Does anyone else feel that they could do more to detail
their buffer stops?Well this picture
was taken at Crianlarich in March 2012.I always thought that they was always overgrown with weeds and rusted
almost to a pile of dust, well this proves me wrong!
How simple would this be to model with a few offcuts of
rail, and a sleeper?Now where’s my box
of spares and saw …………….
Well this is a continuation of the layout Lowdowne to Upperend.It is mostly assumed in the model railway press that the wiring of a DC (analogue) and DCC (digital) layout are not compatible, and you have to choose before starting out which direction you want to go.I didn’t agree, and now having built a layout and videoed it, I have proof too !
Of course there has to be a compromise, and this was with the point-work.I choose to go with the standard insulfrog point, and in DCC operation, the smaller engines can sometimes stall when running at very slow speeds.The Class 08 shunter I use, will occasionally stall with the sound cutting out, but this occurs only when crawling.The Class 37 in the video seems to work faultlessly (being a longer wheel base and better current collection) although clean track is so so important.
The video below shows the layout in digital mode, being used with the two engines mentioned above, both with sound, and operated by a Bachmann Dynamis controller.
If you want to see more of this layout, and others, my not look and subscribe to my ‘youtube’ channel ‘mrmodelmayhem’ or save my‘blogspot’ to your favourites.
Finally a new page to the blog means that a project has been completed and I have some free time at the computer to put together a few words, pictures and videos. This started out as a standard 6x4 foot baseboard (softwood frame, plywood top and MDF surround), and my list of objectives included:
Multi-level – to have over and under bridges, and ‘loose’ the baseboard level
To make the look of the railway having been cut into the landscape
To use minimum 2nd radius curves, so that all of my loco fleet would run
A design where the trains actually run to and from somewhere, but with the possibility of continuous running too
To wire the layout, so that I could switch between Dc (analogue) and DCC (digital) by just switching over the controllers
Remote point operation throughout, including mimic control panel
Lighting throughout, including use of LED’s in buildings
So the basic design is a terminus station on an upper level (hence the name Upperend!) curving down to meet the lower junction station (Lowdowne Junction). The idea is that a train travels from Upperend, into platform 1 of Lowdowne, then travels a complete circuit of the lower level and into platform 2, and the travels another circuit and stops and platform 3.Whereby, it then makes the return journey.Of course this can be interrupted with the odd freight train, or parcels traffic, which can pass each other on the passing loop in the station.By using the engine shed road at Upperend, it is possible also to bring additional loco’s on and off duty as when required.All making quite an interesting operation for a small layout !
Of course, this was never designed for 10 coach express trains, but is any layout on such a small board?But having said that, I have been running my Flying Scotsman with 5 coaches!
This is a video of the layout in DC (analogue) mode:
Other than the road vehicles and the station signs, I have tried to keep the era and location fairly vague, as I have a wide collection of rolling stock and enjoy seeing them all in a realistic setting.Nothing better than sitting at eye level and watching the trains burst out of the tunnel and through the station, under the footbridge and disappear through the cutting at the other end.
One other project which was included which is sort of fictional, is the Dapol crane.This had been sitting in my spares box for some time part completed, and finally I finished this in a sort of ‘network rail’ yellow, and included wasp stripes and light weathering.This is a fixed scenic item, and have permanently soldered the point closed to this siding.
Items of note include the lake with the courting couple seated on a bench, a painted and partly detailed interior to the signal box, completely scratch built station buildings mainly from Will’s components, mimic control box, static grasses and the use of Woodlands Scenics risers to create smooth transition in track levels.
See the page titled ‘Lowdowne On DCC’ to further videos of the layout being using in digital operation.
