what are people doing on their layout right now

[Komata]

willintas

Thanks for the reply; the 'end result' is very impressive.

Littleton Curve has certainly had an influence on many of us.

[Les1952]

Hawthorn Dene goes out to its first show (Grantham) this next weekend, so I've been making final adjustments.  The colliery line mostly runs- I've found an issue with locos slogging and catching the wrong point blade, bringing the whole line to a stop.  "Random" bits of angle iron in the trackbed to act as checkrails seem to be curing that, fortunately.

More importantly, with sound equipped steamers going round and round, I need a reason for trains to stop out front.  My 2MT has the inspection saloon, but the WD on goods and A3 on passenger need an excuse to show off their gurgles and hisses.   Solution- a Dapol signal, worked by the bell-push from an old bus (rescued from the vehicle in a scrapyard in about 1968).



The signal as first planted



Look, it works!



Bedded in, repainted dirty white and with the finial cut off- a square white cap has replaced that to make it look a bit more North-Eastern.  Driver's eye view.   It had to go beyond the hut as on the approach side the ground dips away and the ground here is too thick to install it.

Next job is getting the packing list packed and checked......

Les

[Newportnobby]

Hope everything goes well for the show in Grantham, Les

[Newportnobby]

Today, I har mostly been ballasting on Bletchford

I've used Peco PS-315 Weathered Brown fine grade on the single track and an unknown fine grade grey ballast for the road.
Fairly happy with the rails but the road is not so good as the grey fine grade is still way too coarse Still, it's only a country road

Both have been given the 50/50 PVA/water + washing up liquid treatment and when it's dry (hopefully tomorrow) the rails will get sprayed with Railmatch sleeper grime. As I want to do this outdoors I need a day with no wind (not me personally - that's a given )
Pics to follow when the spraying has been done

As I'm not in the habit of wearing stockings/tights (well, only on Saturday nights down by Preston Docks), what does everyone else use attached to the vacuum cleaner to ensure there are no 'stray/loose' bits please?

[Northman]

? Newport Nobby?

Ballasting before you spray the rails?  Is it all going to be sleeper grime covered then?

As a newbie the learning I have from the forum is paint first then ballast - have I missed a point somewhere?

[Tdm]

In view of the recent problems I have been having with a number of my points, I have decided to simplyfy the layout somewhat using less points on the 3 main lines so there will be fewer places for loss of good contact to become an issue when running on these tracks (T1, T2, T3 on the attached AnyRail plan).
Also added some new curves to make it a bit more interesting.

Still a "busy" layout I know - so I may do so more "trimming" yet.

[bridgiesimon]

Making and fitting couplings to new stock ready for the NGF meet in Yeovil on Saturday.

Best wishes
Simon

[Sprintex]

? Newport Nobby?

Ballasting before you spray the rails?  Is it all going to be sleeper grime covered then?

As a newbie the learning I have from the forum is paint first then ballast - have I missed a point somewhere?

Ooh  no, ballast first then spray, otherwise you end up with filthy dirty track and clean 'n' shiny ballast!


Paul

[Newportnobby]

Wot Paul said

[MinZaPint]

Still messing about with my baseboards which I hope to have finished with backscene boards by 23 of this month when off on hols  some rail trips involved  so hopefully I'll come back inspired to lay some track! progress so far



posting this partly to embarrass myself into action  Well it's "Woodpecker" Wednesday (pub up the road at Spetisbury, good for Beer lovers and foodies) so 

[REGP]

? Newport Nobby?

Ballasting before you spray the rails?  Is it all going to be sleeper grime covered then?

As a newbie the learning I have from the forum is paint first then ballast - have I missed a point somewhere?

Ooh  no, ballast first then spray, otherwise you end up with filthy dirty track and clean 'n' shiny ballast!


Paul

Paul and Mick

I am intrigued by the spraying sleeper grime (Railtrack?) onto track after ballasting, any chance of a photo of "sprayed" track?

I'm using Kato track and have just sprayed one piece of my test track with Railtrack  Sleeper Grime and another section with Tamiya Red Brown without adding any ballast, to see how they look.

The problem is I'm not sure either one gives  right impression, so would be very interested in photos of ballasted track.

Ray

[Sprintex]

I am intrigued by the spraying sleeper grime (Railtrack?) onto track after ballasting, any chance of a photo of "sprayed" track?

Page 1 of my layout thread, reply #14 shows the track before and after spraying - link is in my signature below


Paul

[Newportnobby]

This is Peco 55 streamline ballasted with Peco fine brown weathered ballast and then sprayed with Railmatch sleeper grime (ref 1406). Believe me, it actually looks quite a dirty brown as opposed to the 'grey' tinge in the pic.

[talisman56]

Having finished the electrical work on the revised part of "Dunestone", spent the evening testing the new points and sections. A couple of crossed wires meant that the points switched in the opposite direction to the way one requested on the control panel, but a bit of terminal swapping solved that...

Turntable action is a bit ropey and noisy, so a bit of fettling required on that before the weekend. I also need to fit some buffer stops at the ends of all the sidings and a bit of sponge at the far end of the fiddle yard to stop any fatal descents to the floor...

Otherwise, things are looking up for a moderately successful return to action on the layout...

[mal1965]

hi all, i,m trying to get some good ideas to start my 1200 x 900mm n gauge layout, can anyone help me find so plans to give me a start :photospleasesign:and a BIG