Thornton

Hi Jim

I don't see any problem saving the buildings, they are only lightly tacked down. All the track is held in place with water soluble glue. A small amount of water and it lifts quite easily. Any rebuild will have to compromise what I want and what is possible. In the last few years the amont of time I can spent on my knees at a time is greatly reduced.

At the start, I said I would include warts and all.
When the layout was built I tried to keep the gradients to 1 in 60, but on the way down to the storage yard I reduced it to 1 in 30. What could possibly go wrong down the slope. Well quite a bit, with a curve at the bottom any hesitation by the loco and the weight of the stock behind it will make a bogie jump the curve. Putting a cant on the track improved this, but then cause a problem as the loco's were not level when they reached the first set of points. I eventually managed a compromise after filming what was happening a dozen times, but trains have to enter the yard at a very slow speed.
This is all in a very confined area.

Just to give you an idea of the space I have filmed the bit you don't normally see on a layout. The quality is a bit poor becase of the light. but it does show some of the problems of access.




The wiring started off quite neat, and has not cause any trouble but adding lighting and modifications have made a bit of a rats nest of it. Of all the point motors and there are lots of them, only 1 is a problem, every now and then it forgets what it is and I have to address it again. There is one I caught with a jigsaw and cut through the outer casing, it works perfectly.
I have used Kadee coupling for a long time, this was the first time I have used under board magnets. They seem more powerful and cause many unintentional uncouplings especially on stock with steel axals. A problem I have not had with the surface mounted ones.

On a brighter note. The rebuld will have the main terminus in the middle of the room and I will make the boards a little narrower, to ease access. I hope to find some back scenes that are suitable, something I have regretted not doing from the start. Any idea's on suitable ones for the late 1950's townscape will be helpful. It proved impossible the fit them once I made the boards so wide and started adding fragile details. There will be more town and less landscape, so lots of chances to make more buildings.

As with most people I have more stock, than is nessesay, so some carriage sidings and a goods yard away from the terminus will be provides somewhere around the outside. Much to look forward to..

3 Months of planning before I do anything. So if anyone is in the area (Littlehampton not far from Gaugemaster) and you fancy some tea and biscuits. Any one over 4 years old is allowed to operate the layout. Sent me a message and we will arrange something. I am happy to meet you at Angmering station if you are coming by train.

All for now

Derek

Hi Derek That view is amazing from the point of view of the amount of work that you have put into it all it . I can see why you would have difficulty in accessing things underneath . I am nearing retirement and have a physical job which keeps me reasonably fit but the last couple of years I find aches and pains and when kneeling is fine till I have to get back up . I am considering carrying on for a couple of years part time rather than just stop working. Planning my layout I am trying to get things right so I'm looking and listening to those like you so maybe I can reduce the amount of mistakes I make though I'm sure I will. One reason for building a shed rather than use a loft is the years to come when climbing a ladder through a loft hatch becomes a dodgy prospect . You know Peco do town backscenes I can't remember where I have seen this but one guy using them cut some of the near buildings out and mounted them on card then replaced them giving some depth to whole thing. I don't know if thats any help but might be worth some experimentation . Jim

Well I got sucked into a special offer from Hattons and brought a midland resurant car...

I knew it was on older model, but surely it should be in the railroad range. Large D couplings, plastic wheels and it rides about 2mm too high. Still gives me someting to do..



If anyone has modified one of these I would appreciate any suggestions. Fitting Kadee couplings should be fun..

Derek

Hi

First I measured the wheels with a vernier gauge, 13.7mm. I replaced them with Slaters 12.7 mm ones, following that I filed 1mm off the bogie pivots the coach is now 1.5mm lower. I cannot take any more off the pivots without running into problems with wheels hitting the sole bar on the curves.



Here it is with a Bachmann mk1 on the right and a porthole coach on the left. It is still a fraction high, but looks ok with the mk1 from the normal viewing distance



More obvious close up.



Still not right against the porthole coach.

Look like it it will run in a rake of mk1's. I will test it around the layout later today.

Still not tackled the sloppy bogies on the Gresley full brake. I will have to work out how to replace the pivot with some sort of nut and bolt.

All for now

Derek

Derek Goodwin said:

Hi

First I measured the wheels with a vernier gauge, 13.7mm. I replaced them with Slaters 12.7 mm ones, following that I filed 1mm off the bogie pivots the coach is now 1.5mm lower. I cannot take any more off the pivots without running into problems with wheels hitting the sole bar on the curves.

View attachment 20952

Here it is with a Bachmann mk1 on the right and a porthole coach on the left. It is still a fraction high, but looks ok with the mk1 from the normal viewing distance

View attachment 20953

More obvious close up.

View attachment 20955

Still not right against the porthole coach.

Look like it it will run in a rake of mk1's. I will test it around the layout later today.

Still not tackled the sloppy bogies on the Gresley full brake. I will have to work out how to replace the pivot with some sort of nut and bolt.

All for now

Derek

Click to expand...

Hi

It's been a while since I posted , but I always pop on the site regularly.

Well the layout is still here, and I hav'nt decided on it's replacement yet. In the mean time a new loco has appeared, the Hornby 9F.



It's dimensions are slightly different from the Bachmann one behind it, I don't know which is correct.

It has been weathered byTMC and I have added Youchose sound. easy enough to do, I removed the speaker holder in the tender (only held in place by double sided tape) which allowed a speaker 3 time as large. The tricky bit is adding working lamps. Why use a 21 pin decoder when there are only connections for a speaker, seems daft to me. I soldered the wires to the base of the relavent pins and theaded the wire through the loco, filing a small slot for the wires at the front of the chassis.

Anyway here is a video of it in action

Derek

Hi

Still have not been able to settle on a new track plan to rebuild the layout so it remain much as it was. I have traded in three loco's and replaced them with more appropriate ones.

The new heljan class 45 from TMC, a Bachmann class 24/1 and a second hand unrebuilt Bachmann Patriot.

The class 45's haulage capacity is very impressive. The only new loco's I am waiting for this year are the Hornby Black Five and Heljan's class 104 DMU if they ever appear.

In the meantime here are a few more shots around the layout and a video of the class 45.

Class 24/1 on a local service



2MT tank leaving the branch terminus.




Class 25 on a friegh service



Patriot Royal Signals relagated to fright service.



4MT waiting to depart the goods yard with a mixed frieght.



Fairburn tank wait ti depart with an empty banna vans.




and finally the class 45 video.



All for now Derek