Atlantic 3279 wrote:...Hatfield Shed: Any pictures of the results of your tinkering please?...
Nothing remaining to photograph I am afraid. I was still in experimental phase back then assessing whether BR(ER) steam or somewhere in North America in HO was to be chosen for a layout build.
Shall have to investigate the 'Norman Solomon' tiebar method, sounds interesting.
I think you desire to build the best track for the stock you have is the way to go, no matter what gauge, you are the person who has to put in
the time, money and effort to create the running surface for your apparently not inconsiderable stock, so it is your choice to decide where
to put in your effort.
I tend to feel that no matter what gauge you model in, you can have different styles of track on your layout depending on where it is on
the layout. The important thing is that the trains run properly and safely. Unless your layout is designed for photography, most of the time,
people will really only use the 18 inch rule, beyond that the super detail will be a personal project rather than an effective way to spend ones
modelling time.
For a small branch line, then it is much easier to super detail, but if you have a circular style non end to end layout, then life really is too short
unless you are like Roy Jackson with his layout and have a large group of helpers, when you can devote considerable time to making vast greensward.
John Coffin's advice is sound in that the areas that you do not have on show can be laid in any proprietary track conforming to your scale standards. By so doing you do not have to worry about the geometry, accidentally having sections that kink below minimum radius and all that guff and thereby releasing quality time on the sections on show.
Next, once the track is ballasted, painted the appropriate weathering colours along the 4-foot and the cess, and the sides of the rails 'rusted', there is considerably less visibly distinct after all and in 4mm and smaller scales the sleeper spacings are not that noticeable. ISTR JW telling me at Southwold that the 'Thurston' track was code 100 'Streamline' (TM) - I'm sure he'll correct me if I misremembered!
Deferring comment on Point & Crossing (P&C) work, what is more important is to create the correct effect - do not use concrete sleepered track if it is wrong for your period but do use it if it is, at least for the main running lines. Use flat-bottom if appropriate - which in your case it probably will be - with code 100 rail on the main running lines. Use code 75 for the secondary lines and code 75 - bullhead almost certainly - for sidings and so on. That might be enough to create the visual trickery you are after. Distress the sleepers in sidings to age them, snip a few connecting strips in the base mouldings and kink them around slightly.
Then you can spend your time on creating the special P&C work that defines the location - eyes will notice that more than the plain line. the addition of point motors, rodding and cranks, and locking bars and so on will further aid the illusion, as will a lack of uniformity and so on in the ballasting.
I've been using C&L code 75 for all of my scenic work (bullhead I think off the top of my head, could be both) and I have to say it looks much better than any peco or Hornby alternative. However for my storage sidings, it'll be all code 75 Peco set track, including the points.
I just want reliability where it counts - none of my scenic sections have points, luckily, but there are a lot of joints between boards.
I have nothing new to put on here at present, but a visit last week to Geoff Tiffany's superb developing S4 Dewsbury Central GNR layout allowed me to take these pictures:
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I was struck by the tidiness of everything, even down to the built-in cupboards under the storage loops as well as the construction of the layout legs and other under-bits, which was nicely finished quality joinery throughout, with legs of hardwood by the look of it, not the often "rough and ready" arrangement that deserves no more attention because "nobody is going to see it anyway".
I'm doubly grumpy today. Yet again, some filthy inconsiderate member of the great unwashed has given me a cold, so just as I thought I was getting on top of jobs that were glossed over or pushed aside in the months leading up to Grantham show, I find myself sitting here losing time again, head aching, brain not working properly, eyes wanting to close, coughing, sniffling etc! Just as well I had a flu jab almost four weeks ago, innit???
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Atlantic 3279 wrote:I'm doubly grumpy today. Yet again, some filthy inconsiderate member of the great unwashed has given me a cold, so just as I thought I was getting on top of jobs that were glossed over or pushed aside in the months leading up to Grantham show, I find myself sitting here losing time again, head aching, brain not working properly, eyes wanting to close, coughing, sniffling etc! Just as well I had a flu jab almost four weeks ago, innit???
Well we can drown in our sorrows together then. Me gotta code as well - had to call off my trip out to Dreary Derby today on account of it (well - I guess it does have its up side)
Roy Mears, who I know via the "Grantham the Streamliner Years" project has been investigating the possibilities of using one of the J6 resin chassis blocks in a different, less penny-pinching, more "conventional" way than I did for my three completed J6 models:
I imagine it only required a couple of quick saw cuts to removed the moulded mounting plate for the motor and cheap gears that I had used. I must think about giving those ultra springy coiled pick-ups a try myself some time.
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