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John Geeee

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  1. John Geeee
    The OO Garden Shed
     
    by John Geeeee
    original page on Old RMweb
     
    Just setting up my old RMweb layout thread by copying it over using Martins transfer utility. Thanks Martin
    Now I will try and tidy up the copy of the old RMweb thread to make it a bit easier to read. This will involve removing some of the older general comments and the addition of more detail and pictures from the early scenic work. I will try and give the blog a bit more of a chapter feel to each stage of my progress. I hope whoever reads it finds it interesting. My appologies to anybody whose previous comments I may delete during the process but If they were questions about the layout I will leave in the answers to help others.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:42 pm
     
    Hello to everyone at RMweb.
     
    I have been watching and learning for the last 18 months and I am now brave enough to post some pictures and receive comments, from the more experienced modellers out there, on my OO layout that I have been putting together since about November 2006. I have a thread on a similar forum for beginners so I appologise if the pictures are familiar to some of you, if you don't want to see them again then please tell me to go back where I came from, I promise not to be offended
     
    I am 44 years young and this is my first ever layout. Don't ask me why I left it so long, all I know is that I have now got the bug and I can't help myself!At the moment most of it is constructed from the usual well known kits, I have not braved any scratchbuilding as yet. It is not based on anywhere in particular and I run whatever trains I like the look of, mostly steam but I also have a small diesel collection as well. I wanted to build a layout that would let me run trains whilst also giving plenty of shunting. All locos and wagons are fitted with Kaydees. Its a DC system, all the points are electrically operated, there are two motorised turntables, and the layout is divided into 4 sections, each can be operated by a 4 way controller using CAB.
     
    So here is a selection of my favourite pictures so far. There are many more available going back to the point when the shed was first cleared out, but I will not bore you with all of them unless requested I am always changing my mind and trying to expand wherever possible, usually after much negotiation with 'er indoors! Some parts I have still to decide what to do with so this is very much a work in progress for a few years to come.
     
    Firstly the Trackplan for the layout which is about 9ft by 10ft at the moment Updated 20/10/2009:
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    The Shed: The view from outside. Total size is 22ft x 9ft. Only the front has wood for external appearance, the other three sides being brick and breezeblock. The windows are PVC double glazed. The roof is precoat aluminium. Therefore the layout takes up about half the interior at the permission of 'er indoors .

     
    The Early Days: The inside of the shed had to be prepared before layout construction could begin. Some serious tidying up was needed becuase it was becoming a store for unwanted items. There was a bit of damp in some areas of the floor in the corners. The concrete floor was first sealed with a sealer and then repainted. The damp has now dissappeared. The walls which are lined with chipboard were then painted with a light blue emulsion. The roof had to be insulated to prevent condensation so the roof beams were lined with foiled bubble wrap which has also worked a treat and stopped any condensation forming and dripping onto the layout.
     

     

     
    I was lucky in that the previous house owner had left a lot of 12mm 48"x18" sheets of plywood which seemed ideal for nice strong baseboards. So I selected the best boards that were flat and damp free and started to add 2"x1" battons to the edges etc to prevent warping. It seems to have worked well with no warping in three years since they were put together. There was two sturdy work benches in the shed already so all I did was remove the tops and use the bases for the legs and support of the boards.

     
    The Boards are held together with coach bolts and extra 2"x2"legs added where required. I initially had a raised border around the edge but over time this was removed to gain a bit of extra width for scenery. Unfortunately I was not brave or experienced enough to fit a removable section for access to the central operating section, so its a case of crawling under. As the layout developed a bit of extra board was added to the left side to create the high street and two extra boards were added across the front to create the goods yard and turntable area.

     
    I obtained a few lots of track from Ebay. even though I ended up not using a lot of it because of its second hand condition, it did prove useful for trying out various ideas for the track plan. After throwing a few ideas around and with some help from members of another forum I more or less ended up with the basic layout below. I wanted a layout that would let me run trains and also provide some interesting shunting potential. I did my reaearch by getting hold of as many railway modelling manuals and track plan books as I could in those first few months. I now own quite a collection of very old and modern railway modelling books for reference. So I came up with the "inverted 8" loop to give the continuous running, with a terminus attached to the outside of the running lines and a wagon marshalling yard/ loco shed inside the running loop. I also had space to add sidings for a brewery and "somethin else" later to become a small coal pit. There is a through station on the right hand side running lines. I later decided to add another loco MPD with a turntable at the front of the layout which was reached via the terminous line to the goods shed. There is a cross over point on the running lines so there has to be an incline which is just high enough for my tallest steam engine to get under.
     
    Once the plan was settled on, then track laying could begin.
     

     
    In Phase 2, I will explain the track laying, electrics and the control system.
     
    Cheers
     
    John Geeee
  2. John Geeee
    The OO Garden Shed
     
    by Ginger64
     
    The next stage was to lay the track. All track used was typical code 100 with Hornby Insulfrog points. All points are to be operated by Hornby point motors. At the last count there was about 35 points with motors. All track was laid onto cork glued to the baseboards with PVA. All the boards were painted grey prior to final pinning of the track. Holes were cut into the baseboards to fit the point motors under the points. I obtained a DC Guagemaster Q Four Track controller which gives me all the track and accessory power required ( I use a Hornby set controller for rotating the turntables , see later). My research into electrics had helpped me plan how to power the track. I decided to use a CAB system with the whole layout separated into four isolated sections:
    1. The upline of the loop.
    2. The downline of the loop.
    3. The inner marshalling yard/loco shed area.
    4. The Terminus station/ loco refuelling and turntable area.
     
    The Cab control system allows me to set which section is controlled by which track controller. Therefore if I set both the terminus and downline to track controller 1 then the train can run seemlessly from the terminus to the down line without any jerking over the cross over point.
     

     

     

     
    A 3mm plywood was used for the base under the incline lines. The minimum height for the crossover was determined and this was taken as the top of the incline point. The incline ends were then determined and then various height supports were created. This was a simple process of find the mid point along the length of the upslope and downslope and then support this point with a piece of wood made to half the height of the crossover. Then repeat the process for the 1/4 and 3/4 points on the inclines. The inclines were then tested with various locos and wagon/carraige loads and everything pulled as required .
     
    At this stage the various track areas were tested for running by attaching the controller feed and return wires directly to different parts of the track using crocodile clips. Once I was happy everything was working ok I then set to work on the control panel. As I said before its all DC control so I have lots of various isolated sidings and also the two line running loops are sectioned into three parts each so that I can actually isolate various areas to stop trains running while another train crosses the lines at various places. It seems complicated at first but I got used to it and now I feel I can do anything I want when it comes to running a train from one place to anywhere else without trains being able to collide by unwanted movements.
     
    All the track has power feed and returns soldered in various places to the outsides of the rails and the wire feeds directly through a small 3mm hole inbetween the sleepers.
     
    I made the control panel from a piece of hardboard with 2"x1" support and topped with painted aluminium panels. I marked out the layout plan onto the panel and drilled the required holes for all the swithches. The panel had hinges added and then it was fixed onto the side of the baseboards. Then the wiring began. It was not fun but as long as I followed a structured path everything went according to plan. As always Over the next 3 years I have continued to add the odd section switches etc as I came across the odd "I wish I could do that" moment.
     

     

     
    There is also a CDU under the panel to power up the point motors. Also each rotary switch now has an isolator switch fitted because I found that if I already had a train running round the down loop using controller 1. and then I wanted to run a train on another section from controller 2. when I turned the rotary switch for the next section through location 1 to 2 the train would jerk as it picked up power from controller 1. So the isolators for the rotary switches stop this.


     
    The control panel with isolated CAB selectors for the up and down lines, MPD, and Terminus areas:


     
    Next up: Some scenery work.
     
    Cheers
    John Geeeee
  3. John Geeee
    The OO Garden Shed
     
    by Ginger64
     
    original page on Old RMweb
     
    After track laying and wiring some basic scenery was required. The traditional home layout tunnel was added. This was made up from layers of foam polystyrene bult up and glued with PVA. The top layer is removable to allow access to the tunnel area incase of derailments. At this stage I still was not sure what feature I would put on top. Once set the layers were cut to shape and then covered in a polyfiller PVA mix with some paint added to achieve a "stone" colour. The mix was applied simply with a paint brush. The tunnel mouths were Metcalfe card kits. The "Rock Face" would later be painted, weathered, and treated with various scatters.
     

     

     

     

     
    The outside of the incline was part covered in a set of foam incline arches from International Models. The fitted the natural incline angle remarkably well and they were flexible enough to be fitted around the curve! The remaining ends were fitted with stone paper applied to hardboard strips. I still need to fit some hand rails to the tops of these walls.
     
    You can also see that the track has been ballasted by the usual accepted method of:
    1. Pour the ballast over the track.
    2. tap into place with a small brush.
    3. Spray with water mixed with a couple of drops of washing up liquid.
    4. Make a 50:50 mix of PVA and water with a couple of drops of washing up liquid and apply it with a dropper to the ballast. It should soak in easily and takes 48 hours to dry.
    4. Vacuum off any loose ballast and remove any ballast stuck into the inside of the rails that may cause derailments.
     
     

     

     
    The other areas of the incline were made up using Modroc. The areas were first stuffed with screwed up newspaper to provide some shape. The Modroc roll was then cut into 4" lengths, dipped quickly into water and then applied onto the area. About 3 layers were applied and the surface smoothed over by hand whilst still wet, wear disposable gloves!! The mod rock is fully hard in 24 hours and can then be painted and covered in scatter etc.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    For the scatters I try to apply different shades of green. I do not want everthing to look exacltly the same colour like a carpet. Later I will also apply paint to the rails and trackbed with the aim to create a general appearance of rusty red and various track dirt running into the ballast.
     
    Next up - The buildings start to appear.
     
    Cheers
    John Geeeee
     
     
     
     
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