A Layout Makes Work For Idle Hands

I spent a very agreeable couple of hours yesterday afternoon indulging in a little test running with Himself on Minffordd.

I'd arranged to stop by and inspect the completed fiddle yard extensions, and get some images of the newly-fettled Wickham Trolley which I posted yesterday.

It's already clear the auxiliary fiddle yards for the OO Cambrian section are going to have a transformative effect on how we can run the layout at exhibitions.

We'll be able to run a better variety of trains and keep almost all the rolling stock in circulation, rather than swapping about what is on the tracks and what is kept aside.

The other big impact is that it potentially creates a job for another operator - a fifth!

Because of the layout of the existing yard, and the way the new terminal sidings branch off only the outer of the loops, one operator could be running a DMU or a short freight, or shunting the yard, while their colleague is busying themselves moving around locos which have been released by departing trains and moving them onto empty stock in the lines at the other side, for example.

Meanwhile there's capacity for another three operators to be engaged in running the FR half of the layout, one at each of the fiddle yards at either end, and another positioned at the front keeping something shunting about on the narrow gauge tracks in the yard.

Let's just hope we can find enough skilled and enthusiastic operators who are willing to come along and run it with us.

We Have Control

Most of yesterday was spent installing this beauty.

Yes, you're right, it is probably overkill for a 'test track' but I did say we were doing this properly!

Himself spent the last week building one of his by now standard control panels which we also have on Dduallt and Bron Hebog.

This one features a colour-coded track layout (in Dymo tape) which shows isolating sections, and includes triple-pole section switches for 'cab control' on the main lines, simple switches for isolating sections in sidings, centre-spring switches for point control and push button route selection for the three-way points in the depots.

Two panel mount Gaugemaster controllers will be placed in the white space on either side in due course.

Wiring this lot up, however, could take some time, especially because it's being designed to be removable, which is complicating things a lot.

The narrow gauge circuit, when it's built, will be controlled from a smaller separate panel.

Consistency Is Key

For the last couple of modelling sessions I've been working on one of the key buildings for the test track - the standard gauge steam locomotive shed.

You probably recognised it straight away as a Melcalfe kit, and it may seem strange that someone who's made something of a fetish of scratch building should be taking the easy way out.

Primarily it's because time is of the essence.

I want to get this 'test track' done before my son gets fed up of waiting or loses interest in model railways.

Also, at lot of the stock he'll be running is getting on for 40 years-old, and some of these Metcalfe kits are arguably of a higher standard of detail!

And the final reason is that I have always believed that consistency - or uniformity, if you like - is one of the most important factors in how a layout looks.

The Metcalfe range has the advantage that we can quickly (and inexpensively) populate the layout with the full range of railway structures, and create a townscape around it, and they'll blend together nicely.

So often I've seen layouts at exhibitions - mostly ones built by clubs rather than individuals - where you'll see a some stunning stock or structures placed alongside other stuff that is nowhere near the same standard, and it sticks out like a sore thumb and spoils the effect.

On the other hand you can get a layout where there's nothing particularly outstanding, but everything is of a good, consistent standard, and the whole thing looks so much better for it.

(For those wondering, the engine shed isn't finished yet, but I won't be adding the smoke stacks, because they will come perilously close to the high limit when the layout is folded away.)

The Repair Shop

Looking back, I think the moment you realise you've become a parent - or more specifically, a Dad - is when you become aware of that unshakeable belief in your ability to fix stuff.

I'm still very much an apprentice in this compared to Himself.

But I have say I'm rather pleased with my efforts to restore a distinctly second hand ventilated van.

My youngest picked this old Mainline van up from a bric-a-brac stall at the local exhibition a couple of years ago, but it wasn't until very recently that I noticed one of the sliding doors was missing.

I pondered what to do about it until I dawned on me that I could use my casting know-how to make a copy of the door and its runners.

Once it's painted I think it'll end up looking rather convincing.

Up Pompeii!

The other day I got a reminder of a time before Narrow Gauge.

It was something like the model railway equivalent of a paleontologist discovering a fossil from the moment the dinosaurs died out, or those plaster casts of the bodies buried in the ash at Pompeii.

Around a quarter of a century ago Himself was in the process of tarting-up an ancient Triang 'Hall'  with a Crownline detailing kit.

This is as far as the project got until work was suspended, never to be resumed.

My memory is a little hazy but I think it's likely that this was the moment a teenage me presented him with a Chivers kit for Conway Castle and the rest, as they say, is history.

We came across the half-finished Hall the other day while my youngest was rooting around in the crates of old 00 models kept in the garage - his favourite activity.

(As everyone else who appears in this blog has a nickname I propose that henceforth he is known as The Trainee.)

Back in those days Himself's modelling ambitions didn't extend much beyond detailing ready-to-run - a far cry from his Backwoods-building exploits of today.

The signs were there, if you looked, however.

If you were able, as he was, to make white metal MTK look half-decent than an NGG16 is a walk in the park by comparison!

Since discovering the Hall he's been making noises about trying to finish it off.

This is causing me some concern because he's also being nagged non-stop by The Trainee to build him a small 00 set so that he no longer has to be content with pushing things along on the carpet.

Could the wheel be turning full circle?