Model Railway Forum

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:11 pm I recommend Gaugemaster pins. Very sharp with perfectly flat heads.

Or predrill the holes with an undersized drill bit- very useful if the baseboard material is ‘robust’.

Also I never hit track pins home, press them in with something like the end of some pliers.

Rather than pins I use screws all the time - much easier to remove without damage to track sleeper (IMHO). Pre-drilling helps too, of course!

I suppose it depends on what you're laying your track onto.

Carl L wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 8:42 pm I wasn’t going to post this but then thought otherwise……

A little further progress with the goods shed; a couple of sidings slewed to fit, track pins in the cold tested my patience, more bent than straight. Next is the roofing jig for the girders, that’ll be a slow job I suspect.

Looks good, but just one observation - there doesn't seem to be any access for lorries to bring things to and from the shed.
Unfortunately it looks like you would have to sacrifice one of your sidings to provide road access, either to the front of the shed (alongside the rail entrance) or at the side.

Bit of a c..k up there, could always cobble over the two sidings I suppose. Or just say it’s a rail only goods transfer shed. Did they have those? The fish shed at the other end is the same, no road access other than over the cobbles/tracks. Not really well thought out - lack of planning again

Yes they did have transfer sheds. Usually it was to transfer goods from one gauge to another, standard to narrow gauge for instance, but standard to standard did exist, so you are OK.

Phew . And like the rest of the railway is prototypical - not

Carl, you could infill the sidings with DAS clay or card to create a concrete surface for the lorries but still allowing rail access.
It will look like you planned it that way.

Two and a half months since my last post and disappointingly little progress, an image which explains all.



At this end of the layout the lower tracks proved inaccessible for track cleaning, something which was ill thought out. Even track cleaning wagons were seemingly ineffective. So, being totally hacked off with stalling engines this access hole was cut. I think I’m going to go down the route of a lift out section. I was going to make a sort of lower level brick cutting but not sure it looked right, appreciating that this was only a mock up. A lack of decision making (and the cold weather) has cost some time.



In the foreground of the first image is a newly installed junction, which as the aerial shot shows will be access for a bay in what will be a three car/coach length halt. The issue I now have is; cut the junction baseboard section out to install under mounted point motors, or fit surface mounted point motors, not sure how obtrusive the latter are?



I will eventually get back to finishing the goods shed.

Do you have enough clearance to mount the motors under the board? Even if you have, any maintenance needed could be a real PITA. I would consider small surface mounted motors. I have a couple where I had failed to plan the location properly and fitted points over the baseboard crossmembers. With a bit of careful painting they can be relatively unobtrusive. I hid mine under a couple of bushes.
Lift out, modular scenery is your answer for the access hole.