McRuss

Thank you for your reply.

Markus

May I ask, from which source the Robin Reliant is coming from?

Markus

I have placed an order on June 29th. The money was paid by Paypal the same day. Until now I haven't received the goods, and got no replies. I have send them an email about a week ago and on last thursday, but have received no reply. The Item I've ordered were shown as in stock at the time of ordering.

Markus

Since my last update I installed the turnout actuators, and soldered in the feeder and bus wires. Now I only had to solder the wires for the frog polarity to the turnoutfrogs.

Today I was able to run the first train at Sorethroat, which I will share with you.

I hope you enjoy the film.

Markus

Hello,

since my last post I continued with laying the track on the seconde fibre board. I had choosen to to these on my workbench, because it is easier for me to do there, than when it is in its final possition. And I think I will continue these method on the rest of the layout. Now I think almost 95% of the track at Sorethroat is laid. Most of it is handlaid, with the exceptions at the engine facility one siding at the background and the lines leading to Sorethroat. For the logging branch I used leftover flextracks from Piko A Gleis, and a Atlas code 100 turnout. The other tracks are laid with Peco code 83 flextrack. Next step is installing the feeder wires.

Here you can see the result.

Markus

Hello,

it's been some time since my last update of the layout. I had lost a bit of my modelling mojo, maybe because I started to put in a ceiling in my modelrailway room, it was quite messy. But I managed to film a new update from my model railway room, where I show the new ceiling and some little progress I made during the time. And I will speak about future projects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_JFaNJTypc

Markus

I continued with the gluing down wood ties and laid some of the tracks in the engine shed area. Because I'm using the Atlas turntable I used Flextrack in these area.

Markus

Yesterday I glued some ties and three of my four Fasttracks Quickstick Ties for the turnouts on the first station board and laid some of my turnouts that I salvaged from the old layout temporarely in place.

Markus

I made some progress on the layout. I installed some additional bracing, and I started withe the roadbed. I put in some raisers to rise the line to the future minig and logging area, and lowerd the line to Sowbelly. Because the Mine is diffuclt to reach, and the circumstances that the turnout to it  sits above a joint I decided to use a Atlas Code 100 turnout and some Piko Code 100 Flextrack for the track on the logging/mining line. My first plan was lay almost all the track by hand, except for the curved turnout at Sowbelly and the turnout and crossing which run to the ferry slip at Little Divide. But due to the height restrictions I decided to use ready to use track at these remote area. For the station areas I plan to use the green fibre insulation boards. Here I will glue down the ties before the boards are glued down to the layout so that I could lay and arrange the easily. The rails will then be spiked down when the boards are glued in place. maybe with the helf of a homemade jig to get the distance from the edge of the ties to the rail.

At these end the bracing won't reach to the board, so that I can lower the area of the future line running over the liftout section towards Little Divide.

Markus

Hello,

I did some thinking about the trackplan and I wasn't happy with it. In 1992 September Issue of Modelrailroader, there was a trackplan for a proposed layout in a small room called Spokane, Pasco & Wallace. Since I saw these trackplan in the 90s I tried to plan a layout based on these plan. Over the years these plan was stored in the backs of my brain, but during the last weeks it reemerged.

So I got back to the drawingboard (in my case Anyrail). I changed the overall layout of the plan to the settings of my layout room and the N gauge layout beyond the H0 layout. At the terminals I added some tracks and at the Harbour I added a Motive Power depot. And I will incooperate an interchange between the harbour (Little Divide) and the Porkbelly station. The layout got a runaround connection, for times when I wil show the layout to visitors, running in of rolling stock and for relaxation. During the last two weeks I altered the shelf above my N gauge Fiddle Yard and over the weekend I transfered the trackplan for Sorethroat and today I placed some rolling stock and buildings from the previous layout on the new one.

The green stuff is impact sound insulation, I bought these becaus Cascade Rail supplies stopped trading, and I can't get hold of Homasote roadbed. I've some of it stored but I think these is just enough for the tracks between the stations.

Markus

Hello David,

thank you for the picture. But in the plans there seems to be a platform at the stationbuilding end.

Markus

During the late December and early January, I built a wagonturntable from scratch, using 1mm and 0.5mm styrene sheet, some rail offcuts, superglue and plastic cement.

In these Youtube tutorial I will show you the way I did it. During the filming I had some probleme with the autofocus of my camera, and I have to improve how to position the camera.

The turntable is built for my 009 layout, but the method could be used for other gauges and scales. In the past I have built a similar wagonturntable for my N gauge layout.

Markus

Hello,

today I uploaded the December update on Youtube. During the last few months I hadn't done much on my layout projects. But last October I and some friends spend a weekend in Berlin to build more than 20 curved modules to the FREMO N-RE standards. After these I spend a few days in the Harz mountain region and did a trip from Gernrode to Wernigerrode on the HSB.

Markus

Hello,

I'm using the Caboose Industries N gauge ground throws on my 009 modular layout. I'm using  Caboose Industries 224S which are the ones with the integrated electrical switch for frog polarisation.

I made a picture of it.

Markus

Hello, it's been some time since my last update on my G&D plan. Due to the housemove last year I had to scrap the beginnings of my Sorethroat Branchline Mk2 layout. I was only able to start tracklaying in the fiddle yard. But now with some time gone I started on planing the new version. The new layout should be a homage to John Allens layout. But with less space,  I don't want to copy his layout. So I set my layout further north. So in the Northern Californian or Oregon area. My room is roughly 4x4 meters. And the intended layout is placed over my current british N scale modular layout.

The Sorethroat branchline connects with the G&D network at Little Divide (my Fiddle Yard) and climbs the mountains towards Porkbelly, from there the line declines to Sorethroat the end of the G&D branch. At Porkbelly there is a short line which serves the small community of Achingback and some logging and mining camps along the line. From Sorethroat there is a short line connecting with Weber Point (a future small fiddle yard). These connections will allow for continues run if needed.

At Sorethroat I plan to fit a small Sawmill, a Coal and Fuel Merchant, a small Powerstation, an larger manufacturing plant against the wall, and some smaller businesses, which are rail served. There is also an engine terminal.

The Line to Achingback see some lumber and ore traffic, and some occasional goods traffic.

And the short line to Weber Point will bring in some perishabel traffic (that my reefers got someting to do)

My engine roster haven't changed much. I own a 4-4-0 (Mehano/IHC), two 2-6-0 (Mehano/IHC; Bachmann Alco), one 0-6-0 Camelback (Mantua), one 2-6-6-2 Articulated (Mantua), two 2-8-0 (Frateschi/Model Power; Roundhouse by Athearn), one 0-4-0 Dockside Tank (Mehano/IHC) and since last year an 0-4-0 with sloped tender (Rivarossi, I changed the mechanisem against a Mehano 0-4-0 from another Dockside tank). The Rivarossi 0-4-0 is planned for the Weber Point Short Line.

Here is the trackplan. The Fiddle Yard will be about 6 inches below Achingback.

Markus

Hello Martin,

a member of our german british railway forum recently turned up with these link. Maybe these could be of interest for you.

Markus

Hello Martin,

regarding the humidity in your  shed, maybe you could use a chemical dehumidifier. I've been using these in my modelrailway room in the basement.

I'm using one similar to these one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/500ml-Interior-Dehumidifiers-Acting-Crystals/dp/B075KNTRTL/ref=sr_1_52?crid=1D48L8MJ0Q70W&keywords=dehumidifiers&qid=1572423503&sprefix=dehum%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-52

In Germany they look a bit different

https://www.amazon.de/Sichler-Haushaltsgeräte-Luftentfeuchter-Raumentfeuchter-Wiederverwendbare/dp/B075CS1TX8/ref=sr_1_14?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=16BB3N3OVUX1T&keywords=luftentfeuchter&qid=1572423574&sprefix=luften%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-14

But their working principal is the same.

Markus

Thank you for your answer, so the wall thickness is about 3mm. For rolling out the DAS clay. Are you using some 1mm thick sticks as a height gauge for the rolling pin?

Markus

Hello,

may I ask what material you have used for the walls of your destillery?

Markus

Hello,

I've got another question regarding finetrax. Are there any rail joiners available?

I haven't found them on their website.

Markus

Hello,

during the last two weeks I built the backdrop for the Lochdubh part of my layout. And here is the result.

DSCI4994 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4995 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4996 by mcruss1, on Flickr

First you could see an overview, and now some detailshots.

DSCI4997 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4998 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4980 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4981 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4982 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4983 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4984 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4985 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4986 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4987 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4989 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4990 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4991 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4992 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4993 by mcruss1, on Flickr

Markus

Hello,

it's been some time since my last update. In May I held the first operating session in the new basement. These time my friend Daniel did the filming. After the session I had a little flooding in the layout room during a thunderstorm, but I've got lucky and only a bit of the scenery was harmed, The baseboards and electrics weren't harmed.

So here is the video from the operating session. Enjoy.

Markus

Are there suppliers sellng the finetrax track system? I aks because, I can't order their products from Germany?

Markus

Hello,

since the late 2000s I've building my homelayouts according to the FREMO recommendations. So I can go to FREMO meetings or exhibitions with my modules, and in the case of a house move I don't have to tear down the layout. So I was able to reuse most of my layout after the my house moves in the last 3 years.

Markus

Hello,

during the last weeks I started with the building of my backdrops, and now about half of the backdrop is in place.

DSCI4916 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4915 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4917 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4918 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4919 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4920 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4922 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4926 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4924 by mcruss1, on Flickr

DSCI4925 by mcruss1, on Flickr

Markus