Realistic_build_Speed

The other way I was considering was feeding the layout with power via the bridge, such that when it’s raised it’s impossible to move any trains..

Thanks David. I deliberately didn’t put in a latch as I’m worried it’ll get left up as things start moving. A DMU and a really nice 2-6-2 Tank Engine already had incidents.... I like the weighted flap idea and am also looking into an electrical interlock which would cut power and light up a warming lamp or similar. Ideally it’d set all signals to danger but I think that’s be a long term r&d piece!

So! The end result. Taking on board the suggestions here and aided by the fortuitous presence of a folding wallpaper table we have the attached... Elevating the hinges was the missing link. Works a treat and we have a tight, well-controlled interface at each end which is basically foolproof. Bridge is either up (and deliberately must be held that way while you pass under it to ensure no trains try to fly) or its down and instantly operable. Thanks everyone for the ideas! Edit: actually only have a photo of the trial fit. It’s now reinforced, aligned and y’ know, has rails on it.... Light was fading when the action shot was taken but we have two operable loops and City of Nottingham christened it with a rake of BR Maroons.

At last, a chance to get to the shed and take a few pictures... Unfortunately as you can see it has been partially disassembled since my last visit following a breakage while trying to release the bridge. It really needs to be flawlessly effortless to operate. Next time I get up there I’ll measure up properly. Had my son clawing at me this time wanting to drive the trains... Three photos below. First shows the landing area, with a magnet facing upwards to clamp the bridge down. Black marks show where the wooden sides of the bridge (used for both strength and to ensure nothing falls off) rest when it’s positioned. Track is offset as he originally wanted three tracks over the bridge. Second shows the end Where the dowels mount into the wooden baton. Third just showed the bridge stores on some hooks. Would really like to have it hinges but as you can see it’s really close to the shed door as Dad wants the longest trains here can possibly fit..

Rough concept mock up. I didn’t want to just use a downloaded layout and while this isn’t startlingly original it works with what I have. Objective of this layout is simply to get my eye back in to modelling and have something to entertain my son - so that feels ok. The concept is for two small steam locos, both goods. I have a pair of wagon rakes. One loco shuttles ore from a quarry scene at the top and another either runs round or stops to take the loads away to wherever they’re needed. It currently has just One loop, one yard area with three roads (ish) for shunting, one elevated section and tunnel for a bit of modelling / visual interest. I’d like it to work when viewed from any angle so I’ll make the section which disappears behind the gradient scenic as well. The inner line going into the tunnel just ends in there - however there’s space for some thing short. Thinking about it I could reverse the points outside the tunnel mouth and not only win myself a slightly more gentle gradient on the climb but allow a single coach passenger train to pop out from the “inner” tunnel occasionally. Anyone have any thoughts or comments...? Is there any “low hanging fruit” for easy improvements or any evident calamities which I’ll later regret...?

Feeling like a kid in a sweet shop. Delivery of track parts has landed... Still not settled on exactly what I want but have an idea I’m happy with. Trying to refine it and find a way to draw it up and share it.

Just goes to show. Stereotypes can mislead.. Now that I think about it we had two batches of parts at work. One British and a far cheaper alternative later in the production run which was cheaper and Chinese-made. One batch failed en mass within a year. It wasn’t the cheap ones...

Thanks Andrew, sorry I’d already ordered the RS Comp one or I’d have gone back to Sprog. I always like to support hobby specialist manufacturers - just failed to occur to me this time. Thanks for a great product anyway! Learned a lot from setting it up and using it with a Raspberry Pi and WiThrottle.

Thanks Meil!

Fired up all my old DCC test kit this evening to refresh myself ahead of deciding on my next layout being DCC or DC, but the lights on the SPROG stayed firmly off. Turns out the PSU has turned up it’s toes and died while in storage in a dust-proof box under the bed. I checked the label and it’s some Chinese brand I’ve never heard of. To avoid history repeating, can anyone recommend a reputable brand of 230V-12V DC adapter? Needs 2A rating minimum. Amazon and EBay are full of the things, but like this one they’re cheap Chinese products and this one only managed about an hour of testing before it died so I’d like to stay clear of those if possible.. Thanks!

My Dad has quite a few ebay models. Aside from a wheel falling off a 4-6-2 after 6 months he’s had no problems... My Class 66 above has been no trouble. Sadly the Jinty (the only one likely to fit on a 2x4 layout) is damaged... Will keep and eye out for the used > new price though! Thanks!

Hadn’t considered the radiator, thanks for the hint! In my case DCC just required a SPROG, a job lot of decoders and some research, rather than a mega budget. I think you make a valid point though, having now costed up the track & build accessories I’m likely to need it’s clear that cheap locos risk ruining a sizeable investment of time and money. For now I’m minded to ask a pro to look the J94 and the Jinty - replacing with new if required - then build this as a DC shunting puzzle with a loop to re learn the skills. I can do something more ambitious for the larger diesels later once I’ve learned on this. Thanks!

Where might one seek a copy of anyrail? I’m always suspicious of downloading from t’internet so I tend to seek out recommendations rather than rely on google...

Photo to show the “ebay special” collection of bargain track parts... These are to get me thinking. I have SCARM but I work better in the metal. Will order new before anything gets mounted as it’ll drive me crazy if the thing doesn’t run properly.

Decisions decisions! This forum has really reignited the spark for me and with my son showing a keen interest in trains it was only a matter of time before working on Dad’s layout would be joined by working on one at home. Its practice, honest! As such it doesn’t have to be amazing, I’m just getting my eye in. So - the decisions. 1. This may seem quite obvious, but I will open it up to the readership. I have a very eclectic stock collection based on gifts down the years and bargains on eBay after a beer (or several). So which to use.. These consist of a very old 0-6-0 (J74?) austerity tank, and an 0-6-0 Jinty (both DC and in early BR crest), an apparently DCC ready London Transport Panier tank BNIB, a class 43 diesel (DC in grey....), 66022 (DC, pictured) which is pre-owned but seems to run ok, and 66720 / 66719 (basic DCC decoders fitted). I looked at converting 66022 to DCC but it looks like I’d need to cut into the weight inside which I didn’t feel up to at the time. Given the tiny board I’m thinking the natural choice world be to focus on the smaller steam locos.. ...but... 2. DC or DCC. This decision runs against the obvious choice above. With DCC this could become a busy yard with lots of shunting interest. The LT panier might reasonably sit alongside the more modern diesels as a persevered specimen (don’t they still run it...?). That would mean converting the LT, class 66 and class 43(?) to DCC and setting it in the present. I have a sprog and an app on the phone to control it which I was experimenting with for Dads shed ‘til were realised how much it would cost to DCC convert his whole fleet.... I’ve run the DCC ‘66s with it and it works a treat. Just to add, the older steam locos seem to have had hard lives. The J74 runs smoothly backwards but doesn’t like to go forwards. The Jinty has a bent axle or similar and even at low speed shakes so hard it sometimes uncouples. Are these likely to be repairable? Back on topic, I suspect they’re too small to DCC convert (?) so would need to buy a controller where I have everything I need for DCC. Bet that’s seldom the case.... Over to you all then... Input, suggestions, inspirations, all gratefully received! Thanks for reading, I’m off to look at layout plans!

I just ended up the unexpected but proud owner of a sheet of MDF which measures c 2x4 ft. Watching this thread with renewed interest! Got a bit of a problem with the available stock though....

Fantastic input, thanks all. I’d debated the car bonnet hinges before, I thought there’d be quite a lot of play...? Did you use any particular make David? As an aside, I have that same Jinty... For some reason offsetting the hinge centres never occurred to me. Genius and so simple / elegant a solution once it’s pointed out... This has given me a lot to think about and to try out. By “thin slitting disc”, are we talking Dremel-like devices? I have an angle grinder but it’s not exactly the correct scale... So grateful to you all for taking the time to help out. It’ll mean a lot to him if we can crack this and move on once and for all from bridge dramas!

Thanks for all the responses! Firstly, JDW, the bridge is not scenic, it’s just the simplest, cheapest way of filling the gap between the rest of the otherwise U-shaped layout. I’d like to make it scenic (e.g. make it a girder bridge) but time and skills are not on my side. Instead both sides will have a scenic break before the bridge then into a station. One side has an elevated flyover into a single track branch terminus LBT (?) which is not connected to the loops. The other side has a 4-platform station (one for the elevated branch) and service area/sidings which use up the space inside the loop. There is no fiddle yard as such. Robert’s points are all valid. The bridge is *just * long enough so that the track across it is completely straight, but this results in an infeasibly tight inner loop curve on the side with the single track station. Only stock with two axles, or two axles per articulated bogie (e.g. DMU or an HST) can navigate this curve safely. I was planning to rework it with some radius 3 settrack as I think that’ll just about fit - with the transition from straight to curved being at the bridge / board interface. Failing that I’ll have to get creative and have the curve extend onto the bridge as suggested. Dad loves Coronation(?) class locos (4-6-2) which haven’t a hope of getting round the inner loop in the current build (0-6-0 Jinty can’t). Not sure the big locos will handle radius 3 any better than the current build but if not the join will have to go on the bridge - or they’ll have to be kept to the outer loop. Re Harlequin’s hinge question - the baseboard is 5mm plyboard over a 25x50mm wooden batten frame. The edges are not that sharp / precise - just as it came from B&Q. As such when anything is screwed into the wood very near the edge it doesn’t seem to have much strength, preferring to break apart into splinters. For that reason I’d shied away from piano hinges before as they seem quite fine and either have to attach very close to the edge or are so chunky that I doubted the track would ride over them. Perhaps it’s time to look again at elevating the track so it rises over the hinges? The second concern was “how will the track ends come together with hinges?” With the dowels one end the bridge “buts up” along the running axis and is therefore guaranteed to locate properly, and come out again without the rails snagging each other. With hinges I was concerned that I’d have to leave a huge gap at that end to ensure the rails didn’t catch as the sections moved past each other. The other end drops in once the dowels have located - so it’d be the same with the existing arrangement or a hinge. To validate the concern though, the non-dowel end has snagged a couple of times and I’ve had to repair or replace the track on each occasion. The dowel end has a copper plate screwed into the board with the track soldered to it. That has proven resilient so I will convert the rest to the same as arrangement once I have a concept that works. I had actually seen the swing bridge before, but I’ve struggled to envisage how it would work with the space we have available. It’d need to be a heavily compressed version and I’m not sure I have the woodworking skills to make it happen, or to make it robust and reliable. I’ll measure up again though to be certain. Motorised would be fantastic and a hinged concept (in either axis) would facilitate that immeasurably. The current concept is beyond mechanisation. That being said we’d both settle gladly for a lift-to-open-then-let-gravity-close-it system. I don’t have pictures with me now but will take plenty next time I’m up there (it’s a c2hr drive door to door hence the glacial progress in the last half decade!). Thanks again all!

Hi all, this is my first post on what looks like a really great site. Need some help please... I’ve been working on and off for the last 5 years (!) on a railway in a shed for my Dad. It’s in 00 gauge as that’s what he’s collected all his life. He’s got parkinsons now so modelling is hard for him and I’m doing what I can to help. Main problem is he wants two loops but the shed isn’t huge so we have to cross directly in front of the door, span of circa 1.2metres. Helpfully it opens outwards. I came up with a few ideas for a bridge and the one that’s lasted longest has a pair of horizontal locating dowels at one end and vertical clamp down magnets at the other. It’s still a bit fiddly but he’s used it successfully to date. Sadly this is now becoming too tricky. I’ve looked at various hinge types and poured over google then ordered a few speculatively to try, but this hasn’t worked out well before. I’m sure we’re not the only people to be faced with this problem. Can anyone share any bright ideas? Must be intuitive, robust and with no small parts.... Thanks in advance! Alan