Blogs

A tentative layout design for Shipston

Well, this is not the end, but it is certainly the beginning. Using Templot has been interesting, challenging, rewarding and at times frustrating. The latter is due to my being on the steepest part of the learning curve. I have not given up on the double slip, though the current design is actually more prototypical. The problem is, by sticking to OO-SF criteria, I have had to extend the basic area from 9'x2' to 10'x2' whether I use the double slip or not. This is not a space problem dictate

Viessmann semaphore/DCC Concepts motor

January 15, 2015

Wiring turnout motors to signals

Dear Members of this parish I am seeking help if possible in respect of operating Viessmann Semaphore signals ref.no. 4500/4505 with the DCC Concepts Cobalt Classic turnout motors and a DCC Concept AD-8fx decoder. I am operating the t/outs successfully from my Digitrax DCS 200 and handheld controller but wondered if it is possible to wire the semaphores into the AD-8fx decoder in sequence as well ? I have managed to operate the semaphores independently using a switch and separate pow

bgman

January 15, 2015

Peter Findlay's Blog

Testing the old stock

I mentioned in my last blog post, that I decided to test my old Hornby stock to see if it still worked with a view to using some on a new layout. Most of the stock was bought around 1980/81 and for several years was used on various "trainsets" in my bedroom, before being packaged away in my parents loft. When I moved to my own house I took the stock with me ... and promptly returned it to the new loft. Principally I was interested to see if the locos still ran and my old controllers sti

peter findlay

January 15, 2015

Up the Line - 1918

Is 18 inches enough?

As a result of my constant attempts to cut down on the space that the layout takes up in the car I have come up with another plan but there may be one overriding problem that I would appreciate some opinions on. The trestles that I have been using - all five of them - are currently 27 inches wide and the layout is only 18. The result is and awkward protrusion at each side which I keep catching myself on and which means that the skirt to hide them has to stick out rather ridiculously. And of

KH1

January 14, 2015

The Grime Street Blog

3d printed brass pivotal trucksides.

Very few of the trucksides used for the Leeds tram fleet have had to been produced as there are plenty of resin or white metal cast parts about. However there wasn't anything for the EMB pivotal trucksides used on the Chamberlain cars that became known as Pivotals obviously due to their trucks, which in theory were meant to combine the best of the 4 wheel and bogie designs, in practice they weren't a success as the linkages needed plenty of maintenance to work well, the majority of the time in u

Red Devil

January 14, 2015

GWR D95 LH part 3

Having completed the shortening of the sides for the first coach yesterday, the first job after getting home from work (and putting the baby down for the night) was to repeat the process on the other 3 ends. This time I thought to try and save a little time I would use a fine saw blade and cut the majority of the excess off the coach end, before filing back to the side. To assist with this the end of the plastic side was coloured black with a marker pen so that you could easily see if the file

January 14, 2015

First make a diamond crossing. . . .

24 hours later and a new Templot arrangement is complete, following my studying up the instructions to build a single slip from a diamond crossing. But I have yet to fill in the details to make the double slip as the instructions suggest it is best to leave modifying the crossing until later. I have taken that suggestion to heart! But it does make sense not to plough straight into the difficult bits, honestly. So here is the new plan, utilizing a future double slip where the crossing is now:

January 13, 2015

GWR D95 comet/Hornby part 2

Last night has seen more progress on the D95s, First up was the fitting of drop lights to the LH coach. I have gone for a lot of part open windows, given that I know the summer of 1947 had at least one very hot spell (based on the historical reports), I figured that passengers would have kept the windows open to try and keep cool. As per the work on the H33 these were super glued in position, cutting the etch in half where necessary to provide clearance for the door handle holes. For thi

January 13, 2015

S&DWatty's Blog

West Cliffe- the "new" layout

West Cliffe and Kirrin Castle Setting The concept was to have a twin-track mainline set in the BR(S) Region with branch based on a typical terminus (e.g. Swanage or one of the Withered Arm stations), all typical LSWR design and able to be set in a time period from the early ‘60s to mid ’80s that would incorporate my interests of late BR steam/diesel transition and the corporate blue (“Banger Blue”) period that I remember from my trips in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Much time was spent sk

S&DWatty

January 13, 2015

Blacklade Artamon Square

The Ghosts of Flaxborough

A very long time ago, I read an article by Cyril Freezer in the Railway Modeller. It was called "Modern Image is Easy" and if you judge by the impact on my modelling it must have been the most important magazine article I've ever read. At least it's the only article that has ever resulted in me scrapping my layout, selling up my stock, and completely changing direction in my modelling. Mind you I was a highly impressionable young teenager at the time. I was then attemptin

Ravenser in Reflections

January 13, 2015

A First Attempt at Templot for Shipston Station

Now, I am sure there are lots of improvements to be made and I think there may also be a few hidden errors, but I am beginning to understand Templot and have drawn up my initial interpretation of the branch line terminus layout. The branch line enters the station at upper left (the lower track is a headshunt) with the single station platform top right. The release loop has an end loading dock at the right hand end. The third track down passes through the goods shed and also serves the

MikeOxon's Pre-Grouping Blog

January 12, 2015

A new 'Old Engine' - GWR 184 - part 8

After completing the main structure of No.184, I have been adding a number of rather awkward parts, in order to complete the 'brasswork'. This is the last chance to show the model, before adulterating it with white metal and plastic components, and then seeing everything disappear under a coat of grey primer! The fitting of these additional parts is difficult on a locomotiive with lots of flowing curves that are hard to measure accurately. My method has been to make paper templates, cut out

MikeOxon

January 12, 2015

GWR D95 (LH and TH) Comet/ Hornby)

Now that the H33 project is ready for painting, its time to move onto the next project – a pair of D95. At the moment my plans are focused around putting together a 5 coach cross country rake consisting of A D95 BTK, ? FK, H33 RC, ? TK, D95 BTK. While the FK and TK are not yet decided, I was wondering if some conversions of Bachmann sunshine stock might be suitable (given that I have plenty of donor coaches already). I want to try and get a mixture of diagrams / coach types. The D95 i

January 12, 2015

Templot on the Mac

Although I already have Peco track for Shipston, I am slowly but surely moving toward a better looking OO-SF look and design. Several years ago I used Templot for a while, working under a PC emulator on my Mac (I have been a Mac user since 1992), but the emulator was expensive to upgrade and really didn't seem to be that reliable. Templot fascinated me in that it appears to have a steep learning curve for those of us who have done a lot of CAD and vector based drawing on computers. This is be

January 12, 2015

Up the Line - 1918

Sounding it out

Finally, I am happy with the running - was pretty good on the whole but just one bit of valve gear was giving a problem. Eventually, nipping up the rivet with some pliers sorted it out. So onto fitting the chip and sound. First job was to drill some holes in the tank backs and the boiler bottom to let both sound and wires out; Then a simple job to fit a speaker into each tank; The chip fitted in my slightly remodeled bunker and was then covered with a piece of plasticard which

KH1

January 12, 2015

Building the Churchward 45xx Part Two

Soldering the footplate laminates. Flux Now there’s a lot written about fluxes. A lot of people swear by this, that or the other flux, all with secret recipes. Some of the most respected people in the field say phosphoric acid, 9% or 12% for more challenging metals, going to as low as 7% or lower for whitemetal. Iain Rice has information on this in Rice, I. (1990). Etched Loco Construction. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications. p. 31. Now fluxes are hard to post and running out on a Sunday

January 11, 2015

N-Gauge LMS Layout

Foster Street - Back in Action - Or - Exhibition Aftermath

Well what a weekend this had been, having made several trips to the local tip what seemed like an endless amount of decorating detritus, and after accidently breaking a wardrobe in the spare room that in my defence was looking rather past its best (well it was after I had paid it a little attention a few weeks ago ) the spare room was looking rather neat. So because I was a good little boy the Domestic Overlord said I could put my train-set back up (I have given up trying to get it recognise

paulprice

January 11, 2015

Building the Churchward 45xx Part One

Churchward 45xx It’s about time. I’ve had this kit for about a year. And seeing threads such as A Nod To Brent, Wencombe, Mayhill, Salcombe and, just yesterday, Western Diversion have all prompted me to get up off my ars backside and start. So what is it? One of the last, if not THE last, 45xx 4mm Churchward 45xx kit sold by Modelex, just before the range went to Phoenix Precision. At the time of writing no 4mm kits and just one 7mm 45xx kits are listed on the Phoenix Precision website.

January 11, 2015

Moses of the Mail's Blog

Huddersfield Railway Modellers Club Room Extension

The development work to Huddersfield Railway Modellers' club rooms is now coming along apace. The extension is finished and we have almost completed the installation of a false ceiling to prevent fall of grott and grime onto the layouts. Huddersfield Railway Modellers must now have one of the biggest club rooms in the country. Along with the floor space for six large layouts in all scales including 16mm live steam. We have a library, lounge, with the latest electronic sound and vision projectio

Moses of the Mail

January 11, 2015

H33 ready for paint

Tonight saw a little progress on the underframe. The plan is to start with a fairly basic representation with the intention of further improvements later. (As such I'm aware it's on the wrong bogies, and the vac cylinders are on the wrong ends) New v hangers and separate linkages were added from wire and plastic strip, along with the tanks which were made from lengths of plastic tube Still need to replace the BR1 bogies with the tempory Hornby 7ft gw ones.... At some point the chas