David Holman

Couldn't agree more - there is much to learn both outside as well as within our hobby!

Shame indeed. Can only suggest that before any future projects begin, that you spend time thinking about what you want from a model railway, for there is no doubting your skills in scenery and buildings, or indeed baseboards. There are many strands to follow within our hobby, so feel sure there must be several you can enjoy.

Very much agree how certain things bring a model to life. The smokebox door hinges and handrails do the same on a steam loco for me. Hadn't realised how much detail there was on the C class bodywork, but adding it makes all the difference and it is great to see it starting to emerge.

Yes, shame about Tonbridge, though they may try to do something in May, so will keep you posted. Allypally next, in March - fingers crossed. Get my handrail knobs from Roxey Mouldings. They are Markits ones, and come with long, medium and short shanks. Tend to use short for the smokebox door and medium along the boiler. They take 0.7mm wire. Lots of good stuff in Wargaming - Gordon Gravett first put me on to that. That loco is not only very much in the Quarry Hunslet genre, it is also more than a bit Hornby 'Desmond'. 0n16.5 folk are very keen on these, because replacing the cab and chimney gives a very quick and easy conversion, while the chassis becomes a better slow runner in the larger scale, even if the outside cylinder rods are a bit crude.

Worth saying that, in the absence of someone to 'proof read' your work, photos are a good substitute. For example, have just noticed that in the third photo up, the alignment of the vee and the wing rails could be better - particularly on the left side. A bit more tweaking still needed, methinks...

Fettling Have just spent the best part of two full days fettling the track work. Indeed, didn't exactly cover myself in glory with my hand made track as only the RH point behaved as it should. Both the Y points had tight spots, while the LH point blades wouldn't close properly. Some of the plain track wasn't that great either, with the alignment on the headhunt track [leading off stage to the pier], being especially poor. Part of the problem [apart from my own workmanship] stems from the fact that I laid the track [and did the wiring] on each board separately, but when I set the two boards up on my workbench, the faults soon started to become apparent - even before I began testing. Enough said! Below is the shelf where the layout will live, now covered in workbench stuff, to allow me see the track work better. Needless to say, the smaller, shorter wheelbase locos were fine, as indeed was my 4-4-0 Wolf Dog, but the SLNCR 0-6-4Ts and other tender engines really struggled. The only answer was to be really methodical, listing all the faults, engine by engine [in both directions] through each bit of track. This helped identify problems common to several locos at a time and where to look. First up was the LH point at the right hand end of the layout. The point blades would not close flush against the stock rail & discovered the main reason for this was the holes I drilled through the baseboard were not tight enough to the stock rail, so the dropper wires [to the under board tie bar] didn't have enough room to move the blades. A fair bit of work with a needle file mostly cured the problem, but several locos were still derailing! Turned out that the track going off scene was on far too tight a curve, something that became especially clear when I looked through the hole in the sky to see the track at eye level. Good tip this, for checking alignment. In the end, I replaced a full metre of the outside rail, to give smoother run all the way from the platform. The next problems were the two Y points. A vernier gauge showed clearances varied from between 0.5mm too narrow to over 1mm too wide! One of the Y points had the same problem as the LH point, so more work with a needle file, along with adjusting the gauge in several places now has all but one of the locos able to negotiate the whole layout without problems. The remaining culprit is Sir Henry, my SLNCR 'Large Tank', where the problem is not enough play in the coupled wheels, so the solution will be to remove at least one pair of washers on the outer driving wheels. Interestingly, it runs ok in reverse, which at least shows the sprung rear bogie is doing its job. While I was at it, I straightened the dog leg at the entrance to the left hand siding, but decided to leave one or two other kinks in the plain track partly because they don't affect running, but also because they add a bit of character to what is very much a railway backwater, where a scale 10mph is likely to be the top speed. Have also included pictures of the baseboard joins, where I solder the rail ends to screws set into the ends. You can also see the insulation gaps needed with copper clad point track. This morning, I did test runs with some of the rolling stock. Am not worried about any of the passenger/parcels vehicles, as all they will be doing is being pulled in & out of the platform, from the fiddle yard. Goods wagons are another matter, so checked out the shunting moves to both the pier and left hand siding. Fingers crossed, all seems ok, so can now move on to work that is more cosmetic and therefore a bit less stressful!

As long as the points are moving, then you can always replace the motors, or perhaps consider wire in tube. The amount of force in a point motor is negligible compared to that of your hand and with no scenery in place, wire tube runs on the surface can easily be hidden, or they could go under the baseboard. Model railways can be a test of patience and at times, resilience too. Rightly or wrongly, I am eternally pessimistic about any moving parts, because there are so many variables. Have spent two full days fettling my new track on Northport Quay, including rebuilding one point and realigning the headshunt. Thus far, nine of my 14 locos will negotiate everything, so more tweaking still required. At times, such things are a pain in the primary orifice. At others, I have been known to wonder why I bother! However, I take inspiration from others in this hobby, including many on this forum. Stuff happens, as the Buddhists say - or something like that. One rule I very much try to stick to is 'stop while you are ahead'. The temptation to keep going rarely works out and many is the time that an extra ten minutes has meant several hours sorting it out later. Stop, have a cuppa, do something else, then sit down and think the problem through. There is always a solution.

For me, tension locks spoil many a good model and Kadees are probably as good a compromise as any for modern image and indeed most narrow gauge options.

Have tried both the Gaugemaster and Lenz systems. Both are ok, but not perfect, so sounds like NCE is the one to go for.

The process might be simple, but still demands plenty of care and skill to execute it effectively. Fine work!

Looks like the new project is going to be built on firm foundations!

Wonderful stuff, as ever!

Looks fine to me. A rather nice train is emeging.

Since Christmas, have been plodding my way through the wiring of Northport Quay. With just four points and three uncoupling magnets, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a couple of hours work. However, this is handmade track which, along with Tortoise point motors rather complicates things: All the copper clad sleepers need insulation gaps cutting in them The points themselves require both switch rails cutting about three sleepers in front of the vee/frog, with the copper clad sleeper insulation gaps cut to suit. The Tortoise point motors are too deep to fit within my shallow baseboard frames, so have needed home made brackets to turn them on their sides, with a new pivot beam to drive the under baseboard tie bars. Meanwhile the supplied torsion wire on the Tortoise is too weak for 7mm scale and needs replacing with .8mm sprung steel wire, which took a major tidy up of the workshop to track down! Tortoises do come with two built in auxiliary switches, so I always use one set of these to control the polarity of the point, so two wires from the toe end of the point go to the Tortoise, with a third wire going back to the frog. The latter never a bad idea with Peco points, I've found, which rarely prove 100% effective at this. Connection between the two baseboards is via a 15 pin computer D plug and socket. There are actually only 8 wires, but I find it prudent to use alternate pins to minimise stray strands of wire creating a short. Been there, got the T-shirt - several, in fact! At least there are just four track feeds in all, with just two DPDT switches [for the points] and three push to make switches [for the uncoupling magnets] on the mimic control panel set into the lower fascia of the layout. Over numerous layouts in the last 30 years, I've always used tag strips on the underside of each baseboard as 'junctions' for the wiring. I make a basic wiring diagram and then create a wiring plan which lists where wires go to and from each tag strip. With each tag numbered and a simple code [eg P for points, Sw for switches, Skt for sockets and so on], I then only need two colours [red and black for +ve and -ve] for all the wiring and indeed have got away using just one in the past. Knowing where each end of each wire is all you need to trace any faults. So, no wonder it has taken me the best part of a fortnight, but as I've said before in other posts, for whatever reason, I have an inbuilt ability to to put things together back to front at every opportunity, while transposing things from above to below the baseboard only complicates things further. MANY rude words, in new and colourful combinations are inevitable! So, a case of slowly slowly and also carefully plan the best routes for the wires, which I keep in order by using a staple gun. The end product of all this was that around 2.45pm today, my Deutz G class shunter made its way hesitantly around the layout. Stage one successfully completed! However, stage two now involves making sure all my stock will run through the pointwork and unfortunately all is not well in this department. Longer wheelbase locos have shown there to be several tight spots, meaning I need to do some tweaking in one or two areas and probably do a bit of a rebuild on both Y points. If this all seems like a lot of trouble to make four points and a few metres of track, it certainly is, but if you want correct gauge, lightweight track, then there is no alternative, so you just get used to it.

To my delight, found this book in the Club library recently. Some of the picture quality isn't great, but there are nevertheless some real gems, like the excursion to Courtmacsherry [doubt if Andy has anything like enough figures to recreate this!] and the buses on O'Connel Street.

England could do with some bad weather in Sydney.

Always look forward to a new post, Angus. Button gauges are a new one on me, but then 7mm scale is fairly forgiving and +/-0.25mm not a problem on plain track, though clearly best if it is consistent! The fact that two thou matters sounds a bit scary.... That mini mill looks a neat bit of kit.

That looks a very promising design and seems to have all the key elements of an Irish branch terminus

All rather splendid - and summer too!

Yep, proper job. Got to be pleased with that, Ken.

Guess it depends on the sort of testing you want to do, Tony. For me, on my new project, I want to make sure all my stock will run through the points - both locos and rolling stock. The latter can be done by hand, but persuading locos is often a case of trial and error. For example an 0-6-0 will behave differently to a 4-4-0, or anything with bogie or pony wheels. I start off with wagons, singly, then in groups, then likewise coaches, as my hand made track needs careful checking to see if I've built it accurately enough, or if adjustments are needed. Locos need the wiring to be done and I always start with my J26 0-6-0T, which is both a nice simple design and a known good runner. However, as Galteemore says, track and wheels need cleaning first, to limited the variables. If all is well, then I carefully to through all the other locos, noting any problems and then attend to them one by one. Given I know my stock is pretty well run in and reliable, it is more likely to be track, but you just never know! Finally, hopefully, I run the likely full trains I want to exhibit, including any shunting moves, because in an ideal world, I want to know everything works as I want, before any ballasting, painting and scenic work takes place, as this can always cause problems later too.

Andy is right, was thinking of DG, not B&B! They work well.

Nice one Ken. Full of character and compliments the overall scene really well.

Great stuff J-Mo, full of character and am sure simple lining with a little light weathering, will lift it even further.The As for couplings, while choppers are prototypical correct, Kadees are a popular choice, while B&B work really well too.

Those C&L scenes really are evocative.