Clay Mills Junction

I got some lawn edging the same for my garden about 6 or 7 years ago. I went back to get more the following year but couldn't find it anywhere. If anyone finds a supplier, I could do with some for the lawn. (I say lawn, dead moss patch is more apt)

I just went back to the video to balance up the comments. Reading the video description again, I think the negative comments were agreeing with what you put in there. Although the sandpaper comment was still a bit harsh.

Hi Paul, That is some garden. Are you going to be operating from a shed or garage with trains running in/out? You're trying something new with block detection outdoors by the looks of it so you will have to be the pioneer.

Finally I've been able to get started again. Not with much though. By the time I've finished work and eaten there is very little of the evening left. That is another 8 dropper wires soldered to the track though not soldered to the bus yet. If I can get that done this week whilst it is hot and still that should make the outdoor soldering easier.

I don't know, if it isn't snowploughs when they aren't supposed to be there it's something. You seem to attract criticism on YT, perhaps it is jealousy. Maybe once you get to a certain level of exposure you have to expect it.

Brexit has a lot to answer for. But that aside. HO track has the same 16.5mm rail spacing as OO, hence you'll be as well going for whichever is the most common HO track available locally. The trains will still run the same. Rolling stock will be harder, unless you know someone in NI willing to do a bit of smuggling. 😂.

Hi, welcome. I don't have any experience of block detection but I do follow Chadwick Model Railway on YouTube who uses it. I imagine that the Digitrax PCBs aren't weatherproof? Which would be the biggest problem to overcome. Chris will have more of a clue about weatherproofing stuff like this I think. What level of track plan complexity were you thinking?

Hi, it depends where you are and what is around locally. Exhibitions, swap meets, local model shops might have things in their second hand ranges (mine does). Maybe facebook marketplace or I don't know, but where you are it might be more common to find track labeled as HO with a different rail height to our "code 100" and "code 75." (I think code 83 is an alternative.) It depends what is in common useage around where you are.

Welcome to the forum. There's lots of useful info here and lots of inspiration.

So, you're going to have the main running loops going onto and over the new extension pieces and then the incline going up the middle and over to the shed? Is the shed branch one or two lines?

It's incredibly hot outside.

I can confirm the second coach is the same, only fault is the drooping coupling. Which I will fix and have two perfect coaches for what amounts to more than 1/3 off the retail price of new coaches. I still need a first composite to complete the set though.

I bought two more Oxford Rail Mk3a coaches in Scotrail livery, they were cheap (£48 for the pair including p+p) because they were sold as "damaged detail" and no returns. The ebay username didn't mean much but the postage label gives away these came direct from Oxford Dicast. I've only opened one and the only thing I can find is one coupling is drooping. On opening the coach I can see that the problem is the coach seating screw not gripping into the chassis. Since the fix for that is so simple I'll have that done tomorrow. That suggests Oxford don't know how to fix a very common problem with their own coaches. Pretty shocking that they couldn't engineer the same solution to resell it.

I think it's a dcc concepts product. It's basically just magnets under the loco and steel plates under the track to increase traction. I'm not sure if there are competitor products available or a DIY option. You can buy small magnets and plenty of ways to get a slim bit of steel under the track. Have a look at the price, it might be a price you're willing to pay or you might want to build the incline and see if your trains are OK then only buy if really necessary.

The same guidance about inclines applies outdoors as it does indoors, just to consider that adhesion level may be lower than indoors so the maximum gradient will be less. So, the lower the gradient the better. Curves increase resistance so shallower are better. Etc. I don't know if things like Powerbase would be suitable outdoors. Fitting steel plates under the track might just rust out in a few years.

Hi Ken, are you thinking you'll need an incline to get the tracks over into the shed?

Viaduct in final place, levelled, glued together again, sand cleared and stones spread out. There's still some blocks either side that need finalised. The next bit will be to solder the track feeds then to lay the roofing felt and cut it to shape. After that the point needs to be resprung. Still much to do, but it feels like a stage achieved.

520? https://images.app.goo.gl/uf4Vs1wZHB5GjS6K7

My next question is, since you have lots more info than I do, which 37/5s had the red stripe and no name please? Not bothered about big numbers of the coloured kingfisher - the white kingfisher is pretty much impossible to tell what it is if you don't know already. And did any of those have ploughs fitted? I know it is difficult to know all of this information and allocations and liveries changes so often that a loco wouldn't be in a given condition for too long before another change came along. e.g. it looks like the most of the 37/5 fleet was in railfreight sector triple grey within a couple of years. But you'd think the manufacturers would have the ability to check and at least create something that actually existed for a time. On the flip side, model railways can only ever be a representation of a real railway with sharper than real life curves and points, things that can't be scaled down etc.

I think I'm as much persuading myself to get something done with this loco. It is a bit of a nothing loco within my collection, doesn't fit with any of my other stock although Thornaby locos did take steel trains down through Derby where I grew up around. I've always used this one as a bit of a workhorse, for testing track etc. Maybe I should get it heavily weathered and renumbered, I'm not a fan of the Thornaby look with the big numbers and names on freight locomotives. 37510 never had a name and looks like it kept small numbers. I will have a think.

I know that a few of us have this loco. A dangerous thing, research. https://www.class37.co.uk/fleet.aspx?strnumber=37604 Filtering on status changes, you can see that it was renumbered to 37506 on 03/04/1986. It was transferred from Cardiff Canton to Thornaby on 18/01/1987 (where presumably it got the kingfisher emblem) and was named "British Steel Skinningrove" sometime in March 1987. It had its name plates removed the same day it was renumbered 37604 on 20/04/1995. So from all that, we can say that its time in the condition modelled was less than 3 months.

Some track cut. I think I'll need a few millimeters off the outside loop to bring it away from the fence post a little. I'll need to create a filler piece between the passing loop station and the viaduct but that is the final resting place for the viaduct. I think I'll do a straight block off the right hand side of the viaduct and then I need to decide what the structure will be going down the side.

Looking good and nice to see trains running and a nice selection of stock you have.

Yesterday evening I got the final two blocks along the front row sawn down to size. I didn't lay them exactly level but good enough for me to get the track cut so they rejoin at the point and from there I can set the viaduct in place and tidy up that corner.

You don't want to see the area where I cut them. 🤣