TEAMYAKIMA

Having posted for a while .... been weathering more silver tank cars ( 30 so far ) but had the problem of a yellow one ( only one thank goodness ) ...... Out of the box ........... One end ........... The other ............ The prototypes .............

Here are a couple of flat cars with containers.. firstly a NX70 Then a NX17K

Oops ... forgot the 6 grain hoppers and 18 box cars !!

A day off work and a day's modelling ... Quite a success the work room tidied, some odd jobs and most significantly six tank cars weathered That makes the total stock weathered and ready to run once the layout is finished as follows ... 84 C64/70 coal gondolas 23 coal hoppers 13 steel gondolas 30 container flats 32 Oil tankers 3 Cabooses Just another 45 odd cars to go!

Here are some before and after weathering shots of a C70 coal gondola .. Before.... After........... And here is the inspiration ....

Went to Twickenham MRC tonight - well alright last night! I took some Chinese stock just to see how the locos cope with my projected train lengths. Took a couple to new locos inc this Bachmann freight variant DF4HD .. This photo shows part of the train I was running .... it shows 29 cars ( my short train length) although by the end of the night the loco was hauling 42 cars with no trouble. The Club's test track is approx. 5ft radius - more generous than my average 30 inch end curves (hidden) but it shows promise that the train lengths are feasible.

Hello Andy Just found this thread/blog .............. Kensington Olympia is a great subject for a model. I am a (very minor) part of Twickenham & District MRC's team building this in 7mm. We have modelled it as Addison Road station set in the 1920's. Due to the size of the project we are only building half of the station - the Northern end with the bays serving Clapham Junction. We have run a blog on MRF showing progress ever since we started - 2009 from memory. We chose this station as it allows us to prototypically run GWR, LNWR, SR and virtually anything. Just for comparison, here is the interior of our box - much easier in 7mm! Amazed at what you have achieved in N! Here is the box in situ Good luck with the project! Maybe we might one day go to an exhibition together - so people can see the same station 50/60 years apart. Please feel free to visit us any time you're in London on a Friday night and please look at our blog on MRF or visit our website www.tdmrc.org.uk and you can access our blog via the Addison Road layout page.

That would be Mark Enderby's layout ... yes am aware of Mark's layout through a specialist China Rail forum. How did the public react to Chinese layout?

I'd better get on and finish mine ASAP then!

Hello Paul I'm not sure if you mean am I using point motors? Or do you mean am I using route selection? All points for primary routes have PECO point motors - mostly clipped under the points, but there are a couple of points which are directly above the central spine which have modified PECO surface mounted motors. There are 65 primary routes in/out of the FY which will be route selected via the DCC system ... There are four scenic tracks and so there are four 'separate' fiddle yards. Three FYs of five tracks = 15 plus the completely separate industrial system which has its own three track FY = 18 tracks in total. You can see the 3 track industrial system FY at the bottom of the photo. It's slightly more complicated than that as the 3 track industrial system FY can store 5 or 6 short trains rather than 3 long trains ... it will make sense when I post more photos but that may take a week or so.

Just to show that show tracklaying has taken place and that I'm just not delusional, here is a photo taken in January .. It shows the scenic section, in particular the approach to the industrial storage sidings and the industrial passenger station This is the l/h end of the trackplan viewed from the operators side. The double track mainline and the single track regional line are just 3 inch spurs at the moment to take the track off the FY boards... Here is another photo taken a few days later. This shows the concrete sleepered industrial mainline with the two wooden sleepered loops either side.It also shows the concrete sleepered passenger platform road (with a coach on it).... Here is a photo of one of the FY approach boards .....

Richard (Ben ?) - you are the original Chinese modeller as far as I know - saw your layout somewhere like Milton Keynes from memory. I don't really classify myself as a modeller - The most I do is weather RTR stock - you built a QJ out of a Fleischmann class 50 - that's modelling! One of the reasons I want to build this project ( as quickly as possible) is that I want to do something different and I want to get it to exhibition before every show has a Chinese HO layout. The five exhibition layouts I've built in the past have been firstly in OO and then OO9 .... by then (late 1970s) I got bored with seeing the same concepts at every show ( GWR branch etc) so my next layout was in American standard gauge O, then in the mid 1980s in was in ON30 (long before Bachmann did On30), then it was ON3 with sound (long before sound was generally available). Each layout was novel for its time and now every show you go to has an American On30 layout - many with sound! So Chinese HO may be the final frontier .....I only hope I can get it on the exhibition circuit before it's a case of "Oh no! Not another Chinese HO layout!"

Military weathering powder - Russian Earth to be precise - then dullcote to fix it - several coatings to get the right effect 2-3 hours per car - 48 tank cars to weather!

Here is the inspiration for the C64, taken from the dining car over lunch .... And the tank car ...

Here are two freight cars I've worked on ... a wood load for the C64k and weathering ... just weathering on the tank car

Unfortunately back garden too small and too uneven. Have had three boards (maybe four) up at one go. The church hall is a better bet. Haven't a clue yet ... concentrating on building the thing first. This is a hugely ambitious project for one person still working a 40 hour week.

Yes, I am

Just a quick update to say that Twickenham & District MRC has a new website. It can still be found at www.tdmrc.org.uk but it's now completely revamped in a new format which will make it far easier to keep up-to-date. At this stage it seems appropriate to say a big "thank you" to ex-member Chris Chinery who laboured hard and long to set up and maintain our old site. Living in SW London (and beyond) ... why not come and see us?

There's four other 'major' manufacturers in addition to Bachmann, but Bachmann still dominates the market ..... N27 - used to be called something like XING XING (from memory) Haidar - been very quiet lately , not sure what plans if any for further models ..also did brass diesels CMR - Chinese Model Railways - highly detailed items - so detailed that often parts fall off! Also introduced an N gauge DF4 and soon some class 22 coaches MTC - Model Trains China - have just added a limited edition brass QJ to their range There are other minor manufacturers

Well now that I've got that sorted we can move on.... Here is a trackplan of the scenic section ... At the top is a self contained industrial system .... linking coal mines (off stage l/h) to steelworks (off stage r/h) ... main features are banking station and passenger facilities ... think Chengde system with some Tiefa thrown in. Below that we have a double track China Rail main line And below that a single track regional line .... think J-T line Time period circa 2004/5 .... industrial system 95% steam ... regional line maybe 3/4 steam .... China Rail is 100% diesel City station off stage l/h ... regional line terminates there ... also large freight yard off stage l/h ... transfers freight from China Rail to regional line via crossovers on layout

OK ..... I think I've got the photo issue sorted ..... here is a before and after weathering photo of two Bachmann GQ60k tank cars - first attempt - only 42 more to do!

Layout update ... All twelve baseboards ( 8 FY and 4 scenic ) are now built, and have been trialed up in the back garden. All track and 58 points are laid in the FY Some track has been laid on the scenic section - have been weathering stock for the last 3/4 months as a break from tracklaying. Still struggling with posting photos - even after reading how to do it in several posts in the help section - will keep trying!

Thanks for the interest in this project ...... As regards exhibition invites, I am well aware that this layout will be too expensive for some shows and I expect that I may have to subsidise the layout sometimes. As regards setting up for operating, there is a church hall 80 yards from my back gate so I can hire that for testing purposes - maybe expensive but cheaper than spending £150,000 to upgrade to a bigger house! As regards home operation, over the last 40 years I have built five exhibition layouts ( in five different gauges ) and never operated any of them at home - I've never seen the point of operating at home - only at exhibitions where you can put on a show for an audience.

Thanks for the interest .. I started the post just before bedtime last night - assuming I was competent to post photos - after a couple of attempts it was clear that I wasn't! But rather than cancel the post I just put it up to see if anyone was at all interested - I am surprised that there has been so much interest overnight. I do run a blog on another forum and I regularly post photos there - so I will look into that later at work during my lunch break - for the minute back to the modelling bench for some more weathering! For the record I live in Hertfordshire, the layout will feature a double track China Rail line, an industrial (coal mine/steelworks) line and a single track bi-directional regional line. Standard train lengths will be 13 coaches or 29-35 car freight trains. It is being built in a 13ft x 8ft shed so will only be run at exhibitions or when I hire the local church hall.