Trev218

I'd got hold of enough station kits to build the 'mainline' station as well...there's something very therapeutic about putting together all those canopies - I reckon so anyway, perhaps I'm strange! Next thing was to get it all wired and tested. I made up a panel unit using a print out from anyrail and protecting it with clear sticky backed plastic. Each point is switched either way with the single-pole-double-throw-centre-off (quite a mouthful) switches with the oomph coming from a CDU built into the panel. Not in the pic at this stage is the switch for the turntable, I got round to doing that later. Any future layout I'll look into DCC points to hopefully reduce the complexity of any wiring. When I put it all together, it worked a treat, what I hadn't allowed for is how rigid the two wiring looms are from the panel to the two halves of the layout. I think a lot of that comes from the shrink wrap I put round it. When I get a chance I'll remove it from one loom and just cable tie the bundle together every couple of inches and see if that helps What I also didn't allow for was to be able to easily operate it from the rear not just the front...doh! The DCC handheld is on a long enough bit of wire but the panel to baseboard connections aren't...I'll get round it somehow when the time comes!

I put together the Peco turntable kit and dry-brushed some colours over a dark grey basecoat - Neil's suggestion (BlackRat - lives just across the water and has been on at me for years to get my finger out and start building something!) I'd modified the depot area from what I originally intended - added an extra track or two off the turntable. I made up another Metcalfe engine shed and hacked the two around to join them together, quite pleased with how the turned out. As you can see the upper baseboard now needs an extension!

Then the Metcalfe bug bit! I started off with the engine shed and what was going to be a small station just to help sort out track positioning...as usual it grew!

Hi, it appears speedy, but it's actually taken place over the last few months, I've just got a lot of pics of progress! In fact, it's slowed quite a bit recently for various unsavory reasons - work etc! After the pics were taken of the joins and before it got wired I cut the isolation slots

It started looking nice when I got some colour on it and a bit of the scatter material. I carried on with the landscaping a bit further up the incline to the higher level and then ballasted that area, so I would end up with a little corner of it looking half decent to act as encouragement.

Next up was one of those tangents I was saying about I'd been itching to play around with the Woodland Scenics stuff that had arrived, so I made a start on the right hand side cutting to see how it was going to turn out. I used one of the Peco double track portals for the tunnel entrance, with a bit of extra paint dabbed on it and molded it into the cutting. Got in a right mess, but again was all very satisfying!

Was starting to enjoy getting some track down...I was reasonably optimistic I'd be able to disguise the base board joins once the track was ballasted...inevitably though once there was some sort of loop laid I couldn't resist doing some semi-permanent-temporary wiring to see locos moving

Moved it all out to the man-cave (one end of the garage that we haven't put a car in for probably over 20 years now!) to start on some of the interesting stuff. First couple of bits of track laid - was quite satisfying laying it across the join then slicing through it. The soldering is a bit heavy handed here but it's out of site and certainly the ends of the rails aren't going anywhere now!

Needs must - the flippin cork kept rolling up!

Then it was first change of direction time - I thought I'd be clever and have the scenic areas open framed - at which point i realised that the bulk of those bits would be flat! So it was a case of filling in the gaps and slapping some more cork sheet down...by this time we had a very bemused mutt!

Once I'd printed the plan out I could start on the frames etc. The gradients don't work out tooooo steep as the front area is effectively at mid-height - at each end the track beds drop down a bit to go under the high level section. I just about managed to allow for point motor positions when it came to the frames - a couple end up being a bit of a squeeze though. Once the basic bits were put together i bunged some some cork sheet.

For years I've steadily been accumulating a rather lovely collection of N gauge rolling stock and always promised myself I'd one day build a layout to run some of it on. Years ago I remember seeing a layout at a show - Eastgate TMD I think the layout was called - something like that anyway. It had a modern depot, OHL and some superbly weathered stock and it still sticks in my mind now. More recently, layouts on here e.g. Dallam Sidings and the like, are just superb and are along the lines of what I'd like to create for myself - especially now the collection includes Revolution Pendolinos, class 92s etc! Having virtually no experience, I felt that maybe trying to achieve the heights of those layouts to start with might be a bit ambitious - so to coincide with the arrival of our first grandson (by the time it's finished he'll be well old enough!) I thought I'd try something a lot smaller. The idea was that I'd learn all the various techniques, hopefully learn by any mistakes that inevitably I'll make and end up with something fairly small but neat and fun for him and me to operate. Then I could apply what I'd sussed out to build something more spectacular to run all the gorgeous full length trains that are achievable in 'N'. So, armed with the Peco N track plans book I had a look to see what took my fancy and fairly near the beginning was the little gem in the first pic. It's a 4' x 2' plan and very compact. Inevitably I started playing around with it in AnyRail and it expanded to 6' x 2 and a bit' I wanted to make it in 2 sections - to get the hang of baseboard joins; I wanted to make it DCC, again to get the hang of that; I wanted to motorise all the points and the turntable; I wanted to play around with Woodland Scenic's stuff...and inevitably it got a bit out of hand as the thing grew. It's probably going to look a bit trainset-like when it's done but it's going to be fun as well. As for era - whatever takes my fancy and I happen to get out of the stock cabinet on any given day! I made a start a few months ago and it's coming along as time allows - I keep getting sidetracked and play around with different bits of it just for the hell of it - hence the cutting in some of the pics later on...and I found an oldish set of N gauge society Seacow kits and have spent a chunk of time building those on the dining table - luckily I have a very tolerant wife - the other end of the dining table is usually taken up by her building her collection of Lego modular buildings...I just need to convince her to try some Metcalfe kits. As for Metcalfe kits, they're another part of the story - I bought a couple to see how they went together and promptly got hooked on them - when the layout is finished it's going to end up like an advert for them! Hopefully not bored you all to tears with that diatribe - over the next few days I'll put some more pics on with how things are evolving