barrowroad

Yes it is. There's a long story behind this turntable which I won't go into except to say it was originally on the Glevum S4 Group layout 'Brinkley'.

Hi Mike, I look forward to seeing your coaches running on the layout.

Hi Dave, From right to left - Loco release road;  Storage siding - Derby TPO and 2BGs; The Centre Road is for incoming locos and will have a B7L linking it to the next road - unfinished - which is for loco storage. The next road is for incoming locos/storage. Finally the far left will accommodate 4/5 coaches for the Gloucester local. That's the plan for now but it may be subject to tweaks.

Robin  

Dave,  The morning is the best time to work o the shed in this hot weather. I have the windows and doors open to get  a flow of air through the building. It's too hot to work in the afternoon unless you like working in a sauna although this afternoon wasn't to bad and I added two more roads of flexi-track. I shall need another 25m soon. 

Hi Tim,  Ah but there will be some as the sidings develop:-)

Hi John, Chris has finished the two power boxes and they are now both operational which means I now have power to the shed yard and can run locos! All the yard turnouts are now operational, including the three way tandem and I can run a loco through the two double slips. All the turnouts operated by analogue cobalts still need to be wired into their switches so the yard and the main line are yet to be linked but things are looking good. Oh well better get back to building a few more turnouts :-).

Hi Dave,  Loco turntable on road 2 gives access into the workshop and was used infrequently during the 1950s. Loco turntable 4 gives access to the two sidings adjacent to the boiler house and this was used to store withdrawn locos. I have photos of two Pugs 51217 and 51218 on these sidings together with another of 3F 43444. Both are designed to be operated and I hope to do this at some point - not a high priority though.

Robin 

Hi, Thanks for your kind comment. My technique for the brickwork is detailed in earlier posts on pages 15 to 17 of this blog and involves using a selection of crayons to colour individual bricks at random after first spraying the mdf with grey primer.

I intend to have the turntable operational and have a stepper motor to install once the turntable bridge is made.

Hi John,  It was a pleasant change to model some buildings however it was back to track making and laying today with 5 turnouts sorted in the storage sidings.

Indeed it would Pinehill - you'll just have to imagine it in the model.

Thanks for all the kind comments.

I just started them again Dave. I managed eight before I ran out of copper clad and had to wait 2 weeks for C&L to deliver a fresh pack.

Dave,

But not Megapoints:-)

It does indeed and thank you for all your hard work developing the layout - much appreciated.

That's annoying John - It's also on The S4 forum try there.

Dave, The chinese Hornby Black 5 with the sprung rear driver and brass bearings on all axles does give more than adequate suspension on my track work which is more than can be said for than Bachmann Crab I converted around the same time. I must start to add some storage sidings as I nearly ran into the back of a parked loco on the Up main this morning!

Robin

Dave,

Coaches stored temporarily pending additional sidings in the storage yard:-)  You are most welcome to bring some of your locos down for a run - pm me when you are available.

John,

Bill Bedford bogies is the standard for coaching stock on the layout although I don't like the brake etches - they're a pain to fit.  I think I may use some of Justin's as well in the future. 

I'm working on it - hopefully a Black 5 first and maybe a Patriot.

Hi Dave,

The Crab looks superb - you must bring locos for a running session on BR now the double circuit is operational. I like you're painting of the bridge. I see you have primed it with Halfords grey primer - what painting technique have you used as it is very effective?

Robin

Hi Tim,

I have two Bachmann 3F's which do indeed just have Ultrascale drop in wheels and both run well on the layout without any compensation. A lesson there methinks!

I have another 4F to do and am reluctant to go down the Easi-Chas route - the work involved is as much as a full loco kit for P4.

With a total of 10 pick-ups on loco and tender it runs well at slow speeds and the acceleration/deceleration are nice and smooth.

I also have a 1F to do.

Robin

I have posted the first of a series of photos on the Scalefour Forum

 http://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5683

Hi Dave,

I'll post some photos of the build at some point either on here or the S4 forum. The fold up Easi Chassis is the easy part although the rear drive axle posed a problem to keep it in mesh - i needed to pack the bearings in order to keep the gears in mesh [ mentioned by Brassmasters in their instructions. Not ideal. 

The main work - and time - was the carving of the body to gain clearance for the wider gauge wheels. This involved removing the splashers, filing the footplate to give over 22mm width and removing metal to clear the coupling rods. Today I found the rods touched the rear of the front steps on the curve and I had to file material off the rear - over 0.5mm on each side.

Pick ups are 0.3mm coiled phospher bronze to a design posted by Will Litchfield on the S4 forum.

The tender chassis is a Brassmasters Deeley unit on which is mounted the DCC chips and which has 4 additional pick ups. 

Robin

Hi Dave,

I edited the picture to show it was an earlier photo as obviously the track has been laid since. The barriers are indeed very substantial but only to provide the weight on the micro-switches needed to operate them not for a 600 ton train:-)

Robin

The 3F and Mk1's are certainly loud and amplified by an empty shed as are my movements with the camera. The slight clicking with the 8F is likely to be an issue connecting rod and valve gear clearance of which Morgan is aware.

You must bring some of your stock down for a session.

Robin

Very nice indeed. Yours is bigger than mine!!

Not a lot I can say to that:-)

Thanks Dave and Tim, Seasons Greeting to you both

Brian Morgan products are available from the Scalefour Society Stores.

www.scalefour.org/eshop/

You don't have to be a member to make a purchase of them.

They are etched TOUs. Left and right turnouts, single and double slips are available. There are linkages available for both types of slips - which also contain a screw adjuster - to enable the TOU to be linked to your choice of point motor. Hope this helps

Robin

Dave,

The analogue cobalts have 9 terminals. I have wired up eight, leaving terminal 3 which is designated for the 'frog' by DCC Concepts. As I am using separate a BUS for the motors I'm using one of the on board switches so terminals 1 & 2 are DC power in; 4,5,6 are the switch [6 common] and the three white wires are the spare [at present] switch.

The Digital Cobalts have 8 terminals wired in a similar fashion. I had to telephone DCC Concepts to clarify a wiring discrepancy on their older digital units, the label of which shows the common terminal as 8, whilst the online information identifies it as 6. The latter is correct. Apparently the older digital cobalts have incorrect labels. Have they told anyone before me???

The mechanical linkages are rather too complicated if I'm honest. The standard Brian Morgan units are fine but the slips are problematic.

Robin