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Dallam Sidings (Warrington) - N Gauge WCML 2001 Macclesfield Show 20th&21st April 2024


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Mounting the Seeps on blocks of wood is how I fitted them on our 4mm layout almost 15 years ago and not had any problems. Although they were operating copperclad points with the tiebar below the baseboard which connected to the solenoid via an omega loop style drive rod.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Hi,

 

Managed to make an escape into the garage this afternoon. Once I had finished wiring the frogs to the point motors, I decided to put a base coat down of a grey wash across the hard standing in the sidings. This will have various bits of weathering applied at a later date.

 

post-6834-0-54256500-1428685358_thumb.jpg

 

post-6834-0-55696700-1428685403_thumb.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

Managed to get a few hours in the garage this week and made a start on wiring the control panel. So far managed to connect the power in to the CDU and the controllers. These have then been powered up as can be seen from the green LED's lit on the controllers.

Next task will be to mark out the track plan and fit the toggle switches etc.

 

post-6834-0-11342700-1429895755_thumb.jpg

 

post-6834-0-63871300-1429895808_thumb.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Good to see you are using Modelex controllers. Just about the best ones out there IMHO for DC control. Ours have been dropped, kicked, used to do mutliple loco headed train formations etc and they are still working unlike many others.

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Good to see you are using Modelex controllers. Just about the best ones out there IMHO for DC control. Ours have been dropped, kicked, used to do mutliple loco headed train formations etc and they are still working unlike many others.

Yes never had any problems with Modelex controllers, the 2 in the picture are new but I do have 3 older ones which like you say have been dropped and kicked, shorts and overloads, so far they still work without any problems. 2 of these will be used alongside the newer ones.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Hi,

 

Got a bit more wiring done within the control panel which has allowed some actual running and switching the point motors from the control panel. So far no shorts or dead sections have been found.

 

Below is todays test train seen at Folly Lane overbridge, 86425 pushing a scratch rake of mk3's which seemed to work ok at speed- had this shuttling back and forth for around an hour. Heading north is a Mainline 60 & EWS 66.

 

post-6834-0-29071400-1430049254_thumb.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Hi Paul,

 

Thanks for the very kind comment, a steam loco will probably appear on a railtour at somepoint. I decided to put the backscenes in place loosely whilst the stock was out to get a feel for how things will look from the viewing side.

 

post-6834-0-31770000-1430053716_thumb.jpg

 

Think my next job will be to secure the backscenes in place.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Hi Jez and Paul.

 

Thanks for your kind comments.

 

Regards the backscene, going to initially paint white for the time being.

 

Jez your right about the benefits of n gauge. The Mk3 sets will be 6ft in length but the scenic section is approx 15ft so they should have a good run before going back into the fiddle yard. The only issue is the class 08 trip working, it may take a while to get from one end to the other at a scale 15mph!

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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This is really looking good Simon. Right up my street. Just going back to OHLE, the link you were given to the layout with the fishing line wires illustrates the need I think to actually model wires. Imagine how bear it would look without them. In fact it would look like a none OHLE layout. I do disagree with using fishing line though as it is not stiff enough to prevent pan movement in youre running the pan on the wire. If not as said before and just setting them below then it may work but is dificult to fix droppers to. I would seriously still use guitar string and stripped out single strands of layout wire as I used on Outon Road.

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Hi Cav,

 

I think i am going to have a re-think regards the OHLE and 'maybe' look at the wires. I think I will certainly need to look at fitting the backscenes and make the transportation lids so any work does not get damaged when swapping boards around in the garage or moving it into the house to set all 6 boards up. What I think may be an idea to do is to make a small plank to experiment with as I was originally planing on just doing the headspans. Regards the pantographs, they will be held off from the overhead slightly.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

 

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Maybe with a tail wind you could crank it up to 16mph, its nearly up to the speed of the frights on my layout, now if I could squeeze in an extra board 15 feet would be handy

 

Managed to find clip of said trip working with 08703, which is suggested to be circa 2001 and interestingly it is on the down fast though if you notice the flashing yellow signal at the end of the platform which indicates the route is set for the crossovers from down fast to up slow which will allow access to the sidings.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDKoOdBiVjU

 

I think for the purpose of shows, I will keep this move to the bi-directional slow line to keep the fast lines clear.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Hi Simon,

 

This looks excellent mate, very good work. I look forward to seeing the progression. Not too far from the actual location myself, (lived in Runcorn for past 27 years now moved to Frodsham) really great to see a familiar place modelled to such a high standard. I can almost imagine seeing a oo gauge train roaring through the magnificent 'acton parkway' 4mm layout only to appear in 2mm a little while longer here in your fantastic surroundings.

 

Well done, keep up the good work!

 

John

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Hi John,

 

Thanks for the kind comments.

 

Tonight decided to fit the backscenes and fascias to board 1, all braced with 28x18mm softwood.

 

post-6834-0-54731600-1430166717_thumb.jpg

 

The fascia has been cut to shape to provide support for the CLC bridge.

 

post-6834-0-62101800-1430166951_thumb.jpg

 

Once all the backscenes and facias have been fitted, I'll look at making the lids to protect the layout so it can be stored or transported safely.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Due to running out of wood glue, could not carry on with the backscenes tonight, will hopefully get some more tomorrow. All not lost as thought I could do some modelling instead. Decided to play around with weathering a Farish VGA, by 2001 these were looking a bit dirty.

Here it is before starting.

 

post-6834-0-30638100-1430253974_thumb.jpg

 

Here is the progress so far. Basically painted the sides with acrylic Raw Umber which was allowed to semi dry. This was then wiped off using a wet cotton bud and to leave in the areas were dirt would collect. Not done anything with the underframe as yet.

 

post-6834-0-18296700-1430254187_thumb.jpg

 

The roof strip also needs some weathering, more of a sooty grey/black. Fortunately if it does not look right it can easily washed off - I hope!

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Hi,

 

Failed to pick up some more glue for one reason or another. Continued with the VGA's. The second one has had a white wash applied over the yellow ends to fade it before some brown gunk was put on which was then slowly wiped off. The handrails on both vans have been picked out in white and the axleboxes painted maroon.

 

post-6834-0-20297200-1430342337_thumb.jpg

 

post-6834-0-98034800-1430342374_thumb.jpg

 

Going to need quite a few of these I think. These 2 will probably form part of the trip working from Arpley to Dallam sidings. I think a bogie type van was also used IWB? Think they were Italian? As I don't think they are available rtr or in kit form, I am going to use Dapol Cargowagons instead.

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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