jonhinds

Twilight of the 101s.

Anyone remember when England used to be cold?

Things are looking up again. After removing the crossover, I managed to completely sort out the issues with the remaining turnout so it won’t need to be replaced after all! Just waiting for British Finescale’s shop to reopen so I can lay the remaining plain track. Ballasting is finally on the horizon. (P.S. the platform isn’t glued together, hence any wonky gaps.) Getting to work on some more bridge detailing, using thin brass strip and bits of plasticard tube. This section will be painted mid grey and weathered. Experimenting with a low angle shot…

After some thought, I’ve decided to replace the turnouts as my next ‘to do’. However, I’m eliminating the crossover for plain line as it feels like too much extra work, so the layout will just have a single scenic turnout. I’ve been procrastinating endlessly about this, as turnout construction was easily my least favourite part of this layout and I really don’t want to do over three turnouts from scratch (particularly given the number of shared rails on the crossover). With the one, I can still do loco runarounds, and actually focus on the stuff I want to do, which is detailing the layout. I’m fully intending to have more complex code 40 track work on future layouts, but I’m thoroughly burned out on this one and just want to skip to the fun stuff.

Ah, just noticed this is only available in OO and I model in N. Hopefully it’ll be shrunk down eventually (or provide a template for my own scratch build).

Yep, the Dapol. The NEM pockets on Farish stock seem to be quite tight, so they do require a bit of force to fit. The Mk.1 stock is particularly tricky, and I needed to gently ease the pockets slightly apart to accept the couplings. The main thing to avoid is accidentally letting the tiny coupler spring pop out as they’re very hard to locate! Once secure they work really well, but I’m assuming they were designed with Dapol stock in mind.

Thanks! The 47 driver must have a flair for composition 😆

Many thanks! It’s been a while since I’ve had chance to do anything on the layout. Just been testing out the easi-shunt couplings today, and all working well. One advantage of code 40 is the magnets can be placed directly under the track rather than cutting into sleepers. Hopefully will be able to finish off the platforms soon, and after that a bit of progress on the overpass. As the track is just about working okay, I’ll put off repairing/replacing sections until the scenic work needs to be glued in.

So far okay. It’s indoors in a room with a bit of temperature variation but nothing too severe. I’ve left minute gaps between each length of rail rather than soldering them together, with droppers soldered to every section.

Thanks! Yeah, it’s a pain as I absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to start again if it was Peco track. I’m impressed you’re going for super elevation; when everything works perfectly it looks a million. Sometimes the only way to master these things is a bit of error! By getting so much wrong, I’ve learnt a lot about best practice with track building, hopefully save time and hair-pulling in future.

Well, the stalling issues have continued so I took the nuclear option and installed a hefty stay alive on the C150. The issue is absolutely the track, particularly the turnouts. 1. Several rail chairs have broken, leading to lateral kinks. 2. Not only are there large gaps between frog and rails, but they’re also misaligned by a few tenths of a mm. 3. A switch blade has bowed slightly on one turnout. 4. Some soldered joints may have an intermittent electrical connection. 5. Turnouts have several undulations where wheels can drop. Should I rip them up and start again, knowing what I know now? Absolutely, but I haven’t the appetite for it yet. My current aim is to relay the problem points when the FiNetrax easy build turnouts are available for FB rail. With an SA fitted (£17 extra per Zimo decoder) everything runs fine, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have onboard. I appreciate this is bad practice, but ultimately I want something that looks right and is fun to build, and as a medium-term sticking plaster this works for me. I just want to build scenery and run trains! I’m in two minds whether to lightly ballast and weather the points, as they will be hacked up eventually. Here’s the 150 newly in action on the points, complete with cheesy video filter:

Turns out the dummy decoder was fitted the wrong way up. 😳

Now having another lighting issue. I’ve put a decoder in the dummy unit and tried to program it on the programming track, with the chipped powered unit also present. So far so good. However the forward and rear lighting on the dummy car are now both constantly on at half brightness, and whenever the powered car moves in a given direction the dummy car also has the same lighting direction i.e. white/white, red/red.

Thanks! Just changed the decoder speed steps to 2/28 on CV29 and problem solved.

I now have the Lais Kung Fu 870007 soldered to the Bachmann 36-568A. Digitrains provided the soldering for £2. Everything seems to run smoothly, however the directional lights are a bit flickery. Moreover they only operate when the unit is moving, and moving on an even speed step (2, 4 etc.). Everything is on factory default, and I’m using NCE Powercab. I don’t fully understand CVs so haven’t looked into tweaking anything.

First platform laid, just need to detail and weather the top surface now. I decided to use rivet decals for the iron sides of the overpass. Hopefully the rivets should imply the presence of panel lines at this scale, although I guess I could scribe them in later. Also scribed the second side of the Red Star building, aiming to make the number of tiles exactly correct to prototype. What I wouldn’t give for a laser cutter right now! With the paper templates. Only two more sides and the roof structure to go. Also started on the signage.

Many thanks. As mentioned, the layout won’t be a copy of a specific location, more bits and pieces taken from around the area. In terms of traffic, it’ll be stuff that ran/runs through the Calder and Kirklees region rather than just specific to the HB stretch. I was unaware the signal box was operating as recently as four years ago! The combination of colour light and semaphore signals is really interesting as well.

Hi I’m in the very early stages of planning a large layout loosely based on stretches of the Calderdale & Huddersfield lines. However, I’m wondering if it’s possible, given the changes in the network between the late 1980s and today, whether I could create something that could plausibly run both eras. Perhaps some level of modularity in signage & signalling? 1. The main part of the layout will be a long stretch of straight track, comprising two local lines and one or two express lines for InterCity and freight. 2. A siding or two would be optional but nice, if prototypical. 3. There will be a single through station, loosely based on Hebden Bridge which has remained virtually unaltered since its opening (aside from platform extensions, etc.). Thinking of having slots or magnets to interchange the station signs between BR and Northern/Metro. 4. Signalling could be an issue. I’m not familiar with this, but semaphore signals seem to have still been somewhat in use in the 1980s, and the design and operation of electronic signalling has also presumably changed? Maybe a plug-in modular board for working signalling? I’d be interested to know if this idea is pie in the sky, or whether there are stretches of line that could work for both eras with minimal alteration.

Picked up these 3D printed relay cabinets, BRUTEs and ‘80s metal seats from Mac’s Models. Easily some of the finest detailing I’ve seen for the money, such as actual mesh on the benches! Sadly it appears they’ve permanently ceased trading in the past month. Painted the seats in Tamiya clear red, with the rest still to do. I’m really impressed with Tamiya so far, as their acrylics (& thinners) seem to airbrush a lot better than the Humbrol stuff I picked up, and with only a couple of layers needed. Also working on the platform edging and corrugated canopy sides, as seen at bottom. Hopefully getting the platforms in over the coming week or so.

Yes, good point. So far the main issue seems to be locos sporadically stalling in motion rather than actually failing to start. Many thanks for your help Nigel, that’s fantastic.

Love these shots of the layout, especially the EWS 66. Apologies if covered elsewhere in the thread, but do you use focus stacking in your photos?

Many thanks! I’m currently using a ‘made by Zimo’ Bachmann 6 pin decoder, so will check if that’s suitable.

Hi I’m wondering whether to fit a stay alive capacitor to my Farish 150/2 (371-329) due to sporadic stalling at medium-low speeds. Wheels, pickup and track are clean, but as it’s my first effort at building code 40 track some gaps and slight unevenness have crept in. A simple push sets the unit running again, and it doesn’t always stall at the same spot. 1. Is a stay alive generally a good / reliable solution in these situations? 2. Does it require a particular decoder type? 3. Are any specific SA capacitors recommended for this motor/chassis? Many thanks!

Maybe Silk Cut knew more than they were letting on…

Some era-appropriate advertising has appeared.