David Holman

If anyone coming to Cultra has 36.75mm stock and would like running rights on Arigna, am sure the Joint Board of Directors (SLNCR & MGW) with be happy to comply. Are there any 7mm scale, broad gauge locos out there?

As the Minister would say - 'across many fields'...

Finally got hold of some new silicon mould material, so thought I'd better get on and make some masters so I could use it before it went off. The stuff has a very short shelf life once opened. So far, have made masters of an end and side for the brake vans and cast these to make the 4 bodies I need. The CVR vans seem to follow a pattern, so for two types of cattle van and one covered van I have only had to make two ends and three sides as masters. These have all been built up in the same way using a base of 40 thou plastikard, with 60x40 strip for the strapping. For rivets have used EDM ones, bought at Expo Narrow Gauge in Swanley last Saturday - a quite superb specialist show I might add and a must on my calendar. Other bits of plastic rod and strip were used to make some of the details, though some parts will not be added until after the bodies are assembled. So, four different entries on IRM in a single evening. Is this a record? Is anybody bothered? Hopefully not!

Have been battling with the turntable on Fintonagh. Am using a Peco N Gauge version, which at 150mm diameter is just the right size. First added a much wider top to the deck & then longitudinal sleepers for the rails. Unlike the Dapol one on Arigna, have made this one wider to enable the crews to dismount & walk along it - had I holographic technology... Problems occurred when trying to set the deck on the well. The plunger pick ups used seem to create a rocking movement, while the central 'boss' is not a completely snug fit on my model. Hence it wobbles - not good when it comes to fitting a motor and gears to drive it. First tried sleeving the boss with some brass tube and then enlarged the central hole a little. Put a piece of plastic tube on the underside for the brass tube to go into, in the hope of reducing the wobble. However, it took some lead sheet at each end of the decking to reduce this to acceptable levels - probably by fully compressing the pick up springs. I also added a ring of plastikard on the base of the well to give the bottom of the deck more support too. The motor is from Frizinghall Models and as supplied takes about a day and a half for a single revolution [well 4 minutes anyway]. Happily removal of some of the gears speeds things up and also reduces the noise, so it now does a half turn in a more realistic 20 seconds. The issue with the motor though is how to fix it, as the instructions suggest bolting it to the underside of the turntable well. This would mean the bolt heads showing so, as can be seen from the photos I fixed it to some wood strip I had, so that this could then be fixed to the underside of the baseboard instead. It means the gears are further below the baseboard that I would like [wobble factor again], but after drilling multiple fixing holes [easy to see the ones I did earlier!], it now works reasonably well. The only problem left is that the deck is now about 1mm higher than the tracks either side, so guess I will have to raise these, as it will be a lot easier than lowering the turntable!

A visit to Sheffield Park in Sussex to admire the autumn colours also enabled a look in at the Bluebell Railway. Nice to see the S15 [Green King] and the Q 0-6-0 on duty, but also of interest were the stacks of old time luggage on the platforms. Took a couple of pictures & realised that it would not be too difficult to make some from plastikard. Various rectangles of 60 and 80 thou were used, laminated to give different styles/types. A few cases were given additional bits of microstrip, for strapping and handles etc. Final touches were the painting, particularly touches of black to represent corner plates, hinges, locks etc. So, at last I have my 'emmigration' scene, just in time for Cultra next week.

Haven't tried the rivet strips, but they look really promising. A rivet press is one alternative & there are many varieties - mine comes from GW Models, expensive, but a quality piece of kit. At Expo Narrow Gauge last week found some EDM rivets - checkout http://www.ngtrains.com - they come in various sizes, from as small as 0.5mm. Am told that, unlike Grandt Line rivets, their 'pegs' are dead centre, so if you drill holes to take them, they should follow the line and not be wobbly. I decided to chop off just the heads and position them with an Exacto blade, with a dab of solvent. A couple of pics below, but will say more in my workshop page on CVR wagon body masters.

Two weeks to go. Arigna Town is getting the once over, so hopefully it will be as good as it can be for the show. Really looking forward to it and likewise meeting some of you folk. Am told the layout's pitch is near the BCDR tank. Given several of my locos are from Beyer Peacock, I think that is rather splendid.

Anyone who quotes from Suite:Judy Blue Eyes deserves to do well!

I'm with Mayner - get scratch building! Unfortunately there is still a catch as stuff like Evergreen strip comes from the USA, while I am guessing items like motors will also soon go up. Equally, particularly for buildings, much can be free.

Depends how tight your curves are J. In 7mm scale, 6' radius is the norm, though on the club layout my coaches go round a 5'6 circle without problems. On my previous exhibition layout, they only had to go back and forth, but there again, with Dinghams, you are still using the buffers when propelling, so whatever the scale this is the limiting factor. There is a nice 00 model in the current BRM using Kadees. They are mounted below the buffer beam, but forward if the buffers and seem pretty unobtrusive. Rare earth magnets seem to work better than the Kaydee planks too. For me, autocouplings work really well for just running round at a terminus. For actual shunting, am not sure. Shuffling back and forth over a magnet is hardly prototypical, nor completely reliable in my experience. That was way I found Dinghams a decent compromise - hands free for platform work, but still able to connect with three links when shunting the yard. I had Kaydees between coaches too! A case of finding what works and you are visually happy with, but always a compromise somewhere...

Neil Sprinks books on the Sligo contain several photos. Likewise both Tom Ferris colour albums. Alphagraphix do a card kit of railbus 2a in 7mm scale for just £3-4. I scratch built mine using it as a drawing. See David's workbench and earlier Arigna Town reports in the workbench and layout sections.

Nice brake, while can also vouch for the Dinghams too. They work really well in 7mm scale and work effectively with both fixed and electro magnets. The only problem with them is that they are 'handed', so if you use a turntable, they are not viable, hence the need for three links on Arigna. Otherwise, unobtrusive, easy to fit and compatible with three links, so you can mix and match.

Whole layouts have been built in less space, but just fabulous!

Surprised myself with how quickly and well this went. Have tried to keep things tidy below the baseboard by threading wires through staples. The only problem was tracing short and eventually found it where two copperclad sleepers on one of the points were touching and ungapped. Such are the vagaries of this method. So, have been able to run my loco around, along with a single coach and wagon - all I have at present. In the process, cooked my transformer (two bare wires touching). A bad smell and the fact it was still hot half an hour later a bit of a giveaway! Was hoping to add photos I took on my phone, which is where I am posting this from, but do not seem able to access these pics. Any ideas why anyone?

The last time Arigna Town was at a show was at Reading, back in May. At home, it occupies one wall of my workshop, often doing little more than gather dust. Much as I enjoy operating at shows, at home I am very much a builder and the new Clogher Valley project has taken all my attention. However, a trip to Croydon beckons this weekend, followed by East London Fine Scale Show in early November and Cultra [really looking forward to that] the week after, finishing the year at Manchester in December. As ever there were a few things that needed attention from last time out, notably one of the signals wasn't operating properly. A couple of new washers sorted that one out [i hope], but a much bigger job was the turntable. The word 'refurbish' had been on my to do list for a while. It was working ok, but the top of the well 'wall' was showing under the coping stones in places. Fortunately the whole well can be unscrewed from underneath and be removed completely. Trying to avoid a total rebuild, the best option seemed to be to trim the inner part of the wall and replace it with a new layer on the outside edge. That all went well, so feeling pretty pleased with myself, I was soon disappointed to find the hand crank mechanism was jamming somewhere. Eventually traced it to the coping stones around the top & despite some vigorous sanding it soon became clear that replacing them was the only option. The originals were 40thou plastikard, so replaced them with 20thou. Further tinkering seems to have got it running well again, but am resigned to the fact that, as a £5 Dapol kit, I will no doubt have to do a replacement eventually. The scenic side of things was covered by a general tidy up, including touching up parts of the back scene, but also spent time on some new figures I'd bought a while ago. The long term aim has been to create an 'emmigration' scene, with a family gathering saying farewell to those going overseas. Have managed to get what I hope are some suitable figures [mainly S&D Models], but still want to find some appropriate luggage. A few large barrels also now adorn the platform - for the black stuff, of course. If you manage to make it to any of the above shows, be sure to come and say hello.

The adventure continues! Very different, VERY impressive...

Fabulous work. Though my knowledge of Irish coaches is decidedly limited, having built many model coaches in various scales & gauges over the years I can certainly vouch for the fact they are labour intensive. Indeed, a coach can take as many hours to complete as a loco. The basic shell goes together quite quickly, but interior details, bogies, under frames, grab handles etc etc take a lot of effort, while painting & lining adds further layers. Well done John.

At 5pm today, my one and only loco moved under its own power around Baseboard 1. For those of you well versed in electrickery no doubt the comment 'so what' is already on your lips. However, for a numpty like me, whose entire knowledge of wiring can be written on a postage stamp with room to spare, applying power to track and points is always fraught with anxiety. In fact, with handmade track and fairly shallow baseboard frames to contend with, there is actually quite a lot of work & certainly exponentially more than adding 'two wires'. First off, blew nearly £100 on six Tortoise point motors. However, these are nearly 10cm deep and my baseboard frames are only 75mm. Therefore, very grateful to Gordon Gravett, who showed me how he turned Tortoises on their side, with simple brackets, when Pempoul came to Chatham in June. Made mine from off cuts of hardboard, but any material will do I guess. A piece of copper clad sleeper strip was used as a pivot, with 1mm piano wire soldered on one end [going to the point tie bar] and a slot cut in the other to take the Tortoise actuating rod. The wire supplied is too thin for this scale, so 0.8mm piano wire is substituted. Lots of head scratching went into the wiring diagram & there is exponentially more wire under the baseboard than on Arigna, despite it being only half the size. A Tortoise needs 5 wires [two for power & three more to switch track power], while DPDT switches need another six. Two pairs of points are wired as cross overs, so that cuts things down a little, while there are only three actual track feeds on Baseboard 1. There will be a single section switch on Baseboard 2 [in the loco shed], otherwise any isolation with be by the points themselves. The only other thing of any note is that a DPDT switch is being used to switch between track power and that for the turntable motor. Hopefully, once a loco is driven onto the TT, flicking this switch will transfer power to reverse the locos/railcar, while always went cab first on the CVR. I'd love to say I can now go on & wire the second board and play trains, but a certain amount of adjustment is needed to get the tie bars closing properly. With only one engine at the moment, itself not yet fully tested or run in, there are a fair few variables to be ironed out.

An extraordinary project continues to inspire. Superb workmanship.

Congratulations to the Ballyconnel Road team, whose layout features in Model Railway Journal 249. A very enjoyable read it is too, helped by avoiding the 'how I began with Hornby' syndrome and enhanced by some fine photos of this lovely layout. MRJ rarely strays offshore and in 250 editions (it began with Issue 0...), the number of layouts outside Great Britain is probably still in single figures. Quite a coup. Well done chaps.

Me too. A real beast!

Very much agree with Glenderg, for though I have no knowledge of 3d printing, resin castings from your own masters is easy and relatively cheap for small runs. Many of Arigna Town's wagons are resin cast and the moulds even pick up 'wood grain' made by scuffing the surface with a fibre glass pencil.

Indeed, the Land Rover compliments the scene nicely too.

A week in Brittany stopped modelling, but a fine place to visit, not least because of the similarities to Ireland in terms of music & culture. Narrow gauge was nearly the same too! Doubt Cork & Kerry saw 34c though... Anyway, Fintonagh's baseboards are at last ready for track laying & the pictures show progress so far. Normally, I would use 3mm cork floor tiles as an 'underlay', but on a small layout, I am not sure if there will be much benefit in sound deadening, while the station site means almost all ground cover will be at rail level or above. So, track is being laid straight onto the baseboard surface. One further bit of preparation was to drill & fit small screws at the baseboard joints. Rails will be soldered to these & it makes for a bit of security at the baseboards ends when the layout is being transported to exhibitions. Also, I sprayed the points matt black in the hope of minimising bits of copper clad shining through the ballast later on. Once enough half track was made up, actual track laying could begin. I'm going to wire up as I go along, so the first section is also the first wiring section. With copper clad track, there are a lot of insulation gaps to cut, so I am hoping that by completing one wiring section at a time, I can minimise the potential for short circuits. Also, I hate wiring, so doing it a bit at a time may limit the number of rude words! In the background, you might spot a box of Tortoise point motors. Very much my favourites, though, post Brexit, they are now even more expensive than ever. When I first bought them in the early '90s, they were about ten quid each. My 'bargain box' of six cost me nearly £100 - mainly down to the falling exchange rate - a small, but not insignificant reason why I voted to stay, but there we go. The redoubtable Mr Gravett has showed me how to make a simple bracket, so they can be mounted on their sides [as he did with Pempoul], for they are over 3" deep, which is more than my baseboard frames. You can also see the Peco N gauge turntable. Its 150mm diameter is more than enough for the Sharp Stewart locos and just enough for the railcar when it gets built, though the latter will foul the main track whenever it is turned. However, on a one engine in steam branch, this is hardly an issue methinks.

Thanks chaps, much appreciated. No plans to market anything, but would be happy to cast a few more wagon sides if anyone was interested. They are really just a short cut for batch building in that you only need to make a single side and end for however many wagons required. I then use the Branchlines chassis. Currently out of the goo that makes the moulds, but will probably buy some more in the autumn, once have got track laying completed!