Model Railway Forum

Bandit Mick wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:02 pm My friend Peter helped me to design the track work on my third board. He has loads more experience than me and could see my pitfalls. Two heads were definitely better than one in this case. I’m still a lone modeller but it’s good getting his suggestions if I get stuck.

Yup, having experience to hand is the biz, sadly up here in the Pyrenees that's not too plentiful ...

Meanwhile back on the track I found that the crossing need to be raised rather than pinned down. Some trial and error with slivers of card did the trick so we'll see how this lasts. If push comes to shove I'll replace the Profitrack sections on either side of the crossing with Streamline - I have plenty left over! - but for the meantime it passed the ultimate test



But after that I made up some 'proper' trains consisting of six wagons plus guards van, watching that chug up and down the line was great, then a two car 'B' set from Hornby which to my surprise kept draining on the curves, which are radius three max - or rather min! - I've read somewhere that Hornby have a sort of patent bogie mechanism taht is more trouble than it's worth. Does anyone know about this? Otherwise I'm guessing it's to do with the couplings. As usual I ran out of time to explore further ...

Regs

Simon

PS - yes, the Wickham Trolley was moving, hence the blurred image on my phone camera!

Well I've hit a bit of a hiatus while I'm waling for some leaded to arrive from Amazonia and spending the time, what little I have, doing more track testing.

The glitch in the diamond crossing seems fine now but I've decided the real solution is to replace the sections of Profitrack that butt up against it with Streamline. In doing so I've found that I can rearrange the goods yard to give me extra length of the sidings as well as move the bat platform road and goods shed out a bit more allowing me to put my Metcalfe GWR signal box at the end of the platform as at the moment it's ever so slightly to narrow ...

I also discovered that my station would make a rather more satisfactory through station with a crossing for passing trains and a terminus for a small branch line! All I need now is to create some more space ...

Here's the revised plan which should help explain:



I've marked the 'extension' in red but I'm also thinking that I could add the branch line to the visible model rather than have leave it off-stage as it is now. This would entail adding a curved point to the 'down' line, i.e. with the current platform, and run it between the main line and the long siding, demolishing the signal box in the process for relocation at the end of the existing platform. There's just enough room for a platform on the 'up' line.

The branch line would access the fiddle yard via the existing loco spur. I could do that now but it might make the fiddle yard too difficult to work as I have a Golden Rule not to handle engines at all or carriages as little as possible. Goods trains are made up anew each time based of randomly choosing wagons form my rather large stock - I do like to fiddle in my fiddle yard!

Talking of which I'm thinking of leaving the turntable in situ but with just the centre three tracks running to it. Thant way I can terminate and return short trains such as a pick up goods of two road 'B' Sets passengers trains etc.

Creating the space would entails successfully selling a lot of spare motorbike clobber and camping gear plus a workbench that at the moment is very useful. So I'm really thinking in the longer term when I'm getting too old for my big bike - well big for me, a 650 cc is tiny by modern standards! - and settle to my little bike, which little by little is becoming veteran as the years roll by - like me!