37114

Message understood, will work on them this eve as I need to get a move on to get them ready for April.

Thanks for your comments,there were quite a few of the blue circle terminals about, I think blue circle used Lawrence Hill after Avon Street closed but not 100%. They are ideal prototypes for small layouts

Braybridge looks really good, will read the thread fully tonight. I forgot the complete list of "Taunton calamities" but most of them didn't affect the public presentation of the layout. I know one of the hinge pins for the legs went missing probably at Beer, so I had to fashion a new one out of a bit of old coathanger at the bottom of the tool box to allow me to put the layout up. I also dropped the control panel while loading the car to go home, which also damaged the main wiring loom for the layout. I remember feeling rather Swan like at times, with my fellow operators keeping things moving while I was doing running repairs round the back.

Thanks James, I am really looking forward to Barnstaple, Mudmagnet and the team have got some lovely layouts going, I have never seen Diesels in the Duchy in the flesh yet. I remember the Taunton show as anything that could go wrong, did go wrong that weekend, I was exhausted by the end of it having driven something like 400 miles over the weekend and erected the layout twice in 24 hours because I had put it up at Pecorama the day before for the Railway Modeller photo shoot.

Depends how much modelling work you want to do but a 37/4 opens up pretty much any refurb centre box class 37, although the 37/9's would need a fair amunt of roof work.

I agree the 37/0 would be a better choice although if they do the skirted version they are only suitable for green, blue and 37183 in Large logo, whereas the cut away version is suitable for Blue and a myriad of other colours right up to current day. I was seriously tempted by their split box 37/0 but it had a look of being scaled up from the second release Bachmann 4mm version as a lot of the detail was clunky and there are similarities in the windscreen and roof which had the same deficiencies.

It has been a few weeks since the last update, but I have made some progress over the last few days. Today is also one year since the start of this thread/ layout construction so worthy of an update. Part of what has made the layout so enjoyable to build has been the help from friends and the good folk on here who have suggested ideas, constructive criticism or background info which has assisted the development and build of the layout, so thank you for all the contributions! I had previously been struggling with how to control the point on the upper level, as my original plan was to use a tortoise motor but that proved to be too big for the size and one of the supports from the arches is in the way. I had also discounted any form of control from the front like the other points due to the height of the track above the main base board. The solution I have chosen is to replicate the real world and have the point controlled by a series of rods and pulleys that run alongside the track from the fiddle yard. As the rodding etc is hidden behind the viaduct wall I have focussed on rigidity and reliability as opposed to aesthetics, especially as the wall behind the arches etc is only detailed on one side. The piano wire I have used is very flexible, I mounted it in brass tube from the fiddle yard to the electrical switch which provides the latching and controls the polarity of the crossing vee. The switch is connected to a washer screwed into the board which provides the change of rod direction by 90 degrees to control the tie bar. The point is now secured to the board so I have laid the rest of the track and can now make the platform. In an ideal world the layout would be 6inches longer so I could model more of the platform but there should still be enough for a few BRUTES and some spotters.. No photos but the class 25's have been un-masked, just a small bit of touching up to do and I have finished the CAR brake van, complete with bit of broken pallet on the bufferbeam

Afraid not Neil, work has been manic with 15 hour days eroding modelling time somewhat, have been on hols with the family over the weekend. The class 25s need another coat of blue so hopefully will be finished by Cheltenham.

Lovely layout Rich, looks great fun to operate

Many bus chassis now are designed around having the body to give the rigid strength so are not designed to be driven the distance across the country without the body in place. Alexander Dennis use a haulier who has a special trailer that can carry 2 chassis at once. Optare and Wrights use integral chassis which they don't sell to other body builders. The last chassis I saw being moved as described were Javelin coach chassis back in the 2000s

Nice work, I really like the MK2 Transit.

Scroll down to post 180, not a Datsun but multi coloured. Also note the coat hanger aerial, something you don't see these days but pretty prevalent in the 1970's/1980's: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82744-peafore-yard-37114s-new-4mm-br-blue-layout/page-8

Great progress Steve, the Masokits tie bars look excellent well worth the effort.

You are not wrong! It seems the design was consistently evolving so it must have been a nightmare when it came to keeping spare parts.

You are not wrong! It seems the design was consistently evolving so it must have been a nightmare when it came to keeping spare parts.

The water tank is removable thankfully as you are dead right only 5 of the later style had water tanks, the roof was different which Bachmann correctly tooled up when they released that version. As Kev mentioned the Bachmann 25\1 has class 24 body side grilles, I have a spare Hornby shell in the bottom of the spares box to play with. The Hornby shell has a few of its own faults but these are easier to sort than the Bachmann grilles.

I have just acquired D1058, being aware of the issue raised in this thread, I gave it a quick test run before my wife confiscated it until my birthday. It appears to have a couple of faults that I haven't seen earlier in this thread: - The loco appears to be wired in opposite polarity to all my other stock. - There appears to be some slack in the drive train. When placed on the track you can push the loco in either direction about a quarter of a wheel rotation. Does anybody elses models have the above problem? I would be tempted to send to DCC supplies but have read a number of people not having the model fixed to their satisfaction. I can also probably fix both problems myself,

Coming on nicely Richard, the depot is a lovely piece of work, can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks Neil, it is indeed set in 1977 so the dominos will be spot on, I try not to have 2 locos that are identical so the dominos were part of the appeal.

At some point Neil, although the head shunt on the upper level is too short for double heading, it will be interesting to see if they both go the same direction! Although I am not a huge hydraulic fan (they were all gone before I was born), I have fond memories of going behind the D1013 and D1023 on the Severn Valley some 15ish years ago when they recreated the last railtour, they even got the original station announcer to do the departure announcements from Kidderminster as I recall.

37240 running round at Peafore yard, while a Newton Chambers TCV Motorail wagon rumbles by above:

Another testing session tonight although in reality it was more of just fun play time. Now I am getting the hang of the operating sequences I feel really comfortable with operating the layout. I have removed the bars between the buffers on the locos that were essential on Pallet Lane to prevent buffer locking which make coupling up so much easier. Plenty of photos, first off the latest purchase, the one and only time I will post a photo of an out of the box model: The locos is a first for many reasons: - My first ever Dapol loco - My first ever model of a Hydraulic as most were withdrawn before the period I model - First loco to cost me more than £100 - ouch. The loco is a birthday present from my lovely wife and children so is now locked away until April. If it was a Bachmann loco then it wouldn't have worried about testing it as I have never had an issue with one yet, but having read the thread on here I am aware the Dapol Westerns can be a little problematic. To a point I need not have worried as it is incredibly smooth, that said it seems to have a quarter of a turn of slack in the drive train which does not affect running but takes some getting used to, I am not sure if that is common of the model? More irritatingly it appears to wired as the opposite polarity to my other locos. Not an issue for me as I never doublehead locos and easily fixed if I take the body off and fire up the soldering iron. It will become D1023 Western Fusilier with Domino headcodes. I know nothing about Westerns other than the model has Talisman clips which are right for the time I model. I need to do some research although there is an authority on Westerns following this thread so can no doubt point me to what I need to change... Geoff over to you! I have found a way of securing the signal gantry to the upper level by gluing it to some card which is then screwed to the board: Another important design consideration in any exhibition layout is where to keep the mandatory cup of coffee. Pallet Lane had a dedicated place with a special anti-spill mug holder. So far prime favourite position is the end of the fiddle yard on the upper end: Here are some other pics I took which show the basic operating sequence: First off 37240 arrives with the daily cement train Running round and holding up the traffic (again) Pushing the incoming wagons back into the headshunt Pulling forward the empties. A class 45 rumbles past overhead with a fuel train Later in the day 37032 and brake van arrives to collect the scrap wagons. Having run round the brake van has been pushed into the headshunt. 37032 is in the area after failing last week near Stroud and was towed to Bath Road for repairs. As a test, it has been used on the local trip working before working back to the Eastern region tonight. 37032 departs as 45132 rumbles by. I am hoping to build the station platform and canopy before April to better disguise the exit to the fiddle yard on the upper level. More usual power on the cement train in the form of 03121 Both 03121 and 03382 are in action today, 03382 delivering another burnt out brake van for scrap. 25057 arrives with a short works train. The train is made up of a Cambrian dogfish, Cambrian Loriot with Rosencombe replica Hymac 590 excavator and Airfix brakevan. This is the last time 25057 will be used on the layout as it will donate it's super detailed chassis to one of the class 25 bodies that have the new cabs, which are shortly to receive their blue paint. The body shell will likely get a standard Bachmann chassis and be sold as if I model this version of a class 25 again I will use a Hornby shell as the base.

Great to see this coming back, it was one of the inspirational layouts that got me seriously into railway modelling in the early 90s.

Not seen it in the flesh but their is a review in the current BRM which highlights the curvature of the roof being wrong.

Hi, they are currently still in primer, they have been through the "filler, sand, primer, still not good enough" loop 3 times. I am about to go and sand the latest patches of filler hopefully for the last time put a coat of primer on them. Hopefully they will be blue by the end of the weekend.