My layout in the making

[dynamite25]

Well I have finally got the track down on the hinged section of my layout and I now have train running again.





And here is a video of the trains running which is my merchant navy loco pulling the orient express pullmans and the Gresley coaches from my Northumbrian train pack and a class 47 pulling mk3 and mk2 virgin and intercity coaches.

Sorry about the poor Quality but every place I upload it to makes it look bad but it isn't on my Laptop as it's clear but if you click on the button below the video next the volume to shrink the screen size it is a lot clearer.

[dynamite25]

I now have my two Peco engine sheds for my TMD area that I ordered from Rails of Sheffield and I didn't think that there was that many parts to build it but will be fun to build it when I do.

[dynamite25]

Decided to buy myself two early Christmas Presents which are two Heljan locos one is a Class 57 and the other is a Class 47 both in First Great Western livery and I paid £89 for both from Rails of Sheffield and are brand new but were Second hand and un-used.

Here is a pic of them but only of the boxes but I will take pics of the locos when I run them in either tonite or at the weekend.

[dynamite25]

Right after spending an hour in the loft running both locos in I have got some photos of them.

Heljan Class 57 605 'Totnes Castle' First Great Western.









Heljan Class 47 815 'Abertawe Landore' First Great Western.

[dynamite25]

Work has restarted on the layout with point motors being fitted in the hidden sidings just a few more to go but need to order a couple more point motors and fixing plates,also I ordered the track for the upper level now that I have a track plan that I am happy with for the upper level and I got the track today from hattons.

And this is the track I ordered.

1 * Peco Model Railway Products SL100/B Box of 25 * 1 yard (91.5cm) lengths of Wooden-sleeper nickel silver flexible track.

2 * Peco Model Railway Products LK56 Loco inspection pit for normal code 100 track

4 * Hornby Model Railways R601 Double Straight

3 * Hornby Model Railways R606 2nd Radius Curve

3 * Hornby Model Railways R608 3rd Radius Curve

4 * Hornby Model Railways R614 Left hand diamond crossing

2 * Hornby Model Railways R615 Right hand diamond crossing

11 * Hornby Model Railways R8072 Left Hand Standard Point

1 * Hornby Model Railways R8073 Right Hand Standard Point

And here are two photos of the Track and I forgot to put the track in the second pic with the other track in the first so I had to take another.





And here is my track plan I have done and I have added the two buildings and fueling point in the TMD,and platforms in the station which there is three also the red bit is a brick wall and the long brown bits are the 3x6 beams in the loft .

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v687/dynamite26/new31.png

[dynamite25]

Over the weekend I Decided to buy the wire and Crimp Connectors for the layout for the DCC wiring so I ordered.

100M BLACK 1.5MM TRI-RATED CABLE x1

100M RED 1.5MM TRI-RATED CABLE x1

CRIMP BLUE TAP SPLICE x100

CRIMP BLADE SPLICE x100

6.3X0.8MM RED MALE BLADE PK100 x1

and I received them Yesterday.



So today I started on the hinged section first by screwing two Batterns to the underside of one of the Hinged sections.



Then I screwed four Electrical blocks to the Batterns and then connected four lengths of wire to them two red and two black,then I fitted 8 Blue Crimp Blade Splices to the wires and fitted 8 red male Blades to the wires from the track then connected them to the Blue Crimp Blade Splices and tested them with a multimeter.



There are four wires on the hinged sections so I can still run trains under DC till I get my DCC system,then both sets of wires will be connected to the main DCC Bus wires.

[dynamite25]

Got the other Board done today and got one of six power connecting Leads fitted between Baseboards and I'll get the others done on Sunday,I also need to fix the wires to the underside of the frame work so they don't hang down to much.

[dynamite25]

Didn't think I would have one this soon in my layout build but here it is a Bachmann Dynamis DCC set and a 2 Function Decoder for one of my Heljan locos.





And I am off into the loft in a bit to have a play with my DCC system.

[dynamite25]

Update time.

Over the last week or two I have fitted 3 of the 6 upper boards for the upper level but they will need to be removed to clean all the saw dust up and to wire the hidden sidings up but I will do that once I have got the other 3 fitted then I can do the whole end in one go,but I have two photos of the 3 boards that I have fitted and shows how much space I have for the upper level.

[dynamite25]

I have updated the track plan for the upper level after I noticed some mistakes on it last night and now shows part of the lower level tracks and the second incline as I didn't leave any room for them when I did the right hand curve for the upper level so I have corrected that,I have also added the rest of the baseboards that are removable from the layout that have the mainlines and incline on them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v687/dynamite26/newdesign.png

Hopefully if I can get the tracks wired up in the hidden sidings this week I hope to start laying track on the upper level in 2 weeks time.

[Guest]

You certainly have got off to a good start... are you going DCC or the conventional wiring route? ... jules

[Guest]

Are you an Insulfrog or Electrofrogman? I'm told that with DCC it doesn't matter. I have rather a large collection of steam locos, kit-built and RTR, so 'chipping' them all isn't going to be cheap...there's a dilema.

I'm at the planning stage, having torn up the tracks from what is now the ex's house, my present abode is a New-build. I'm must have a word with Charles Church and ask them to re-think their roof construction as they've used far too much wood in way too many directions...it looks too flimsy to me...nah! too risky. They don't build 'em like they used to...

Garage!....Here I come!!!....

[dynamite25]

Hi Jules I am wiring the layout for DCC and but on the removable Hinged section I have done wiring for DCC and DC as I will be running DC till I can afford to fit out all my Locos with Decoders,which will be towards the end of the year as I will be spending the money on getting the layout built so decoders are the last thing to get for the layout.

I have used all hornby small Points which are Inslufrog points but Inslufrog points are not good for 0-4-0 locos as they have less pick-ups so stop when they run slow over the dead frog of Inslufrog points,but I won't have any 0-4-0 locos on my layout so I am ok but will be having 0-6-0 locos which have more pick-ups so they are ok and all my other locos are fine running over them.

My next layout which will be the same size but wider at 10ft will have all Peco Streamline Inslufrog Points as I like the ease of wiring they offer.

[dynamite25]

Work has restarted on my layout in between me being away on holiday as my parents have put the caravan on a camp site for all of may so I am away this weekend and from the 22nd to the 31st but after may I will be working on it every day,also since I last posted last year I haven't really got much done due to my back problem but have done some track changes near the first incline for the new upper level track plan.

Next week I will wire all the lower point motors up and make the switch board but I still need to get four Hornby point motors for the lower level which I will order Sunday when I get back from Wales,then I can start on the upper track work and have more trains running.

I have been buying things here and there for the layout which I now have four Peco train sheds for my layout and four inspection pits.

I will post the new track plan next week.

[dynamite25]

Here is my new track plan for the upper level and is roughly how the track will be laid,I did try and do the plan with peco streamline small points and long crossing but I couldn't get all the track in so I have kept to Hornby setrack points and crossing but my next layout will be alot wider at 8ft or 10ft so I can use peco all the way as the length will still be 20ft.

My station now curves around the layout with a small town above it and my Diesel depot is now in on the hinged section which has four peco train shed units on it instead of only two,and I still have some room to add to it like an area to house my steam loco which might go in the bottom right corner above the incline and lower tracks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v687/dynamite26/plan1.png