Model Railway Forum

bulleidboy wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2024 10:08 am Wykeham is slowly coming back to life. <SNIP>
- crawling around under boards is not as easy as it was then

Yes 100% there. A couple of years ago I purchased a Car Creeper that makes working underneath the boards easy, as..... 1) It raises you up by some 10 inches 2) You can scoot around on it and 3) The head rest lifts your head to a comfortable working height. It cost less than £40 so was a good investment.
Today while getting down and onto the creeper is fairly easy, its getting back up that's the problem!

A mighty fine idea on the car creeper Brian.

All track now re-laid. Next step - droppers and re-connecting power to the track.

IMG_1701 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

All track wiring now completed and loco's can run from one end of the layout to the other. Next job - fitting SR 3rd rail and ballasting.

Make sure the ballast looks the same as the existing ballast otherwise, being a perfectionist, you’ll have to redo the whole layout.

I'll try and get the "mix" right - it could of course be newly ballasted track , and the old ballast has been down for ten years - so it has aged.

I knew you would have an answer Barry.

Very slow progress at the moment.

IMG_1705 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

I have been installing and programming Digital Cobalt iP point motors today. Last did this ten years ago - pleased to report I had not forgotten how to do it. Seven Peco solenoids to be replaced, so going to be spending some time under the boards

IMG_1708 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

I used to enjoy doing this (ballasting) - how times have changed - only eight feet to go
IMG_1710 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr