Dmudriver

And here are the baseboards. top of one and underneath of the other: I'm happy that they are nice and level, so I'll unscrew the joints, one by one, and add PVA to make them really firm. To line them up I've fitted locating dowels in one end of each, as here: They are a very firm fit and I will use over-centre clips to hold the boards together. Then I need some legs!! And then I can start laying some track!! The holes in the middle of the cross members are for the wiring: they are in the end ones as I just drilled out all 10 cross pieces together and then selected the best fit member for the ends! Points will be operated by hand so there was no need to worry about the placing of motors under the boards. More soon. Rod

I've now managed to get the Kadee couplings on the 3 vehicles all at the same height as the gauge: I'm also now building the baseboards using 3.6mm plywood. I'm aiming to make them as light as possible as shown here: The board is 4' x 1' and there will be cross members, similarly constructed every foot, screwed and glued where the blocks are on the outer members. My original intention was to have an 8' x 1' layout - which would fit in the shed where my standard gauge layout is - but I may make it 5' x 3' depending how it fits indoors. Watch this space!! I'm also changing the layout name - again!! - to Rixteth. On another forum (NGRM-online) I've had discussions about the Vikings who first settled this area (as well as the Wirral and the Fylde) and their influence on place names. Rixteth is from Erik's stath, ie staithe or landing place. This is, I think, appropriate for a site very near to a river bank. More soon. Rod

That thought's crossed my mind too - but there's a long way to go yet in the season!!

Fascinating pics those, Paul. I've seen fireless locos before but didn't know (or don't remember!!) that there was a Crawford's factory at Edge Hill. LIfe's OK, thanks - particularly as my team is now beginning to play a lot better than last season!!! 💙💙 Modelling-wise, I'm venturing into narrow gauge: 0-16.5 to be precise. Always fancied it and WKT is running how I wanted it and looking pretty much how I wanted it, too, so I thought I'd have a change of direction. There's a lot to learn!! Hope all is well with you. All the best. Rod

HI Paul. Fab picture. What's the green loco in the bottom left corner, though? It looks fireless: if so, where is it working - and why, as there are other kettles about? Is the fact it's on a train of vans significant? Rod

Hi. I've been making a little bit of progress! On the coupling question, as I've said I've decided on Kadees and I've now fitted overset couplings to the van and they now match well to the gauge. I've lowered the slot in the maroon coach and I just now need to replace the centreset coupling with an overset. I had to alter that with the bufferbeam attached to the coach. For the green one, the bufferbeam isn't yet attached so that should be a bit easier - and hopefully avoid any damage to the underside of the coach, which I got close to with the first one!! I've yet to order the Peco 0-16.5 pointwork but this is the layout I am planning to adopt - on a 4'x1' board. The fiddle yard - also 4'x1' will attach to the bottom of this board. I'm not planning on buying any 0-16.5 track as I have a reasonable stock of Peco and Farish code 100 flexitrack: I've started removing every other sleeper to make it more like narrow gauge track. The sleepers are probably a bit too narrow but it will do to start the layout off and I'll see how it looks once ballasted and weathered. The stock I've built so far is here - still requiring vac pipes on all and brake levers on the van (and couplings on the green coach): I've renamed the thread "Ribbglas" as this will be the name of this station, at the (roughly) north end of the line. The railway will be known as The West Lancashire Plain Railway - referred to as the WLP. I like to have an idea of the area in which my layouts operate and so to explain it, I've taken a couple of screen shots from Google Earth: The first one shows a lot of the West Lancashire Coastal Plain. The railway will start from the area around Hesketh Bank at the top of the picture and meander through Tarleton, Mere Brow, Holmeswood, Rufford, Burscough to Ormskirk. The Directors are applying for an Act to continue via Lathom to Rainford but construction will depend on the success of the first section! The Plain is basically drained marshland and is fertile and agriculturally very productive. Vegetable crops include potatoes, carrots, cabbages, brussel sprouts and onions (per Wikipedia). So, plenty of use for vans and open wagons. The northern terminus will be situated near where the River Douglas flows into the River Ribble - here: roughly in the area of the current Riverview Motorcycle Training although closer to the bank of the Douglas. The station name is based on the 2 rivers. The Directors have spotted an opportunity to increase income by offering sailings from a new quay near the station to Lytham St Annes and Southport (on the coast round to the left in both pics). A round trip ticket would allow trippers to board the steamer one way and return by train on the standard gauge lines back to Burscough, where there will be an interchange (or vice versa). In fact, there was a paddle steamer in the late 1800s, I understand, which did do such trips, the PS "Virginia". My version (Rule 1) ignores the problems with tides!! Anyway, this will allow me to have a variety of passenger stock and operation which is an interest of mine. Apologies if this post is a bit long but it helps me to get my thoughts organised when I write them down - and hopefully there will be some interest to others. More soon. Rod

Wow, it's been a while since my last entry!! Where am I up to ....?? I'm afraid the (long promised!) video hasn't materialised yet. I've had to delete the separate videos from the computer as I couldn't get rid of the stuttering. Fortunately, I still have them on my camera so I'll try uploading them again - they're OK on the camera. As far as the layout is concerned, I've not run it recently: I went away to Scotland on a boys' trip with my son and grandson and packed all the stock away. What with one thing and another I've not put the stock back yet. I did go to Guildex at Stafford and enjoyed that - saw a few people I've not seen for yonks and it was good to have a chat as well as seeing what's on offer. I didn't actually buy anything, though - well, apart from coffee at the Show and a snack on the way home!! What work I have done has been on the NG layout I'm starting. Here's a couple of pics: first the proposed layout (on a 4'x1' board): The stock is on the middle road and the fiddle yard on another 4'x1' board. The stock so far: If anyone thinks the van's livery is BR Rail Grey, how right you are!! The story is that a member of the design panel lives in West Lancashire and thought the livery of the light railway's freight stock would go very well with the proposed shade of Rail Blue!! I have thought about integrating the narrow gauge on the WKT layout but it would mean some fairly drastic alterations - like doing away with the DMU stabling point! - and even then I don't know where the fiddle yard would go: I don't want to cut another hole in the shed wall. I think a separate layout really is the way to go: I'm building the baseboards at the moment. So, that's about it. More soon. Rod

I'm making some progress: I've fitted the Kadees to the van and the coach and was feeling quite pleased with myself as they coupled together well. And then the height gauge arrived in the post!! These are the results!! I pondered about making the height they're at the standard for any future stock, until I realised any uncouplers probably wouldn't work. So I'll get some of the overcentre couplings (I think that's the right word? - the ones that drop the coupling down a bit) but I'll still need to lower the slots in the buffer beams. I hope to get the second coach right first time! All part of the learning process!! I've used Kadees before but only in the middle of 2 rakes of 7mmm standard gauge coaches that don't get uncoupled: as long as they are all the same height there's no problem. Hence why the above happened. But 2 questions arise: 1) how do you uncouple Kadees without using a magnet in the track? I've tried using a small bladed screwdriver and a cocktail stick but neither have been successful: I believe there's a way but I don't know it. 2) can you use smaller, individual magnets to uncouple? The Kadee ones look, to my mind, a bit unsightly. I'm thinking a small one just inside each rail to pull the coupling tails outwards. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. TIA. Rod

Ooops!! Thanks, Simon.

Hi. A bit more progress - but not much!! I'm having a problem with the video in that the clips keep "stuttering". Whether it's the camera, the computer or the link between the two, I don't know. I'll keep working on it, though. In the meantime, I have made progress on my 0-16.5 stock and I have to admit I'm surprised at the small size of them! I suppose I was expecting vehicles the same size as 0 gauge but just on narrower track: I was wrong! I'm still enjoying building them, though. Here are some comparison pics: I am enjoying doing something new - even when little plastic door handles shoot off across the workbench towards the carpet monster!! 😀 Rod PS I know about the slightly wonky roof on the coach - I've added a little bit of Blutack to the corners since the pics. I can't glue it down yet as I want to put seats inside.

Yes, I have now, Dave. Thanks for the pointer. Rod

Hi. I'm making some progress - with the stock rather than the layout, but I've plans for the boards: I just need to get the timber and build them. As regards the stock, though, my enthusiasm is running away with me a bit!! As I said, I've built the Peco van and the Kadee couplings have now arrived and I realised I'd made more work for myself! I wasn't sure how to fit the Kadees and thought the draft box went behind the buffer beam. But the buffer beams on the van are thicker than those on the coaches so I realised that wasn't right. This is what I've done: In this cruel, enlarged pic the holes don't look too tidy, but the couplings do sit neatly and horizontally in them: Sorry the last one's a bit out of focus!! Making the slots in the built van was a bit difficult but I did it - and I took the wheels out first! My question is: have I done them correctly? This way, it seems to me, the couplings are all the same distance from the bodywork. How do you fasten them to the body? - as any pressure on them would want to pull them out of the slot. I'm thinking a screw through the hole up into the body: that's not too permanent if ever I need to remove them. I've almost completed one coach: I'd forgotten how small some parts can be!! I've only lost one so far and have managed to bodge up a replacement: once painted, it won't be obvious (I hope!!) I've now got the chassis kit for the loco but I'll finish the coaches before I start on that - oh, and build the baseboards - I'm planning on 8'x1' - 2 boards 4'x1' end to end. More soon. Rod PS. The pics were meant to be vertical but the system has put them on their sides and I can't straighten them!

Hi all. I've actually recorded some videos - but haven't got round to editing them yet. In the meantime, here's a few stills to whet the appetite (hopefully!! 😀 ). First, after a Class 115 has passed on the Down Main and entered platform 2, a rake of parcels stock is about to be shunted back into no. 1 siding. Signal 44 has been cleared: The train can be seen in the siding, propelled by the 03 which is deputising for the 08 - awaiting repairs (a missing cab window). The Class 50 is in the Down siding and will eventually move to the adjacent siding, onto the vans. The 115 can be seen in platform 2 and the Thumper in platform 1 has been cleared to set off for Birkenhead: And here it is, powering past the Up Outer Home signal on its way to its stop at Hoylake: Elsewhere, I'm making a bit of progress on my 0-16.5 project. Here's the parts for the Peco goods van: And the underframe awaiting the vacuum cylinder: The finished model is only 3" long (excluding couplings). Then the 3 kits I've still got to make: I've started another thread for that one, so I won't make much more comment about it on here. Hopefully I'll get the video done in the next couple of (hot) days!! More soon. Rod

Thanks for the comments and advice. Things are moving on, but not really enough to start a thread yet. I've got my 2x Peco 4-wheel coach kits and the van kit. The van is built but I'm not doing any more until the Kadee whisker no.148 medium centreset couplings arrive with the height gauge and I work out how to fit them. I've got the Peco tram loco white metal body but no chassis yet and I'm not sure where we're up to with the latter. Will chase soon. I've bought 2x 7mm Narrow Gauge Association Handbooks - "Getting Started" and "Small Layouts" - and have just today joined the Association. For the moment I think a small terminus on an 8' x 1' board will suffice. I may do a through station later. The "story" for the layout will be that the West Lancashire Railway (Preston to Southport) was never built but the local landowners and farmers wanted to be able to get their agricultural produce from the West Lancashire Plain to their markets quickly. A decision was made to build a narrow gauge railway from the bank of the River Douglas near Hesketh Bank to wind across the plain to Ormskirk. The thinking being that the River Douglas was too expensive to bridge but goods could be sailed from there direct or to Preston Docks and town up the River Ribble. In the other direction Ormskirk was chosen as it was on a direct line from Liverpool and Preston so goods could move quickly in either direction. I did think of calling it "The West Lancashire Light Railway" until I realised there is a real WLLR in existence now!! A name will be decided on eventually!! The station I'm thinking of building will be the terminus near the River Douglas, but not a quay: there will be a branch off-scene to the quay for goods from the Plain to the Preston area. The terminus will be the loading point for produce from the local area destined for Liverpool or Manchester/East Lancashire areas, via Ormskirk. So that's it so far. I'm still at the planning stage and need to sort out trackwork - my 00 code 75 3-way points, double slip and large radius point are not really suitable for a light railway and will need to be disposed of. More soon. Rod PS In the meantime, I'm still managing to operate my 7mm "West Kirby Town" blue diesel layout!!

Does the "F" on the route indicator stand for "Fylde"? In which case, it's a Blackpool train. But then, I'd expect it to be on a platform over to the left: however, that's thinking about modern operations - if this has come from East Lancs this side of the station would be more likely.

I've been thinking about couplings, looking at videos of 0-16.5mm layouts and generally trying to get a feel for narrow gauge. After years of blue diesels terminal operations in 0 gauge (loco-hauled and multiple unit operation), it's a fair bit to get my head round - hence why I've changed the title of the thread!! I'm leaning towards Kadee couplings and when I look, there are so many different types!! Am I right in assuming I'd use the H0 size and whether to use long, medium or short depends on the vehicle length and minimum curvature? Then there's over-, under- and centre-set which I assume depends on the height above the railhead of the underside of the floor of the vehicle? I've also been looking at the 00 track and pointwork I've got. Trackwise I've got plenty of code 100 and of code 75. Pointwise, however, I may be struggling: I've only 1x code 100 point, the rest are all code 75. Will 0-16.5 stock run on code 75 rail? Or does that depend on what wheels you use? Obviously, I can test them when the kits I've bought are delivered but I just want a feel for the kind of thing I need to be thinking about. Thanks for the help so far: any more will be much appreciated. Rod

You may remember some time ago I mentioned a hankering after narrow gauge. Well, ...... I've seen the adverts for the (rather impressive) Lionheart Lynton & Barnstaple stock and that has really fired up my interest!! However, before splashing out over £400 on a (discounted) loco, before any stock, I thought I'd better do a bit of dabbling just to see if it really is for me. So I've ordered a tram engine kit and 3x 4-wheel vehicles just to see how it goes - they're all Peco Great Little Trains. I've plenty of 00 track available from my 4mm days - long, long ago!! - and a DC controller. I'm doing a fair bit of research and my enthusiasm has really built up (the station may even be called Kirby Town East!!) but the acid test will be when I actually see the models. Then we'll see where we go. Hopefully the Lionheart stuff will be on display at Stafford (I'll keep my credit card locked away, though!!) so that will also help me make my mind up. Watch this space. Rod PS I'm not giving up on WKT - I have been out playperating but not done a video yet.

That is useful, thanks. They do look the part and I may well go down that route - but I'll get the models first and then decide.

Thanks for the replies to my post about couplings. Having seen the pic of the loco on Bridport Town, I wondered if the couplings were these: They look as though they are fixed so I'm not sure how they'd cope with tight curves. However, as they're 00 couplings, they should cope with reasonably tight curves - I'm thinking of no more that 30" radius which is not unusual in 00, is it? It's that long since I modelled in 4 mm, I can't remember!! They do look a bit like chopper couplings from what I know. I do rather like Kadees (I've used them in 0) but will wait until I get some models and set out some trackwork. As I said, I've plenty of 16.5mmm track - Peco, Farish and Scaleway - the latter is rather fine and has a different rail size than the other 2 so they're not easy to use together. I've more than enough to get some track set up once my Great Little Trains kits arrive - and get built! I'll play with those for a bit and see what I think I need. I've ordered "Getting Started in 7mm NG" together with the Society's small layouts book and we'll see where we go from there. I might even start a layout thread eventually!! Rod

Actually, I planned for them all to be herring gulls but I didn't have any suitable paint!! So they ended up as LBBs. I felt I had to get them sort of right as I used to volunteer at an RSPB Discovery Centre on the coast. Having said that, I don't know what 2 of the gulls on the fire station are: I used a creamy colour to try and lighten the dark grey but it didn't quite work! Once someone realises there's an unusual species there, the twitchers with be flocking to WKT!!! PS I just looked back at the fire station pic and realised a window sill has popped out/ Must be the heat!

I was thinking of putting gravel on the roof and patches of moss on top of that. I think that's the kind of place these birds like!!

Hi. I've been modelling in 7mm standard gauge for years now but have always had an urge to try 0-16.5. This urge has been re-awakened by seeing the Lionheart Lynton & Barnstaple models due out soon!! They do look rather good!! I've got plenty of 00 gauge track left from many years ago and I'm thinking of getting some Peco Great Little Trains kits to try out first. I've downloaded the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association's Introduction to 7mm NG modelling and a bit of their Getting Started in 7mm NG leaflet. I've also looked at various websites supplying kits, etc. What I am really confused about, however, is what looks like a multitude (tho' that word's probably an exaggeration!!) of couplings. Is there anywhere I can look at to see what the choices are and what the merits/demerits of each are? I've had a look at some of the topics in this forum but can't find anything relevant to what I'm looking for. In my standard gauge modelling I have in the past used screw- and 3-link couplings but I've moved off those onto Dinghams now. However, the latter don't like sharp curves so I don't think they'd be suitable for 0-16.5. I would prefer automatic coupling/uncoupling though. Any suggestions or thoughts will be really appreciated and welcome. With thanks in advance. Rod PS Am I in the right forum for 0-16.5?

The eagle has landed - well, not quite, but the seagulls have!! I finally got round to painting them (got a bit more time now that the schools have finished for summer!!) and they're now on the layout Two are on the station canopy, marking the location of the uncoupling magnets, with another one on a flat roof behind the station: There's another on another flat roof near the end of the platform: and finally, 3 on the fire station roof and one on top of the training tower: I quite enjoyed doing that and have thought about getting a few more, but really I should be thinking about detailing the scenery generally. Something to think about while I'm out walking!! More soon. Rod

A bit of progress today - in that heat!! Fortunately, my modelling room was a bit cooler than outside, but even so, the paint dried very quickly! I did the bogies on the 2 ex-LMS FBs - and managed to forget about the seagulls!!! Those will be for another day. Here's what the FBs look like now - 57': and 50' The seagulls will be painted but not weathered!! More soon. Rod

They also run extremely smoothly, too! Provided, that is, you don't get a bit of paint in a bearing, which is what I managed to do this afternoon!! I've sorted it now, though!!