Progress (or otherwise) on Jeff's new layout

It's an improvement. Can you get a rattle can of white and spray some clouds on?

:pedal

:doublethumb

Marty

A few rather diverse arrivals have been seen at Newton Broadway.

For the 1950s to '70s, I bought some Dapol 6-wheel Unigate Creameries milk tankers. While these are probably not as good as the Hornby models, they are at least obtainable, and also a bit cheaper. A couple of them are seen here with a Bachmann N class 2-6-0, 31860, which I have heavily weathered.






For the more current scene (1990s, possibly 2000s), Bachmann's EWS inspection saloon lobbed in today. I have posed it with EWS 33 030. This locomotive came from Heljan's earlier class 33/0 mouldings with the somewhat flattened roof profile and slight "shoulders" to the edges of the cab roofs. I have filed the cab roof profile down a bit towards the sides, then repainted them.

I have been laying a little more track in the fiddle yard of the upper level. It doesn't look like much, but this represents an afternoon's work!






The two 4 CEP units were on the line to gauge the length I need for the two units plus an MLV. 

Note: the concrete footbridge in the bottom corner of the photo doesn't belong there. It was 'parked' there to get it out of the way while work progressed on the upper level.

Just a little more done this morning, straight after getting up.​

The tracks are only lightly pinned at the moment, to allow for adjustments when I test the clearances properly.




Still more to go, but doing a bit at a time eventually gets the job done.

And a few more from today's track laying sessions.








And one, just for fun, showing my Bachmann SECR C class 0-6-0 with a 17 wagon pre-grouping goods train on the viaducts along the front edge of the layout.




I think that's my lot for today. I have a bit more work to do tidying up both the layout and the train room (not to mention the house), in preparation for the BRMA meeting I am hosting this Saturday.

It's amazing, Jeff.

I can remember seeing it as an empty room.

How long ago was that?

Around 6½ years ago, and 25 of the forum pages, Max. :)

This one is new sound-fitting from a sound supplier I hadn't tried before. This is a quick video done on my HTC phone to give a taster for YouChoos's SR S15 sounds, which I have just fitted into a Hornby S15 4-6-0. The Zimo MX645 decoder plugs straight into the 8-pin socket in the tender, although there is not a lot of room in there with the large-ish decoder and a speaker plus the wiring harness and weight block. To be fair, the weight is shaped to allow a 28mm round speaker to fit in over a moulded grille in the base of the tender. 

The 23mm QSI high-bass speaker I have used is adequate but no more than that. I will be trying out a 28mm high-bass one soon, and sealing it in better too. Once I'm happy with the sound quality, I'll post a better video with more of the sound functions featured. I do like the YouChoos sounds though; it's just the speaker installation that is not doing it justice at present.

Once I can try out the larger speaker (it hasn't arrived, yet, from DCC Supplies), I'll see if I can also fit the supplied "keep alive" capacitor in.

I chose YouChoos after hearing DougN's LNER Q6. I have to say that John, of YouChoos, was extremely helpful and friendly, with lots of useful advice regarding the installation.

https://youtu.be/kd1HRxKyf2g

liked the vid , soundis ok too , will have to look into that site,thanks
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen

The sound is good, but needs a little more bass, which I hope to introduce with the bigger speaker and better sealing of the sound compartment. I may also add a sugar cube speaker in parallel to get the higher sounds balanced with the bass.

Now, for something a little different, here's a video showing Hogwarts Castle on the Hogwarts Express, with its lighting effects fully operational now, after a short programming session using JMRI's Decoder Pro software.

https://youtu.be/tHImAHFGIfs


Next, I'll have to fit lighting in the coaches, won't I? :)

And, to round things off, when Hogwarts Castle stalled, typically right in the far reaches of my tunnels, I sent a Heljan Hymek in to push the dead loco and train out. I videoed this partly in response to a query on another forum regarding Heljan's Hymeks, to show the prodigious haulage power of these mechanisms, as well as the smoothness and quietness of them.

The Hymek pushed the dead train out, then, after I revived the Castle, I set it off forwards with the Hymek anchoring the train, so the Castle just slipped instead (actually doing me a favour in cleaning and polishing the wheels!). The Hymek was then set in motion hauling the train backwards as if there was no resistance at all. All of the movements, backwards, forwards and stopping, were completely under the control of the Hymek.

I should add that the Castle is no slouch where haulage power is concerned, in spite of my altering the weights inside to leave room for the decoder and fittings.

https://youtu.be/pXVrPU4A9eo

I have updated the speaker installation in the Hornby S15 now. I had to trim some of the square base plate from the QSI 28mm hi-bass speaker to then fit it below the tender weight, which still sits a little higher than it used to - I have used some Blu-tack and black-tack to anchor it in place. The speaker itself has had all the edges sealed against the grille in the tender's baseplate so that the tender body acts as the sound chamber. It was all a very tight fit, and I thought I might have to cut a hole in the coal space to allow bits to poke through, but I *just* managed to get it all inside without any modifications.

I was so busy soldering wires and seating everything that I forgot to take any photos of the internals to show how it was all done.

I have done a new video to show off the slightly better bass response for the YouChoos sounds. Also in the video is my Hornby Q1 with a fairly recent iteration of the Howes steam sounds, which has coasting, light and heavy power sounds according to the throttle settings.

Forgive a couple of slightly shaky camera bits, but I was using my phone again. It's picture quality is not as good as my proper video camera, but it does have two microphones which give a rather nice stereo effect, and this vid is more about the sounds than about the visuals.

https://youtu.be/cm5PgZCaaKc

certainly better sound now
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen

There is still much to do with regards t tracklaying and scenery on Newton Broadway, but most of it is dependent on doing things in the right order. However, a few bits are half ready. Some time ago I made up the 'skeleton' of Newton Church Hill, and left it painted dark brown, just before a BRMA meeting. 

I seem to be hosting one BRMA meeting per year, usually in August. For the following meeting (last year), I added some road textures and pavement, with a very small amount f grass and a couple of trees, just to "beautify" it a bit. For this year's meeting, I did nothing new apart from tidying it up a bit.

It looked a bit dreary, but I haven't really finished the landscaping yet - it needs some more packing and a bit of plastering to do it properly - but I don't feel like doing the messy stuff at the moment, so I decided to do a layer of grass material to liven it up a bit until I am ready to  make a mess again. 

The results to date are shown in the photos. There is a staircase to go in leading down from the church and upper car park to the access laneway below, and I plan to do some rough stone retaining walls where the cutting is, and also at the edge of the drop from the upper car park. The lower level will become part of the cemetery.

Yet another new locomotive has arrived, although originally pre-ordered back in 2013. Model Rail Magazine's ex-Southern USATC Dock Tank 30064 has arrived from Kernow Model Rail Centre. I asked them to include a Bachmann decoder in the box, but they actually fitted the decoder as well, so many thanks to them for the extra service.

The front three-quarter view is actually stitched together from two photos with slightly different focus lengths, so forgive a couple of ragged edges - it's not the model or the modelling!






It runs nicely, although there is a very slight stiffness still, even after running in both directions on the rolling road for an hour in total. A bit more running should cure that.

The paint finish is superb. I have not added any extra bits yet, either, although you'd hardly think so to look at the detail already on the model.

A couple more shots of the USATC tank with the front folding footplate and various pipes added.

As detailed in my workbench topic, I have been working on glazing each car of my London Transport Q Stock train. Flushed with success, I have videoed the Q and CO/CP Stock trains circulating on Newton Broadway. Note, the Q Stock still doesn't have any number or fleetname transfers yet; those are the next items on the agenda.

The Q Stock train consists of the following variants: Q23 DM + Q27 T + Q23 DM + Q38 T + Q27 DM. At a later stage I want to add one more trailer (T) car, preferably of Q31 or Q35 types.

[yt]rLcCyD9YSk0[/yt]

With the ability to switch the Underground lines to DC or DCC in mind, I wired it initially with ease of isolating certain sections to allow for easier DC operation. Up until now I have had to move trains off whichever circuit I want to run on analogue to prevent them from moving while other trains run.

I have commenced the operation to incorporate isolating switches (simple on-off toggles) on all four of the station loops, plus on the branch. I succeeded in doing the two loops on the outer circuit this evening, while the switches for the inner circuit loops and branch remain unwired at the moment.

What it means currently is that I only have to shift one train to clear a track for running on DC, while I leave the other train in one of the loops (either the platform line or the passing loop).

There are a few stray bits of plastic swarf trapped behind the clear acrylic that I will have to blow out with a bit of compressed air later.

After a long hiatus, I returned to the upper level level crossing. The basic "woodwork" (actually Wills planking) has now been finished, so the next stage is to paint and weather it before fitting the gates.

Last weekend was a long weekend for we Victorians, with the Labour Day Monday holiday. that also marks the annual model railway exhibition at Sandown. DougN and I went on the Sunday, catching up with many old friends along the way, and as a result, staying a lot longer than we had anticipated. Among all the high quality layouts and traders, I ran into an old friend and fellow BRMA member from Queensland, running a trade stand as Modeller's Warehouse (http://www.modellers-warehouse.com.au/) for anyone who is interested - hoping no one objects to the free plug!), selling some rather nice trees and various high quality grass mats and scenic materials. I looked at some of these but didn't buy any straight away, preferring to come home and look to see what would fit my needs (even though ordering online would mean additional postal costs). Anyway, I ordered some rather nice Alpine Larch trees with a view to adding them to the church area, replacing a nice, but out-of-place weeping willow at the top of what I would imagine to be a fairly windswept hill.

While fiddling with that and the level crossing, which had the rail centre infills reduced in height slightly to allow easier track cleaning, I dug out some DAS clay my wife had bought me some time ago and started filling some of the gaps around the edges of Church Hill, as well as blending the levels a little better. It looks a little patchy at the moment, but it all adds up to improving and finalising the scenic aspects of that area. 

While I had the DAS out, I also filled some of the gaps in the back gardens of the terraced houses down the hill in the village, but haven't taken any photos of that area yet.

Anyway, here's Church Hill as it looks now, with further work to follow.






Such photos, while not of the highest quality (taken on my mobile phone), do show up any imperfections or items that need further attention, rather cruelly in some instances. One such example is the church steeple, which at the higher angle of the first shot can be seen to have a gap with "daylight" showing under the gutters.

p.s. I did also buy several of the Model Scenes grass mats which will add great effect to some unkempt embankments and other areas I have in mind later.

I did some 'greening' today, to reduce the slightly barren look of the village and its surrounds. Mostly I have used offcuts of various grass mats, but I did use almost the entire rough embankment mat bought at the same time as the trees at the church. None of this is intended to be the final look. It still improves the overall appearance of this area, and also gives me the illusion that I am making progress!