Return to Model Railways

I was staring at the base-board the other day, and suddenly something hit me – it’s too big! When I bought the original sheet of ply it fit in the back of the car with the seats down. Since then, it’s been extended twice, so it would no longer fit. Planning? What planning?!

The obvious option was to basically cut the board in half. However, the half-way point had a batten along it, so any cut would have to be offset from there. Not only that, but there’s a load of pointwork right above. I eventually found an area between two points about two thirds of the way along the board in a simpler area of the board. The track sections are straight, and the points are back to back.

The baseboard was already built so it was a bit of a retrofit. The underside battens were screwed to the top on both sides at almost exactly the point I needed to cut through, so the screws at that point were removed. I cut the whole thing in half, and then made up two new end battens to go on the ends. Whilst I was doing this I also drilled the holes for the bolts to hold it all back together. Everything was screwed back together and the end result is actually a bit sturdier I feel, my dodgy wood-working skills aside.

After a little bit of trimming, the two halves went back together fairly well. I installed the copper circuit board joiner and soldered it down. The track on the right of the joiner is glued down too, with suitable holes cut for the point motors to be fitted later. I need to pick up some more wing nuts and washers for the joint to make it secure.

The points were placed with a gap the width of the saw I used. When I cut through everything else, it all lined up flush, when pushed together. I run a wagon back and forth across it and it seemed smooth, so I’m happy. Some more soldering will need to be done to provide power feeds. Now I’m gluing track down I’m making sure to check the track butts up nicely by filing down the ends. Previously, everything was just rough-cut to fit. Some bits will need replacing and cutting down further as they don’t quite fit the gaps properly.

I did notice the track needs a darn good clean though, as it’s getting very dusty and mucky. Most of the rest has been dry-laid, so it’s just a case of pulling up bits and checking it, then gluing everything down again.

I’m now starting to think I need to build some sort of legs for the board as the shelving unit it’s standing on right now just doesn’t support it in all the right places, so it’s a bit up and down. Once that’s rectified, and track is laid, it’ll be onto the point motors and final wiring. Then I’ll have an actual working layout.

I managed to actually accomplish quite a bit today!

Over the last week I’d added some bolts and wingnuts to the end of the board where the return extension bit goes. The solution works – sort of. The extension bit tends to hang down a bit. Not a bit surprise I suppose. I need to figure out how to make it sit level with the main board.

That didn’t put me off starting to lay the track down properly. In the process of layout out the track again, I decided to forgo a few bits of track. Firstly, the double-slip crossover is out. As this is Code 55 track, it has a lower profile. I’d read that in some cases re-wheeling rolling stock would be required to avoid derailments. Having run various locos around and other stock, I’d not encountered any such problems – except on the double slip. It added additional headaches with wiring, in terms of getting it to switch polarities about. This all seemed like too much effort, so it had to go.

Additionally, the storage sidings at the back have turned around. This is mainly so all the points are situated at the more accessible end of the board. Not only that, the sidings will go into what is otherwise dead space at the back. As it was, the end of the rear, hidden storage was almost right next to the end of the ‘live’ sidings where I intend to put a depot. Again, I didn’t like this as it reduced the amount of space for scenery. Now I have plenty of room.

Having decided on that, I started track laying. I’d bought some pins from Wilko (the notice board type – long with a little bobble on the end) which I used to contain the flex-track on curves. Basically, I’d flex it round, using the pins to retain it. Then I’d draw an outline with a Sharpie so I knew where it belonged. I also used my Peco 6ft-way gauge to make sure the spacing was good. Radii are the same as, or less than some Code 80 Settrack I have, so that’s good. I think the Class 66s bind a little on tight curves, being CO-CO chassis, but it should be OK.

Once I’d got the track down, I added in the copper-clad PCB. I’d picked it up in Maplin. I cut a rectangle to fit over the join, which covered both tracks. I screwed it down to the board with two screws either site. Next, I pulled the webbing off the flexitrack so the rail bottoms sat flush on the PCB. Next out came the soldering iron and I put down a few tacks first to hold it in place, then ran a bead along the outside edges, plus a bit on the inside edges to retain it. It’s not exactly pretty, BUT the wheels all seem to roll over it. Finally, I used one of those funny hacksaws with the extended blade for hard to reach areas to slice along the PCB, track and all. I’d made sure to insert a spacer between to two baseboards the same thickness as the hacksaw blade, so that when the cuts were done, everything would be flush. The spacer in this case was my steel rule!

In my zeal to cut through, I twisted the saw, and snapped the blade. I replaced it with a better quality one, which whilst being longer, and thus at a higher risk of breaking, it sliced through with ease. I repeated all this for the second one, removed the spacer, and it all went together beautifully!

At this point I hadn’t glued down the tracks on the extension board yet, so I simply lifted them a bit, and used some Evostick wood glue to stick it down. I sat some weight on it for a while, and it all stuck very firmly. That Evostick is some good glue! I’ve also got some bog-standard PVA I got in Hobbycraft, but this stuff is pure awesome in a bottle!

With that done I laid out the other track, and glued down the curves at the other end. One nice thing I found using the pins to hold the track is that the track can be lifted in position; it’ll slide upwards, but retain it’s shape, and leave enough space underneath to squirt a bead of glue along, then use a spatula to spread it. Then it’s a case of lowering the track back down, and applying a weight to make it stay put. No fiddling around re-aligning it, as the pins keep it aligned. A real time-saver, and it means I could fiddle about using the pins without getting glue all over the place, or making silly mistakes. A good reason for using the cork!

Having done all that, I decided to wire up the original droppers I’d put in some time ago just to sanity-check the layout. It works as much as it can; the return curves and back section need power, but the front bit still works, save for a small dead section on one of the point frogs. Nothing I can’t fix though.

The new revised layout mean only a few of the original holes I’d drilled for point motors will now fit. Not a bit issue, as I’ll do new ones, and the old ones were mostly badly aligned. I’m still looking for a fool-proof method to align the Seep motors though. I’ve still got some track laying to do before that’s a worry though.

Quite a lot of progress!

I visited the International N Gauge show last week. There were some nice layouts there, and one major thing struck me – they nearly all formed a continuous loop. I think this makes for more operational interest, and allows for more interesting trains. Freight trains can rumble straight through the station, as can non-stopping express passenger trains. I’d otherwise not really be able to do those in the space I have. So now the track plan looks like this:

Which I’ve done by using a small extension on one end thus:

Admittedly, since I’ve done it, I’ve re-laid that section of track, as it wasn’t great. It’s now done in two continuous pieces rather than the four I first did it in.

So now I have a nice continuous loop, and the trains run around it full tilt quite happily.

I think I could do with a couple more power droppers elsewhere, just to give a good supply, but even then there’s no dropouts, and I ran the Dapol 67 round on a fairly low speed with no problems.

The extension won’t be scenic – it’s designed to be removed when not in use, so I’ll hide the edge with a bridge or something. But it’s all good progress. 

I’ve been playing with XTrkCad and trying to work out how to make things fit. For a while, I was convinced I’d be forced to use Code 80 track to get the turns I needed, and fit in the maximum amount possible. Eventually I managed to find a nice workaround – I’ve extended the base board!

An explanation is required. The blue section at the top will be the back of the layout. That will be mostly Code 80 track (stuff I already have). The scissor crossing is a nicety for two reasons. Firstly, it’ll be the conversion from Code 80 to Code 55, and it’ll give some flexibility in switching on the up and down lines. It’ll serve as a fiddle yard, and stock storage.

The red section on the right is the new extension. It’s a 300mm section which will be bolted onto the end. It’ll also hide under an adjacent shelf, so it won’t really be visible. Hopefully there won’t be too many derailments there. The track will be Code 55. There’s not a lot of difference in price on the flexitrack, so it was easier to extend it up.

Lastly, the main section down the front is the actual ‘live’ layout. The two straight lines down the bottom of the plan are down to the ‘station’. It’ll be a simple terminus. The scissor crossing allows switching across onto the up and down lines, and also up to the sidings. The left hand side should be a depot of some description, and the double slip allows one of the sidings to act as a sort of head shunt for the two shorter sidings. They might end up being some sort of loading bay, or something. Not really sure yet! They might be pulled around a bit more so the run more diagonally. That would give longer running lengths, but it’ll mean more of a twist – I already have a pretty tight radius in there.

The leftover space will have the usual assortment of buildings and other miscellanea. The exit point for the track will be a bridge of some description, and probably a raised roadway along the whole right hand side.

As far as realism goes, I’ve tried to keep to the spirit of things. I’ve had a look at some satellite photos of depots and stations, and I’m trying to do things as well as I can in the space confines I have. To do things properly I’d probably end up with a layout about ten times longer. What I wanted to avoid was a full loop system – I wanted something vaguely plausible. Hopefully when dressed up nicely, any oddities in the track layout will be solved.

The track has been ordered, so I’m committed now. Or should be.

Incidentally, I’ve gone for entirely electrofrog points. Probably going to end up being a really stupid idea, and require a ton of wiring and switching. But hey, that’s what makes it fun!

I’ve spent a while this afternoon looking over the two different codes of track I’m likely to use.

There’s two options I’m considering – Peco Code 80, and Peco Code 55. When I modelled in OO, I used the bog-standard Hornby stuff (or Peco equivalents). Whenever I saw other layouts, I was always struck by the fact their track looked so much better. I often put that down to the fact they had probably hand-built a lot of it. I never appreciated the fact there were different scales to chose from.

I’ve been reading up some differences, and the consensus seems to be that if you want something to Just Work, go for Code 80. If, however, you want it to look more realistic, go for Code 55.

At present I’ve not got a lot of track. I’ve got the Peco starter set, and the oval that came with the Graham Farish set I bought, and some sections of flexitrack. Naturally, that’s all Code 80, so not entirely compatible. Some people said to use Code 80 in hidden sections. It’s cheaper, so that’s a fair use for it.

There’s pros and cons for both:

Code 80

Code 55

Having mulled it over, I think I might go with the Code 55. Given that my layout is pretty small, I can use the shortest points, but balance that with using flexitrack everywhere. I can cut it to exactly the size I want, and also use it to make my curves at the end of the layout. This way I can have them at some fairly tight radii, and get more in behind the scenes, where I can use the Code 80 stuff. Well, hopefully anyway!

I’m going to go have a look at some more track tomorrow, and decide. I might change my mind and go for Code 80, but it would be nice to use the finer stuff, just to make things look really nice!

Due to space constraints, the size of the baseboard had pretty much been decided. I had a look in Wickes and they had some 9mm 3-ply board which looked good. Not quite the proper Sundeala hobbyboard everybody recommends, but good enough all the same. The sheet I bought is 1220×606mm (4”x2” approximately) – why the odd size, I’ll never know!

I also bought a couple of battens to fix to the underside. After a bit of cutting about, I’d managed to make a few lap joints, which I glued and screwed, then the whole thing was screwed to the top. I’m definitely no expert at woodworking, so it was a case of working slowly and carefully. The end result is below.

It’s sitting on top of a small shelving unit I bought in Wickes some time ago. The centre battens are oriented such that they sit across the top of the shelving unit, and hold it up. It leaves me (hopefully) enough room underneath for point motors, and cabling.

On the whole, it’s pretty sound, so I’m happy with it.

But this probably raises the point, why bother building it before any concrete plans? Well, it’s pretty simple – as I said earlier, there’s only a finite space, and I’m happy to work with a nice, flat base. As far as I was concerned, it made little difference, and it gives me the ability to lay things out and play about more.

It’s a good start, anyway!