Captain_Mumbles

Gday all! Heres what it looks like so far. I just got the layout running a few days ago. It has been running for a few days now with no issues.

Enough playing and more working. Time to do some more stone work. Some of the stonework is done in 2mm balsa. I couldn't get foam sheet or foam board to cut reliably at the small size. I noticed that viaducts always seem to have a turret at the ends so some were added. I have made the wall quite low at the risk of being a little too un-prototypical. But, the mechanic in me needs to admire the motion as it rolls past me. Working on the far side of the viaduct required a mirror. Thanks for looking.

Gday All! I had some time to have a few beverages and watch some trains run by on the nice and gentle curves.

The first train to run around Mumbleton completely is A4 Gadwall with some almost complete parcel vans behind it. It was a relief that when the power went on it ran so smoothly. This is a morale booster! The tranquil clanky clank is a good environment for working.

My bad! We do not normally see this material often in my part of the world, so forgive my ignorance. I ended up with this stuff as it had been used as frames/supports in a shipping container out of Europe! Technicalities aside, the main thing to consider in terms of material is really using stuff that wont vibrate under the trains as this causes the unwanted noise. There is still noise of course, but it has become more of a whoosh/whine train like noise instead of getting close to something like a Gresley A1 hauling a train of nails over a black board.

As stated before I used 7mm plywood and found it noisy, or drummy. I have reduced the drumminess by adding thick and heavy chip board pieces screwed and glued to the bottom of the plywood. I think this might be because it does not give the plywood a chance to vibrate.

The first points are now nailed in permanently. The curved point in the non scenic area was a little challenging due to the super elevation of the curves. The out side edge was spaced up in the same method as the rest of the track and it worked. I am unsure if that is prototypical but it worked well. Thanks for looking! Ben

The PCB sleepers for the access hatch secured. Track soldered and cut whilst also managing to keep the super elevation.

After having been unsuccessful in tracking down some chimney and dome parts, I have managed to install the high roof onto the lower cab of the Railroad Flying Scotsman with some careful cutting and a little massaging. After procrastinating for way too long over which scheme or which loco to chose I decided to tackle the tender body. The victim being the body of an old tender drive train set tender. These are very large to accommodate the ringfield motor. The width problem is solved by simply cutting the sides off and gluing them back on. But this has the curved in, or semi-streamlined sides which must also be removed to back date it to the GNR style tender. Studying many pictures I have noticed what appears to be a doubler around the top edge of the side sheets. This is the next problem to tackle. Cheers! Ben

I missed the train on these when they came out. I managed to find one near me 2nd hand. A very beautiful locomotive even in 2022

And from what I can see the footboards are not always present???

I now have one complete loop all the way around the room. I cannot do more than that yet at this stage. As the 3 lines inboard of that need to be on an inner base board and this put one of the corners just out of comfortable reach. So the next task is some wiring up of the main and wiring up the points I have made. So still a lot of work to do before something can run on it. I am also about to take on the joins at the lift out access panel. I plan to solder the track to some PCB at the join to make the tracks rigid. It doesnt help that all the tracks here are super elevated so it will be a matter of spacing and gluing down the PCB ties appropriately. Also, a shed load of Nock 3d brick paper has arrived for the viaduct and platform brick work. Cheers all!

Gday all! I am wondering how this product stands up to spraying isopropyl alcohol and scenery glue such as watered down mod podge ect.

I have finished laminating the skeleton of the Viaduct with the foam board and currently collecting pieces of Noch 3d brick sheet. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Thanks for looking! Ben

Currently rebuilding some of the point work. I was using timber strips used in architectural modelling and before I knew it the strips were getting wider out of the spec as I went through them and I ended up with more timber than space. I have rebuilt it with evergreen strip and re used the chairs. It was easier to work with so it was a quick rebuild. No risk of the timber warping after ballasting too, I suppose. It is mounted to a thinner piece of cork than the rest of the layout with a sheet of thin styrene glued to it for so the timber will interact better with the surface as I am securing them with the Tamiya thin cement. Thanks for looking. Ben

Currently collecting parts to make a Hornby remix. A non streamlined Gresley P2.

Gday All! I have collected some parts with the intention of building some Railroad pacifics into early type GNR spec pacifics. I have acquired an old Flying Scotsman body shell with what looks to be a high cab, but the chimney and dome look like the later and lower LNER type. To add insult to injury the railroad Flying Scotsman shell that I have has a low cab but high chimney and dome! Before I start cutting up everything to make my own molds are there any places where I might be able to get detail parts. That is high chimneys and domes for my body shells?

Foam boards were pretty loud with fast trains on my first layout. I had the foam stuck directly to a ladder frame. The bonus with the foam was that it was super easy to work with. That layout had to be destroyed and I am building a new one now, (with 7mm ply and on a ladder frame and note it is also loud :-) and the wiring that came out of it was all fine to use again.

I used 7mm ply on a ladder frame type of structure and I am finding it a little loud, or drummy. I also have a layer of 3mm cork on top of it. In hind sight I have in essence, made a drum. The cork has not worked as well as hoped. Softer foam roadbed or felt would be better but might not be as good over time with your scenic materials. Once I know wires need to be and all the switch motors are fitted I may have to glue something solid underneath the rails. Like some left over wood pieces, or even some purpose cut wood. I found the stock runs a lot quieter over the solid parts like the joins in the base boards. this would obviously not be a problem on a small layout but on a large one where there may be some trains going at speed it is something to think about. i am just sharing my findings to help others make their choices.

Work continues on the Mumbleton Viaduct. We are adding some foam board walls and some power through them and into the base boards.

Weren't they just beautiful

I miss-read the lner.info example and thought there might have been 11 of them but could never find any other reference. Thank you for your time.

How many GNR A1s were there before the merger and were their numbers/names? I'm inspired to make one appear as a cameo on my layout. Sorry if it has been covered before. I can't find this info for the life of me. Images of 1470 about the only ones I can find. I think I have seen an unnamed 1471 as well. Cheers! Ben

Progress has been slow but I am now inspired to get something running so we're back at it. The structure is inspired by Arthington Viaduct but obviously not prototypical as it is 4 track and I have never found such a structure. At the very least it will be a work of art once it is done. Cheers! Ben