St. Blazey's - My first layout - Stage 3 Building

[Bigmet]

...Just a word of note... I purchased a standing HO figure... for inside a coach. Even though shorter, I didn't cut the figure down enough to see out of the window...

While riding about in grouping period coaches last summer, an aspect related to this came up a couple of times from chaps in our party around 1.8m tall; that they had to stoop to see out of the corridor windows when the view demanded it, and as for the door lights... And finally the very tall lass in extra-high heels - completely slaughtered due to hen party over-indugence - felled herself by head butting the coach door lintel; no doubt specifically to make the point that the UK's railway coaches are rather compact...

[End2end]

Too funny.
Thanks
End2end

[End2end]

Not much going on at the moment.
I spent a couple of days cleaning the whole track and the loco wheels and now need to clean the non motorised rolling stock wheels.

I think I have found a solution to stopping our cats getting on the layout.
They jump up and walk across the layout to lie on the window sill, so I've moved some cacti plants onto the window sill so there's no space for them to lie there. Seems to be working so far.

I managed to pick up a flexible curve for drawing curves from a toy fair in Polegate yesterday for 50p.
Bargain.... or should that be ... "chuffed"?
Thanks
End2end

[End2end]

I'm starting to get real pi**ed off with this hobby.
No matter what I do, even spending 3 days cleaning the whole of the track and every single wheel that touches the track and things just won't work as they damn well should.
I've just launched my A4 at the wall in absolute frustration and now it's in bits and gone in the bin.
I care not.
Thanks
End2end

[Phred]

Are you feeling any more positive today, End2end?

I certainly get those days when I wonder why I bother, but at least we can ignore our model railways for a while without them coming to any harm. My aquariums and ponds, on the other hand, demand constant attention (even if I get an urge to choke my turtle ) or they are liable to crash.

Looking forward to seeing more posts from you soon.

[heda]

I'm sure most if not all of us go through this. The best advice, as a novice, I can offer is 'walk away from it, wait until your head is clear then take one issue at a time. One train, one section of track ( a loop ?), then run other trains on that section of track. Is the problem with trains or track ? A process of elimination. Post details of the particular issues on here, those with more knowledge will offer more specific help than I can.
Dave

[Dad-1]

Ahh heda is right.

Walk away for a while and let it rest and clear the mind.

Less than perfect running is a B****** because there can be so many reasons.
As you were expecting track & wheels the first items to check out.
So many track rubbers leave deposits - so it all needs carefully wiping again with a
lint free cloth. Even then there can be something that causes a stall at low speed.
As daft as it may seem after all the above a stall ?? In such cases I stroke/rub the
rail head with my finger - never feel anything, can't see anything yet after that finger
rub it works fine ????

The other thing often overlooked is the wheel back where the pick-up wiper runs and
the contact side of the pick-up wiper. If I'm having an unexplained problem a single
sheet corner of 500 grade wet-n-dry is teased under the wiper with abrasive side to the
wiper contact area - yes at times it's helped !!

Where/why/when might help identify ??

Geoff T.

[Bufferstop]

Do a quick survey of where you are at, what you've achieved and where you want to go. Write it down stick it in the box with some of your stuff and take a break. Go to some exhibitions, visit some lines, just go for a trip on a train to somewhere. Then in a few weeks get that list out and see if you still think the same or if it's time to make new plans. I never got anywhere near a finished layout until I said "stuff it, I'll build a mini layout before Christmas, that was just over a month away. I did it, it worked, it looked good, and it still comes out every year to entertain the visitors. I no longer feel guilty if I don't do much for a few weeks, I get my head round the next step and get it done then sit back and think what shall I do next. If your hobby was one of the team or field sports they almost all have a closed season, why shouldn't we?
PS I'm writing this in a truly bonkers holiday cottage, it's down by the beach looking out to the Channel and the garden wall is most of an old boats hull embedded in the ground, looks like a Noah's Arc. Best bit is just a few miles up the coast is the Hornby visitor centre, so guess what's on the list of trips to make.

[End2end]

Thanks members but I haven't even looked at the layout since.
I've been busy plus more things are failing and falling over.
This is what happens when basically everything these days is made in no-quality phuking China.
if you haven't noticed, I'm still extremely pissed so best I stay away from what at the moment is a large white elephant.
Thanks
End2end

[Richard08]

I had a grumpy phase two weeks back - everything seemed to be conspiring against good running. Clean the track (with meths), everything's fine for a day and then falls apart. The track really doesn't get that dirty, so what's changed? Eventually I spotted tiny amounts of miniscule black crud (sort of crystalline, kind of crunchy), almost invisible but enough to cause chaos. The grand 'solution' was to clean the track (again) and the wheels on everything. Half way through wheel cleaning I realised I hadn't cleaned the wheels on the Connoisseur QM brake van properly (i.e. with a rotary tool) after blacking them - the small amount of crud generated by the blacking fluid was enough to screw everything up. 'Testing' near complete wagons was doing similar - school boy errors there! Everything's running beautifully now after finishing all the wheels (lord, boring or what). It's frustrating when things won't play ball, but sometimes one needs to step back and look at things sideways to find the solution.

[End2end]

Just for completeness...
I don't use track rubbers. Only IPA on swabs.
Thanks
End2end

[Richard08]

Just for completeness...
I don't use track rubbers. Only IPA on swabs.
Thanks
End2end

Me neither (unless I spilled paint, glue or such), meths work fine and doesn't harm any scenery it touches, point rodding, barrow crossing and the like. Track rubbers are a complete pain in that respect. Completely irrelevant, but having got bored with re-painting check rails all the time I tried using blackening fluid - not perfect but much more resilient.

[whoshotjimmi]

I was just reading these thoughts on the frustrations of having a model railway and can only agree that we have all been through it at some point. I think one of the biggest mysteries the world needs to solve, in my humble opinion, is how you can be operating a layout perfectly one day and then, thanks to what I assume is a visit from gremlins, the layout doesn't work properly the next day.

If it is any consolation, Ashbrooke currently has the following faults:

- A wire between the controller and the layout has become loose causing intermittent power loss to the whole layout;
- Wires on two difficult to access sidings in the fiddle yard have disconnected;
- I suspect the pickups on one of the bogies on a Class 150 have disconnected causing some poor running but the screw holding the body to the chassis has become threaded so I cannot remove it;
- The directional lights on two of my other Class 150s has started intermittently cutting out having worked fine for 10 years;
- Two Hornby Class 153s have suddenly started shorting on certain points on the scenic portion of the layout;
- The track has warped slightly in one of the platforms meaning that units are fouling the platform edge;
- Ironically, the gearbox in a Hornby Class 142 has split (whilst simply sitting idle in a siding) and now needs replacing;

And then there is the stupid stuff I have done to myself as a result of not thinking things through properly:

- I re-modelled the entrances to the fiddle yards at either end of the layout and the re-profiled track caused stock to foul a bridge support at one end of the layout (which I have now replaced) and Mk3 length stock to foul each other on adjacent lines at the other end of the layout (the only reason I was altering this end of the layout is because, one day, the track simply decided it wasn't long enough any more);
- I started to add baseboards to the rear of the fiddle yard to expand the number of sidings in the fiddle yard and found that:
a. I am unable to reach the rear of the layout from the operating area despite initially believing I could;
b. I was unable to stand the baseboard legs due to the placement of floorboards, which I am now having to add;
c. I have placed some support legs in a locations where I am now unable to crawl beneath the layout to get behind it.

All of this, by the way, is just this month! AND YET, I keep going back to it because the joy is worth the agony.

I would definitely say that low points in the past have included:
- A Class 150 and Class 47 jumping the track, falling from the layout, through the loft entrance and bouncing down the ladders to the floor below. I have now 'repaired' both of these units and they still see regular service on the layout;
- When I realised that one of the baseboards was so warped that I had no other choice but to tear it up and start again. Whilst this was highly demoralising at the time, it actually ended up having a really positive impact because it enabled me to remodel the station area and it now works far better operationally.

I'd also echo what others have said regarding it becoming too much. Sometimes, the best thing to do is just leave it alone for a bit and return to it with a renewed appetite.

At any rate, keep the chin up and keep up the good work!

P.s. just to add to the frustration, this is the second time I've written this essay as the website logged me out first time round! It never rains but it pours....

[captrees]

I understand your frustrations Jimmi.

However I too have been neglecting my railway of late, and I'd like to thank this thread for inspiring me to clean my track. I have visitors today, and couldn't have it running badly.

I tested the track running a Terrier with 8 wagons up Grayrigg Bank. It stopped before the top, but had shuffled and stuttered its way up there.

Half an hour with some IPA soaked mock chamois, and a wheel clean for the Terrier, and test again. The Terrier was all wheelspin and no action at the bottom of the hill.

I put the Fairburn on goods duties, and all was perfect. Bloody lovely. No more cleaning with rubber erasers. Thanks all.

[Phred]

whoshotjimmi wrote:
- A Class 150 and Class 47 jumping the track, falling from the layout, through the loft entrance and bouncing down the ladders to the floor below.

Ouch!!