pirouets

Have continued to happily use the place since the change and always prefer to go there than shop online and I think Paul is carrying on where Bob left off. Also helps that this place in not to far from work so it gets me out of the office every now and again for lunch time.

Before I say anything, where's my coat - ah there it is. Right. That fiddle yard layout reminds me of a layout that was called Striven/Striving, can't remember which name but it was lovely flowing track with industries either side for freight to be dropped off at whilst mainline expresses plow through. You don't fancy starting again to build something like that do you as I think you are ready now with your woodwork to do buildings as well Coat on :-) On a more serious note may I pose a proper question. Will it be wired to hold multiple trains in the fiddle yard so some lines may hold 2 or even 3 things?

I swear given my earlier post I will never mention the weather again - promise, and suspect my course will be closed this weekend. If your interested there is a place in Thame with an indoor golf system you can hire if the itch really needs scratching. Your right about printing costs these days. It may have taken over from a coke in the pub or an apple device as greatest profit margin thing to buy on the planet. However I do like the way it has turned out for you. In a post some way back you did mention being able to sit there with some wine watching trains go round and I can picture you where the trestle is in the last picture admiring your world. Question is did you leave room for a comfy chair to do that in :-)

So i've been thinking (and before anyone asks, no that was not a new years resolution). I was looking at some pictures of Exeter Central cement sidings which then lead me to this picture on a thread - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70626-goods-yards-and-freight-handling/page-2&do=findComment&comment=1054701 The plan of Bristol Laurence Hill freight got me thinking that a better way to use the sidings would be as marked on the picture below rather than the 3 sidings on the right being parcels with the cement at the other end of the layout. On the cement side I am wondering as the final picture of the linked thread shows in that post is the inner of the 2 sidings for delivery of cement sacks, etc and the longer outer siding for the cement wagons and that I may have to ease the track out slightly towards the baseboard edge to have room for the cement plant It also means that any shunting is a simpler move and that still leaves the inside siding at the curved end of the layout as a potential 3 option such as scrap. Also now the final 2 pieces of the back scene are in I think this end of the layout has turned out well and just needs a bit more careful thought as to the buildings that wrap round the edges against space for any vehicles.

Nothing major over the last few weeks but have nearly got the backscene boards in now which do frame the scene. There are 2 end pieces still to fit (see second picture) which hopefully will be done tomorrow. The idea behind the 2nd picture being a stepped end is the piece that can be seen will have a low relief building along the sides that will be the main element of the goods/parcel area.

Hmm, 4th jan. My 1st day back at work, but as its 2016 hope the weather holds, but if your playing later in the week I won't be so optimistic for you :-) Look forward to seeing a train move in 2016.

So if I understand all of this given I am still trying to get my head round how to pronounce the thing You have something that makes you feel a bit cack. There is a magic potion to help you along Your wife gets to stab you every couple of weeks And for that you get to watch an afternoon of sport. All supported by the NHS which rocks. Leads me to ask one simple question. Did this thing start before or after your addiction to cutting up wood and dreaming about inclines? How's the golf by the way? I've finally started playing again but the course is soggy as anything.

I seriously need to work on my woodwork. Thanks for answering a while back about which way round the layout sits and its coming. I can almost picture trains rolling round those bends. This thread however is missing 1 thing. A picture of wherever Gordon buys all his wood and tools from and the smile with which they must welcome him. Ah Mr Gordon they must say, please sit whilst we show off the latest quality clamps and saws for you. :-

Finally made it with all the arches. In the midst of this I have had a leak in the roof and you can see in the left hand side of the picture the staining it has caused. I am wondering however whether just to leave that as some kind of weathering that has happened, or spillage of something on to the arches. Any thoughts? The leak in the roof was sealed with 3 coats of ronseal as the felt is fine, its just a couple of the nails that have let the water in. A few more cassettes are underway and I am going to have a mix of 3 & 4ft cassettes plus given my longest rake of wagons does not fit in the 4ft with the loco, I will add a few 1ft cassettes for locos which will make handling simpler. Finally I have pulled apart one of the Lima CCTs I got. This will be my 1st ever bit of bodging so we shall see how we go. New wheels are fitted but they do not turn that well, so along with shawplan glazing I think I might try and sort that out. The other quick piece will be to get some new couplings fitted.

Ok so not quite Coachman or Physicsman in speed and knowing your other addiction (or should I say hobby) of golf is also a superb timewaster as well given the chat in bar before/afterwards then its still pretty damn quick. A couple of questions if you don't mind. Where are the stairs up as I am trying to work out which way it sits in the loft. My brain keep telling me under the loco shed end? Is the layout designed to be operated from either side of the station or will it be from the side with the Loco shed? Also are all the platforms for passenger or is there a plan for a parcels area?

So a big sense of achievement today having built the 1st of the cassettes for the upper fiddle yard, and more importantly run a train through it succesfully. I need to take a bit more care with the next ones as due no quite getting one end alinged there is a slight kink in the nearer of the 2, which means I had to putt a 2mm piece of card under the other to level it. The track was layed on dollops of PVA which seems to have worked. Whilst this has been going on, I now have another 4 lots of walling done, and now need to make just 2 3/4 more of the scalescenes arches kit to complete that element. Finally in my last post I did mention I should space the sleepers but am second guessing that. Having tried it on a small offcut of track, it took ages to cut the webbing and respace, so will think about this for now and not rush in to something I reget.

I have to ask but what would be on the sound chip? Do drivers talk to themselves or something worse?

Blimey these retaining walls will take a bit of time, but its worth it. Been using the Scalescenes kit and have about 50% of the walling done so far. The curved area is now fixed in place and the 1st photo shows a train exiting The second shows the wall as it stands so far. There are a few small pieces to add to the to wall. Fixing it was a thing line of PVA at the bottom with a thin bead across the top, and the various heavy items to hold it in place whilst the glue set. Having been to Aldershot yesterday I have come to the conclusion that the track will come up to spread the sleeper spacing. The only piece I will not be able to do is where the track goes under the bridge now things are fixed but I can live with that. I'll start on that when I get bored of making retaining wall.

Whilst progress is being made, I am mulling over 1 question as to whether I will lift the track, space out the sleepers better and relay. Given I have part of the curve on the upper level that is to close to allow trains to pass I have to lift at least some of the track to fix this. In the mean time on the parcels side of the layout and having been through a number of threads, in particular Mudmagnets Arcacia Avenue I have tweaked the track to add an extra track. The idea is that there will be a platform between the lines for running round and the parcels area, probably backed with some form of scalescene warehouse at the far end to make the building. There is the low relief factory that can be built to go round the corner of the backscene that will be created at the end of the run round lines and the parcels area where the tape measure is in the photo. Also had my first bit of ebay action in years and picked up 5 lima ccts. These have been re-wheeled since with sets from Peters Spares, but I do plan to try some of the other improvements you can find outlined in other threads on here. Also having read a few articles around dry brush weathering once I am ready they will be experimented on. At the the other end no real change but this picture shows the longest train that will run at 5 coaches. It may be possible to run 6 mk1 's and store them in the fiddle yard but I won't be worried if I can't. I've also been cracking on with the railway arches from the scalescenes kit. I reckon to cover the whole area that needs them I will need to build 10 sets from the kit. 1 lesson learned is I have moved to glue sticks rather than a UHU type glue in a tube with a spreder. Far easier to get things right. Having nosed round the web I need to think about the ground cover and ballast. When I look at pictures of places such as Exxter goods yard which served concrete wagons the track has very tidy ballasting and then concrete surfaces for lorries, etc so its tidier than I imagined. Finally the desk is sorted and in use now. Having a shelf to my left under the layout makes this a far easier area to work.

Have been reading this over the last few days and its given me a number of thoughts around details I need to look at such as yard lights and point levers. Its also helped me think about the over all scene and I have tweaked my design to better allow for the platform area and whether I extend the building behind. I'm also impressed at things like the detailing of the newspapers and for the life of me I cannot find out if the thread says what they were made out of so if you don't mind explaining I would be grateful. I've also made a not of where to buy things like the buffers you have and the Brutes.

Add my comments. Sold my N gauge collection a few months back. Got the price I was looking for and as I dropped everything to the shop Ron added the cost of the petrol. Very simple transaction and kind of wish I had a slightly closer look as the shop itself seems well laid out and spacious.

So back in May the old N gauge layout got canned, all the stock checked and sold as I decided that I can no longer manage N due to bad eye sight, and sometimes fat fingers. As I said in a previous post in in the layout planning area, the idea is inspired by StuartM's 2mm finscale scene with a raised mainline and then sidings below. Only difference is I am not hand building the track. The era is the early to mid eighties so BR blue and starting to possibly creep in to sectorisation. So far a couple of Rats have been picked up at a very reasonable price from Alton models. As for the name, well that was born at breakfast this morning as the kids were talking about a couple of places near Reading called Shinfield and Binfield, then my eldest blurted out he wanted to know if Dinfield existed. Turns out there seems to be an area in Bexhill on Sea called Dinfiled but I liked the name. I can't seem to find a plan but I drew this up the other day for the control panel, so i'm sure you can imagine the 2 higher level tracks on the outside. I debating still whether the higher tracks will be on arches or just a raised wall. This first shot shows down the layout to an area that I think will turn out to be some kind of parcels depot. and mainy served by box wagons/ccts and the like. The trains out can go straight across the slips but may need to be shunted coming in so the loco is not trapped. The other end I am still tinking about but leaning towards a cement works (given I have already bought some cement wagons) This is nothing other than a shot looking back up the layout. In terms of fiddle yard I have decided to go for cassettes, so the sidings come out on the lower level, and there is a 6ft gap currently on the upper. I have made a 4ft cassette but moving forward they will all be 3ft as that will be more manageable and 1ft cassettes for the locos. However it will be a while before I have more than a couple of loco's so this is job is not that urgent. The plus about this idea is that nlike on my n gauge layout where I had the classic fiddle yard which got filled, I only really need to have 1 of each train and I can mix and match the cassettes. If you wondering about how the train gets on to the out circuit, the back part of the layout uses set track and curved points enabling a compressed but manageable curve on the runnning lines as well as being able to cross lines in to the fiiddle yard. The final 2 show where I can build extra shelving for the cassettes plus the shelves down the shed, however I think these actually need to be about 6 inches lower otherwise I will drop things trying to get them off the top shelf. A couple of other important things 1. Turns out wiring double and single slips is straight forward. I had mis-understood the instructions and how to feed the V. for now I am letting the contact of the blade take care of that BUT I am debating adding point motors, and if I do I will fit the seep motors with the built in switches. 2. Music - My old amp is in there with a bluetooth reciever so I can connect spotify from my phone and listen to just about anything. The peakers are a bit naff and will need sorting but that's something that can wait.

12th/13th of Sept.

Thanks Ron. Its does worryingly look like something I can manage so i'm going to add it to my jobs list.

And can you show the hook you made for decoupling? Think I found the magnets as you can search by width and some Neodymiurn came up that look as though they would fit my need, but I will need to check as I am using Peco track. (Can I mention such a heathen substance in this thread )