Model Railway Forum

Looking good.

508035 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2024 4:29 pm Very nice job there sir, looks better than my attempt a few years ago.

Many thanks for the comments cheshire lines and 508035. I did buy a template for drilling the holes in the correct place for the 3rd rail, but I should have fitted the rail before ballasting the track. I found it on ebay, very cheap (£3.75), but obviously with ballast in place it was not a snug fit on the sleepers. The templates came in a pack of ten - five for the 3rd rail, and five for the fourth (centre) rail for Underground track.

I'm very late to the table, having only just joined the forum...... That's a wonderful layout! Looks as if your woodworking skills are pretty good as well. Where did the SR concrete platforms come from?

@King Anorak - Many thanks for the kind comments. The concrete platform facings come from Peco - they are obviously just the front and using 3mm balsa wood sheet I made a rough framework for the platform foundations and laid plasticard sheeting on top - may have been 2mm, but there is a lip on the concrete edging which allows the platform surface to be a nice smooth butt joint. The boards all came from Model Railway Solutions in Poole, and come in a flat-pack kits. Not the cheapest option (Premium Birch Ply), but very well made, and I constructed a 6x2 board in an hour. They come with all screw holes pre-drilled - there are now a number of suppliers of this type of board.
Remember is you have cork underlay under your track, the platform front will need to be mounted on the same thickness of cork or whatever you might decide to use.BB

I agree with everyone, the track work looks really impressive. Oddly, the third rail makes it look like em gauge. I like it.

The old backscene at the end of the layout accidently got something spilled over it when in storage, and one of the long backscenes got torn during removal. I am in the process of refitting the end board, but this time will use plaster retaining wall instead of the Metcalfe kit - it will be fun cutting out a couple of arches for car park access/exit.
The long backscene will be replaced, but I may change all three sides of the room? Over the years, although not all receive direct sunlight, there does appear to be a slight degree of fade - they have been in place for ten years. I will try sticking them to the board this time, rather than use the self-adhesive version. I was very careful last time with board preparation and applying the backscene, but I still ended up with numerous air bubbles. So plenty to do

IMG_1734 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr
IMG_1735 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

A quiet day at Wykeham.
IMG_1736 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Looking fantastic

Yes. It does look good!

I wanted a "simple" job today, lots of other jobs to be done , so I have been connecting each section of the 3rd rail with a power cable - does the cable look thick enough?

IMG_1737 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr