aureol40012

Right, I've got over the builders messing with my stuff now! Here are some pictures now that the station has been laid. Notice the way we had a joiner build a bespoke storage unit that also supports the station boards; wife and husband both happy as a result! Playing with my newly arrived "Bubble Car" which is an awesome bit of engineering!

Am I unreasonable? My neighbour came round last night and asked if some gutter replacement people could have access down the side of our house to replace his gutters. He saw that my garden railway boards were being built down the side of my house and that all my tools were there but didn't say anything about them needing to be moved. As requested I left the side gates open this morning so they could have access, and I was home for lunch when they first went down the side. As I left to go back to work I was faced with the sight of the entire area having been cleared by them, including my work in progress station boards, with everything being dumped in front of my garage. I think my exact words were "WHAT THE FU@&........". I told them they had no right whatsoever to come on to my property and move stuff around like that, especially delicate items that couldn't yet be moved (I'd have told my neighbour "no" if he'd said they needed to be moved, I'm finishing them tomorrow and stuff isn't properly secured and wired yet). They looked at me like they couldn't see what the problem was (they kept referring to the "train set" like it was no big deal). Am I over-reacting or would you do the same?! Why on earth they didn't just knock and ask me what to do is beyond me..............

Tony, Yeah, all insulfrog. The station throat is a bespoke unit made by a guy who uses Peco points and joins them all together to make something new. You'll find them on eBay. Im going to be running using DCC so am avoiding blocks for now. You? Finally I'm using those crimped connectors to join the drop wires to the bus; I HATE soldering!

A few photos of the connecting piece between the 2 plank wide running lines and the 5 plank wide station board, the station throat pointwork, and a first attempt at the station layout (should I add a 5th platfform?!). Oh, and a bargain new addition to the layout, a dirty class 40 for £65!

This would be my prime choice if it weren't for the price and rarity: http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewLot.aspx?LotId=93443&Section=1477&Start=40 The station is metal so is well suited to being outdoors. Is anyone using one of those? What do other people use?

Well, if its points you like, check these out............! Arrived today.

Tony, I was in Sydney and the Blue Mountains in Dec/January but missed the "Indian Pacific" ;-( I did however see some of the massive freight trains; impressive!

Can I just say, I LOVE the bellowers! As someone who spent thousands of miles out of the window behind class 40s in the early 80s, it takes me right back. See here for some of my dad's early VHS footage for what I'm talking about!

Further progress last night, but also the first "incident"! Its my own fault, I felt the need to test my pointwork and my Heljan class 27 derailed and fell off the layout on to the grass! Luckily it is rained softened so no real damage, but has anyone with an elevated section developed a "safety net" mechanism (literally) to catch falling stock?

Well, as nobody seems to visit the "layouts in the planning stage" section I've now moved Birkdale Northgate to this forum as I started building it on Saturday! Made good progress for day one of a first attempt!

Photos of where the layout will go.

First attempt at a plan attached, comments welcomed! Circle is tree, rectangle is planned garage extension which line will eventually connect in to.

I'm starting this thread now, right at the very start of my thinking about the layout, so that you lot can mither me if there are no updates for a long time; I need motivation! This is a two stage DCC project. Stage 1 is a high/medium level (lower and upper gardens) end to end layout with a possible loop around a tree, and stage 2 is to connect stage 1 to a new garage extension which will contain the indoor "hub" of the layout (fiddle yards, station, depot, etc). Motive power is all in place and is BR blue 03, 08, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 33, 37, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 55, and 56, with HST and DMUs. Photos and plans to follow! Jake