Scalefour Forum

Noel wrote:
I have yet to see the completed layout, but it's good to know it's operated in a way that shows what the prototype did.

I had always assumed it was a fictitious location. Didn't appreciate before that it was a real place.

The arrangement of the Bachmann narrow gauge Baldwin 4-6-0 may be of interest. Whilst it should have a bogie at the front, they have made the rear bogie wheel part of the rigid frame. The front axle is a kind of pony truck - all neatly disguised. It works very well. The front axle has a large degree...

Amazing model - well done!

Well done to the P4 layouts (and all the others) at Wakefield today. A really excellent show - well worth making the effort to go and see if you possibly can !

Work on Burghmire, my 2mm layout, is now long overdue after a 6 month pause. I plan to wind down work on Ulpha for the time being and make it low priority. I shall finish the back and install the base for the new narrow gauge fiddle yard and probably then work on the new standard gauge pointwork ove...

I remember an article in MRJ some time ago where Jas Milham had an S gauge layout with very tight radius curves. He got around the problem of a loco with a very long wheelbase (J17?) by articulating the chassis i.e. so that part of the frames pivoted. Unfortunately, I have no idea which edition it w...

I fear you may be grossly overthinking this one, Tim ;) You have a few nice photos of goods trains. Why not just model those? In any case, you are likely to build up your stock over a long period of time so what is available, what you fancy building etc. may come into play. Truth is, no one can real...

Good to see the trestles were removed OK. I'm still trying to figure out where the short siding will go from the 3 way, the photos show it falling over the cliff.......... :? .... Will obviously become clear as you progress........ R Glad you are confident about that, Rob. You are one step ahead of...

I removed the back of the quarry baseboard this afternoon. Nothing too dangerous, as the large hunk of blockboard that provides the standard gauge trackbed holds everything rigid. The reason for the removal is twofold. Firstly, I need to replace it with a curved back to match the other two boards. S...

Work has begun on the remaining two boards, to relay all the track on the narrow and standard gauges. Until I have new track, these boards are technically non-functional. The first stage for the standard gauge work has been to carefully remove the trestle. I have now done this, thankfully with no re...

Dinghams and DGs are different. DGs have their own built-in buffing plates. You also normally have a loop on all couplers, whereas Dinghams have a loop one end of the stock and a hook the other. To prevent buffer locking with DGs you adjust how far they come out from the end of the vehicle. There sh...

Of course, there's always N gauge

Hi Richard. Yes, it was a good evening. I was on the train towards the front outbound. I spent a pleasant day wearing my other hat in the Derby Lightweight power car sat in platform 1 at Wirksworth station for the weekend. Shame I missed you. Today by comparison was wet and cold with rather less in...

The remaining piece of main line narrow gauge track has now been laid to the baseboard joint. Ulph084.jpg I still have to cut an insulation gap in the PCB. The board is now back in store in the garage though, as the next few weeks are heavily occupied with other things. Once I get back to working on...

Methinks I would go initially for option (a)............if all fails then option (b)......and no.......not volunteeering........... Your comments aroused my curiosity, so I investigated the most accessible and least perilous upright to get a better idea of the challenge ahead. Looks like they are j...

It is always a great show, P4 or not. I try to get there every year. Hopefully, Northern staff won't extend their rail strikes and upset your attendance figures.

Richard,.....following with interest...........cringing at the thought of removing the gantry for the renewal of the track underneath............ Rob Does that mean you are volunteering? ;) ;) Shouldn't be that difficult. I will have to investigate, but either of these springs to mind... (a) dig do...

Having sorted the baseboard dowels, I put some (nominally) 4mm ply down in the area near the trestle as a base for the narrow gauge track. I then put some PCB down either side of the baseboard joint. This will give a rock solid base for the rails where they cross the gap. I found a code 55 N gauge 3...

More work in Templot! Having put the original plan in place on the layout, I realised I could make one or two slight changes to the plan to improve the flow of the trackwork. This includes a 3-way interlaced turnout where the waggonway joins the main line track. I belatedly realised too that I had f...

Excellent

Looking at the above image of how it looked in real life, the tracks seem to converge anyway towards the camera. Hopefully you can tweak things without affecting all the complicated trackwork in the foreground.

I forgot the photo of the removed NG (narrow gauge) track, so here it is... Ulph078.jpg The base for the NG track appears to be quite solid, unlike the trackbed for the NG on the middle baseboard, which had to be completely replaced. Replacing it would have been a lot of work! The rock face below th...

I have mentioned several times that the standard gauge track needs rebuilding to ensure long term reliability. Last night I got carried away and did a first stab at a Templot track plan for the track on boards 2 and 3. The scanned tracing I had done previously of the existing track was imported into...

I managed to do a bit of destructive work on the narrow gauge this afternoon, ready for track relaying. The NG track was in a pretty bad state, unfortunately. All but the section on the trestle needed replacing. aDSCF5544.jpg The narrow gauge track will be slightly realigned to eliminate an awkward ...

Whilst the layout was up in its entirety (fiddle yard apart), I took the opportunity to trace the remaining original track as best I could, ready for a spot of Templotting. I had some old A4 continuous printout paper ideal for the purpose. I cut out various bits of the paper to fit over and around t...