[Anthony566]

I like many decided one day that I was finally going to build that layout I had been telling my son I was going to build for many years.... we did have a very small "Train Set" on a board at the last house we lived in but space was very tight so the layout was quite small. We moved house 10 years ago and as this house had a double garage 18ft x 18ft we always intended to build something in there so 8 years later we FINALLY decided it was time to crack on but buy this time the garage had become a storage unit rather than a garage ..... like so many others

so we cleared a space in the centre of the garage...



A few months passed and a bit more clearing out and and some white paint on the walls we ended up with this...



A 16ft x 8ft layout based on one of the layouts in an old Hornby track plans book now while this was a fine layout the issue for me was having to crawl under the board to get to the centre of the layout ( I have pins in my spine and sometimes this is not always easy to do

) but as time passed I also cleared out more and more of the " you never know when you might need that pile of C**P " and this then started me thing that I should make the most of the garage space I have and create a section that allows me to walk into the layout rather than crawl under it.... so this takes me to the end of my base board journey as I have now finally built the correct base board for me and this is around the outer edge of the garage wall and its 18ft x 17ft x 3ft











I have also made this higher than the old layout as this makes it much easer to work on... now I know there are some out there that will say 3ft deep is to deep for the base board but the track will not be 3 feet away from the edge this is 3ft deep to allow me to develop scenery on the wall edge of the layout and will be built up first... well that's the plan in my head anyway

Now for control...

I have been using the Bachmann Dynamis Pro system with 5 receivers for almost 2 years and I find this to be more than adequate for my needs I have mounted it on the ceiling of the garage in a star configuration and this works really well this puts me at around 5 feet away from a receiver at any one time.

I have been using the Bachmann Dynamis Pro system with 5 receivers for almost 2 years and I find this to be more than adequate for my needs I have mounted it on the ceiling of the garage in a star configuration and this works really well this puts me at around 5/6 feet away from a receiver at any one time and I have been using this system being much further away from the base unit/receivers this without any issues.



This all gives me 4 areas now to work on and to date these will be a TMD area 10ft x 3 ft a Station area 12ft x 3ft a container yard 9ft x 3ft and a forth area 8ft x 3ft that I'm not quite sure what to do with yet....

Sorry for the long post but its been a while the links below are the link to my first layout and a link to my test track.

http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index...p;hl=anthony566

http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index...p;hl=anthony566

 

[Rhiwderin_Ray]

Hi Anthony

A very neat and robust job. Plenty of storage too!

Looking forward to regular updates !

 

[Jack P]

WOW! lots of space! Wish I had the room to just START something!

will be watching yours and pretending it's mine

- Jack

 

[David Todd]

Oi.......Am SOOOOOOO............ disappionted You said on the phone you had laid the track................
Ave waited all these weeks..just to see base boards, what you been doin man....!!!

No seriously....Looking good, bet your pleased with the time and effort you have taken to go with this, well done.........

Don't want to see any more, thanksssss.............

 

[Anthony566]

Thanks guys ....

DT ... What can I say ..... I do have track down on the TMD section and photo's will follow as soon as my Cobalts arrive as I have decided to go with DCC Concepts DCC point motors for all my points

 

[David Todd]

QUOTE DT ... What can I say ..
Oh...lost your northern humour.......sorry.........

 

[Anthony566]

who me ??? never

 

[Capt Jango]

Great to see how this layout has developed from the previous one , looking forward to seeing it develop further .
Thanks

Graham

 

[DanceMaster]

Keep up the good work Anthony and keep the pictures rolling in !

 

[Mercator II]

from a fellow garage dweller, looking mighty fine there Anthony, makes me want to move house so I can have a double garage

thanks for the update, really looking to see how this developes

 

[Anthony566]

How time fly's ......

Sorry for the lack of updates but I have been working on my layout as and when work stops interfering with it ...

I have almost completed laying the track in the Container yard and have started on the raised area at the back and right hand corner of this section.

I have fixed backboards to the wall in this area ready to take the back scene and yesterday completed installing a lift up section to complete the base board so now there is nothing but time stopping me completing complete lines round the layout.

Also today I received my first batch of DCC Concepts Digital Cobalt point motors and switches as I will be setting these up to be able to be controlled via DCC command and by push switches ...... Well that's the plan anyway

I know photo's are a must so I will take some and upload them over the weekend.

 

[David Todd]

QUOTE time fly's....... time stopping Am/was just about to book the train,for the trip up home, al,hang on till the clocks are fixed...man..!!

Stop watchin Dr. Who.....

Good to hear of an update A.....also about the Cobalts'

 

[Anthony566]

For this final version of my layout I decided to use DCC Concept digital point motors ( other motors are available ) my reason for doing this was based on a few things
1, all in one dcc decoder and motor
2, setup of the travel is very easy
3, I can control these point motors via DCC and push switches via a local control panel

I have NEVER used motors on points before so this is really my first ever attempt at doing this and there was an air of doubt that I could get these set in the right place etc etc.

I created a small test bench to first work out how to set these up and installing and getting one working took 10 minutes ( I was surprised at this ) This was made from 2 6" bits of 3"by 2" as legs and a 12" length of mdf with 2 points on it.

The first thing I worked out is the reason you can buy adhesive pads for these motors as this allows you to hang the motor in the correct place and have both hands free so I used double sided sticky tape to do this as this left me with 2 free hands to screw the point motor in place this will be needed when working under my base board.

Putting the point motor in place is the hardest thing you will do when installing these DCC Concepts point motors as everything else from this point forward is ssssoooooo easy I kept thinking there must be more to it than this as once you connect a red and black wire from your DCC bus and moved the white switch to the setup position then assign an address via your DCC control system ( I used a Dynamis Pro ) put the white switch back to the running position that's it your good to go.

So as a first time DCC Concepts customer well done DCC Concepts.... Only 52 point motors to go

 

[Big Dave]

Hi have just read this from the start you have loads of room to play with and the layout boards look good and strong,Its nice to have that width should make a very good layout in time.

 

[David Todd]

QUOTE installing these DCC Concepts point motors as everything else from this point forward is ssssoooooo easy I kept thinking there must be more,

pages on dt's computer,...too copy, but he has them locked off.............

Well Done..A

 

[David Todd]

Must be

Was it something I said ?....

or are you still reading the,Quick Install Cobalt manual........

No offence Richard, only trying to get a reply and pics..............

 

[Anthony566]

Hi dt

... I have some photo's to load ill get them up ASAP

I have completed all the track in the container yard and have put a local engine Depot for the container yard loco's.

I have also started to lay the main lines through the TMD area and across the very odd shaped lift up section ... This has tested my track laying skills to the point where I now know I don't have any lol but hay ho that's half the fun.

I'm useing a Hornby Pendelino to test my track as this is the longest loco/carriage I have and this is also the most temperamental item of running stock I have so I'm going with that as my test plan as if this works everything else will

Tested all my cobalts on my test bed and all work just fine with there default ID

I have another 12 comming from your supplier so they should be here next week I think.

Sorry for the lack of photos.

 

[David Todd]

Mooring A................QUOTE Anthony566..... Posted Yesterday, 11:47 PM

See the Station clocks are still wrong up there............It's 0715 hrs here.

QUOTE I have some photo's to load ill get them up ASAP
oh good, So where are they ?.....it's been 7 hours since you posted........!!!!!

QUOTE This has tested my track laying skills to the point where I now know I don't have any lol but hay ho that's half the fun.
See why you have been off line for awhile........This must have taken ages for you to get just right..for your WCML

This looks great, esp. for the pendilino, fine cv tuning might sort it, I have 3 HS1' s to sort...........

QUOTE comming from your supplier
Shh !.....

QUOTE Sorry for the lack of photos............Just will have to wait..until daylight returns... in your area...........

 

[Big Dave]

QUOTE (David Todd @ 4 Sep 2012, 06:23) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Mooring A.......

This looks great, esp. for the pendilino, fine cv tuning might sort it, I have 3 HS1' s to sort...........

I never new there was a life like version of Hornby flex e track.

 

[Anthony566]

ok now for some photos...

I decided to go with a lift up section but its quite an odd shap so that had me scratching my head for a while but I got there in the end....

in place...



up right... i still need to create a rest for the wall to hold it in place when in this position.