My cobbled together layout

[ba14eagle]

Pan scrubbers are popping up all over the place - not used them in my garden as its already established, but the garage railway relies on scrub from scrub(bers)

[traingeekboy]

Try the yellow on yours if they are the blue variety. I've seen brown and grey ones and those could use a little spray of other colors to make them less uniform. It seems to be the ideal texture material for garden railways.

Speaking of stealing ideas...

Ian's notes about ballast:

IanR said:

Last year I ballasted a short section of track to see how it would stand the winter weather. It came out unscathed so I have now ballasted all the visible sections. I have used Gaugemaster OO and N gauge ballast mixed in equal quantities. This is applied dry to the track with a teaspoon and teased between

the sleepers with a small paintbrush and my finger. For fixative I have used two applications of Johnson's "Klear" floor polish. This is dropped onto the dry ballast using a pipette. The rail sides are then painted with Sandtex "Bitter Chocolate" smooth masonry paint. I have used Sandtex black masonry paint between the tracks and along the track sides. Sandtex is available in tester pots from B&Q.

The big problem with this is that Johnsons have discontinued "Klear" polish in its original form and it is difficult to locate. I managed to purchase a few bottles from ASDA before they sold out. Johnsons have a new product which goes under the name of Pledge but I don't know if it will do the job. If you Google Johnsons Klear you will find loads of info on the stuff from various modellers. It came out as best acrylic varnish in a recent test in Model Rail magazine.

Another product which may do the job is "Astonish Wood Floor polish", this is very much cheaper and is available from bargain stores and pound shops.

There is also waterproof PVA but from what I can gather this wont stand upto being wet for any length of time and disintegrates.

Ballasting is very time consuming but wasn't too bad for me as my layout is at chest height, if you guys with ground level layouts attempt it it could be a good idea to make sure that you are well stocked up with Ibuprofen tablets!

On my to do list. Thanks Ian!

[traingeekboy]

And also on the to do list:

http://www.blainestrains.org/pdfs/Catenary.pdf

[Ironhorse]

Quote

And also on the to do list:

Griff so many cool things to do and see.

[traingeekboy]

Iron horse, lots and lots to do.

The best part about summer is all the time you get to fiddle with the railway and ponder how to fix this or that. Went and bought some more green scrubbies yesterday at the dollar store where they are only 1 dollar for a pack of 4. It turns out these are actually green. While placing some on the layout just to see how much coverage a pack of four will get me, I came upon the idea of building a fake city backdrop for the railway station area. It seems like it would add to the overall look of the station area.

Today I am sitting here reading things on the forum so I took one of my scrubbies and have been tearing it to make two square pads; with both having a smooth as bought side and a rough textured natural side. The cheaper pads tear more easily as they are cheap crap for scrubbing, but truly perfect for scenics. Must go back and buy a lot of these since they are cheap.

So if you need out door scenery check out The Dollar store here in the USA.

I also keep getting ahead of myself. I have points to install, 4 total. And countless other little details. But the railway continues it's build.... oh, and I am watching all these trains on ebay. Waiting for some good deals on something european. I load up the watch list and just watch prices until something goes un noticed and has few bids, then I sneak in and set my bid when it's close to ending.

[aussietmrail]

Hi Griff, your layout is coming along nicely, those light poles on the platforms what voltage are they as you an buy eigher 6 o 12 volt, I will be getting 12 volt for my platforms will need quite a few, so will looking for a seller that sells 10 or more in a pack.

Looking at adding catenary wires too, that will look awesome.

I like the idea of those scrubber pads, have too big any area, going ahead with that that Javis grass matting you can buy, found an Aussie seller that sells them in 1200x305 rolls far cheaper than in the hobby shop I go to, you sure have to shop around.

Haven't to decide on what colour, going by the pics I have of Tehachapi loop the grass is different colours, thinking of spring mix, buying two rolls will finish the tunnel project and there's the dirt roads also and paint the tunnel portals grey and the track bed ballast grey, might sprinkle some sand first, will need to buy a spray can for that job.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/m.html?_odkw=&item=121179681694&pt=AU_Toys_Hobbies_Model_Railways&_osacat=0&hash=item1c36df339e&_ssn=i-b-a-mad-loco&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xjavis+grass&_nkw=javis+grass&_sacat=0&_from=R40

Yet another cold morning, sure slows the progress working on the layout by the end of the week it is dropping down to two degrees over night, can't wait till spring arrives, in August we cop those westerly winds and they drop the temp down a fair bit during the day.

[traingeekboy]

I got those poles on american ebay, ebay.com rather than ebay.uk. They were very cheap. If you look back about a year on my layout discussion you should see a link, but I am sure it's bad. They came from hong kong.

Went poking around ebay to see if I could find mine. These are the ones here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-20-Model-Railroad-Light-Street-LAYOUT-lamp-Single-Head-lamppost-w-Billboard-/190619366276?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item2c61ccb384

They came with little signs attached but I took them off with an exacto knife.

I found that a light dusting of some tannish yellow paint really makes the grass matts look more realistic. You might want to try making your grass less even looking by doing that.

[traingeekboy]

More catenary research...

I contacted Alan, he used to manufacture N scale trains in USA profile out of the UK. Several years back he got into doing slovenian railways which uses FS catenary and a variety of repurposed locos from around europe that are from the 60's to the present. It's a very cool prototype. He had made some nice catenary for his layout and sent me a link to his HOW-TO on it: http://www.andersley.co.uk/catenary.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ironhorse]

Quote

I contacted Alan, he used to manufacture N scale trains in USA profile out of the UK

Man Griff, that guy is good.

[aussietmrail]

Hi Griff,

That is going to be some project are you going to make your own cantenary of buy from that bloke, be hard to set up too as you have to have the cantenary zig sagged like the real thing.

Is there any chance of you taking a pic of your finished grass mating with the yellow tinge, many thanks.

Did you check the feed back on that Chinese seller, 38 negatives against him in one month 222 in 6 months, don't think I would buy from him with that many negatives, I like to buy from America also but the postage is pretty deal to Australia, like to find a seller where his postage isn't too dear.

Tony

[traingeekboy]

Scroll back to the station shots tony.

And yes, Allan makes nice models of all kinds.

[traingeekboy]

Two days ago I spotted a pile of lumber and other items. There was even a piece of plastic pipe! So I went back last night and grabbed some more free materials for the railway. It's good to have raw materials at hand for when the build feeling comes on.

Recently I bought some scrub pads at The Dollar Store. A pack of four of them for a dollar. These are really cheap crappy knock offs, but they come in green. I also discovered that since they are cheap version of scrub pads they tear in half easily; I can turn one pad into two, thus a pack of 4 becomes 8. Each one is 4" x 6". So... 24 sq. inches per pad is 96 sq. inches of coverage that is then split making it 192 sq. inches of landscape for a dollar.

Although they are green, the green is little too intense so I spray them with a muted yellow color from a cheap can.

You can see one that is halfway through the tearing in half process which is quite easy with these compared to a quality brand one.

The picture makes it seem like I really sprayed a lot of paint on it, but really it's just a mild over spray. I used the same color on my blue-ish ones and since yellow and blue make green the effect was very nice on those as well.

[Rossi]

traingeekboy said:

So I went back last night and grabbed some more free materials for the railway

Well done Griff...Don't know why it conjures up a picture of you in a robbers mask and a striped jumper!

Had the builders and painters in the last few weeks for some work on our front room. Mrs Rossi was adamant on throwing out an old wooden cabinet that we used to store magazines etc in. Bet you know where it ended up. Yes, stored in the back for some future use. You can't throw good wood out.

She despairs.

[traingeekboy]

Rossi, I've run out of space. I have to be careful what I drag home for future projects. he he he

[aussietmrail]

Griff, can now see the difference with spraying the cleaning mats with a yellow tinge, looks more of an Autumn affect now as you can buy Javis grass mat in that colour.

Talk about recycling old furniture I have saved the last set of shelving from an entertainment unit my Uncle built me a long time back is now used a shelving in my tool room, going to unscrew the shelving brackets off the walls and use the old module legs from the old layout. It will be easier to get each separate shelf out when the room gets painted, used to be the where the hot water system was, has made a perfect tool room where I store all my electric tools screws and bolts, lock up door too.

Tony

[traingeekboy]

Yeah, the green is too green. It's not quite right for grasses. I may play with other colors but for now it's good toned down a bit. The photo really made that mat look too bright , and it just isn't sprayed that much. The other thing the paint does is bring out the fiber detail a bit so you can see it's a fibrous texture rather than just a pad of green stuff.

Wasn't sure what to do with myself today. Figured the railway was as good as anything to kill some time. I was having one of those I am bored and dissatisfied with my existence moments one sometimes gets, and the only way to drive it off is to do something to take up your time. I've had these points laying around. Had planned on using them on the opposite side of the railway, but the new approach is to get things tidied up in the station and worry about the rest later. So onward toward yet more model train glory!

Added one on this end as well as relaying a longer spur behind the fencing.

Finally connected both lines on the opposite end of the station. Who knows maybe I'll do some shunting on the layout now.

The big problem is that the train room is such a mess. It needs a real make over to have it seem livable again. I guess I need to go throw some dirt and bricks around soon.

[aussietmrail]

Coming along nicely Griff with the points in place, you can get like that sometimes at the moment on my side of the world it is too cold to work outside, 18 degrees and the wind is cold, will be hanging around for a few more days yet, no work on my layout till it warms up again, but no where like the winters you have.

On a high my Special addition Hornby Flying Scotsman arrived today with the double tenders, pics on my page, still waiting for the two maroon vans to arrive , hopefully by Friday so I can go to my local train club.

Yeah that matting stuff looks like proper grass with the fiver affect, there is Javis grass matting you can buy has hairy texture, might end up buying that one, hopefully only need one roll as it is 4ft x 2ft and I will have a couple of dirt roads to add in on both sides of the cutting will save that space.

Tony

[mick]

That really is looking good Griff. I know you're doing things on a budget but you are making an excellent job creating a railway landscape. I love the gentle curves, as you know, they give the layout added realism and I have to agree with Tony, the matting beyond the platform looks so realistic. In fact from the roofing felt upwards the various textures just tie in so well together and in that first photo even your window ledge becomes part of the layout giving it added width and resembling some kind of loading dock. I bet you're really pleased with it all - if not then you should be. I look at some of the materials I've had to dispose of recently and I wonder just what use you could put them to. Unfortunately the postage costs would make it completely prohibitive to send them on! I hope we get to see something running on this one soon.

[traingeekboy]

Mick, You seem to have guessed my intent. I had been thinking that if I put a board inside the window on the sill, I could add some kind of backdrop the my station area. Maybe put some apartment buildings on it and some scenery. So I may go down that road in order to extend the scenery. Still there is just so much to do on the layout at this point. It really needs a lot of work on the other side even if I ignore the missing section.

I'd hate to start from scratch, but I've learned so much now that a second go would probably be a lot better. But for now I am just going to forge ahead despite the flaws, I've got trains to run!

I was pestering a guy about roco loco parts for my RC5 and we ended up chatting a bit. It turns out he does Marklin trains on a large layout with automation. He even has a nice video of it.

 

[traingeekboy]

Tony, hate to be a whiner, but 18 degrees is merely 64 F. Our winters get down to -23 C over here. 18 c seems like perfect layout weather to me. Throw on a sweater and get out there mate! ha ha