AndyB

To the original point about track manufacturers I've previously used Code 55. And on my current layout use Code 55 out of sight in the FY with unifrogs. On the scenic area I'm using British Finescale. Whilst I'm still a novice with it, making the track is just threading rail into sleepers. There's a noticeable difference in reduction in noise between British Finescale and Peco Code 55 as rolling stock goes over it. Good luck with scaling down. I never regretted it.

Well that's one way. Or you could try this way...

Thinking minimal track work. Ian Futer's Victoria Park. https://princestreet.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/ian-futers-victoria-park/ https://esngblog.com/2020/10/27/the-three-point-trick/

Hi Simon. I think the idea of a small urban terminus for your EMUs sounds great. A couple of points ('scuse the pun??). If you're operating EMUs you may not been the run round loop in the station. There's only one FY siding which is common to all parts of the layout. And vice versa. The arrangement of the FY could do with a bit of rationalisation perhaps. Also it might be that you intend to extend the length of the FY sidings. But your upper platform is quite a bit longer than any train the FY can accomodate? I'm sure others will pitch in ideas for you. There was a design by Paul Marshall-Potter called "Manitoba Quays" in "Ideas for Layouts #7" (2015). This was designed for BR(S) EMUs. It'd be worth seeing if you can get a copy. Cheers. Andy

There was a recent thread in the Modelling Musings section which brought up the subject of mortality and cracking on with building "something" rather than just letting life pass you by. There's merit in picking a subject and running with it till it's complete. Doesn't really matter if it's not the ultimate fantasy layout; after all fantasies are just that. Few people on here get to start building their layout of a lifetime. Fewer still get to finish it. We also have to recognise that there's often hard slog in completing something. Especially when the whole includes tasks you don't like but have to work through. I Iike the new train. Ausgezeichnet! Andy

Time for an update! Having ironed out the problems I'd been experiencing with the fiddle yard it's been a pleasure to crack on with track laying on the scenic section. So this week I've carved out plywood for the station throat on the middle board and a flowing curve that returns the track to the fiddle yard. I haven't quite enough British Finescale track to progress any further for now, but hopefully you can get a sense of how things are progressing. This part of the layout is where locos can stretch their legs a bit. And a nice spot for photos to be taken in the future. I've swapped some of the pointwork around in the goods yard. It's now a direct copy of the real Bentley in the 50s/60s. When I get a bit further I'll bounce an idea of how I think the cattle pen / loading bank were used. An overview of the layout. Definitely a work in progress, but progress is happening. 🙂 For now I've got a bit more cork and track to secure in place. Cheers for now. Andy

Thanks all for your ideas. I went with a hybrid solution. First off straightening out as many kinks as possible using a steel rule. Followed by eyeballing the track end on, placing a finger where there was a kink, and easing that out. Working my way down the length of rail. Then repeating the process a number of times if new kinks appeared. Once it was "de-kinked" I glued it in place. There's a little bit of work to do to remove glue from the sleepers.

I guess one question is this. Will the layout be moved? For example to an exhibition? If so then the answer may be different than if it's a permanent home layout. BTW. Nice bit of modelling!

I'm starting g my first section of track laying using British Finescale N gauge track. One difference I've found to Peco Code 55 is that I get a lot of small kinks in the track. I'd like to hear how others have resolved this? I've tried using a Tracksetta template but with limited success. Looking down the length of track it still looks more like a care-worn industrial tramway than the sleek mainline I'm hoping for. Thanks in advance. Andy

No layout update today, but there will be something to show later in the week. Instead, I wanted to reflect on this photograph taken by my youngest; it's not a million miles from the station portrayed by my layout; it'll make a nice cameo scene. Today our village gathered to remember those from our rural community who left to fight in the two world wars and tragically didn't return to their families and our community. The scene in this photograph hasn't changed in a hundred years and would have been very familiar to those named on our war memorial. It's a huge privilege to live peacefully here and be able to remember those who left but didn't return.

I've used lengths of skirting board glued at right angles on twonof my layouts. Seems to work OK.

For anyone that's interested The Telegraph carried an obituary earlier in the week. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/11/08/peter-townend-steam-trains-railway-shedmaster-kings-cross/

I had something similar. A layout built on top of kitchen units in my garage. Garage walls had a damp proof sheet, insulation and dry lined. The floor was raised and insulated. The layout sat on kitchen units. These were OK to start with but either humidity and / or the weight of stuff in the cupboards took its toll. The mdf worktop sagged and the layout needed adjustable legs to keep it level. My advice would be to build build a proper solid bench to put the layout on. And as @Fen End Pit says, brace the layout MDF.

So I'm pleased to report that the layout is back in situ and a Class 33, a 4MT and an M7 have negotiated all the re-worked joints successfully. At long last its possible to move on to new challenges and make a start on the scenic part of the layout. I sense a bit of carpentry and Code 40 track laying on the horizon...🌝

Thanks Jon. It's taken a lot longer to sort these problems out than I anticipated. Hoping the next update will be a bit more exciting! Andy

Following on from my last post, the wooden baton did the trick and cured the vertical alignment problem across the baseboard join. That left a number of horizontal alignment problems to be sorted; easily fixed by unsoldering and resoldering the rails from the brass screws. Of course it all needed thoroughly testing.... ...and testing.... ...and more testing.... Each loco run fwd and backwards. Turned around and repeated. Slow speed and at moderate speed. And repeated for each track join. Then repeated pulling and propelling coaches and wagons. All seems ok now. But the acid test will be when I reassemble the layout in situ and see if it's still working reliably. Lessons learned. Hopefully onwards and upwards now. Cheers for now. Andy

Progress has been very slow over the last 3 weeks. Partly as I've been involved in putting on the village bonfire and fireworks display. Another great display where again we punched above our weight as a village. But mainly I've been trying to resolve an area of very poor running on the layout where two of the boards are joined. When I built them I used a combination of bolts and brass dowels to compress and align the join. And soldered the rails into screws before cutting through. I've also recently fitted adjustable toggles. Close inspection showed there was both a tiny vertical and horizontal misalignment. First of all I'm reinforcing the plywood to get vertical alignment, see photo below. If / when this works I'll resolder the tracks to fix the horizontal alignment. Bottom line is that to be worthwhile continuing to develop the rest of the layout running has got to be 100% reliable. Frustrating, but hopefully efforts will be rewarded! Cheers for now. Andy

Hi Keith. Whilst you claim to not be very practical I think you've shown great progress, given all your other commitments. We've seen good quality baseboards manufactured and lots of ideas mapped out. I'm hoping you stick with the overall concept and maybe use what time you do have available to make buildings that'll fit in with the layout. And fingers crossed you get an early decision on the new house. Who knows, it may come with a new space for your layout ambitions. But if it doesn't I'm sure we'll all be there to pitch in with suggestions for whatever space it may give you! Cheers. Andy

I'm thinking The Old Ford at North Camp and also The Prince of Wales by Farnborough North. Many a pint sunk in both pubs over the years!

Maybe not the same Andy as intended, but... My BMW didn't need indicators. I drove the same route everyday. Other drivers could easily choose to memorise what I was going to do if they wanted to avoid a crash. 😁 I now drive a Peugeot. I indicate my intentions with a variety of gallic shrugs and arm waves etc. 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ When I get a Rolls I'll probably wave you all aside with a rolled up copy of The Telegraph. TTFN Andy

Those buildings are absolutely beautiful and really capture the essence of that part of Aberdeenshire perfectly. Please keep posting; they always bring a smile to my face. Your hotel reminds me of the buildings around Station Square in Ballater. Very convincing.

On my current build I've used brass dowels for alignment and bolts to hold things together. This worked fine. However the layout is aroundc12' x 2'6". And to access the bolts once the scenery is down the whole layout would need to be tilted on its side. It's not particularly lightweight! So I tried out the @TheQ's suggestion and it's a lot easier. Thank you, I'd not come across adjustable toggle latches before. All that said the layout sits on a solid workbench up against the garage wall. It's quite an acrobatic feet to secure the latches at the back. But definitely easier than the bolts. The remaining problem I have is with track alignment. So far I've built the fiddle yard to the rear of the (N gauge) layout. And to do so I had the layout boards "back to front" to make it possible to reach and lay the track. Track alignment was fine and running was smooth. I now find that when the boards are returned to their proper position a few of the tracks misalign and cause derailment. Not really sure how to resolve this without resorting to filing the track down. Andy

Happy to throw little ideas in Keith. The way I'd look at it is to imagine Min@rie$ without the little loco spur for the station pilot. Less fun and maybe it'd only really eork when using EMUs/DMUs. Throw in the loco spur, et voila! I think you'd get the same result here. And as you say, add in servicing facilities and you've elevated the interest even further.

Hi Keith. Looks like good progress! I'd personally go for mk2 of your fiddle yard as it'd allow a shunting loco to sit in the spur and for it to cut up incoming trains, and assemble outbound ones? In respect of the intermediary board I was actually thinking of lineside industries, but not really rail-seved ones. Basically dotting some buildings to prevent a view of the whole train. Something like this... Of course, trees would do the same. At the weekend I was at the Farnham show and Copper Wort, an exquisite "man in the middle" layout shows how a basically circular track can be broken up with similar view blockers. Here's one small section where the viewer gets a glimpse of a passing goods train. But not all of it. Keep the posts coming as it's interesting to watch your progress. Cheers for now. Andy

Soooo. No-one spotted the deliberate mistake in one of my photos from the 29th September post. Facing crossover. Tut, tut. At least I'd not got as far ordering the wrong points! Or building them! It reminds me of a time some 30 years ago when an undergraduate asked me why his computational fluid dynamics model of a prototpe supercar didn't match his empirical observations; he was modelling the cabin ventilation (or lack of it, as it turned out!). Would I mind popping in to the factory to take a look at it? Sitting inside the car the problem was soon apparent - they'd covered the airflow outlets with leather trim, creating an almost airtight box. And boy was it hot in the italian sunshine! 🤪 So I asked to see the drawings. And sure enough they'd not built what they'd designed! My offer to sort their problem by taking a box cutter to the car's interior decor was politely (and firmly) turned down! 🤭 Anyway. Enough of the reminiscing. The wiring looms for the fiddle yard are now all done. Servos are working correctly. Track alignment across the boards needs a few chocks under the baseboards for fine tuning but is close to "good enough". So it's time to start on the trackwork for the scenic section. I may be some time, as they say... Andy