Mountain Goat

To demonstrate in pictures how the legs fold, it is easier to see on the other board. Be aware that the photograph that has the legs folded up has the board the other way up in the photo. Also, I have built a small modificztion since to reduce the weight of both the layout boards and the legs in the form of a slightly modified design and they now have a series of holes drilled into them.

My baseboard legs are made to fold inside the baseboard when the layout is not in use. The main board has two pairs of legs and the other board only needs one set of legs.

Other examples of uses of resin casting. Coach sides. This is a wrecked Lima coach and I have copied a pair of Triang coach sides as those Triang coach sides come undone as seperate pieces. This is a project that I have yet to finish. I repaired a warped coach roof, by pressing a good coach roof into Playdough, and then pouring in some resin, and pressing in the warped coach roof on top of it so the resin dries onto the warped roof and takes the form of the good coach roof underneath it. (Sadly I don't have pictures of the process). Making track... (Please ignore my rather crude trackwork as this layout has been my first attempt of making track by soldering rails to PCB home cut sleepers). Playdough was used to keep the resin where I need it.

Experiments in resin casting. Several years ago (Probably over 10 years ago?) I bought myself a Sylmasta resin casting kit. It sat in its container for ages before I finally cameto give it a try. When I did try it... The number of different things I have made! From repairing a coach roof, to casting axleboxes, wheels (Downgraded to signal point use), isolating sections for tuenouts and track sections etc. Many uses!. The moulding material was quickly used up but the resin went on and on and on. About a year or two I finally ran out. I have not yet bought any more, but I will do as it has been such a useful material. And one does not have to have the mould making material as if one just wants to cast a single item and that is it, then using Playdough is ideal. It may not be quite as accurate, but it can beused again and again (The playdough) if one takes the bits out. Here I was casting coach sides which I have not yet made into coaches. I had cut a side off the Faller coach when I was working on it to convert it from 0 gauge to narrow gauge, and while it was off I cast myself a few sides by copying it (And adding a few extra plasticard strips to represent side doors instead of using balconies, and plasticard to reduce the window height a little). The resin I am using turns white when it sets and eventually turns a yellowy white if not used for a while. Whwn casting with resin, be aware a little goes a long way, so have a few other moulds ready incase you have some left over. The beautiful thing with using this material, is you can half fill a mould, and at another date when one is next casting, fill the other half. It usually comes out as a single casting, but even if it has a crack between the two different dates being cast, as runny super glue is the ideal bonding agent, one just runs superglue down the crack and the glue sucks itself up into the crack or join, so it forms a single piece anyway. Job done! (The green coach side is the plastic side I am making a copy of).

Aha! My vehicle is "Thunderbird 2 in the neud!"

The two roof windows do look like a Toyota. The one I have just put in the picture above (Edit. Last page) has two sunroofs just like that. A smaller one above the drivers area and a big electric one in the back.

You mention Previa. I happen to have an Estima which is rather rare. It has 4WD and a 2.2 diesel engine and it shifts. But what is rare about it (Apart from the extras like factory fitted radar etc. Rare for a 25+ year old vehicle) is it has a manual 5 speed gearbox and no one seems to have heard of a manual version of these Japanese imported vehicles. I am not sure what to do with it. My brother owned it and used it until about just over a year ago when he bought an old Shogun as it was more sutable for his back as his spine is crumbling. The Toyota does need a bit of money spending on it as it has a few things needing to be sorted out for its next MOT. (It has been off the road now for over a year). I bought it off him as he was going to scrap it, and it looks far too good for that, but no one seems to want it. Due to lack of space it now sits outside and it is looking sorry for itself.

Some of you may have noticed that I mentioned home made name and numberplates. I did a little experimenting here with aluminium drinks can by scribing it from the back. It worked but wasn't easy, so I needed to come up with a better solution. This came in the form of using one of these old label printers. One cuts aluminium drinks can in the shape and size that the label tape is, and then one uses it the same way as if one is printing a label. One may have a few that don't turn out that good, but hey.. The drinks can came free with the drink, so just try again. After the name and number has been printed, I scribe a surround from the back and cut them out and paint them. Once the paint has dried, I carefully remove the raised surface of the letters, numbers and surround to give me nice name and numberplates to add to my locomotives. Here is an example of the label printing tools and an example of the name and number plates on one of my locos.

Is this eligable for this thread?

Here is an interesting project for semi budget modelling. I happened to come across these farmyard "Wooden Boxes" in a toy area of a local store. They are sold for those who like to collect farmyard models and toys and are made with the young in mind. Now I had previously experimented with resin casting just to see if I could do it, and one of the experiments I had done was to copy a side of a Triang bogie, as no one much but me seems to value them these days and I only happen to have so many old Triang bogies in my parts box. The resin copies will therefore come in handy. So when I saw these boxes sold in packs of six, it got my mind thinking... Wouldn't it be nice if they were the right size to fit my new castings into? I went back and fore a few times to the shop to examine them and I was a bit too embarissed to do any measuring, let alone get caught and trying to explain myself to shop security guards! So I decided to take the plunge and buy a packet just to see what I could do. The packets are not cheap at around £5, but you do get six of them for your money... Though in my experimenting, the castings were ideal. Remove the lower floor portion and the central pallet strut. Also remove the two internal cross pieces which were the exact same size, and one can mount either a Triang bogie (If the coupling and the top is ground/filed/sawn down/off), or I could mount the resin castings I had made. So far so good... But the completed waggons did look a little tall. Now that had me thinking. If I just cut the box structures in half so it is half the height, and I can use two of the spare cross pieces... Ooh. It works! I managed to be able to make 12 waggons from one packet of boxes. Now 12 waggon bodies for £5 is starting to look a lot more economical! So with 10.5mm wheels and top hat bearings mounted in the resin castings I have some nice durable waggons. I did file the sides of the structure a little so they did not look so thick when looking down from above... And I glued a little lead to the underside. And here I have some nice lovely 0-16.5 waggons! And for those who want to buy these boxes who don't have a resin casting kit, or don't have any spare Triang metal bogies, why not make an internal chassis to the H design? (More on this simple chassis design later). (I apologize for the picture quality as some pictures were taken from my old tablet).

What size? I have a few 14mm Romford coach wheels somewhere but they will be 00 gauge. They can be widened on their axles slightly. Not sure if they would be suitable. In 7mm narrow gauge, it is the smaller wheels like 10.5mm I am looking for.

Years ago when I was a guard, I was asked which possible stations coule be re-opened and what could be done to improve services. At the time (I am a bit out of touch with things today) there were four services each way up the Heart of Wales line so some people could not use the line to commute with, as the times were not practical, so I made the suggestion there could be a fifth service even if it is only part of the way up and back from the Llanelli end. I also suggested that Fishguard Harbours twice daily services (One at mid day and one 12 hours later at just past midnight were torally impractical for any of the locals to make use of it so I suggested an extra two services a day so locals could commute. I also suggested re-opening St Clairs, as it has a fair population for that area and the stretch between Carmarthen and Whitland is a long one. Out of the two small towns, to me St Clairs is more of a bustling place then Whitland is. Whitlands popularity was based on it being a junction station, and so the small town grew around it. St Clairs is more of a major place where roads meet and it seems a missed oppertunity as most people living there have to rely on owning a car... The walk from St Clairs to Carmarthen or Whitland if one is carless is a major one. Out of all the routes I used to operate on, oe of the largest running gaps between stations was the Carmarthen to Whitland stretch which just so happened to have one of the largest unserved towns on its route. Be aware, that not all trains need to stop there. If just a few a day stop there on request, then it will be a major improvement to the lives of those who live there or live near there as it will also serve many smaller villages in that area as many roads meet at St Clairs.

Thank you. I know my layout has about 10" radius curves as my curves turn 180 degrees on a 2ft wide board. Feel free to copy the idea if it provides you with a practical solution for your model railway. They are manual couplings, but like I mentioned, the drop bars can be raized manually into the up position so if one crashed buffers into another vehicle the loop will come down and couple. One can also push vehicles while uncoupled into sidings etc. The buffer couplings don't neccessarily need to be mounted at an exact height as there is a little leyway here, and as in the case of this wagon below, a little spike type loop soldered onto the waggons frame is all that is needed for a drop loop to couple to, so the coupling idea is flexible in this way. (Note. Photo was taken before I soldered a little spike to the frame at each end of the little waggon so the drop loops can couple onto it. The waggons frame itself acts as a buffer).

I think I had better explain why I would not be able to use a face mask. It has taken me years to be able to use glasses. I need to wear clear glasses to protect my eyes from flies for cycling, and sun glasses for driving, and also reading glasses these days for the times when I need them, but it has taken me years to be able to wear them any more then fifteen or twenty minutes at a time, as I can't stand the claustrophobic feeling of having things on my face. It is not just my face. I can wear a bicycle helmet but the times when I have had a moped (As I can drive a 50cc on my car licence), I have found that I can only stand an open face helmet for a limited period of time as I find that with covering my ears I feel totally claustrophobic and I can't even try to wear a full faced helmet. Now with a facemask, I get even more claustrophobic as it is not only wearing the thing, but it slightly restricts my breathing... And if I feel under stress I do get issues where my throat closes up. I am currently on medication due to this, as if it gets bad my nose also starts to close up. Due to times of cycling in the winter, I do need some protection for the 35 to 40mph downhill stretches to stop my face from freezing, and I have tried several things from scarves (Which I rarely use as through experience it is not safe) to knitted circular thingie my Mum made, which was very lose fitting and did not stay round my face (And I found that I can't wear wool next to my skin for that long before I have to take it off). But in recent years I tried the shop bought elasticated things to protect the neck and face and no way can I wear them. The ONLY thing I have found I can wear was this lose fitting tube like covering that had a draw string top. I did not really like the idea of a draw string top because of potential strangulation issues, but it is the ONLY thing I have found that I can wear that I am happy with to stop the cold air getting at my neck and also breating in cold air while on the bicycle. The thing is very loose fitting below the draw string. I know through experience that I can't wear dust masks on my face even for a few seconds, as I automatically feel a restriction and I just don't breathe. Once my dentist tried to put this thing in my mouth and partly over my face and I blacked out as I did not draw a breath. It was supposed to be for people like me who don't do well while at a dentist. Anyway. I rarely use public transport as I find I just can't stay in crowded places, and believe it or not, I once worked trains! But if I had difficulties, I had the back cab to go back to so I could get some de-stress time before I went back out. It was the only way I managed it for so long! But to be honest, when I get difficulties with anxiety and stress etc, I get partial and full shutdowns so I am not able to walk the few miles to reach the bus stops anyway... So without the car I am stuck.

You know when you get Divine knowledge not to order. I rarely order anything, but a month or two ago, I wanted to order a couple of accessories for my Unimat, and my origional Unimat I had purchased from them a good few years ago. (I rarely had the funds to treat myself so when I did I decided that the Unimat was a better investment then models, as my theory is that tools are better then buying kits because I can make things with tools). I have to say that the phone call went fine (I often take a week or two to pluck up the courage to phone) and I had my Unimat within days along with two Peco coach kits I had ordered at the same time. But recently when I decided to go for a couple of upgrades, each time I went to phone I felt not to and I did not know why. I did try twice but there was no reply. It took me about a month to try making these two phone calls as making decisions and speaking on the phone for my own needs can be like that. Anyway, I kept feeling I should not order from them and I did not have a clue as to why. I did notice that other places had higher prices on their websites, and it was as if Osbornes had not updated their prices on less popular items for a few years. This is not a problem if they honour these prices, but their profit margins may be squeezed quite a bit. So after what was probably something like about two to two and a half months, maybe even three? I decided to order elsewhere (Rare for me as I often stick to the same place if I do) and I actually found a place to order from which is not that far away from where I live. I ordered and recieved my items. It cost a bit more but fair enough. If that is the price they need to stay in business, that is the price I need to pay. (I do find that anything classed as "Model railway" or "Model" related to be around three to five times what the exact same or similar item would cost if it was classed as a "Toy", but that's another subject!) Though one does not get a lot for ones money these days, at least I am blessed with what I have. I do hope all is ok with the owner and any employees of Osbornes Models as I would hate for anyone to be in difficulty and not to be able to cope. It was an eye opener to see this thread just now as I realize why I felt it was not wize to order.

Welcome. I joined recently. Yesterday I think, so I am still finding my way around.

They make great couplings for 7mm narrow gauge use and I have seen them used on a layout which turns 180 degrees in a width of just 18 inches. The problem I was faced with was at the time I had no source of income and could not see myself getting an income for a while (Long story!). I have spare wheels and I had a packet or two of tension lock couplings spare, but when I noticed that the couplings were the same price as a pair of wheels per waggon, I Just had to think up a plan B. Plan B ended up being my Mk2 design in which there is nothing new in principle. I just found myself a budget way to make them work. The buffers are drawing pins (Thumb tacks) that have been shaped with a file or a little grinding wheel on a mini drill and the drop loops are made from paper clips or stiff wire... All I needed the couplings to do was to be easy to use and reliable, look the part and negotiate sharp curves. I was less fussed about automatic operation as to me, when I worked on the railways as a guard, I had to manually uncouple and couple coaches to the locos, so it seems the natural thing to do with my models. The drop loops are very easy to lift using a piece of stiff wire held in my hand, and I can even lift the loop and suspend it in the up position and slam the buffers together and the loop drops to couple so I can use them in a partly hands off approach to couple if I want to. Photo shows thw basic principle of a pair of waggons being coupled. Normally both waggons have drop loops at both sides, but only one drop loop needs to be used when coupled. I had not got round to fitting a drop loop on the other waggon. Another thing I love about these couplings is they allow close coupling of vehicles, and a novel feature is I can hear the sound of buffers banging into each other. Even though it is quiet, it is audiable.

Just a quick view of the unfinished controller. This is the main part of it which is basically rescued from an old Triang train controller and rebuilt into a panel mounted controller. The panel itself is made from a square of PCB cut to the appropiate size. The reason for the need to build my own controller is that I want it to run from from a 12 volt DC supply. I am no expert when it comes to things like this so I am keeping the build simple. The part seen here has a control knob where up is the off position and forward is one way and reverse is the other direction. The back of this panel has the wipers which simply come into contact with resstance wire. Nice and simple so far. As my input is from a 12 volt DC supply via either a transformer or a battery, I do not need a rectifier as the suply is already DC and 12 volt is the maximum current my locomotive motors will need. Now two things I will add, as the control knob already caters for changing direction. I need to have a means to protect from short circuit. I already have this in hand which will come in the form of suitable wattage car bulbs (Already sourced. I have two, both with different wattages. If I remember, one is a 5 watt car indicator bulb? I can't remember... and the other is just a few watt difference). Now the principle is that the bulb is wired in series, and normally the bulb needs a higher current to light up, so it acts as a normal wire and allows the current to reach the locomotive. However, if there is a short circuit, the short will act as a wire and therefore the bulb lights up instead. It is an old idea and it does work. The only negative side that I can think of was that it does not necessarily switch off the current at the point of the short circuit, but this should not matter, as if the bulb lights up I can always add an extra switch (A push button is ideal) to turn the power off, or I can simply turn the controller to zero. Now different motors draw different currents so I plan to have a two way switch and two bulbs, so the current either goes through one bulb or the other. I also found that when testing, that with very low current 0-4-0 locos, the old Triang resistance wire needs an extra resistance added for bringing these low current motors to a crawl, as it was designed in the days when motors drew more current. So I plan to have an extra switch to have the current either pass through an extra piece of resistance wire or have no extra resistance. By doing this the switch acts as a "Fine control" switch. It only really needs to be an on-off switch as one can wire it so the current normally goes through the extra resistance, and the switch will simply add an extra route for the current to take without any resistance as current will take the route of the least resistance. I could be extra safe and simply use a two way switch. The panel controller was sprayed in a gold colour and with my hand prints on it, it seems to have changed to give a rather pleasing "Steampunk" effect. I left it that colour as I rather like it!

My past layouts were permanent layouts and I was dissapointed in that one can never predict the future, and twice I had my plans changed. I thought it a shame to have to dismantlw part completed work and the time one has put into it. So I decided to build a small portable layout as we were planning to relocate anyway, and I wanted something quick and easy. As it was a small layout I decided to do things the hard way which takes longer but I assumed that it would not take that long. Uhmmm. Well. It has been a slower process then I had imagined, but I am enjoying the build and I am having fun! Time does not matter. I don't really think my efforts will be to exhibition standard as I have seen such fine work out there by others... But if I can get it all working and I am happy with it, then why not! Haha. (But I don't think I could cope with a large busy exhibition these days. However I could exibit it outdoors. I am making it to be a layout which is independent of a mains spply.

I am in an inbetween stage of having difficulties but on one of those lists to be assessed, so officially I am not able to be an exception as officially I don't have any issues. Anyway. Nothing I can do about it so I will just carry on as I am. Besides, the nearest public transport is a couple of miles away, so I rarely use it as when I get issues walking distances is out of the question. I know. I need to count my blessings. I am ok as I am at the moment so as the saying goes "It might never happen".

Looks like public transport is no longer going to be an option for me in the future.

And here is my loading gauge in which my stock is built to fit.

I remember my Dad on new years day when it was tradition as his Mumwas supersticious, that before 12 mid day she was not allowed to see a woman, and we would all have to go in the morning (All the males so that is my Dad and me and my bother and my Uncle and my male cousins, and we would have to kiss a piece of coal and have a small glass of wine each. But as it was a rare event where my Mum was not with us to tell him off for speeding, he would drive the car (A Reliant Regal saloon) flat out at 80+ MPH down there, though he would drop down to under 70 for the curves. He could really handle those 3 wheeled cars! I remember the engine would get noisier and noisier but just before they would reach the point of going flat out, the engine would go quiet and smooth... I have noticed one or two other cars do this as well but not many do it. It is a wierd thing that I have heard used to happen to some steam locomotives. I have heard loco crew saying Castles used to do this when one touched around 104-106mph or greater. I remember reading about the Castles and Kings. The Kings were said to touch 112mph on good coal in the right conditions, but I am not sure if they had the quiet moment at speed. I do recall a strange event while working class 143's when they were lighter weight with the bus type seats. While in the back cab they would shake like mad at just below 70mph onwards. (Strangely when speaking to the drivers they did not notice this even though 143's were naturally rough riding due to the 4 wheels per coach). But though officially they were not supposed to go beyond 75mph, occasionally I was with a driver who had not noticed his speed, and with a few of those sets, when the thing touched around 82mph or above, the shaking would go and it was dead smooth. It was like we were skimming on the rails. It would remain like this with the engine running quiet until the speed dropped back down to 80 or below and the think would shatr to shake like mad, and stay shaking until we would drop below about 65mph. But those memorable events were surreal. It was like one was in another special world...

They once tried motor rail services for a few yearsand I believe it was between London and Fishguard to meet the ferry to Ireland. They also stopped along the way at places like Carmarthen where the old car loading ramp can still be seen alongside what is now a taxi firms headquarters (It was an undertakers before that and may have been a BR building before that? Anyaay. The reason why they had to stop it was twofold. One was that the lineside had to e kept clear as the occasional branch leaning over would end up smashing car windows, and the other was kids would throw stones at the cars and also caused damage, so after paying out compensation for repairs to the vehicles, the service made a loss so was withdrawn. I was told this by train drivers who used to work the trains. They also said that Freightliners werw tried for a year or two out of Fishguard and one of the drivers said to me that they were heavy things to tow. He said he only just managed to get the trains up the hill out of Fishguard. They used class 47's on those trains.

Look at the background to the middle photograph. Two lovely Volvos (Amazon and a 240) and a Mk1 Renault 15...! Wow, I loved those cars. I had an Amazon and my Grandad used to have a rather special Renault 15. He worked for a little while as a designer for Renault here in the UK and when he bought his car, they made it for him to his requirements. Basically it was a Renault 15 with the top of the range Renault 17 engine. A bit of a sleeper in those days! He used to take it out on a certain stretch of straight road once a year and if he didn't get 120mph from it, he would be dissapointed and start tuning it. Now 120mph may not seem a lot, but if you saw the road and how short it was where both ends to this stretch needed one to break hard due to the curves and downhills, even when I travel today in a more modern car, I realize how that car could shift. It was not my Grandads first Renault. He had two Renault 16's and I believe he had a Dophine or it may have been a Renault 8? I remember my Mother recalling when he worked for Parsons Pickles as he designed a machine which was the first machine in the world which could take food in its raw state, and process it where the food would come out packed in its jar... In this case it was onions. It would top, tail, peel and pickle them, and seal them in jars in one single machine. During his time working there, my Grandad and the boss of the factory had both purchased new cars. My Grandad was out tinkering with his new car to tune it up. His Renault 16. The boss had bought a Mercades SL with those gullwing doors. His boss was bragging about how fast his car was and it ended up them having a race between Pembrey and Kidwelly ad back which has some long straights with a few corners. I believe this was in the late 1950's to mid 1960's at the latest? Anyway. My Grandad tuned his car up and the Mercades had not only been beat, but had been beat by quite a margin. He always did enjoy tinkering with his cars!