AllScales

Hi Justin, It would be nice if the sizes were also given in metric, especially as that is now the standard. It really shouldn't be a wooden crossing anyway, that's only used for barrow crossings (if that) in Austria. For a proper road crossing it would be as here a combination of check rails and slabs, with rubber joins. But in this case it's only a service road that is used by cars and the occasional truck. I've got some spare sections of track so I'll have another bash this time with better light.... I also discovered that one of my stake wagons doesn't really like it, it looks like the flanges are catching on the ballast... The other appear to be fine!

I'm afraid it's wonky, not very high resolution and the lighting is not great... However, I decided it was time to try and actually run a loco around the track so far. So I got out 2095.04 and first tried it on its own. This was successful and the loco only stopped once (not bad on track that hasn't been cleaned in years). So for a bit of grand test, I got out some of the stake wagons, they are very light and so should derail at the first opportunity. This was not to be, despite a double reverse curve! On the way back the wagon closest to the loco did derail, but only at the level crossing (see last post)... Anyway click here to watch the terrible video: Goodnight!

I have a Noch kit for an N gauge level crossing, more of a barrow crossing as it's wood, however it's for straight lines only. I need my road crossing on a bend... So armed with some left over rail, my normal fat fingers, a pair of pliers, super glue, some platform ballast, I've had a bash, so here is exhibit A: It needs more ballast, I know! Now the gap is huge between the running rails and the guiding rails for the heart piece, perhaps next time I should trim off some of the base of the rail? The track is firmly up against the chairs of the running rails. I have tested this and it works well with my oldest stock (Jouef Eggerbahn stuff...), so I'm tempted to leave as is....

Again no fancy pictures, diagrams or any other new fangled stuff! Strictly text! All that's left is some childish innuendo... Having found myself under the table last night and I must get a big cushion or two for sessions like that, today was the evening for testing. Partly to make sure and I hadn't broken anything, partly to make sure it works nicely with the Z21... Partial success... Most point motors work, two need replacing. The surprise was that one of Lenz point decoders only recognised the first four outputs. After some experimenting I noticed that little light only lit up for the first four addresses, the other decoder worked fine. After some digging I found the manual (online) and tried to set the point address of ports 5&6 manually, success! So the nice thing is, I can use groups of point addresses: 1-5 - main station, 10-13 fiddle yard, 20-22 upper staion. The z21 doesn't really care you simply assign a number to a point (or two, for crossovers). The multiMaus makes it easy.... An order for replacement point motors has gone out (plus a spare each way), tomorrow I'll tackle the point addressing in full!

No fancy pictures tonight I'm afraid, just some hard graft! Every now and again you get these jobs you don't really want to do, but in the it's unavoidable. So tonight I crawled under the layout to reconnect the point motors. This was followed by banging home the nails, a lot of which were removed to allow me to fit dropper wires to the frog points or to allow painting of the cork underlay... Tomorrow testing, testing!

Hi All, Not a lot of progress today, but some testing was required, so it was time to get out some rolling stock, just to check if everything was going to fit. This is a picture of the rolling stock (not all of it either) out to test the track: The ZB historical rake is considerably longer than any of the loops in the station, so that will need to run in several trains, not as a single massive rake. A number of years ago I tried the loco's and worked out that the big ZB diesels weren't going to go on the inner loop, now the short two axled coaches have been put in the same category. The have little steps on the corners and they can snag on the top of the point motors. However this is only in two places. You can see the ZB rake is currently testing the problem I've got, none of them derailed, but each one wobbles a bit as it goes through the point. If for example you have a right hand point, followed immediately by a left then a coach going right brushes the motor of the left hand point... Mostly it works, but in the fiddle yard it could be a problem! One place it happens is in the main station, and another in the fiddle yard. I guess I'll have to keep it in mind when routing the trains. Of course, only non-Roco stock suffers from this... The track is Roco HOe track...

Well, not quite actually! I finally got around to buying some actual people to populate the layout, as well as a beetle (car) to check sizes such as road widths. I've never gotten to this stage before! And with that I mean being somewhat realistic. My most scenic'd layout from my younger days featured one house and some road surface and very unrealistic grass. The whole lot was inside the reversing loop, with no way out! However that doesn't really matter when you're ten! It wasn't until after I had bought the car that I realised a couple of fairly basic errors: It's OO scale It's got British plates The steering wheel is on the wrong side Oops! Never mind, an Austriaphile on holiday is my excuse... So this is the current status, I can't fit in the whole layout as the room isn't big enough: And the corner that's missing, with printer (Mount Laserjet): And just for completeness the far corner which is a bit vague in the first shot: The heights you see are approximately right I'm constructing supports for the ramps at the moment. Tomorrow I'll be fixing the lower end at the station exit, after I've trimmed off some excess wood, and continuing on building the supports... In my original plan, the top station was going to be much higher, but as you can see in the pictures above, the top station (light grey), is now only at about 6cm above the lower level so now the track snaking up is going to be physically much closer to the upper station so some trickery is going to required I feel! In this picture you can see the two places where the tracks are closest together, marked by a spray can and a paint sampler pot, my intention is to have the lower front track in a tunnel at this point and have an avalanche gallery of some form in the outward bulge, how does that sound? The aim is to have trains running round the whole loop by the end of July, should be do-able no?

Not much got done over the weekend, except to visit the Chatham show and pick up a few bits and pieces... So, I now have some yard lights, and platform lights (although ZB platforms don't really have them, I'll put them in for the atmosphere). A Viesmann HO water crane also arrived. This is the motorised variety so will swing through 90 degrees on command. It's even DCC compatible right from the box! I think there might be an opportunity for a British version! Would make a great addition to a layout.... I also picked an HO stock box, I wanted an OO9/HOe version, but have never really found one. As I have plenty of foam lying around from N-gauge stock boxes, I used some scraps, with some superglue to create a custom stock box: Out on the sides there are bits of foam to cover the stock and prevent the rolling stock from hitting the top. The locos and coaches come from the two start sets I bought about seven years ago, that I never got around to giving a proper home. So now they have, now I'll have to re-arrange the crates... It never ends... ;-) As for the reference to legless layouts? Besides going to the Chatham show I helped my friend ngauged to put some legs on his layout, it's just been resting on another table for more than a year now. Now it's got legs of its own they can finally have a proper family dinner, invite friends and sort out the hornet's nest under the layout... ;-)

For all of those who are fans of old measurements, let it be known that the metric system was standardised before Imperial measures! Just a tidbit of information and a lesson in measuring... Last night when I measuring the width for the strips of plasticard, I used a metric ruler upstairs but then flipped it over and used the imperial side on the reverse to make out the cutting line on the plasticard. So I measured 2.5 cm on one side and then translated that into 1"... So it didn't quite fit... Doh! Anyway I fixed it and it's now glued down and all fine... Where I grew up (at least the early years, and sometimes I'm not sure about the growing up bit), the whole measures system before metrification was a bit chaotic, you had Amsterdam Inches, Rotterdam Inches, all sorts... I guess it wasn't any better over here in ol' Blighty! For a curious diversion see here on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_units_of_measurement Anyway... This morning I found a little parcel at reception, it was a kit that can surely be considered a world traveller. It was made in what was then Western Germany back before the Wall came down and had somehow made its way to northern California. It has survived 25 years still wrapped in its original plastic only to be opened by me tonight after returning back to its home in Europe... It is a model of Uderns station on the Zillertal Bahn and was manufactured by Pola (Search for: Pola 803), it is perfect for my main layout as it's meant to be a branch of the ZB across to Krimml on the Pinzgauer Bahn... You can tell the plastic is getting on a bit and requires quite careful cutting with a fresh blade so as to not damage it. It's a bit tudory so has wood beams showing through yellow washed walls. Here are the four panels: Some parts of the models are wood (like the goods shed, a part of the station)... As my modelling skills have improved immeasruably over the last few years, it's barely possible to detect the glue. And I now have a secret weapon! It's called Humbrol Matt Varnish No. 49... That can be used to hide to leaky glue.... I hope to have more on this, with pictures soon... Next will be fitting the windows, fitting black out paper to the inside (for the lighting) and some curtains.... This I hope to complete by next week... After this is finished, I will need to build my engine shed, I have an Auhagen model that looks very nice and is built for HOe/HOm, but it's more German than Austrian. So it's brick built, with tudory timber. Here's a side view: Ideally I'd like to make the walls look like the walls of the station, i.e. slightly yellow, but looking "yellow washed". The idea is that it will look a bit more like the Mayrhofen loco shed that I have posted earlier... What would be the best way of filling in the brickwork and painting the wall panels yellow? Lastly, current progress... I put down the plasticard yesterday and it has stuck. So today I painted the card and as a complete random act decided to see if ballasting it would work. It appears it does, but I don't think I can recommend it... To ballast is a bit lumpy... Oh well, I can fix that!

Given the good progress over the last few weeks, things kind of took a bit of break over the last week. A visit looming of a modelling friend with entire family meant getting the house in order before the weekend and not during... Anyway, tonight it was back to it with the washing machine running in the background. Just some simple jobs tonight, the first one painting the baseboard in a piece that will be in the tunnel. That's now black to make sure the tunnel looks like a proper tunnel: The second part is to provide a base for the "platforms" (have a look at some of my previous posts for some examples of Austrian Narrow gauge platforms). In order to reduce the amount of ballast required, I have put some plasticard in between the sleepers to give a base. This plasti-card is about 3mm high the same height as the Roco sleepers. It doesn't look like much, but it helps... Previously on Links Uber Dorf, I used cat food boxes. But I lost a lot of ballast when I turned the layout upside down. I blame the absorbency of the cardboard. Perhaps I should have impregnated the cardboard first...

Hi All, Not much progress today, housework gets in the way sometimes! However I need to do some work under the layout so tonight I cleared out all the crates stored underneath and stacked them elsewhere. So first job, some dangling cables under the layout. Now the previous weekend, I bought some new stuff to hold up cables under the layout. I had been using cable loops with nails, but it's a pain to try and nail these on whilst lying on the floor, so I'm trying these stick on pads and cable ties: For the rest, yesterday I built the Vollmer model of the Mayrhofen coal shed, this is normally used to store the coal for the "Drive a steam loco" train. A once a week opportunity to drive a steam on the Zillertalbahn mainline. This is how it looks in real life: The loco is the little one used to haul the two coaches for friends and family. The model is somewhat lighter in colour: So what would be the best way of making the model a tad more like the real thing? The model has a full on water tower, as you can see in photo two, these days, it's just a hose. I guess the tiny loco doesn't have very large tanks...

A yes! It's the Mark 1 trainshed, it's being used to correctly align the track so the engines will fit through the doors. It is an Auhagen kit made for narrow gauge... The next version will have white walls with the grooves filled in so it looks whitewashed, however it will still have the wood framing. The idea is to make it look a bit like the Mayrhofen shed...

I originally started to lay the track for Gerlos around Christmas 2010! So it is great to find that I'm making progress with the layout again. Over the last week or so I've been taking some of the lessons I've learned and started to apply them. So if you go back you can see the upper level having been cut and the track being stripped out. So without further ado, tada! The track is back, much better aligned than before, I used a massive one metre long ruler clamped to the baseboard to get it right. Now all the points have a dropper wire from the frog for eventual polarisation. Of course all the point motors still need re-connecting to the point decoder, but that's a minor job! Next will be demolishing the fiddle yard so I can fit dropper wires there too... On the upper level front, I've started to add some supports to keep the upper level flat, and to allow it to be attached to the main board in due course... This isn't very visible so I haven't bothered with photo's... However, on the realistic modelling front... I'm after a source of signs... Railways signs of Austrian origin, any clues as to where they might available? A something or other sign (if anyone knows please let me know what it means): A crossing sign: And I guess this will have to come from the Austrian Railways Group (but I think it's striking to put most of the time table on a massive sign):

Hi Dave, If you don't want to do electrics then DCC is actually the way to go.... No isolating sections to hold locos, you can stop them wherever you want. There are a few rules: 1. Every piece of track must be live at all times Well that's it.... I'm not going back.... Cheers, Friso

Hi Rhys, Welcome! Do you have a train shop nearby? If so I recommend you pop down there and get a track planning book. Have a good look and see what you can fit in the space you've got and the size of trains you want (and what you've got!) Also have a think about what you want to do? Run trains round and round? Shunt goods trains? Have a terminus with loco shed? I guess you'll want the first so look in the track plan book for a good layout...

I have now retrofitted the points in the main station with a wire to the frog, I wish I had done this from the outset!

Hi Jock, I noticed your post and I thought I'd reply. There are several ways of handling frogs and it depends on the type of track. With the track I'm using the frog is completely isolated, the point blades and tracks leading from frog to the diverging rails are bonded to the side rails. In this case you can ignore the frog if the locos are long enough and have good contact. However some track has completely plastic frogs, I'd avoid this... In this case some of the tracks are bonded, other parts may rely on contact to the outer rails. It depends... The third type relies on contact to power the frog, the diverging rails and point blades. So for the first case: just leave it initially but solder a wire to the bottom of the frog, so you can always add frog polarity switching later. Type 2: Avoid! Type 3: As for 1, but you might get into trouble if you're using very old rolling stock with massive play on the wheels, in that case you can cause shorts as the wheels touch both sides. Not usually a problem on analogue, but can pose a problem with DCC and the short circuit cut outs on some control stations. Does that help? My general reccomendation is to always allow you to add something later, if the time/financial cost at the outset isn't huge...

Last night I put down the second coat of grey in the station yard and this morning it looked like it had now completely covered the cork tiles (I've got a couple of packs going cheap if you'd like them). So tonight the track went back down, as it's set track that is fairly easy (come on Peco, some new OO9 nine points please, plus 12" radius curves?) but this is premium Roco track so I did very carefully! Some of the holes needed a little prod, but it's all back down again except for the curve from the fiddle yard which has only this evening had its second coat (this is also why there is a point sticking up in the air). This is the picture now: For those of you wondering where the well tanned flesh is: It's the baseboard! The painting in the station is perhaps a bit over the top. My next job is to slice some plasticard into strips to lay between loops in the lower station. That will form the base for the "platforms" in the case of the ZB they look a little like this: So basically you have light grey (well almost white ballast) in the station and it's darker outside the station. Hence the two tone colouring.... BTW, Vollmer (who are about to shut down) does a model of the Mayrhofen coal shed: Two key items to note: 1. In real life it's considerably darker wood 2. The water tower supplied in the kit isn't there... If anyone knows if the water tower was there in olden days, then I'd love to know! Meanwhile. enjoy....

The snake has been formed and it almost eats it's own tail, the siding has been laid together with the passing loop in the upper station, so far so good! As an aide against ballasting mistake I have decided to paint the cork grey, on the snakey part: no problem, in the lower station: big problem! When I started I bought a large pile of cork tiles (as used for flooring), never again! These tiles have been impregnated so that they can be used in places like kitchens (don't ask)... I had hoped to be able to lift the entire station area to paint underneath, so pins meticulously lifted, but the wiring is to tidy, so I removed the track but leave the points (wires are long enough) and feeder tracks (wires very short). The first coat went down reasonably well, given the cork tiles... But now I want it done, so the point motors were disconnected from the decoder, the feeder sections unsoldered and the second coat has been applied. Very liberally here, it seems the little taster pots from homebase don't close as tightly as the old metal pots (the previous pot was from 2007!). I'm using two colours: Dove Grey for the station area, Slate grey for the mainline... But it feels like I'm back two and a half years... :-( oh well, it's all fixable....

Yesterday I did some experimental glueing down of the cork strip for the upper loop. A quick examination this evening showed it had worked as planned so I've now finished off the main track of the upper level. The upper station loop and siding are still to come but I'll wait until the glue sets. Here you can see a photo of the cork as laid. The nice thing about doing it this way, is that it requires no compression to stop it from warping. On Friday, I hope to complete the passing loop and siding in the upper station, then it's on to getting the supports for that sorted out. A good use for all that wasted wood from the upper board....

Now that the track formation has been cut, I have commenced laying the cork for the road bed. I'm using 1/16" N gauge strips fron All Components, these by default, won't curve around the kinds of radii that I'm using (291mm). To overcome this I'm cutting slits in the cork on the outside of the curve about every 5mm to 1cm. Next problem is that the PVA comes up through the cuts which means I can't really use clamps to squish the whole lot together. So I'm taking it in small sections and using gravity to hold it together... Any snags with that?

Hi Jock, I'm using one now, thanks for the tip! I had spotted one one ebay, but that's

Yesterday, I promised a picture of the cut upper level, well here it is: It was quite an effort to make sure whole lot didn't break and it's time like that you wish you had a properly equipped workshop with a nice big bench. The advantages of doing it all as one piece is that you the wood helps to make the transition smooth. Of course there might be some issues at the bottom but they can be overcome. Next I will be laying a cork strip along central track formation, then the whole lot will be painted grey before supports are put under the board. I'll be screwing the ends of the ramps to baseboard. Lots of the offcuts will be used to provide the pillars, plenty of PVA will be required! Now does anyone know of a electronic spirit level? I'd like to be able to place it on the ramp to measure the angles accurately to make sure I have a consistent gradient.

Unfortunately the image is too big to upload, but yesterday my fellow modeller came round and while his partner went to check out the delights of the High Street (a better one than the one they have), we cut the board for upper layer. Due to a couple of other things that needed to be done during the week we first had to mark out the cutting lines. The track had been marked out on the board and so we marked out lines one inch from the outer line of the track. In the end that meant a 9 mm gauge ends up as a 3 inch width. Two reasons: 1. You can cut a bit off 2. You need some space to attach the scenery There is also carriage overhang to consider, this is HOe, with 291mm curves so not generous.... Anyway, I'll get a shrinkable picture tomorrow and post that. Next up, getting cork strip glued to the track path, this needs some cutting as the curves are tight. As I now have lots of off cuts, I will recycle those into supports for the upper level. Another job is to paint the cork under the track I laid earlier grey, so as to mask any gaps in the ballasting to come... So many jobs, too many hours to spend in the office!

No major progress over the last fortnight, just a slow and steady plod... The key task is to mark out where to cut the upper level board, as a friend is coming to help out this weekend. In the meantime, I've been lifting the points (again) and fitting wires to the bottom of the frogs with the intention of adding polarisation circuitry at a later date. As the point motors don't have auxiliary switches I'm intending to use a little circuit with a latching relay to do this. A friend of mine is using these circuits to control signals and these seem to work nicely. They should work well for the frogs too...