A couple of new Bachmann arrivals today. The first is the 37-302A 'EFS' intermodal/container set.
Students of trivia will note that the two containers in the 37-301A 'Axis' pack sport different livery variations, as well as running on black-painted wagons.
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No progress today as my car had a hospital appointment and Fiona needed servicing. Or was it the other way round? Never mind, it's been one of those days when I can't remember what I've gone into the kitchen for.
But to give you something to look at, here's a photo of a US locomotive, a GP30 from the Proto 2000 range. No, I'm not going back to US modelling, but the photo was taken for someone who is.
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I picked up a selection of Roco HO European wagons at the Derby exhibition yesterday, one of which might be of interest to UK modellers as it's currently being advertised by Howes of Oxford. Pictured is the twin Cargowaggon concerned, positioned between two Bachmann VGAs for comparison purposes.
Although these things aren't correct for a 4mm UK layout I know many modellers do find them better than nothing at all. For what it's worth, my excuse is they're to go with some of my European stock...
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It's been a long and tiring day today, taking in the Derby Exhibition as well as Stenson Junction, Peak Forest and Bill Hudson's excellent bookshop. So for the first time in absolutely ages the layout has been used for it's intended purpose - a little relaxing operation.
Here a Bachmann Voyager passes through what will be the station area, with some crude retaining walls providing a temporary screen where roof timbers would otherwise intrude.
One pleasant change from the steady procession of Voyagers at Stenson Junction this morning was 47792 "Robin Hood" whisking some rugby fans off to Cardiff. I've always found this popular location completely uninspiring, but I suppose in this instance it was a worthwhile stop on the way to the exhibition.
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With the lower fiddle yard complete some thought needs to be given to the surrounding areas. The first photo shows the entrance roads to the yard on the left and the two return tracks on the right, where the two Class 25s are passing on the slow line.
The layout is designed to be viewed 'along-the-tracks' to replicate what an enthusiast might see from a platform or lineside fence. I must confess this is forced upon me by the loft structure, but now I've accepted these limitations I've taken to the approach like a duck to water. The down side, however, is being able to see straight into the fiddle yard.
Note the DMUs in the two outer roads - these are queueing in the new DCC-controlled short-berth sections, awaiting their turn to pop out of the other end.
The solution to this line-of-sight problem is to create a view block. In this instance it will be a combination of the sweeping curves of the four-track mainline and some carefully positioned industrial buildings, one of which is seen here for testing purposes. I didn't want to resort to tunnels or bridges at this location.
The reason the Class 25s are in service on a rake of JGA hoppers, by the way, is the chronic motive power shortage faced by modellers of the current scene. I'd love a decent Class 66 or a 60 with a dependable chassis - the Lima offerings just aren't up to the job. A lone Bachmann 25, on the other hand, will haul a 60 wagon coal train up every gradient I've got with consumate ease.
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For the first time since the layout began the lower fiddle yard is fully armed and operational. 9 through roads exist, 2 of which are now divided into 5 sections for multiple units. The remainder hold 2 full-length rakes each, giving a total storage capacity of 24 trains. Comparison with the previous photo will show where the baseboard extension was added to squeeze in the inner road.
There is still work to be done (the wiring is my usual 'temporary' mess and some of the gaps need filling with sleepers) but the design has performed well over several hours of testing. Fill a siding with 5 DMUs and they will shuffle along quite nicely to take the place of the departure in front....
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Today was supposed to see the completion of the lower fiddle yard. Although the yard has long been operational, up to now 3 out of the 4 slow loops have been incomplete. Additionally, one fast and one slow line needed to be divided into multiple sections to enable automatic operation of more multiple units.
Work on the exit half of the yard proceeded according to plan, but the entrance roads shown in the photograph have caused problems. Because the roof of the house is not quite symmetrical the four roads will not quite fit through the gap between the roof timbers whilst maintaining the desired 30 inch minimum radius. An extension to the baseboard will have to be fitted in the corner above the Stanley Knife - as it stands there is less operational track in this area than when I started this morning.
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Yet more wiring! Oh joy! Exactly the same combination of Lenz components as yesterday to provide another set of eight track circuits.
For a change I've unscrewed the drop-board from the layout and taken it downstairs to wire up. This gives me the opportunity to work in a more pleasant environment and listen to some music (the most excellent Porcupine Tree being my current obsession) at the same time.
Unfortunately it also gives me the distraction of the computer, which means I've spent most of the day chatting to various modellers using MS Messenger rather than getting any work done.
For those bored with interminable shots of wiring, here is an intermission:
Fliss, our smallest cat, inexplicably likes to cuddle up with the largest of the dogs. None of the animals have taken an interest in model railways, I'm ashamed to say, I put this down to Fiona's bad influence....
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More wiring completed today. Actually most of the wiring was already in place and I was just awaiting the arrival of some more Lenz block-detection modules to fit in place and connect up. These boards provide track-circuiting for the new northern approach to the station and the first part of the hidden mainline climbing to the middle level.
Unfortunately what I thought would be a quick job took substantially longer than expected as I'd got some of the wiring wrong. That'll teach me not to try and be clever...
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For a change I'm assembling a building or two to populate the skyline and this particular industrial structure is one of many excellent kits in the Walthers Cornerstone range. US structures are well worth investigating if you find the UK equivalents tiny and twee. This is actually part of the "Superior Paper Co" kit but will end up being just another anonymous urban structure on the layout. It isn't, as one wag has already suggested, a bombed out presidential palace.
The coffee mug is holding a slightly warped roof panel in place until the solvent dries...
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The new hidden mainline is seen here on the left, climbing above the lower fiddle yard. Some levelling is still required in the distance, but the extra 100 feet of mainline already enables me to remove all trains from the yard for maintenance purposes. Today I've given the whole area a thorough clean and a long-overdue vacuuming. I also took the opportunity to fit individual sleepers in the gaps at the end of each length of flex-track - overkill for a fiddle yard I suppose, but the gaps annoy me in photographs.
Apologies to anyone expecting to see proper diesels & electrics. The steam loco is a momentary lapse of reason as the empty yard proved ideal for test-running stock not normally seen on the layout....
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Well, after about 6 weeks I've pretty much got the hidden line working - all track is fixed in position and fully wired. Some minor tweeks to the level will be required, hence the blue clamps visible in the photo, but once I'm happy with everything the final screws will replace these useful devices.
The first train to test the gradient consisted of 30 MGR hoppers behind one of the original Mainline Class 56s, a model that has quite impressive haulage capabilities despite it's seemingly crude mechanism. I find equivalent products from Hornby & Lima entirely useless for shifting realistic trains up even moderate gradients, but the curiously lightweight 56s are consistently dependable workhorses.
Something I always struggle with is train lengths. What is prototypically correct doesn't necessarily look right on a layout and some fiddling is normally required to produce a convincing effect. I'm not happy with any of the freight rakes I've assembled so far - the intermodals appear too long, for example, while the JGAs look too short. The merry-go-round coal trains, as seen here, fortunately aren't that far off the mark.
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More of the same today. Another batch of wagons under way, courtesy of the good people at Cambrian and Parkside.
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You don't get a layout built by messing around with wagon kits. Unfortunately, as a confirmed wagophiliac, that has always been my downfall. So I've been fairly single-minded over the last year or two, using my free time to construct the layout and not play with rolling stock, but you can only go so long without a four-wheeled fix.....
Some of the items going through Telford Wagon Works at the moment are the Parkside Rudds, Clams and Grampii pictured on the left. Only the basic bodyshells are assembled so far.
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Things are back in 1970s mode now, compare this view with that taken on 23/02/03. The track is now fixed in place and wired, although as you can see many of the wires are dangling in space rather than feeding into the main bus. The 47-hauled parcels train is climbing the (planned to be) hidden mainline from the lower level, while the sidings to the left are for temporary stock storage only. They're not fixed down and use some spare Peco medium radius points that I wouldn't normally tolerate on a layout as they're almost right angle bends!
One problem with taking quick snaps with a compact camera is the harsh flash highlights details that I just about manage to ignore in real life. The ribs on top of the Bachmann Mk1 coaches are particularly irritating, even though fiddling with rolling stock isn't part of the immediate plan. But I'm soooooooooo tempted.......
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There have been no updates to these pages for three weeks now because my free time has been spent tinkering with O gauge. I've mainly been assembling Parkside wagons (BR minerals and Grampii) but I've also whipped out some of my older stuff for a quick fondle. A rather dusty example is seen here - even this small Johnson 0-4-4T looks huge next to a 4mm Voyager.
This brief 7mm fling is just to give me a breather - there's only so much wiring and tracklaying I can do before I start talking to myself and develop a twitch. Wibble.
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This Roco RENFE 391.2 diesel turned up yesterday morning and comes ready-fitted with a DCC sound chip providing authentic GM sound. So what's an Austrian model of a Spanish diesel doing on a UK layout? Simple - the sound chip will be transplanted into the Lima Class 67 lurking behind it.
I'm having a bad camera day. 24 attempts at this shot produced only this one in focus effort where the flash wasn't too intense. Compact cameras and I just don't get on....
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A half complete cut-and-splice job on a Hornby APT car. The bodyshell consists of three main components. The undersides are a single grey moulding below the red band. The top half includes the roof and the red band plus a few structural members in between. Finally the glazing is a single transparent strip over which the dark grey and the silver window frames are painted.
You can easily see where the cuts are made in the underframe and the glazing strip to splice 2 vehicles together, less obvious is the hacking to the top section. Look for the small grey section towards the left of the red band, above which plastic has to be removed to accommodate the full length glazing strip.
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This weekend I've been remodelling the station throat to accomodate the main line extension I started last Sunday. The north end of the station shown here is, strictly speaking, off-stage and will be hidden under an urban area in the fullness of time. An overall roof to the left of this photo will give the illusion of the station continuing in a straight line while the track actually turns around the end of the loft as seen.
Pointwork in this area originally supported a temporary fiddle yard and needed altering to fit the new main line. A facing crossover has now become a more prototypical trailing crossover and various alignments have been fine-tuned. Much work remains to be done including a complete rewiring - I've fitted drop panels at the rear of the board to support this next job.
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