Leaderboard

Another enjoyable afternoon on the layout saw me removing a couple of the passenger rakes from the track to allow me to spend the time running only freight. My loaded OTA log wagons have been in store since last year so it was time to bring them out again. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out because it was rare at the time for me to do any actual modelling work so fitting suitable loads to 13 wagons was an achievement however, some of the restraining straps do look a bit wide so maybe when I have little else to do I'll redo some of them and make them a bit finer. At the moment there's no great hurry. As for suitable power well there could only be one loco to start the train off...37025, and here it is at the head of the train ready to depart from the run-round road at Cattle Leys terminus. Must sort out that wonky jumper cable! Rarely seen, but here's the opposite side of the tunnel portal at Shieling Bridge. I was going to post this the other day but completely forgot about it. I think more than anything it's the angle that the tunnel portal sits at that cuts out a lot of daylight as there's a similar covering over the terminus side but there's clear daylight visible through that one, which isn't good when it's supposed to be a deep mountain face. Maybe I'll extend the cover at that side to darken it further. There's a piece of rubber fastened to the top of the cover which folds down when the layout isn't in use and the section of aerated block seen on top has a cut out that fits over the track to hold the rubber firmly to the face of the opening. All very technical! At more than 11 minutes you might not wish to watch the whole thing but I've uploaded a video with clips taken today and there's even a clip of the log train departing through the above tunnel exit.

Somewhere in Scotland? I can't now remember whether these scenes from long ago were taken on the West Highland Line or the route to the Kyle of Lochalsh (or maybe even the Central Wales line). Still, the Black 5's crew are handling the long train well - and not a hint of feathering from the safety valves! Maybe this version looks more authentic:

Had trains looping today, so I shot a video.

Having discussed the Hatton 66 I decided to get one of my old Lima 66's out for a run. I've replaced the motor in this unit and it runs well. But it is low on tractive effort so can end up with wheel slip. First run in 6 months or more after wintering in the shed and I didn't need to clean the wheels or pickups, which is always a pleasant surprise. I took 10 minutes to lubricate the wheel bearings on the wagons. One of the auto-ballasters was emitting a squeak. The "falcons" were running a little heavy. Lubrication is one of those jobs I mean to do, but don't get round to. With all this extra time on my hands I'll have to get to the bottom of a few of the running problems with my stock. Having had a very pleasant week for late March, the forecast is more gloomy. I'll continue with the rebuild of the campsite baseboard for which I have plenty of the static grass and look for a few more indoor tasks to work on.

Took a test train out. There are a few sections of track that are dead. The usual suspects. I really should to a proper job of rewiring them. Problem is I've lost track of how my sections work. Seen as Mick had introduce 31233 to Skew Bridge I thought it should have the honour of etc first run of the season. The rake included a new Hornby coach which was a Christmas present. Down side is that it is now too long for the turn back siding. Doing some maintenance on scenic boards this morning. Mainly repairs to damage caused by wildlife.

Hi Thomas, nice bridge, here is a pic of my bridge drawn to scale quarter inch a foot, this time with the new design the arch be in one full piece, the main arch wont be in full piece will have to join 18 inches on to make up the arch, 10 foot in diameter not quite 12 foot half circle . Be on the hunt for 18mm by 1/1/2 wide pine at 10 feet in length, in metres 3 metres is not 10 feet, there is a demo timber mob just down the road now , handy indeed, hangers be 12 inches wide, the second pic is what my bridge be based on this time not a double deck, road bridge be beside the rail bridge. the only difference is on the pic the arch continues onto the pier, my bridge wont have that. Arch is still 2 foot high, still be able to have kite flyers jump off the top of the arch and easier for them to scale the arch too, lots of steps and hand rails , lots to do on those hot days work o the bridge in the hall way which is quite long in the nice cool house. Don't need the 12 foot curve decking cutting that up for the bridge arch, will have to ask my brother if he can bring over his battery jig saw wont take long to cut , be on the con for a 18 volt Ryobi battery jig saw. soon. another hot day again tomorrow, hate this time of the year too unstable, hot night 24 degrees, keeping the air con on till we go to bed. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

Hi Mick, many thanks, I wasn't on the laptop lap , yeah MK2 is better , I did some more work on the track plan and have decided to venture down the side f the house,, got 9 feet width wise to play to plan with so the curve radius will be 7 feet double track and a second station with possible three platforms,good news is I be able to add to the layout, haven't measured the length as yet. Second stage wont go that far down, will make up the lose of 10 feet , will have to add on another 8 feet, layout be 56 feet in length,, first stage the layout be 44 feet in length and the western side of the station modules be temporary curved section ,the layout become a L shape design . Have decided I will redesign the bridge, instead three sections will only two for the main span, join be in the middle , this time when I build the arch be in one full piece, the second pic of the bridge I be basing the new bridge on , not sure if I will do it that way with both road and rail, the real bridge only has a single mine be double track will measure corner to corner of the shed . I could leave the rail deck screwed to the arch bottom framing,be a while before that happening , need to buy a new jig saw be a 18 volt battery jig saw , off to Bunning to get timber long enough to do the job. Still cloudy here might get a chance today after lunch to set up the bridge and spiral , pics to follow. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

WOW at long last a big mile stone indeed, 5 years n planning and construction now the back of the layout has being joined up with the front of the layout, still a lot more to do, the decking I used won't be, I have got a 3 inch wide by 6 foot length and a 3 foot piece I will cut down to 2 foot and join them together , unscrew the 6 foot sides and more them down to cover the join . Can see in pic 26 where the ply decking is sagging, the last two pics is the signal arch concrete bridge I modelling to scale have plan drawing of the bridge and measurements , the bridge length is 1011 feet in length, clearance height to the water line is 200 feet about 28 inches to scale, main arch is 380 feet , scale inches is 42 inches will work out well. Off course the shrub will have to go is in the way, I be planning a stream with a water fall, what I always wanted to do, I will use tarp for the water and paint to the creek colour in the pic, it is very hot here and on top of that bush fire smoke haze, was bad today could smell it as soon as you walked the door, that is slowing me down, but I have other work I can in under the pergola till it gets too hot. Working on rewiring the modules where I changed the track, was told on Tuesday for my hobby shop in Ipswich the Peco are putting there prices up after Christmas , big hike the bloke said , I need to buy one more express point and diamond cross over either before Christmas or soon after, not fair. So yeah I am on a very big high, once the bridge is built and set up I can start laying the track down, you will also notice in the last two pics that the track goes into a tunnel , be planning the same, two tunnels on the northern ramp.I will celebrate with drinking a bottle of Canadian Whisky, nice drink .😂☺️. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

That looks a little too complicated for me Tony. What do the knobs actually do? Are they section switches and what are the indications of the associated lights below them? There's going to be a right power surge in your neighbourhood when you power up! How many transformers are you using?

At long last I have finely connected the control panel to the first station module, put power into the control panel and bingo she still is working fine but haven't connected power to the throttle transformers as yet till I finish rewiring the station modules, two years in the planning and building the control panel, wont be jumping up an down till the first test loco runr around the whole layout . Pic 3424 I replace the connectors with terminal block strips, , the splade connectors I grinded down to half so they will fit in nicely into the block terminals , a couple turns of the screw driver to get a good connection., second pic over all shot of the control panel lit up showing each block throttle, the blue led is the spare unpowered. Now that is all done to a point other than finishing the transformer cradle I can now get stuck into finishing the bridge off, then be able to work on the last stage of the layout at long last.. Tony on a high from down under keeping on moving ahead