ThomasI Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Can't wait to see how you make the bridge. I hope you will tell us in detail how you build it. Because I'll copy you mercilessly. 😂😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Hi Thomas, how was Christmas, did you have any snow. Yeah I will let you know how I go,, my bridge actually be based on the Oresund double deck cable stay bridge, ,my bridge will have a main span of 14 feet and water clearance of 18 inches, to model the Oresund bridge works out water clearance 2 feet in HO scale , would take a fair effort to get to that height , a lot more track and wiring , towers would be over 7 feet high from the second deck.I decided to build my own I am working out how to tackle the frame work from road deck to rail deck , a lot of cutting if I cut the frame work out of ply, and take too long, have another idea , only cut the frame work at each side end and cut and glue the rest in . In the second pic with the ship passing through underneath the bridge is what I want to model with my ship., the plan drawing is well under way , mightn't be able to do much this week till new years eve raining and a bad storm predicted on new years eve., plus quite hot here now, don't like January February weather very unstable., lots of projects to do in the hobby room. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasI Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 It's about 8°C here and it rains and rains and rains... I found this on ebay: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182932945149 If you want to present modern, welded bridges, this seems to me, also for kitbashing, well suited. It is cheap compared to plastic kits or or offers made of metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 Hi Thomas, that is cold , that be -13c ouch, America is copping it bad windows breaking being so cold, complete opposite here 31 degrees predicted it is 34 in the sun and under the pergola 30 degrees , couldn't sit outside enjoying the first morning coffee , 37 tomorrow , have to do whipper snipping later when it cools down late afternoon. Not much work on the layout rain coming in might be cooler, cutting up my son's computer table making a couple of saw horses for the modules so I can bolt more than two together, bough a lower computer table, his was too high. Thanks for that eBay link, someone bought it, great idea, my bridge cut in half is 7 feet, give me ideas, I have worked out how I will cut out the sides of the bridge to speed up the construction, pic next post. What is happening with your layout, can you do work inside on the station complex. Tony from ht down under keeping on moving ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasI Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Hello Tony Yes, I work inside at the depot station and will also soon prepare some sections with points for outside. I also opened a new topic for this, because I have some questions, which I hope the experts gathered here can give me answers. Otherwise, I wish you a happy new year, that's with you half a day earlier than it is with me. Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted December 30, 2017 Author Share Posted December 30, 2017 Hi Thomas, be looking forward to seeing he progress on station complex, year I just come from your new topic an replied to it, great to see the car door locking pop up again, there is no much info on the project at all only on this forum what I have seen. I bought a new computer table to replace our son's table, was designed for him in his wheel chair, too high for us siting in a computer chair even right up, had a lot of white foam packing 19 mm hopefully be the right thickness for my station platform, My son's computer table is getting a new lease of life, making adjustable saw horses out of the timber if they work out well will replace the bought saw horses I am using and make more out of pine timber, works out well now more sore backs and on my knees only to set up connection the bus wires to the plugs.pics to follow, be on my post a page back. Not much done tomorrow rain and bad storm predicted late afternoon. Happy new year to everyone in the forum. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 Managed to get some work done on the layout even though it wasn't the layout it's self, I cut up my son's old computer table couldn't through it out , came up with a great idea, unscrews the top and sides off and cut in half the shelving and now is an adjustable saw horse, height wise has worked out well with the saw horses I have, no more needed pieces of ply and off cuts from the old module legs. The actual top lifts off easier for storage, pic two is my bar clamp I made, worked out perfect to clamp the bottom together while screwing the screws in, three and four the green curved wire can see pretty close, a slight adjustment and bingo level, I might make two more . More hot weather to come, heating up tomorrow , hot weekend 36 degrees , have to wait for another cool change to come in, working on my ship project, starting to build her, new thread . My Athearn F7/A-B-B-A project is at a stand still no more work on it till after our holiday in early March a month away. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 I have now set up two modules , will have to the top of the stands down to stop them moving when lifting the module up onto the stand other than that has worked out well in the ens, so easy to level up using the screw driver drill. Well under way now in shifting the track to make way for cutting the square hole at the end of the approach module, before that happens will test run the coaches is only about 15mm clearance between the post and track. The first pic where the two coaches are the track on ts own to the right of the right with the track straightens up I will be putting on two points for a smooth run from the track in the edge of the module right side of the pic so the train doesn't have to go through the three way point.and shunting as well. Forth pic the module stand ready for the second module to go on last pic the reason I am switching the station to the back of the house for , the ship scene, m ship will look good in the same spot. Working on the morning before it gets too hot, Sunday I moved the points and cross over in pic 2, the other way would of being a headache in soldering the feeder wires to the bus wires and would of being a small block, no need for that block now.plus the siding is longer as well, lots to do, don't know if i get any trains running by May give it a go, if not aiming for June on my birthday, great birthday present to see the first train running around the layout, can't wait. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 4, 2018 Author Share Posted March 4, 2018 It has being a while since I have had any updates, well yes, I have levelling the station modules at the back of the house and changed the the points on the approach module car port end doing away with the small cross over, all to do with the pergola post have cut the approach module so it can fit flush with the third station module,I found i made a mistake with cutting the square ho; for the post out by quarter an inch, all fixed up now and why the points have being shifted, next post. I thought i would set up my Indian Pacific with all the carriages I had, made up 28 cars long, I can't wait to drive the train into platform three split the train and back the other half into platform two, be a while as I will need a full box of Flexi track to complete the platform track, fingers crossed birthday money , aiming to have the layout up and running by my birthday end of June, will get there.. Have being busy building the ship and finely sorted out the spiral, be modelling on the Union Pacific's Williams loop ex Southern Pacific route California, more next post, layout is coming along , once the spiral is finished , bridge be next, design is Chinese, so why not as the ship was built in China as well. Tony from hot down under, keeping on moving ahead, cool change coming in tonight, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasI Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 It all looks very generous and spacious. Pictures you rarely see on model railways: Just long tracks straight ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 (edited) On 3/4/2018 at 18:23, aussietmrail said: It has being a while since I have had any updates, well yes, I have levelled the station modules at the back of the house and changed the the points on the approach module car port end doing away with the small cross over, all to do with the pergola post have cut the approach module so it can fit flush with the third station module,I found i made a mistake with cutting the square ho; for the post out by quarter an inch, all fixed up now and why the points have being shifted, next post. I thought i would set up my Indian Pacific with all the carriages I had, made up 28 cars long, I can't wait to drive the train into platform three split the train and back the other half into platform two, be a while as I will need a full box of Flexi track to complete the platform track, fingers crossed birthday money , aiming to have the layout up and running by my birthday end of June, will get there.. Have being busy building the ship and finely sorted out the spiral, be modelling on the Union Pacific's Williams loop ex Southern Pacific route California, more next post, layout is coming along , once the spiral is finished , bridge be next, design is Chinese, so why not as the ship was built in China as well. Tony from hot down under, keeping on moving ahead, cool change coming in tonight, Edited March 5, 2018 by aussietmrail Spelling error Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 Hi Thomas, thanks, yeah the platforms are 15 feet in length why there are 3 modules for to handle 18 passenger cars of the Indian Pacific, when I started planning the layout the station modules were going to modeled on the off peak IP service of 18 passenger cars and one auto carrier, now the owners has one service a week with a longer train like the scene I set up on the last post. Indian Pacific consist ha 28 passenger cars and 2 auto carriers with two locos , I can't wait to actually drive my train into the station , split the train and shunt the other half back wards into the platform.s. With the pergola post fix I had to shift the track and didn't like to have track on an angle on a model join had to be, but looks good, 16 mm clearance and did away with the short crossover , still was able to use the three way and double slip cross over, have to work out a drawing on how the double slip is switched. Pic three I plan to buy another single slip to replace the left hand point to access the outer track , be a lot of fun shunting the locos around the train, also when I am using the terminus station the outer cross over is a single slip for access to the outer island platform , all that switching, thinking of motorizing the points, especially the outer points. Pics there and four is the track I am talking about that will be on an angle, will be soldering those brass strips to hold the track in ace once cut . The last pic, the clam I wanted to see if it will clamp the modules together did a good job be buying four more and doing away with bolts using half inch dowel to line up the modules together. Will have to wait till tomorrow , I wanted to post some pics of my spiral I am modelling, was an issue with the resizing program, here is a video clip . Tony from nice down under keeping on moving ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 At long last the track and point work is complete, ready to begin all over again with the bus wiring, which I have improved make it easier t work out the blocks for the feeder wires. Pic 009 I took out the two points in the two middle track, not needed,pic 10 the fiver glass coated brass strips on the track module join, was tricky with the track on an angle, worked out well ,can't wait for the test loco to over the module join.. Pics 11 and 13, especially pic 13 the left hand point where the three way point is, the point straight I put in insulating track joiners as well with the middle track joining the three way and left hand curve of the three way , pic 14 and pic img 091, pic 14 I straightened the track by switching the points around , much better. And the last bridge looks a goer , has a single tower in the middle and concrete girder bridge deck , with some design changers to under the bridge replacing with a steel frame for a rail deck, start working on the bridge between working on the back corner model being the next job and spiral, saving on ply wastage. Sadly our weeks holiday came to an end last Friday back into the layout construction, making the most of the near perfect days, between rain showers be cutting the module sides starting Friday. Will give the name of the bridge away Mersley Gateway bridge , should look ok . Tony from nice down under keeping on moving a head . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markgd Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Amazing trackwork Tony. Are you using insulfrogs or electrofrogs on your turnouts? It cant be long before locos trundle along that track. cheers mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Afternoon Mark, how is the weather over in NZ , yeah going to be a night mare navigating though the three way and double slip keep the chief controller on his toes, if I every motorist them, all my points and cross overs are Insulfrog, too mush trouble with wiring up the Electrofrog, you should see the amount of wires on a three way Electrofrog, double slip cross over even worse. Be a while yet, am not in hurry will get there, all goes well tomorrow depending on the rain tomorrow will be cutting the sides of the back corner module, doesn't take long to build, got the module building down to a fine art now. What did you thing of the cable satay bridge, single tower in the middle, being looking for a bridge like this one, with a few changes look pretty good and not a lot of ply wastage, A frame tower design would be a lot of wastage. Make a start on the bridge design tonight., pics to follow, one good thing is the main tower isn't as high as the Oresund double deck between Denmark and Sweden 125 meter high and main deck 60 meters. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 I have done away with the bolts and now using 12.5 mm dowel to line up the track and clamps,for the price of the clamp very cheap and strong holds the modules together, the aim is quickly set the layout up so I am running trains, being thing of this ides for a while now, the dowel is a good fit into the other module, I need to get the right size drill bit, will have to price the drill bit. Pic is the adjustable saw horses set up , I am coming up with an easier idea on adjusting the legs while checking the level , slightly hard the way it is . Last two pics I will be redesigning the bus wire plug panel, the way it was , it was hard to slid the panel down ,again making it easier, and will be quicksilver to build as well, all the panel will be changed down the track, I have also have to build a panel that links up to the control panel on the same module. Pic 958 with the panel in the don position and pic 959 closed, the panel will be recessed in more for the switches to clear the modules sides when in storage, every thing is coming together, can't wait till end of June for the big day . Have started work on my bridge which is in the Members workbench thread. AS I thought, having a rest today it didn't rain. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANO Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Hi Tony, Just been looking through all your photos, looking really good all your hard work is paying off. Deano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 24, 2018 Author Share Posted March 24, 2018 Hi Deano, many thanks, yeah hard work will pay off when the first train runs around the whole layout without a hitch, my pride bridge is under way as well and will be the center piece of the whole layout. Today I did a test build of the new bus wire plug panel, tomorrow ill make the new one, the slide one was too hard to slide down, want to make it easy, yeah can't wait till after June when I buy the needed track to complete the terminus track, need 24 lengths of flexie track and bus wires, got the feeder wire soldering down o a fine art now, like your new profile pic. I be on the search for those locking bolts, hopefully Bunning has them, the key is keeping a film fit when folding the panel in and out, the big main panel that links to the control panel be the same design, quicker build as well, only needing the jig saw to cut out for the 25 way computer plugs, still using the same panel face for the new one . Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussietmrail Posted March 27, 2018 Author Share Posted March 27, 2018 Well under way with the track decking to the cable stay double deck bridge from the car port, next is to level the decking, can't do that till the station and approach module are set back up, I am on a high and can not wait for the first train to navigate the large S bend heading onto the bridge something I have always wanted to model it is hear WOW. It took some time to measure and cut the pieces of ply between the curves,the first curve coming onto the bridge is 12ft diameter, next curve 6ft , then onto a 30 inch straight and another 6ft curve, them a small piece and a 42 inch quarter curve. Tomorrow I be cutting the cradle for the bus wire panel, bought locking nuts for the bolts so they won't come lose folds back into module frame, one more the same for the next module, the trouble with module layouts and DC all that wire so I can run more than one train . I forgot the actual bridge is 28 feet in length be in four sections and main span 14 fee, look awesome when built the center piece of the layout. Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasI Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Hello Tony! I bet you can not wait for the day when the first train goes through these elegant curves. Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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