johnteal

You drive a hard bargain Mr Hilton I thought I could get away with using the N gauge grey ballast I had. But having sat looking at the pictures, I think you are right. I could point out that UP covers a massive are and hence there must be a prototype for everything, but you would still be right. So I have called at Pets at home and purchased a bag of Calcium Sand, its granular but finer than the Ballast I used, the main thing is its much lighter grey, much more as you would imaging it should be (I hope) I will try it when I get home.

I started the dreaded ballasting last night. To be fair it can be quite relaxing if you are in the right mood. John

Matt.. I have another section to do so will take step by step pictures, watch this space ! James.. I'm itching to get some ballast down too.. but I just need to get my magnets fitted for the kadees. After some research I have just ordered some neodymium rod magnets that are 3mm dia x 6mm long. the plan is to put a pair just inside each rail at the uncoupling spots. Once they work the ballast can go down. If I can decide on a ballast colour of course!!! Current thinking is standard grey.

This evening I have been working on the overpass supports. The timber supports have now been clad with plasticard. With the 4 of them in position. Then the top placed back on The next step was to do some minor filling of the concrete around the outsides of the rails and then a coat of paint so they didnt look quite as much like a kitchen floor !! John

Track work is code 100 peco

I believe in US parlance a team track is a shared spur allowing local industries to load and unload rail road boxcars, see I'm even learning new phrases (more info for those interested can be found HERE ) My front 2 lines are planned for just such a purpose, which requires some inlaid track, I've tried various methods, but decided I would go for low mess this time round. Out came the B&Q self adhesive vinyl tiles. I also spent some more time loco improving Remember this, That became this After todays work John

I found the bargain I had been waiting for to make my workbench from. A local DIY shop (3ways in Denton) often has bargains. Today I picked up 2 18mm tall kitchen unit sides for £3.99 each. When put together I get a 36mm worktop So in typical builder mode I got my days work done and had an early finish. With a bit of timber to make a batten along the back wall and the side the new "worktop" when sawn to length just fell into place. As 90% of the time I stand to model its a a nice height which will stop me getting an bad back ! I can still slot my short workbench in at layout level if I want to sit and model. Its nice and tidy at the moment. and I have a home for my favourite G scale stock With the worktop in place the decision of the best type of scenic break was almost made for me, it almost looked like a freeway straight away. So four lengths of timber were cut to 4" and used as bridge supports topped with a plywood road surface. The bridge makes a nice place to watch the trains from All in all a successfully hour in the shed John

My last 3 expected Ebay deliveries arrived today. A 50' boxcar with opening doors, a 57' reefer and a truck ! I then had a inspiration moment, why not extend these 2 tracks under the workbench. So now instead of holding 1 1/2 cars both will hold 3. Workbench shown in transparent grey I'm not sure if these 2 tracks will enter into a warehouse or perhaps a roadbridge along the front of the of the workbench over all of the tracks John

Total control..... Expenditure .... Zero. To be honest I was a little under-whelmed, I have been before, but they seemed to have less stock on display than my last visit. Previously I browsed On30, American and British stock. Today as well as less UK there was no US stock (except 3 locos that I thought were expensive) Never mind it saved me money.

I'm sat eating my dinner at a chapel I'm working in... Only 8 mins from Hattons. ;ust wondering if its safe to pop in , safe for my wallet that is truying to convince myself I have enough will power to just window shop/browse ?!?

My last ebay purchased loco arrived yesterday, not sure where route it took to get here, but the posted mark on it proves it was posted on the 5th and it arrived on the 13th ???? Post office must have sent it the long way round. Never mind. This one is a Bachmann product, brand new, £30 runs VERY well straight out of the box and now has a decoder fitted. I only spent an hour in the shed last night so not much to report. I have started to try and improve the looks of the first loco I got by closing the rather goofy looking gap which was to allow a bogie mounted coupler to swing, the plan is to mount the coupler on the body now. Before Now Still a long way to go but I think it will improve the looks. Finally, yesterdays day job was laying a large laminate floor for a customer, I noticed how slippy the laminate planks were when up-turned so one of the offcuts got cut to "barge size" it slides very nively on the blue vinyl tile its sat on, and is now long enough for 2 cars. John

Cant say its thrilling work but the track needs power so it needs doing, I don't mind soldering and when all said and done I served my time at GEC as an Electrical/ electronic engineer so it should be fun, but its one of those has to be done jobs !! The layout will be DCC so its pretty much a case of making sure I have power to every spur, now I know my method is not the "done thing" but it works for me, I find no pleasure in sitting under the workbench soldering droppers and bus wires. My own experiences has been that for a layout in a 8 x6' shed, any voltage drop caused by having no bus wires is negligible. So all I do is solder a pair of thin link wires to each point as this... On link red circled rail to red circled rail and like wise on link between the blue circles, you can just about see them. This means which ever track the insufrog blades select all spurs are live. I than just have a single feed to the neck of the yard. More or less DCC with 2 wires. The main thing is it works. Once each point has been linked as above the whole lot got a spray with sleeper grime. I'm pretty happy with the "artistic, sweeping curves" In the last picture the observant that some stock has arrived, the post man delivered 3 boxcars I won on ebay.. They are bigger than I had expected, yes I know 50' in 1:87 is something I could should have worked out but there we go, the only problem I have found is the mocked up barge is 60mm too short to hold 2 cars on each track, I guess I'll make the proper one bigger. John

Ive spent a pleasant evening exploring the contents of the bag of detailing bits that came with my Ebay Athern loco. It would seem having to add the extras (like handrails) is not unusual, this has turned out to be a good buy as looking at the wheels it has never been out of the box Anyway here is how it looked before After adding details like, handrails, horn, headlight lenses, number board lenses, bogie details, couplers and hoses. It makes a big difference to the appearance, the parts were well made (stanchions and rails individual steel pieces) Just out of interest I googled "Chessie 4167" and came up with this A bit dirtier than mine !

Having not used Kadees before that may be a problem but Im sure Ill find some straight sections (or small magnets)

I've spent time popping in and out of the shed today, tweaking and moving track around to get to a point I'm reasonably happy with. So here we are, from the dock end From the other end A big thank you has to go to "shortliner" whao has exchanged a couple of emails during the morning with yet more links and suggestions !!!

After some more messing, thought and ploughing through Shortliners ideas, I think I'm getting there. I've made some baseboard mods to create a dock with a barge and connecting float bridge, this will form a non hidden fiddle yard, that's the decided part, then some playing has come up with this. Latest Ebay purchase arrived today as well seen here sat dockside John

After printing out some Peco templates which are now available on their website HERE I had another think and play. Here is what I came up with With a pair of points to be added where the green loco is stood to allow it to cross back to line line behind John

Agreed the "other half" of the layout needs to be completely different. Having looked at the pictures again, I'm not sure I like not having a run around.. The arriving loco will get trapped in so that's the first thong that needs sorting. Just discovered you can now print of templates for all Peco points HERE so will be having a play later

I've got to the bottom of the clean up operation. Everything is packed away, thrown out or stripped. I need to get a piece of worktop for my new workbench that will sit right across the back wall. The right side ( The 25 and coach will sit on the back of the worktop when its fitted. I've been playing with what track I have (thoughts ??) And today the postman brought my first Ebay purchase John

I have created a basic plan of the shed, to illustrate the space available. Including the new workbench over the now hidden curve section. Doodles of track plans to follow John

Thanks for the link helps me visualise it. PM sent re files John

So thanks to the response to the advert on the forum "for sale" section and the subsequent increase in available Paypal funds, I have on the way A Bachmann A GP35 In Union Pacific livery A Bachmann U36B in Union Pacific Livery and an Athern GP40 in Chessie Livery I also have bids in on several boxcars. The layout will be on either side of the shed appropriately 6' by 20" each side, connected by a curve under what will be my new workbench across the back wall. Each half of the layout will offer shunting (or should I say switching potential) Perhaps an inglenook on one side and a timesaver on the other The larger workbench will accommodate room to build the next 2 G scale locos i have planned for the winter nights. A Baby deltic and a copy of the GP35 (Something for everyone If anyone has great ideas for small shunting track plans for such a size feel free to share, I am currently trawling through such like as Carl Ardnts site etc and noting inspirational ideas I'm quite taken with the Cart replaces Horse : Put Inglnook tracks on ferry idea by Shortliner at the moment John

Mmm.............. couple of ebay purchases to reveal in the coming week !!

Today I have placed an advert on the forum to part with the small amount of N gauge I have. HERE . 1 item has sold already but the 170?4 and container wagons remain if your interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMkoe9olxXY I have also made a secret ebay purchase ..... Watch this space John

No fate ! the garden line is untouched and will be left to settle over the winter so the stock will be kept safe. My next door neighbour has a very large tree that looses its leaves very slowly. Rather than dropping them all in one go so you can sweep them up it does some this week, some the week after, right to the middle of winter ! As a consequence leaves on the track becomes a long term problem for a couple of months, unless I make an effort to clean up for a running session. Its the main reason I retreat into the shed in the autumn and thoughts turn to a new indoor line.