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My cobbled together layout


traingeekboy
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It actually began yesterday when I stepped out of the house and pulled a weed. The next thing I knew I had cleared two beds of their weeds.

Long patch in front of the fence.

 

large.Resized_20180429_150942.jpeg.f4e56

 

Little inner area where I planted some flower seeds today.

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Ignore the old stump in the fence, I do. :P

 

So I also removed many screws in order to get this section off the layout.

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It's a section that has always sort of bothered me. At first I just wanted to get running. Yet over time it has crept int my soul due to a lack of being level side to side.

 

large.Resized_20180429_151016.jpeg.979c4

 

I used these metal brackets and they just would not stay straight.

 

So yes, It has begun. 

Edited by traingeekboy
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Evening Griff, I agree with Ba14eagle,  you have made a start in clearing the weeds away and looking at those brackets, maybe buy some new ones that have reinforcing to stop the saging, be looking forward to see what you have planed with your old layout being reborn .

Talking about looking for more timber, I need to drop into the timber mob on the way home from my hospital appointment to buy some more off cut ply, thought I had enough for the very last corner module car port end, not. But I do have enough to complete the rail deck of my bridge and thant module will fill in all the decking for my layout, will work on the rect of the double deck road rail  bridge after the layout is up and running, end of June a great possibility, track and bus wiring the main issue, not both.

Good to see you back Griff.

Tony from down under 

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It's fairly motivated right now. Mostly me just sitting here kicking myself because I have all these new trains and nowhere to run them.

Life's too short to not have a place to run trains!

 

I just pulled up most of my track. While I was working a man walked buy and ask if I was building the track and he explained that he had spotted it a while ago. He recounted another Large scale garden railway he had seen. I think my interpretation of criticism is often unfounded. Most people like the railway.

Some of my track is really beat up, but I think I can salvage about 85% or so.

As I look closer it's clear I am doing nearly and entire rebuild of the layout. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the building part.

 

Some random shots show the wear and tear the layout has withstood. 

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Edited by traingeekboy
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Evening Griff,  your layout cleaned up well, yeah agree , since I pulled out of my old train club I too haven't got anything to run my trains on, have started to work on my main control panel will be needing it pretty soon, trains running  in a few months.

It is a nice sunny morning in OZ,  when we  walked outside to have our morning coffee, didn't take long to the clouds to roll, heavy rain predicted midweek.

Since you have cleaned up your old layout why not go for the first track design you laid down 2011, recycling as much of the track as you can, no one can see my layout from the street unless they are looking up the driveway when a train will apare on the outside curve of the carport , that will be when the train will be running end of June.

Keep the good work up looking forward to more progress of t=your rebuild.

Tony from down under.

 

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On 30.4.2018 at 23:25, traingeekboy said:

It's fairly motivated right now. Mostly me just sitting here kicking myself because I have all these new trains and nowhere to run them.

Life's too short to not have a place to run trains!

 

I just pulled up most of my track. While I was working a man walked buy and ask if I was building the track and he explained that he had spotted it a while ago. He recounted another Large scale garden railway he had seen. I think my interpretation of criticism is often unfounded. Most people like the railway.

Some of my track is really beat up, but I think I can salvage about 85% or so.

As I look closer it's clear I am doing nearly and entire rebuild of the layout. I had forgotten how much I enjoy the building part.

 

Some random shots show the wear and tear the layout has withstood. 

Resized_20180429_151138.jpeg

Resized_20180429_151148.jpeg

Resized_20180429_151108.jpeg

Resized_20180429_151121.jpeg

Resized_20180429_151039.jpeg

These turnout motors that I see in the picture, did you have them mounted outside and did they survive?

If yes: From which manufacturer are they ???

Best Regards

Thomas

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Yeah, the old Atlas hard plastic turnout motors do not fare wall outdoors. Those were the dummy ones that come non powered. I used them as a test bed to see how the plastic would hold up.

My main goal is to run things so I may not even use points on the repair.

Spent a bunch of time cutting back small trees that had grown up around the layout. Need to get back out there and tear out more layout boards. 

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  • 3 months later...

no idea what I am doing train wise.

I bought the shed, but it really just became a repository for all of my dad's junk. It's a real mess in the shed. And I had all these plans for an interior layout with lots of trains! Of course work got busy again. Just so much to do on the project. PM me if you want info on the project, but I like to keep my real life and work separate from my real life, which is model trains. :P 

Sad to see so many people come and go on here over the years. Lost a lot of good forum members who just drifted off. 

Anyway, now I am on a tear with something just off the wall. I spent a fortune collecting vintage toy trains for the dream layout and now I am ignoring that because I rediscovered Colorado Narrow Gauge trains. It all began with Sara picking up a book in a free bin called Cinders & Smoke https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8099462-cinders-smoke

And also, looking at digital images of the Gilpin tramway at the local public library which is amazing: http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/search/searchterm/gilpin tramway/order/nosort

Click a thumbnail, and then use the +/- Zoom function. You can literally zoom in on people's faces in these photos. 

This leads me to force Sara to go on a road trip to visit old Mine towns that were served by railways about 4 hours south of where we live... (photos and maybe a video later) 

So there I am reading about the Denver and Rio Grande... Next, I'm online and poking around in various forums... Then a guy posts about a new scale people are using for 3 foot Narrow Gauge.... http://www.55n3.info/.. I get to thinking... And I've got an old Crappy GI Joe playset loco, which I promptly begin to cut up into a gas loco for 55n3 scale... So I begin a discussion on making free lance 3 foot narrow gauge locos.... http://freerails.com/view_topic.php?id=8199&forum_id=17&page=1 ... And now I am still playing around with that. Yet, it's all Still garden railway run-able... so once this model is ready, I will need a layout...

Anyway, that's what is going on. Still a garden railway, just a different scale and part of the world. :P

Edited by traingeekboy
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Hi Griff,

Just seen the pics. It happens to us all!

Pics from this corner of my layout (can't remember what pages they were on...Page 13, I think) looked lovely a while back but now the Bougainvillea plus banana trree are claiming bigger squatters rights.

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So it's all being pulled out.

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Don't know how long the fix will be as other projects keep coming up, hence not added to the forum for quite a while.

 

Meanwhile, the main station still active...Not sure how an IC 125 crept up on that Patriot...

 

stationpat.thumb.jpg.58e432abd0c67bef573f3abdfbb93e64.jpg

 

Cheers Rossi

 

Edited by Rossi
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Good to hear from you Griff.

Yes it's a shame that we appear to have lost a few of the more regular members but that's how things go. Life's full of things to do and model trains make up only a small part of it. For some it's a passing interest while for others it's something they just keep on returning to. I like to take a break now and again but safe in the knowledge that I'll be back not too far down the line. I've got unfinished business with this garden railway thing!

I'm sorry your rebuilding phase didn't quite go to plan but glad to hear that you've found interest in another scale. Narrow gauge has a charm all of it's own so I hope it proves to be something you can finally get along with.

Keep us updated on your thoughts, ideas, and progress.

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Well, I am back and reading everyone else's activity. Still into the Narrow Gauge project. It;s sort of a one shot deal that has given me some modeling time, so yes I can say I am still a model railroader.

Rossi, I like the intercity popping onto the layout shot. Very nice.

Mick, I am still doing things and the Narrow Gauge concept runs on HO scale track. WI ill be making a layout I can also run my HO/oo stock on, so it's actually going to be quite fun. :) 

 

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Hi Griff, are you talking HOn3  scale , good stuff you are a witching to a new scale by keeping HO track and then can run your other trains, I am thinking the same as I want to have a branch line to model a town with all my late uncles town kits, will need a corner pub, also keeping your old post alive as well.

Have you bought any rolling stock and locos yet, any pic s you can share, I think I have enough locos   now some need  a bit of TLC to get running.

Tony from down under

 

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  • 1 month later...

Just to show what my little project looks like.

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It's just a little gas powered loco. I don't have pans to build a layout to go with it. Maybe do a couple cars for a small train. Really it's an ideal scale because it can run on the same track as my HO scale garden railway. I think work has kept me away from trains so long that I needed to remind myself I am actually a model railroader. 

Another unexpected duty happened not long ago with being adopted by a baby squirrel. I spent most of today building an outdoor cage for her as she is now a teenager and eager to jump around more. I should take a picture of my hands. Squirrels have claws like razors, but I am dad/mom to her so she loves to climb on me. I look like a cutter with all the scratches I have right now. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Still limited to working on the loco, but I took a day off work and played with the model.

It's really coming along.

full&d=1541714837

 

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I am interested in earlier trains when it comes to American Narrow Gauge. My ideal loco would be a DSP&P 4-4-0. There are only a few existing photos, but the old 1880's steam really does it for me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver,_South_Park_and_Pacific_Railroad

I am also fascinated by the 2 foot gauge Gilpin Tram. Using HO track this comes out to 35mm scale, like the military models, so there are figures one can modify. zoom and scroll around this image:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/39631/rec/4

But my modeling skills are limited, so I have a little gas motor. :P

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Hi Griff, great looking loco, she is like our 2ft cane train locos, most of the QLD models model 2ft gauge in 12mm  track, interesting you talking about that loco running in HO scale,  something different. Also QLD main line trains run on narrow gauge track 3'ft 6 inch gauge, the only state  to have high speed trains run on narrow gauge, not as fast as the TGV's 150k's an hour .

I like the Tasmanian Garrett nice looking locos would like the running gear , my layout is progressing well, working on it between the real hot days.

Looking forward to more progress pics of your new project.

Are you glad the midterm elections are out the way.

Tony from nice down under

 

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I added more details onto it. Cab shades and a temporary exhaust stack. I think it's time to start using the old Squadron putty to fill holes and then sand it all smooth. 

 

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The shade rose a bit as it dried. I had to bend it back down and it is fine now. 

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Looks like I am nearly done with this practice loco. Since it is HO gauge, it too can run on the garden railway some day in the future. 

Edited by traingeekboy
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