Silver Sidelines

Back in July when I resurrected my Mainline ex LMS 2P 4-4-0 I must have been very lucky because the video made at the time has the engine running perfectly smoothly. Since then attempts to run at slow speed have resulted in the engine stalling on a diamond crossing and worse still coming to an unexpected dead stop in out of the way non scenic sections of the layout. Peco Streamline Short Diamond and Mainline ex LMS 2P The diamond crossing provides the clue. Peco Insulfrog Short Diamond The Mainline 2P only has electrical pickups on its two pairs of driving wheels. The tender drive unit is based on the old Airfix design with all plastic wheels and rubber tyres. The spacing of the dead plastic frogs on the Code 100 Peco small diamond crossing match perfectly with the wheel spacing of the driving wheels on the 2P and it is not surprising that the engine stalls on this piece of track. Mainline ex LMS 2P As to the other locations I am...

The Peco Streamline 3 Way point is an extremely useful space saving device. This Post is prompted because I had to sort out a couple of problems with the installation of my own three way point. I was also aware that other modellers   were finding difficulties with the operation and installation of their 3 way points. The design of the point is symmetrical and has the appearance of a LH point being placed directly on top of a RH point. As a consequence the construction of the point is quite complex and the point requires careful handling especially during installation. When first marketed by Peco the point was only available with ‘Insulfrog’.  The view below shows my first ‘Insulfrog’ point but reinstalled on my second layout. Peco Code 100 3 Way Insulfrog Point – the Park View Layout 1990s The big advantage of the ‘Insulfrog’ point is that it does not require any separate electrical switching and hence is suitable for manual or simple mechanical operation. My...

Onwards and upwards – well I guess it depends on the direction of travel. The Branch Terminus and the Branch Junction described in my last posts are actually the highest parts of the layout being 158 mm higher than the original Main Terminus. Continuing our journey from the Branch Junction the title of this Post should probably read ‘Downhill all the way’ – I think not! The Main Junction –wide angle The Main Junction –panoramic There are two single track lines from the Branch Junction, one supposedly being of GWR origin and the other having LNWR roots. The later circles round and down in true train set style to emerge at a lower level station immediately beneath the Branch Junction. I refer to this lower level station as the Main Junction. The track layout for the Main Junction is shown below diagrammatically. The station and the adjoining curves occupy a length of some 12 feet. The Main Junction – not to scale The majority of my stations tend...

Some weeks have elapsed since I first wrote about using sieved sand from the garden for ‘scatter’.   I can now report on what happens when you add coal dust. In the view above the area of ‘ground’ at the end of the platform is a mixture of my original sieved sand and paste mix with the addition of 25% coal dust (three teaspoons of sand and one teaspoon of coal dust).   This Station is a busy junction and the dark colouring seemed perfect.   However to differentiate between more rural and less heavily trafficked areas I decided to reduce the coal content further. In the view above the area labelled ‘A’ is my original mix of sieved sand and paste.   The material labelled ‘B’ is this original mix with 12.5% coal dust added (seven teaspoons of sand and one teaspoonful of coal dust).   The area labelled ‘C’ is a mixture of the two and was an attempt to grade the colour of the material on the right so that it matched the material on the left.   I...

The gales and hailstones continue so luckily no gardening.   There has been plenty of time to progress the platform paving. My previous layouts were made from chipboard and I used the off cuts to form the platform bases which were then surfaced with 3mm plywood. The current layout is built with ½ inch MDF and again the off cuts have been utilised for the platform bases.   This time I chose to use 5mm balsa wood for the surfacing.   This gives me a top of rail to platform surface height of 12mm for my code 100 Peco Streamline track.   The balsa surface is held in place with counter sunk steel pins, whilst the platform sides are covered with brick or stone paper. As a teenager I can remember being very impressed by a railway modeller who had scribed individual paving stones.   The whole platform was given a uniform colour wash and then individual paving stones were picked out with different tones. Life is very short and I do ...

The last Blog entry dealt with adding the electrics for the new siding.   With the electrics completed.   I have returned to ballasting and have now completed the 'corner': It is a start and having added the ballast it highlights just how much more scenic work needs to be done. The picture below is an update of the earlier unballasted view.   The poppy seeds form a relatively thick layer and hide the cast metal base of the old Tri-ang water column. Finally another view of the station from the uphill approach.   The coaching stock on the right is 'parked' at the top of the reversing loop.   I need to make a removable cover to hide this - I have in mind retaining walls with banks and fields on top!!!

As originally envisaged the top right corner was just an empty space: However whilst playing trains it soon became apparent that a passing loop would be useful for the branch line - and if this could be combined with some sort of 'halt' / station for the autotrain, then it would be doubly useful.   The wood work was changed and some track layed: However - why did I cut off the piece of board into the corner?   Maybe the corner of the room was not square? It certainly wouldn't be!   Now two years later the piece of board has been found, reattached and a goods siding laid.   At last I have space for Bachmann's Scenecraft Goods Shed.   As with so many of the resin models, I find them deceptively big. Now that the track has been modified 'let ballasting commence' and then perhaps a backscene.   In the longer term I will have to devise a cut and cover tunnel (removable) to hide some of the tracks for the reversing loops and hidden ...

When I started this Blog I made a back of envelope calculation based on a test length of 150mm which indicated a requirement for circa 3.5 kg of ballast. Four 1kg bags of poppy seeds were purchased. and I set off ballasting.   Now some four months later all four bags have been used up and the work is not yet complete.   Not a bad calculation given that I have increased the spread of ballast for parallel sidings and some open spaces around goods and engine sheds.   My back of envelope calculation also suggested that the work might take six months.   That seems still a possibility. The first views  shows the south end of the main station with Peco Inspection Pits for the 'new' diesels The second view shows the carriage sidings awaiting ballasting with a row of Skaledale houses waiting to be elevated onto a retaining wall which hopefully will hide the entry to the reversing loop. Two more views of 'progress',   below showing the south e...