Dmudriver

Blimey, there's some traffic on this forum!! 5 days since I was last on and I end up on page 5!! Due to various external events - football match v Sunderland (I'm of the Blue persuasion on Merseyside!), fixing my son's washing machine and a bout of food poisoning - not much has visibly progressed. However, I've had 2 electricians in to give me quotes for supplying heat, light and power to the shed; I've had 12 Tortoise motors delivered; I've measured out and drilled the holes for said motors on the baseboard; I've titivated and thoroughly checked the pointwork I've had built - and found 4 minor problems (2 continuity, 1 loose frog and 1 loose tiebar) - all due to soldered joints that weren't any more!! - all fixed with no problems other than waiting for the rain to stop so that I could run an extension cable through the garden. I've completed laying the cork in the station area so everything is ready for track laying to commence. I've also been told tonight that my signal box diagram for the layout is finished - I've just got to collect it now. I don't think much will be done in the next couple of days - there's the small matter of an FA Cup Semi Final to watch and recover from, together with route learning on the extension on the Llangollen Railway (all 1 mile of it!!) but I've got to be able to sign it for the DMU Gala in June. Any work in the time left will consist of wiring up the Tortoise motors. No photos today - I don't think holes in a baseboard are that interesting!! Back soon. One thing about starting a thread like this is that it gives you some incentive to make sure things keep progressing on the layout, so more will be done and reported on next week. Rod

Just a quick update on work done today. First job was to re-check I'd made the platform long enough - I had!! It also gave me a chance to photograph some stock!! 2 pictiures here: I then got on with laying the cork but found I'd not measured the track centres properly when I laid the track out and hence the cork was under width. However, that is sorted now - it's drying overnight. If anyone has any comments or questions, don't hesitate to make them or ask them!! They're more than welcome. Rod

Hi all I've been a member of RMweb for a while now and have gained a lot of useful information. So I thought it appropriate that I contribute something and as I am building a new layout, that will be it. I hope others will find this useful. The layout is in 0 gauge and will be DCC controlled. The track layout is based very closely on West Kirby on the Wirral: West Kirby itself is electrified - third rail - and has been so since the late 1930s. The station track layout has changed (well, been simplified!) over the years, but my model will be based on the late 1970s/early 80s. As I have yet to find any models of, or kits for, Class 502s, the services will be diesel operated and there will be no 3rd rail. Why West Kirby? I was born and bred in Liverpool and we had relatives in the Hoylake/West Kirby area, so we would go "over the water" on the train to see them. [strictly speaking, we went under the water but "over the water" was the expression used!] The track layout has always fascinated me and as the time had come for a new layout, I thought I would go for it. Previously, I had an 0 gauge layout named "Woodside Park", (also DCC controlled) based roughly in the Birkenhead area, but the track plan had echoes of Bath Green Park. This is a photo of it: The layout was in a 10' long shed, and ran outside, before doing a right angle turn and down towards the house to a fiddle yard. Although the outside tracks were under covers, it was very unpleasant to operate in the rain and cold and not easy in the dark. This is a photo of the shed and part of the outside track: The shed and outside layout, having been erected up to 20 years ago, were beginning to suffer from the weather, so a decision was made to restart. I had a large collection of 0 gauge LNWR stock, as well as blue diesels, and after a lot of soul searching, decided to sell the LNWR collection to finance a new shed and a new layout. The new shed is now erected - photo: It is 23' long x 6'6" wide outside: the track will exit at the right hand end and go down alongside the fence to a new fiddle yard. The baseboard (22' 6" x 2'9") has been erected and I've started setting out the track - checking the concept, if you like! Here are a couple of pictures to show progress so far: this is the track layout leading into the platforms (the grey card shows where the platform will be (all 8' of it!!): The next is looking in the opposite direction (I've not cut the hole in the shed wall yet!): Finally, when the hole is cut, this is where the outside board will go, ending at the fiddle yard: Those who know the station and the 70s layout will notice there are 2 more sidings to the left of the platforms. The third left is to help with reversing and storage of parcels trains destined for a depot further up the line which has no access in the down direction. The 4th siding is a private siding and a preserved railway site will come back off this (away from the station). That site, though is for a later date! Progress today has involved gluing down some of the cork underlay - I aim to do the rest tomorrow. I'll update this thread at regular intervals, but progess will be slow by virtue of the layout's size. 22'6" x 2'9"" is a large plank!!!! Hope this is of interest. More soon. Rod

I fitted a Howes' chip of 10000 sound to a model for a pal of mine - in 0 gauge. We had a visitor to the club who used to be a fitter and who worked on them. He said the sound was just right - he couldn't fault it!! Rod

Phil and Catkins, thanks for your replies. They are very useful. Now I have to find out if any of those with the white or black window surrounds ever ventured up to the North West where my layout is based. I know about the 33s allocated to Crewe and working to Holyhead and Manchester - so just need a picture or reference to justify one on the layout. Rod

Hi all I'm always on the lookout for unusual liveries for my 0 gauge diesels. I'm considering buying a second Class 33 and I found this livery: http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/imaging.centre/showimage.php?image=211854&type=25&gallery=X8&cbcsection=diesel|@type=25. Does anyone know how this came about and how long it lasted? I can't (so far) find another picture, but I have found some that seem to show the white window frames repainted yellw, but the broad orange stripe round the cantrail is still there. Was this an unofficial livery? Rod

Thanks, Trev. I hadn't noticed that!! So now I'll take the blamking plates off as I need them for my other 37 and put black blinds with a white dot in each headcode box. Perfect! Rod

Hi I recently started a topic about the white stripe on Eastfield 37s. During my research I came across these liveries on 37112. This was the earliest I found. Dated 1978: http://www.flickr.co...157626626430667 Standard blue livery and buffer beam shrouds. Then this one. Dated 1980: http://www.flickr.co...157626626430667 Still standard blue livery and the shrouds, but the headcode boxes have been plated over. This is the one that started this line of investigation, sent by a pal of mine: http://www.rmweb.co....illerhill-1jpg/ 1982, but it's still got the shrouds and has gained full yellow noses, but no large logo livery. And the number is on the bodyside behind the door. Then this one, taken in 1984: http://www.flickr.co...57626626430667/ This time, no shrouds, the noses have been repainted blue and it's gained a white stripe! In addition, the number is on the bodyside, at the no. 1 end and there is a motif on no. 2 end nose. Then this one, taken in 1985: http://www.flickr.co...57626626430667/ The white stripe has gone but the number is still on the bodyside at no. 1 end and the motif is a Highland Terrier. Someone once said to me that the BR blue livery was boring!! Not in Scotland, anyway!! Has anyone any other variations? Or has this topic been covered already somewhere? If so, could you please point me in the direction? Rod