AndyB

Hi @Harlequin thank you for proposing this competition. I think you'll get some cracking ideas offered up. Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. One thought...to make it completely practical...I'd suggest that people include space for a workbench. And in such a way that they can access the layout behind and to the sides of it. All the best. Andy

Any excuse to do some more testing playing trains! I'm trying out lots of different combinations and permutations of locos, coaches and wagons. Some uncouple, most are fine. And a M7 gets stuck on a set of points in the FY. Both 4-CEPs circulate happily, although (whisper it) they aren't the most exciting trains to watch. Until I get the CCTV camera set up in the FY the best option is to let trains circulate rather than try to bring different ones into service and dispose of them again. On this video a short rake of empty tank wagons heads back to Fawley hauled by a Class 33. And pases a Maunsell N class passenger train on the Up line. A 3MT waits patiently in the bay departure platform. PXL_20241202_172137266.mp4 One day I'll learn how to stitch MP4 files together to put a proper sequence together for you. But for now hoie you like what you see.

Off the back of success with the semaphore signal I bit the bullet and got the 3 baseboards back together again. As per my posts from last week I was expecting to have a lot of muttering and fettling needed to get tracks to align. Worked first time. PXL_20241202_130346199.mp4 So just as one Swallow doesn't make a Spring, neither does one Cep make an autumn. 🤦 Testing with other locos will be needed. But this does look promising. 🤗 Cheers for now. Andy

Well by way of an antidote to my recent downer on the layout I felt the best way forward would be to crack on with fitting the Dapol semaphore signal. It's been sitting on my shelf for far too long! First thing was to extend the leads that connect the signal to their respective toggle switches. Yes. You can buy extension leads but for want of a few lengths of wire and a dozen solder joints there wasn't really any excuse not to make my own. And it's those kinds of jobs that make up the hobby, after all. Yep. One of the nuts that secures the toggle switch in place did go AWOL! Finger tip search of the floor needed. And here's how they look in operation. PXL_20241201_174912846.mp4 All in all I'm very happy with how this turned out. And once I've got some trains running they'll add a lot of play value to the layout. Cheers for now. Andy

Thanks @Keith Addenbrooke and @Fishplate. Once I retire my office desk will become a very adequate (and permanent) work area. But the issue is that it's at right angles to the bench my layout sits on. And there's an almost unreachable space tucked in the corner. It tends to be a bit of a dumping ground, tbh. If there's a derailment I have to stand on a stool and reach over to the back of the layout leaning against the garage wall. That just leaves one hand to do any remedial work; cue the Tom Cruise solution! A shorter and narrower baseboard (in the future) might well help. In fact the layout was built back to front as I started with the FY. I then turned it round to work on the scenic side. It's a permanent layout and only built on 3 baseboards to facilitate the original build and occasional maintenance. The troublesome joins are on one particular baseboard join - no underlay used. I soldered the track to screws under the track as close to the baseboard edge as possible. When there is a problem I do a slight bend to the offending track - not so often as to weaken it. Definitely going to persevere - in no small part thanks to the encouragement on this forum!

Well I do have form when it comes to moving on from fairly decent layouts. It's generally where I start to perceive and accept that the existing layout has flaws that can't be remedied. Generally I see it as a positive step; my belief is that the next layout will be an improvement on the last. My current idea was to make a small OO9 layout. But with so much invested in N gauge I don't want that to go to waste. So I'd be happy to do a rebuild of my current layout in the future. At heart I build layouts rather than play with them! But for now I'm not there yet. And as mentioned will persevere.

Progress recently has been glacial. Whilst my modelling does tend to progress mostly in Spring and Summer it has felt particularly slow recently. When running trains I've also had persistent derailments in the FY on a baseboard join. Naturally it's right at the back of the layout making it tricky to diagnose and fix. Alignment seems to change each time I disassemble and reassemble the boards; rather puts me off improvements. That said in an attempt to get something done I've pulled the boards apart with the intention of wiring up the semaphore signal. I hadn't appreciated how heavy they'd got!! Portable this layout isn't. Picking up on these difficulties SWMBO observed: If someone took this layout away, would you be sad? And you have no bench space for making models; every surface has tools and materials on it. That got me thinking. A future layout would be: Lighter weight Simpler to operate Smaller footprint Which coincided with me reading @Keith Addenbrooke blog last night where he reflects on watching a single line passing station. This made me wonder about the Mid Hants line when used as a diversion route. How busy would that have been with all the traffic diverted from the Woking - Southampton mainline down a single track. Sooo this is by way of illuminating the thinking about a future layout. Size: 8' x 2' Bench: Some freed up for modelling work. Backscene: lower to reflect narrower scenic area. Easier to access FY. Construction: Foam board with thin ply rim. Easier to lift and possibly exhibit? Track formation: Single track, something akin to Four Marks & Medstead. Maybe add a bay platform. FY: No need to have crossovers. In the meantime I'm going to press on with Bentley St Mary. It's had 18 months work and if I can iron out the current issues it's very much worth finishing. But the urge to improve upon it is lurking at my shoulder!

Hi Keith. First of all sorry to hear about your eye problems. Fingers crossed it gets better. And thank you for your photos of the show. With the weather here in full downpour mode it's no surprise the Italian layout for your interest! I totally get how a single track passing station could be completely absorbing; perhaps my own layout would have been different if I'd thought about it. Hope you enjoy your birthday present and kit building. Although naturally this time of year keeps you busy. Perhaps you'll be able to find a few moments to enjoy the hobby over the coming weeks. Andy

@AY Mod FWIW I recently upgraded my phone. The problem persists across a number of sections of the site. And it happens irrespective of whether I'm on a mobile network, home WIFI or that at work. I guess the bain downsides are not being able to navigate the site when logged in, so adding a comment or reaction is a bit of a chore. So I don't visit the site as often as I used to. Thanks for trying to diagnose / fix it...but I appreciate it's a tricky one! All the best. Andy

Hi Tom. I went down the garage route some years ago. There's loads of advice around the forum on how to make it habitable. So I won't reiterate it here. But try to ensure it is draft proof as dust and dirt get blown in. Some people put in false walls that give a bit of space by the up and over door for bikes/lawnmower etc. Insulate the floor as well as the walls. I also put a mezzanine floor in as extra storage. Think about where the garage is in relation to the house. An integral one is nicer...it can be harder to motivate yourself to trek down the garden in winter than simply opening a door into the garage from within the house. Good luck with the move and happy modelling thereafter! Andy

Wow. It's been around 6 weeks since my last update. Who'd have thought decorating a house would take so long! 🤔 So for that reason very little progress to report. However in an attempt to get a little modelling done I got round to painting the footbridge today. I'll add some gentle weathering to it in due course using powders. The contemporaneous photos shows it to be in good repair...so sadly no excuse for me to add rust runs to the girders. All the best. Andy

My previous layout was built atop kitchen units. Unfortunately the sheer weight of things stored in them (and possibly damp) pulled them apart after a few years. So on my current layout I went slightly OTT when I built a bench. I still needed a place to put all "the stuff" so bought a number of 77L plastic boxes. I stack them two boxes high, side-by-side underneath the bench. Bit of a gap above to make it easy to grab ahold of them and pull them out. Not sure of the overall height. But the track height is roughly the same as when I'm sat on my office swivel chair; nice for watching trains go by.

I used small Neodymium magnets buried in the ballast between sleepers on my N gauge layout. On each wagon I used the small metal strip that Peco sells which gets pulled downwards by the magnet, releasing rhe coupling. Cheap and effective. first4magnets: 3x3x3mm N35. 0 28kg pull. Pack of 50.. Part number F316-N35-50.

Hi Keith. Thanks for the name check! A couple of things leap put of the page for me. If I've understood correctly you may be moving away from OO9? That'd be a shame as I felt you'd have been able to create something reasonable relatively quickly. And be able to sit back and drive at your creation. Of course I'm bound to advocate for N gauge as this is my preferred scale! Understanding completely that some of it can be fiddly. My approach is to either avoid this if it's not absolutely necessary...or sometimes I ask my wife to help out. You talk about long rakes. But we can use view blockers to trick ourselves into mis-counting the number of coaches or wagons. I've just put a video on the "Valence" thread where I tried to count a rake of shunters yesterday which were passing through the station. It was quite tricky! I'll be putting a few trees on my own layout to achieve similar. You've done a nice job on those buildings; I like that workshop! All the best. Andy

I found myself back at Valence yesterday. Having previously taken in the sites, and wanting a distraction from the reason for my visit I settled down and took some more photos. I hope you find them of some interest. Having arrived at around 09.45 by TGV from Lyon St Exupery I relocated to platform "A" which afforded me a decent overall perspective. The traffic flowing through Valence Ville is quite intense at times. So the following images are just snapshots of a parade of passenger and freight trains. Time stamps should give an idea of what was happening. First up was this loco hauled train which hung around for some time. I suspect it may have eventually headed off towards Valence TGV Taken at: 09:49 Taken at: 09:58 Taken at: 09:58 And having recently figured out that I can upload MP4 format, the same loco with sound effects. 20241014_100301.mp4 Taken at 10:03 And the first freight train I saw; a mix of hoppers and Iso container wagons passing through at speed, so apologies for the blurred images! Taken at 09:58 Taken at 10:04, heading south. Around 10.10 this rather smart 2-car train came in headed for Bourg de Peage. As an aide memoire I took a photo of the information board! Taken at: 10:09 Taken at: 10:10 Short break whilst I stretched my legs round town and visited a nearby florists! Taken at 11:25 Taken at: 11: 29 And I think you're going to like the next sequence. A rake of shunting locos being hauled at modest speed by another loco. Taken at: 11:34 And with sound effects... 20241014_113426.mp4 As modellers one of our challenges is to squeeze in long rakes of rolling stock into a tiny layout footprint. But I think this video shows that it's actually quite difficult to count the shunters as they're partially obscured by the platform canopy supports. Why not use view blockers to our advantage...and think how much money we'd save! 😁 Anyway to round things off... Taken at: 11:44 Taken at: 11:47. Note the light engine running in the background. Taken at 11:51. Note the loco in the background pulling a long rake of intermodal wagons including some form of tank wagons. Taken at 11:56 I returned to Lyon St Exupery by TGV in the evening after an afternoon spent in a village on the other side of the Rhone. The river sits between this park and the distant escarpment. Although it's perhaps less likely I'll return to Valence I'd recommend this town and region; it's really very pleasant and easy to get to. I hope you enjoyed seeing my photo account of my visit. I can't tell you anything about the rolling stock featured, but I know there are experts on here who will hopefully be happy to fill in some of the gaps. All the best. Andy Concourse at Lyon St Exupery. Very futuristic...and clean!