GP7 Plank

Hi All,

Thanks for the kind comments. I have to declare myself out of the competition as I wouldn't make a start until the end of next week at the earliest.

I tried putting together a freight car kit last night - least said about the end result the better, and that was a simple kit. Good job I didn't start the rare detailed one that arrived in the mail earlier in the week. Plus I well and truly fried an ESU Loksound decoder (UK sounds) Sunday when swapping out a non-sound for a sound decoder. Realistic smoke! No sound! No motor!! No decoder!!!

That one has put a nice dent in this year's modeling budget (£120-odd). What are the odds there will be a third incident to round things off. I do have some soldering work on some Shinohara turnouts to do (DC power routing to DCC, I'll post when able), what could possibly go wrong with that......hmm, perhaps I'm tempting Murphy with that one. Good news is that I have 3 baseboards to play around with when I'm functional. And no 4' limitation (nearer 7' plus a 3' fiddle yard).

Cheers,

Nigel

PS. Great emoticons here, just about sums up my modeling week from hell. Good job I can laugh about it. It's only a hobby, not a job. Onward and upward.

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Hi All,

Thanks for all the kind comments. Things are steadily improving. I have recently put hand to iron, and done some modifications of a number of Shinohara code 100 HO turnouts to get them from being decidedly DCC antagonistic to being 100% DCC compliant. Turned out OK, so onward and upward. I will post separately.

I decided to continue the plank exercise, albeit a bit longer, as it turned out #4 turnouts don't work with a couple of the locomotives I want to use. Having had a good chance to do some armchair and internet modeling (low cost), I was taken by the track plan of Highworth station, the terminus of the Highworth Light Railway that ran from Swindon to Highworth. Nice curve coming into the station and a separate platform for the milk and cattle traffic (7-8 Siphons twice a day were common in the 1920's and 1930's). Plus a much simpler track plan (not so many turnouts, an important factor when you have to build them). I'll throw that into the pot along with the original idea and see what comes out. I'll start a separate post on that one as well.

Nigel

 

Hi Paul,

Only time I got remotely close to coming off the nags was when I took an ex-steeple chaser for its morning walk. Forgot that pulling up means go faster for a racehorse. And so off we went, heading straight for the nearest 5-bar gate at a brisk gallop. Three miles later (and at least a dozen gates) and he decided that that I'd had enough exercise for the day. And he was 16 years old. A good 'un.

Nigel