Yarrawa Terminus Layout.

i made up a small scenery test piece to see how some different techniques would look.
I haven't really done much in the way of scenery before, so I thought it best to have a go....

I also made up a road bridge kit which will act as a scenic break to the fiddle yard.

 

Thanks Jim,

Scenery is something that I'm not really sure of how to do. I don't know if I would call it relaxing....
I used static grass, ground up dirt, ground up leaves, little rocks from the garden, twigs. weathering powders on the sleepers, coloured grout,
Woodlands Scenics ground cover and little bushes.

I really wasn't sure how it would turn out....

Cheers,
Geoff.

 

Hi Gary,

I not really sure what to do with the transition from the layout to the backdrop scene.
The layout is in the foreground and the backdrop is in the distance, so it's that transition scenery-wise, that has me a bit stumped at the moment.

The thing I'm finding is that you have to think about 6 steps ahead on every aspect of the layout when you are trying to do something.

Anyway, I'm not on my own as others have gone through the same thing.

Cheers,
Geoff.

 

Spent some time wiring up the points....what a fiddly job that was. I decided to attach the feeders to the underside of the track for a neater look. I also attached the frog wire.
Luckily I only have 8 points....

I was thinking of laying the points in position first. i have drilled the wire holes as well as the point motor ones.
I'm thinking it is better to pin the points first, in case I stuffed up somewhere.

I can then measure and set in the flexi track to suit.

Is that the best approach?

Cheers,
Geoff.

 

Thanks for the comments guys, good advice....

I think it is a good idea to pin the track and points, prior to any final setting of the track. I've drilled suitable holes in the point sleepers and I will
do the same for the flexi track as i lay it.
I had planned on not starting any scenery or ballasting, until after I had run the Layout for some time, in order to see if there are any running problems.

I've laid the BUS wiring, so it's on to track laying now.....

Cheers,
Geoff.

 

As I'm just about to lay some track, I thought I'd spent some time checking my rolling stock.

The weight of them is the issue I'm going to address.
Using the NRMA Recommended Practice for weights, I found that many of them were way underweight.

I converted the Imperial to Metric and made up a Chart I could use based on the length of the rolling stock.
As an example an LV van I have, weighed 30.6 grams when it should have been 75 grams.
An RU wheat hopper weighed 19.5g when it should have been 85.2g.
K and S trucks were also underweight as well as a MLV bogie van.
So some weighting was needed. I had some old lead flashing that i cut to size and added to the underside of the MLV.

Initially the MLV weighed 48.4g but it now is 97.3g. The standard should be 107g, but it's close enough and I can't fit anymore weight anyway..


I'll repaint and weather the underside when the glue dries....

It's an interesting topic to see what others think of the weighting of rolling stock'
More to follow.

Cheers,
Geoff.

 

I purchased an old Lima van on Ebay a while back and repainted and detailed it to a NSW LV van.
One of the advantages of it is, that you can remove the roof, so when it came to re weighting it i could remove the roof.

Originally it weighed 30.0g but it should have been 75g.
So I found some nuts in the garage and glued them in.
Popped the roof back on and all good...


Cheers,
Geoff.

 

I may have to enlarge the holes slightly to feed the droppers through. This will give me some variance.
The position of my points are pretty well set for the Track Plan.

Cheers,
Geoff.

 

Thanks for the comments Jim.

I agree that i certainly wouldn't want to over weight them over the standards.

All my rolling stock has metal axles and wheels with brass bearings, so they do run well.

All of the stock that I have re weighted, is below the standard, bar the LV van and a white metal guards van that is over the standard weight, but I can't take weight out of that one.

When I lay the track, I'll know better how they will behave....hopefully not too many problems., but I can remove some weight if needed.

I will probably only have 3 or 4 wagons with a guards van at most on any train.

Cheers,
Geoff.