Complex crossing maneuvers!

Not anything to do with taking your life in your hands as you try to cross a road or getting on the right side of Mrs. Woody - yes that list of jobs will get done - eventually - but more to do with model railway track layouts. I needed to put in a double crossing to allow access to my planned MPD or in plain terms Motive Power Depot where the locomotives are stored, refueled and serviced. To get the best possible variations in access and maneuvers I came up with this bit of complex trackwork.

Amazingly it works! I quite like the way the train snakes through the crossing.

The MPD will lead off from the three way point and I am still deciding on the eventual layout of that but I am almost at the point of having completed that first fix of track work laying. If only I could complete that list of jobs from Mrs. W! Its a complex life!

Is there a catch?

 A few hours spare this evening saw some more track laying on My Last Great Project. The three main circuits are connected and the goods sidings laid complete with a double slip point which is like two points back to back and a 'catch' point, so yes there is catch! What is a 'catch' point you may ask? Well they are common on real railways but not so common on model railways and I am as guilty as many modelers for not including them in my layouts. The catch point is there to prevent and catch a runaway wagon, carriage or even train from coming out of a siding without the right of way and and onto the mainline where the potential implications could be very serious and even deadly. It does this by derailing the rolling stock and diverting it away from the main line. The photo below shows the catch point as well as the double slip and a three way point leading into the goods sidings.

At the moment the track work is at a "First Fit" stage so any issues are fairly easy to resolve. The photograph below shows where I have got to and a slightly eclectic mix and eras of trains but its fun to run them and that is what this layout is about!

I just need to lay the Motive Power Depot on the other side and then it's time for some serious playing operating trains unless of course there is a catch and Mrs Woody has plans for me to "play" with the garden jobs and painting that needs doing but she will need to catch me first!

Many paths to be followed.

As I have become accustomed too, another few days of distractions and projects taking me on different paths but hopefully they all end up at the same destination which is an overall finished project!

On the 009 gauge road bridge I have given the stone work several washes of a very dilute black acrylic paint. The picture below shows one half of an abutment has received this treatment showing just how simple it is - well it would have to be for it to work for me!

Painting one face at a time and letting gravity do its work means this process can take a long time especially as the temperatures outside fall and my man cave, AKA The Room of Gloom, is not as warm as it was in the summer meaning paint tends to take longer to dry. I did think about bringing it into the house but given my ability to spill paint and stain carpets and other soft furnishings with it, I thought that for harmonious relationships to continue with Mrs W it would be best to just wait! At the end of the various waits this is what the bridge looks like.

So what did I do with the time I had whilst waiting for the paint to dry? Well give me a few minutes spare in the Room of Gloom and I am easily distracted! It has been some time since I did anything with My Last Great Project - the 00 gauge layout that I am building. The 009 narrow gauge layout is at the present resting on the baseboard to the 00 gauge layout and it all looks untidy, unloved and most of all unprofessional to anyone stepping in to the room. There are various items that need to be sorted but unfortunately I am not a tidy builder of projects! I tend to need everything that I need out even though I contribute to the swear jar when I cannot find things but that is just the way I model. When I am cooking, completely different with things washed up and put away as soon as possible. No idea why the different approaches but it confuses Mrs W!

My decision in light of the above was to try to get the basic track laying done (it was just some lengths of track thrown together some months ago to allow me to run trains) on the 00 gauge layout so that I could then at least tidy all the track laying items away. It is a long process and it will take some time but at the moment I have the two outer circuits complete and the third inner one getting there. Next stage will be a few sidings. As the layout is still open to alteration the track is secured in a few places with double sided adhesive carpet tape which is strong enough to hold the track but weak enough to allow the track to be lifted washout making significant contributions to the swear jar. 

The track boards have progressed from this...

to this......

Still somewhat messy but the track is looking more like a railway than a roller coaster!

Mrs Woody's birthday tomorrow so hope she likes her gift or I might be spending more time in a cold Room of Gloom!

On track.

Whilst I am letting the decals set on the K5350 truck I got a little distracted by starting to lay the track for on the 009 narrow gauge layout (really must think of a name for it). 

You may recall my ponderings regarding my failure to think my track plan through - click here if you want to read that post. Well I sorted that out without having to buy any new points - not that you can get hold of them at the moment! Without going into detail the track and wiring is almost finished on the second board. I am leaving my options open at the moment as to whether this will be a DCC or analogue operated layout - I am erring on the side of DCC at the moment but that could change - so the wiring allows the layout to be sectionalsied to create isolated sections of track should I go for analogue. In my bid to continue with my working smarter not harder as I get older ideology I have tried to avoid future problems and swear jar contributions by coating the point tie bars in Cotton Tree petroleum jelly (where Mrs W got that obscure brand from is beyond me but she will need another jar as it is now in my man cave) (usual disclaimer that other brands of similar natured petroleum jelly type products may also be available at your chosen emporium for the purchase of such things) to avoid them getting glued up when I do the ballasting. In addition I have cut the holes for point motors should I wish to fit them in the future - and put masking tape over them to avoid ballast and glue running through onto the floor. Not so much a problem in my man cave AKA The Room of Gloom but I having tried to remove set ballast from a carpet without Mrs W noticing has made me uber cautious!

Here are some pictures which probably explain better than my words!

At the joint between the two baseboards the track is reinforced to make a strong joint by soldering the track to sleeper sized copper clad strip. Note the cut in the middle of the copper clad sleeper. Without it there would be a short circuit as soon as power was applied to the track.

This is what the track layout will look like when finished. Notice the thinking ahead part of my plan in that my longest train fits the passing loop - avoiding a swear jar contributing moment!

Bridge to Nowhere!

There has continued to be a lack of posts on this blog and its all to do with lighter evenings and summer weather! Although some may question the summer weather bit, the odds are that I will be outside doing something rather than inside in front of a computer screen as I try to make the most of the light warm (!?!?) evenings. Hence the lack of posts but there are things being done, usually with the garden, which continues to demand attention! 

However this week has seen a few days out which given the past 18 months mainly spent at home in the WMD HQ is something nice to do. For some reason we ended up in north Lincolnshire so Mrs Woody was treated to a fascinating trip across the Humber Bridge at a cost of £1.50 for the toll and a CoOp £3.50 lunch deal of sandwich, crisps and drink - other lunch deals are available! This was consumed on what remains of the Viewing Point car park on the north shore which didn't have any view of the bridge as most of the rest of it has been turned into a Covid Vaccination Centre. Having consumed the gastronomic delight, a further £1.50 secured a return trip south bound across the bridge. The Humber Bridge has always been somewhat controversial and was nick named The Bridge to Nowhere. I am not into the politics of it all, its been built, it serves a purpose but most of all it is a fantastic engineering feat and stunning to look at.

Having crossed back to the south shore we ended up parking at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust car park at Far Lings which is located in an area of ponds that were created by clay being dug out for the local clay tile factory which is now a museum. There is a path along the shore and it all looks very interesting for a longer visit. 

You can do a bit of ship spotting too!

The path passes the back of the tile works which look as though it could be an interesting visit but what really caught my eye was the boundary wall to the site made out of stacked clay tiles.

Meanwhile back at WMD HQ and specifically The Room of Gloom, some progress on My Last Great Project has been made. Slowly track is being sorted as the plans in my mind become a physical reality. However, as many railway modelers will admit, once some track is down the temptation to run some trains is overwhelming and I have to admit to doing that myself. 

A recent purchase was a Hornby Railroad Tornado with TTS sound from Bure Valley Model Railways in Norfolk. £102 bought this and it is a fantastic runner with a smooth slow running capability and a fantastic set of sounds. For the money it is simply stunning!

Something bought some time ago was this Bachmann Class66 with DCC Sound and a set of 10 Hornby Seacow wagons and a Shark break van. I have only got five of the Seacows out but the whole train looks and runs brilliantly.

I am going to have to get my mind set back into track work and you never know the layout may end up with its own Bridge to Nowhere! However, I have to admit that running the trains has been a great deal of fun and that is what a hobby is all about! 

Rain starts play!

That is right in my case - rain did start play for me. Let me explain. 

The last few weeks has been somewhat busy with other non modelling activities. At the beginning of June I had a Cataract operation which was a consequence of the treatment for my my detached retina which happened last April. My admiration and gratitude to the NHS here in the UK is overwhelming. Their care and treatment, especially at a time when covid has made things much more complex for the NHS, was superb and they saved mine as well as countless other peoples sight.

The good weather and light evenings of the last few weeks has also meant that I have spent a great deal of time continuing to landscape the garden and sort out the accumulated junk that I have horded over the past decades. Two trips to the scrap yard this week saw me take 450 kg of scrap metal to weigh in and a bewilderment as to why I had kept such junk for so long! Anyway the landscaping is done (mostly) and I now have an easier to maintain garden and hopefully something that looks better!

Hmmm! You could build a garden railway along that wall! 

Smudge the cat seems to be surveying the possibility!

One of those things that I had to do with landscaping the garden was to level off the lawn to the same level as the edging blocks that I laid. Mostly this involved lowering the lawn. If like me trying to cut a turf to a consistent depth turns out to be impossible with what emerges on the end of the spade being more cheese wedge shaped then flat bread, you will understand the problems of having to relay turfs which all have different depths to them. years ago I would have re-laid the turf and belted hell out of it with the back of the spade to get it to some resemblance of  level and then wonder why it died! As I get older such energetic activities are now beyond sensibility so with a bit of thought I created a turf cutting plank. I had an off cut of laminate flooring to which I nailed three pieces of inch and a half batten. The picture below shows it as well as the general idea of how to get consistent level turfs using an old and expendable saw riding along the top of the battens to cut off the surplus soil. You won't be using the saw for any form of woodworking again but it certainly made relaying the turfs much easier! The laminate floor is about the same width as my small spade which made cutting the turfs to the right width easy as well. Working smarter not harder as I get older! 

The good weather has now however broken and as with all UK summers the rain has arrived! This however has given me the chance to move myself into the dry of The Room of Gloom and make some progress on the Last Great Project which is my 00 gauge model railway and in effect start to play! The four segments of the baseboard are now bolted together with some M12 bolts and large penny washers to spread the load.

If I were organised or had some common sense I would have a hard copy track plan of what I was going to do. However I don't have hard copy but I do have in my mind the basic concept. As with most of my projects I know the basic concept I then work out the details as I go along. It may not be the best way but it works for me! So at the moment I have pieces of track laid out in roughly the layout I want it and it is now a case moving pieces about until the optimal layout appears. 

Apparently its going to be raining for a few days yet so rather than stop my play more progress may actually be made!

Wood butchery and 'My Last Great Project'!

A strange title but my woodworking skills are such that wood is unfortunately not crafted with skillful hands into something that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I have to coerce, force and batter wood into something that resembles, with a fleeting glance, what my mind has created as a beautiful project that would add class to any self respecting home. 

Something that I have not talked about on this blog before is what I will whimsically call 'My Last Great Project'. Not that I don't plan to be around for a while yet but given my rate of progress on matters it will take an age to get this finished. So what is this great project? Well nothing more than a large roundy style 00 gauge layout. Roughly 12 foot by 5 foot it will be unashamedly a place on which I can watch my accumulated over the years collection of engines and rolling stock finally run on a decent length of track (cue the theme to Born Free with visions of locomotives free to stretch themselves on a lengthy track and get back to their natural habitat). No prototype, no historic accuracy, no timetable operation, no worries about the Flying Scotsman running next to a Class 66, but it will be fun and that to me is my own desire for this project. 

Whilst it sounds like it will be more like a Hornby Trakmat layout, it will, hopefully, be a little more detailed. First thing though is the baseboard. It will not be a flat sheet of ply or chipboard but it will be an open top one to allow for below track level scenery. Material is ply for lightness with soft wood corner strengtheners. In addition it will be built in four sections. Two 6 foot by 2.5 feet and two 5 foot by 3 foot but with rounded ends. That will allow it to be separated into manageable boards if it needs to be moved. Not that I am expecting to take it to exhibitions (if you recall those events pre Covid!) but I have to be realistic in that I am not going to be here for ever and if the layout can easily be dismantled it is probably far easier to dispose of and might make it more attractive to a buyer if it were to be sold. Much as it is a sobering thought you do get to a stage in life where you need to be sensible and take account of a World without your presence! Anyway, moving on from these dark thoughts, the baseboard is under construction at WMD HQ in what I laughingly call my garage or Room of Gloom! It really needs a further clear out but that can wait for the moment with this more pressing project taking precedence. 

The photo below shows progress after about a week. Doesn't look much after that time but I am taking my time and trying to think things out before committing saw to wood but even then there are still things I would do differently but hey ho! If you try to get perfection you sometimes will never finish it. So, as long as it is basically flat, solid and enables me to move onto stage two that will do! Here is what I have so far.

The one thing I will highlight is that trying to get decent timber at the moment is difficult. I eventually managed to get some ply at Wickes but to be honest it is not the straightest of materials and has need some coercion to be straight where needed. This is where being a Wood Butcher does come in handy  though - Now where's that lump hammer?????