From Evernote:

Window After Window After Window

And this is supposed to be a relaxing hobby?

From Evernote:

County of Bedford Visits - 26 Aug 12

Wires, Wires ...

I have finally, FINALLY, finished wiring every piece of track on the new baseboards, all colour coded to match the switch panel and using copper strip bus bars.  I have discovered hate wiring.  Even the thought of it makes me want to weep now.  Plus I have a blister on my foot courtesy of lying under the baseboard and trying to solder to a bus bar directly above me.

Perhaps now, moving into year three, I can get on with some scenery...

Switch Before and After Panel

From Evernote:

Before and After

"We're not about to make the same mistakes twice".  Ronald Reagan

And while Reagan may have been referring to Nicaragua, the same can be said of the switch panel in the Summer House.  (Too tentative a link?)  Anyway, refreshed, laminated and now in place (but yet to be completely wired), the whole layout is benefiting from a total rewire - with a 'power to every track piece' policy - and this time it will be in colour!  (My eyes were hurting after trying to trace one red wires path in a sea of identical wires.)

From Evernote:

Building Works

One of the reasons Mulberry Junction is taking a long time to get anywhere is the nearby 1:1 scale building works (about to enter their sixth month).  Clearly, it's infectious, so ... take one badly glued together cheap buy off eBay ...

... give it a 'wash' and a bit of detailing / weathering ...

... and hey presto.

(And clearly no-one's doing anything on this site, either.)

From Evernote:

Mulberry Junction Regrets To Announce ...

With little more than 30 minutes a week to fit it all that needs to be done on the layout, focus is normally pretty sharp so no time is wasted.  But I've completely stalled.  For weeks.

Essentially, while track cleaning is a fact of life*, it's quickly become clear that to maintain smooth running, wiring each piece of track will be required.  This wouldn't be so much of an issue if the wiring hadn't been designed to make use of strategic areas which are isolated when points are set against them.  So new wiring diagram - and therefore switch panel - are required.

The switch panel will, this time, be laminated (hurrah for Rymans) instead of in a clear plastic wallet taped onto cardboard.  I'll need to check it will take being drilled ok (and the paper sandwiched inside doesn't get whipped up by the drill bit, as kept happening with the plastic wallet) but if successful and once mounted on a strong piece of card, it should be stronger than what is there at present.  Rewiring will also give me the chance to correct the mistakes of the original wiring plan, the reality of which has resulted in a sea of red wires and few other colours under the baseboards.  

So why the big delay?  Simply put, the layout is working at present and, as I will not have the opportunity to rewire it in one go, it will mean de-comissioning it for an indeterminate period - which is going to be a problem for a certain six-year old and his Cross Country Voyager time-table.  Plus, being in a summer house, this is the time of year when it is essential to have everything working to make the most of the weather (ho! ho!).  And the problem with leaving the wiring is that I can't start the scenery in ernest until the wiring is completed, so everything is held up ... aaarrgghh.  (And I still have no idea how to 'scene' / layout the small goods yard, below.  However, am more impressed with my 'free' Scalescenes workshop attempt than I thought I would be - pics of almost completed one below below.)

*Track Cleaning: It's been best part of a year since the No-Ox went down on the curve behind the back scene and the trains runs slowly and smoothly over it with no hint of a track-rubber going near it.  Will still keep this as an option, may introduce another area with No-Ox and see how it goes for a while - though will apply less as the Class 220 only has to run a dozen times over the area before it's tiny wheels are blacking-up.

From Evernote:

57xx Reborn

(With apologies for the arty in-camera effect.)

Most excited to receive replacement Bachmann motor in the post today for the beauty above.  Disappointed with performance, though. Motor which packed up was silky smooth, this one's jumpy from stand still and a litte lumpy with slow running. Still, it's only had five mins running free round the outer loop so hoping will settle ...

From Evernote:

This train ....

... won't pass between tracks if they're even fractionally uneven (and I mean fractionally - the drive wheel bogie needs the four wheels in each corner to be absolutely flat or it doesn't get traction) but, more annoyingly, it lists to port.  I have had the whole thing to pieces using Hornby's original data sheet but not even the mearist hint of why it should be doing this.  Ideas welcome.

From Evernote:

Breaking Wires

Minor disaster earlier when the switch panel look a tumble after the hinge broke.  The Expo 7/0.2mm wires made a valiant attempt at breaking the fall, but only for a nano-second, leaving me with a lot of unlabeled wires. 

(Did I learn nothing from data centre installs?)

A two-hinge and gaffer tape solution is to be implemented.

(Clearly not.)

From Evernote:

Two Management Announcements

The management of GMRCoEH would like to make the following announcements:

1. The half-inch of water currently underlying the entire location of the railway will have little impact on services due to stunning forward-planning meaning the baseboard legs have half-inch high polyurethane risers attached to the bottom.  (Flooding issue will be resolved entirely when a suitable sized sponge can be found.)

2.  The management team are very much looking forward to the following corporate outing on Saturday:

From Evernote:

New New Rolling Stock Clipped from: http://tinyurl.com/create.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmodel-railroad-hobbyist.com%2Fnode%2F7169

So, while it may not be to everyone's taste, the first 'new' (shop bought) rolling stock has been chosen by the five year old* ... and a fine model Bachmann's Class 220 'Cross Country Voyager' is to.

Not having experience of 'shop bought' models before (have bought a 57XX and a Class 57 from eBay, both of which failed on me and need repair), I wasn't completely sure what at expect.  I was immediately really impressed with the level of detail, right down to tiny decals (I'm easily pleased) but was actually shocked at the performance.  Using a 'bog standard' Hornby train-set controller (the type you get with entry level sets) and on track in the Summer House which hasn't seen the rough side of a Peco rubber for weeks, the pull away was liquid-smooth.  Wonderful.  Only regret is that full use of the head / tail lights is not achieved with DC control (they, of course, vary with speed).

This new rolling-stock has also exposed a 'gremlin' on the layout.  (And not the lifting bridge, which continues to work but be troublesome.)  On Sunday, the second day of owning it, I went to run it round the layout and performance was notably sluggish compared to yesterday.  Quick checks of obvious causes revealed a significant amount of dirty gunk on the power car wheels.  The bogies on this model are clearly more closely machined than any other older locos I have and have been scraping up excess No-Ox [http://tinyurl.com/d8m7oc4] on the turn behind the back scene.  It was so thick, I had to scrap it off before cleaning the wheels.  The loco now runs as before, though it also had a good clean before returning to its box.

All round, much excitement.  And a big thanks to Alton Model Centre [http://altonmodelcentre.co.uk/] ... this model is, apparently, RRP £145, but AMC discounted down to £90 ... exactly the amount I had after putting money away since Christmas.  There was one excited five year old (and forty-one year old).

*Why the Cross Country Voyager?  After a day out on the Paignton to Dartmouth heritage line last week, T was extremely exited to see a XC in Paington station and has been scouring YouTube for them since.  It's clearly still all about sliding doors ...

Final Layout

From Evernote:

Layout

Neglected to show final layout on my last post ... see below.  Essentially: top part is a goods yard; country station / goods on the right; and long station on the left.  The goods yard and country goods are separated by back-boards (hence the 'bridge' behind the scenes, top-right).

Dirty Mouths (Tunnels)

I guess nearly a year and half is quite a long time to leave between updates.  A year and a half.  Layout must be complete by now?  Only a couple of months work, surely?  Hmm.  Not quite.  And don't call me Shirley.  (copyright Frank Drebben)

Work has been sporadic.  Understatement.  More than one hour a week and it has been a good week.  More than two hours and it's been exceptional.

Still, progress is progress and after (i) making enough cuts to the planned track that would make Beeching clutch the table for support, (ii) a very enjoyable holiday in the south of France in 2011 where the evening's were spent drawing wiring diagrams by candle-light (with a copy of Model Railway Electrics by Fred Martin - http://tinyurl.com/cy9ssn5) while listening to strange noises in the woods in the dark and (iii) cutting and varnishing base boards in a cold, cold shed with only Radio 4 for company - a layout is finally running.  I was particularly pleased with the switch panel.  More of that later.  (Not much later, though, not sure it's going to survive toddler-attacks.)

Three key issues now need to be addressed: Scenery (needs some); locomotives (needs some) and lifting bridge (needs Dr Brian Cox to explain why it never sits in the same place twice, it's more restless than Schrodinger's cat).

And it does need to be remembered that this is layout is intended to fulfil two purposes: 1. A train set; 2. My modelling layout.  This was never going to be straight forward - imagine a layout being administered by a coalition government.  HS2 will be finished before this one.

Positives, though.  Have started making the scenery!  This is the part I've been looking forward to the most.  I have no idea what I am doing but lets not let that get in the way of enthusiasm.  One piece of good advice I read a while back was don't look at other models when building / painting, look at real items.  (Seems obvious now but, to the beginner, you'd be surprised.)  With that in mind, see attached a couple of 'cheap' plastic kits which are being altered for use in the back scene in the 'country goods' area ... more of which is to follow.