new year new layout 1990s container terminal and tmd

[Sean]

so with the arrival of some new murphys diesels over christmas the old micro layout had to be lifted, however, it had become far more than a micro layout and i fully intend to bring it back at a later time using the lessons learned and actually sticking to the spirit of a micro layout. but for now i want to model somthing that my slowly growing stable of irish stock would both run and look at home on.

after much consideration a shunting layout was the way to go but i havent fully settled on a layout plan until the last few days and now that i have some track laid i think it will be very fun to operate indeed.

as mentioned before, I really just like to sit and watch train runs, but its hard to find the 3-4 foot needed for a continous loop of second radius track, so the layout will be semi modular with the ability to remove the fiddle yard and later add a portable loop of track that can be lifted when the layout is not in use. but for now heres the track plan until i get a hold of a better camera.

 

 

so essentially trains will enter from a fiddle yard on the bottom right most road, this will be a continous run in a later iteration of the layout however for the moment it will end as a siding at the end of the baseboard. this siding will function as an oil depot with tanker trains running in and out. there is also a level crossing to allow road traffic in and out of this area which will be later built up.

 

left of this siding we have a goods loop and headshunt with an overhead crane for container traffic. the loop is designed for 2 longer items of rolling stock such as a set of coaches or 2 conflats however here it is holding a set of 4 2 foot flats. I will probabaly add a second track running under the crane here but i am unfortunately out of points for the moment.

 

at the other end of the layout will be a 2 road tmd building with some sort of fuelling stand. this tmd will require regular deliverys of fuel from the depot at the other end of the layout. beside this depot are 2 sidings which serve both the tmd  and the container yard, and therefore could be occupied by anything from coaches and locos awaiting work, to container rakes to permenant way sets. and as previously mentioned fuel deliveries.

As 130 will operate the layout regularly i may opt to install a turntable in the rounded area of the track plan. the other open part of the layout will be modelled as a general industrial area

4 20 footers sit in the goods loop

mm130 looks right at home amongst her stable of home made friends. a second lane can be added to the engine shed later

203 shunting a single container.as the crane line is also used as the layouts headshunt it must be kept clear at all times. this is why containers can be kept at the tmd sidings.i must also finish the crane.

 

as always feedback is appreciated and im looking forward to putting a bit of work into this one as im quite fond of how the operating scheme will work out for me. I feel for a small area it surely packs a lot of operating potential.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by Sean

[Rob]

Best of luck-   l like the idea of a 1990's layout so look forward to seeing this!!

[Patrick Davey]

The home made friends look very good!  Impressive work!

[David Holman]

Apart from the sharp curves, there looks to be plenty of operation potential here, with up to five sidings to give traffic variety. My exhibition layouts keep me amused with just a loop and two sidings, plus another deemed off scene, so should be lots of fun to be had here.

 Enjoy!

[Sean]

watching youtube videos of inchicore and one distinctive building with a 2700 poking its head out stood out to me so ive started a little project to convert my hornby shed into somthing similar.

if anybody knows the building im on about and would have more close up pictures of it they would be greatly appreciated.

i like this atmos, will look like a nice little yard when it all comes together.

short container runs look great too, so these along with a couple of IRM flats and a few bells etc will look great on this. there are also 9 dapol tankers under construction(and 5 vans for the micro ) so there will be no shortage of stock to run on this.

want to do up 4 in the alexandra road 40mph livery for fuel transfers on the layout. and other 5 can be generic for runs in and out of the layout.

Since train lenghts are fairly limited this gives me excuses to acquire smaller runs of prototypical rolling stock to run on the layout without breaking the bank. PWD stock in particular would look the part in any of the sidings.

 I have also opted for the turntable so theres a dapol kit on the way should fill the little free space nicely.

 

 

not a huge amount to report from the oil depot side of the layout cut up a few kitchen roll tubes and an old dapol tank to try and turn into big static tanks at a later time.

and finally not really 90s but the little deutz that could

 

So whilst i havent really done much i have fashioned up 3-4 little scenes of interest on a very small layout, so im pleased with that.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Sean

[Sean]

So after another year im coming back to this, emails from IRM about the A class running out had got me thinking about the 00 layout again, and ive been messing around with the layout a good bit i railmodeller, finally this week i caved and bought one of the last 007's from the site, then i caved even further and bought  the last spoil pack listed, hopefully i can afford another one from marks next week. combined with some tanker wagon kits and some home made 20 foot flats and cie containers that i already own along with MM130.

the spoils will be converted into flats for liner traffic and the oil tankers will bring fuel once a week. there will be one other freight working which has yet to be determined. I am thinking timber or beet or bagged cement. (or a bit of everything as cash allows)

liners will stay short but prototypical to smaller lines. 

a push pull set of coaches and a set of cravens will be available for passenger traffic.

these form the basis for a solid set of rolling stock which suits the period just fine, early to mid 90's with the odd appearance from a brand new 201 and the odd heritage special organised by one of the preservation groups. the headshunt is long enough to accomodate 201.

 

 

onto the track plan, i have coloured in the different elements for easier reference. i am basing the layout on a terminus in a yet to be decided location in the IR points era. 

the train enters by a fiddle yard on the left side and the view will be obstructed by some large building placed within the red area.

the track crosses the road leading up to the station in blue and stops at the station, passenger traffic either runs round the train and exits, or simply push pull exits the layout. 130 hauling cravens must use turntable.

I am hoping to motorise the dapol turntable for this project but thats neither here nor there at present  i have a solid idea in the pipeline for that.

the rectangles in the top right corner represent a fuelling point for the locos and the green box represents an old disused goods platform, inspiration for this taken from the old westport quay goods platform. the middle siding does not see much use since the end of loose coupled goods and will be suitably weathered, but it is occassionally used for overnight storage during busier periods.

 

the bottom gray rectangle will be the freight yard and the track will be buried in the standing to give vehicles access to both sidings, have always loved this look so finally need to try that out. originally there was a gantry crane but i have removed this in favour of the large forklift type vehicles. this also allows me to model a number of different industries as time and money allows as the yard will not be defined to have one single purpose. to use the middle yard or siding the loco must first run around and then propel its rake into the destination siding.

 

finally the small siding down by the turntable is simply a small loco spur to be used when a loco has to stand for some reason but it will give the operator scope to work 2 locomotives on the layout during a session. would it be better to move the fuelling area down to here also or is it better left situated where i have it now? perhaps i could plop an old engine shed here.

 

Ive already got a nice baseboard for this, but i need to make space for it, so im going to take the oppertunity to upgrade it a bit and add a backscene and sides before i get started properly, should get a test track down pretty soon though as 007 is in the post!

 

would love to know what people think of this idea as a whole? i want the actual operations on the layout to be as realistic as possible but there will definitely be some artistic license to running some non period stock also.

 

 

Thanks

Sean

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by Sean

[David Holman]

While the track plan seems ok, angling it across the baseboard, as per the first photo, is always better visually. If you can run to Peco code 75 track and points that will also make a difference - if not, operating the layout at eye level will help hide the narrow gauge and heavy rail section. Likewise inset track as per the front siding.

 If there is room at the right hand end of the layout, having one of the sidings, or the headshunt going off scene adds a multitude of possibilities. It could be just a single siding, or it could lead to several. Either way, just 30-50 cm allows you to add all sorts of wagons to serve whatever you fancy. As for the turntable, Frizinghall Models do a hand cranked mechanism (essentially bits of Meccano), which works very well and includes getting power to the track.

[Rob]

Seems the basis of a good, clear idea there and while there might be tweaks along the way, l'd say go for it and continue enjoying the execution of the plan to enjoy it all!

[Sean]

13 hours ago, David Holman said:

 If there is room at the right hand end of the layout, having one of the sidings, or the headshunt going off scene adds a multitude of possibilities. It could be just a single siding, or it could lead to several. Either way, just 30-50 cm allows you to add all sorts of wagons to serve whatever you fancy. As for the turntable, Frizinghall Models do a hand cranked mechanism (essentially bits of Meccano), which works very well and includes getting power to the track.

would you believe that is exactly what i had planned in an earlier drawing, the approach line was a bit shorter and the level crossing and road on the very right hand side of the layout. the bottom siding was going to run off the baseboard and onto another small little modular scene that i could change as i seen fit and served with a diesel shunter.

 

sort of abandoned this idea due to space constraints as i have also sort of turned into a fish tank hoarder over the past year and thats a dangerous game within itself! the current plan allows the user to operate with or without the fiddle yard as space allows.

got to love irm sunday delivery. now i can start planning siding clearences. 

 

can anybody tell me how much space i need to fit the rawie buffer stops?

 

 

[David Holman]

Sounds like you are going to have fun, so keep us posted!

[Sean]

getting back into my 00 project boxes, its really nice to be reminded that ive already bought 99% of the trackwork and buildings that are planned on the layout and that things will be allowed to progress somewhat quickly.

 

track is down to test out clearances, whilst the layout is good a little tweaking needs to be done regarding the loop and sidings length, i reckon i will compromise with slightly shorter sidings so that the loop can hold 120 foot of rolling stock.

 

my goal is to be able to fit class 201 into either of the headshunts and 3 flats or 2 cravens within the loop. so its gonna be tight! but just about doable. worst coming to worst i will have to shorten the approach fiddle just a little bit.

 

have a few solid ideas for the turntable but have as of yet to attempt to execute any of them., a shaft, motor and gearbox have been mated to the dapol turntable, but i havent gotten any further than that just yet as ill need to mount it to somthing before testing it out. the motor has a rotary encoder for position sensing with a microcontroller, so im confident i can pull somthing off with it.

 

plans for a fiddle yard are in the works, however as im very space limited it may have to be set up and put away with each operating session.  in that case i would really like to be able to operate the layout with no fiddle. once buffer stops arrive i will be able to work out just exactly how long the sidings MUST be as it the moment they are simply based on settrack lenghts and guesstimation.

 

[Sean]

Following a successful trip to marks yesterday planning permission for the fiddle yard has been granted in the most unusual of locations, hopefully the drivers do not become too distracted by their new aquatic overlords.

 

PWD have been brought in to take care of construction of the new line. (very tempted to turn the spoil boxes into 4w barytes although i know i really shouldnt, lol)

 

the baseboard is sitting on a keyboard stand, so luckily i can simply lower it to the same height as this surface,.

 

It will be nessesary to build some sort of bridge over to the baseboard, which also will have to curve onto the other wall. ill have to take the bridge out when the layout is not in use so it needs to be easy to setup and put away. gives the trains a little bit of a run then instead of just shunting from one end of a board to another..

 

finally able to start working out how long the loop and sidings will need to be now that the key pieces of rolling stock have been obtained.  when working in rail modeller i like to work on the measurement of "pieces of settrack required to hold this rolling stock" and adjust things from there. given space constraints i couldnt do this properly until i had bufferstops in my posession.

 

going back to my original diagram, I will move the fuelling area to the loco spur, as discussed in an earlier post. that way i can dump some tankers in there, most likely will try to model the houston-alexandra road set of 4 tankers.

 

the fiddle yard allows the parking of 2 locos and 2 rakes. and either loco to take a rake of choice whilst another loco COULD be up waiting to depart or shunting the layout on a particularly busy day, but given the location of the layout it is rare that traffic will ever be so busy. an extra rake being parked in the station in the "old" siding  will also regularly be seen, for some variety.

 

to solve the issue of turning 130 in the fiddle yard, she can propel in with the push pull set and couple straight up to  a goods set and depart, then she can turn around at the station and either park up or take the wagons back to the fiddle. occasionally it can be turned by hand or a a lazy driver might simply drive it back to the station going the "wrong" way. it is unlikely she will ever double head.

 

 

rakes are to remain short but prototypical as i have seen to be typical on the quieter lines during this era. pallet cement wagons are likely to be my next acquisition but i have loads to keep me occupied for now,  I want guinness too!, so if i cant find IRM loads anymore i will have to try my hand at making them.

 

it is likely we wont see much 201 class action on the layout(due to it not yet existing in this layouts world), however I still want to have the option of running whatever i like from time to time so therefore all headshunts have been designed with her lenght in mind.

 

 

[Westcorkrailway]

 

16 minutes ago, Sean said:

Following a successful trip to marks yesterday planning permission for the fiddle yard has been granted in the most unusual of locations, hopefully the drivers do not become too distracted by their new aquatic overlords.

 

PWD have been brought in to take care of construction of the new line. (very tempted to turn the spoil boxes into 4w barytes although i know i really shouldnt, lol)

 

the baseboard is sitting on a keyboard stand, so luckily i can simply lower it to the same height as this surface,.

 

It will be nessesary to build some sort of bridge over to the baseboard, which also will have to curve onto the other wall. ill have to take the bridge out when the layout is not in use so it needs to be easy to setup and put away. gives the trains a little bit of a run then instead of just shunting from one end of a board to another..

 

finally able to start working out how long the loop and sidings will need to be now that the key pieces of rolling stock have been obtained.  when working in rail modeller i like to work on the measurement of "pieces of settrack required to hold this rolling stock" and adjust things from there. given space constraints i couldnt do this properly until i had bufferstops in my posession.

 

going back to my original diagram, I will move the fuelling area to the loco spur, as discussed in an earlier post. that way i can dump some tankers in there, most likely will try to model the houston-alexandra road set of 4 tankers.

 

the fiddle yard allows the parking of 2 locos and 2 rakes. and either loco to take a rake of choice whilst another loco COULD be up waiting to depart or shunting the layout on a particularly busy day, but given the location of the layout it is rare that traffic will ever be so busy. an extra rake being parked in the station in the "old" siding  will also regularly be seen, for some variety.

 

to solve the issue of turning 130 in the fiddle yard, she can propel in with the push pull set and couple straight up to  a goods set and depart, then she can turn around at the station and either park up or take the wagons back to the fiddle. occasionally it can be turned by hand or a a lazy driver might simply drive it back to the station going the "wrong" way. it is unlikely she will ever double head.

 

 

rakes are to remain short but prototypical as i have seen to be typical on the quieter lines during this era. pallet cement wagons are likely to be my next acquisition but i have loads to keep me occupied for now,  I want guinness too!, so if i cant find IRM loads anymore i will have to try my hand at making them.

 

it is likely we wont see much 201 class action on the layout(due to it not yet existing in this layouts world), however I still want to have the option of running whatever i like from time to time so therefore all headshunts have been designed with her lenght in mind.

 

 

 

Looks good the lighting from this fish tank gives a unique look at the locos finish! 

 

Something I saw on Facebook marketplace that may be good for fiddle yards of this approximate era. somone is doing kits for the gantry that was once at Tralee. 

 

[Mayner]

1 hour ago, Sean said:

Following a successful trip to marks yesterday planning permission for the fiddle yard has been granted in the most unusual of locations, hopefully the drivers do not become too distracted by their new aquatic overlords.

 

PWD have been brought in to take care of construction of the new line. (very tempted to turn the spoil boxes into 4w barytes although i know i really shouldnt, lol)

 

the baseboard is sitting on a keyboard stand, so luckily i can simply lower it to the same height as this surface,.

 

It will be nessesary to build some sort of bridge over to the baseboard, which also will have to curve onto the other wall. ill have to take the bridge out when the layout is not in use so it needs to be easy to setup and put away. gives the trains a little bit of a run then instead of just shunting from one end of a board to another..

 

finally able to start working out how long the loop and sidings will need to be now that the key pieces of rolling stock have been obtained.  when working in rail modeller i like to work on the measurement of "pieces of settrack required to hold this rolling stock" and adjust things from there. given space constraints i couldnt do this properly until i had bufferstops in my posession.

 

going back to my original diagram, I will move the fuelling area to the loco spur, as discussed in an earlier post. that way i can dump some tankers in there, most likely will try to model the houston-alexandra road set of 4 tankers.

 

the fiddle yard allows the parking of 2 locos and 2 rakes. and either loco to take a rake of choice whilst another loco COULD be up waiting to depart or shunting the layout on a particularly busy day, but given the location of the layout it is rare that traffic will ever be so busy. an extra rake being parked in the station in the "old" siding  will also regularly be seen, for some variety.

 

to solve the issue of turning 130 in the fiddle yard, she can propel in with the push pull set and couple straight up to  a goods set and depart, then she can turn around at the station and either park up or take the wagons back to the fiddle. occasionally it can be turned by hand or a a lazy driver might simply drive it back to the station going the "wrong" way. it is unlikely she will ever double head.

 

 

rakes are to remain short but prototypical as i have seen to be typical on the quieter lines during this era. pallet cement wagons are likely to be my next acquisition but i have loads to keep me occupied for now,  I want guinness too!, so if i cant find IRM loads anymore i will have to try my hand at making them.

 

it is likely we wont see much 201 class action on the layout(due to it not yet existing in this layouts world), however I still want to have the option of running whatever i like from time to time so therefore all headshunts have been designed with her lenght in mind.

 

 

Looks very close to John Allen's Timesaver concept http://gdlines.org/GDLines/Timesaver.html.

To work the headshunt or loco release at both ends needs to be long enough for a wagon and a loco. 

The puzzle works as a self contained layout with 5 wagons and one loco and can take over half an-hour to switch/shunt the five wagons between their starting and final positions.

I added a fiddle yard to my North Wharf timesaver, the min fiddle yard is long enough for 4 w or 2 bogie wagons and a B121 

Although I use 4w wagons the constraints run-round and head shunt lengths are the same as a Timesaver with bogie wagons & a small diesel

 

[Patrick Davey]

Am sure the fish will be interested in the scales.

[Sean]

22 hours ago, Patrick Davey said:

Am sure the fish will be interested in the scales.

to the torment of the driver they are also 1:76 scale

[DJ Dangerous]

On 27/1/2022 at 9:52 PM, Westcorkrailway said:

 

 

Looks good the lighting from this fish tank gives a unique look at the locos finish! 

 

Something I saw on Facebook marketplace that may be good for fiddle yards of this approximate era. somone is doing kits for the gantry that was once at Tralee. 

 

Did yer man fall off the gantry or what?

[Sean]

probabaly the final track plan, offering heaps of siding space and a massive loop. still need to tweak lenghts on the fiddleyard, a balance must been found between loop lenght and siding size in order to maximise workability.

fuelling area is a the loco spur now, which actually gives justification to have the spur and its also space for a rake of tankers.

have been liquidating some old BR stock in order to finance the trackwork, donor for the cravens spray are now gone however however this is now of little concern as shown below.

Finally have everything laid (except the turny. more to come around that, im bouncing between 2 very different ideas) backscene soon as i cant avoid it for much longer nearly time for the A class to travel under its own power for the first time. need to set up a circle of track somewhere for that all important running in.

also got some new containers. not too fussed about the livery being prototypical here as im sure clients will have changed from time to time on the real container network. im sure the evergreen car will derail violently at the level crossing at some stage and become lodged for a few weeks.

 

and then........

unobtanium!

Some lovely new mk2's have been sourced in order to handle  passenger travel on the branch. 

the colour on these seems to be closer to 130 than on 007 so adding in stripes and such should be easy,  however it is far more plausible that they kept this ST livery into the 1990s if they are working this backwater branch station all the time so i may keep them as is, "Intercity" is just the livery that i remember from growing up, was a little too young to see or remember any supertrains.

 

hopefully i should get the backscene on in the next few days and from there on the real construction can start.

sizing up the sidings and loop.

On 27/1/2022 at 9:52 PM, Westcorkrailway said:

 

looks good the lighting from this fish tank gives a unique look at the locos finish! 

 

 

actually, yes. there was the end of a course of meds in the tank when i took those pics so the water was slightly tinted green,  have changed the water since and i do agree that there is somthing about the lighting here.  theres a long flourescent tube just inside the lid of the tank but the way its shining slightly outwards definitely seems to project more light over the models  and its getting diffused uniquely by the water. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Sean

[Sean]

Today on the Railway;

 

Railcar turns on turntable for the first time, with a satisfying index click to altert the user on proper alignment!

next time ye shall see 130 use it under its own power.

a thought crosses my mind; sure why bother motorising this if none of the points will be and your going to just be sitting there within reach anyway! its not as if the real ones were motorised in the end.

so we shall see on that.

when asked about the ongoing issue of siding lenghts at a recent meeting, a senior engineer piped up with "Just build a BRIDGE and get over it!"

so thats exactly what has happened. leaving both generous loop and sidings everywhere

 

Sean 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Sean

[Sean]

As the bank has been broken several time over the past week , this was seen as a good opportunity to finally finish some kits. have made them my own with the addition of the strenghtening girder.

 

already liking how these look cant wait to get a coat of paint and some decals on.

 

ten miles of hertigate railway exist on a rail spur approximately 15 miles away from the terminus, with the aquisition of mk2 stock, these have been passed along to that railway which they plan to use to instate a second daily service on their line. initially as a push pull, later as a dmu once the green car sees an overhaul, as a future project, we will see a better representation of this railway.(new thread soon)

 

to compliment their mixed steam special that leaves the station once a day, quite unusually the cattle van has been converted and carries the mail for the village post office, along with any other small loads that the locals might want to charter.

 

They even have their own volunteer ran PWD division, Irish rail allow the use of the railhead facilities for ballast deliveries and any other heavy supplies which may be difficult to get out the winding village lanes.

 

they too rely on fuelling facilities here and the weekly fuel delivery is split with 15% being reserved for the heritage side. a heating van is also used on passenger services during the winter months.

 

a group of eager catfish await the 16:00 home from the lakeside.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Sean

[Galteemore]

Excellent. You are making stuff and having fun. That’s what it’s all about. Keep the updates coming! 

[Sean]

All track has been temporarily lifted and the basedboard is gone away until tonight to have a backscene installed. 

that being said the holy grail has arrived!!! (definitely an unplanned purchase but too good not too buy :D)

more pullin power than this whispy backwater will ever need. find me 071 in this livery now and i will have the full fleet.

has to be mentioned that im MUCH happier with these handrails than i was with the ones on 130

Edited February 2, 2022 by Sean

[JasonB]

On 2/2/2022 at 1:49 PM, Sean said:

 

You've got yourself a cracker there, Sean. 143 is a favourite of mine. It's the only loco from my collection of 141/181's that I will never weather. She's a beauty. 

[Sean]

We catch a quick glimpse of 143 as she arrives in with the dublin service, 007 awaits signal to depart with a liner.

[Sean]

shied away from work on the layout over the week as a disastrous first operating session had been plagued with constant wagon derailments on points, particularly during reverse shunting, chalked it down to a mixture of hornby points combined with an extremelly unlevelled track bed. I had considered replacing all the points with peco(which i still may do for reliabilitys sake).

Had another go friday and had a nice few hours of operation over the weekend , up until now i had not seen any need for DCC and sound chips and all that malarky, despite having a degree in audio production! but now i am seeing it as one of my most wanted features to add to the loco's and im thinking about other ways i could experiment with incorporating sounds into the layout.

Perceptually its a bit weird seeing the trains going around without making any sounds, a bit like driving an electric vehicle for the first time!

a full yard will be a rare sight. MM203 the odd one out on era. perhaps as they climb in value to approach the 2000 euro mark some kind soul will trade me for an  immaculate toothpaste IR 071 which is still in a sealed box 

 

 

We did manage to catch a few videos of train movements down the newly built street, once you cross the tracks the road will continue left  and i might get to squeeze in something low relief stuck onto the backscene, in to the right is the train station car park where ill be able to display around half a dozen cars, as i add them to my collection.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Sean

[Sean]

lifted everything off the board again to do the usual "slab the whole yoke with polystyrene" treatment and to lay the underlay, hopefully the trackwork is a little more forgiving now!

just about ready to fill this lot in with das and hope for the best! madly the styrene exactly matches the rail height with the underlay underneath!

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Sean

[Sean]

RIP RAWIE NUMBER 5

slightly nervy but enjoyable work, not bad going for a couple of hours. had to use fillers in a couple of spots as i was low on clay, so may need to leave a good few days before sanding it down etc. will have to see how it goes.

pulled the molds off early because i dont want a perfect concrete edge i want it to be broken and distressed.

Also cut out and glued down the loading platform,  and also with this brings another change of plan, beet hoppers have always been on my list of wanted rolling stock, but with no real justification to get them due to lack of facilities on the layout. 

and since im rather partial to hopper type wagons in general, and magnesite are coming. I have decided that instead of a disused loose coupled loading dock that it can be an in use loading dock to cater for all types of mineral hoppers complete with period clapped out 10 or so year old JCB!

 

watch this space....

Edited February 15, 2022 by Sean

[Adrian]

Nice work Sean, I like working with DAS too so I’ll be interested to follow along and see how yours turns out! 
 

Also, DCC sound is definitely worth it - grab yourself a LOK sound decoders with double iPhone speaker for the 141 from Roads and Rails and you’ll be very pleasantly surprised

[Sean]

Thanks Adrian, ive been watching your thread with keen interest too,

 

little has happened this week as i have been sidetracked by all things DCC, constructing my own controller and chipping the fleet ,no sound. just cant justify the costs, the lighting has me delighted anyway. I do have some good ideas for sound however they are still in the incubation phase in my head and require more evaluation before i can say anything meaningful on that front.

 

the filler is finally at a spot where im not afraid to sand it, gonna be a little tricky since its essentially laid onto a bed of sponge but we will persevere anyway. gonna need another coat in spots so the odd crack wont be game over as long as it all stays adhered.

two backscenes have arrived,  shockingly they are 10cm short of covering the whole backscene despite my measuring them in advance. since my backscene is quite short though i should be able to get by by covering up the transition with a building of some sort. the excess sky will be trimmed off and can be used as the sky above the building in question. I am considering using a large low relief station building which overall would become a sort of centrepiece of passenger operations on the layout. ive also got a signal box ive been messing about with it but i just think the space isnt there for that.

 

will get back to a turntable soon also, i didnt like the old one so much after a little while so i have left it off the layout for now. ive since discovered some cooler designs also so will get back to one of these in due course.  i have even considered buying an off the shelf one and just sucking up the costs however I dont actually have the space for any of these commercial designs anymore so thats a non goer. to be fair i think ive made use of every inch of the available board without making it overly cramped looking thanks to the open yard at the front.

[Sean]

not looking too bad after a sanding, plenty of low points though so ill be filling those in tonight.

 

took the chance to fill any imperfections in the das and then just did a full skim over the entire yard area.
 

used a different type of filler tonight which was a powder type as it was cheap and advertised as being ready to sand in an hour, and it was! ill probabaly using this stuff where possible from now on.

Irish Locos, working lights, hard standing,  irish bufferstops, lights reflecting off rails, ive died and gone to model train heaven.  

 

Happy to see a few different sub projects coming together in completion on the baseboard.

 

 

Finally i should add, i used a slightly different methodology for making the grooves alongside the rails, instead of a knife and ruler i took a plastic card ( expired leap card or license etc) and i cut it in half to give me a sharp edge, i was able to dig the card into the inner rib part of the rail and use this as my guide to slide the card along and run down the lenght of the rail fairly quickly, I did this whilst the clay was still rather soft and could hold the card at a decent angle to get the required width in the grooves on the first attempt.

 

will mess with the backscene tomorrow, as i feel its the next logical step in construction as it will be harder to fit later with scenery in the way!

 

[Rob]

Good progress being made-  exciting to see it develop so keep it coming!!

[Sean]

backscene is up, underestimated how much id need but im half way there. good chance to try out another one from the range so i can match them up.

 

definitely need some kinda building to disguise the corner.

 

theres a decent amount of pva leftover so im going to paint it all over the polystyrene to seal it against solvent damage at any point.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Sean

[Sean]

wasnt too fond of that corner and ive already got a fairly busy scene for buildings so i just spontaneously put this mound together tonight, will model a little field edge on the top of it and it should look decent.

a rare appearance from an out of era spoil, totally acceptable whilst we are still under construction as how else would we build the model without modern day stock  

kinda mad to think this "corner" of the layout will be complete as soon as i get some ballast down and all the white surfaces covered. its my first "all irish" layout and definitely the most prototypical ive built so far. 

Im now most looking forward to 

still trying to decide between beet doubles and pallet cement as my last source of industry  

i have some ambitious plans going forward in terms of adding sound and lights, so maybe its good that im geting all the model work done now and I did always anticipate this to be a quick project.

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by Sean

[Sean]

Whilst in reality I am flying though things in my head I'm slowly getting there

 

The old pva trick worked as I was able to spray paint down the concrete with cheap nasty deals primer without melting the surface of the layout

[jhb171achill]

On 20/2/2022 at 8:35 AM, Sean said:

definitely need some kinda building to disguise the corner.

I have the same problem. Was thinking about a tree, or a slight curve in the backscene?