Having had the core low level fiddle yard and station trackwork more or less complete for over a month now, I've been doing an awful lot of operation to test things work as they should. I'm really thinking of the design concepts here, not whether the point motors actually throw reliably, although I have found a couple of the latter that can be a bit belligerent on occasions. I know some people can come up with flawless trackplans first time around, but I've rebuilt the fiddle yard at least twice so far in order to get something I'm happy with. Playing trains is a vital part of the testing process - after all, it's what the layout was built for.
The only major problem I've come up with is the absence of a crossover between the fast & slow lines at the fiddle yard exit. This isn't required for proper operation of the layout, but will be a boon when marshalling stock between sessions - the couple of loose Peco points and short length of connecting track in the photo show roughly where it will live. Also of note is the timber framework over this area which will one day support a small 'daughter board' layout. For comparison purposes a slightly older view of this area can be seen here.
A few words about the various test trains might be in order. The layout is designed to run with two sets of stock, one representing the late 1970s scene and the other depicting fairly recent times, 2000 or possibly a little later. Seen here is a 1970s test train - a Bachmann Class 25 hauling a train of 50 coal wagons. This corporate blue era is now fairly well supported by the trade and I have no doubt that I will be able to model it successfully using available kits, RTR models and a little bit of bodging.
The photo well illustrates something I've mentioned before, the fact that the layout is designed to be viewed along the tracks in a way that a bridge-hanger or platform-ender would see the real thing. Visitors' reactions to this concept can be interesting, some cotton on pretty quickly while others spend an hour peering through the mass of roofing timbers in a vain attempt to get an exhibition-style side on view. Presumably they're trying to recapture a youth spent linesiding in the Forest of Dean.
The same viewpoint here features year 2000 stock, a Lima Class 60 on a rake of 20 Bachmann JGA wagons. The use of the phrase 'on a rake' instead of 'hauling' is deliberate as the photo has been posed for the camera. The toy-like mechanisms fitted to Lima locos aren't able to pull significant trains of heavier wagons such as these. Even when I've fitted twin power bogies, extra weight and reduced the train lengths the erratic and unreliable operation of these crude pancake motors renders them useless for serious operation. For testing purposes I've been hauling this train with a couple of Bachmann Class 25s.
The modern modeller is very poorly served by the trade. I'm able to put together a fairly convincing passenger service, but freight is a dead loss at the moment - even though there are some nice modern wagons now on the market there's nothing to pull them. Most of my modern stock is now packed away until such time as a convincing and operable Class 60 and/or Class 66 fleet becomes a reality. I have had a lot of fun experimenting with the computer control of the local multiple unit services, I will admit, but that alone isn't going to hold my interest.
A simlar problem exists with this Hornby Class 92 on a rake of 20 Bachmann intermodal flats - it'll just sit there and spin it's wheels without moving the train an inch. Some of the other Hornby electrics (Classes 86 & 90) can be usefully double-motored, but the 92s feature a particularly shoddy motor bogie that even when paired isn't up too much. The enthusiastic butcherer might like to try fitting a Heljan Class 47 chassis under a Class 92 body. The wheel diameter is spot on, the bogie wheelbase is out by a gnat's whisker and the chassis design lends itself to the lengthening required. A serious amount of metal will, however, have to be removed from the famously wide TubbyDuff chassis before the Class 92 body will fit over it.
During testing this train has in reality been hauled by a pair of American SD40-2 diesels.
The very pair of SD40-2 diesels that have been uncomplainingly doing what their UK cousins fail to manage are seen here hauling a rake of 25 US wagons for a change. The silky smooth way in which these moderately priced locos will effortlessly shift a long train around the layout is either inspirational or depressing, depending on your point of view.
From time-to-time I receive e-mails from kind souls who suggest that I could have everything I want if only I'd knuckle down and get on with a healthy bit of scratchbuilding, in a similar way that my grandfather strongly believed a good dose of National Service and a sensible haircut would put the world back on course within 24 hours. I'm sure they're happy in their hobby. I think their carers are doing an absolutely smashing job. But I don't think I'm going to build much of a busy mainline railway spanning two eras without the help of some nice chaps with injection moulding machines. I'm trying to build my trainset in my lifetime. And on this planet.....
