Wayne 37901

Hi yorkie, If you mean the main cooler group grilles then these are always ar the number one end cab on british locos. The other grilles at the number two end at cantrail level were added later over the electrical compartment as part of a package to improve class 56 reliability. Hope that helps.

Hi Brian, Thanks for posting that up. it's similar to what i had in mind but i just couldn't visulise how to build it (electrics isn't my forte!). In the end for Dragon Steels I went for piano wire for the points purely as a mechanical linkage and the DPDT switches for changing the polarity which you have to remember to do manually with each point change. Granted it's probably an unusual way of doing things but it does work and once I've sorted the fiddle yard out and got something to stand the layout on it can then see it's first actual workings. Other than that there isn't much else to report, the scenery continues to be worked at but I keep thinking it doesn't look right. Cheers

Seconded! This is a great one indeed, around 90mins of solid 37/0 action. My personal favorite is the Rhymney trip. Just make sure you let the neighbours know first!

So true Brian, I wish I could have seen such a fine occurence. I bet they sounded beastly indeed. I didn't know they had modified draw gear though. Do you know what was done? They look normal on the outside so I'm assuming the mods were internal.

Hi Marc, Well this is my first post having got used to the Girlfriend's new touch screen tablet. It sounds like this is turning out to be an interesting project. Will look forward to seeing some pictures and seeing it progress. Cheers,

Hi Marc, Have just discovered this one and it's looking good. I'm starting to get addicted to micro layout schemes. Now that Dragon Steels is almost done I already have the board for the next one built and have been drawing up other schemes as well, one of which includes a banger blue shunting layout in a boxfile or something similar. The latter scheme came about as I've been viewing some really good projects based around the mid/late 80s and I treated myself to some suitable stock with Christmas money. Look forward to seeing more.

Hi Barnaby, Thanks very much for that, it's really helped me a lot. The lower drawing is similar to what I have installed but I think I'll revisit it and have a tweak. Thanks again

Good evening, First of all Happy New Year to everyone! I trust you also had a nice Christmas. Well after a fair bit of faffing around I've now fitted the mechanical linkages to my turnouts and after a period of testing they seem to work ok, although some fine tuning is still needed. Now that I've got this job out of the way I can continue with other things. Once I'm able to set up the whole layout free standing and the fiddle yard is sorted Dragon Steels will be ready to receive it's first inaugural train under power. More soon

Glad to hear it sir and thank you. Yes it's been puzzling me for some time. I decided against mounting the switches on the horizontal in case they damaged when the layout might be in transit. I've now decided to mount them to the side of the board and have a second mechanical link to operate the points. Might not be the usual way of doing things but I've tested it and it seems to well so that's good enough for me. I haven't been a member of CMES for about two years now. I do miss the social side though so I'm sure I'll re-join at some point, who knows. All the best

Good afternoon I trust everyone had a good Christmas? Been playing with the mechanics of late although I'm having some trouble with how to route the actuation wire. I'm using DPDT sliding switches but these are mounted on the side of the board, this means that the switch moves in the up/down direction and I require a side to side movement for the points. I've tried a couple of things but not quite happy yet. Does anyone have any ideas? Cheers

Thanks gents, Marc - Yes I'll be experimenting more with the static grass. When I've helped with scenery on larger club layouts it's always been with flock and lichen etc so Static Grass is new to me. With the first application of the fibers do you use PVA to hold it down then apply hairspray later? I've only used PVA so far which is probably why I'm not happy with the first go. I must get some cheapo hair spray to try again. Nothing further has been done with the POAs as of yet but I'll deal with them in due course. More soon.

Thanks for the kind words folks. , Hi Marc, Yeah it's ok but I'm not sure if I'm convinced about the effect I've got, maybe it's the grass I'm using or how I'm applying it, I don't know. I know one thing though, I see what you mean about the jolt it can produce as I put it down and accidentally touched the tea strainer on a rail, there was quite a bang. The scenery I've done so far is (very) loosely based on photo's from Brian's CD and from a few photos from the net. Looking at other steelworks (apart from Scunthorpe and others) there can be a fair bit of greenery sometimes. The idea with Dragon Steels is that it represents the BR exchange/reception part of the yard and not the mucky internal part of a works, although internal trains can still be seen using the loop to access other parts of the plant. The simple limited track layout is loosely based on the Alphasteel works where there seemed to be just a loop/two sidings serving the plant. At least that's what it seems in the limited pictures I've seen. It is assumed that the newer looking coil handling warehouse is operated by Isis Link and receives coil by rail and sends it out by road to local customers/industries. This is based on the terminal at Orb, although there is/was only a Gantry Crane and a hardstanding here. I'll continue experimenting with the Static Grass and see how it goes. More soon.

Good evening, Although I've been a bit quiet on here, I've been busy with the layout. I've been tinkering with the scenery again as there were several areas I wasn't happy with, mainly relating to the general ground cover as I'm yet to add bushes and such. I've done a few Static Grass experiments at the other end but I'm not very pleased with how they've come out. I'm no expert when it comes to scenery but here's a pic of how the re-treated area looks. While waiting for the glue to dry I've been fitting in some stock. First up is a brace of Cambrian POA's which have been in the 'stores' for some time, these represent two builds of wagon as can be seen from the ESC and Gloucester suspension. So far they've had the scrap deflection plates added and the plastic fold up W irons have been replaced with etched brass with the Cambrian suspension units added on top. More work to be done on these in due course. Comments/questions welcome as usual. Regards

Just a bit, Although as a young lad, I can just remember the blue 37s when my dad used to take me to Radyr on weekends. I believe my first encounter with an 08 was at Radyr as well, I can just remember standing at the fence alongside the headshunt (where platform 3 now sits for those who don't know). As a lad the sheer size of an 08 close up was exciting indeed. Brian, in your shot above I'm guessing those Dogfish would be en route for loading at Penderyn quarry? Have you any idea when ballast trains ceased from there? Cheers

Cracking stuff sir. Cheers

Very nostalgic shot Brian. I can just imagine trying to stand on the roof of that PW hut to grab that one. Will we be seeing any of your late 80's/early 90s snaps? Look forward to seeing more. Cheers

Looking good James, nice work. Makes a change from the many gleaming celebrity models I've seen of this one.

Hi Jeff, Yes I did notice that the gates in Brian's pic are slightly taller than the remaining fence, I wasn't aiming for an exact replica of the one in the photo. There is a much smaller Oxygen tank near where a friend of mine used to live and I used that compound as inspiration for mine, mainly because I'll be keeping my fence grey and not the mustard colour of the one at Celsa. Cheers

Hi Rob, Interesting you should mention Bloxwich as I had that in mind before the Scottish idea came about. I do hope you will chart the progress of your project on here as I'd be interested for sure. Cheers

Thanks for the kind words ess1uk. The baseboard has been built and I've started fixing down cork undelay so the fun has started. I'll be working on this in between other jobs, but the main focus is to get the steelworks layout finished before the end of Decmber.... Wise or just nuts?! More soon

Hi Leon, Any further news on the 37711 project? Regards,

Good evening, Just a quick update to keep this going. I had a delivery of track during the week so should now be able to at least see how it will look compared to the plan above. Having seen a photo in a book showing part of a yard similar to mine, I was thinking of adding another road alongside the run round loop but looking back at the plan I think it will start to look too cramped. The aim for this one was less is more. More to come

Ooops Indeed it is, many apologies. I read your Rannoch thread with much interest. Regarding this layout, I've discovered today that a rethink is needed over what points to use. I had intended to use two A4 turnouts, however on placing a couple of locos on these I realised that the bogie overhang was quite visible. More soon

Blimey! Hello sir, how are things? Thanks for the kind words, still a few things left to on the layout itself along with building a fiddle yard oh and more items of rolling stock to come but it's getting there though. I've also started planning the next project. All the best

Ah yes, I raided my box of Rex mags in the loft and came across Ringburn Yard. A very nice layout and interesting to read how the name came about. I'm pleased that I've more or less settled on the plan I've posted because looking back at my scribbles they looked quite similar to Ringburn. Hi Bill, It will develop at a steady (sometimes slow) pace over the winter period. As I stated in my OP I had intended to build a Scottish based layout at some point but it was brought forward after snapping up a McRat at a nice price. I'm interested to see what your plans are, have you anything on here? Hi Mark, Thanks for the input. Making it look realistic and not cramped is my aim so I hope it turns out ok. This is one of the challenges when working in a small space. I like what you have done with Saltisford Lane by the way, I had another read through over on the DEMU thread earlier. Cheers