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Tag: neushomod

Track plan patchwork

24th October 2016 / / 0 Comments

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Today has been spent tweeking the ‘plan’ in Templot and although this is primarily for building prototypical track plans for the more discerning modeller however I am rather abusing that premise. There are other programs available but I like doing all my noodling with it and use it to see how and where the track joins need to be place although this is now defined by the choice of base board length that I have chosen due to a number of choices that include size, weight and portability. The plan does fit into the space pretty well and I haven’t cropped all the pages so that I am not getting a completely accurate picture but at the moment I am just checking clearances both for track and stock.

Once I have the final plan I will only print out the crossover as this is the only part of the layout that I will be building and its at that point I will tighten the placing of ties and check rails etc. The rest of the track will be laid out once glued down but it will only act as an aid to general position. I will be able to work on the crossover once I have the supplies which I will get from the Warley Show next month.

One of the changes required is the straightening of the road coming out of the crossover and given that that road is much longer than I had expected now seeing it in the flesh so to speak, I may add another road, a team track nearest to us. There are also a few tweeks elsewhere but these are just minor. Not shown here is a template for a six axle loco based on a SD40, probably the largest loco to do any switching on the layout which I am using to  highlight the pinch points. I am not one for the huge AC44’s or SD90’s and much more a fan of the smaller Geeps and if and possibly when it is attached to anything else then the big horses will just be passing trough.

I just need to get on now by finishing the boards and legs off and as usual life is interfering with me playing but I’m not sitting around idly and count the time spent on the computer in the evenings as modelling time, it’s just a digital version.

Till next time..

First branches

23rd October 2016 / / 2 Comments

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Following on from yesterday I post my interpretation of the track plan I have been noodling around on back of envelopes over the last few weeks and gives me an idea of the setting for the layout. As I sit here with Autumn settling in around me, the trees are changing colour but not in the way they do in the location that I am trying to capture but I have been noting and grabbing some pics as a sort of reference, yes I know I don’t need to leave the comfort of my armchair but it helps to have reference even if only for future projects. So I have been concentrating on looking for locations via the wonders of online mapping services that will conjure up a shoreline with small towns and small trains and by that I mean not half mile long ones. I have plenty of saved images of proto short trains saved from image archives my favourite being nerailorg

With the width of the boards being eighteen inches I have some space to have a life away from the tracks and although the buildings in HO are going to be fairly big I have to see what fits in that space even if I have it as low relief but the trees are going to be an important feature.

The basic plan is for two industries yet to be decided, and then two exchange or interchange? tracks nearest to us where freight is swopped to another railroad yet to be decided also, yes its all pretty much up in the air at the moment as I would like to base the location on somewhere semi prototypical although I am not adverse to completely free styling it. And finally a possible loco servicing point on the nearest track at the far left. Maybe I should have jotted this on the sketch 🙂

The plan is to use Peco code 83 flexi and a mixture of #6’s for the main and #5’s for the yards and the crossover for the industries which will be hand built on PCB ties. For the moment the switches will all be hand operated and I am considering either complete hand operated or under board rodding with operation from both sides but not sure about the knobs sticking out but will wait to see when I get there although thinking about it it would save leaning over scenery etc.

For the moment that’s all and tomorrow I will have the track plan finalised and printed out for when the boards are complete and I have the board legs to stand it all on, although the bulk of modelling is probably going to take place on the kitchen table board by board. Till then..

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