27 Feb 2012
Working hard for not much visible progress
Over the last couple of weeks I have been working hard on the layout in my spare time, but as ever it takes longer than you'd think.
One of the first jobs I did a couple of weeks ago was to lay 1/8th inch cork over the shelf that will act as the temporary back of the layout.
These days many say cork isnt worth the bother but I like it as a surface and the alternatives look quite expensive and so I have stuck with it
Here is a 21ft shelf corked up....
8 Feb 2012
Track Plan Finished
- well at least enough to start some track laying!! I am sure I will keep making changes.
After several hundred iterations - seriously - the track plan is complete enough to start some track laying - I have made a number of revisions to the station area again to better align it with the scale drawing.
The jpeg below shows the track plan overlayed on the scale drawing as a test to see if it is good enough.
As I said earlier the comparison is slightly false in that I have had to squash the scale drawing to make it fit in a reasonable length - that changes the aspect ratio of it rather - you can't shrink it in both directions as the platform widths (especially on the bay platforms) become untenable.
7 Feb 2012
Inspirational model from Ian Lampkin of RMWeb
I recently have been in communication with Ian Lampkin of RMWeb who has kindly allowed me to republish photos of his excellent model of Banbury in N scale. I doubt if I can come anywhere near to his quality of modelling which really captures the character of the station well.
But it is inspiring to see what can be achieved.
All photos below are Ian's copyright...
6 Feb 2012
Track plan based on scale drawing
Here is the latest revision of the track plan now with a curved station based on the scale drawing - note that even in the space I have available the station doesnt really fit well - it would require well over 5m in length and so I have squashed it up a bit.
Also note that the scale drawing is of the contemporary station wheras I am trying to do the 1962 version.
3 Feb 2012
Scale Drawing
In order to try and better plan the station I have done a scale drawing of Banbury - please click on the thumbnail below to see the whole thing if you are interested.
Feel free to use the drawing in any way you see fit as long as you retain my copyright notice and credit this website if you republish it.
Many thanks to Ian Lampkin for helping out with some measurements.
2 Feb 2012
Baseboards
I started thinking about Railway modelling a while back when I realised that I wouldn't be able to go on flying areobatics for ever.
I first built a one trestle table test network to find out about DCC then over the next year or so expanded that into a simple circuit to test out block detection, and computer control which took me a while to get clear on.
Since then I have been working on a design for an OO version of Banbury (ca. 1962) this has been going on for several years and getting nowhere - so before Christmas I decided to get started with some baseboards and only try and finalise the design for the station and the fiddle yard for now. SO currently I have left the long back wall undesigned.
For this reason the long back wall baseboards for the moment is just simple shelf bracket supporting 21cm wide ply that will just support joining tracks. The East and West boards are to be L girder style of baseboards with 62cm wide ply - although the east side will be wider cross members to support a raised loop to allow trains to turn.
1 Feb 2012
Flange Screws
One issue for me is to find a reliable way of temporarily holding the track before it is finally glued and ballasted.
The track needs thorough testing and fine tuning throughout to ensure excellent running before ballasting and glueing which is pretty permanent.
Various suggestions have been made on the MRF board including double sided tape and small amounts of copydex - I am sure I will use all of those but I have also found some really good flange screws on ebay (£3 for 500 off) which are 6.5mm wide at the head but only 6mm long self tappers - these can be used between sleepers to clamp the track and the small holes in the cork will be covered by the ballast when it goes on.
