Russ (mines a pint)

Today has included assembling enough of the C&L trackbase to allow all the visible track to be such, code 75 peco to be confined to the non visible parts. I am using a Peco point LH med radius some of which will be visible but will mostly be under a bridge, re-sleepering at the diverging end is a possibility, but will see how it looks.

To expand. Thinking I would get the photos and links up first before I accidentally deleted something! I'd been trying to make layouts in the APA boxes but was coming up against problems of depth and also the bulkyness of the boxes for storage . Especially once I'd joined 2 together. This slablike piece of MDF nicely sits on the table and should not as such require bracing, I will probably avoid using too many water based substance , thinking of modelling clay infill for the tracks as opposed to ballast and PVA. -point operation can be hidden off scene as there is only one point needed where there will be a scenic break. Deviating slightly from the prototype location I am thinking of having a loading dock on the rear siding for vans and coal cells on the front siding . A locolift or cassette to be used for offstage. A couple of 16 tonners , vans and a toad & pannier should be enough, though other things may appear!

Must be about time to put up another possible layout project as its a while since I abandoned the last one! Inspired by the Milkwall area of the Forest of Dean : Starting with a very crude mock -up its maybe hard to envisage so will try return with a subsequent post - the last pic shows an overall view of the whole area at my disposal a 32x 16 piece of MDF - the reasons for using this will be explained partly inspired by Steve's N gauge layout : http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85024-a-forest-of-dean-layout-in-an-a4-box-file/ and also a photo of prototype location https://www.sungreen.co.uk/Milkwall/Pics/colour_works.jpg

Finding all this very interesting, had a good number of false starts over the last few years - with a house move from a Yorkshire terrace house with a huge dry cellar to our current house which has very little spare space. I'm even struggling with the space for conventional ideas of minimal layouts , inglenook etc. Looking at O gauge micros has been very inspiring for me as thinking anything less than 5 foot in O gauge is gonna be 2 to 3 feet in 4mm scale - such a 4mm layout may not have the appeal of an O gauge one, but it maybe better than none at all. I've been following the Osney/Bude/ The Shed thread(s) quite a bit and thinking along the lines.

Think 'Hayfield' has hit many nails with his post & without requoting bits there will always be people who want to build their own and people who want to stick to setrack so they dont have to cut it. There are loads in between ease of use and appearance - not to mention skills/time etc. - There are people like me who have built 10 points to get 3 working ones just to get better sleeper spacing - with no chairs If the people who always used peco ( ie. flexi - not set-track) think this is worth the extra outlay they have an absolute winner. - to my mind the difference in price is a better trade off than what we have seen throughout the rest of the RTR - loco's , but particularly passenger stock many of the new coach prices being in the £30 - £50 range wow! glad I'm freight-only Can we have mass produced working scale couplings next ? - COAT - DOOR - GONE hahaha

Dunno what happened there I was gonna get back to it but was involved with sorting a deal for motorcycle parts at the same time - http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=1117&forum_id=1&highlight=peco+large+radiust the essentials were that the Peco large radius geometry is roughly the size of an A6/A7 size point - these being the smallest you would find on any goods yard - except perhaps industrial locations B switches are the passenger line points and in upwards of B8 we are looking at more prototypical track and perhaps a shift in layout planning to less full of track crammed layouts - no bad thing in my way of thinking?

Really been sat on the fence with these and thought I was probably going to continue to make my own. That said the fact that they do look better than I expected and are proving to be slightly flexible my lead me to look out for some edible headgear

Almost an ad for out of the box modelling, thick black sleepers, they almost look like streamline points with the wee boxes beside them? even the class 20 and the first 5 tanks could be done RTR- the last tank looks to have been sloppily filled though lol flickr.com/8223/8262301158_c1f8b7a8cf_b.jpg

I agree with Andrew, and you can follow the ones you are interested in (and even your own to enable to find them again ) Lovely to see your pics again.

This one- like so many before had gone onto the back-burner, a nasty car-repair bill had forced all the GWR stock back onto ebay. I have a core few BR wagons- green 08 still, but a nice black 8750 pannier winged its way from a certain auction site, just recently. The station building despite being stored in the kitchen has not warped - and is worthy of further development, just trying to sort out a trackplan. Do I go with the original Stanner (as an inglenook) or try think of something else?

Not at all Martin and it was also partly Pauls post (about the 20 thousand lol) ? - but we understand that some people have different interest some people are more interested in track , some in stock, some in scenery & some just opening the box and playing with it. - I think if the new track appeals to the shake the box market the hobby will have moved on a bit , even if its not what some of us would call faithful track I remember the old 'improving peco points' thread from way back its still a long way from a prototypical point but its an acceptable compromise if you are short of time or skills, and gets results quickly.

old thread - nearly inspired me to build it though was looking for something similar on Cumbrian rather than Cambrian coast http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&p=460423

I dont see why we should say anyone is or isnt a proper modeller just because of what they produce or dont and how they achieve that. We all have our different interests, if you are fanatical about correct track then enjoy building your own, for others it is the loco's or rolling stock and for some it is simply running things straight out of the box as soon as you buy them , just because it might irk you personally, went to an old friends recently- didnt even know he was intrested in trains but he had an attic empire of 4 track roundy ran all sorts of stuff together that didnt go together and got great enjoyment from such - he only had basic scenery so far and was baulking at buildings cos of the price of rtp. I mentioned that one of my high points of the hobby was making my own buildings from plans of real ones. It seemed he hadnt thought that this might even be possible, where do you get the plans etc, it is quite possible that many people, not even new-comers are open to the fact that you can build your own stuff? -I havent bought a mag lately but does build your own (anything) get promoted- to newcomers to the hobby ?

- was also going to say the catch point isnt , but thought it was just splitting hairs, I guess the coupling magnets could be disguised as board crossings ?

I have 'miles' of pre aqcuired EM and OO bh trackbase (mixture of exactoscale and C&L) so its unlikely I'll be buying any peco track soon. tend to do copperclad pointwork or re work and resleeper normal code 75, though looking back at coachmanns layout I'm not sure why I bother as the results look ok without? - neither copperclad handbuilt or reworking peco gives 'proper' track but it's an acceptable compromise to me, . I have 4 code 75 points still and a lifetimes supply of copperclad and rail, if the points look really good and had been nearer the £20 mark I might have been tempted in the name of time-saving and convenience, but for the time being I think i'll just keep going the same way I always have.

Large radius code 75 and redo the sleepers with copperclad saved you 20 quid - cheers dont mention it hahaha

It will sell - but... will it sell to trackbuilders - or those who think we should drop OO in favour of something more prototypical will it sell to those happy with setrack/streamline - particularly those with large layouts NO -possibly not but the increase in quality of loco and stock has meant that over the years ready to plonk track has been the poor relation, the cost of a modern steam or diesel loco has increased, mass produced ready to plonk buildings have too its time for the track to have its day now. It'll massively boost the efforts of those that want to but dont have the time/inclination. provide time savings for those who have the inclination but not the time. Its a great step forward and hope it proves successful for a broader range and general trickle down improvement of our hobby, over the years to come.

Except in Mallaig, and some other places where FB is relatively uncommon (aka non -existant) even now http://abcrailwayguide.uk/images/stations/MLG/mlg-mallaig-10202-1200.jpg

no - I think plenty bullhead points still exist in flatbottom track- probably anywhere there hasnt been a re-modelling or linespeed type improvement, ie lots of places

I quite enjoy building a point or two but any more (at a time) starts to get stressful and then I tend to loose interest!

wasnt far out with my guess of a similar price as the O gauge ones? - they should be a bit less at the discounters- maybe down to £25 a point by the biggies, when the novelty has worn off? - its twice or more the price of a normal code 75/100 - so who's gonna go for them and who says they are too dear? - and who's still going to build their own

There was an old thread on the archived site that had some useful pics and info I will try find it, You have presumably seen site linked below? http://www.2d53.co.uk/blaenauffestiniog/menu.htm

Perhaps O gauge prices as they are offered a choice of flatbottom or bullhead - ie £30-£40 per point?

likewise- I quite enjoy building small numbers of points , and although I have done in EM before I'm really dont have the time to commit for it these days. I'm not one for ultra technical detail - glaze over at many things - I still have a huge stash of both EM and OO sleeper base (bought cheaply in bulk) and if the points look good enough to go with the OO sleeper bases that will do for me and save massive amounts of time, I doubt the sleeper thicknesses will match the old sleeper bases but thats easy enough to work round. To me its the sleeper size and spacing that looks wrong on the old code 75/100 track and that is a bigger issue to me than the gauge.