Neil_S_Wood

This blog entry follows on from the previous one in continuing with the fitting of the platforms. I had to etch them and paint the edges and create the slot where the underpass entry will be fitted later. All the other station platform paraphernalia can be fitted later too. Once the platform shape had been established I had to check for smooth running of pretty much all my stock with the tightest fit possible. I had got pretty close but my Kriegslok seemed to catch more than others and had to go back to shave a bit more off the edges. Still working on this as I'm trying it out with all my stock to ensure smooth running. The bright light from the railway room seems to have overlit the platforms so they look a bit washed out. I’ll have to figure out how to make adjustments for that but you’ll get the general idea. Having photographed it I can see several areas which will need tidied up. There are a lot of frayed bits along the edges which need sanded and repainted. A couple of bits need their curves smoothed. I also fixed up the light that wasn’t working on one of the signals. The signals are fine but costly. I’d calculated that it was going to cost me thousands to populate the layout with all the appropriate signals as I’ll also need point decoders to go with them. I’ve also thought that some electrification would be appropriate too and will install catenary on the two main lines. For these reasons I’ve decided to start another layout which is going to be more labour intensive than cost intensive. I’ve already bought the wood and ordered the track material. I already have the backdrops so can make a start soon while I’m building up funds to pay for all the station equipment and signals. From here I’ll have to patch up the track as it seems to have got bashed around a bit with all the other things going on. With the Tillig track there is a great shortage of sleepers so I need to go and fill in the gaps and straighten up the sleepers I've been bashing around. Also I need to add fishplates. Once that’s done I can probably start to ballast some parts. Here's some pictures with the locos now to conclude.

There's been a few things happening of late. I started off by correcting the end of street scene from last entry. I used one the vertical Bavarian banners to conceal the top join. It now blends in better than it did. The join being far better than before. Not sure how I'm going to do the other side of the building to the right though. Still thinking about that. I started installing the Veissmann signals I had bought previously to see how they went with digital control. I had a few problems initially. I had bought a Veissmann decoder as I thought it might work better being the same brand as the signals. How wrong I was. I had no joy at all with the Veissmann decoder. I tried all sorts of settings but the best I could get was to get it to work once on the wrong setting. To get it to work again I had to re-program it. Not ideal really. While doing a trawl of the internet I found a wiring diagram for using an LDT solenoid item decoder so tried that. Again no joy. Eventually I came across a thread on one of the forums which said that it would work with the Lenz LS150 which is what I use for my point motors. I tried this and it worked fine. Other than the Veissmann signals, I haven't had much success with their product; their S-88s had issues too. So now I've tried these out it'll be Lenz LS150's all the way. The signals are pretty good and well detailed. I'm quite pleased with them but they are costly and I'll need a few of them. Might have to spread the costs out over time. The other thing I've been doing is starting to make my platforms. I've been using off cuts from walls and 1mm ply with plaster coating. I've found period canopies but I'll need a few and cost will mount up so may shop around a bit for these. A few of these things will have to wait till I get back from the UK in November as I'll need to save for my trip home. So here's how they've been going. I noticed while photographing these last ones that one of the LED's in the signal has gone already. I checked the wiring and there was loose wire. The next step is finish off all these platforms and then start ballasting round them.

Great blog entry. I'm off to berlin in a month so very useful.

Thanks Mikkel, I've since gone back and changed the side street scene with a smaller sized one. I'll show that in my next blog entry. I used a Bavarian banner to hide the top and a tree on the opposite side of the street. No problems, I've made a lot of mistakes on the way with this and other layouts and it's worth sharing so other people don't make the same ones.

Time for a bit of an update on what's been happening on the layout. First up I had to extend the backdrop as it petered out in the middle of a street. The only option was the same backdrop I used before but I joined it up on the second sheet as the colour on the first was too light and there was a very obvious join. This doesn't look too bad. Merges fairly well. This concludes the backdrops for the Bavarian layout as it is now wrapped all around. Track laying was concluded a couple of entries ago so now getting to work on the station area. This picture taken from the net continues the street fairly well but the top of a couple of buildings has been lopped off in the picture. Bit if a shame as it would good otherwise. Trying to think of a way of hiding this. Probably a big tree would be best. I'll use this brick coloured wall to separate the tracks from the street but will have to decide what I'm doing first before cutting to size. Because I had set the previous backdrops at 10cm height I was committed to doing this with the rest. I've been able to hide this behind buildings and raised railway lines elsewhere but the lack of space between the railway line and the wall prevents me using anything three dimensional here. I'm thinking brickwork or foliage as the best way of hiding it. I added a new building here too. I'll probably add another street of four storey buildings to add a bit more depth. Being carrying on with painting my Preiser figures. Still have a lot more to go though. Added a couple to one of the flak wagens. I'll get more of these as it finishes it quite well. I started adding grass around the edges of the station and a wall. This continues all the way round. I used the Noch grassmaster as it gives best results for a large area. I also finished track laying with the service yards now being complete. I can start fixing in the buildings here too. I can probably start ballasting soon as it all seems to operate well. I just have to get positions for the signals and platform installed. I bought some Faller platform to see how easy it would be to make replicas of. I'll investigate options at the hardware store to see what I can come up with as it will be cheaper and probably more realistic to make my self rather than having to fiddle with kit platform. I painted the fountain as well. I saw the one in Nuremberg was painted so thought I'd copy that. I also put a fence round it too. I was going to add some epoxy water but now that I need it I can't find it. I'm sure I saw it in a box I was rummaging through the other week but nowhere to be seen now.

Thanks Peter, yes it got bashed around a bit while working round it. Next job is sorting that out and filling in gaps. Cheers Neil

Thanks for the kind comments guys, Thanks for the link Mike. I'll have a look at that. I prefer the low down perspective. It gives a more realistic look on things. I'd like to do a bit more of this. Hi Grahame, I'm sorry to say that I don't know of any manufacturer that does K.Bay decals. I don't mind you asking at all. More than happy to assist where possible. I'm sure that in a market as big as the German model rail one there must be a supplier that does. I did get some WW2 decals from a supplier in Germany years ago but can't find the details now. If I do I'll let you know. Some of the brass name and number plates that come with Roco locos could possibly be bought after market I'm thinking. Worth a try. Cheers Neil

Hi Peter, that's good. Only way to go. Yep, I'll be going to Jeff's so see you there. You're welcome to stop by before and have a look at my layout on the way if you like. Cheers Neil

A decoder. Have you converted all your layout to dcc now Peter. Cheers Neil

Looking good John. Nice to see the green of the Bavarian stock. Great livery. I really like your glaskasten, and with sound too. I really have to get one. Cheers Neil

I had been looking into this new Roco cab camera that is on their new E103 and was quite interested in that as it would be a perspective on the layout you normally wouldn't get to see. While I was thinking about it it occurred to me that Icould always put my handycam on the back of a flat in the meantime to see what it would look like from that perspective. Here's couple of test videos of the layout from this trial. http://youtu.be/mo9N1HjDsuc It's amazing how much you notice on film that you don't normally see. I've given myself a whole lot of work by doing this having to correct things I'd never normally noticed. I put my videocam on the back of a flat wagon and pulled it along with a Kreigslok. The balance of the wagon was poor because of its size relative to the flat wagon but I like the perspective. Steven Speilberg it ain't but if tidied up could give a new view on an existing layout. http://youtu.be/fR0Sq0TF0pA The idea was to have a few layers of scenery to create a false impression of depth at the back; a sort of three dimensional backdrop. It comes out a bit more in these clips than it does in the photos. http://youtu.be/wcNCnXizjkg

Somewhere on the West Highland In a cutting somewhere to the south..

Here's a West Highland station Plockton station World War 2 cliff top gun emplacement. Kellie Castle, East Fife

I decided I had to do something about the top left, or north west corner of the layout as it remained bare and I needed to work from the outside in.. Once I get this part finished I can then get on with completing the trackwork for the service yards. To this end I carried on from where I left off before. I had got as far as plastering the area and applying a coat of paint to seal it. Next I used the grassmaster on it to get it to look like this. Some small bushes and plants and finally trees. Next step was ballasting the track on the raised shuttle line. I added a bit of pavement at the base of where the retaining walls will sit. Then added the retaining walls to continue on from the previous installation. I then put in paving for this side of the road. Once this was done I then definitely knew how much space I had for maintenance yards. I then installed more points and track to get this. A view from a different angle. This is where the station building will sit. Sort of an aerial view to show how it all sits plan wise on the western side of the layout. On the other side I added a further point to conclude my track laying for this side of the layout. Down this side I also added some new baseboards to build up this end. I need to get a further backdrop for this end before going wild with more buildings. I had my eye on the Faller Nuremberg fire station but availability and cost are issues. I could make something I suppose. Plenty of time to think further about what I'm going to put in here later though. I have lots of tidying up to do now. Here's some shots of the layout to give an overview of where I'm up to.

Very nice Peter Point rodding looking very good there.

I don't remember mission brown being that popular in Scotland in the 70's but I'm glad I wasn't over here then if it was popular over here. Not a colour you see much of these days. All coming along nicely Jeff. Cheers Neil

I have been doing things but they're probably not all that noticeable. I had new lights installed in the roof which has really brightened the room up no end. The old lights were those single bulb enegry saver ones which didn't produce much light. I've now added a couple of strip lights which I salvaged from the old garage. Makes things a lot better to see and photograph although I'm starting to notice some pictures are washed out if I photograph too close to the light. I tend to have the blinds down all the time here as the railway room is north facing and the sun is very strong here. It could easily melt my stock that's stored below in boxes. I'm a bit forgetful at times so would inevitably forget about it if I raised the blinds. So, all things considered, best to leave them down by default. Also finished my shuttle lines and they're fully operational now. Still cleaning them up a bit as they got a bit messy in some parts due to painting and plastering behind. I had made a start on the wooded corner section but seasonal change has had an impact on this. I have done the plastering and a rough coat of paint to seal it but the weather then got quite cold so it won't dry quite as quickly, or worst case scenario; not at all, when I grassmaster it. I'll probably just jack up the heating for a bit to sort that out. While I'm down this end of the layout here's a couple of pictures of how things look from down here at the moment. Once the corner is forested I can get to work on this part. The stone wall will continue round and merge into tunnels. The most visible part is adding lots of window boxes with flowers to brighten the place up a bit. MiniNature do a great line in the flowers so a few different colours and a chopped up piece of walnut strip for the boxes and off we go. Did some touch ups of older buildings, repainted them and weathered them. I made the maypole that was mentioned previously. I used the Trix one along with parts from a Noch one to make the one shown. I planted the Bavarian flag banners too. I'll need to make more of these. Added a few more buildings too. Fountain and a public WC. I'm painting some Prieser people for inside coaches as well. Bit cheaper than the ready painted ones. Thinking to the future now I may add more building to this section at the front so that I have the trains travelling through city effect. I'll need another city back drop so that will be the third of the same backdrop I will use but I don't see any better alternatives. Here's some shots to finish with. A couple of cameos to conclude with.

Gardens over here are a bit bigger I suppose. More room for wildlife. Certainly didn't get parrots in my back garden at home.

That's a bit of a shame as it's a good view. Kind of reminds me of coming into some of the London stations. Cheers Neil

Hi Grahame, The main source I have used was the Eisenbahn Journal's Landerbahn report. It's all in German I'm afraid but on the DVD-Rom there are PDF's of nine magazines with plenty of pictures about the Bavarian railway network in Epoch 1 so still worth looking into even if you don't understand German. It was only 15 Euro so not too expensive. There's plenty of detailed information in german language but unfortunately not a lot in english. For signals, I've been looking into this recently as I've started installing some signals. I found a couple of sites that were helpful. If you use google chrome to find these sites it offers you a translation which is helpful. http://www.der-moba.de/index.php/Eisenbahnsicherungs-_und_-signaltechnik http://www.sh1.org/eisenbahn/s.htm http://www.sh1.org/eisenbahn/shhf.htm http://www.railmeester.nl/seinenboek-duits.html http://www.bahnstatistik.de/Signale.htm

Thanks Doug, my idea was to try to create layers to give the impression of depth which is often lacking because of the size restrictions we have to work with. The square will make a nice 3D backdrop for trains entering and leaving the station. Cheers Neil

I like that last shot Jeff. It's a nice perspective. Cheers Neil

This entry follows on from the previous one in the main. I installed the walling along the side of the shuttle lines. While this is off the shelf stuff it is quite good and looks ok. I've cut it to shape where required and applied various washes for effect. I've also extended the road down the length of most of the wall.I'll continue this on later when I'm working down the other end of the layout. This is one end of the shuttle line. I've finished off ballasting and installed some of the Wienert buffer stops. Bit of a goods terminus. Needs tidied up still. I've also created roads which bisect the old town square. I'm not sure about road markings from this period so further research is required. I added more trees to the area where the big one was installed so it isn't so obvious. I created more flags and banners for the central square. I've done a small isolated section as a test to see what I need to look out for in the main square. The main thing seems to be the gap between the buildings and the ground. I'm using polyfilla to close this and then weather it in. I installed the old city wall and started weathering it in. The square is now more of a, well - it actually is, a triangle. The church and town hall will sit in these positions. I've positioned the Trix maypole temporarily so you can see where I intend putting it. It's temporary so I can move it if it's not suitable. If anyone is aware of someone offering brass etchings to add to this please let me know. This is how it looks now. These two buildings still have to be weathered in to the square. I've had another batch of kits arrive to finish off this area. I still need street "furniture' like lights etc but will buy and install these as funds arise. This is how it looks now from a couple of different perspectives.

Looking good Jeff. Nice work there. Cheers Neil

Yes that's right Rick, not too far at all. I could easily walk to Jeff and Doug's places in ten minutes or so.Not sure what the collective term for a group of railway modellers is but cluster sounds good. Cheers Neil