Further Work on DMU Layout 09/18

I have carried out some more work on the DMU layout, I have added a cork path around the Industrial Buildings, made the engineers yard by laying more cork and finally yet more cork was employed to make the Car Park. I used 1/8th cork for all applications, on top of the original corked  base board.

I decided that the Industrial Building were just to heavy  to be permanently fixed, so left a trench for them to fit in between the path and the back scene, they will now travel to Exhibitions in a separate box!

I have also painted the platform top and added the white safety line on the edge. I used my own mix of Humbrol paints. I did the same for the Car Park and Industrial units path. Lastly I used Railmatch ‘concrete’ colour to start to form the engineers area. You will note that rather than corking the whole area of the yard, I laid strips of cork to simulate the way real concrete is laid.

The final additions to the layout is that I have formed the shell for the road bridge and added the buffer stops temporarily.

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Norton Wood at Bury St Eds Ex 2018

We all spent a very pleasant day at the  Bury St Edmunds 2018 Exhibition on Saturday. This Exhibition is fast becoming one of the best in East Anglia and I believe they had a record attendance as well. The standard of layouts was very high and the trade stands catered for just about everything. Well done to the members of the Club and all that attended. Below are a few photo’s taken by my wife and Shaun.

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Making the Platform on DMU Layout

Making the most of the good weather and because my skip won’t be arriving until next Tuesday, I decided that I would make the platform on the new layout. Below are a few photos of the completed work.

I also started to plan the background and test fit the two low relief factories that I had in stock. I must admit although they look fine and fit in with my plans – they don’t half weigh a lot! After using lightweight laser cut baseboards this may need more thought!

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End of an Era

After much soul-searching I decided to dismantle my Garage Layout. It never left home and was never intended as an exhibition layout. With so many plans for new layouts and time becoming shorter, I really needed a bigger work area.

It took me three days to dismantle it and move the pieces outside to await a  skip. It took me nearly four years to make starting in 2002 and was used to test ideas for my Exhibition layouts and to test loco’s.

A lot of bits and pieces have been recovered and will find their way on to other layouts in time.

So farewell old friend and thank you.

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Ratio of Track to Layout overall Size available

I have been thinking again, and as my wife says – that is very dangerous!

I think its fair to say I have always tried to get as much track into the space available, whatever gauge I was modelling. What makes a layout move from a multi operational layout to a cluttered sea of track!  I have never come up with a percentage, but I am now sure, in my old age, that anything over about 75% is definitely cluttered.

I have usually tested a new track design by temporarily pinning it down. The number of times I have added, just one more siding, or just another crossover, etc. etc. In these days of trying to do something a bit different and escalating costs just expanding the scenic area and reducing track coverage may be an option.

My thoughts have all come together on my new OO DMU layout – hopefully without compromising operational interest and fiddle yard storage. The overall track to size ratio is under 50% giving plenty of space for adding interesting scenic areas.IMG_6923

It would have been easy to add at least one or two more sidings and a crossover, but I have resisted and am looking forward to a small engineers yard and possibly a small Industrial area. I have now added the platform edging and am just waiting the plastikard to complete the job. This should then give a sense of space for scenics.  The wiring is reduced to a very routine job and hopefully quickly achieved.

I may well call this Layout – Horshall Common, as per ‘War of the Worlds’ as it’s an inner  fight for less cluttered Layout!

Track laying on the DMU Layout

Well, I have always felt that a modern DMU run layout can be simple to build, wire and scenic, and it does not get much simpler than this! I think the below photos show just that. The two three-way points are Insulfrog,  the track in the fiddle yard is recycled code 100 and the track on the scenic section is new code 75. The points are manual as they are both in the fiddle yard, so the only wiring is the isolating sections and the feeds. The fiddle yard will hold up to six 2 car DMU size units or equivalent trains. The entrance to the scenic area will be under an over road bridge making the three-way point almost invisible. There is just one platform with two faces and a stabling/engineers siding.

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Ashwell Moor at Bressingham Ex 2/9/18

This was the debut of Ashwell Moor – I made it for my son last year. The Stock is John’s, Graham’s, Shaun’s and mine. Sadly I did not have time to weather the two new Class 37’s, just number and detail them. The layout performed faultlessly all day and was received very well.

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Photos by My Wife and Shaun