Model Railway Forum

Thank you for your kind compliments, BB. I still have to improve my dolly-grip skills and find a way to keep the camera in focus, however. The videos have also been quite an eye-opener. There are several places where the track is decidedly iffy and makes the train wobble. In real life the line would be closed for repairs, which it will be on the layout as well, asap.

I can run a maximum of three trains at once, two on the main line and one in the yards. I included the continuous run in the plan in order to be able to leave trains to run without supervision while I'm tiddle-tarfing about shunting. The original Munich layout was never conceived with multiple operators in mind, as space was quite limited in the operating well. Now, with a much larger hole in the middle, I suppose it would be feasible. However there are six control panels in all, spread all around the inner perimeter, and I need to move from one to the other with one of the three HH1s in my hand to set points and switch track sections; the entire layout is analogue cab control - a legacy of its being built originally in the late 1980s, long before digital. With more than one person in there, we'd be hearing lots of "Excuse me" and "Can I trouble you, old chap?" or "Mind my wire!". One idea would be to have a "signalman" touring the panels and three "drivers" with the HH1s. Then there's the matter of recruiting...

Chops, you ask a good question there. I have sometimes had to look for a train to see what loops it's in. The original concept includes webcam monitoring of all the hidden tracks and when that's up and running (testing was successful) there shouldn't be any more problems. Then: Ça plane pour moi.

Cheers,
Artur

Not posted anything for a while, mainly because I've not really done anything. One job I've finally stopped putting off is the replacement of the curved turnout leading to the headshunt at the southern end of the station. On the old layout, the headshunt curved around between the southbound and northbound ramps. The right-hand curved turnout leading to it can be seen in pic RSR05. An aerial view is in pic survey-07rr. The headshunt was also part of a high-level continuous run that was suitable for visitors' American locos (some of them brass and demanding 3 ft radius curves), and I intended to retain it in the new layout. In order to reuse as much track as possible when the new layout was configured (and get trains running), I put in a left-hand curved turnout to allow the headshunt to lie parallel with the straight edge of the new baseboard. It needed a bit of tweaking of the tracks but I got it to fit. This however robbed the continuous run of its 3ft ruling radius. So the curved turnout had to be replaced.

The job involved relocating the tracks at the station end and the point motor, plus some of the wiring.

Just mentioning this in case someone's interested.

The work is documented on flickr:
pic RSR05: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976 ... 904961527/
pic survey-07rr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976 ... 904478023/
Crossover replacement: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@N06/ pix625-30.

Cheers,
Artur

That is fabulous stuff, end to end, I checked out your videos, and encourage everyone to have a look see. Your videography is
simply magnificent. I envy your focus and depth of field. A very interesting melange of trains. The G4 actually looks quite
presentable as she churns along, although it is a bit like pairing a Mallard with a mineral rake. Yet, clearly, you are enjoying yourself, and
I enjoying seeing this most unique presentation. Some of your European trains are both exquisite and unusual. I frankly don't know
what I am looking at. Are those German trains, or something even more Eastern? I'd almost swear I was seeing Russian, or perhaps, Polish
things. What are we looking at? Do keep it coming, your work is new and refreshing.

Many thanks for your kind compliments, chops. I apologise for the ongoing radio silence; the main reason I've not posted anything is that I haven't really done anything. I've allowed my self a break from railway modelling to just play trains. While doing so I've made a number of videos and posted them to flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976@N08/ Also, with lockdown, there haven't been the usual visits to the local model shop, which were often a source of inspiration for this little job or that. The emphasis was always to be on operation anyway, hence the complex track layout and large hidden siding capacity.

To answer chops's question, the mainstream of the layout is European 1st epoch, i.e. pre-WW1. The majority of the stock is German, because most models are made for the German market, which is the biggest. There are also a number of what I call guest and demo trains; these are mainly 2nd epoch (between the wars), 3rd epoch (post-WW2 till ca. 1970) and American. Hence the 20th Century Limited and the Chapelon 4-8-4. My intention is that the layout should be both fun to play trains with and entertaining for visitors. Having said that, it is high time I got my finger out and started doing some modelling again.

Cheers,
Artur

First of all, let me thank everyone for continuing to visit this thread, although there's been nothing new for yonks.

But now there is. Today I finally got my finger out and started work on ballasting the track. A major source of inspiration was Torridon Rd TMD, where I find the ballasting well worth trying to emulate. I have also drawn advice from a couple of YouTubes by Wickfield Lane and one by Jenny Kirk. The ballast was first applied dry with a Proses dispenser. I spread far too much the first time and had to vacuum it all up and start again. The Proses gadget has a lever to regulate the flow of ballast material. It's a bit difficult to keep this lever steady and to move the dispenser along the track at constant speed. No doubt this will get better with practice.

The tidying up was a tedious iterative process, needing many passes along the track with fingerstips and brush, and still left numerous stones lying on top of the sleepers. The edges were also awkward in their way, because in some places there was an excess of ballast that had to be pulled away, causing it to scatter (in the wrong direction, naturally), and elsewhere there were little "clearings" that had to filled in. But I think I got it about right in the end.

As per the videos, the track was then bedribbled (is there such a word?) with diluted PVA with a dash of Fairy Liquid, which went on very unevenly at first (beginner's clumsiness again), but soon seeped in everwhere.

A number of lessons were learned in this first essay. First, don't spread too much ballast. You can only push so much of it aside. Second, out on the main line, I'll have to trim the edges of the underlay to within 2-3 mm of the ends of the sleepers, coz the ballast is only as deep as they are and won't give the impression of also lying under them. Third, the ballast material must be dust-free. I think that's all.

One basic question remains, for which I would be grateful for answers: Should I have painted the track first? If that be the case, all is not lost, as this is, as I stated on flickr, only a temporary track.

There are a few pix on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page3
There are also a few recent videos of playing trains: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976 ... 7994476728

Let me know what you think, and don't pull any punches. If you see anything that doesn't look right, please tell me.

Cheers,
Artur

Hi Artur

It's all looking very good. Should you have painted the track before ballasting? Probably yes, I didn't and wish I had. Many use Humbrol No.29, spraying both rail and sleepers. If you were to do this, make sure you mask the contact point (excuse the pun) on points where the moving rails make contact with the outer running rails. If you have well wired electro-frog points this is not so important, but better safe than sorry. You will obviously have to clean the rail tops once the paint has dried - track rubber should work ok.BB

I painted the rails before ballasting but not the sleepers.

The same question has been posed elsewhere and the answer seems to be 50 - 50 with some painting the rail and or sleepers first. the others doing it after. I think it is a case of doing it whichever seems easiest to you if at all. Particles of dust etc. will eventually dirty the track; hence cleaning the rails before running trains.

Glencairn

Thank you, gentlemen, for your kind compliments, advice and encouragement. I've decided to paint the track before ballasting, because although the ballast looks OK, the rails look as if they're made of stainless steel. If I paint the rails after ballasting, I'll get the rust colour on the ballast, which won't do where the track is meant to look freshly ballasted. Obviously, some more experimenting is needed.

On the topic of colour (and texture, for that matter), does anyone have experience of applying a gradual transition from the mottled grey of the mainline to the black grunge of the MPD?

Cheers,
Artur

Artur, on a previous layout I completed the clean ballasting up to roughly where the ‘gunge’ starts, but brushed out the chippings so they thinned out. Once the glue dried I brushed a mix of dry plaster and playpit sand in the gungy area and into the fresh ballast to get a gradual change in texture. Finished of by painting with suitably gungy shades.