AC through to the track, which doesn’t bother the old Mainline loco but upsets the more modern Hornby types. This controller cannot work with coreless motors which Jim makes very clear. Now I’ve established it works, I will set about deconstructing and remaking it, starting by attaching the thyristor and its heat sink (as they are the largest components) then working outwards from there, trimming down all the other components. I’ll be getting a pre-assembled Bridge Rectifier with built-in capacitor for the next incarnation of the controller, and of course an enclosure. I still can’t quite believe I did it, and here I am using vocabulary that I didn’t even know existed two weeks ago. Isn’t this just the best hobby? With the kindest and most helpful people ready to lend a hand whenever needed? Cheers for now.

Looking good so far! Very few ferries here this week due to gales. And you know why the package didn’t fly... I’m still gutted about that.

I much prefer the Sir Tom names over the C-word names, as Sir Tom represents something positive and will never be forgotten, ‘the other’ is something most of us can’t wait to see the back of and forget. I like the simple ‘Sir Tom Moore Road/Park/Bay’ etc. It is of the time and a simple tribute. That’s just my opinion, anyway!

I just hope the points turn up after finding half the postage stuck to my jumper two hours after posting them...

I imagine that gentleman was @JimRead. He has an excellent blog about his builds here.

Oh my, this looks like a really interesting project indeed! Following with much interest.

Thanks Andy! Glad my novice level bumbling along is proving interesting.

Thank you! There is a method in my madness. The idea is to allow a run-around of a single bogie carriage, but this can only be done when it’s set up to operate from the front (which I am sure will be 99.9% of the time). If hell freezes over and the finished result is worth exhibiting, then the fiddle box goes the other way around and there will only be room for a couple of vans. The traverser is just long enough to take a small Bo-Bo diesel. I’m aiming for two loco operation with the shunter pottering about as ‘mainline’ locos (mostly still 0-4-0) bring the trains in, hence the additional wiring. I’m astounded how much pleasure (and skill acquisition) you can get from these tiny layouts. And even with the tiny size, I’m so excited about all the things I want to do I think I’d be hugely overwhelmed if it were much bigger. Cheers!

Hi folks, some good progress has been made despite having work this week - always a bonus when you’re freelance. I sometimes envy people with Significant Others/Parents who can take care of stuff like the domestic chores and cooking, freeing up more modelling time which us solo people have to sacrifice to take care of ourselves. However, on the other side of the coin, there has been nobody nagging me to clear off the kitchen table over the past few weeks! Last weekend I had the most enjoyable evening painting the sides of the rails with the Bogotá paint (as mentioned in a post above) with a bit of black acrylic paint mixed in here and there to give a ‘non-uniform’ look, all the while with YouTube on and Richard from New Junction and Tris from OO Neil keeping me company. I was really pleased with the resulting colour, and it was nice to interact with Richard’s Live and listen to Tris chatting about model railways as I worked. Once painted, I planned the wiring diagram including where the isolating gaps would be, and soldered droppers to the track or fishplates accordingly. Learning from previous experience, I added some ‘just in case feeds’ that would only be pressed into action in the event of the point blades failing to ensure continuity. Like the point operating cable, the wires were embedded into channels gouged out of the 3mm foam board. I then stuck the track down using Copydex, sprinkling ballast (sieved grit) on the areas where the points are after they were down, although this turned out to be a pretty pointless exercise as they still need ‘proper’ ballasting in due course. However, despite having kept all paint and ballast well away from where the point blades hit the main rails, the points STILL lost a lot of conductivity. I do wish manufacturers could sometimes focus on the basics (points that work even when ballasted) before pressing ahead with flashy new products. Rant over. Moving on to the Fiddle Box, this is where I was inclined to rename the layout ‘Much Fettling’ as I worked on the areas where the tacks join between boxes. In the absence of copper clad sleepers, I bodged engineered a solution using coffee stirrers and some copper sheet I’d bought from Eileen’s Emporium. As explained before, the traverser would be little more than a piece of foam board sandwiched between two fixed pieces of foam board, held in place with friction. The Fiddle Box is also deigned to be used either way around - open to the front or open to the rear. This meant that once it was all sorted one way, I turned it around and laid the final two spurs to link up with both the traverser plate and the ends of the rails in Box 1&2. After much fettling it all works, and while not the neatest job (my pretend Remmel drill cuts a wider slit in the track than I anticipated) it all works. I’ve done quite a bit of playing since. Excuse the wiring (much of this is temporary) - here’s where we are at the moment: In the above shot, the two spurs to the RHS of the Fiddle Box are still dead - they will need feeds like I have on the LHS. I can’t think of a better way of powering the traverser other than the loose wires as shown. The plan is to build a built-in controller on the front fold-down flap of the Fiddle Box. Trackwork wise, I am aiming to build the track (cardboard sleepers & superglue) for the tiny section off the LHS of the layout that goes through the factory gates onto a fiddle stick. This will be concealed by paving or ash. But the next most important job is to now tidy up the kitchen and find a home for all these new bits that seem to appear with a new layout! After that I will be getting on with building the controller, building the L-Cut engine shed, and breaking the Airbrush out of its box where it has sat brand new and unused for about a year! It’s only the cheapest off Amazon with a small compressor, but it’ll be a good start, and I am hoping to use it to weather some stock and then weather the ballast when it’s done. I just need to bite the bullet and try it out. The parts have arrived for the controller (following Jim Read’s diagram) but I’m still following an EXCELLENT YouTube tutorial series by a channel called CodeNMore called ‘Beginner Electronics.’ I highly recommend that for anyone as clueless as me. So all in all this little layout has so far given me A LOT of fun and satisfaction, with the promise of much more to come. Thanks as always for reading.

Cheers Paul. I am totally clueless about how to do it so a friend is assisting me remotely and I’m learning Electronics Basics from a guy on YouTube. The order from Cricklewood Electronics has arrived and Version 1 will be built in a Tupperware. Once I’ve made that, I’ll go on to make a bespoke control panel incorporating both the controller and the isolating switches. I would love to have made it a simple 2-wire operation, but it seems that for all their popularity, Peco points have a huge failure rate as soon as there is a bit of ballast down. I’ve promised Jim that I’ll make a video about my efforts for his channel so I can in some way ‘pay him back’ for his kind generosity by helping promote the cause! I’ve taken so much inspiration for this build from Brierley Canal Road as you know - thank you so much! I’ll be updating the thread in a couple of days. Thanks Steve! I’ve been working away and hope to do an update on here tomorrow. Sadly it looks like Bear’s delivery date has slipped AGAIN and is now mid to late summer - the new Ruston might even be out beforehand. Maybe if Hornby concentrated on delivering on their own promises rather than pouring their energy into doing the dirty on anyone who tries to plug long-standing gaps in the market, then the world might be a better place. Right now I’m trying to resist a Bachmann Class 04 and a Dapol Bubblecar... where will it all end?

Thanks for that. Interesting to hear how you ballasted the siding especially. I am considering the Nevard-esque Das Clay technique, but it sounds messy and laborious and relies on expert painting skills afterwards (which I do not have). Your method sounds a lot more straightforward! As for the 122, I hope you get it sorted. It doesn't sound right that you need to fettle a brand new model to get the best out of it. I am a total numpty when it comes to anything under the bonnet so things like that put me right off. Thanks again for taking the trouble to reply

Hi David, I’ve spent a very pleasant hour catching up with this thread back from the beginning, and I’m extremely impressed at your skills and how great the layout looks. I struggle with analogue so what you’ve done with ‘code’ etc is impressive witchcraft to me! I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind. I love the appearance of your ballast, and when you posted about it you didn’t go into the weathering. Is it simply airbrushed with sleeper grime/dark grey to give it that realistic look? How about the clinker ballast in the siding? Also - the Dapol 122. I know you’ve had issues with the chip, but I’m still DC. Has the model itself run OK or do you wish you’d spent the extra on the Bachmann? Thanks a lot and I’m following with interest. Cheers!

What an absolutely delightful layout! Really enjoyed this thread, cheers!