March 2005

March 2005

You will maybe have noticed that nothing has been said yet about a carefully thought out and tested track plan that I am working to. That's because there isn't one. The first mistake  of many. Please notice, do as I say, not as I do.    
          Have had to order more track as there is a definite shortfall. As I lay each turnout and length of track so I gently push one of my coaches through each road of the turnout, both ways, and watch carefully, with head down at track level, that there is smooth running in each direction. When satisfied that all looks well I give the coach the zoom treatment. That is to say a hearty push through the turnout at a speed it will never reach under normal circumstances. If all is still ok then I progress to the next length and the next turnout. This performance is then repeated through all the laid track so far and so on and so on.     
 
Showing the start of the road bridge and entrance to the fiddle yard. Here you can see the two branch lines, the main line is over to the left out of view.
 
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The track has now reached as far as the station throat, from the platform end, and I have changed the design again as it still doesn't feel right. Another change of direction is that the layout  will operate mainly heavy passenger traffic with the goods shed away from the station. I am also doing away with the single platform station that was adjacent to the road bridge before the main line entered the bridge to the fiddle yard.
         
This shows the cardboard formers for the scenery at the side and overhead of the road bridge.
Any stiff card will do for this job, supermarket boxes are great. In the larger picture you can just about see the fiddle yard tracks.
 
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Seven of my old steam outline engines refuse to answer to a 12 volt whack of power from a battery charger, the other five are hesitant to say the least. I will know more when I get a new controller.  I have also made a quick jig for faster production of line side fencing as I am going to need quite a few feet of it.
          Trackwork is finally laid right through from end to end and all my rolling stock, apart from the locomotives, which are still waiting for a controller, run at very high speed from end to end in both directions with a delightful smoothness. The rail gaps I always have give an excellent clickety click as the rolling stock goes over them. Great. Yet another design change and the main line track passing under the road bridge and 18" of landscaped area now 'ladders' into three storage roads, which, with the two branch lines, gives me five full length storage roads on the 12" wide fiddle yard.    
 
Started plastering over the formers of the scenic area over fiddle yard entrance. Plaster bandages being used here but worked out too expensive so started using any old scraps of material soaked in a thin plaster/water mix.
 
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The road bridge, which is the entrance to the fiddle yard, will have quite an extensive piece of real estate added to it, taking up the last 18" of the layout and stretching the full width. (see photograph.) This area will be landscaped with timber yard and hillside.
          The bridge has been completed and placed in position and surfacing of the area behind it is well under way.           
I have been having a lot of trouble with the soldering as I haven't been able to find an iron that I am familiar with. Have sought advice from a forum and as a consequence have bought a soldering 'gun' to use with solder flux. Still having problems.
         Started on the Metcalfe engine shed kit and as is usual with their kits it has gone together very well and looks the part. It is quite a large structure but will be great with a couple of locomotives sticking their noses out of it.
        Have decided that there will be room over the road bridge for a timber yard and a small canal basin to go with it. Means much more plaster work and the roadway will have to be diverted but it should all come right.      
 
Now you can see we are getting somewhere. The Metcalfe engine shed has been located and you can see the area over the fiddle yard entrance. The main line next to the engine shed and the two branch lines are shown also. The empty scenic area over the entrance is also visible.
 
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A lady friend of ours  has given me a couple of hundred lengths of flower arrangers wire, enough to make dozens of trees, or at least the trunks. They will also come in very handy for hand rails, railings and other items in 4mm scale. A great gift for the ever resource hungry modeller.
          Lack of forethought showing up again as I am now realising that the width of the layout is about 6 inches too wide for comfortable working at the back. Not just that but it also means that if I leave work to be done at the rear of the layout and do stuff at the front I stand a good chance of damaging the frontal area as I reach across. I have made a substantial 12" high step for standing on to assist in this.
          I've had a good idea with regard to making hedges and as far as I can remember I haven't seen the idea anywhere else. There will be instructions and photographs elsewhere if the idea turns out to be a good one.
          More track changes. Have decided to do away with the two industrial rail sidings and just have the small goods shed for wagons and vans. The buildings will now be served by road and the railway will be mainly coaching stock. of which I have a fairly large quantity.        
 
This shows the flat area over the fiddle yard entrance and the base card for the timber yard I am going to build.
 
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The canal has it's walls in place and I have done an accurate drawing of the timber yard to make sure it will fit in the allocated space.
 
Canal basin partially completed, timber yard base and position of proposed roadway to the yard. The canal will have to have the surrounding area built up and then somewhere for it to disappear to.
 
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As you can see the canal is just sat on a flat area. I can't go down because there is trackwork under the plaster, therefor I will have to create high ground for the canal to 'sit' in. That also means that the road will have to have a tunnel made for it as the distance is too short for up and over.
 
This picture shows the surrounding country side being built up to 'sink' the canal basin. There will have to be a hillside made for the 'leg' of the canal to have a tunnel to disappear into. This same hillside is going to block the road I have marked out so more tunneling will be required. Following photos will explain all.
 
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Final picture for this month shows the shell of the timber yard in position, no roof, and awaiting the open storage shed which will join the existing two buildings.
 
You can also see the direction the road is taking after it crosses the tracks. This is March and as you will see later on the bottom half of this picture has changed dramatically by the end of the year. But that's another story.
 
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