East Wall Micro Layout

[Sean]

Very much a spontaneous build that went from reading an Ian Holmes idea that really inspired the build to planning in railmodeller and cutting timber all in the space of a few hours....... I guess insomnia can be a good thing some times 

 

North Wall from above, still to be completed are a traverser exit left and a cassette exit right.

the lighting sucks on my other layouts, to the point of annoyance unless I am in the train room at really specific times of the day with good sunlight, so for this I wanted to play around with the "staging" idea that is quite common with micros and have hung a bright LED at the top of the piece.

 

not too obvious straight away but there is a 5/3/3 inglenook incorporated into the track plan. and a run around!

 

exit left to traverser. This will be disguised by a road bridge overlooking the yard and is a regular vantage point for trainspotters on the prototype.

 

exit to Alexdandra road(cassette)

The idea here is that I want to model the spur with the tanker as disused in order to obscure the view of anything coming and going from the tramway. I want to have a mess around with cutting a tanker in half and mating it onto the backscene to give the idea that this is a longer siding of parked up wagons.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Sean

[Sean]

 

Messing around with the half wagon concept when I should be engineering the traverser.....

[Sean]

Trainspotting from Alexandra rd this evening.

[Sean]

A reliably working traverser was paramount and whilst what i have ended up with is quite primative I am rolling flats back and forward over the transition and from line to line without a hiccup, this is literally a wooden frame with a piece of wood sliding accross it, track must be aligned manually but thats not actually much of an issue here.

in time i may build a nicer looking unit with proper rollers  but so far this is working a lot better than anticipated for an initial prototype.

 

I have also erected a shelf over the other side to act as the alexandra road cassette, im actually considering making this into a longer shelf in the room that its in to give me somewhere to show off my models when not being ran but the cassette size is fixed to being the same size as the traverser over the other side ( and the whole piece of over 8 feet long now, eek)

 

had enough palisade fencing left over from the westport build to line the entire perimeter of the backscenes, nice but i need more here and am on the lookout for suitable urban backscenes. that will suit this particular theme well.

 

disused siding is growing,  still more to do here and one thing that particularly caught my eye on multiple layouts at the wexford show was the use of mirrors on side backscenes  being used in order to give the illusion that  the yard keeps going on and on, I think that effect could be used particularly well  in this locale and could even be enhanced further by the addition of the half wagon illusion.

 

Another thing im working on is the road overbridge and I am attempting to do a full scratch build here using supplies obtained yesterday as there did not seem to be any sort of off the shelf bridge which would have suitably fit the space, its not being based on the real bridge or anything i just need to make myself a functional bridge to cover the space that doesnt look one million miles out of place. I think its going well!

 

one last thing picked up yesterday were these 3v LED floodlamps. currently unsure if i will wire these up as its a daylight layout with a strong overhead light although i do imagine i will given the time!

 

Really enjoying this one and the pace of work, couple more deliveries due for this week and atmosphere is building nicely!

 

 

[Sean]

finishing up tonight, bridge completed and paved, "dock road" from google maps also added into the foreground.

 

few more bits and pieces to arrive tomorrow and a nice change in the type of work being undertaken.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sean

[DJ Dangerous]

Loving this layout. I can see you bringing this to exhibitions!

[Sean]

todays loot. slightly out of era, but for the price i will make an exception, particularly once you also add in the IRM rewards points to bring the price down even more   

 

For ages ive been interested in the hunt couplings but between one thing and another i never got around to them, which is actually a good thing as these magnetic dellners have since been released. as the loco will operating from one cassette to another it will require frequent uncoupling for the run around and traditionally this part has always pissed me off, im hoping the use of these will greatly increase the fun factor by eliminating the fumble around to get the tension locks to release at either end. it should also cut down on how often my clumsy hands tend to damage small details here and there as im uncoupling stuff.

 

Im very surprised as i did not expect this kind of close coupling. at the same time i have been gliding the wagons though second radius s bends and settrack points without any kind of issues that i would usually experience with that type of trackwork  

 

they also look very inconspicuous and would even more so if one were to paint them black... now to straighten up that buffer lol.

 

Death to tension locks!

 

 

now i gotta pick which two locos will get the same treatment for operation on this layout  

Edited May 2, 2023 by Sean

[DJ Dangerous]

The magnetic Dellners are super!

[Sean]

they are not snapping together until they are within about a sleeper of each other too meaning they are more than suitable for shunting around the flats as well.. Ive got enough to outfit 2 locos, 8 flats and the 2 taras, Looks like i might have enough space to fit in another tara or 2 onto the cassette also so im sure im gonna get another box in a time  

[Sean]

 

Mmmmmm. Workable on second radius but not flawless with the 181 fixed nem pocket.

181 good with wagons tho

 

edit: 181 now showing buffer lock with wagons so coupling not 100% compatible without spacing it out a little bit, not gonna mess around with it too much for now as i also have other locos that should work better here.

Sean

Edited May 2, 2023 by Sean

[Sean]

Deleted

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Sean

[Sean]

coming back from musings earlier in the week i was hit with a eureka moment and headed out for some mounting card and this test structure is the result.

The wagon shed was always going to be a low relief affair and i had not originally even intended for the shed to be tracked  but it did need to be a bit bigger as the whole idea of having it at all within the constraints of this build is that the shed is a view blocker for the far side exit, I also wanted to build on the half wagon/mirror idea so i got the bright idea of putting it all within a single rendition of the wagon shed.

 

I think i am going to leave it like this with three walls and focus on developing a detailed interior to compliment the idea.

 

This leads to the illusion that the structure is double the size that it actually is, and that there is an additonal piece of rolling stock inside.

A pair of mags await decommissioning  

I really cant justify building another rake right now but i did want to get my hands on the last mag while they are still around, im sure one or two of them ended up in N.Wall before their eventual demise and this limited piece is definitely a nice little show piece to have around.

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Sean

[Sean]

Dellner update: So I added this crossover during the week to add some interest to the through road on the layout ( so now theres an up and down road to and from the tramway) and predictably started to have buffer lock, The tara's go through fine but neither my flats or MM locos would so i had to have another look at spacing them out, after pulling them out of the nem sockets a little bit  and affixing them in place with a small dab of PVA as per bachmann's recommendation on fitting detail parts for later removal, ALL of my flats and 192 are going through these points without a hiccup. Overall I am really impressed by these couplings and will continue to convert compatible stock.

 

Final update for now, As these taras are a bit shorter than the flats I was happy to see I could fit an additional one into the cassette so i decided to pick up another box of them to complete the "rake"  which breaks up the monotony of the 2 wagon trains of flats that will typically be being shunted about. Also picked up the coastal tours bus as having a Dublin based layout finally necessitates the need for a nice DB model,  I was able to look up the old routes for the southern coastal tour and it would have passed within a street or two of the yard so to me that was enough to select one for this layout.

Thats it for new rolling stock for this layout, and my list of jobs to complete is getting smaller and smaller, so hopefully by the next update ill have a controller plugged in and trains can be moving under their own power  

[DJ Dangerous]

4 hours ago, Sean said:

Also picked up the coastal tours bus as having a Dublin based layout finally necessitates the need for a nice DB model...

 

Mr. Disappointed-With-The-Buses!

[Sean]

some fun tonight as we get to see 007 passing through the yard with the empty taras whilst the guinness liner awaits offscene for the road in.

 

turns out operating 2 throttles with one hand and a camera with the other can be quite tricky so the vid is a bit sloppy, the notch points on 133 are also nonstandard and and i forgot to reset them,

however,

Edited May 8, 2023 by Sean

[Sean]

had hoped to get an update in sooner but ive actually been spending a lot of time running the layout, which can only be a good thing.

that being said, this week ive been messing around with scratch building the wagon shed .

 

First time working in wood or doing anything interior related and it still needs paint but overall I'm really pleased with it and how nicely and effectively the little mirrored surface is working out in there. just looking at this photo now it is making me strongly consider the idea of a small very low relief lean to building to fill in on the remainder of the backscene space. may look better than just a wall of blue like we see now.

 

Ive also added a backscene, just a free printout for now whilst i decide if the backdrop is what i want to be looking at long term, if so ill probably want to get my hands on an id backscene of the terraced houses.  this works well for now albeit i do find it slightly repetitive, i guess i can decide after a few more operating sessions.

as mentioned earlier, i have went ahead and expanded the alexandra cassette into a full length shelf incorporating more of a fiddle yard with a run around and a couple of sidings, this allows adding slight variety onto the types of traffic that can run through the yard in a given running session as well as adding a little more "play" potential into the layout, and this is a layout that is very much meant to be played with!

[popeye]

Looking great. 

I think the ID back scene would look better as they are photo's of real places and above the bridge might be ok

with just a light blue sky.

Your the boss, enjoy.

[Sean]

Let there be light 

[Sean]

And then came night!

could not resist wiring up more LEDS after my successes in the shed.

007 rolls through light engine at dusk.

 

little bit of trackside furniture added, there is a nice ambience starting to build now.

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Sean

[Galteemore]

Lovely little scene shaping up 

[DJ Dangerous]

This layout is lovely. The lighting is fab for dawn or dusk, whichever, and looking at the shed, the beams look so realistic from a scale dimension perspective. It could be any scale, or it could be real. Not too chunky and not too flimsy, just perfect.

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

That's very nice 

[Flying Snail]

12 hours ago, Sean said:

And then came night!

...... there is a nice ambience starting to build now.

 

Very atmospheric @Sean - I keep getting drawn back to have another look at these two pictures.

[Sean]

 

192 arrives in with her first liner load after being transferred to the yard for long freight runs

[Sean]

Twins out

 

These have to be my two favourites 

 

 

[Sean]

 

After Dark, An Asahi liner passes through.

[Sean]

Today has been spent spreading ballast. Almost ready to flood it with glue

[JasonB]

What's going on with the 181, have you buried it? 

[Sean]

lol its just sitting in the base of the casette outta the way 

 

[Galteemore]

It’s being punished like Henry the Green Engine…..

[DJ Dangerous]

57 minutes ago, JasonB said:

What's going on with the 181, have you buried it? 

 

[Sean]

Spreading a different kinda. Ballast between the tracks today.

 

And proof that no 181s have been harmed during the production of this layout

 

The ground cover is making a big difference to the look of the models for me its also highlighting the code 100 track a little bit but its not too bad.

Edited August 19, 2023 by Sean

[David Holman]

Real atmosphere is developing here.

[Sean]

007 is at work tonight 

[DJ Dangerous]

9 minutes ago, Sean said:

007 is at work tonight 

 

Stunning shot, simply sublime.

Bond always works under cover of darkness.

Edited August 20, 2023 by DJ Dangerous