Silver Sidelines

There seems to be some confusion as to what constitutes ‘etched plates’. My understanding is that they are made from thin metal sheet, usually copper or steel, which have been dipped in an acid solution. Printing an image of the name or number onto the metal plate ensures that only the exposed or non printed areas of the plate are etched by the acid, leaving the original letters or numbers standing out in relief. Some early Jackson Evans Etched Plates I have been fitting etched plates to my model engines for quite some time. Dapol 14xx with I think Kings X Plates The picture above of the Dapol 14xx illustrates clearly how the numbers on the etched metal plate stand proud from the background of the plate. In the early 1980s I used to buy Kings X plates - these came on one sheet of metal and required the use of nail scissors and files to cut them to shape. Cutting the ‘reverse’ curves beneath the curved name plate was always a challenge. Airfix Pendennis Cas...

This Post is a direct follow up to my previous post and provides some illustrations of the mid level ‘round and round’ (the continuous run), and the low level reversing loop. The pictures also feature Hornby R3191 which has recently taken up a lot of my time. It is getting to be quite an expensive engine – well if I had to charge for the time I have spent fettling it. The Grand Plan – with photo locations As planned and initially constructed the layout was to be ‘Out and Back’ with a Main Terminus, a double track mainline leading to ‘the Main Junction’ and then heading off to a return loop with storage sidings. I have annotated the track plan above to show where the pictures were taken. The locations are labelled A to L in exactly the order that trains travel around the layout. Location A Starting out – the double track main line from the Terminus Station   The double track main line from the Terminus Station starts out at the lowest level. This allows the...

Enough of Duke of Gloucester and on with the current layout. The Grand Plan – at inception As planned and initially constructed the layout was to be ‘Out and Back’ with a Main Terminus, a double track mainline leading to ‘the Main Junction’ and then heading off to a return loop with storage sidings. The plan would build on past experience.   The Bracken Ridge Layout My first serious layout, the Bracken Ridge layout dated from around 1980. It was an ‘out and back’ layout and occupied about 16ft x 6.5ft with a minimum radius for running lines of 3ft. Entry was at the top left by ducking under. There were three levels. The terminus was at the top right on the intermediate level. The hidden sidings and reversing loop were at the bottom right at the lowest level. There was an intermediate station at the top left at the highest level. I wanted a continuous run (for testing) and this was achieved with a non prototypical single line along the bottom of the layout whi...