Exeter St Davids OO

[Dad-1]

Platforms worthy of the name !!
That was always one of my 'dreams' somewhere a train of
7 or more coaches fit inside the ramps. Then you realise
the whole thing has grown too big !!

Just keep going forward, ignore my vague warning.

Geoff T.

[bootneckbob]

What warning??

It's nice to get some feedback from time to time although I appreciate it's painfully slow to anyone watching in real time so to speak; 10 years now did you say??

I promise it will start to take shape much quicker now. I still think I'm going to mock up in 3mm foam board and card but I'll wrap with scalescenes now and in time go over some buildings with plasticard to upgrade them and test my skills with the airbrush etc.

[Bigmet]

The station looks properly spacious, very convincing. No trouble getting this layout published in a railway modelling mag at some future point in time, should you ever want to do that.

[bootneckbob]

Thanks. If I don't get a move on by the time it would be at a stage for a magazine I think they will be a thing of the past! Hope I'm wrong of course.

[bootneckbob]

Well progress has been slow but I have been in the shed working. I've spent a lot of time painting the track in the station area (still not finished) and tinkering. I threw a bit of grey paint around the crossing last night to dull down the white plaster. It's all coming on......slowly!

I've also been buying a bit more rolling stock with 3 TTA tankers (will be for the TMD fuel point) and a MK3 TSO to alter one of the HST set from 2 FO to 1; prototypical for the mixed rakes at the time. Also bought a CMX cleaner. I have the British version but I've always kept my eyes open for a 'cheap' deal on the CMX. It's certainly heavier but I've not used them enough to lean one way or the other yet.

Finally I've added a couple of 50s.

After reading up on the history of 50149 Defiance, I realized it's a must have for my layout as it's Exeter 87-89. After a small bidding war for one on Ebay I decided to look at Accurascale. Although very expensive, once the sound is added its no more than current Hornby versions which are old anyway. So, that will turn up next year I expect. In the meantime I picked up a bit of a bargain on 50 035 Ark Royal. Needed some work done but all within my expertise!

[Dad-1]

I always like to see what you've been doing.
Class 50's mmmm My favourite diesel is the 33 a bit earlier ?

Geoff T.

[bootneckbob]

The 33 is a touch older being made 60-62 and the 50s 67-68 (credit to wikipedia!)
I've still got Indomitable and Glorious (both in NSE livery) in their boxes on the shelf. They were bought in 2017/8 and never been run. Not even been out of the plastic inserts! Daft thing is I have DCC sound chips for both after I sold off my later NSE liveried Achilles and Superb. I'm saving them for when the station is further ahead. I was actually quite gutted to see the NSE Exeter being released this year. But as it's about £100 more now than I paid for Indomitable, I'll get over it...

So Basically I now have

50 004 St Vincent BR large logo

50 007 Sir Edward Elgar in Brunswick Green

50 026 Indomitable NSE

50 033 Glorious NSE

50 035 Ark Royal BR large logo

*Edit I forgot I have 50 149 Defiance on order!

So from 2 cutting around the layout (for testing) to 6

[Phred]

Love the intricate pointwork.

[bootneckbob]

I don't think I could have done anything as good if it were an imaginary layout. Based on reality not only looks a tad more convincing but the operation of the trains is great.

[bootneckbob]

Easter update.
Well I finally finished painting the track. I'll start again, I finally finished painting all the track in the station you can see from the viewing angle. I still need to finish off the other sides of some of the rails.

Needing to feel like I'd made some sort of progress I turned my hand to the Signal Panel Box. It was late in the day so all I did was cut out the windows and doors and put some scale scenes paper on. Not happy with the colour so I'm going to look at another finish today.

I also sold one of my HST rakes which incidentally meant selling the MK3 coach I recently bought so I could sell it as a complete 8 car rake with all the right carriages (A-H). I discovered my Merchant Navy Class steam train not only can't negotiate the incline, but it can't handle the curved set points in that lead in to the fiddle yard at one end. I knew about the incline previously and had fitted DCC power base to assist in that area. Not sure how I missed the points?? So, I'm not messing with the points, the layout is set in the 80s and the steam train was a big concession to the layout but one I was prepared to make just because they are lovely things and sound great. Unfortunately though I will be selling it on I think along with the rake of Mk1 chocolate and cream carriages.

Yesterday I got back in for a full uninterrupted 'modelling' day and set to work on ballasting. I did the initial base layer in the Bay platform area and finished off the area north of Red Cow Crossing. I say finished off, not weathered yet obviously. Hoping for another productive day in there today as the weather forecast is terrible today, but looking out of my window at the moment there's lovely blue sky over Bideford Bay.

[Phred]

Looking great!
It took me forever to ballast my little OO9 roundy-roundy. Tackling something of that size and complexity seems quite daunting.

[bootneckbob]

Little and often is the key to doing work on this layout, although apart from this week it's not been that often!

Little update:
Spent far too long messing about with my Merchant Navy Class. Doesn't belong on the layout but I fancied a steam train; wish I hadn't bothered. It's derailing for a pastime on the set track curved points in the fiddleyard. I thought I'd sorted the problem by rewiring the tender to the loco but it seems that wire (thinner than the previous) is still too think and causing the rear wheelset (of the 6) on the loco to lift and derail. I'll redo it again but a job for another day now.

I did some custom work to a peco buffer stop with a new buffer beam and illumination. Quite pleased with the result. Might look a bit rough in the photo but it's actually viewed from 4ft away and the rails are hidden behind the platform (2).

I now need to put it back in position, wire it in, and redo the ballast there.

My last big push on Friday was finally sorting out how the road plan will work around Red Cow Crossing. The super compression in the area has made it very difficult to make the area work but I think I nailed it today. It's been bothering me for months; well, since the track was laid tbh. I then pushed on with the wall adjacent to Cowley Bridge Road. Those Scalescene papers are really great for getting large areas done done quickly. Tomorrow I hope to get the buildings in that area mocked up, concrete trucking laid and the ground cover added.

[attachment=2]IMG_20230412_195639

[Dad-1]

Oh Dear,

Curved points have a bad reputation for derailing. Set-Track being the tightest curve
the worst. Looks like large steam locos won't be happy, but much depends on the actual
loco. Crazy, but a Hornby 9F will go around my St.Oval track, yet a small Rapido Hunslet
derails on the 1st radius and set-track points.

Geoff T.

[Bigmet]

...Merchant Navy ...It's derailing for a pastime on the set track curved points in the fiddleyard. I thought I'd sorted the problem by rewiring the tender to the loco but it seems that wire (thinner than the previous) is still too think and causing the rear wheelset (of the 6) on the loco to lift and derail. I'll redo it again but a job for another day now...

You don't by any chance have this loco coupled to the tender on the closer setting; assuming there's a choice? Hornby make all their product to work on their set track system, but nowadays provide loco to tender spacing options; on set track the longer spacing has to be used.

[bootneckbob]

In answer to your question the distance between the two is set; but the wiring between the two is the problem as it's got just enough resistance to lift the rear wheels of the loco a tiny amount (and I'm looking using a magnifying glass) but its enough to cause problems. I'll have to rewire again with some ultra thin wire. I'm not even sure what the pick ups on the tender are doing; seems a complicated way to do it it with the clip on a spigot??


Anyway, in more interesting news, I got in the time accelerator yesterday; honestly I don't know where the day goes when I'm in the shed! I wanted to get the warehouse (second building from the front on the right in the picture above) done, and by that I mean knocked up in foamboard although I actually used foamex today and I really like it. Ordered by mistake but much better. I used to make signs using it in another life.

I had to finish off some details on the wall I was doing yesterday before I started on the warehouse, but I'm quite pleased with the look. It's all by eye and first go but I think it passes the test. It should be wider but there's that damned compression again! The next building, the one in the foreground will be the worst I'm sure.

Before I left it yesterday I took 3 photos (not staged) and cropped them. I have to say I really like it given the scene wasn't setup and the finish...well it's no where near finished!