The bookings for Hakuho for the 2023 show season are coming in now so I really need to get the rear side of the layout done. Plus there is a magazine waiting for the article In this shot of Brooklyn concentrating very hard on operating the layout, the area that was going to be downtown Hakuho has now been cleared and I'm starting again with a totally different concept. First show is Kendal in January more soon Kev
So the area is going to be 'SL Railroad Park Hakuho' a rail museum with a variety of plinthed historical Japanese rolling stock and a main line connection for excursion trains First thing was to put a main line connection in and arrange the rest of the track in a plausible way The low relief Museum Hall is scratchbuilt and the running shed will be the former Cab forward shed recovered off the Dunsmuir module of Shasta. The conceit will be, if anyone asks, that the tunnel leads to the abandoned forestry track seen on the front of the layout. Progress has slowed as it it so cold and damp here in the U.K that everything is taking a lot longer to dry. Oh, and the wife keeps complaining when I keep opening and shutting the back door to go out to the workshop! So the first setback was getting around to modifying the control panel and installing the 'Push to make' switches to get all the point motors working. I had drilled nearly all the holes using a 'cone cut' drill and had about two to go when 'Crack' two large splits appeared. I was probably pressing on a little too hard so a new top had to be made. Colour coded to the feed wires as usual The gubbins More soon Kev
Always like seeing the underworkings of a layout. Pretty cool. I’m always amazed how you guys keep that maze of wire organized.
Hi Joe Excel spread sheet. One for each cable and plugs The printed ones are kept in the show folder that travel with the layout and can be readily asked if things go wrong This is the one for Republic Steel main inputs Looks complicated but it it is quite logical as Spock would say Kev
More progress Could not do this with the gauge 1 layouts, put them on their side to make the wiring easier More soon Kev
It has warmed up a bit outside now so I've been able to press on a bit Been laying out the exhibits in the museum to see what works The C57 4-6-2 under the canopy is a resin one I picked up while ago. The series 0 Shinkansen is one of the Atlas editions collectables. The streetcar is one of Stonysmiths 3D printed ones as are the two 4-4-0s. Some of the early locomotives on Japanese railways came from Baldwin and H K Porter though they tended to be 2-6-0s. One of them has been convered to a coal burner Visitors just park out on the street When I was looking for ideas I came across this. it is a model of a coach than ran in Hokkaido in the early days Hmmm. Looks like one of the Marklin old time coaches. I think I'll go and dig one out More soon Kev
Started with this Work in progress Somewhere I still have some of the old SMS Alphabet decal sheets that have some 1mm red lettering on Them, there Marklin couplers will have to go!
Paint job is clean and the trucks look very well weathered! Are you gonna snip couplers off trucks and body mount?
Ready for boxing up for this weekends Kendal show Surrounded by the workshop clutter Looking over the roofs of Hakuho town. I've added some more semaphore signals and telegraph poles. The picnic area needs an ice cream stall or similar Once I've got the show done I'll make the rear scenic extension boad so I can photograph it for the magazines Then I really must make room for Brooklyn to do his 00 layout. We are thinking of doing the Furness railway, Roa Island branch as if it never closed and still runs today. More soon Kev
This idea, seeing the photo above, has my curiosity rising. Even even you folks do not proceed, it could be an interesting topic all of it's own.
I'll start a thread on the 'layout planning and discussion' forum about it. it will include a history lesson going back to the 16th century, an alernative reality of the U.K today and a trackplan worthy of a Smaller layouts article Kev
Kendal Model railway club 60th anniversary show. I went the night before to set up. Didn't get time to revarnish the waterfall and stream but everything else was done. Did some basic testing with a diesel railcar and headed home. Saturday morning, set Brooklyn off putting all the Road vehicles out and setting up the container trains while I checked all the running lines and pointwork again. Damm! section G, the longer siding on the inner circuit wouldn't isolate. Checked inside the control paneln Nuttin there, Checked the big tag strip under the baseboard, nothing feeding it there either Hmmmmm.Split the D plug that goes into the panel, Nope.. Left a Platz railcar moving slow while I turned each section off until it powered down. The outer platform line in the station as feeding the volts in ??? These two sections are nowhere near each other in any way. Any way we worked around it for the morning by using it for the railcar and lifting it off when not needed. Around 11.00 the fire bells went off. Brooklyn was in the lift going up to the floor above and started pressing buttons just in case but after 90 seconds they went off again 30 minutes later they went off again and kept on going so the entire building was evacuated. The exhibitors, traders and public assembled out in the car park. God it was freezing! and because all the doors were left open the temperature in the hall dropped like a stone. When we were allowed back in we started running again and, Guess what?, Section G had cleared itself and was working normally again. Spooky Grandad and the boy Video is being edited now and I'll post the youtube link in a couple of days Picked up some bookings for the layout as well as two booking for this Fall's season for the new mini Z layout 'Kiribyama' even though the show managers have no idea what it is. They just know I'm bringing something interesting More soon Kev