Build of a layout based on Callington

Very nice too Gary. DMU's are a favourite of mine and always seem to run so well. Mine were always silky smooth in operation, from start to cruising speed.

Lovely looking loco Gary.

Pity it's the wrong green though :mrgreen: :pedal

G'day again,

After going through the 'unfortunate motions' of not being able to run any locos under dcc (my fault :oops:), Kelly Bray is all go with dcc. I can now see why many modellers have chosen this route over dc. I have just spent last weekend installing decoders (chipping for a better term ??) in a few locos, namely a Schools Class, a T9 and my new Class 101 DMU. Each loco/power unit has been individually coded. I have had one loco (N Class) converted to dcc by DCC Concepts, just didn't know what number it was given until I went into 'programming locos…'

Now that is all sorted out, I guess I better get on with the construction of platforms and buildings. Would like to take this opportunity to thank those who steered me in the right direction with sorting out my dcc issues.

Thanks John (BromsMods), Peter (Petermac)and Ron (Sol). :thumbs:thumbs:thumbs

Cheers, Gary.

Ah Good Friday…, which it was today (almost over now !) as I finished off wiring up the push buttons for points control and everything works perfectly ! Must admit that I did place some of the push buttons in the wrong holes on the panel where the 3 way points are located. Left was right, right was return from left etc etc.. But I guess that's how it goes when every thing is up-side-down ! I found a seller in China on ebay that offers 10 push buttons for $4.32 and no postage cost. Whereas in Australia, Jaycar (electronics store) wanted $1.45 per switch…




I wont show off my awesome (not) wiring and soldering skills underneath… :lol:

Now all wiring is done, it's on to painting the rails and sleepers during the day and constructing the buildings, during the evening/night.

Cheers, Gary.

Hello Gary,

Is it you who sent a request to Cornwall Railway Society for more information about Callington?

I was at a committee meeting on Tuesday night and someone said a chap in Australia had enquired about Callington and I immediately thought of you:lol:.

Simon

Hi Simon,

What a small world we live in ! Yes it was me inquiring about Callington. I'm after any information regarding the size of the engine shed at Callington. In a matter of fact, I have just purchased a heap of styrene from the UK and in Oz, so that I can start building the station building and overall roof ! I thought I could kill two birds with the one stone if I could start on the engine shed at the same time, but I really only have a couple of old black & white photos to work from for that build.

Cheers, Gary.

Hi Gary

Just watched you video on u-tube,when are going to see the others running?

What type of fiddle yard are you going to employ?

Graham

Hello Gary,

Have you heard of the Plymouth Railway Circle? They may have some information on Callington as it is relatively close (in UK terms) to Plymouth info here:- http://plymouthrailwaycircle.weebly.com/

I know at the Cornwall Railway Society Keith updates the site on a daily basis. He is continuously getting more material sent to him so finds it hard to keep up saying that he spends over 4 hours a day already:shock:.

Have you got this already? http://www.aarchive.co.uk/documentaries/steam_railways/last_train_to_callington/

Simon

G'day Graham and Simon,

Graham,

Hopefully it won't be too long before other trains are running. I have been busy air brushing the rails and sleepers, so no running until the rail head is clean. As for the fiddle yard, I'm waiting on a delivery of alignment dowels and toggle latches from Station Road Baseboards, before proceeding with it. The fiddle yard will be built as a module on its own where I can connect it to the end of the scenic section (station/yard) or using the small corner module with a 90* curve on it. This will allow me to set the fiddle yard at right angles to the scenic board. The diagram below should explain all this.


The 'entry' section is the scenic board comprising the station and yard. The 'corner module' will be approximately 20" (51cm) square, which will connect to position A on scenic board. The 'fiddle yard' will have corresponding dowels to line up with the 'entry' board at A and the 'corner module' at B.

Simon,

Thanks for the link to Plymouth Railway Circle. I will take a look at it this weekend. I have previously purchased the dvd 'Last Train To Callington', as it is easier to watch (and pause) on tv than on youtube ! It was the youtube viewing that got me hooked on modelling Callington.

Cheers, Gary.

 

 

Another update on Kelly Bray.

After painting the rails and sleepers, I decided to tackle the platform. I originally thought that I had enough room for the platform and half the station building, but that wasn't to be. I basically re-aligned 3 tracks, the platform road, the platform siding and a freight siding. You can clearly see where the track originally sat (over spray) and now in final position.



The platform was a ripe pita as it is curved. The biggest problem was to lay the platform top onto the platform base, incorporating the overhang. The base is 16mm MDF which has had the sides plastered in Scalescenes Coarse Rubble, as per the real platform at Callington. I opted not to model the platform extension in concrete, but to keep it all the same using the coarse rubble wall for the entire length. Here is the platform held in place whilst the glue dries. The top is still to be placed on top. I'll post a pic of that at a latter date.




Last week I recieved my lot of styrene in the post so that I can start on the station building and canopy. Knowing that I have to make atleast 120 individual cuts of styrene, I needed a guillotine. I did manage to find one at a hobby shop, but at $100.00, it was a little too expensive and that was down from $139.95 !! I decided to have a look in the Equipment, Materials & Suppliers Index and looked under 'G' for guillotine and found Dooferdog's (Doug's) thread on his home-made guillotine/chopper. Brilliant ! So here is the one I made today… and it works a treat !



Today my toggle clips and alignment dowels arrived, so it looks as if tomorrow will be spent building the fiddle yard sections mentioned in the previous post. Plenty to do now…

Cheers, Gary.

Hi Gary

Making good progress, quicker than me!  I've not been able to do anything for a couple of weeks since my track arrived. What with leaving work at 7pm most nights and the football season does not give me any time!

Now the football season has finished I hope to get a move on. Whilst in Devon the other week I visited the the Ratio Models shop and bought a number of items, all still in the bag!

Its a great shop, but everything is full MRP, however they do have the entire stock and have examples of all the models so I did not mind paying the extra and the lady who served me was very helpful. Fihished the day with a trip on the South Devon railway to Totnes and back.

Watched the link to the Callington Branch on YouTube very interesting.

Graham

G'day all,

Previously I wrote about constructing a 5 road fiddle yard, but that has all changed. Having taken the advice from Kim (SoundandDirty), I decided to tackle a pivoted sector plate instead. I originally wanted a 5 road fiddle yard but decided on a 3 road sector plate, afterall, how many trains can I fit on a BLT ?? I built the sector plate from another old light weight wardrobe door and a piece of 3mm MDF board. Having set the approach road, it was just a matter of lining up the 3 roads on the board, which were glued into position. Each road is 44.5" long (1130mm), which is long enough for a small mixed goods, 3 car DMU or loco and 3 coaches. I incorporated a rotary switch on the board as a safety measure. This allows me to switch the power to each individual track and also provides extra back-up in case of run-aways. The switch is wired as road 1, off, road 2, off, road 3 off. That way I can turn the switch to the right at any time to stop a train, then cancel train from hand controller.

Here is a link to the sector plate in operation ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcP7DFO-9sM&feature=youtu.be

Apologies for my son's dvd playing in the background…

Cheers, Gary.

Mmm neat indeed

• how come only a locking method for the middle road?

Hi Ron,

The reason for a lock on the middle road only is because I have incorporated stops made from 3mm MDF at the outer edges to where the sector place swivels to. The lock also offers support whilst I have the layout in storage, upright. I had thought about locks on each road, but what I have is suffice and seems to work without any problems. No derailments yet !

Cheers, Gary.

Ah yes, I see the two stops now !

From the layout you started with and now onto your new venture.
The way you have researched the line and then made your own to suit, very impressive mate..
OH and by the way have heard a rumour that DCC is just only 2 wires is this true…:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Two wires… hmmm ?? Must admit that it isn't as busy under the baseboards as previous layouts !! :lol::lol::lol:

Cheers, Gary.

 

[user=878]Gary[/user] wrote:

Two wires… hmmm ?? Must admit that it isn't as busy under the baseboards as previous layouts !! :lol::lol::lol:

Cheers, Gary.

 

Have to agree with you there mate.

Run in the bus wire for my layout and have about 50% of the feeder wires in and yes so much easier and neater….

It has been a while since an update on the layout and what I have been upto. The answer is not a lot of modelling, but plenty of work. Atleast this weekend I have been able to do a little on the layout.

So, the question is, what has a handful of old LPs got to do with model railways ?




Answer, they make a great weight whilst gluing paper to cork…




Above are templates for the overall roof canopy for Kelly Bray station. These have been glued to a 6mm cork floor tile, so that it makes alignment easy using SWMBO dress makers pins. Below are the first or lower braces of the roof trusses, pinned and glued where they cross over. 




The same templates will be used when the bearers are form up. It's just a matter of re-arranging the pins or adding more ! This makes it quite simple and with any luck, each truss will resemble the next… All up, I need to make ten trusses, but I can only fit eight to the tile. I will make more than the ten required and pick out the best ones.

That's all for now..

Cheers, Gary. 

Mass production - yes the way to go when you have more that one unit required.