Scalefour Jubilee Weekend

On receiving the latest Scalefour News and reading what is on offer over the Jubilee Weekend, and knowing I have much to learn, there are many Learning Skills demonstrations I'll benefit from.

The ones that stand out for me are; 2D CAD, 3D with Fusion360, DCC Chip fitting, Painting figures, Painting & lining, Painting & weathering, Soldering, Making a loco chassis, CSB, Springing wagons, Oh, and possibly making use of the test track to see if how some of my locos perform. That was from just looking at the index so no doubt when I read the article fully there will be others.

Then, of course, there is the "eye candy"... OK, I've seen many of the layouts before, but there is always some element that is worth noting again or even elements not previously seen.

Anyway, as I don't think one day will do the visit justice, I've booked a room at the Conference Centre (Friday - Sunday).

Really looking forward to the weekend.

The start of another year

2025 seemed to pass in no time.

Rospeath Lane is drifting further behind the schedule I've set myself. That said, I'm still making steady progress. Some wise person said "You can't smell the roses from a galloping horse" or something like that. Well, I'm not actually smelling roses, but I am enjoying taking my time constructing this layout with all it's (new to me) technological challenges.

The hope was to have power to the track along with some turnouts operational by the end of 2025. Well I achieved part of this milestone this week and had a loco moving on parts on the layout. At the time I there were no turnouts operational, this is the task I'm currently prioritising.

Underneath the Running Shed board

Underneath the board with the control panel

Starting on the wiring within the control panel. 

Hope to tidy up that mess of wiring a little once all the wiring is installed.

Control panel 

In the last photo, three yard lamps are just visible. I was considering installing these at this stage, especially as the boards are spending much time upside down. I then felt they might be a too fragile to be installed at this stage as they could be damaged especially during track ballasting. The transport end panels have been installed, this is so the boards can be turned upside down on the floor, making it easier to install the wiring.

I've also constructed one of MERG's District Cutout kits It passed the first round of tests, but unfortunately, it didn't cut power to my test track before the NCE Power Cab cut out. The local MERG group suggested a fix, which I've not implemented yet. At this time of the build, I thought progressing with getting all the wiring in place and turnouts working was more important. I've allowed for installing the DCOs at a later date.

MERG's District Cutout board

Someone suggested to me that DCC wiring is not as complex as the wiring required for a DC layout. I must be missing something...

An excess of water

A week ago I awoke to a slow drip of water landing on my pillow. I did wake a couple of time in the night noticing a damp pillow, only to past it off to a bad case of the night time dribbles. On rushing downstairs to grab a set of step ladder to check what was happening in the roof I walked into a small stream in the hallway. This was not coming through the ceiling but the front door...

This was surprising as we are not next to a river or stream. I suppose still being half awake, it was still dark and not thinking through what the consequences might be, I open the front door. A small wall of water greeted me and I very sharply slammed the door shut. The door seals were doing an excellent job of holding most of the water back. On looking out I could see that the water was above floor level of the log cabin that is my Man Cave/Railway room.

The water had drain away by mid-morning but left us mopping up in the house and surveying the damage to the Man Cave. The carpet in the Man Cave was like a sponge, and anything that was on the floor and not in a plastic box was also sodden. During the next couple of days, a neighbour and I emptied the contents of the Man Cave into the neighbour's shed. We removed the sodden carpet. I bought a dehumidifier, set it up, and then left it running all week, emptying plenty of water each day. I'll be keeping it running all winter.

All now seems relatively dry so I've started to move stuff back into the log cabin. On the plus-side I'm taking the chance to sort thought and decide what needs selling or throwing away and luckily, nothing of great value has been damaged. On the downside I have lost valuable time on the Rospeath Lane build. 

Oh well I've still just over nine months to catch up...

Installing the wiring

I've had few thoughts about the wiring for the new incarnation of Rospeath Lane. It is a much reduced track plane compared to the original but it will be an exhibition layout which I doubt the previous one would have been. So in an attempt to reduce the possibility of not being able to solve a short circuit quickly during an exhibition, rendering the whole inactive, I've split the track plan into five power districts.

So far I have all rail power droppers in place along with all turnouts droppers. As a trial I decided on installing the first rail dropper to power bus connection on the left hand cassette board. 

Needs a little tidying up but that is the template I'll be using for the rest of the layout

The wiring I'm using are32/0.2 (22 AWG) for the droppers which I believe is rated at 3 amps and 32/0.2 (17 AWG) .for the power bus which I believe is rated at 6 amps. These might be ratings might be overkill but I'm learning as I go along.

Though my diagram above indicates one "common return" for all power districts, I'm contemplating if this might hinder solving a difficult to find short circuit so may well keep the districts totally separate. As I said, I'm trying to learn and evaluate many options as much as I can while progressing with this project.

All trackwork laid

At last, all track laid in place, with turnout wiring installed and a start made on installing power droppers to the rest of the track. The only section not fully in place is the coaling road approach to the turntable. My thought is to lay this in place once the turntable is working to help get the track aligned correctly with the turntable's rotational steps (if that makes sense?).

That said I've also been working on a design for the Shed Offices. A little off-the-cuff design with an attempt to come up with a building that looks and feels along with complementing the Timber Tracks Buildings. In discussions its construction there has been a suggestion that it is laser cut rather than built using plasticard. A laser cut building should be a better fit with the other buildings.

Initial design 

I've not drawn a plan of a building before let alone one for laser cutting so have much to learn. On another duplicate drawing I've started to create a brick pattern and colour the cut lines blue and etch lines red. The windows have been drawn to match the etched windows available from London Road Models. At the moment I'm unsure whether to etched windows or use laser cut ones but will have the option to use either.

The whole layout was being built on top of some Ikea Ivar shelving units which were also being used for storage. While this has been convenient I started to think this is was not ideal especially as there was no convenient access underneath the layout without moving the boards elsewhere. Thinking it would be better to complete the build on its own support structure I spent last weekend reorganising the 'Man Cave. Rospeath Lane is now self-supporting, giving access underneath. This should also help with ironing out any issues with the supports as far as stability and construction.

Rospeath Lane's current state

What helped in the reorganising of the Man Cave is my decision to scrap Heath End, the roundy-roundy P4 layout that I acquired. In re-evaluating what would be involved correcting baseboard alignments, improving the wiring and bring the scenic areas up to a standard I would be happy with,it would distract me from what I'd really like to achieve over the next few years. On top of that it did fill one end of the Man Cave making it a tad awkward to access and making the room look untidy.

What do I want to achieve in the next few years?

The primary objective is of course completeing Rospeath Lane. 

In hindsight I might have been a litttle hasty thinking about scrapping Tredethy Wharf. I’ve had many comments that I should not scrap Tredethy Wharf. Including a a lady who went out of her way to let me know she'd voted it best in show at Scalefour Crewe 2024. Having it out on display with give me the opportunity to evaluate my feelings for the layout and where I can improve the scenic area. Before I can exhibited it again there will have to be new cassette boards along with transport case and lighting boxes in the same style as those built for Rospeath Lane.

Tredethy Wharf now on top of the Ivar shelving units

I purchased the EM gauge Fiddlers Wharf layout from Paul Gregory earlier in this year. It’s a slight twist on the Inglenook Sidings Shunting Puzzle track plan. Having really enjoyed operating Gordon Luck's P4 Dock Road layout at a number of  exhibitions I can envisge getting the same enjoyment out of this layout. It is a layout that can bring hours of quiet enjoyment at home but also at exhibitions for the public to operate solving the puzzle. My intention is to, again, construct an enclosed transport, lighting box along with converting it to being operated from the front. Having this layout on display will help with these tasks.

Fiddlers Wharf also on Ivar shelving units

Finally I come to what will possible be my final project, Boscarne Junction.The desire is still there to build this layout. Whether it will be permanently fix in the ‘Man Cave’ or exhibitable remains to be seen.

I'm a little behind schedule with Rospeath Lane but should still have locos moving around the shed by Christmas...

Sad News

I received some very sad and unexpected news today: Allan Smith passed away yesterday morning.

This is very upsetting news. My wife and I visited him only a few weeks ago. When we left, he said he was looking forward to seeing Rospeath Lane at a show sometime, along with his locomotives he'd converted running once more.

I had only known him for a few years, but I quickly recognized that he was one of the good guys—unassuming, generous, and always willing to share his passion for model railways with a novice Scalefour member like myself. I have benefited immensely from the short time I knew him, and I only wish I had known him longer.

RIP Allan. Rest assured, your locomotives will be well cared for and given a new life on Rospeath Lane.