[Dre64]

Hi everyone.

I am about to start building my new 00-gauge layout (finally).
It's called the Shuntalot Wagon Works.
Here you will not find long trains running around, only 1 diesel shunter and many wagons.
This layout has two section, a sliding fiddle yard and a 240x50cm baseboard.
The baseboard has to be removable so we can use the table for other hobbies.
This 60cm fiddle yard can store max 7 wagons on each track.

Trackwork will be made of 00-gauge Peco Bullhead track.
Tracks in the sliding fiddle yard will be made out of aluminium strips.
And a manual operated 20cm turntable. This is also a little DIY project.

The is my final trackplan, very simple with only 1 also manual operated (push rod) turnout.

The available space.

Here the plans are presented to the people living near the Shuntalot Wagon Works.
I hope we can hire them so now and then, many pictures are to be made in the future.
Looks much nicer with some humans in it.

André

 

[Prescotian]

Interesting idea for a shunting layout. I have always wanted to have a try. I have a turntable and a few old points. At my age, i try to recycle as much as I can these days and of course space is a premium. This sort of layout would be brilliant fro me when visiting my grand son! I will keep an eye out for reports of your progress!

 

[Dre64]

Hi Prescotian, thanks.
I think my turntable is going to be well used, it's the centerpiece of this little layout.

A little update.
Made a 20 cm hole for the turntable and put a nice coat of primer on the baseboard.

Next update is about the sliding fiddle yard which i already made a month ago.

 

[34C]

The layout lacks a run around loop, which means the only way to move a wagon into the works building is to have the single loco pull it in, which will trap the loco at the right hand end of one of the wagon works tracks. Unless you plan to 'crane shunt' the loco to the closed end of the fiddle yard tracks of course.

There is plenty of space on the track between the fiddle yard and the point to put in a loop, but two more points will be required for that.

 

[Dre64]

Hi,
I know what you mean but for what i have in mind the plan is ok.
This layout is of course not based on the real thing, i hope to use it more like a shunting puzzle.
When the wagon works is full of wagons i have to assemble 7 wagons on the lower track.
The wagons are randomly chosen by shuffling cards.
That means that sometimes the shunter has to pull out some wagons to get to the wagons at the end.
Hence the name Shuntalot .
These wagons are then pussed back in the fiddle yard and so on.
The short track near the turnout can only hold 1 loco and 3 wagons, the turntable 1 loco and 1 wagon.

André

 

[Dre64]

This update is all about the sliding fiddle yard.

The materials have arrived.

Several pieces of aluminium 10x2mm strip and some 15x15mm angle.

Here the builders are using some M3 screws and M3 spacers to create the buffer stops.

A 60x20cm white furniture board is used for the sliding part of the fiddle yard.
And double sided tape to attach the alu profiles.

M3 screws make the electrical connection to the sliding part.

The little M3 nuts are tiny compared to my large hands, the builders have another opinion i'll guess .

The end result, now i can safely store all rolling stock and focus on the "real" layout.
Here you also see the wires connected to both pieces of aluminium angle.

That's it for now, more pictures this weekend.

André

 

[kristopher1805]

Like the ERF truck just hope it has a Gardner engine possibly a 6LX 10.45 litre jobbie at 150 b.h.p back then.

 

[Dre64]

Hi Kristopher,
I asked the driver and he said he bought it at Oxford Diecast.
Forgot to ask about the engine but i hope it's a beefy one, we still have tons of materials to move.

And we made a little progress on the layout.

Hurray, the first pieces of track are laid.
First the turnout and some slots for the Kadee magnets.

And a after quite a while the first meters of Bullhead track are in place.

It's a bit time consuming but when finished the new Peco Bullhead track looks great.
The turnout is also very lovely, i'm happy.

More to come soon,

André

 

[Prescotian]

Wow, I am impressed with what you have done so far. I am afraid that I am a bit old school with my materials etc, but that's what progress in prototype and model type is all about!

 

[Dre64]

Hi,

Past few weeks i tried to do some work on the layout.
But the management of our household thought it was a good idea to paint some rooms, hobbyroom included.
These jobs are finished now so the build can continue.

The freshly painted room, finally got rid of the baby blue walls.
Here you can also see the first knobs to operate the turnout and magnetic uncouplers.
On the far left two old school din connectors (Prescotian will like this).
One for the 12v power supply and one to connect the fiddle yard.

The manually operated turnout.
Short video on my Youtube channel

The black wires are used to provide power to the turnout frog, not connected yet.

Next job to do is installing the controller, i want to see my little shunter drive again.
The turntable is also on it's way, when in place i can see the right angle for the remaining tracks.
Can't wait to nail the rest of the tracks.

Next update this weekend, stay tuned.

André

 

[kristopher1805]

Not to worry, the faster you get jobs done for the House boss the faster she will find further jobs, try to be like Clarkson and make a bad job of it and slowly, I mostly drag it out cos I know there are more jobs coming on behind, the idea you can get ahead and beat the clock is not viable. - Good luck.

 

[Dre64]

Not to worry, the faster you get jobs done for the House boss the faster she will find further jobs, try to be like Clarkson and make a bad job of it and slowly, I mostly drag it out cos I know there are more jobs coming on behind, the idea you can get ahead and beat the clock is not viable. - Good luck.

Great timing.
Yesterday we watched the final episode of Clarkson's Farm, always a joy to see him making a mess of things.

 

[Dre64]

Here's a "little" update on a project i've been working on for a while, the manually operated turntable.
For the turntable's well i used a 200mm drainage end cap.
The visible bottom of the well is made of a piece of pre painted 3mm mdf.
Used some elbow grease to create a 200mm disk with a saw, file and sandpaper.
It's not perfect but close enough.

The ring rail and shortened sleepers:
I used the sleepers and rail from a Peco code 75 flextrack to make this ring.
A paper template marks the correct angle of the sleepers.

The sleepers glued on

The next part worried me a bit, didn't know if the rail would slide through easily.
But it was much easier than i expected.

The rail pre bent in shape

The rail sliding in counter clockwise, almost there.

Used a sharp wire cutter to snip the rail to the right lenght.

Added some spacers to adjust the correct hight of the turntable. Maybe a bit overdone but i have this stuff laying around in our workshop so why not use it (for free ).

The bronze bearing will be glued in the hole.

Here's also a bearing glued in the centre.

Two pieces of aluminium strip are glued together to create the base of the rotating bridge and the two pieces
of pvc make it slide nicely over the track.
A hollow threaded M10 rod is used to create the axle.
The feeding wires for the track on the bridge are run through this hollow rod.

Made a kind of reel with a plastic disk sandwiched between two somewhat larger aluminium disks.
The little rope will be run through the side of the turntable and to the front of the base board.
This way i can rotate the turntable by pulling the strings (if all goes well).

Ready for assembly

The reel also mounted in place.

Dry fitting the turntable

I'm quite pleased with the result so far.
Next week i hope to glue the turntable in place and start with the electrics.

 

[Julian2011]

Great timing.
Yesterday we watched the final episode of Clarkson's Farm, always a joy to see him making a mess of things.

Agreed... and an even bigger joy to see the words "final episode".

Julian

 

[Dre64]

Hi, back again.
Found some time to do some work on my little layout.
The turntable is finally glued in place.
The tracks to the turnout are not fixed yet, just layed them down to see if it looks right.

This weekend i hope to make the slots for the uncouplers and fixing the tracks.

 

[Dre64]

We had a productive weekend at the Shuntalot Wagon Works.
The builders have started with the slots for the uncouplers.

Looks like a job well done.

The slots are covered with a thin piece of transparent plastic sheet.

All tracks are nailed to the baseboard now.
The Peco Bullhead is great but it's very time consuming, never spend so much time before on laying a few meters of track.
I'm pleased with the result so far.
Next job is the electrics.
Because i am running on old fashioned DC and like to have more shunters on this layout i have to disconnect the power on some of the tracks.
The plan is to switch all 8 tracks connected to the turntable on or off.
What have i got myself into.

That's all for now.