Jons Layout - Barnfield

[Jackstar]

Hi Jon in the 2nd picture.... the loco with the rake of carriages.... what is the radius of the curve and does the loco handle it ok?

Oops forgot to say looking very nice as well mate very impressed with track plan.

Regards

Kev

[piemanlarger]

It looks nice but a little busy. I would be cautious of using such tight curves, I did a simular thing on a tailchaser I built in my spare room. I cramed 4 ovals of track into 12 x 9 ft. I should have stuck with two as the inner curves were too tight.

The truth is in the eating though, so you need a good operating session to iron out any faults.

[B@rney]

The radius is a bit on the tight side, and I will try to make it larger once I have the rest of the risers in place, it all depends on the other end of the loop that is crossing a fairly big section of switches.

getting there slowly

[waz]

That's going to be a great layout when you finish. Lots of movement in it. I look forward to your progress.

Best Regards

BILL.

[B@rney]

finish?? do they ever finish?

I can see my layout being alogn the same lines as lofty.. do a load then rip it up and start over... but we will see

[headshot119]

Nice looking plan and a nice fleet of locos, is that a bachman or hornby 08.

[B@rney]

Thanks for comments.

Yup i agree it is a busy layout, but thats what i wanted really, Im not the most artistic of people, so i planned to just fit as much on as possible so not so much "scenic" stuff to do.

THe 08 is a Lima model, so Hornby now i guess.

Took my 159 back to shop, it wasnt working as bachman had forgotten to add solder to the motor wires, but the chasis was also bent in the middle, which was causing the bogies to rub on the body, which was a shame,

So now I have a nice 2 car 109 (I think cant remeber and have just locked the garage) Network southeast again. Runs lovely.

Have just added a load more board to the raised part of the track, and done some proper load tests. Once more i see the benefit of nice new locos.

The Vitrains 37 pulls up 6 coaches without even thinking about it, majority of my other second hand locos can do 3, but do slip a little. Not enough to cause me any concern though, but might have to look at a GNER HST I think..

better go see the good lady now, before she forgets who I am..

[B@rney]

Well things are coming along a bit more now, still havnt wired up the outside loop, but have swapped a number of hornby points over to peco settrack, which are much nicer (I think).

Have now run a train over the elevated section which is now more or less all raised on mdf, although not secured tightly and is not trimmed down to the right shape as I have not purchsed a jigsaw yet.

Have also began to electify my points, so far have done 4, and have invented a method of securing them to the board as I was struggling to a) get them in the right place and b) get them to stay still.

My invention is to cut a mounting board from mount card, 2mm thick, bend the prongs over to hold motor to the board, then staple the mount card to base board in the right place. holds nice and tighlty and is easy to remove and refix.


ID also like any suggestions of how to make this look better, what i mean is the points they are all left hand settrack, the idea is that its a marshalling yard area for goods and or engines.



The elevated section bit further away, you can just see the pass through station at the back, (the other side of the tunnel)


The terminus, engine shed and the left side of the layout, on right of picture is the other end of the marshalling yard as its looped around the hole in the middle, another holding/engine yard, possibly in future maybe a dieseil depot, (TMD???)

[leopard]

well improving the marshalling yard...

the track layout is ok, but i'd be tempted to try and get a run around loop linking the far end of two of the sidings (allowing a loco to get to the other end of the train). not required but a nice feature, even if its only big enough for a shunter.

otherwise on a simpler side a small goods platform, maybe with a shed on the closest road, allowing the next three to be goods marshalling, with the far two as loco stabling.

appearance wise a few spare sleepers under some of the joins then ballastig of some sort and your there.

if you will park locos here either a fuel point or water/coaling stage would work ok. use this as a depot for goods loco. operationally this should work well you have enough track in front of it to act as a head shunt.

the buildings are ok but I'd avoid platforms on the road with the points, maybe use these where I suggested a shed, or add another siding at the front, not parallel with the others unning direct from a left handed point on the near siding.. allows a space between the sidings for the goods shed then put the buildings you have on the new road? dunno.. goods yards can be awkward to design, I think the trick is to work out how you will use the yard and go from there.

as for tight curves... run at low speed and you should be ok, just pull the train don't push and keep the train shorter. if children of the younger sort will be using the layout I'd be tempted to put a resistor in series with the feeds to this section, to enforce a lower speed...

[B@rney]

Hi guys,

Well I thought Id have a go at ballasting some track,

Well its really easy (bit boring though)

Im pretty happy with the asthetics, but Does ballasting the track allways make the train running so much louder??

So far Ive only done about 4 feet as a kind of test to see if I can stand the extra noise.

[dr5euss]

Does ballasting the track allways make the train running so much louder??

'Fraid so, just you've just made the track one with the MDF surface, so now it's acting like a drum.

You might want to consider trying crk under it or investing in a Hi Fi system I know some people like to hear their trains run, but it doesn't really sound like realistic train noise

[m.levin]

Like George said, the baseboard will act like a drum. I have used Chipboard for my base and pinned the track directly to the board. I have only ballasted 35% of my layout, you can tell when the train travels over the ballasted section. To be honest I wish I would of used cork under my track, as it can be very noisy when running trains.

[B@rney]

Well now the glue is dry on my test strip. I can confirm that yes it is lots louder than before, but to my ears its not too annoying, Does sound a bit more like a real train, with the click-a-t-clack and it does drown out some of the noise of the electric motor whirring away.

So I think ill continue.

I wonder if B&Q do oo guage ballast in big value bags????

[B@rney]

Little update.

80% of the 2main lines now ballasted, and I have now also been experimenting with grass.

Had some scatter which was ok.. but then purchased after bit of advice and searching around some static grass and a puffer bottle.. Its sooo easy and effective.

Also been building some retaining wall and in process of building a brick wall with arches. Both senicsences. coudl do with improving my cutting skills, but it makes a huge difference to how things look.

I have started doing the scenic work on the bit thats closest to me and with easiest access.

What you think ?? (be kind it is my first attempt. My ballasting is getting better the more I do...

Before:


NOW:

[Infrontcat]

Hi Jon

Lovely job mate, especially for a first effort It's definately one of those things that you get better at the more you do. Be great to see some more shots, perhaps a more general overview.

Cheers

Tim