EngineDriver

Hi Jimbob, as well the Ho American layout that we have, I also have a large collection of Hornby Dublo three rail equipment which will one day form a layout that I have been promising myself for years, anyway the thing is Wrenn used to make yard lengths of three rail track and it still comes up on ebay from time to time, I'm not sure if it's nickel silver rail or steel though so don't know how suitable it would be for outside use. Regards Nige.

ALL SERVICES SUSPENDED- MAJOR ENGINEERING WORK UNDER-WAY All train services were recently suspended due to major engineering work on all lines East of Jamestown Central Stn at Lander St jn.

Thank you Andrew, I'm glad you enjoyed looking at them. Regards Nige.

Hi Tony, to answer your question, we can work between all the yards and the Engine Terminal but there is not a complete circuit within the shed itself, so it's like running an end to end layout. Which is what we do if the weather is really that bad, that said we have on occasion run when it's been raining without any problems what so ever! Obviously we don't run the stone trains then though! Just to clarify, I have to say we have not started a running session when it has been raining, but should it start raining while we are running we don't always pack up either.

014 (5).jpg[/attachment] A general view looking East at "Jamestown Central Station" there is still loads of work to do in this area.

Here are some more photo's of the railway, both of the inside part and the outdoor bit as it is today. This picture shows "Hillside jct" as it is today in it's much reduced form, it was once a very busy double track main line jct with other lines diverging off to the right as can still be seen. The main lines have now been singled at this point and the line in the foreground serves the "Lonesome Pine Agg' and Lumber Company". The abandoned tunnel is where the lines used to run to get outdoors (see earlier pictures)

Thanks for your comments Tony and Mark, I will post more photo's as soon as time permits. Regards Nige.

Early construction of phase three. 3 x 1 1/4 timber framing with 3/4 exterior grade ply track bed mounted on 3 x 3 posts, all either bolted or screwed together using exterior grade screws. It's been together about 5 years now and just this year I have had occasion to replace two of the small cross members due to deterioration and we have also altered the route of the branch line and all the screws came out as easily as the day they were put in, I can't recommend the screws highly enough, they do cost more to buy initially but the heart ache they save is well worth it. The framing was built strong enough to walk on, not that you would want to, but I knew that when I started to build the layout I would be using real rocks and cement etc to construct the scenery, so it had to be fairly substantial. Also there might be some big steam loco's running on it from time to time as well!

Ok, so I have had a look through loads of photo's but could not find any from the first phase of the railways life, then it occurred to me that this was before we had a computer so any pictures taken would be on real film! Anyway I did find some pictures of phase two of the layout and these are posted below.

Our railway has finally (after almost 20yrs) got a name! We've had a few false starts over the years with various names being put forward, thought about, tried out, only to be discarded for whatever reason. The breakthrough finally came not long ago with the completion of the branch line which terminates in a small 6x4 shed. The name of "Brampton" was chosen because not far from where we are is a village called "Brampton" and it did once have a very busy little branch line that served many local industries, ours bears no resemblance to it other than it has quite a few industries and is quite busy, in fact it will eventually be a "short line" as it has it's own loco's and cabooses etc. Jamestown was a bit easier really as all the boys have "James" in their names (it's a family thing!) so that's it "Jamestown & Brampton" it is. So now it has finally got a name I suppose its about time I got around to doing a potted history and description of the layout. Ok, the layout as it stands today is in it's third reincarnation, it was first conceived way back in 1996 when SWMBO decided that she had had enough of the model railway in my son's bedroom, this coincided nicely with an old chap offering me (free of charge) his old garden shed it was a 6x8 shed and when new must have been quite expensive because it was well over 20yrs old then, and it only needed a new roof and this only needed doing because the felt had become damaged and the weather had done it's work. So the shed was repaired and the layout constructed, my young son David who was about 8yrs old at the time was amazed when I cut two holes in the shed walls and continued to build the trackwork outside. It was only a small loop from the front of the shed, it passed through a fence and then ran down the side of a pergola, and in again near the back corner. Although it was only a small layout we had some great fun with it and it served as a useful trial for later on. Stage two came after a couple of years when we decided that the shed was not big enough for our needs we could not go any wider but we could go longer................ so we did, I extended the shed from it's original 8ft length to 20ft and then of course the outside bit was extended as well and then a branch line was also added that was worked with a shuttle system. This version soldiered on for a number of years until various things conspired against it, decaying external timbers, and a lack of interest from the operators the railroad fell into disrepair! We had also moved onto 7 1/4 gauge railways at the local model engineers club, we have got a freelance narrow gauge diesel loco that we use at the club track it's great fun driving your own train pulling real passengers!! The model railway only survived at all because it was in it's own building, had it been anywhere else I'm sure it would have been dismantled. Then SWMBO intervened again! " what are you going to do with the railway?" she says "why?" says I "because it looks a bloody mess, either fix it or get rid" Well at least I now knew where I stood on that one! So to keep her happy I dismantled the messy bits. Then I tidied up the building and gave it a new coat of preservative. Now that things were looking smart and tidy I bravely approached the planning dept (SWMBO) for permission to construct phase three! I expected some tricky negotiations but amazingly all went really well and permission was granted to extend from the shed back up the garden for about 25ft as far as the apple tree, I was not to go over the path! as she wanted clear access to the summer house. Fair enough that was big enough for me anyway, it gives me a layout of 45ft x about 6ft This stage has been a long time in the making and very nearly again did not happen, my son David is now 28 with his own home and life and as we both work shifts getting together to operate the railway is not that easy. Ideally we like to have at least one running day a month. I have two other sons now as well one at 17 who loves the railway and one at 11 who I can't get off his computer! We don't just run the trains for the sake of it all the freight trains originate from somewhere and each wagon has a destination and then the empties will need to be returned.Passenger trains also run, although not to a timetable, and then there will be the steam specials as well! The railway is quite complicated such that it really needs four operators but a decent running session can be had with three, but you are very busy! I will sort out some pictures of the earlier phases of the layout and how it is today I also have some video clips that I will try to upload as well as soon as time permits. Nige.

Hey that's a great idea! don't think it will catch on though It would mean that people would actually have to speak in person to someone else! How would they ever manage that! I drive the damn trains for a living but I can't imagine ever wanting to use them for leisure or pleasure purposes, unreliable, dirty and full of ignorant people (for the most part anyway) God help you if you catch one on a match day or worse still a race day

Hi again Paul, there's nothing wrong with pushing through with ideas that you have thought up it's what we all do anyway, around here it's called "a learning curve"! if it works great ...........tell everyone one here, if it doesn't ...............hide it!

Hi Paul welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will get all the help and advice you will ever need for the chaps on here, you will also most likely get some sarcastic comments from a few of them (not me of course!) so I hope you are ok with that as well! Rest assured though there's nothing malicious, we just enjoy a good laugh on here as well from time to time. All the best with your project, don't be afraid to ask questions. Regards Nige.

Baimor, the famous budgie strangler of Rotherham town!!

Cadburys do a nice range of chocolate fingers, then you could always have an excuse to bite your nails!!

Hi Dave, welcome to the mad house! As to what height to build your layout then I can only say that the least amount of bending and grovelling on the floor the better, also don't forget the floor is not always DRY as well. I'm 58 and fairly fit I suppose, and I'm in the throws of wiring up a new section of our layout which is including a lot of the aforementioned bending and grovelling around on the floor and believe me it's getting very old very quickly. (no sarcastic comments please Mark! then I won't have to mention your Ladders and Saws etc etc) All the best for now Nige.

Oh MY GOD! I've just realised you are going to have to cut a hole ................... that will be more fingers lost I suppose!!

You're only fitting it from thin INSIDE so no one will SEE you fall of the LADDER!! We're not that daft you know!

What gets me is when the remain camp thought they were going to win by 52% to 48% then everything was just great and that would have been fine to win by that majority, however........ now the tables have turned and the result is the same but they have have lost 48% to 52% they are demanding another go. We live in a democracy everyone who was eligible was given the chance to cast their vote as we do in any elections and then we live by the results, they may not always be what you voted for but that's the way it works. I'm sure that if the result had been the other way round then the remainers would have said to the leavers that it was "tough" and to "suck it up" and "get on with it" there would have been none of this "lets have another go" rubbish! And if we have another go and they lose again do they get another go and another go etc etc until they get the result they want! Sorry rant over

And as a bonus....................you didn't fall off anything!

Hi Mick we are using an SJ Cam M10 mini cube and I'm pretty sure it's format is MOV but I'm not certain on that. I've tried many times to upload and it fails each time. The only way we have managed to get it to load is to split the video into two seperate parts, but that's not ideal. I'm fed up!

Mick I have just watched your cab ride 2 video on youtube and very impressive it is as well, in fact it make me wonder why I bothered building our layout at all Anyway my son has made a cabride of our meager offering but can I hell as like get it to upload to youtube it keeps saying "upload aborted" it is only about 3 or 4 mins long and about 340mb long what am I doing wrong as I saw your video is over 6 mins long? regards Nige.