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The first few photos of my layout to start with |
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Track cleaning wagons available. The old Triang wagons have had the wheels replaced with Hornby metal ones and all wagons have Kadee couplings fitted. The "Hattons" hoover/grinder has a Hornby R8249 DCC chip fitted. The turntable is a Peco LK-55 kit motorised with a Frizinghall Models TTD OO Motorised Gearbox DCC controlled, details are here. The "old" Hornby buffer stops are great for Kadee fitted wagons as they are long enough to prevent any chance of contact as with some of the other types.
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Heljan "Falcon" emerges from behind the Preserved railway's new loco shed, the original one having been burnt down many years ago by vandals while they were negotiation the purchase of the old steam yard from BR.
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A selection of locos stabled in the diesel yard for fuel, maintenance or just waiting their next duty. The wash plant is a modified Lima shortened to fit easier into the location available. Note the plug-in box for the Prodigy handset and the homemade holder. I have five of these all round the layout to make it easy to control anywhere I need to be.
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This is one of the later Hornby class 47 locos with pick up on both sides of both bogies. These run better than the older ones but could be inproved - see below for one method I tried with success. |
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These are photos of the fiddle yard area and show the amount of storeage space I have available for trains on the layout. I also have a couple of shelves a meter long by 600mm wide at layout height inside the oval. These have rails laid on them for storing additional locos and stock ready to use on the layout. |
Another few photos of my layout to add a little more interest to the page. |
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This is a general view of both the "Preserved" steam MPD and the mainline diesel TMD in the background.
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A view of the Volvo sales unit with the diesel TMD beyond.
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Here is a photo of the steam shed with the Peco turntable in the foreground.
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This is a close up shot of the diesel shed with several locos in for fuel and servicing. The class 50 is a Lima body on a Hornby chassis, it and 47711 are described on the "Loco mods" page. The class 33 at the pumps on the right is a Lima 33 body on a Heljan class 26 chassis - still work in progress. The rest are standard r-t-r locos.
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Another view of the steam yard with a selection of staem locos on shed. Note the latest arrival in the background looking a bit rusty and neglected. Hopefully in the not too distant future it will be back in use and looking better!!!
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More locos on shed awaiting servicing or their next duty. On the mainline is a class 101 DMU, my latest aquisition, thanks Peter, taking its first run on the layout. Passing in the other direction is a class 47, this time a Lima body on a Lima/Heljan chassis. You may have gathered by now that I like to recycle and improve some of my older locos. The next project after I finish the class 33 will be my five Lima class 31's onto Hornby class 31 chassis. All the donar chassis are either damaged or have suffered from the dreaded metal fatigue that is becoming more of a problem with the China made locos.
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A busy diesel shed with five class 31s in the foreground. The three on the left are the modified Lima/Hornby locos described on the Loco mods page, the other two are standard Hornby. The class 33 on the right behind the blue liveried 31 is a Lima 33063 body on a Heljan class 26 chassis.
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Alterations to the "Preserved" steam MPD.
For a while I have been considering a new track layout for the "Preserved" steam MPD because I felt better use could be made of the available space. I thought that the exit from the turntable wasted a lot of track that couldn't be used to store or service locos because that would block the only way to get to the shed. So I decided, before I got round to ballasting the track, to move the turntable approx 15" (375mm) to the left and build a roundhouse beyond it. I now have more exits from the turntable allowing better use of the yard in general with as much storeage track. The rest of the inlet and outlet track and pointwork is the same as before.
The other thing I did was to get rid of the foam underlay beneath the mainlines and replace it with cork like the rest of the trackwork. I was not to happy with results of the foam, probably all my fault when initially laying the track. The running quality is certainly improved now and worth the effort. I can now have "fun" ballasting all the track and the yard areas - I'll report back next year!!! Below are a couple of photos showing the new layout.
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This is a general view of the new track layout "Preserved" steam MPD and the roundhouse beyond the repositioned turntable.
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Another view of the revised preserved MPD track plan showing the turntable and roundhouse. One advantage of the layout not being based on a real yard is that you can alter the track plan without offending anyone.
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Proposed alterations to the "Diesel Shed" - for evaluation.
I have also been considering a revised shed for the diesel yard as I think the Hornby one is probably too big for the size of the yard. I had a Peco two road shed but to fit it would have required considerable alterations to the tracl layout with the added upheaval of point motors and ekectrics to be moves also. So I thought I would modify the Peco shed and reduce it to a single track shed and that would allow the track to remain as is. Below is a photo of the revised yard with the new shed to see how it looks. I think I will have to remove the servicing pits and put a couple inside the shed but that is a lot easier than the whole yard alterations that would have neeb required for the 2-road shed.
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Here is the new single track diesel shed converted from a Peco LK-80 loco maintenance shed. I still have to finish it off as the glue was still drying when this shot was taken. As you can see the layout plan is still evolving and will no doubt change further as time goes on. That is one reason the ballasting has not yet been started as once that is done changes are a lot harder to carry out.
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To be continued
I will update the photos over the next few months so please come back if you like what you see. Any comments and feedback, good or bad, are welcome. Constructive criticism is how you can improve.
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