Stephen Freeman

The best way with any live "frog" point is to hardwire the blades to the stock rails. The common crossing(s) should be isolated from the point blades and polarity switched by contacts on the point motor or micro switch. Diode matrix/CDU is fine for DC, DCC use route setting. Do not rely on the blades contacting the stock raiis for electrical continuity, they will fail, sooner or later.

I have included plans of the station in the photos, the second station and a rough outline of the special crossing needed to access it from the main line

My experience was from when we had real winters before all this global warming, when the local canals used to freeze over, they don't anymore. The use of PVA as a base probably helps too.

It maybe the flexibility of the pva saved the day. I expect it depends just how cold it gets

I still have the Templot files, so if anybody well-heeled enough was interested.... it could be recreated. I will see if I can do a trackplan

I thought it was a safety war-time precaution to help prevent people tripping over it.

I have started this thread as I thought this layout deserved to be remembered, I understand that is no more, so I am sharing the few photos that the owner sent me a few years ago. It is loosely based on Kingswear, the pointwork is different and there is no turntable, he originally planned for one but couldn't fit it in. My only real involvement was building the pointwork. So here are the photos The station was situated on the inside of a continuous loop and there was a further terminus station, so he he could run station to station. Unfortunately I don't have photos of that.

Personally I wouldn't do it. DAS clay and humidity/moisture don't mix longterm, it may look good in the short term but unless you can guarantee it won't suffer this problem you may regret doing it. It doesn't like frost either. I speak from personal experience.

thanks for the plug.

Flares come in a variety of designs, depending on the prototype but in this case the end gap should be a little more, though perhaps not as much as some think.

The Shunting element of the intended layout wiil be separate, probably on a different level but I haven't got that far yet, so this bit is passenger only really. Quite a bit of the pointwork is well under way.

The scissors turnouts are A6, the slips are 1 in 6 and the single turnout is a B7

Here is a more minimal space one (00SF) that I am working on for myself when time allows - 1.8 metres in length.

Larger car is more convenient. You might have thought I joked. In another lifetime I drove a Golf GTi, at the same time I transported baseboards to and from meetings. The only way I could do it was to take out the back seats! I did get quite adept at it but when the time came I choose to change the car for an estate car, end of problem.

Are you sure that the secondhand track is really Peco? I ask as Peco use a non - standard (as in not supplied by anyone else) rail section. All other rail suppliers use a true Bullhead profile and is code 125. Peco's rail is not quite bullhead being a compromise between that and flatbottom, I believe in order to facilitate manufacture, it is also code 124 - slightly smaller. Peco's rail joiners will fit both Code 100 and 124, so if it doesn't fit then it looks like it isn't Peco. You will probably find the Fllexitrack is either Marcway or more probably C&L. C&L Fishplates will fit both, though electrical continuity may be an issue. In any event it isn't a good idea to rely on rail joiners longterm, always best to solder droppers on etc.

Bigger car?😉

Tracksettas are all very good, I have some, but they are not the solution to transition curves, for future reference and for others, Templot will produce various types of transition curves. Templot is a Windows programme and is free, design your track and print it out, job done (well almost).

There are several ways to get there of course, all involve French country roads and driving habits of locals! Easiest is probably from Maison Blanches on N10, at the roundabout turn right past the truckstop, turn left at end, follow lane until you go over railway, turn left by the Discobox (is it still there?) then left again. Or from Saint Saviol, at the roundabout turn down past the Mairie and school, turn right down lane, continue though hamlet, go under railway turn left.

Currently progressing a small batch of about 10 of these

Have you tried this location? https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@46.1255418,0.2138892,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sejrkkuWoYP6FvCl1LLG1GQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DejrkkuWoYP6FvCl1LLG1GQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D108.0952%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192 Not far from Saint Saviol, You have to think that there was a level crossing there, once upon a time and possibly a station too, in fact I think there used to be a building there, which looked railwayesque but appears to have gone now.

Dart Castings do a white metal non-working one. As for Ground signals, they do non-working ones, if you want a fully functional one you will need to look elsewhere.

I missed the last angle cross piece off but easy enough to add on. In actual fact the brackets were variable in length and quite a few had only 7 plain diagonals, Seaton Junction had 8.

Motorising a signal with limited space above baseboard is not necessarily a problem as long as there is space below, it just demands a different approach, which is not possible with a Mass Produced signal.

Good Luck with that, the only Bracket of that type available from Wizard (MSE) is too short and I am not at all certain what scale it is supposed to be. Thats why I did my own etches for a model of Seaton Junction. Not the easiest of designs but got there in the end. but now available well, you know where 😉. I think you will need 2 posts for your main post, the Seaton Junction one came from Alan Gibson (workshop 4MM54). All the other bits from Wizard. The damaged finial is intentional by the way as it is based on the actual signal.

I have never been a fan of plunger pickups in any scale, the best ones I have seen (not for a while) were DJB in 7mm scale. With the Airfix 0-4-2T, change the pickups for new plungers (if that's possible), the other worthwhile alteration to the chassis is to get rid of the tyred wheels and have all metal, haulage will be perfectly adequate. The best solution of course is to ditch the chassis and build a replacement- plenty of etched brass alternatives around. Bodywise, Iain Rice did a detailing pack, which was taken up by Mainly Trains and I believe is now with Wizard Models. How far you take it is a matter of personal preference.