Accident at North Tunnel

An accident was caused just outside North tunnel today when a local train derailed and a coach fell into the path of a passing express. Railway investigators are trying to establish the cause.

At the moment the cause is believed to be an unknown obstruction in West Tunnel.

Express Trains through the Station

Today I thought I would run a couple of trains to keep the track clean. Oh and you might notice I have extended one platform and added a footbridge. Here's the video Two expresses though main line station.

A few more pictures of the layout today.

View of Platforms 2,3,4 and 5 of station looking towards Engine Shed.

View of all 5 platforms looking away from Engine Shed.

View of exit from Station towards bridge and tunnel.

View of back of layout showing sidings to Goods shed and Brewery.

Adding some tunnels and scenery.

I decided that the corner of the layout would look better if it covered the track so I get a bigger scenic area, so I have constructed a tunnel and over it there will be a hilly field and a road leading to some terraced housing and a small factory or warehouse. The picture shows how far I have got, there is still a bit to do to tidy it up and finish it all off.

In the other back corner I have also created a tunnel as before but not fully decided what to put on top at the moment. There is currently a factory entrance and a boilerhouse up there, I think some walls to mark out the factory yard would be good and some roadway outside and by the shops. The roadway also needs to go off the scene somewhere. In the lower part of the town we need a road from the level crossing at the back to the Station entrance and also a yard by the goods shed.

The brewery siding has been put back but at present it is being used as a coach store. I need to use the coaches to test the clearances in the tunnels, I don't want trains to get stuck in there, at the moment trains pass through ok. Things need to be fixed so it stays that way. Oh, and the drop out of the back door of the railway hotel is a bit far, so I may put some kind of yard behind it, one that can be easily removed if I need to access that part of the layout. At the moment I can reach everywhere on the layout quite easily, which was the original reason for the rebuild.

Remember, you can click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Now what?

Well we have finished the station additional platform and a run round loop, and apart from a slight issue with variable track levels to sort out it all works ok. So I have brought all the buildings back into the room to see where i am going to fit them. at the moments I have the brewery, a factory, the goods shed, and a number of houses and shops. so here they are in what might be the permanent home. (or it might not, after a second look tomorrow.)

remember you can click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Another day forward and we now have two running lines functioning.

I have been busy all day today and now have two lines completed and have started on the extra sidings around the station area at the front of the board. I am quite pleased with the progress as I can see a number of areas where models can go apart from the main running lines. Access to all areas with the hole in the centre of the layout is now much easier. A brief video of the trains running can be seen by clicking the link.

Watch out for the fast diesel shunter.

The next step will be to bring the buildings back into the room and see where they can be fitted, the last bits of track can then be laid around the buildings.

A bit more progress and some testing.

Moving on from the other day I now have a baseboard I can get around and have laid a few bits of track. I will plan the layout to fit the board.

Testing the first bit of track.(Click the link)

A transition - goodbye unfinished layout, start of a new one.

I didn't like the last layout I had started to construct. although it overcame one of the shortfalls of the original 6x4 layout it had a few new problems of its own. Access was no easier and the drop down sections were not easy to manage so trains did not derail. So it had to go.

Taking it apart was fun as I wasn't sure which bits were holding the other bits up

Now to reconstruct a baseboard with a space in the middle to make access easier.

It needed a couple of new legs for support but its nearly ready to use, I just need to design a layout to fit now.

I had better clear everything off the boards first, watch this space.

Testing a few loco's before the layout goes

It has been a while since some of my Locos were out, so I thought I'd run a few on the existing layout while it is still intact.

I have decided the layout has too many issues to be continued with so I will be seeing if I can redesign it in a more accessible way, and with more action areas at the front. This may involve removing all the baseboards and rebuilding them, so that will be fun. I'm not sure which bits hold up which other bits at present, so anything could happen when I start dismantling it.

Anyway, below is the link to the video of the trains this week, just click on it to go to youtube, and make it full screen for better viewing.

Bob's layout April 2020

Tidying up

Forcibly confined to home I thought I'd tidy up the model room, I can now find things slightly easier than before. Whilst doing it I took a couple of photos to show that the model needs a lot of work to get it to look right.

Remember you can click on the pictures to see bigger versions. That connector is temporary by the way, I need to solder a proper wired connection between the tracks soon. Bye for now, more work to do.

Adding a bit more platform to the station

The second kit I got for Christmas was a wall backed platform extension for the main line station. Takes quite a bit of effort to build due to all the small parts but I have now finished it and fixed it to the main building. Here it is sitting on the layout, but not in it's final position. Remember you can click on the picture to see a larger version.

The next step is to build a bit more on the ends which will slope down to rail level.

Building the railway station, with help from Morgan

The railway station with the missing part (which Metcalfe replaced very quickly) took quite a while to build. I even had some assistance at one stage from our cat, Morgan. You dohave to follow the instructions closely. I missed one and now there is a part missing, but fortunately it is inside the building and isn't critical as it doesn't show from outside.

It does look quite good now it is finished but it required a lot of delicate work around the platform canopy, whch cannot be rushed. Here is the front (street side of the building with and without it's canopy.

The station platform has a roof but one of the panels has gone missing somewhere in the house (I blame the cat) so I've constructed a temporary one which can be replaced if the real part turns up. Here is the platform side, with and without the roof.

I just need to build some additional platform each side now to create a sensible length of station for the layout.

Happy New Year - and good service from Metcalfe

Happy New Year to any readers I still have. I did get a couple of kits for Christmas which I will build soon, but when I opened one of them and checked the contents against the list I did find a problem. (I rarely check the contents, I normally just start constructing, so I am not quite sure why I did so on this occasion, but I'm glad I did).

I should have a sheet A, B, C and D, but instead there are two sheet D in the kit and no Sheet B. I emailed Metcalfe, including the picture above and got a reply as soon as they opened after weekend. They apologised and stated they would send replacement part.

This arrived this morning (Tuesday) by first class post so I can now get on with the construction. I thought this was good service.