Chaos at home ...

It's been pretty manic recently. After a plumbing leak a few weeks ago, we've had the decorators in doing the lounge, and the house has been turned upside-down. While it's nice not to be doing the decorating myself, it has still meant limited work on the layout. Having said that some evenings forced to sit in the dining room has provided the oppotunity for some painting! Also we bought a new Computer just before Christmas, which was great apart from a persistant fault. After weeks of wating hours on the phone to technical support, we've sent it back (tip - don't buy a Dell!) which has meant another distraction from the layout.


Before the builders moved in I did get chance to realign some of the uncoupling magnets, which should make them more reliable. If they are off-centre to the track both couplings swing the same way, rather than apart. While I had the board on it's back and the hot-glue-gun out, I tidied up the wiring. I used bits of wire tags, dozens of which seem to be used to attach children's toys to their card packaging, though the sort that come with freezer bags or just offcuts of wire would do. Attach them to the board with a spot of hot-glue, and when solid twist around the cables. This prevents them getting snagged when the board is moved, and keeps things tidy.

Last Saturday I took my little boy to the Brighton Modelworld show. It's the first time I've been to that show, and from a model railway point of view it isn't great. The layouts are scattered through the multiple crowded halls of the venue, however there were some nice layouts (including the Sussex Downs group's Everleight - sorry I didn't have time to help out guys!) and the other models - cars, boats, planes - were interesting too. My 2-year-old loved it, though I got pretty tired from lifting him up! Also taking photos was pretty difficult, so here are just a few shots to give you a taster.

Unfortunately, with a family do this weekend, and another business trip next week, I might not be able to do much on the layout. I do need to pull my finger out though, as the show is on the 7th March! I haven't even made the layout legs yet - but I have bought the wood!!

Cassettes

As mentioned last month I have also being working on the cassettes for the fiddle yard. I already had some from Pen-Y-Bryn Quarry but I need more, particularly for the longer trains on Awngate. I also had some of the trunking left over. This had originally come from Focus DIY, sold as trunking to hide central heating pipes it is plastic, about 1.5mm thick and around 50 x 25mm U section. This gives ample clearance for 009 trains, and would probably be suitable for smaller 7mm scale stock too, certainly 14mm gauge industrial stuff.

First job then is to cut to length. I marked with a square (which didn't turn out to be that square but never mind!) and cut with a junior hacksaw. A new blade is well worth having! Then clean up with a stanley-type knife and a big file, just to make sure the ends are reasonably square and tidy.

I made 2 train-length cassttes of 30cm (so I have 3 in total), 1 standard loco cassette of 9cm (4 in total), 1 longer loco casstte of 12cm, and a full-length cassette of 42cm to allow any train to be made up including loco. I also have 3 of shorter 21cm train cassettes, which will be fine for short passenger trains or railcars.

Next cut some PCB sheet to pieces about 5cm by 1cm, these should fit inside the ends of each cassette as shown and may need trimming to sit flat. These are glued in place with Bostik.

The track is then cut to length, here it is PECO 009 flexi-track. Using set-track wouldn't be a bad idea as it is dead straight! Note that the end sleeper(s) are cut away to clear the PCB.

To get the track central I had made up some 40-thou plasticard jigs when I made the original cassettes. These fit tight into the cassette and have notches to fit over the rails, such that the track is dead central in the trunking. The track is glued in place (again with Bostik) and aligned with these jigs, ensure that the track is straight and that the rails are flush with the end of the cassette.

Finally the rails are soldered to the PCB strips at the end of the cassettes, and the copper-clad surface of the PCB is cut through between the rails to prevent short-circuit.

As previously shown the fiddle yard entrance has a similar arrangement with brass wipers that make contact with the PCB, so a cassette is simply pushed in place and electrical contact is made. Where 2 cassettes are used together only the cassette joined to the lead track has power, which is fine as that is the loco cassette when leaving the fiddle yard, and when a train is run in it runs through the train cassette and stops when the loco runs onto the loco cassette at the end.

For alignment the cassettes are pushed against the back edge of the fiddle yard, or they can sit between strips of wood or plastic L-section.

So that is not the most accurate cassette system, but it is one of the easiest to make, and works well.

Recent progress

So the recent distractions included clearing and decorating the second bedroom for Son. I did find time one evening while getting the decorating stuff from the garage, to make up these two wooden "spacers" to sit on the front top corners of the layout and lift the lighting bar/pelmet another 2 inches higher. This obviously can't be done at home (see picture below!) but will make it easier to view at exhibitions.



You will also see they, and the rest of the visible woodwork on the layout, has been varnished to match the rest of the furniture around it. (I made use of the empty, uncarpeted bedroom!) Now it fits into the room quite smartly! The cable for the lights is normally tucked behind the layout.



Finally there is a picture of my "portable" workbench. I have started making up kits for a few wagons, there's a WHR van, 2 Glyn Valley opens, and a Welshpool sheep wagon. I've a few more to make up if I get time before the show. Behind them are my Christmas presents, a selection of whitemetal people from Montys, which have had a visit to the garage to be primed with Halfords primer, along with the lorry mentioned previously. It

looks like the pain shops will need to get busy soon!

Toronto and Niagara

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, here I am updating my blog from a Hotel room on the outskirts of Toronto, Canada. No, it's not a Holiday, I'm here to do some work, but since flights are far cheaper if they include a Satuday night stay, and as I've never been to Canada before, I have had a day exploring. So here are some pictures of Niagara falls, the CN tower in Toronto, and a Toronto Tram! (well I had to get something Railway-orientated in!)

As expected I didn't do much modelling over Christmas, but I have done a few bits and bobs since, although between other distractions and I've not had time to update the Blog. Since I can't do much modelling this week (though I did smuggle some couplings to make up into the suitcase!) I have a couple of updates lined up. Watch this space!

Measuring for Cassettes, and a Name for the Layout

The Christmas rush has meant little time for progress on the layout, but I have started making more cassettes for the fiddle yard. These are to the same design as those I made for Pen-Y-Bryn Quarry, where I made 3 loco cassettes 9cm long, 3 train casettes 21cm long, and one at 30cm long. The fiddle yard on this layout allows for longer trains (40, perhaps 42cm long) and the station loop will just allow a train of 30cm to be run-round.

The picture shows some of my stock out being measured. That reminds me I have a fair bit of work to do to get the stock ready for the exhibition! Some of it still has DG couplings rather than the Microtrains couplers I now use, and some of it is overdue a visit to the paint-shop, never mind the usual fettling to get things running properly! In addition I have a few wagon and coach kits to build! But back to the point, I plan on making a couple more 30cm train cassettes, a couple more loco cassettes 0f 9cm, and perhaps one of 12cm. I know that small loco's are required for this layout, but maybe I'll run my Double Fairlie or L&B Manning Wardle sometimes, just for fun! Anyway having 3 full length trains, 5 or 6 loco's, and a shorter train or railcar, available in the fiddle-yard should be plenty for this layout!



I recently took the layout along to the Sussex Downs 009 group clubnight, where folks gave much encouragement. It even ran pretty well, which is amazing because usually the gremlins appear as soon as spectators do! However I was pressed to give a name for the layout, after all it can't be the "Alcove Layout" in the Exhibition guide! So I have come up with the name "Awngate" - it's an anagram of "Wantage", which of course was the inspiration for the station plan and building.

So, that's all for now, a Merry Christmas to all!

A lorry but not much else!

The pace of progress has slowed down somewhat over the last few weeks, I can't believe it's a month since I last posted. However, earlier in the month I did put together a lorry for the yard. It's a P & D Marsh whitemetal kit for a 1911 Daimler lorry that a friend gave me a little while back. This layout will be set in the 1930's so that makes the truck pretty old, but that then with fewer motor vehicles around they would have been kept going longer, so it should make a good smal-town coal-merchant's truck.

It was quite a fiddly kit to put together and it got a bit wonky in the process, but it looks OK and if anyone asks it's had a hard life! The cab roof is not fixed yet, but it's ready for painting.

The last picture doesn't show any progress, just Toby shunting trucks. It's nice being able to run trains on the layout, being in the dining room means it's there when I feel like it, or more likely when my son want's to see Daddy's Trains. It also means I can see all those jobs that still need doing!

A Model Railway Corner

First a picture of the layout in it's surroundings. This layout has been built to live in the dining room and fit as part of the furniture, which I think it does well, though the Ply could do with staining to match. However the recent change has been that I have acquired the shelves above for my railway books (well, mostly). With the bureau cupboard storing my modelling bench, toolbox, and some materials, it is virtually a model-railway corner!

The reason behind the reorganisation is that we are expecting a second child in April - and that of course means the spare bedroom will be required! There will be more sorting out, decorating and DIY to come I'm sure! It also means that the deadline for the Sussex Downs members day (7th March) is more important, as after that I'm likely to have less modelling time for a while ...

The second picture shows the advantage of having the layout so accessable, that working on it is so easy, even just an hour or two at a time. Here the layout is slid forward and the lighting beam removed, to make it easy to work on. I've recently formed the gravel and cinders yard areas made from layers of sand and painted them with acrylics, then formed the the contours of the small parts of land not rail, buildings or yard, with polyfilla/powder paint and newspapers over the polystyrene. As shown in the photo the first layer of grass scatter has been applied too, so the scenery is really progressing.