Irishrailwayman

Good progress on assembling the cattle dock now ready for painting (OO model pictured for size comparison):

Starting work on the O gauge Cattle Dock from Timber Tracks. A simpler kit overall, nicely presented with parts in individual bags:

Adding plasticard strips to the engine shed to provide a better finish prior to painting. Also a view without the shed so you can spot the mirror!

40 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Many thanks, irishrailwayman. Just looked them up - very nice stuff, albeit perhaps a little pricey. Pity they're closing, all the same - might order one or two items.

Pricey yes but the kit fits together really well and are very well thought out with exquisite detailing. They are also extremely strong when built and should transport well to exhibitions etc in suitable boxes. I also have their cattle dock and a Goods Depot for Buffers Lock so I will detail in time how these are building up on this forum over time.

19 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

What sort of a kit is that? I presume laser cut wood? Looks very well.

Is the detail printed on or is it low-relief?

Presumably door frames can be painted in a suitable colour?

Hi JHB, yes this is a laser wood product from timbertracks.co.uk - beautifully presented with section parts in separate bags and comprehensive instructions. They do a range of 4 mm and 7 mm products but are closing down and selling off their stocks at present. The detail is low- relief and the windows and doors need to be separately painted before fitting to the model.

More progress on Camerton Station Building with internal skirting, dado and picture rails added! Ready for painting after which doors/windows will be added.

The mirrors are in place giving the impression of a much larger layout!

LED lighting fitted to inspection pits, back-scene strengthening battens added and fiddle-yard completed:

25 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

What the devil is a "soft" opening?

Doors open without advertising/fanfare to test first reactions/iron out any glitches before a grand opening public ceremony in January?

We have selected a gritty industrial back-scene for the O gauge UK TMD:

Work progressing on assembling GWR station:

For my 7th layout I have been planning for some time to do a compact O gauge to run some of the GWR rolling stock I have collected to run on Wexford MRC's "Little Siddington".

Previously I have done GWR OO "Shunters Yard", BR/GWR "Llangollen", "Cynwyd" and "Llanuwchllyn" all in N and more recently OO "Diesel Depot" (my first OO Irish layout "Ballybeg" is now over 10 years old!) - all are still on the exhibition circuit.

This compact O gauge is to be jokingly titled "Buffers Lock" but hopefully that won't occur on the model itself! The plan is that the layout and stock would fit 1-2 cars obviating the need to hire vans etc for transport to exhibitions. The dimensions will be roughly 13.5 feet by 2.5 feet including the fiddle yard all breaking down into three sections. The baseboards will be made using techniques developed for "Little Siddington" and used for "Diesel Depot" and the O gauge BR TMD currently under development by Wexford MRC members. More details will be revealed as I ramble through this project over the next few months.

To kick off and to help determine the size of the baseboards, I am assembling some of the buildings that I have selected to populate the layout. Firstly the station building I am using is a model of the GWR Camerton Station Building produced by Timber Tracks. This is a laser cut timber product which is very well presented. Each section of the kit is separately bagged making identification of the different bits easy. The instructions are clear and a fast setting timber glue supplied by TT helps the project advance quickly. I have assembled the main structure and am starting to add some detail. The interiour is beautifully detailed including flush toilets and even a desk for the ticket office. I plan to make the roof detachable so I can show the interiour to exhibition visitors. A couple of pictures:

Second board has its wiring completed with some figuring out to do on the electrofrog double slip! Wiring on fiddle yard also completed at this point. Looking neat and easily tested/checked and repaired.

Super job well done. Is this a never-leaves-home layout or could it be exhibited?

Moving swiftly along, the wiring has been completed on the first board using the David McCabe dropper boards to form the DCC bus-bar. Each wire is colour-coded, labelled and numbered indicating which position on the bus-bar it occupies enabling fault finding to be expedited. No fishplates are used but each individual section of track has its own DCC feed. Cobalt slow-action digital point motors are being used for this project which also throw the polarity of the frogs.

The board under the diesel shed tracks is cut to make up the inspection pits. Wood sides are glued in place beneath the board and these are lined with stiff card, finished with polyfilla and painted. The track was replaced and the outside sleepers pinned in place before cutting out the centre of the sleeper to form the pits. Additional details will be added including steps down and fall-plates.

2 hours ago, WRENNEIRE said:

The MRSI will be exhibiting our O Gauge Irish outline layout "Ardmore" at the show 

Drop by and say hello @ B59 

Best of luck to MRSI in Warley from all at Wexford MRC.

Ernie Shepherd and Gerry Beesley published a book "Dublin and South Eastern Railway" in 1998 which mentions Palace East a few times and includes photos and a track plan. Published by Midland Publishing Ltd ISBN 1 85780 082 6. Worth a look.

A couple of Alphagraphix card kits in 7mm built recently by John Walker of Wexford MRC and currently on display on the club's test tracks. Note the fully detailed interiours in the Signal Cabins:

Continuing to lay track - shaping up well:

2 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Thank you! Not sure if my work is up to public scrutiny yet. I have exhibited a previous layout and this one does implement several lessons learned. So you never know, if the right invite comes in!

Great! Would you like to exhibit at the Wexford Model Railway Exhibition on 9th/10th May 2020?

Fantastic project! Do you plan to exhibit this layout?

17 minutes ago, Noel said:

Looks good. That will be amazing when its finished if it looks like your Diesel Depot layout. Now all he will need is some 0 Gauge 141 or 121 locos like the super MRSI layout at SDMRC. It just won't look quite the same with miners strike BR blue livery class 37 and class 47s. Class 20 and class 25s nice and short ideal for a shunting layout.

Droppers!  Me I believed the two wire marketing hype when DCC was launched and so only have two wires going to our layout, no droppers at all, much to the amazement of the prophets of DCC doom. 400m of track and it works fine.

Each section of track is independently powered with no fish-plates used (just as developed for Little Siddington). The droppers will be brought to (D McCabe's) design board as part of the bus-bar. I guess BR Blue is the UK equivalent of our black/tan or Supertrain era and is the livery of choice of Barry the owner of this layout. You may have seen his mighty diesels on LS which should in time grace this new layout also. I have fond memories of BR Blue from the 1980's when I travelled by Interail through the UK to Europe as a student.

Progressing well with track laying with dropper wires soldered beneath the rails once their precise location is checked:

53 minutes ago, patrick said:

Turntables survived at Fenit and Listowel until the mid to late sixties so why not Dugort Harbour?

Some turntables survived beyond steam because of the need to turn 121 single cab locomotives!