Horsehay Railway Modeller

Hows this , also could i use a junction bracket on the platform for the bay and main starter?

I took all the weights off of the last board this morning and quickly lined them all up to see their layout in person for the first time. I'm quite happy with how they've turned out. Still more sanding required to get completely flush joints and then I shall install the joining hardware. I was going to have the backscene boards removable but I think it will make for a sturdier structure if I glue and screw them to the baseboards. They will also protect the scenery

Thanks for the advice. i think i have followed it here ( The home signal should be a rh bracket but i couldnt find the symbol on scarm) i have also tried the home signal on the other side of the line for sighting , and also so its not right on the baseboard edge.

Turning my thoughts back to signalling. So far I have a starter for the platform and the bay. And shunt signals for the crossing and exits from the sidings. Am I safe to assume any signalling for entering the station is the other side of the short tunnel, and therefore off scene.

I finished the second scenic board this afternoon. Alot of sanding and filling required around the lower section for the Brook. I shall have a look tomorrow evening when the glue is cured.

No woodwork today, however the ldt boards I found for a bargain on ebay have arrived. Two 8 Input feedback modules with block detection built in and one 16 input feedback module for switches or light sensors etc. The rs-8 boards will give me feedback detection both on and off scene and I'll keep the rs16 somewhere safe for future use.

I made up the two storage yard boards today, only the second scenic board to do now.

This afternoon I made the board that will support the curve between the scenic board and the storage yard. I soaked the plywood in boiling water to help it bend to the correct curve, there were one or two cracks but nothing major. I ended up using a mix of hot glue, wood glue and shear willpower to hold it together. Here is a photo from when I was using masking tape to set the curves before adding glue.

The run around loop will take atleast two coaches posiibly even a goods van as well but I'll have to see when I've laid the track. I'm not certain if a tender loco will fit beyond the points with a buffer at the end of the platform. For shunting the goods sidings one or two wagons will possibly have to enter the tunnel. ( the main is used for shunting as there's no room for goods and passenger services at the same time anyway)

The first board is gluing up now. I won't be doing any closeups,The spade bit made a bit of a mess with the weight reduction holes and I didn't bother aligning them perfectly, I just removed as much material as possible. I'll leave it over night to cure completely before I move on to the next large board. I think I'll remove the heavy gas cylinder in a few hours though just to avoid having the weight on there for too long.

I had a gap this afternoon and I think I have all the framing cut to size. I used the computer to get a cut list, in fact 10 cut lists (one for each strip) . And now I can slowly start assembly. I've also cut blocks from the softwood ready for the plywood girders.

More wood cut this morning before my afternoon lectures. I started by ripping down 8 strips to use for the plywood sandwich frame. I then cut the board tops for the storage yard and finally the back scene boards. Very minimal wastage from an 8x4 sheet. To cut the curved board that joins the storage tracks to the scenic section, I first made a template with an off cut which I could screw in the centre point and then run two pencil lines on the correct half. This deffinately worked first time and there was no incident involving swearing when the arc went straight off the board and I had to move everything down by 30mm and try again.

I did say the first cuts were imminent! Between lectures I managed to setup a table and cut the main shapes out of the 2x6ft ply. I hope to do the 4x8ft ply tomorrow. The saw horse is far to small for sheets of ply so I screwed on two old wardrobe doors to make a large table. I then cut the main scenic boards, including the cutout for the stream, as well as the first of ten strips needed for framing. All of the edges have also been sanded with 120 grit on the orbit sander.

Thank you very much, I've just started a new thread anyway so I think I shall leave this one here to talk about signals one day

Track will be peco code 100 with electrofrog points. I tried code 75 on west canal sidings and although it looks better it gets bent and damaged far easier so for safety im sticking with what i know. control will be Lenz dcc as per my main layout. From the outset all points will be dcc controlled . The scenic points will be controlled by dcc concepts cobalt digitals, and the storage points will be peco pl10s with a decoder to bring cost down a little. I was going to wait and add Pc control at a later date , however i was flicking through Ebay last night and found a bundle with 2 ldt rs8s and 1 ldt rs16 for £60 !! ( retail is about £65 per board) . for those not well versed in german dcc those are 8 and 16 input feedback and detection boards. I will keep them safe for now, as i need to upgrade my lenz system to 3.6 firmware and buy a usb interface before i can start using my pc.

Afternoon all, I've been Floating ideas around on here since christmas for a portable blt to take to uni, and ive finally made a layout thread as the first plywood will be cut iminently. you can see the initial idea here: and alot more development here: The idea for the layout is to replace my current portable layout (west canal sidings) with a slightly larger and more functional layout. Not only do i want it to be more interesting to run whilst I'm at uni , but I also want to use it as a test bed to get my head around block detection and automation with JMRI. I also want to build it to a much higher standard that will allow me to bring it with me to the first few houses i move through at the start of my RN career where I won't have the time or space to start Coalorsdale MKII, but i should be able to set up this smaller layout. It will be set in the same era as coalorsdale (1959-64 ish) to allow me to use the same stock, and whilst it is not based on any prototype it will be vagully grounded in shropshire. After much discussion the final (I hope) track plan is below. The 2nd rad curve and 3 way points are compromises to allow the layout to fit on top of a single bed. I have also finalised the baseboard designs out of 5.5mm ply and softwood timber. it is designed to break up and be stored under my bed.

for those that havent seen the signalling thread, the finalised track pln looks like this. the 2nd rad curve and 3 way point are still a compromise, i have also removed the set track curved point and will simply relay the track if i want it as a shelf layout in a few years time.

Thank you verry much, I have taken your inspiration and my mind is now settled on cherrybrook. I am also opening a layout topic thread under this name as the plywood has just been delivered.

I've finally started the station building. The first job is to cover the 3d printed shell in brick plasticard. I've started on the back corner so I can be well practiced by the time I get to the front wall.

It's freelance but based on Shropshire, there were many places served by several companies due to import and export to different parts of the country. My current top choice is springley brook

Another name idea which sounds a little more natural. There are Springfields allover the place, even in cartoons There are also many roads named Springfield in Shropshire. Some options with Springfield Springfield Springfield common Springfield brook Springfield coppice Springfield woods I'm not sure which sounds best for a layout name

Name option #5746. Springleybrook as above but based on ketleybrook

another New Name Idea Springley Common Spring- One of the many local springs runs straight through a well in my garden, as I move out it will be a good nod to my childhood ley- As seen in local names such as hadley,dawley, lawley etc. actually deriving from an old english word 'leah' for 'wood' or 'glade'. Common- again there is a lot of common land in the area. Eaach part of the name links both to the area ive grown up in, as well as the Scenery on the layout. The layout itself is not strictly geographically other than "near the shropshire hills". other options include dropping the e. springly common. or changing the second word. i.e. springley coppice.

I know tweedale well, unfortunateley it is now mostly an area of industrial estate, including the royal mail depot , so i think whenever i mention the the layout i will think of the post office its a good idea though. Im going to have a play with a word mixer like i did for my main layout.

No progress on naming, However I've done some more cad. I was going to ignore the backscene for now, however it will add structrure so i think ill include it from the start. I've been working on a cut list and there is just enough wood left for a backscenemade of the 5.5mm ply. My idea is to glue and screw the boards together and then only use screws on the backscene boards so that they can be removed if nescesarry. something else I've beeen working on is a removable lighting pelmet using offcuts from the baseboards. The idea is two 3ft strips of ply with a hinge in the middle for storage, and then two softwood supports either side, along with a 3d printed lighting channel for led strips and 3d printed brackets. The backboards only add roughly 2kg so not bad . At the minute my Pelmet is set at 500mm height, this leaves a space of 345.5mm between the top of the scenic board and the bottom of the pelmet. is this enough ?