what are people doing on their layout right now

[violets49]

Was reviewing my Cl.27 fleet last evening. Amazing that these locomotives, some almost fifty years old are still working while all of my GF 26/27s are Stored Unserviceable! (And well they should be still working. some of them cost me OVER £7  ) ) Managed to get the oldest back into the operational fleet after 20 years in store.

[daveg]

Ripped up the whole layout!

Sounds a tad drastic! 

What plans in the offing?

Dave G

[Jerry Howlett]

Ripped up the whole layout!

Sounds a tad drastic! 

What plans in the offing?

Dave G

I am slightly down sizing.  The layout has been in stalemate for more than a year. I built a huge figure of 8 style set up with "gentle" 1 in 50 gradients but still my newer steam locos were not up to the job.  In addition the room was subject to some mild water ingress during the Tuscan winter rainstorms.  Mrs "H" has suggested a move to a newly built room which is still large nearly 6m x 2.4m so I have ripped everything up and have just begun building baseboards.  Her main interest is in the huge card built model  town that I have built over the years.  I have a plan using Anyrail but it is spread over several designs as I am too mean to pay the licence feei  I wll try and open a thread to document my progress.

No gradients this time..

Jerry

[Newportnobby]

Mrs "H" has suggested a move to a newly built room which is still large nearly 6m x 2.4m so I have ripped everything up and have just begun building baseboards.

Has Mrs "H" also informed you that room is 3 miles further down the mountain, Jerry?

[Newportnobby]

Was reviewing my Cl.27 fleet last evening. Amazing that these locomotives, some almost fifty years old are still working while all of my GF 26/27s are Stored Unserviceable! (And well they should be still working. some of them cost me OVER £7  ) ) Managed to get the oldest back into the operational fleet after 20 years in store.

Methinks you owe GF an apology as the class 26/27s are Dapol, I believe

[daveg]

I've enjoyed an hour or so running 5 locos, one of which hasn't been on the layout for ages with loads more like that.

Gordon Highlander 46106 (GF 372-576) had its last run in December 2016. I keep a small record slip with each loco, showing number/name, date run and if it was oiled before the run. A tiny drop of oil and the beastie ran very nicely.

All this thanks to @Malc who came to my rescue today to resolve a strange fault with one of my main lines as well as fixing a reluctant Tomix track cleaner

I now know to replace the offending set of points (not too challenging) and then I can move on towards the ballasting and powering up the rest of the yard. Then get a decent mimic board sorted.

Plenty to get on with during the coming dark winter days.

Dave G

[Newportnobby]

Good for Malc the Track Whisperer.
Look forward to hearing/seeing more progress, Dave

[violets49]

Was reviewing my Cl.27 fleet last evening. Amazing that these locomotives, some almost fifty years old are still working while all of my GF 26/27s are Stored Unserviceable! (And well they should be still working. some of them cost me OVER £7  ) ) Managed to get the oldest back into the operational fleet after 20 years in store.

Methinks you owe GF an apology as the class 26/27s are Dapol, I believe

No, the 'Class 26/27 I am refering to are converts from GF Cl 33's  The Dapol 27's I have are impeccable runners. I do not yet have any dapol 26's but on the evidence of the 27's I would not hesitate to purchase them. As I've only had  them a couple of years, I can't say how long they will remain operatable and I probably won't be around in another fifty years, 

[Newportnobby]

Was reviewing my Cl.27 fleet last evening. Amazing that these locomotives, some almost fifty years old are still working while all of my GF 26/27s are Stored Unserviceable! (And well they should be still working. some of them cost me OVER £7  ) ) Managed to get the oldest back into the operational fleet after 20 years in store.

Methinks you owe GF an apology as the class 26/27s are Dapol, I believe

No, the 'Class 26/27 I am refering to are converts from GF Cl 33's

@violets49
Humble apologies to you.
I don't have any 27s but do have 2 x class 26 from Dapol which look great but whine a lot. I wanted them from the first 14 to be numbered so I could base them on the Eastern Region (afore they went to Scotland) so have D5301 and D5307

[violets49]

Interesting. All of my Dapol 27's are fairly smooth and quiet. I'm thinking about getting a 26 when the new batch come out if I can afford one!

[railsquid]

Interesting. All of my Dapol 27's are fairly smooth and quiet. I'm thinking about getting a 26 when the new batch come out if I can afford one!

Have a Dapol 27 which runs just fine, but then it was 2nd hand (which may sound paradoxical but the only problems with Dapol I've had are with locos bought brand new).

Anyway, not much time or energy to do much on my layout right now, most of the action comes from the Squidlet (aged ca. 2.75) who has recently discovered the concept of "points" and has noticed I have one on the (not-yet-permanent) layout within toddler reach so we've been spending about an hour each evening running some disposable unmotorised Kato stock back and forth over it.

[Newportnobby]

Interesting. All of my Dapol 27's are fairly smooth and quiet. I'm thinking about getting a 26 when the new batch come out if I can afford one!

My first Dapol class 33 whined horribly so I returned it. The replacement is marginally more quiet.
When I mentioned this on the Dapol Digest site, Joel suggested I had been unlucky. Odd that - 13 times I have been unlucky with whining Dapol locos

[railsquid]

Interesting. All of my Dapol 27's are fairly smooth and quiet. I'm thinking about getting a 26 when the new batch come out if I can afford one!

My first Dapol class 33 whined horribly so I returned it. The replacement is marginally more quiet.
When I mentioned this on the Dapol Digest site, Joel suggested I had been unlucky. Odd that - 13 times I have been unlucky with whining Dapol locos

My first Dapol class 33 buzzed like a small chainsaw then emitted a cloud of acrid smoke which spelt the end for lighting in one direction. The replacement is acceptable, as is the aforementioned 27 and another 2nd hand 33. No particular noise issues with any others, but partial light failures on two new ones (all the 2nd hand ones are fine...)

[violets49]

Dapol is a bit hit and miss. I've got some steam locos and they are somewhat erratic. I've had no problems with the diesels but as I don't have a continuous run they don't get worked particularly hard but I've heard they can be a bit on the fragile side.

[texhorse]

Not very often you go wrong with American locos, guys....

Just saying.



Andy
UK