East Coast Main Line - in the sun

Wow !  That's some shed Barry and not too shabby a collection of stock ................

Love the view along the tracks towards the station.

Everyone with that amount of space just makes me extremely jealous  



Ed

Hi Guys

My thread "Going Large……" has covered the development of this system


It's been a journey!!!!!!!!

That is a good shot along the tracks, ans stock, I've seen model shops with less. :)

That is a good sized shed to have Dave. Great priorities. Take out at Dave's shed!

Hi Dave

Is that a pre-cast concrete shed?  If so, I guess you will be lining it with timber?

Always interested in what others get up to in big sheds   

Barry

Well the decision has been made, we are putting the house here in Spain up for sale early next year. The plan is to move in to town but that's dependant on what is available at the time. It may just be a move back to the UK. Anway it does mean the end for the 75 sq m, Tinkers End,  layout I have been working on. I have already taken out over 70 metres of track but just from the hidden fiddle yards etc so I can still run trains. I have already started designing the mk 2 for the new shed in the UK although getting the stuff back there may be held up. So the majority of the stuff I have, both in boxes and on the layout already, was bought in the UK (VAT paid) before we moved here and came with us in 2014. I am now told I have to pay import duty and/or VAT to send it back to our other home in the UK unless I am moving back. When I questioned how they would value 20 year old locos etc I was told I would have to atribute prices based on the current price on something like ebay. When I pointed out that some boxes of bits may have 100-200 little packets in them I was told the same process applies. Thats's just not going to happen.

Anyway I am planning to continue the gradual strip down whilst still finishing some of the on-going projects. Can't really decide if it's worth shipping baseboard and supports back to the UK or not.

Sounds a bit of a nightmare Dave, but best of luck.


Ed

Just slip a Polish lorry driver a fiver

Shipping stuff between Europe and the UK - either way - has be come a real nightmare since Brexit Dave.

Such a pity you're ripping Tinker's End up - there's a lot of work gone into it although often, a fresh start coupled with the knowledge gained on earlier layouts tends to soften the blow.

Regarding shipping baseboards back - when we moved 5 years ago - albeit only 15 kms - I carefully saved all the baseboards for Maxmill Mk 2.  They were stacked in an outbuilding here and they're still there !!  IMHO, such things are not worth shipping.  Timber isn't that expensive and, unless you're building an identical shed, the old boards are unlikely to fit the new layout without a lot of pre-planning.  Pre-planning, for those who know me, is one of my strong points !!!!

I'm a bit confused - are you heading back to UK or moving into town in Spain ?  Maybe both ………………………..?

What a headache with bureaucracy. Still, I suppose it keeps thousands in non jobs. We still watch yes minister/prime minister and marvel at how true to life it was/is.

Thanks for the replies. The current plan, well this week anyway, is to put the house on the market next March. When (be positive) we get a buyer at an acceptable price the fun begins. Ideally we would like to spend a few more years in Spain and hence we will look for an apartment in town. If the right apartment isn't available during the sale process then we will just move back to the UK full stop. The complication in all of this is the layout. It boils down to where we have tax residency. We could rent in Spain but transfer our residency and hence all our belongs can go back to the UK house free of tax. The limitation then is that we would probably be subject to the 90 days in any 180 rule which may make a nonsense of renting an apartment over here.

On the layout front, I have finished reducing the hidden storage yards and have removed more than 70 mtrs of track and twenty points and motors. As it is all hidden, the layout looks unchanged it is just that I can't have all the trains in the storage areas any more. I will probably continue reducing them even further but at least I can continue running trains. I may also start to make bits of the visible layout inoperative and hence I can remove some wiring and point motors etc. I feel a plan coming on.

Peter, interesting thoughts on taking baseboards back. I think it will end up being a mix and match affair in that the new shed will hold a layout with the same E shape but a bit smaller. If we remain Spanish residents, then having to store them for a few years may make keeping any boards totally impossible.

Ah well, onwards and upwards.

A bit of an update on the layout. All the hidden storage yards are now removed although there is still the return loops at each end which can store a few trains although it is obviously now first in first out. I have made some progress with house and street lighting in that it is now DCC controlled. I have a circuit board for each third of the layout. Each board is effectively ten switches and 10 DCC addresses. So now the lights come on bit by bit at scale 9.00 pm and switch off again bit by bit at 6:30 am all controlled by TrainController. I could wire more up but now I have proved the concept there isn't much point. I have a couple of other projects in progress, the first is an inspection pit, I designed these for a club member a while back but never made one for myself so rectifying that now. The second main project is to design and build a helix (two eventually). They will be required for the new layout but I thought that if I built at least one now I could possibly try it out on the current layout by re-working the northern fiddle yard (or what is left of it). I'll post some pictures of progress soon.

Is the plan still to put the house on the market next March Dave ?  If so, I envy your ability to continue building stuff - if it were me, I'd just want to box it all up and move !

It begs another question - how will you ship a helix back to UK or have you decided you will take the baseboards back after all ?

I trust you're avoiding the dreadful weather we're having just now - it just won't stop raining but then as a friend of mine said - 'why do you think this part of France is called Aquitaine ?'…..

Hi Peter. Just been back to the UK as it happens and it wasn't that bad other than the first couple of days. I had gone back on my own to get a new boiler fitted as the old one packed up in May. Guess when the really bad weather was. The plan is still to put the house on the market in March but there are potential issues which may mean that is delayed. One of which is the local notary office getting our house deeds re-done said a week almost two months ago.

In terms of the helix, I am doing two designs, one purerly out of laser cut sectons an the other using 8mm threaded bar. The idea is that it dismantles into sections. If the laser cut one really needs to be glued I can always cut another one once I have proved the concept. Just hope I have enough radius 4 curves from the old fiddle yards to be able to test it. Todays job is to cut the remining supports for the laser cut version and check on stocks of radius 4, got plenty of radius 3.

In terms of transporting the main boards and support structure back to the UK, the jury is still out. Unusually the support structure is not timber but stud wall steel work which will pack quite small once un-riveted. Just worried about the weight in a moving truck.

Ah - didn't realise your framework was metal Dave - that makes it into a whole new ball game.

Interestingly, how did you fix the metalwork together - did you use the crimp/punch system or is it bolted together ?

Hi Peter. Yes, when I was sorting out the space to build the layout over here I found the cost of wood in Spain was very high and steel for stud walling was very cheap so I went for that. It is mostly pop riveted together but there are some bolts. It has proved very stable and was easy to work with. The only drawbacks being the cut edges can be a bit sharp and if you have to feed a dropper through it you have to make the hole oversize and stop it rubbing. I have some paint on rubber type stuff for covering soldered joints so putting that where the wire comes through does the trick. As you can see in the pic the frames are built, using a basic jig I set up, then there are different shaped pieces to link them together, the wood sits on top of these. One benefit I found was this gave me ready made cable routes. I glue a bit of card over the profile and run cables though it to keep stuff a bit neater and stop it catching when I am moving the storage boxes around. The main thing I want to change on the mk 2 is to drop the storage yard a bit lower so there is more room between the top scenic board and the storage area. It works but would be easier with more room. To this end I am designing my own helix as I won't have the same length on the new layout for a slope.

That looks neat Dave - and sturdy too.  As you say, you'll need to watch the cut edges.  Is it fixed to the floor ?

I never thought of using that - food for thought in the future.

Presumably you'll just drill out the rivets to dismantle it ….

Hi. The support structure is not fixed to the floor although the sides of the E shape are connected to the walls to avoid any movement. It's going to take some drilling to get allthose rivets out.

On another subject. You can see how close the bottom storage yard is to the main level in the above picture and that's making use of my 10mtr room for the incline so the mk 2 will only be 8mtr long so I have decided to have a go at designing and making a helix. It's a suck it and see yob at the moment but I thought I could test it here in Spain. I might even fit it if the house sale takes a while. Anyway progress so far ….


Just need a new batch of 2mm MDF now to make some more progress. I think I have 2 A3 sheets left which isn't going to be enough.

Looks interesting Dave, what will the gradient be?


Ed