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Savoyard

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  1. Hi David, I had an original thread on my move to O Gauge which had the background on how Ploverleigh evolved but as the photos were lost on that thread a while back when the server crashed I decided to start a fresh with this thread. Here is a link to the old thread. I decided on the name Ploverleigh as it is the village in Gilbert & Sullivan's 'The Sorcerer' and whilst playing a part in that opera in 2007 I met my partner and so I thought to name my layout after the village. I hope that helps. Peter
  2. Work has been progressing on the station area too to the extent I have put up the backscene and started ballasting the station area. The entrances to the branch line and goods yard from the main line, all the track is laid and the next job is weather the track. A closer view of the station area. The station cottages are nearly complete and the next job will be scenic work on the base on which they stand. I have started work on the disused tunnel entrance and the hill surrounding it. I have made some tweaks to the road bridge and the staircase down to the station, which originally had a brick base and I've changed to a stone base using slaters stone sheets to match the bridge and other buildings. Another view of the station area. A closer view of the station cottages. I hope to start work on the goods yard ballasting this week. A view from the station area towards the turntable and loco shed. More to follow..
  3. The exit on the passing loop is on the lift section of the layout and on the previous version I used a very much manipulated PECO curved point which led to bad running. On this revised version I decided to build my own point so I found a plan for a HO gauge curved point on the internet and rescaled it to O gauge and loaded the image in to Lightburn, the laser cutting software. I used it as the basis for the new point, I outlined all the sleepers and once I had drawn them all I took out every fourth sleeper and ten respaced them to similar spacing to PECO points. Each sleeper was joined with a thin webbing and then laser cut in three sections. Using various other points for guides I laid the track and after after some test runs and tweaking I have got good running over the points. One loco did have problems when running into the inner loop so I introduced an additional guide rail which I based on prototypical ones I had found on the internet. Here are a couple of photos of the new point. It is not so obvious on these photos but I abandoned the wooden sleepers and screws over the board joints and reverted back to copper clad sections as they proved better to solder to.
  4. At long last I've been able to get some photos sorted. The biggest development has been the completion of all the track on the depot yard side, I decided to disguise the fiddle yard as a depot yard, with a storage area for wagons and coaches, and more recently a diesel depot. I have also included a passing loop on the inner mainline track to give a little more flexibility in operation. This is the depot yard head shunt, originally it was going to be just be two tracks but I recently included the small diesel depot at the top left and a fuelling point, exact position to be decided. Another view of head shunt. Two views of the diesel depot are. Starting from the right is the up and down main line, then a passing loop, a coach storage line, and three goods wagon storage lines, two of which are hidden behind the diesel depot. Two views from the other side showing the two main lines, then the passing loop currently occupied by some wagons, then the coach and wagon storage lines.
  5. I was having trouble downloading my photos from my iPhone to my PC but it is working again so I will post some pictures of the progress so far, but today I finished the weathering of the track on the mainline through the station so I decided to put some ballast down. Here is a short video demoing the fairly quick and easy method I used.
  6. A video of a test run over the new curved points I did last week, it still needs a little fettling but works fine.
  7. It has been quite a few months since I posted anything, over the winter I ended up using the shed to make props for our production of The Mikado in April, not the P2 the G&S version! 😂 I had been working on a couple of things but nothing major, once the show was over and I had my shed back for it's intended purpose, the first thing I did was to lay some carpet tiles I bought a year or so back and what a difference they make, it now feels like a proper railway room. Jobs so far! - Gradually gluing down of all the track with Copydex, which was recommended by a friend, and if you can get over the smell it works fine, as it's latex based it provides an element of sound insulation. It is also very easy to lift the track when I needed to rework something. About 90% of the layout is complete so far. - Hand built a curved point from scratch on the lift up section to allow for a passing loop on the inner line. - Laser cut wedges to fit underneath the PECO sleepers for a cant on the mainline curves. - Complete reworking of the depot area, with aligning and spacing to allow for the new passing loop, a coach siding and three wagon sidings, also the addition of a three lane loco shed. The track laying is still a work in progress but should be completed in the next few days. I will post some photos and further details once I have completed the depot area trackwork.
  8. Now for a little quiz. I haven't said why I've named the layout Ploverleigh. Before I do, I was wondering if anyone recognises where the name is from? Answers not on a postcard! 😁
  9. I just use a stick to separate the magnets. I was going to do a video before I started rebuilding the layout, hopefully I'll get round to that soon and I'll post a link on here.
  10. I've completed the reworking to double track. Here is a video of the on of the test runs, Ploverleigh - Test run on the new double track section Now to work on the new Depot area.
  11. Another use of the laser cutter and the ever useful coffee stirrers is for the risers for the cant on the curve. Here is how I've used them.
  12. The most recent use of the laser cutter is to make some sleepers for the lift up section. Previously I've used copper clad, but the copper clad could separate and has to be replaced, I cut some sleepers using 6mm plywood to the same dimensions as the PECO sleepers and made two holes for brass screws to solder the track to. Here are couple of photos showing the new sleepers compared to the previous copper clad
  13. I recently bought a laser cutter/engraver and been putting it to good use on the layout. One of the first things I made using it were new point tie bars using some coffee stirrers. This shows the tie bars on a PECO point replacing the original plastic one. On the version above I have used flat head brass pins, I have changed to pin with a smaller head. This is the latest version of the tie bars on the Marcway points using the smaller pins, not only do they look neater they also make for better operation of the points.
  14. Hi Ray, The single track tunnel is from Townstreet , I am currently away till weekend but I will measure it when I get back. Peter
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