Model Railway Forum

bulleidboy wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 9:02 am I look forward to seeing these loco's running on your layout - hopefully not too long now?

This depends on what you mean by "not too long now" - the baseboards have not even been delivered yet, so it might be a while before there is a layout on which they can run!

Fantastic looking locos.

cheshire lines wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 8:30 pm Fantastic looking locos.

Thank you! They're only modestly modified by me from OO Works or Hornby originals.

Here are some more:

OO Works Adams O4 "Jubilee" class no. 598, with route discs, Narrow Planet etched cabside plates, ModelU crew, Kadee couplings fitted and DCC and stay-alive fitted (fitting this was rather a challenge as it involved taking a Dremel to the weight in the tender):

OO Works Adams O4 class by James Petts, on Flickr

OO Works Adams O4 class by James Petts, on Flickr

OO Works Adams O4 class by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby S15, DCC and stay-alive fitted with route discs, detailing parts and ModelU crew:

Hornby LSWR S15 no. 824 by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby LSWR S15 no. 824 by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby LSWR S15 by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby LSWR S15 by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby LSWR S15 by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby LSWR S15 no. 824 by James Petts, on Flickr

Some more progress DCC fitting, crew fitting and detailing locomotives. First of all, the T9, no. 120.

Hornby T9 by James Petts, on Flickr

ModelU fugure by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby T9 by James Petts, on Flickr

Hornby T9 by James Petts, on Flickr

The EFE Rail Adams O2 class no. 182:

EFE O2 by James Petts, on Flickr

(Previously featured but now with full crew)

The Bachmann H2 Atlantic (had been DCC fitted, renumbered and detailed some years ago, but I have recently added real coal and crew figures) no. 2426, "St. Alban's Head":

Bachmann H2 by James Petts, on Flickr

Bachmann H2 by James Petts, on Flickr

Bachmann H2 by James Petts, on Flickr

Bachmann H2 by James Petts, on Flickr

A Wills Finecast I3 class (bought assembled from eBay) now with crew figures and works plates from EB Models (previously DCC fitted and repaired):

Wills Finecast I3 by James Petts, on Flickr

Wills Finecast I3 by James Petts, on Flickr

LSWR N15 class no. 751 "Etarre", detailed, crew fitted and real coal fitted (was DCC fitted with a good Lenz chip when purchased second-hand); this one has cross-country route discs for routes via Oxford:

LSWR N15 class, "Etarre" by James Petts, on Flickr

LSWR N15 by James Petts, on Flickr

LSWR N15 class, "Etarre" by James Petts, on Flickr

An SR King Arthur Class no. 773 "Sir Lavine" with detailing parts and route discs (Waterloo - Bournemouth) fitted, real coal, and DCC fitted (not using the socket, but hard-wired with a connexion into the tender to allow the fitting of a large stay-alive in the tender); crew figures are awaited for this one:

SR King Arthur class "Sir Lavine" by James Petts, on Flickr

SR King Arthur class "Sir Lavine" by James Petts, on Flickr



Some figures: these are ModelU versions of me as a signalman. The one on the left is for this layout, the one on the right is for a club layout set on the BR Eastern Region, hence the different uniform colours:

Mini me by James Petts, on Flickr

And some general crew figures:

ModelU crew figures by James Petts, on Flickr

What a fabulous collection of superb locomotives and stock James.
I can't wait to see them performing on the layout proper.

Regards Peter M

Love the loco crews.

A good collection of "southern" loco's James - all the better when crew added.

I have finally had the first stage of my baseboards delivered to my shed:

New baseboards by James Petts, on Flickr

New baseboards by James Petts, on Flickr

These are just the scenic boards. The fiddle yard boards will need to be delivered later. The plan is thus: I will need to lay the track and add the wiring to the scenic section boards. Then, the layout people will need to come back and fit the scenic section boards above the N gauge layout (after I have cleared everything vulnerable off the N gauge layout) and fit the fiddle yard boards. I will then need to lay the track and wire the fiddle yard boards and join the track together to get this layout up and running.

I am considering optimising for time efficiency in the build of this layout partly because of the need to complete work on the scenic section before the fiddle yard boards can be delivered, partly because I know, from the N gauge layout how long that everything takes, and partly because a human life expectancy is only so long. As can be seen from the pictures, the baseboard people have printed my track plan directly onto the layout. I can thus lay the track directly onto the baseboard. I have been advised that the most time efficient thing to do for track laying is to mark the track for droppers, drill holes for droppers and turnout motors in the appropriate places, then glue the track down, then lay ballast using the same glue before it dries.

For electrics, I am contemplating using Cobolt IP Digital motors instead of servo motors to reduce the installation time (servos are good and cost effective but take longer to set up than the Cobolt motors), and omitting the point position feedback that I installed on my N gauge layout (which was not so much a thing, to my understanding, in the days of mechanical signalling).

I am contemplating ordering custom signals from these people, as standard ready-to-plant signals from Dapol are not available in enough configurations to deal with what I am contemplating (ground signals in particular are lacking).

In other news, I recently acquired the EFE Rail ex-LSWR cross country set (pictured below on the Model Railway Club test tracks), which should be useful for various semi-fast services, such as the train to Brighton:

LSWR cross country set 134 by James Petts, on Flickr

Well it has taken some time James, but I think you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel . I have eighteen Cobalt iP Digital point motors on my layout, and they are wired for both DCC operation and toggle switch - it does mean more wire, but in my case, toggle switch is quicker and easier to operate. I really am looking forward to seeing your progress, this is a complex layout. Barry

bulleidboy wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:01 am Well it has taken some time James, but I think you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel :). I have eighteen Cobalt iP Digital point motors on my layout, and they are wired for both DCC operation and toggle switch - it does mean more wire, but in my case, toggle switch is quicker and easier to operate. I really am looking forward to seeing your progress, this is a complex layout. Barry

Thank you! I am also looking forward to this progressing! Do you find the Cobalt Digital IP motors satisfactory?