PeterH's Great Central themed layout.

[PeterH]

Only took 11 years to finally get an appropriate looking train for the Stirling Single, definitely taking that to the railway club to run on the test track.

And another 9N/A5 - No.6 in L&NER guise also arrived.

[glencairn]

Excellent photograhs of lovely looking locomotives and scenery.
Thanks for sharing.

Glencairn

[Dad-1]

Super Peter,

It really feels like the GCR - I recall a visit one February
when the waiting room had a bright warm coal fire.
As forgetful as I am I can't remember the station name,
it must have been the one nearest to Leicester.

Geoff T.

[GeraldH]

I love the platform level shot. I could imagine jumping on that train .

[PeterH]

A thumb injury (with trip to A&E, X-ray and stitches) has meant I had to hold off doing any railway modelling for a while. I thought I’d ease myself back into it by making this rather handsome GCR weighbridge office kit from Intentio Laser Kits. A very enjoyable build and I am delighted at how it has ended up. Still can’t believe it was me who made it!

[Richard08]

Nice job

[Phred]

Very effective weathering.
I like the 'runoff' stain coming down the roof from the chimney. I wouldn't have thought to do that but it adds that much extra realism.

[PeterH]

Small update, got a hold of one of the new GCR signal cabins from Bachmann. Excellent as always, I’ll have to make my mind up whether to use this one or the other box for the station.



Also decided to get on with the Barnum as it has been sat around for ages with not much happening. Glazing done (a job I don’t enjoy) and then when assembled discovered it to be as bent as a banana. It will take some working out at how to straighten it satisfactorily. Any suggestions welcome! 

[Bigmet]

The Barnum is 3D printed? I would ask the vendor what's possible with the polymer used. Will it straighten if warmed and then hold shape if cooled to room temperature?

[Richard08]

My, somewhat limited, experience of 3d printed items, mostly guttering, signs and such in O, is that it is near impossible to straighten warped printed items unless there is something else to fix them too. FWIW as a result I no longer buy 3d printed items that aren't pretty cuboid. I think the biggest problem you have, from the photos, is the sides - I can't see how it would be possible 'bend' those in the lengthwise dimension as you'd be trying to compress the middle top and stretch the middle bottom. If the sides could be sorted, a last resort being to file out the 'bend' thus shortening the height, then chassis could then use the sides to hold the chassis straight. Houston, we have a problem.

[PeterH]

It is going to be an interesting one, I’m trying an alternative assembly method for starters and if that doesn’t help I have a bit of right angled brass rod I could discreetly glue to the chassis to straighten and strengthen it.

[mattmay05]

Hey Peter, really nice progress on the layout, the GCR weighbridge hut/office looks especially nice.

On the 3D printed kit, unfortunately there is very little you can do, The chassis you can probably straighten it's resin so warm water wand carefully straighten it... the sides unfortunately are a lost cause... warping or the shrinking of the material is mainly due to how it's printed or orientated... Having produced my own parts, and kits, larger or longer straights are best cut down in to shorter sections, or orientated 3 ways on the axis... due to their length and size the person printing it probably couldn't do this... and that is part of the problem.

I've spent 8 months on a metropolitan set to stop any warping, as long as I can get the body structure which is one piece not to warp then that will support the chassis and stop that from bowing.

From my point of view it's just poor R&D and knowledge of the technology.

[PeterH]

The Matchboard coach was fine but the banana Barnum not quite! The Matchboard was helped to be kept straight by the interior I think whereas the Barnum didn’t have that support. I take note of what you said about the printing techniques. I need to get back to that coach, I’ve been working on a ‘Crooked House’ pub model recently where wonkiness is encouraged!

[Phred]

PeterH wrote:
wonkiness is encouraged!

Sounds like my layout!

[PeterH]

So an update on proceedings of late. A lot of my modelling time has been taken up with a model of the sadly demised ‘Crooked House’ pub, just got the mortar wash, roof and chimneys to do and it is done. Lights and interior may come along one day. I’ve spent some ti,e away from that so need to spend a day or two to complete it.

The GCR Barnum took a back foot while the pub is being built. When the pub is done I’ll finish the reassembly and assess.

Pedanticmongrel has supplied me with some GCR vans of 3-D printed and Bachmann chassis origin, they’ll be the next ‘side project’. Should be easy (he says).

Finally the layout itself, I’ve decided to take the plunge and commit fully to DCC. Wiring is not a strength and the moderate simplicity of DCC wiring over DC section switches has won me over. The points and signals will still operate on the analogue method of SEEP point motors operated from a control panel. The outer track is fully operational albeit using crocodile clips. The inner loop is 2/3rds running with an isolated section between two points which needs jumping. Obviously eventually a proper bus wire will go in, not relying on crocodile clips!

With the commitment above the chipping of the fleet has commenced. I bought 10x 8-pin decoders from Rails and have started work upgrading compatible locomotives. With 90 in the fleet it will be a long and very expensive process.In saying that however not all will be upgraded as I do intend to slimline my motive power eventually. I did also have a few already DCC fitted for use on club layouts.

A bit of a read but hopefully interesting. I’ve got time to work on the layout during the ‘off season’ at work (Chiltern Open Air Museum) so the intention is to be able to have a running session with guests by Christmas.