Model Railway Overview

Loft Layout

For a long time I had been contemplating a large layout in the loft where I could run almost full length trains on an oval approx 6.75 x 3 meters (22' x 10' for us older folk). The idea would be a double track mainline just outside the station (not modelled) passing a diesel TMD and next to that an old steam MPD now in private ownweship as a perserved railway.

You may have guessed by now that I like locos and need a decent sized layout on which to run them. The double track mainline would allow running full length passenger and goods trains past the backdrop of the two loco yards It will also allow a lot of shunting in both loco yards with diesel locos coming and going for fuel and servicing. A bit of "the best of both worlds" - and as they say (or some do anyway) "it's my railway and I can run/preserve what I like".

Building the Layout

As mentioned above, the layout is in the loft, not the best place perhaps because of the way they build houses these days with rafters and trusses all over the place not to mention the extremes of temperatures. But beggers can't be choosers and when that is the best area available you have to make the best of it and get no with the job in hand.

Well the boards were laid the track plan finalised and drawn on the boards then the track placed in position to make sure it would fit in, see right and click on the image to enlarge it. Some slight adjustments were made then when happy the track area was covered with 3mm cork as a track bed. The track was laid, point motors fitted and track feeds all connected up. Testing was a doddle because when connecting the feeds I used a wee home made buzzer to test each feed for shorts. If you are about to lay and wire up track I would strongly advise this method as it saves a lot of time trying to track down shorts or lack of power to any piece of track.

So at the moment I am in the position of being able to run trains and more to the point just now - to test and run-in all my locos. I can leave them running for an hour each way then fit decoders and program them then test again on DCC.

The last big job in hand was making a Route Indicator Panel to mimic the routes set up on the layout. This has about 70 LEDs and "miles" of cable - or that's what it feels like. I made the panel from aluminium, LED holder holes were drilled and track plan lined. All the electrics were planned the cables from the panel to the track points were made and laid in with some connected up ready - work in progress!!! I was waiting for the LED holders to arrive in the post so I can wire up the panel. Power for the panel is 12 volt DC from the power box mentioned below.

Well they arrived and work restarted. The panel is now complete, tested and fully working, as can be seen from the new photo on the right, with only a couple of problems where I forgot to supply both +12v and 0v feeds to a couple of Tortoise terminal blocks. The reason for that is because to save on cable I have only supplied the required power to the Tortoise switches.

DCC System and Elactrics

One of the first projects was to built a "Power Box" which houses all the transformers, regulated DC power supplies (built by myself) and the mains power sockets. This is very handy as it keeps all the electric power supplies together in one box which is lockable and so it is safe from little fingers (and bigger ones too).

The layout is operated by DCC using a MRC Prodigy Advance. It is the early version as I bought it from the US before Gaugemaster started importing and rebadging them. Although mine does not have the very latest bells and whistles it is still a very good system and VERY easy to learn and operate. For more information on this system look here. All points are operated by Tortoise point motors via NCE Switch-8 accessory decoders. Again they are very good and easy to set up and use. All points are Peco Electrofrog and have been modified to make them fully DCC friendly and reliable. Also every piece of track has a feed to both rails, again in the interest of reliability. And yes it has taken a lot more time and effort to build but I think in the long run it will be worth it all. In the MPD there is a DCC controlled Peco LK-55 kit built turntable which is motorised with a Frizinghall Models TTD OO Motorised Gearbox, details on building and motorising it are here.

I have arranged the power supply wiring so that I can slot in a DC controller to test any analogue locos I buy and I can also thoroughly test any I want to sell before listing them. I have also wired in a permanent "Program Track" for programing DCC locos. The other handy thing is a rolling road wired in for loco testing and running in.

Locos, rolling stock and buildings

Over the last few years I have been collecting lots of stock and now have most of the locos and rolling stock I need to operate the layout. Most of the locos have been converted to DCC and the passenger and goods stock are now nearly all fitted with Kadee couplings. I will try and get some more details of the stock along with some photes as time allows.

There are also a few buildings already assembled and ready to add to the layout once I am happy that the track is reliable and then weathered and ballasted. These consist of loco sheds for both yards and the usual collection outbuildings required for refuelling coal, water and diesel. There are also some commercial buildings for filling the odd spaces around the layout. Further lists and photos to come in due course.

Layout photos moved

Please note I have moved the layout photos onto their own page. This can be accessed either from the menue at the top or by clicking here. And the details of locos I have modified can be found here.

Class 55 Deltics collection

Over the last few years I have been collecting Bachmann Class 55 Deltics. The aim was to get model of each of the fleet, a total of 24. Why 24 you might be asking. Well there was the 22 as built but then D9000 ended as 55022 under TOPS - so that makes 23. Then there was the instigator of the class DP1 "Deltic" - that makes 24!

Well I have al last managed to accumulate the 24 locos required, the only problem is that quite a few need to be re-numbered and re-named to make the whole fleet. Now I have the required amount I can sort out what needs altering and get on with it. Please see the "Deltics" page for details.

To be continued

I will get more details and photos posted here over the next few months as time allows - heard that before somewhere I think.