Exeter St Davids OO

[Phred]

bootneckbob wrote:
There's a lot more complexity to come!

[bootneckbob]

Bit of work done on the roof tiles. In case anyone is any doubt or was wondering I'm using Scalescenes printed paper. I bought the scratchbuilders kit as an Xmas prezzie to myself.

[Dad-1]

Hi bootneckbob,

I like the catch point, I never got around to fitting any !!
I don't care how long you take ..... it's worth the wait.

Geoff T.

[bootneckbob]

Thanks Geoff.
Catch points not actually working anywhere on the layout as yet. With so many points it all got very expensive. Still some areas not changed from solenoid to DCC cobalts and the whole TMD needs doing as it's pretty much manual once the locos are in. Might be easier and better all round to fit capacitors to the locos and keep it manual.

[Mountain]

It looks real!

[bootneckbob]

I think I have some way to go yet!

[bootneckbob]

Had a week off but not got much done on the railway. Added a bit more detail to the 'brewery', repainted the road and Red Cow crossing, and spent yesterday painstakingly painting the barriers and lights for Red Cow crossing too. Painting wearing magnifying glasses whilst actually painting the items under another magnifying glass! Don't know how anyone can work in N gauge.

Today I added some extra droppers into the line for platform 5 as there was some intermittent power issues (which are now sorted); and did a quick mock up of the display the crossing attendant has which show which lines the approaching/departing trains are on.

[bootneckbob]

I'm really feeling the effects of having a massive layout and only me working on it but the wife's away to see her family and leaving me to look after the animals for a few days. With any luck I'll get loads done this week

I bought some more scalescenes kits despite having the scratch builders yard; they are very cheap, and do have some additional textures and features. One of the kits was the CLASP modular building. I bought that as I thought it would be good as the base for the Train Crew building at the back of the Bay siding. I think it will also be good for the Royal Mail site and porta cabins in general possibly.

So this afternoon was spent doing a first pass at the Crew building and driving a few trains. The new change in the fiddle yard is brilliant; don't know how I missed it before. In case I've not covered it I've extended two of the shortest through roads and binned the dead end siding in (one anyway). It now means I can get HSTs in any of the 10 sidings from either direction.

Since my last update I added some road markings to Red Cow. Most will probably be removed or painted over again but more layers just adds to the depth and a bit more realistic.

So here's a few photos. The viewing angle isn't a good one (for the finished layout) but it shows how things are as is.

[bootneckbob]

Rather than get on with any number of buildings that need doing this morning, I was feeling like opening up the incline. Although the tunnels don't look as bad as the original plan way way back, it still looks to steep for the surrounding area; mainly due to the drop off on the left hand side of the incline.

Also, I like being able to see as much of the train as possible, and the workbench that covers that part of the railway isn't used so I thought I'd look at the track and if I could make a more gentle curve with the tunnel portal moved.

Happy that I can improve the curve I set to work and not for the first time on this board I prepped for some scenic surgery!

Cutting the scenery isn't hard for those who haven't needed to do it. It took just 3 cuts to take out all the scenery I wanted (for now).

Then a quick look to see roughly how it will look; wouldn't be hard to replace everything at this point if I'm not happy.

[bootneckbob]

Just run a train on to the track as it is at the moment to have a better look. I think it looks much better. I've stopped for lunch now, but when I get back to it I'll lift the track and relay it with a more gentle curve. I doubt I'll get much more than that done today. I will blend the old scenery with new. The overall look will be more open, less steep and now I get the incline with a sweeping curve. It's sweeping completely the wrong way but what the hell.

[Phred]

bootneckbob wrote:
I doubt I'll get much more than that done today.

That's more than I would get done in a month! Looks amazing, BTW.

[luckymucklebackit]

Love the sense of open space on this layout, really nice.

Jim

[bootneckbob]

Thanks for the comments. I really do think the surgery was a good idea, not only has it opened up the southern end which was a little cramped, but it's allowed me to finesse the incline a little.

I didn't get all the track done yesterday as I'd hoped, but I finished it off this morning and did some running, well lots of running to be honest to check for any issues. The upshot is the incline is more gentle; there was a bit of a tip off previously between boards, that's now gone. As the gradient and curve is more gentle it's opened the line up for some HST diversions. There wasn't much point before as the front of the train was in the tunnel before the rear left the station. I also ran the coal train in both directions and tracks but I'll get some photos of that when the area has some base scenery back down.

I've attached a photo of a very quick mock up of how the slope of the terrain ought to be, and what may be obscured.

Have some other jobs around the house to get on with this afternoon, but I hope to get back in later.

[bootneckbob]

Amazing how long a little job takes. Had most of the day in there today but doesn't look like much has changed. Lots of time taken up with woodwork, painting, soldering, cutting, more cutting and lots of hoovering trying to keep the dust down. When I started toying with this idea the other day I knew I'd have to just do it now or the mess would be worse later.

Fortunately I had one extra pack of backscene which has now come in very handy. I'm pretty short on foam but will try and use what I have left tomorrow to shape the contour of the land. Also have plaster bandage and sculptamold all ready to go.

I decided to cut the baseboard as I think it will make the terrain more interesting with the embankment extended beyond the viaduct and then the curve going into the hillside where it will go into a cutting then the tunnel. I think it will be very subtle when the plasters down, but better than it would be. I also need to weather and paint the extra brickwork for the tunnel portals. The cutting should be more shallow now than it was previously which was very steep and why it never looked right.

The extra line length means I can potentially get a right hand feather signal in now too, although I've just watch a cabride video and the signal is actually further down the line just before the crossover.

On a slightly different point I recently learnt that I'm going to have to have a separate bus now for accessories (points mainly). I've had a couple of issues with the Cobalt point motors and it seems I'd be best getting them on their own bus and isolated from track shorts. I've had another 6 motors turn up so I need to fit them but also run another new bus under the board then rewire all 30 servos into it.

[bootneckbob]

I've started the landscaping with plaster bandage but need more which should arrive tomorrow, hopefully early. Had a tidy up and whilst rummaging through all my wood I thought I'd use the glass sheet that's been sitting on top of the workbench I've just shortened as the worktop for the bench above the fiddle yard. Makes it really nice to see the trains more clearly. Not sure I can splash out on glass to go all the way, plus its an odd shape but it would be nice.