RobAllen

Remind me again why I thought separate base boards was a good idea?! This sort of thing is harder than it looks!

Great progress Dan

Nowadays is that we think that someone shouldn't lose an arm or die on the job because of a preventable mistake. Different times.

Fantastic Easter weekend, but back to the grindstone today. Our eldest son was home so that he could use our driveway to update stuff on his car. He seems to have finally solved a rattling noise that had been annoying him! He's back in early May to replace the some important belt or something (can you tell that I'm not a car person!)

Taking advantage of the bank holiday, I laid the first three points. Looking at the plan, I decided that starting from the end of the curve made the most sense. First thing was to lay them out and check: Which immediately showed a problem in that the point into the goods yard crossed the board join! I immediately worked out that I had picked one of long ones destined for the crossover at the end of the platform rather than medium one for the goods yard. Dug it out and it fitted. I'm using the Peco bullhead points and added droppers. There's nowhere obvious to solder the droppers and you have to cut the webbing somewhere. I picked a place where there were two other pieces of webbing to hold the sleepers in the right place. One of the nice things about the unifrog design is that Peco have already connected every rail, so I figured that it didn't really matter where the droppers go. After drilling a 9mm hole for the point motor and smaller holes for the droppers and frog wires, I glued them down the copydex and put some weights on: Will look at it tomorrow evening and see if they are stuck down okay. Hopefully, I can continue next weekend.

Thanks. Best of all notching means that I can defer the decision!

My colleagues still haven't caught on that my understanding of this truism is why my estimates are much closer than theirs. I'm still wrong of course because of Hofstadter's Law which states: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

I find that I only comment if I can want to add to the conversation with a suitable comment, answer, or question. I will react to the post to signify that I like/agree/support/etc the post as a way of signalling to the poster that I read their post and appreciated it.

Thinking about laying the straight track, is there any benefit in cutting the ~1m lengths of track down to approximately scale 45' lengths to create the look (fishplates) and clickety-clack sound of track laid in 1920? Maybe a cosmetic fishplate and cutting a notch into the track (assuming I can find a thing enough cutting disk would also work?

Put down the underly today. This is 3mm XPS underlay insulation glued down with Copydex and painted a dark grey so that there isn't a bright green in any gaps in the ballast! I rather quickly worked out that 126cm above the floor was a little too high for me to work comfortably, so used the floor and worked on two boards at a time. Now I'm waiting for the paint to dry, before I drill holes for the droppers and then lay some points and track.

Visiting Yorkshire today. Having taken this photo, I’m not expecting to get another one as good all day…

Page 283 of The Somerset & Dorset Railway Bath to Bournemouth by Derek Philips has a photo of 18805 near Highbridge on a freight train. The caption is: "More used to tackling the steep gradients of the Bath extension than the less taxing Somerset levels, 2-8-0 13805 works tender first near Highbridge with a goods train on 23 July 1937" I'm using this photo to justify 7Fs on my Holcombe branch :)

Nothing so grandiose. It's a bit of ply with two bit of 2x1 on each side. The track's merely held down by three wood screws and the buffer stop is a nail. I intend to mount the electromagnet's power connector and push button soon though. I'll also sort out another power connector for the track so that I can use it for DCC programming. I suspect that I should get a different shaped connector for that one and make it common with Holcombe.

Morning all! I'm back from conference and so have a mountain of paperwork to catch up on…

After I “finish” Holcombe (so that I have some actual experience in layout building), I would love to follow in my dad’s footsteps and model Bath (Queen Square). He did it twice: once in OO and then in O and they are very different from each other due to space considerations. I’m equally aware that my efforts wouldn’t be a patch on @queensquare’s, but it would be fun to build and operate a 1930’s version! (Not to mention the minor problem of not having the space to even contemplate something like Bath, of course!)

I enjoyed reading the article on the plane home from Amsterdam yesterday. Excellent layout.

Back from a conference and made up a test track with a Seep GMC-EM1 electromagnet on it for testing. It requires a 5mm hole which is slight too big for the sleeper space of HO track, but seems small enough for Peco Bullhead track. I have HO track on my test track: Nice that it worked. I remember my dad’s electromagnets had a half-inch bar across the top, but it seems that the small stud of the SEEP one works well enough: These are two of my dad’s wagons. Interesting that the couplings are different sizes. I assume that the wagon has the 4mm version and the van has the 3mm. My thoughts at the moment are that if I can get away with just a 5mm hole between the sleepers of the bullhead track then I’ll be able to choose where to put the electromagnets after I lay the track as I can work out where they need to be as I play test. I’ll also need a lot more Sprat & Winkle couplings!

I read it as the station building would be above the platforms creating a scenic break to hide the trac curves.

Mother’s Day means visiting the mother in law. An event that will be better looked upon as having been completed.

Given my complete and utter lack of experience, simplification appeals! These cardboard mockups are my first attempt ever at this sort of craft work. Building a “proper” model of the station building will be quite challenging enough that I’ll skip the bay window.

This is something that I hadn't even known I needed to think about :)

Bath Queen Square too.

Today, I had another go at building a cardboard mockup of the station building. Now that I know that it's going look like the "standard" ones on the Bath Extension, I've use the scale drawings for Midsomer Norton in All About Midsomer Norton by J. Childs this time. I started with my trusty cereal box and remembered that the ends have gables that need to be filled in this time: The tops are scored and bent over so that I have something to attach the roof to later. After cutting out the side, I had the basic shape done: The roof is slightly longer than the building and is in the background. I added it and then started on the canopy: This was glued onto the roof and then I realised that I'd need some sort of post to hold it down to the correct angle. I made up a couple of bits of angled cardboard that fix to the bottom of the building: This horizontal part on the ground is then weighted down with a little bit of lead. The track and points have arrived, so I've positioned everything on the board to see if the plan really was printed at 1:1! Firstly the platform side: and then a view from the other side: To my eye the proportions look much better. I've not done the gents on the end of the building, but it feels like it'll fit nicely. Next up is obtaining an electromagnet or two and experimenting with it. I was tempted with Dinghams/Flippems couplings, but they seem to be one way only, which feels limiting, so I'll probably go with Spratt & Winkle. I want to see it working on a bit of wood first.

Looks good to me! Nicely done.

As Melcombe Road Sidings is inspired by the Co-op siding at Twerton just outside Bath on the S&DJR, I clearly had to purchase this model from the SDRT!