Layout in progress - Name undecided

[Buelligan]

You’re running live steam?

Yes, the Hornby OO set. I’ve got the Mallard set, I’m looking forward to the winter when it’s colder and I can see the steam more.

[Chops]

Some years ago I did own one, quite a challenging piece of equipment, that.
As you know, it comes with an oven mitt. Gradually cracking the throttle,
nothing happened, so a little more, nothing, little more, nothing, little more,
and it shot away like a dart, straight through the curve and over the side.
I lunged and grabbed it midair, it's valve gear writhing in my palms, when
I noticed that my hands were being scalded. Dropped that, I did.

Surely with a little practice it will be manageable. Do shoot us some video.

[Buelligan]

Some years ago I did own one, quite a challenging piece of equipment, that.
As you know, it comes with an oven mitt. Gradually cracking the throttle,
nothing happened, so a little more, nothing, little more, nothing, little more,
and it shot away like a dart, straight through the curve and over the side.
I lunged and grabbed it midair, it's valve gear writhing in my palms, when
I noticed that my hands were being scalded. Dropped that, I did.

Surely with a little practice it will be manageable. Do shoot us some video.

That's pretty much the exact reason I think a lot of people 'used to have one'. Hornby's instructions are silly. Luckily for me I only recently got one, a year or 2 ago, and did a little research and found the OOLiveSteamClub website. They sell an instruction DVD explaining where Hornby's instructions went wrong. Basically a new loco would need running in, so there's a lot of resistance again getting going, once there's enough steam pressure to overcome the resistance, it shoots off! I had a rolling road that I used to get used to it, and the first few times I used a little screwdriver to help turn the wheels to get it initially rolling.

Having said that, I still crashed mine a couple of times, but luckily just left it lying on its side next to the track while it ran out of steam, and put the gloves on before picking it up.

I've not yet managed to get it to stop anything like realistically, or stop roughly where I want, but I'm sure I'll get there, the club sells an add-on controller which is supposed to make it easier.

I've got some videos of it, but I've no idea how I'd get them on here except by uploading to youtube and just putting the link here. I'll have a go later, but they're all on my phone and the youtube app seems to get a bit funny about uploading.

I'd love some more live steam locos, but the cost is prohibitive.

[pete12345]

When Hornby first released their live steam Mallard, it struck me as a bit of a marketing gimmick. A remarkable piece of engineering, getting a working remote-controlled live steam loco to work, but still very limited in what else they could do, and the system was never going to be perfect. If you have a garden railway or a very large indoor layout, I expect it's great as you can set the throttle and let the engine and train roll past. But on a smaller layout the lag in the control must make it difficult to operate properly.

[Buelligan]

When Hornby first released their live steam Mallard, it struck me as a bit of a marketing gimmick. A remarkable piece of engineering, getting a working remote-controlled live steam loco to work, but still very limited in what else they could do, and the system was never going to be perfect. If you have a garden railway or a very large indoor layout, I expect it's great as you can set the throttle and let the engine and train roll past. But on a smaller layout the lag in the control must make it difficult to operate properly.

I suppose it's each to their own, for me it adds an extra element to running the layout, because its not easy to stop it where you want, and hearing the chuffing sound as it goes around, coupled with the steam out the top on a cool day. Plus, the reason I like steam engines is the same reason I like cars, boats, planes, tanks, etc the engineering, so to have a tiny live steam loco is satisfying. Rather than just a motor inside, it is actually working as miniature version of the real thing, pistons connected to a driving wheel, which is connected by the rods to the other driving wheels. A miniature marvel. Plus ultimately I will extend into the garden, so it'll look great on a cold day chuffing around the plants.

Anyway, here are a few videos:

First run on a track rather than a rolling road, kids loved it, wife was less impressed, especially when packed away and their were spots of oil on the floor she'd just mopped...

https://youtu.be/miNhAlZYmNY

And this is Mallard on it's first run having just laid an oval and wired it up:

https://youtu.be/BSDnORbu_9I

This is a Hornby 1:1 Bittern on its test run:

https://youtu.be/AhHlD91PrVE

And finally this is a very old loco, my dad had it when he was a child, then I used it on my layout as a child, it then sat in a box for around 25 years. A shop had a look at it for me, free'd it up as it was seized and had it running, it then would only run in reverse but after some playing around with it, it now runs again. So this was the first time had run forwards for at least 25 years:

https://youtu.be/5j9gh_ug_Nw

[Chops]

Well done, looks like you are getting some satisfactory use out of it.

[Buelligan]

Well there has been very little progress lately, mainly due to my wife insisting on having a holiday, and me having to do various things to my car.

I've spent my time gathering bits for the next stage. With the track all laid I'm starting to look at getting a section of scenery done. I've chosen to do the station side of the layout first, so I've bought 3 different types of ballast to mix together, a Metcalfe station kit and platform kit, skaledale signal box, and an old plastic kit engine shed. Finding the time to make the kits is tricky, but I should have a couple of days to myself this weekend coming, so I'm hoping to get the station and platforms built then. Only problem I've got is I want the platforms as long as possible, but the overhang from the locos and coaches as they go over points means I either have to have the platforms shorted than I want, or further away from the track, but this will leave a bigger gap between the platform edge and the coaches when stopped.

I can just about fit a B1 or V2 sized loco with 4 coaches in the station, but it has to be in just the right position, and has 1-2mm clearance each end for another train to pass.

Another thing I want to do for the station is something like the Metcalfe kit, 'wall backed platform canopy' https://www.metcalfemodels.com/product/ ... rm-canopy/ but I am using red brick, and they only seem to offer it in stone.


I've mixed up a bit of ballast to try and see what sort of mix I want, and to my eye it doesn't look too bad.





I've also got a Bachmann Scenecraft coaling stage, No. 44-048, to put in somewhere, but not sure on how it would have been set up in real life so can't decide what I can do with it until I find some old photos of something similar. It can be seen in this photo:

[Buelligan]

Had the weekend to myself this weekend, so I thought I'd crack on with the kits I'd bought but not had time to make. They are all from Metcalfe, as I find these seem to go together nicely without too much effort. This weekends task was to get the station building and platforms done. The platforms are in place but not finished yet, I can't decide whether to slope the ends or not, and I'll need to sort out operating the points remotely before the platforms can extend any further.

Once the buildings were in place I took the opportunity to check clearances and test out a few new locos, the Bachmann K3 that arrived Friday, and the Hornby Captain Tom Moore Class 66, as well a new Hornby T&F Henry.

Next stage will be to get this section ballasted. I will also need to decide what I'm going to put on the shed wall behind the other platform. Now I've just got an engine shed to build (bought in error, was actually looking for the goods shed kit, but I can use the engine shed anyway).

Photos attached below of todays progress:

[pete12345]

It's coming along nicely! The ballast mix looks good and gets away from the usual monotone grey.

With the current mix of stock, it looks like there are through trains between the LNER and Sodor! Perhaps Henry has just arrived with a service from Tidmouth, awaiting an engine from the Other Railway to take over...

[Buelligan]

It's coming along nicely! The ballast mix looks good and gets away from the usual monotone grey.

With the current mix of stock, it looks like there are through trains between the LNER and Sodor! Perhaps Henry has just arrived with a service from Tidmouth, awaiting an engine from the Other Railway to take over...

Got to keep the kids happy, despite them having their own tracks, they still want to come and use mine, Henry is mine though, bought for a bargain price of £90 from a local model shop. Cheapest online was £110 2nd hand!

I just want to add, I noticed in one of the photos in the post above that I'd made a schoolboy error and stuck the 'way out' sign on the wrong way around, with the arrow pointing towards the track!

I initially bought just a bottle of grey ballast, looked good in the bottle with the shadows making it look different shades, but when poured out it was all just the same grey, which I thought would look a bit boring. So I went online and found a couple of other shades from a different company. Today I had a spare hour so popped out to the shed again, and managed to get some more ballast down. It's not glued down yet, still needs a bit of work, but it's the first time I've done ballast so it'll be slow learning. I know you can get proper tools to spread the ballast, but the clutch having gone on my car, money is tight so I've been using a tea spoon to sprinkle it over the tracks, and then a couple of brushes to move it around.

[Lachute]

[BrightonMan]

I am using red brick, and they only seem to offer it in stone.

I'm pretty sure that Metcalfe do building papers that match their kits, you could use these to recover the building in brick.

[Bigmet]

Not totally impossible to have an LNER connection, as the NBR reached the North coast of the Lake District at Silloth, and might well have gone further if the Isle of Man had actually been a peninsula in the style of the 'Sodor and Man' of Awdry's creation. Rather like Scotland, the LMS group would have been intermixed in the operation, for a three party jointly operated mainline, all sorts of fun to be had..

[Buelligan]

I am using red brick, and they only seem to offer it in stone.

I'm pretty sure that Metcalfe do building papers that match their kits, you could use these to recover the building in brick.

They do, I’ve actually got some here! I’d thought of Usi it to cover some arches so they match, but hadn’t thought of using it for the station! Thanks.

[Buelligan]

A little update, for what it's worth, which isn't a lot. Progress has been slow/Non-existant, partly due to working overtime the last few weeks, and partly due to the temptation to play instead of work on the railway. I've decided that I need to think about how I want the scenery more before I do anything more as I keep changing what I want, I'm now left looking at new options for the bridges.

So instead I decided that I'd get the 3rd DC control wired in so I can control the good yard separately. Then I went and bought another live steam set, so thought I might as well wire that in too, nothing like making a hard job harder!

So to stop myself getting tempted to play instead of work, I disconnected the controls and switches so nothing can be run. Since then I've been trying to get my head around how to wire it all to achieve what I want. I think I've finally managed it in the diagrams below, (except for having LEDs that light the current route, I think that's a step too far for me at the moment), hopefully they'll make sense. Or if there's any glaringly obvious mistakes someone can point them out to me!

The wiring diagram on the right is for the blue section on the track plan, the wiring diagram on the left is for the red, yellow and orange sections. Not too sure how I'll power the points in the goods yard yet.