Himself has been working hard to sort out the last of the baseboard joints after some issues cropped up during the show at Bressingham last month.
Eventually, after a lot of measuring, we discovered the problem was that the boards at the Porthmadog end of the layout were ever-so-slightly shorter than the ones at the Rhyd Ddu end.
Although it didn't stop the layout being put together it was having the effect of putting a strain through the structure (which forms a large square) with the consequence that some of the boards were being pulled apart a little.
And with the tiny wheels of 009 even gap of a couple of millimetres will affect the running.
The discrepancy probably occurred as a result of the boards being built many years afterwards in a place where there was no opportunity to erect the layout to check how it fitted together.
The fix he decided on was too add a 9mm fillet to the joint between the lower fiddle yard and where it joins the first scenic board.
This also had the effect of moving the edge of the fiddle yard out by 15mm and so the tracks had to be slewed to match and the locating dowels repositioned as well.
The effort has been worth it, though, because the board joints at the front of the layout, in the station area, have closed up nicely and it's been tested by propelling a long rake of B wagons (the stock most vulnerable to derailing) all the way from the station into the fiddle yard.
And with the tiny wheels of 009 even gap of a couple of millimetres will affect the running.
The discrepancy probably occurred as a result of the boards being built many years afterwards in a place where there was no opportunity to erect the layout to check how it fitted together.
The fix he decided on was too add a 9mm fillet to the joint between the lower fiddle yard and where it joins the first scenic board.
This also had the effect of moving the edge of the fiddle yard out by 15mm and so the tracks had to be slewed to match and the locating dowels repositioned as well.
The effort has been worth it, though, because the board joints at the front of the layout, in the station area, have closed up nicely and it's been tested by propelling a long rake of B wagons (the stock most vulnerable to derailing) all the way from the station into the fiddle yard.
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