So some of you may remember my Ill fated Russian dockyard layout which was abandoned after the invasion of Ukraine. The locos, rolling stock and vessels have all gone into storage but the baseboard and track were too good to waste it has sat in the loft ever since as the completion of Hakuho and doing Nuclear trains in 00 scale took precedence but I thought now was time to get it transformed into something usable . Matters also took a turn when two show organisers booked it for their Autumn exhibitions without even seeing it Now my two big layouts, Shasta and Cuyahoga, are both very obviously American. Hakuho is Japanese through and through but Republic Steel has always had the advantage of being very versatile. As it is principally the steelworks I can run it either American (1950-60s or late 1990s), Railblue Era British or Showa Era Japan. I've even run it as 1950s German every now and then. So I wanted to keep the same sort of Vibe with this one. Basically anonymous dockside buildings that won't look out of place with anything I fancy running. trackplan is quite simple but it will need a seperate board for the hidden sidings adding to the right hand side Now there is a very tight bend at the rear left corner and not many things can get round it. Not a problem as the main things running will be small switchers, Boxcabs etc. These are mainly 3D printed running on Rokuhan Shorty Chassis or Marklin six coupled chassis hence the name Port Shaughty (pronounced Shorty, geddit?) Three Shorty powered locos during last nights test running session A USRA 0-6-0T switcher (Re-bodied Marklin BR89) switched Flatcars because it is so small I can set it up on the light desk in the office More soon Kev
Great concept! Reminded me of Brian Harrap's amazing ZOB Hafen, a sort of nondescript European harbor cum historic city, in a small format that he called a "laptop layout". Matt
Kev, I think you should consider to repaint some Russian rolling stock and have some Ukrainian Railway ready to be used. Maybe this rolling stock could be converted into Joe Biden train from Poland to Kiyew ?
Great versatility and excellent utilization of space. Plus once again the incorporation of rail and dockyard is always a winner.
More test running tonight and it was an interesting experiment. Mainly looking at my USA stock Earlier on the FM H10-44 (Walt's on Shapeways) would not even attempt to get around the tight curve. Tried the body on the Z-Maker chassis the other way and it waltzed round The AZL NKP Geeps jam up. The AZL Espee ones and my Cotton Belt GP20 conversion..No problem. The AZL CPR GP 38 is doing that circuit board problem thing so I'm not sure where I am with that one, MTL GP35s nah! No chance MTL F7s Nope! Marklin F7s yes but I hate the things and won't be running them. More soon
Kev, Nice save repurposing the layout! Already looks like fit will be a success! Just might need to get some older ships for steam era. Scott
That is tight indeed. So I figure most AZL and MTL will locs will handle Marklin 145mm (5,7 inch) well? Matt
While most Marklin Loco's will run on Marklin's 145mm radius track. MTL and AZL Recommend 195mm at a minimum. And Some of AZL's larger loco's need 220mm or 245mm Radius. Generally speaking the longer the loco or car the Larger the minimum radius is.
Running curves this tight is new to me. I've always gone for as big a radius as I can like on my Shasta layout On the tighter 'Shasta Springs' board I put some serious superelevation in to help[ them get round. As this layout will be mainly running Shortys the back curve is no big deal but I'm really glad the Fairbanks Morse gets round it More soon including.... Started stretching a Shorty chassis tonight to do One of these
I am planning a micro layout with curves as tight as 145mm and running AZL en MTL. Hmm, maybe run some test first... That is going to be very interesting! Matt
The Z gauge Class 76 and 77s is a project that has been around for a while. The two classes of locos only ever ran on the electrified main line between Yorkshire and Manchester, originally started by the LNER and brought to fruition by British Rail. Known as the Woodhead route it travelled over the Pennines through the Woodhead Tunnel and alongside the huge reservoirs in the high peaks. It was electrified at 1,500 Volts D.C. In the very early days of British Z a firm called Newstead Models did a plastic Class 77, EM2, Co-Co with printed overlays designed to fit on the Marklin BR103 chassis. Too be honest it wasn't very good. Later on Graham Jones had some etched in Nickel Silver but I never got around to getting one off him. Now The E44 german electric made by Marklin is almost identical to the Class 76 EM1, Bo-Bo from the bodyside down so when i found CMAC had an N scale one on Shapeways I asked him if he could shrink it down to Z. Once delivered I tried to fit it over the Marklin chassis, not a chance! So I got Charlie to blow it up a bit to fit and it came out way to big Pic below shows the original print Doing the testing the other night I was sort of guilty for not having bitten the bullet to get some things sorted so over the last couple of days I've firmed up the chassis design on the Class 158 DMUs (runs really well now)and while in the mood modified another Shorty chassis to fit the original small 76 print The original print, the stretched one and the Newstead EM2 The 76 has had its first coat of reveal primer and I'm cleaning up the layer lines on the sides. The shorty trucks are too short wheelbase but the very prominent sandboxes will be added to each corner to fill the gaps, The truck mounted buffer beams seen on the prototype will be fixed under the cab fronts and two Marklin Pantographs will be added I reckon this will get around 'Dead mans Curve'! Kev
While I was writing the above Brooklyn was beavering away behind me climbing up to get stuff out of the stock trays. This was what I found Busy lad
Meanwhile I was just opening my first beer when I thought " Didn't I visit a cool dockside in Wales many years ago?" Another possibility Woodhams scrap yard, Barry island. The motherlode of withdrawn British steam all up for sale for preservation Mercant Navy West Country Get some more Atlas editions and paint them rusty. Kev
I got an etched set from Graham Jones, no instructions and the plate was already a bit damaged - it was the last one he had, back 10 years ago or so, when we met in Altenbeken. It was intended to fit over a Marklin E103. I bought it because these British locomotives were sold to the Dutch NS in 1969, where they served as NS1500 series. Class 76 was Bo-Bo, Class 77 was developed from that and the first British electric Co-Co, if I am not mistaken. First pic shows etching, second a Class77 built by Graham Jones. I don't remember how I got it, if I took it or downloaded it from Graham's site... (anyone owns the rights, please let me know and I'll take it down). This is how it looked in NS livery: Maybe, one day, I will try and build this loco. Lots more to learn first. Looking forward to reading about your experiences, Kev Matt
