Not Sure if this counts as planning or under contruction...

[Brooker]

Hello again,
As I have just posted in my introduction elsewhere, I'm a long time lurker turned poster, and am returning to toy trains after 25 or so years away.
Early in 2016, I recovered my old board and track from my folks garage, resurrected the old steel rails with a power sander and ran some old rolling stock in DC.

Running on this old track was poor to say the least and I found that technology had moved on significantly since I last ran a train.
So the old rails were removed and the board dismantled.
A house move then followed in Feb '17, giving access to the loft space in a rented house.
A new Hornby DCC set followed shortly and some basic boards were constructed.
.

Lots more track and some additional boards quickly followed too, but that will wait for a later post...

[Dad-1]

Hi Brooker,

If you've got some track on a board & working I'd say it's under
construction ........ even if you don't currently have much plan !!
I prefer not to plan and have the ride wherever it takes me.

Geoff T.

[Brooker]

Thanks Geoff - I'm in the right place then!
More to add a bit later this evening

[Brooker]

So, with the help of http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk/ I've made some platforms and a church - the first batch had to go in the bin as I printed them out in portrait instead of landscape, so they where more N than OO once built.

Additions to the original set have been made, but we still only have power feeds to a single piece of track and all points are hand of god.

[Brooker]

Fast forward a couple of months and the track plan has developed somewhat - to this...

This is based primarily around the Hornby expansion packs plus a few more bits and bobs - and what I could fit around the rafters, the loft access hatch and the water tank.
I've now got a short loop on the right and a longer loop which goes around the whole of the board.
Time for some scenic adaptation.
All the track is on a single level - next time around I may be a bit more adventurous.
I also now have power feeds to a number of sections of track - but not every piece.

[Brooker]

Also now have motors for every point and a mobile control panel - of sorts...
(this is an earlier photo, all the switches are fully wired and I also have isolating sections in the sidings of the layout, along with a switch to control the programming track. The big red button is my "stop everything right now" isolator.


This is all OO and DCC.

[alex3410]

Thats a really cool idea for the control panel, keeps it all tidy and contained

[Brooker]

Final update of the evening - picture heavy this one...
In a previous life I was both a windsurf and sailing instructor, so this layout will have to have the sea in a corner somewhere...
(in the background you can see a rebuilt Wordsworth church and factory building, and Metcalf retaining walls)


My younger daughter is also a horse nut, so on the top of the tunnel we have farm houses, stables and some jumps (all Metcalf kits).



The town is also starting to take shape with more Wordsworth kits.



There is no ballasting anywhere so far - as I have always planned on this having to move within 18-24 months of starting the build - and this is coming to pass as expected!

[Brooker]

Thats a really cool idea for the control panel, keeps it all tidy and contained

Thanks Alex, it's not particularly pretty, but it does the job, and as this is all relatively temporary too, it's not cost me loads of cash to put together!

[Mountain]

You can use the old track for sidings. Get a Hornby or Peco rail cleaning rubber.

Love the houses!

[timbologist]

Looks like things are coming along nicely, it's a pity about having to move so soon though just hope it all fits into the space without much trouble

My layout is designed to come apart one hopes, but one thing I have done is made some joints from PCB and soldered the rails to them so the ends of the rails don't get damaged, I have attached some photo's

Tony

[Brooker]

Thanks for all the comments.
Tony, I'll do the same for the track ends when I build sections of my new build.
Unfortunately, due to a water leak, I've had to clear some of the loft...

All the rolling stock went away, along with the majority of the buildings.
There was a loop of track behind the photographer in the image above, this was completely removed, boards and all.
Thankfully, the leak is now fixed, and although I'm on borrowed time in this house, I have started the process of putting things back together...

Half depth board back and fixed in place, back scene replaced and starting to re-lay track.

How glad am I that I'd not done a whole pile of ballasting - though if I had, I guess it would have been a good time to turn large one piece boards into smaller sections.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, hope to have trains running again soon, then I can ponder my new build plans with trains rumbling around me for inspiration!!

[js1975]

I think you're very brave putting a good chunk of effort into something that you'll probably have to relocate. However you'll no doubt put a lot of skills to the test & will be able to apply the things you learned when you do it all over again. Water leaks - that's rotten luck. Onwards & upwards though.

[Brooker]

I think you're very brave putting a good chunk of effort into something that you'll probably have to relocate. However you'll no doubt put a lot of skills to the test & will be able to apply the things you learned when you do it all over again. Water leaks - that's rotten luck. Onwards & upwards though.

Onwards and upwards of course.

I'm not sure it is a good idea or not - but I find running trains very calming - so it's a good distraction.

Last night's job was to unpack all the rolling stock and the buildings and solder in the one remaining set of droppers which were cut following the leak.

I took some photos but have not uploaded anything to photobucket yet...

[timbologist]

I'm not sure it is a good idea or not - but I find running trains very calming - so it's a good distraction.

That is for sure running trains is a very soothing therapy, listening to them running is like listening to soothing music, the rest of the world goes away for awhile