chris

Got a coat on first thing. Then played trains, I ran my timetable with Colwick Station in place. The rain arrived when I due to do the third coat. That will have to wait. I need to get a better understanding of the JMRI PanelPro software I'm using. Wiki based help files have their disadvantages, clarity being the main one. I spent some time playing with the graphical representation of the layout, the panel, and have knocked up an image to work as a background which includes the position of platforms, stations names and siding numbers. I havn'te tried it in the wild but it should make the panel much clearer and easier to use.

Great day to get all three coast of paint on the shed before the winter arrives. Unfortunately the instructions said I need to the sand off previous treatments prior to painting. Only doing the end and the back, but it took hours and only had one coat on when I packed up at 17:30 So two coats to do tomorrow. Joy.

One of the many reasons for having the railway running though the shed is the winter weather. One day I was in there with a heater so lasted about an hour. The snow was heavy and it was hard to push the door open to get out. This winter I the plan is to install lots of more sidings in the shed.

Glad you appreciated it. There aren't many descriptions of operation on here so I wasn't sure how my post would be received.

I ran to a timetable today, which was a challenge and added a bit of purpose to running trains. I didn't get Colwick Station out so created a couple of platforms on the baseboard where Colwick would join. I had to adapt the timetable I'd created on Monday and run the section up to temporary station wrong line because I was missing some points. This was a little confusing because some of my routes were miss named, "Ablethorpe Depart" was required for arrival and vice versa. But after a few initial hiccups I soon got the hang of it. My current set up could be described as a Y setup, Colwick at the bottom of the Y and Barnmouth (new name for Colmouth) and Amblethorpe the two at the top. I used three trains and they ran round the Y like so 1 Start at B, ran to C, then to A, back to C, finished at B 2 Start at C, ran to A, back to C, then to B, finished at C 3 Start at A, ran to C, then to B, back to C, finished at A There were 12 moves in all, these happened in pairs: while 2 ran form C to A, 3 ran form A to C. I did try a more complex system where same moves were made, but not in matching pairs. This required all three trains to be moving at once, which was a bit too much for one operator and I think I got a bit lost. The second time I ran my simple timetable I added an extra train in, just from the shed ( which is on the C to B route) into Colwick and then back into the shed. But with only having two temporary platforms in Colwick this was a bit tricky. That move will be a lot easier when I have three platforms to play with and I'm not running wrong line. Plenty of fun and a good starting point for planning running sessions for when friends are round.

That's it guys. Summer is over. It's my fault, I've just planned my first timetable and I'm itching to give it a try out. And we all know that that means it will be months before York will have a day with a good enough forecast for me to get Colwick Station out. Sorry.

It was great. Its easy to forget how revolutionary the HST was. When I was 9 or 10 years old I was taken down to Hull Paragon on a Sunday evening by a family friend who worked at Hull Botanic Gardens depot. It was the night before the first HST service from Hull to Kings Cross we got in at the rear cab and walked through the entire train to front cab. Both the power cars were new so every thing was shinny clean. I think I still have a photo of me sat in the cab with the biggest grin on my face.

That's probably because there aren't any. It is estimated that the four companies that bid for the WCML franchise spent £50milllion on the process between them. What a waste. You could buy half a dozen new trains for that money.

Sheds are great. all my stock lives in there. This winter I'll be adding more sidings just in case I get anymore

Welcome to the PowerCab iPad club. I found running the the wifi from the house system a bit patchy, even though the wifi box was on a windowsill of the back bedroom window. When I switched from using a laptop to a dedicated PC in the shed I set up a wifi box in there too, I haven't had any problems with coverage since. If I want to access the Internet on my iPad I need to switch networks, but it only takes a few seconds. This setup is pure magic.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick here, but are you thinking of a structure like High Level Bridge across the Tyne in Newcastle. http://www.riadav.com/pages/photo_high_res/photos01/high%20level%20bridge%20misty.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; If you are it will be a very impressive bridge.

You got more done than me. When there weather is this good I just end up playing with my trains.

I find that I have to have more than one project on the go at the same time. One that can make use of good weather and others that can be done when its cold/wet/windy. I'm not keen on multiple projects because it takes an age to get anything finished and things can get put to one side and forgotten about. Having the railway running through the shed is great, I've worked in there in all weathers. But the weather does dictate, so tomorrow I'll have to find an outside job to be getting on with, can't waste a scorcher in September.

Viaduct work is progressing. All the wills kits are built and painted. The arches and track bead is still in two halves and the legs are separate to keep things easy to handle. I've cut the baseboard to approximate length and started working on the first of the end embankments. I'm reasonably happy with the progress, but building 3D structures is a bit trciky and I'm spectacularly rubbish as measuring things, mild dyslexia means Im forever getting the numbers wrong or misreading the ruler, so progress is slower than it should be. Only had to trim 5mm off one strut of wood and 12mm off another

Craig, I singed up for fibre broadband this morning and it's your fault. All your Vimeo stuff is so good, but my broadband is so slow I finally cracked and increased my Internet costs threefold. Just got to wait 3 weeks until I can watch your films in stutter free glory.

Rails have updated their web site to say that they are expecting delivery of the Northern Rail Pacer today. It can go on the Christmas list. So if today equates to First Quater, when can I expect the Second Quater release of the Northern Belle?

Great weather today so I invited a friend of my parents round who'd heard about what I was doing and was very interested. His review was "it's a nice garden railway, but the electronics are amazing" it was his first real introduction to the capabilities of DCC and he was blown away by iPod control. I haven't had my termerinus station out too often this year, I don't risk it unless there is zero chance of rain. So today I made the most of it running trains well into the evening. I made a few improvements to the Routes on my computer system so I now have a route for almost any scenario. The routes cover a section of the railway, a station or the shed so if I want to set a route from Colwick to Colmouth (the two extremes) I may have to tap 2 or thre routes to set the whole thing. "Colwick platform 3 dept" then "Shed road 2 through" and "Colmouth Platform 1 arrive". Most of the time the two through routes through the shed are set already. I am thinking about renaming a station. At the moment I have Amblethorpe, Colwick and Colmouth. Two stations beging with C many not be ideal. Being able to refer to stations A, B and C could be rather useful. Platforms could become A2, B1, C3 and and a route from C3 to A2 would be simple to understand. The new station of Colmouth may become Benwick. It's loosely based on Alnmouth, which has had plenty of name changes through the years so it's kind of appropriate. Bobs visits and the prospect of further good weather has inspired me to crack on with the viaduct. I've been at the drawing board this evening and worked through a structure for the embankments at either end. I'll probably need a couple more iterations of the design before I'm happy, but I may actually make some progress on Phase 4 this year after all.

Sorry to hear that. It's been lovely up north.

Lovely day for working on a garden railway. I completed platform 1 of Colmouth station. All the elements were prepared so it was just a case for putting it all together, there was a small amount of soldering, but even that went OK for outdoors. Having finished the platform surface and planted a signal box over the point motor it looked great, but not there yet. I added a bicycle rack and over a metre of fencing and i'm very pleased with the result. Just need to scratch build a station building now. I also got to work in the shed cutting out a section of track and replacing it with a point which will provide access to lots of new sidings. All my sidings so far have been through roads but they have been chock full of stock since I got my Voyager back on track so it's time to make a bit more room. I'm trying to plan for future purchases as well as current stock, so short roads for Pacers and a long one for the Northen Belle. Weather is looking good for a few days and I've got a bit of free time so I hope to make more progress.

I've been away for most of the weekends in August and as we all know the weather hasn't helped. Work on the platform has progressed a little. It's complicated by the fact that I need to hide a point motor under it at one end. I think I have all the bits ready to allow me to get that sorted this weekend, which should see me with a new platform and an automated point to go with it.

Peco do point motor mounting plates with arms to allow you to place your motor along side a point. When purchased individually they have a latching spring and the spring on the point can be removed. There is also a twin pack with no spring. I've used these mounting plates on some of my outdoor points and they work fine and have allowed me to hide my motors in lineside structures. The PM-4 is interesting, but is generally designed for installation under the baseboard. I have used a couple of PM-1s outside under the board with good results. I haven't had problems with my springs. I put a blob of silicon grease on them and that repels water.

It's not been rushed through. The franchising process has taken 18 months. It's only the cult personality of Richard Brason that is getting this in the news. Virgin Trains is half own by Stagecoach, if Brian Souter was leading the fight to cling hold of the franchise would anyone care, or even pause to listen?

Yeh right Chris. Just finished the job, on the first driving car. "Less procrastination" just 10 months worth. I've done a half decent job, but I haven't got the brightness levels right, tricky when there are three headlights two of which should be of the same brightness, but their positions are different and so are their light tubes. But much better that the original which had all five head and tail lights on dimly in DCC operation. Good use of a wet Bank Holiday afternoon. Just the other driving car to do now. Shouldn't take long

With a shelf based layout sagging of the baseboards is always going to be an issue. 6 foot is the absolute maximum you can get away with between brackets. You will need to run something along the underside to brace it. I've used Gypframe as recommended by IanR and aluminium T girder as found in a skip outside my house. The aluminium works perfectly. Don't have your boards join at the brackets, that encourages sagging and the board ends rise up causing lots of problems. Everyone agreess that everything has to be very level. I'm a bit of rebel on this front as I have a slight slope on my boards with the front edge a few millimetres lower than the back, this is to encourage rain water to flow to the front and not towards the fence at the back. I can then keep an eye on where it's going and any damage it may be doing. It also prevents puddles which shorten the life of roofing felt. Ahhh roofing felt. Sorry, but you need to buy the good stuff. B&Qs own brand is fine, but you'll have to shell out for the stuff with the 10 year life expectancy. Roofing felt adhesive is messy stuff, but necessary. To get your felt smooth you may need a rolling pin or similar item. I've found a staple gun very useful. There are shortcuts when it comes to baseboards, but we're playing out side, and the British weather will find out anywhere you've cut a corner To begin with its all about getting trains running. But garden railways are a long term hobby and most of us are a few years in and still very much in the construction phase.

NCE don't have wireless Cabs in the UK. If you want wireless control with a PowerCab then you have go along the route I've taken and use an iPad / iPhone or smart phone. Very do able, but not a straight out of the box solution.