Leaderboard

Christmas not far away, the last construction state is well under away at very long last, I started on the spiral leveling with the special jig ,, every 3 feet goes up 3/4 of an inch,I replaced the wider curved for 3 inch wide curved decking till I have to use the wider decking, play to cut 3 inch wide 4mm ply for the sides on all the curved decking. The first pic is the finished spiral corner module and second module looking down to the start of the spiral , third and fourth the spiral is the end of the layout at 54 feet , the metal shelf bracket I will also be using on the car port side wall . Pics five and 6 the finished Large S bend from the bridge to the car port , in pic 006 at the corner steel car port port the short gray piece bridging the gap between the two 6 foot radius curved decks I will be cutting it to 3 inches for a single track rail bridge and 4 lane HWY under neath coming off the double deck bridge. I have some great ideas , in pic 5 the lighter curve I plan to run off that onto my vertical staging yard using a slide draw set up to set on points , to get the vertical yard I be using an ironing board perfect for what I want to achieve, will start off with a couple of tracks , depend on how long the ironing board is how long the stating yard be. Today I will screw on the extended length to the first gray large curve deck and cut the brackets for the other curve sections, might get a chance to set up the car port corner module depends on the weather pretty muggy out side so might get an early morning storm. Can't do much, Monday and Tuesday, be Wednesday , start heating up again, 39 degrees on Friday and be humid, will have to wait till a cool day but can working on the curved sections, painting and laying track , I am using Andrew's idea in using the rails as bus wires and joining each rail on the joins, save on wire. All goes well trains running May next year , can't wait , the stool on wheels the pic in the last post I be buying on Monday, perfect for sitting at the control panel controlling trains. Tony from hot down under keeping on moving ahead

Quick post just some pics. Just plugging away at the Crap Building.

Hi Griff, many thanks, yes the layout sure is and is my dream layout, Saturday I will finish checking the last station module that has the connector panel on it and the spiral module bus wires be free to start on the last construction stage of the layout, all that decking has being cut out all ready, can't wait. I might even be able to make a start on the bridge needing the arch to span 14 feet, the ship will sit in the middle or just off to one side . With the ship progress I am now working on the main deck sides cutting out to smoke vents , pics to follow, once that is done will start on the section section of the ship will have the access ramp from the top deck . Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead.

I"ve come across KW Trams a few times, he's a nice chap. One of his kits and motors is up next on the workbench schedule.

Have being busy testing the track on each module and working my way down and straightening up track and points, the first pic is what the track was and last two after straightening them up much better,. I bit the dust and took out past he diamond cross over onto the second module and swapped points, the point to the left in pic 2291 is a powered Roco point, I have a flat Atlas point motor I will put on the point on the second track and join them both up to switch together. The idea of those two points like that is when the Indian Pacific train is coming in on the outer track, other trains can get past, like the real thing at Sydney Central station . Got some real hot days coming up, will ask my wife if I can being the module into the Barth room and res-older the feeders wires and check each block . Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

I have being busy re a lining the track and swapping points around on both corner modules improving them for better running . The first pic is what the points were before changing pics 2 and 3 the changed points and track, now the next job is re solder the feeder wires the feeder wire some I will have re strip the bus wire s and solder new feeder feeder, can't wait to drive the Indian Pacific into where the first loco gets uncoulped . I have made the block long enough to fit 28 passenger cars, pic 2 where the diamond cross is I have added two points so other trains can pass the Indian Pacific till it has being shunted into the terminus platforms, lucky last the first loco running on modules one and two of the station complex. I have being checking each block on the module when they are connected up, this module will be a headache to check each block but be worth it. No more work on the layout for the next few days going to be stinking hot outside, up over high 30's Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

Nice lot of pics Mark, yeah I like the permanent loading dock for the auto wagons,America has adjustable ramps to access three levels on their triple and double auto rack wagons, I have 5 of them, one of my projects be modelling the US double wagons sharing one bogie, the roof is a lot harder to model than the Swedish Auto wagon, will have to check them out. That Electric loco is a Swiss 460 class electric loco, nice loco would like a couple and like the double deck train again some research need there.It wasn't a safety course , were there a lot of other captains there as well. Do you captain different cruise ships, was talking to my sister yesterday and she asked me that question. Back into finishing off the last of the wiring on the approach module today, three blocks and only sort wiring, next module is the important module, it connects to the control panel. Tony from sunny down under

Cheers Griff. I got the temporary backscene sorted and took it all down to our coffee shop on Saturday. It went down a storm. Lots of work still to be done raising the baseboard level up to the track. I've got a good supply of hard board ready for that purpose. I cycled up to Grosmont today and found that the secondhand model shop that used to be in Pickering is now at the other end of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. I purchased a handful of 1:43 scale cars that will fit this scene nicely. I do have a slight problem with this Snickleway. My wife likes it so much, she wants it in the house rather than the garden. The whole reason I started with garden railways was because our house is too small, I've no idea where we are going to put it. Not the worst problem to have.

The long winter has dragged through into early spring reaching all the way to April showers. Not the weather for our hobby. I have wintered mainly on a diet of my model tramway and building On30 stock, the later is for my next garden railway which will at ground level, below the Amblethorpe shelf. Work on Amblethorpe has been focused on two areas, the conversation of a BR Mk2 coach into a Network Rail DBSO driving coach and prior to that, exhibiting Amblethorpe at a show! My wife, Sarah and I own a small coffee shop. For over a year me and my mate John have been taking about putting on a mini model railway show in the shop. This winter the 3 of us actually did it. We had two layouts, my tramway and an indoor version of Amblethorpe. John provided most of the baseboards and track, I supplied the station and most of the scenery. Colwick station lives on it's own board, baseboards were added to this and a station throat was built. Half a dozen of my scenic sections were then placed around the track. It was all cobbled together, but created a good overall effect, if a little cramped when compared to the normal space my trains run through. At the construction stage, on the lounge floor. Working to a deadline was good for removing procrastination. 1 large and 3 small scenic sections needed to be built, just for this one off show. I didn't have time to muck around getting things perfect, yet still came out with very impressive results. This is a lesson I need to learn in railway modelling (and in life). The event was very successful. We allowed children to drive the trams, which was hugely popular. The magic of the model railway still works on children in the 21st century. There was plenty of awe and amazement from the locals. Several of my scenic sections got a good spring clean for the event, which has them looking at there best this weekend as I finally started the 2018 running season.

The time has come.....the wood has been bought. Well some of it. I have bought two 100x100 mm posts to be cut in half to make 4 uprights, some shelving brackets, 100mm wide tanalised decking boards, two sheets of 12mm ply one of which is tanalised and 50x25 battening. Finally two bags of quick set post cement for the uprights. That little lot should build the storage yard baseboards in the shed and the first part of the outside boards which will run along the back edge of the raised vege bed towards my beehive. I intend to use tanalised ply tops for the curves and decking boards for the straights. The decking boards are only 100mm wide. Not quite enough for double track which I am after. Therefore I may cut the boards into blocks 140mm long and mount them on top of a ladder construction linking the uprights. Hope that makes sense. Incidentally, here in New Zealand in a place called Taumaranui where you get to drive on a stretch of 145 kms of railway line taken out of service in 2009. Actually an entrepreneur bought a railway line of our equivalent of network rail called Kiwirail . He bought golf carts, fitted them with railway wheels made out of hard plastic and a kawasaki 400cc motorcycle engine. The result is a guided self drive along sections of railway track complete with tunnels, bridges, the works. Its outstanding. If ever you are in NZ you must try this. do this. Hope the photos come out. cheers mark