Update 07 04 2017

No photos from today as it was mainly behind-the-scenes.
I went out to Jaycar, and purchased some wiring supplies, namely 4 terminal blocks, 2 mounted LEDs, to determine whether track and point motor power is on, and two sets of 9-pin plugs, for the wiring connection between Board 2 and Board 3. As there are no point motor wires going from the fiddle yard board, that will use a set of terminal block plugs.

I also fitted the last point motor on the centre board, and wired up and tested two of the motors on the fiddle yard. These are baseboard mounted Peco motors. The wiring works, and they have been secured in place. I have a video (below) of the point motors being tested, with 31RM for motive power. Sorry about the poor quality (phone video).

Tomorrow I won't be able to get any work done, as have a busy day, but I'm hoping to do some more wiring (possibly get the fiddle yard wired up) on Saturday, and complete track laying on Monday (minus the copper sleepers for baseboard joints).

Peter

Work Day 06 04 2017

Today was another scheduled work-day. This time, only one of the people helping me came over. He arrived at about 12:15, and we started on the days work. In the time that he was here, we:
Fitted Kadee couplers to a Powerline S car belonging to him.
Drilled, modified and fitted the first turnout and point motor in the scenic section.
Laid the fiddle yard tracks.

Below are some photos of the fiddle yard as completed. It is a 7 track yard. The fiddle yard tracks (from right to left (operator side to viewing side) are:
Walker / Derm Siding
Spare / Railmotor 2
Railmotor Replacement
Mixed Goods 1
Grain 1
Grain 2
Mixed Goods 2
The fiddle yard board is 1.8m long, and the longest siding (Mixed Goods 1) is 1.45m long. The first two photos show the fiddle yard as empty, and the second two show it with some of the rolling stock on it.

I also spent some more time on Skipton by myself in the evening, after my mate left. I managed to lay most of the track on the first scenic board, and I also fitted 3 of the 4 point motors on the board.

This was before I sustained an injury and had to come inside. I dropped a drill, and the drill bit hit my hand, giving me a nice big cut on my thumb. Thus the 2-Injury Rule (if I get injured twice after 7pm, I go inside, as it means my reaction time is slowing down and thus I am getting tired) was invoked, so the locomotives were packed up, and I came inside. But not before I got some photos! The photos below show the state of play on the layout just before I packed up the locomotives.

All track except the turntable road was laid (this needs to be left until I have the ashpit back, and until I cut out the turntable pit), and the point motors for 1-Turntable Road, 1-2 Road and 2-3 Road were fitted, only leaving the motor for the kick-back siding (Stock Road) to be fitted. This will be fitted sometime tomorrow. The point motors are fitted using velcro (I learnt that this could be done on the internet yesterday. This way they can be adjusted and easily removed/refitted as required).

That's all for now. I will be heading out either tomorrow or on the weekend to collect some wiring supplies from Jaycar. I'm hoping to wire up the fiddle yard on Sunday, and lay the track on the last board on the work-day on Monday. With any luck, the first train will be running on Thursday (if I can get enough of the wiring done).

Peter

Work-Days 02/04/17 and 03/04/17

Spent the last couple of days with a couple of mates working on Skipton.
Yesterday (02/04/17), the plan was to finish the baseboards, ready for a parcel from Hattons today. Luckily, at about 1:15, a well-awaited parcel arrived, containing the last 4 turnouts for the scenic section, 6 rolls of 3mm cork, measuring 914x610mm (2 per baseboard), 6 SEEP point motors for the scenic sections, and 2 Peco side-mounted motors for the fiddle yard. The contents of the parcel are shown below.

By the end of the day (we worked from about midday to 11pm), we had more or less finished the baseboards, and had cork down on two of the boards. This shows the cork being weighed down to allow the glue to dry with the cork flat.

Today was spent levelling out the baseboards, and loosely laying out the track. The first train was run at about 3.40pm. This shows some of the track being laid out loosely. A selection of rolling stock has also been placed on the track. The stock is a mix of mine and one of my mates.

I have a video of the first 2 trains, but can't figure out how to transfer them to my laptop (old Nokia phone), so when I can figure out how to transfer them over, I will upload a video of the first train.

Peter

T320 Arrives!!

My latest model arrived in the post yesterday. This is a model of T320 in VR Blue and Gold, made by Bendigo Rail Models. This model was purchased second-hand, and has some nice weathering applied by the previous owner to the valence, chassis, and pilots.

T320 and T333 will be the only diesels I have for Skipton for a while now, as I am planning on saving up for some steam locomotives. This decision is a result of my decision to change the era for Skipton , which was originally going to be from 1955 to 1965. The new era will be from 1955 to 1960. On the plus side, it means there are less variations and classes to buy (as by 1965 the first Y classes had been delivered, along with 3rd to 5th order T classes). I will probably get a 2nd order T, as they were all in service by the end of 1959, however as the only available model is by Precision Scale Models, costs $1500 (as much as a steam engine), I would rather put the money towards buying a steam loco. Along with this, it isn't DCC ready, and I run DCC. The change of era also means I will have more funds available to purchase steam locomotives. In terms of steam locomotives, in the long run I am hoping to have a mix of D3, D4, J, K, N and Y classes. In the short term, I would like to get a D3 and either a J or N.

Below are some images of T320, and a couple showing it next to T333 for comparison -

 T320 leading T333 light-engines. 

 T320 front on view. 

 T320 side-on view. This shows the weathering applied to the valance and underframe. A small amount of weathering is visible at the bottom part of the sides.

 T320 and T333, showing the difference in the bogies, and the stripe. T320s stripe and logo is actually far more of a gold colour, whereas 333 has more of a yellow coloured stripe and logo.

 T320 and T333 again.

 Cab-end view of T320 and T333, showing the difference between the handrails. Of note is the fact that the yellow (gold) on T320 ends closer to the VR logo than on T333.

 Partial side-on view of T320 and T333

 End view of T320 and T333, again showing the difference in the handrails. 

 Top side view of 320 and 333. There are no differences between the two on the top.

Side-on view of both T320 and T333. This image shows the contrast between the thin gold stripe applied to 320, and the thick yellow stripe applied to 333.


That's all for now. I have fitted the barrel bolts to the two main baseboards, and I hope to have the legs all cut down to size and fitted by the weekend. 

Peter

New Baseboards!

In the last week or so since my last post, I have completed the other two baseboards, with assistance from a mate of mine. One of the boards just needs the backscene to be fitted, and the other needs the legs and backscene to be fitted. At the moment, all 3 boards are sitting on the floor in the shed, waiting for the legs to be cut down to 1.1m height.

These images are of the fiddle yard baseboard, which was built on Friday (03/03/2017). This board is now complete minus backscene, as I drilled out the legs and built the leg assemblies this afternoon. The backscene on this one will go on the opposite side to the other two boards, to hide the fiddle yard from the viewing public when being exhibited.

These two images were taken today, and show all 3 boards in their current state (minus legs). The board with the backscene is completed, and it's leg assemblies can be seen sitting on top of it. The baseboard in the middle is the least complete, and requires legs and the backscene to be fitted. The leg materials for this one can be seen to the right hand side of the second image. The baseboard at the opposite end to the completed board (far left of first image, closest to camera in second image), is currently complete minus barrel bolt fittings and the backscene. The backscene parts for this board and the centre board can be seen behind the boards in the first image, along with a spare baseboard.

Another thing, is a new rolling stock addition. T320 was purchased off eBay last week, and is currently in the post. This is also a BRM model, as is T333, and is also in the 1955-1957 condition. T320 will be a valuable addition to the fleet, and will also be a point of interest due to the differences between it and most other Series 1 (First Order, or Flat Top) Ts, including the handrails (however these are the same as the handrails on T321-T325), and the 2" gold stripe (No other T had this. 321 had a 5" stripe, and all the others had a 9" stripe.) 

That's all for now. I am hoping to have all the baseboards completed by the end of this week, other than the third board (currently the most complete), as it is slightly wider than the other two, and needs to be thinned down a bit. This will be done weekend after next due to other commitments this weekend. Once that is complete, the track and cork underlay can be ordered, and track laying will commence shortly after!

Peter

Fixed Track Plan

In my Welcome post, I posted the trackplan for Skipton. Whilst the track and buildings were all correct, the orientation was not, as the orientation should actually be the other way around. I have subsequently fixed the trackplan. The following is the correct trackplan, as the layout will be built. The backscene will be to the top of the plan.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what the finished item will look like.

Peter

Baseboard 1 of 3

Today I completed the first baseboard for Skipton. Below are some images, with captions.

 Here are the framework and leg materials. From right to left are:
Legs. These parts are 1.2m x 70mm x 45mm
Leg bracing. These parts are 1.2m x 70mm x 35mm, to be cut into 0.6m x 70mm x 35mm
Framework. These parts are 1.8m x 64mm x 19mm, with 6 to be left as 1.8m lengths, and the remainder to be cut into 564mm lengths for crossways bracing.

 Then the backscenes and baseboards. The baseboards are 1800x600x9mm MDF, and the backscenes are 1800x305x6mm MDF.

I started by assembling the basic framework. I will add cross-braces once the track is laid and point motors are in position. You can also see one of the legs having the holes drilled out.

I then assembled the first set of legs, and bolted them on.

Next, I completed the other set of legs, and bolted them on as well. Having seen the overall height at 1.2m, I have decided to cut the legs down to either 1.1m or 1m.

Next, I added the backscene. Of note is the section I cut out in order for it to fit around the barrel bolt for board positioning. Also note that on one side of the baseboard, the barrel bolt is at the bottom of the frame, and on the other side it's at the top. This is so that there is little to no chance for misalignments.

This is all I did on the baseboard today. I then took some photos with the rolling stock I have collected so far on it.

These three are of a BRM T333 in 1955-1957 condition, with a goods train, consisting of some Steam Era Models kits (HD van, P van, M van, UB van, RY wagon, B van, U van), and a Powerline VKOX. These wagons are in various states of completion. T333 is approximately where the platform will end (although it might be a bit further back.). This baseboard is the one at the far right of the track plan shown in the previous post.

These last three images are of T333 on a mixed service. The B van, UB van, and RY open wagon are the same as the ones seen in the last three images. The W car is finished as 29AW, and only needs brass brake details and the roof glued on to complete it.

More progress will follow either later this week or sometime next week.

Peter