RobA2345

Added some greenery, I didn’t want to overdo it and aside from adding some bushes and maybe some trees to the mound in the centre I think I’ll stop there. I’ve added some building shells to the left side of the layout and I have an idea of what I want to create there.

Bought these Accurascale JSA wagons, a bit out of era but Rule 1 and all that. The detail is amazing but very easy to break if not handled with extreme care, I need to repair a couple of dislodged parts but I honestly don't want to pick them up. Simple EM conversion so I'm very happy with them.

I've pre-ordered the Accurascale Distribution Sector Class 37 and I'm a bit nervous how that will take being handled but I guess we'll see. I also added some fencing to section off a bit of a scene. Still waiting very impatiently for the static grass to arrive, hopefully tomorrow.

I think its starting to look like a layout now. I'm currently waiting for the static grass to come and I'm not sure I'm keeping that road as it is at the front and I'm unsure if I'm keeping the Walthers kit with the silos but I'm much happier with the track now the ballast has been toned down.

Ground cover added. I had to pull up a load of the plaster because I wasn't happy with how it went up to the outside rail and extended into a road. Just been experimenting with colours and textures. This is before the air brush comes out as I'm going to completely repaint the track and ballast to try and get the tone I'm looking for.

Cleaned up and managed to run some stock. Unfortunately I only have 3 items of stock that will run without issues. I have 2 others but they will need modifying as the conversion to EM hasn't been successful.

The Class 08 that has been modified with sound and a large stay-alive is wonderful to move around, very satisfying. I'll get another if I can find one at a reasonable price.

A very messy update but I've done quite a lot and ideas have started to develop so thought I'd share.



I added some scupltamold to break up the flat on the front and painted it with earth undercoat. At the front I plan on having more concreated staging right up to the track inspired by this photo found on the "quaint small goods yards" thread. I like how the cars and huts are right up to the track.

I'm going for a manufacturing facility, something like toys or something similar which can be shipped as finished goods out from the warehouse at the end which is going to be a modern-ish warehouse. In the middle I've gone for the Walthers HO Pellet Transfer Facility which is on the same estate as the manufacturer but not necessarily the same industry and on the left will be an an old brick warehouse taking in refined fuel. I'm aware I might have to scale down these buildings to fit the HO kit but I'm happy to make that sacrifice. I don't know if this will work but thats the current thinking anyway.

In terms of track its been primed with Tamiya Matt Black which is an amazing pigment and perfect for building on to. I dry brushed light browns and light greys over that and then dusted with black chalk. I then ballasted using woodland scenics grey blend and brown and this is still a work in progress but 90% done. Now I do have to say I really don't like the colour of the ballast as they stand they contrast far too much so I'll be spending time trying to get the tone of these right so I plan on saturating it with watered down paint while trying to not spoil the work done on the track itself, not sure how I will do that yet.

Hi all. I need 6 slide chairs to complete my layout and I really don't want to order a pack of 100 from C&L so I thought I'd check on here if any builders have any to spare? I'll send over postage and the money for a pint.
These ones.
Thanks in advance.

Well I removed and re-laid the trackwork. None of the points survived in tact so I had to rebuild them so took about 3 weeks in all and a couple of days to rewire to make it operational.

Aesthetically I'm much happier with it, it just looks more natural and I got the chance to correct some mistakes from the first build.

Now for the hard part and that is creating a layout that is to exhibition standard. I've built track for years and can do that because the desired outcome is set and specific and I can follow instructions but when it comes to imagination required to build a layout of standard I'm afraid I'm lacking in this area. It's possible I just overthink it rather than going incrementally and changing what needs to be changed as I go along.

Looking for inspiration I like Alcanman's layouts on here and I also like the warehouse Universal Exports on Farkham as well as a lot of the HO content I see on YouTube such as this home layout from John 2618 and Glover Road by Boomer Dioramas. There are many more but these are just a handful that are along the lines of what I have in mind.

Anyway next step is painting the track, some areas will be concreated over so I'll tackle that this week.

1 hour ago, DCB said:

I will be interested to hear if it is satisfying to shunt.   It only looks like you can run round a couple of bogie vehicles or 5 four wheelers. Nowhere to put incoming wagons while shunting the outgoing.  Many GWR branch termini has very long loops around 40 wagons so a whole train could be stored on one road while the outgoing train was assembled.  Mine only holds four coaches or 15 wagons or so but I end up shunting rafts of 20 plus wagons as I have a long main line as a headshunt.  Diametrically opposite way of doing it.

Compared to what I pulled up I don't think it will be less satisfying in its new form.  8 feet at 4mm scale is just not a lot of room and if the worst comes to the worst you still have an Inglenook type siding arrangement for arranging an outgoing train but again the max length of a train is 8 long  wheel based wagons. I imagined it would be bringing in short trains with more sidings off scene for storing wagons over long periods. 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Again, I think a lot depends upon the status of this place.

 

I’m reading it (perhaps wrongly) not as a BLT, but a yard serving a couple of industries, and with that in mind, the incoming ‘train’ might be propelled, a shunt rather than a running move, and would probably consist merely of the ‘cut’ being delivered, possibly without a brake van in “pre-continuous” days, and possibly with the wagons running “with the strings pulled” in more modern times.

I had to Google what a BLT was but yes its definitely not for any passenger services or stock. I want to do that at some point in the future but it would have to be 2mm scale. There will be a warehouse at the far end for Speedlink type services.

3 weekends and a few stolen weekday hours later and track has been removed, rebuilt and re-laid. The 3-way point has been corrected to be 1:6, 1:9, 1:8 with curviform crossings where required and it runs well with no doglegs. There are a couple of gremlins I need to fix but other than that I'm happy with it. Thanks for the feedback on here everyone. I'll do a layout writeup going forward in the Layouts section.

Oh and I decided my trackplan sucked so I'm currently redesigning it as per this thread. Track plan help - opinions welcome

Gives me a chance to redo the 3-way point as per this thread Tandem build query as a combination of being sent the wrong parts (maybe) and having never attempted one meant I got a couple of the crossings transposed and the geometry is a little off. It also gives me a chance to put a cassette system in.

Warehouse structure shell progress. The 3d image is just for proportionality.

9 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Somewhere in a US track planning book years ago I read the advice about switching/shunting layouts ‘keep you loop short and your sidings long’ and it does seem to make for more ‘shuntable’ layouts, while leaving plausible space for loading.

 

How many wagons do you want to be able to run-round though? And, do you envisage long bogie wagons?

this is why I initially had the runaround long because I’m modelling a Speedlink type layout and it’s all longer wheel based vans. VBAs etc. I’d say loco plus 3 at a minimum, I want 4 but I’m willing to sacrifice this for a better track plan. I can shorten the headshunt a little and just see what works.

46 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I was thinking something like this (excuse literal back of envelope sketch).

 

 

No I really appreciate any help a simple sketch is perfect. I came up with this before I checked replies and looks like I'm on the right lines. I have an extra siding on the right in mine.

I already have the points built so if you're wondering why I have a 3-way and seem determined to make use of it 

7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Those two sidings bottom left would be really annoying to shunt, because there is barely enough room for a loco and a wagon beyond the three-way point. Personally, I would go for a single siding there, and put the turnout to it to the left of the baseboard join. Having one siding there would un-crowd things a bit too.

I see what you mean about the space before the 3-way, good spot.

When you say 

Quote

put the turnout to it to the left of the baseboard join

Do you mean put the 3-Way point on the left board?
 

On 10/02/2021 at 19:32, 9C85 said:

 

This thread has got me thinking. 

 

I have knocked up a plan hopefully meeting the brief. The thicker line is the arrivals/departure road which will be used by your 20 on a 'Speedlink' type service. 

 

The Goods Out sidings can be either fully or semi enclosed in  a warehouse, or fully exposed. 

 

The siding parallel to the arrivals line could be extended to make a loop, if you have the space. 

 

You asked about doing something with the bottom left corner.  You could have a fuel/powdered goods arrival for the same industry, with perhaps a conveyor/pipeline  leading over the track to the factory. 

 

Tankers would be a good choice to go along with your vans as you wouldn't have to worry about having 'empties' and 'fulls' arriving and departing. 

 

The main thing to note is that the bulk of the track is at an angle to the edge of the baseboard, and ideally it should have a gentle curve, which I think looks more pleasing than having dead straight track bang parallel to the baseboard edge.

 

I will follow this thread with interest.

 

Enjoy the build!

Hey @9C85 Something is not sitting right with my plan at all so I'm re-reading the thread to look over the suggestions again and put yours into AnyRail. Is this what you was thinking?

I definitely prefer the angled track. If so I'll plug it into TrainPlayer and see if it works operationally. I don't see why not though.

Note the line down the middle is a baseboard join so I can't have any pointwork crossing it.

2 hours ago, steve1 said:

Have you considered joining the EM Gauge Society? Lots of help and support available there.

 

https://emgs.org/

 

steve

I did used to be a member but I can't say I got anything out of it. I cut my teeth in 2FS but I was frustrated with poor running stock so came back to 4mm just to have a layout where I can stunt around reliably while I build a 2mm layout on the workbench. In fact the only reason I went EM was because I couldn't get the OO bullhead track at the time but I'm glad I went EM because I've definitely skilled up a bit.

Weathered 

Stenson Models coupler and hook added. You don't want to know how many hours that took to build. Not sure about it since there is no more detail I can add to the buffer beam without a complete custom job of drilling holes in the model beam.

I've not done anything with the track or scenery since I last updated this as I was unsure of the track plan some elements were bothering me and I was concerned I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted. I've been working on some stock in the meantime while I waited for the Class 08's new wheels from Ultrascale (6 month lead time). I got the wheels and installed them and thought I would buy a cheap DCC chip just to get started with it only to discover that I'd somehow bought a non DCC model. Ultimately I wanted DCC sound for this loco so had to save some money to get what I really wanted for it so it now has a Zimo DCC sound chip installed with stay-alive capacitor from YouChoos. The loco exceeds expectation with it it works and sounds great. For an 08 shunter when you tally up the total cost (loco, wheelsets, sound chip, speaker, stay-alive) it's really not cheap at all but it should last me a lifetime I hope. It needs weathering and buffer beam detail adding but its had a coat if matt varnish and the chassis airbrushed with matt black and it looks great as is, just too clean.

As for the track plan I am set on some changes. Firstly I want to use Cassettes for the fiddle yard so with that I can remove the first point into the yard itself to give more room on entry. I'll move the point to create a kick back siding on the left of the layout. That will take time so in the meantime I'll try and plan what the scenery will be. I've had a go at visualising it but I have time to decide. I've attached a 3D model of what I have in mind so far.

Thanks @Southwich it definitely does help. The products from these cottage industries are not easy to find at all. I do have the model you're showing above and I'm not getting satisfactory running, even though the wheels are spinning freely while holding the model they seem to be binding when on the track so I'll give these a go.

It does Mark thanks. So I wasn't too far off then, I can't remember if the bearings are the waisted ones I think they are, the reason I was apprehensive about filing them down as I still wanted to retain the run along the carriers. I thought about elongating the hole but was unsure of the tooling I'd need to pull it off, Dremel disc maybe?

Finished example of one of the vans. 

Might as well post an update in case anyone wants to know what I did in case they come across the same quandary in the future.

I bore out the hole at he back of the bearing casting as much as I could so it would fit flush against the W-Iron (the bearing on the irons protrude out of the W-Iron) and the superglued into place. This makes the springing utterly redundant as there is no give at all and even if there was superglue runs and will likely foul the bearing behind the W-Iron. It looks good and I can get away with not having the springing in EM but it would have been nice to retain it.

If anyone knows how to get the best of both worlds I love to know. There must be a solution. Are the Rumney Models castings not the way to go? Is there something obvious I missed?

I didn't bother with the leaf spring castings, the leaf springs on the model are accurate enough in terms of detail.