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Therealnips

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  1. Therealnips
    My track from Peco finally turned up! Its only taken 10 months, but I have my first box of code 75 concrete sleeper track, yay! This is of course in jest, I know Peco have been very unlucky over the past year, so thank you to them!
     
    I have been playing with the track plan as I just wasn't happy with it. The helpful ideas suggested to me in previous posts were playing on my mind and although I wanted 4 running lines, It would have been expensive and difficult to get right. I have to remind myself that this is my first ever layout and its a learning curve. I would rather not be like Top Gear: Ambitious, but rubbish!
     
    So that in mind, I bought AnyRail 6 and started from scratch, I moved the station area to the side of the loft as I think I will still be able to access the eaves for storage and that gave me a longer run for the platforms. Not as long as I would like, but better. I moved to two running lines, but a junction where two split into four which should create a bit of interest. I've added a small branch line that will disappear behind a scenic board as well. I have based it on a real station, see if you can have a guess which one on the Brighton Mainline!
     
    The loft is slowly getting there, plasterboard and insulation is going up, once that is done Ill paint everything white and get the wiring done. Im doing it myself along with a fulltime job, so progress is slow!

  2. Therealnips
    So work has stalled... Lockdown and the virus has stopped Peco as we all know, so my birthday present (June) of several boxes of flexitrack still hasn't turned up and Hattons can only tell me thats its still on order. Kinda annoying, but hey what can you do in these strange times...
     
    Wiring up the loft is on hold because my tame electrician isn't working at the moment, so that's on hold as I don't trust myself to do it....
     
    I finally got a DCC controller from ebay, the small Hornby one, nothing special to start with, but it didn't work so got a refund. Bought another, that didn't work either, so sent it off to Hornby's repair dept, hoping to hear back from them soon as its been 10 days so far...
     
    Some might feel this is the universe telling me not to build a model railway! I will stick at it and maybe see if I get finish the loft before the wiring gets done so at least I can start on baseboards for when the track finally turns up. Positive attitude, stiff upper lip, fingers crossed....etc... 
  3. Therealnips
    After taking on-board (pun intended!) all the advice from the previous blog, I have come up with the new track plan. I am useless at doing curves that are parallel to the tracks next to them, so don't take it as gospel.
     
    I have brought the pointwork closer into the station to assist the signallers arms, I have angled it as well to try and smooth out the 90 degree corners on the left side. I was hoping for straight platforms (as i don't think I have the skills to do curves platforms at this time) and think I will still manage that although they will be shorter. I have added in the sweeping curves along the top (countryside scene). I would like to put in some super-elevation, but don't want to cause myself issues. I have also added in plans for some triangle bits of baseboards to allow more space to smooth out the 90 degree corners on the right side. Again, I am useless at using SCARM, so don't take the radius as gospel.
     
    As always, input is always welcome!

  4. Therealnips

    Old Priory - 2 - Track Plan

    By Therealnips,


    Old Priory
    With my plan of using a 40cm wide "shelf" to run most of the layout, I was um'ing and ar'ing over to run a double track or a quad track. I like the sound of a double track, more space for scenery on the "shelf" areas of the layout, but I also like the idea of four tracks running together. Brighton to Victoria is both, but I do like the four track sections between Haywards Heath and Gatwick. I have made a plan for four tracks after checking 40cm would be wide enough for 4 tracks. The picture still shows 30cm, but I just haven't updated it.
     
    I wanted a big through station with express lines that don't stop and decided that had to be on the large board at the back of the loft. The board at 5m wide, should be fine for a nice long station. One side of the loft will be countryside (with possibly a smaller country station, which I have added to the plans, but maybe taken out). So the idea of trains rushing through past fields and cuttings before entering the tunnel that goes along the front wall of the loft behind the computers (loosely based on Balcombe tunnel). On the other side of the loft after the tunnel, I want it to be a vaguely industrial area that turns into a small depot/yard on the larger "shelf" board, maybe based on Threebridges depot.
     
    With that in mind, I jumped onto SCARM and started playing around, 50 pieces at a time! In the end I came up with the current plan. I keep looking at it from time to time, making sure it's what I want, making sure it will work. The green sections are the fast lines, blue are the slow lines and red is the depot area. The track will be peco code 75 concrete sleep, with some bullhead in the depot and pointwork. I am planning to use gaugemaster PM-1 point motors with eletro-frog points. Traintech PC200 point controllers and train tech signals so that I can future-proof it for computer automation later on.
     
    This project will be very slow as work gets in the way, I have an addiction to cars (I have two Nissan 300zx and they are not cheap!) and I work shifts, so some days I end up wasting because I finish 1-2am, then after one day off, move on to my early shifts starting at 3/4am. It's taken me 6 months to get to this point so far.
     
    My total experience is owning an intercity 125 when I was a kid that my dad gave me for christmas, which stupidly I sold to buy a ticket to China! I have spent the past year watching the guys on youtube (Everard Junction, Dean Park Station, Charlie Bishop, etc). I like a challenge, but i suspect as its my first attempt, nothing will work out or look how I imagine it! I currently have a Class 57 that I got for Christmas, one bullhead left hand large point and one Hornby Mixed freight train set with most of the track missing that a friend bought for me last birthday!
     
    I am all ears for ideas and input to my plans. The setup of the baseboards can't really change, but I open to ideas about the track plan!


  5. Therealnips
    After spending the winter clearing the loft, boarding the floor and celotexing and hardboarding the eves, I now have a workable space. The loft still needs power and lighting and the centre area needs celotex and hardboarding, but progress is being made at last!
     
    The plan is to run the layout around the outside of the loft on a 40cm "shelf" that allows me to still access the storage in the eves, have my computers in their current location (the loft is my man cave), but have a large baseboard for a station/town scene at the far end.
     
    The baseboards will be 9mm plywood with 2x1" to strengthen them. horizontal support will be placed between the existing house supports and the diagonal beams you see in the pictures to take the weight of the boards.
     
    Next step is to get power and lighting to the loft. At the moment it has one double socket in the middle of the floor and LED strip lights running off my PC usb port.
     




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